Summary
- The signature lines "I'll be back" and "Come with me if you want to live" are recurring elements in all Terminator movies.
- Skynet sending Terminators to kill John Connor is a consistent plotline throughout the franchise.
- Industrial settings for final battles, driving swaps, advanced Terminators, and confusing timelines are also recurring motifs.
The Terminator movies are a staple of the sci-fi and action genres, which have established a handful of overt or subtle things that happen in every movie. The series’ story has always, to a degree, revolved around Skynet and the resistance battling to preserve or destroy the Connor family, to allegedly save or doom humanity. Many of the franchise’s most iconic recurring bits are established in The Terminator or Terminator 2: Judgment Day. However, even in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines its sequels, the writers keep coming back to some of these famous moments.
By the time of Terminator: Dark Fate, the story has long moved past the basic premise of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son John (Edward Furlong) fighting to survive John’s childhood. However, certain familiarities still appear in the action and dialogue. In addition to the most obvious references, the Terminator sequels subtly call back to the original movies with repeated scenarios in the action and basic plot. Terminator may be a franchise that has gone on for too long, but it still enjoys its homages to the landmark movies that were its beginning.
Movie |
Release Date |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
1984 |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
1991 |
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines |
2003 |
Terminator Salvation |
2009 |
Terminator Genisys |
2015 |
Terminator: Dark Fate |
2019 |
Every Terminator Movie & TV Show, Ranked
A staggering 40 years since it launched, the Terminator franchise shows no signs of slowing down, but not all Terminator movies and shows are hits.
10 Someone Says "I'll Be Back" (Or Something Like It)
One of the Terminator movies' most iconic lines.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 says "I'll be back" to police officer |
T2 |
T-800 says "I'll be back" to Sarah and John |
T3 |
T-850 says "She'll be back" and "I'm back" to John and Kate |
Salvation |
John says "I'll be back" to Kate |
Genisys |
Pops says "I'll be back" to Sarah and Kyle |
Dark Fate |
Sarah says "I'll be back" to Grace and Dani; Carl says "I won't be back" to Dani |
“I’ll be back” is one of the signature lines of the Terminator series, established by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 in the first two movies. The original scenario is that, after politely asking to see Sarah at the police station, the T-800 “comes back” by driving a car straight into the lobby. Vehicles smashing through buildings appear many times throughout the franchise, while the context of the line has evolved. The T-800 says it again in T2 when he leaves Sarah and John at Cyberdyne Labs to fend off the police, while the T-850 paraphrases it twice in T3.
After the initial trilogy, the line becomes a token nod to be said by any character, rather than always Schwarzenegger right before he jumps into the action. Terminator Salvation’s John (Christian Bale) says it to his wife Kate (Bryce Dallas Howard) when she asks what to tell his men when they realize he’s gone; an older Sarah (Hamilton) to Grace (Mackenzie Davis) and Dani (Natalia Reyes) just before setting off a grenade in Dark Fate. The T-800 also says “I won’t be back,” possibly using the iconic line to signal Dark Fate will be Schwarzenegger’s last Terminator movie.
9 A Terminator Tries To Kill John Connor
John Connor is almost always Skynet's number-one enemy.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 tries to kill Sarah before John's birth |
T2 |
T-1000 tries to kill John as a child |
T3 |
T-X tries to kill John as an adult |
Salvation |
T-800 tries to kill John at Skynet base |
Genisys |
T-800 goes back in time to kill Sarah; Pops kills Terminator John (T-3000) |
Dark Fate |
T-800 succeeds in killing John as a child/teenager |
The inciting incident of the franchise is that Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill John Connor to ensure its victory over humanity in the future. It first tries to preemptively kill John by killing Sarah before John is ever born. Different Terminators are sent to kill John as a child in T2 and as an adult (played by Nick Stahl) in T3. Skynet even comments on its own inability to kill John in Salvation when it lures John to its base for the CGI T-800 to kill him (and fails).
Things get complicated with Terminator Genisys, but it technically does depict the original T-800 arriving in 1984 to kill Sarah. This is in addition to this movie’s John (Jason Clarke) being infested by Skynet’s liquid machine particles and eventually killed in a fight with “Pops” (the T-800). Finally, Dark Fate opens with a shocking scene depicting an alternate timeline where another T-800 comes back after the events of T2 and finally succeeds in killing John before he reaches adulthood — setting in motion the first Terminator movie that isn’t primarily about safeguarding the Connors.
