The Terminator

The Terminator (1984)

98 mistakes - chronological order

(19 votes)

Continuity mistake: When Arnie says "I'll be back" and leaves the police station he throws both the doors open as he leaves one of them falls back into place but the other one stays open. When he drives his car through the window both doors are closed.

Other mistake: Why does the Terminator have a HUD (Head-up-Display) or a GUI (Graphical User Interface)? This is a stupid mistake in many movies with cyborgs or androids. A machine itself does not need a HUD. A HUD is an interface for humans to help us interact with machines. A machine does not need a graphical interface to interact with itself. A machine can interpret the reality around internally using machine code within its CPU using zeros and ones. There is no need to project a HUD in the eyes of the terminator. (of course it looks cool and the viewer gets the information that the Terminator is a machine, but in reality it would be - let's say - a stupid redundancy to build in a monitor into a camera).

Goekhan

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The terminators are AI, since AI doesn't exist for real yet (not on that level) you don't know what it needs or how its supposed to function. Since these terminators are supposed to look and act like humans as they are infiltration units Skynet has build them to operate like humans as well. To help with thinking and acting like a human Skynet has build in a HUD in the optics so it will keep its focus on the visuals and not switch to internal sensors and computing when acting out it role as a human, that would look unnatural. With your logic its stupid for the terminator to put on sunglasses too, but it does anyway because it thinks like a human.

lionhead

Gotta disagree - the sunglasses are it trying to fit in/cover damage, not "think like a human." All "thinking" can be done internally. It's like saying modern smartphones need stats displayed on the inside of the screen which we can't see - there's zero need for them, because in order to display that information, the information has to exist in the machine already. And if it already exists, the machine already has access to it, without then displaying it on something else.

Jon Sandys

But it's not a smartphone. It's an AI, an AI built to be as human as possible. Whatever is operating its brain has external sensors and possibly an external computer telling it new data (like for example date, target location, primary objectives) which isn't directly part of its own brain. You can see that in the third movie when the Terminatrix gets confirmation about identifying its primary target, and it gets excited from it. The data it receives is coming from somewhere else and the terminator is reading from it, receiving it through an interface in the eyes. Probably in the future they have a direct link to Skynet telling them what to do and when they go to the past that link with Skynet is turned into a computer database with an interface for the terminator to communicate with.

lionhead

And how does this Skynet-upload to the terminators make the terminators more human if these information are displayed in a HUD? I am human too and never received any information into my eye as a projection (not without computers or Google glass or something like that). You are talking about simple data transfer, no need for a HUD and especially not to make the terminator more human (cause we humans do not have natural born HUDs in our eyes or brains). You are mixing up two things which really don't belong together. I was talking about recognition of environmental data in the first place and data processing of these. Still I don't see any need to HUD these information. We humans do not have HUD and are 100% humans. Your logic "HUD to become human" doesn't make any sense with or without a skynet data link.

Goekhan

It's not a simple little robot that uses sensors and act on them with a simple binary CPU, its an AI. It has optics, like I said it receives information and its displayed in the optics so it would not be distracted from acting human, turning inside itself to process it. You can give bad examples about us not having HUDs all you want but we get all outside information from our sense, 4 of them located in the head. We turn our attention to those senses when new information arrives. The Terminators get information input the same way, through the optics. They are build like a human. It can hear sound through its ears and smell from its nose. It sees with its optics, new information displayed upon them. What's so hard about that?

lionhead

Because we don't have HUDs to display all that info, and we work just fine as human. All the information is dumped directly into our brains. The Terminators would work likewise - there's literally no need to have a visual interface - it's a pointless middleman between the sensors and the processor which only exists because it looks good on film.

Jon Sandys

I see where youre going with this and I would theoretically agree if (and that's the big if) the HUD-Display would be an extra device which the Terminator puts on his head. I agree if the human-emulation-part would be mostly human and the HUD part would be a standalone extra. Problem is they put both into one machine