8 The Terminator's Red Eyes Go Out
The Terminator's eyes fading away lets the audience know the fight is over.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 crushed in a hydraulic press |
T2 |
T-800 impaled by T-1000 (before coming back) |
T3 |
T-850 shuts himself down (before coming back); eyes hidden by human face |
Salvation |
Many Terminators |
Genisys |
Pops before being upgraded with liquid metal |
Dark Fate |
Carl destroyed by Grace's power source with Rev-9 |
After enduring an extensive battle, the eye lights going out is a signal to the audience that the heroes are finally safe. Alternatively, it signals a moment of devastation if it is one of the friendly T-800s.
The red light of any given Terminator’s eyes going out is the indication that the fight is over — unless it’s the T-800, which is usually able to come back online and defend the heroes again. This is a bigger moment in the first few movies, where the main characters are dealing with only one or two Terminators. After enduring an extensive battle, the eye lights going out is a signal to the audience that the heroes are finally safe. Alternatively, it signals a moment of devastation if it is one of the friendly T-800s.
T3 is an exception, where the T-850 shuts himself down while his face is still intact, leaving it up to Schwarzenegger's performance to convey what is happening. Meanwhile, red eyes go out left and right in Salvation, which takes place at the height of the war when there are Terminators everywhere. In this case, they tend to be a lot easier to kill because the movie can’t waste time on an extended battle with every Terminator present. However, this famous ending to a fight gets some of its impact back in Genisys and Dark Fate.
7 The Final Fight With The Terminator Takes Place In A Factory
The only way the heroes can defeat a Terminator is to be in a factory.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
Unspecified factory |
T2 |
Steel foundry |
T3 |
CRS facility/military base |
Salvation |
Skynet factory |
Genisys |
Cyberdyne complex |
Dark Fate |
Hydroelectric plant |
After being chased by a Terminator through whatever setting the movie is taking place in (usually L.A.) the main characters always somehow end up in a factory setting for the final battle (the loosest interpretation being a military base at the end of T3). It is somewhat convenient in cases where the characters are apparently running for their lives with no sense of direction that they always happen upon a factory. However, the writers nearly always contrive this for the practical reason that there is no other way for the fight to end.
For in this setting, things like hydraulic presses and molten steel are lying around and are the only things powerful enough to destroy a Terminator in a pre-futuristic setting. In the case of Genisys, Pops kills the T-3000/John when they are both caught in an additional time machine John built in 2017. Dark Fate doesn’t closely adhere to the formula because the setting is mostly used to trick the audience into thinking the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) is dead when it takes Grace sacrificing herself, so the others can use her power source to kill it.
6 A Terminator Pursues Characters In A Freeway Chase
There is always a vehicular chase scene in a Terminator movie.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 pursues Sarah and Kyle |
T2 |
T-1000 pursues T-800 and John; later T-800, John, and Sarah |
T3 |
T-X pursues T-800, John, and Kate |
Salvation |
Terminators pursue Marcus, Kyle, and Star |
Genisys |
T-3000/John pursues Pops, Sarah, and Kyle |
Dark Fate |
Rev-9 pursues Grace, Dani, and Diego |
A chase scene is also a guarantee in a Terminator movie when the plot typically revolves around a Terminator being assigned to kill a specific person, and they don’t have many other options but to run. Some recurring elements in these chase scenes include the car/bus/truck being flipped over and the main characters somehow surviving it. It is also very common for the initial driver to tell the person in the enger seat to take the wheel or trade places with them, so they can lean out the window to shoot the Terminator following them. If they are lucky, they are capable of getting out of the car entirely for a better shot.
Furthermore, a couple of movies try to raise the stakes by having the character asked to drive have limited experience. Marcus (Sam Worthington) tells Kyle (Anton Yelchin) to drive in Salvation, only for Kyle to shout at him that he’s never done it before; Grace asks Dani if she can drive, and she says no, so her brother Diego (Diego Boneta) manages to climb over her in the front seat and take over. It appears to be a standard way for the Terminator movies to ramp up the danger in what is already a life-or-death situation.
Terminator 2: Why The Classic Freeway Chase Scene Was So Hard To Film
One of many iconic scenes to be found in Terminator 2 sees the T-1000 make an attempt to take out John Connor on a freeway, but filming wasn't easy.
5 A Terminator Copies Somone's Voice Or Appearance
Terminators can mimic someone's voice, while most of them can shapeshift.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 with Sarah's mother's voice |
T2 |
T-800 with John's voice; T-1000 with several characters' forms |
T3 |
T-X with Scott and other characters' forms |
Salvation |
T-800 with Kyle's voice |
Genisys |
T-3000 and T-5000 with several characters' forms |
Dark Fate |
Rev-9 with several characters' forms |
From its first appearance, one of the most useful and deceptive skills of the Terminator is the ability to adopt someone else’s voice. When Sarah calls her mother in the first movie to tell her to stay at her cabin, the T-800 has already killed her and is pretending to be her to get Sarah’s location. The new T-800 pretends to be John in T2 while on the phone with John’s foster parents – and ascertains that he is actually speaking to the T-1000 (Robert Patrick)
The T-1000 and every model after the T-800 can also take the physical form of any person they touch. From T2 onward, the Terminator rapidly changing form becomes a staple of the franchise. The exception is Salvation, which takes place before Skynet has developed this technology, although the Terminators can still copy voices. This ability is often used as a segue into discussing how brutal the Terminators are because when one appears in the form of a target’s family member, the protector knows that this person is probably dead.
4 A More Advanced Terminator Appears
Skynet upgrades the Terminators for every new movie.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 |
T2 |
T-1000 |
T3 |
T-850 and T-X |
Salvation |
Marcus, a hybrid human |
Genisys |
T-3000 and T-5000 |
Dark Fate |
Grace, an augmented human; Rev-9 |
With each new Terminator movie, a more advanced hunter-killer arrives from the future to kill whomever Skynet deems to be a threat. The T-800 in The Terminator is not necessarily “more advanced” because the audience is not familiar with any other Terminators at this point. However, Kyle (Michael Biehn) says that it is the most advanced model yet, as opposed to older ones that only had rubber skin instead of real human flesh, establishing the T-800 as an improvement over something else.
New Terminators with new abilities are introduced in every movie. The T-1000 is the first liquid metal Terminator, while the T-X (Kristanna Loken) makes the T-850 “obsolete.” The T-5000 (Matt Smith) and Rev-9 are simply deadlier, more durable Terminators, while human-robotic hybrids also begin to appear. It is standard for the filmmakers to want to raise the stakes with each sequel, making a new Terminator an inevitability. Additionally, every Terminator model contributes to the tone of their respective movie.
3 It Takes Several Tries To Kill The Final Terminator
The battle with the main villainous Terminator is always drawn out.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
T-800 withstands several explosions and gunfire |
T2 |
T-1000 is frozen by liquid nitrogen and thawed by heat from molten steel |
T3 |
T-X is only killed by a hydrogen fuel cell; withstands everything else |
Salvation |
T-800 withstands explosions, gunfire, and molten steel |
Genisys |
T-3000 is only slowed down or killed by a magnetic force; withstands everything else |
Dark Fate |
Rev-9 can only be killed by an EMP or an augment's power source; withstands everything else |
The final battle in every Terminator movie, taking place in an industrial setting, is drawn out because it takes the characters several tries to kill the Terminator. This typically involves them shoving the Terminator into several machines and attacking it with different materials (like liquid nitrogen) until they find something that will kill it. They keep shooting at it only in the hopes that it will keep the threat at bay, as they are all well aware that bullets aren’t going to do anything.
The final fights only feel bogged down in the newer Terminator movies because they are not as good as the first two. In The Terminator and T2, the difficulty of killing the Terminator establishes what a dangerous enemy it is. By extension, it illustrates how devastating Skynet’s awakening will be — at least until the Terminators become too easy to kill in Salvation.
2 The Terminator Timeline Gets More Confusing
The time travel plots get more convoluted as the Terminator franchise goes on.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
Paradox of John's conception |
T2 |
It is not clear if Judgment Day has been prevented |
T3 |
Judgment Day is only postponed |
Salvation |
Circumstances of John and Kyle meeting and John's role in the military are different; other continuity errors |
Genisys |
An alternate timeline where a T-800 raises Sarah |
Dark Fate |
An alternate timeline where young John is killed by a T-800 |
The Terminator’s ending and paradox set the stage for a franchise where the mechanics of time travel will never be crystal clear. The paradox of Kyle Reese being sent back in time to protect John’s mother and fathering John establishes a time loop system, where everything the time traveler does was always going to happen. The sequels only make it more perplexing by suggesting that the characters can change the future. The characters fight to prevent Judgment Day in T2, with no one asking if it will result in John never existing because Kyle will never come to 1984.
They only delay Judgment Day, which eventually happens in T3. There are some inconsistencies between what Kyle describes as the future in The Terminator and what is seen in Salvation, but this could be due to a slightly altered timeline. Genisys and Dark Fate then each present alternate timelines, leaving it up for debate how much, if any, of the original timeline still happened. Most of this will never be answered because creating new questions about the paradoxes is an inherent property of each Terminator movie.
9 Movie Sequels That Caused Massive Continuity Problems With The Original Films
Most big Hollywood franchises have had continuity errors of varying degrees, with a single entry in the series often causing the confusion.
1 Someone Says "Come With Me If You Want To Live" (Or Something Like It)
The most famous line from the Terminator movies.
Movie |
Instance |
|---|---|
The Terminator |
Kyle says "Come with me [...]" to Sarah |
T2 |
T-800 says "Come with me [...]" to Sarah |
T3 |
John says "Do you want to live? Come on!" to Kate |
Salvation |
Kyle says "Come with me [...]" to Marcus |
Genisys |
Sarah says "Come with me [...]" to Kyle |
Dark Fate |
Grace says "You come with me or you're dead in the next 30 seconds" to Dani |
This classic Terminator catchphrase reflects the recurring dynamics of the franchise where characters are forced to trust someone whom they don’t know if they want to survive.
Every character who says the famous Terminator catchphrase is part of a time-honored tradition of the franchise's story and tone. Kyle is the first character to say the famous line, “Come with me if you want to live,” but the T-800 can perhaps be credited with cementing its fame in T2. At some point in every movie, a character says this or a paraphrased version of it. Most often, the character sent back in time to protect someone from a Terminator says it to the intended target.
This classic Terminator catchphrase reflects the recurring dynamics of the franchise where characters are forced to trust someone whom they don’t know if they want to survive. It is always said by someone who has more knowledge, experience, and resources for fighting Terminators, and although they are about to drag the other character through a nightmare of danger, they mean well and want to help. “Come with me if you want to live” is only one of several things that appear in every Terminator movie, but it is definitely the most famous and has the biggest implications.
-
Terminator
- Runtime
- 107 minutes
- Director
- James Cameron
- Writers
- James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd
Cast
Michael Biehn
Lance Henriksen
Paul Winfield
In 1984, a human soldier is tasked to stop an indestructible cyborg killing machine, both sent from 2029, from executing a young woman, whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
-
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
9/10- Release Date
- July 3, 1991
- Runtime
- 137 minutes
- Director
- James Cameron
Cast
The Terminator-
Sarah Connor
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYTerminator 2: Judgment Day is a sci-fi action film directed by James Cameron, set ten years after the original. It chronicles a new effort to eliminate future rebellion leader John Connor, despite a reprogrammed terminator dispatched to safeguard him.
- Writers
- James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher
-
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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Release Date
- July 2, 2003
- Runtime
- 109 minutes
- Director
- Jonathan Mostow
- Writers
- John Brancato, Michael Ferris, Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron, Tedi Sarafian
- Producers
- Andrew G. Vajna, Dieter Nobbe, Gale Anne Hurd, Guy East, Hal Lieberman, Joel B. Michaels, Mario Kassar, Matthias Deyle, Moritz Borman, Nigel Sinclair, Volker Schauz, Aslan Nadery
Cast
-
The Terminator
Nick StahlJohn Connor
A highly advanced Terminator travels back in time to kill an adult John Connor and his future lieutenants, including his future wife Kate Brewster.
-
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Terminator Salvation
6/10- Release Date
- May 20, 2009
- Runtime
- 115 minutes
- Director
- McG
Cast
John Connor
Marcus Wright
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYTerminator Salvation is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, where John Connor leads the human resistance against powerful machines. The arrival of Marcus Wright introduces uncertainty, as Connor seeks to uncover Wright's origins—be it future or past—and establish if he is an ally or enemy.
- Writers
- John Brancato, Michael Ferris
-
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Terminator Genisys
4/10- Release Date
- July 1, 2015
- Runtime
- 2h 6m
- Director
- Alan Taylor
Cast
Jai Courtney
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYTerminator: Genysis reboots James Cameron's Terminator franchise by rewriting the events of the original movie. This time, Emilia Clarke's Sarah Connor already knows why Jai Courtney's Kyle Reese has been sent back in time, and an older T-800, once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, helps them in their quest to prevent an AI uprising.
- Writers
- Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier
-
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Terminator: Dark Fate
8/10- Release Date
- November 1, 2019
- Runtime
- 128 minutes
- Director
- Tim Miller
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingRENTBUYTerminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, ignoring the rest of the future films to re-canonize the franchise. Set years after Sarah Connor successfully stopped the impending Judgement Day, a new Terminator is sent to destroy the resistance before it forms. Now forced to team up with a former T-800 terminator model, Sarah will seek vengeance and protect Dani Ramos, the new target of Skynet.
- Writers
- Billy Ray, Justin Rhodes, David S. Goyer
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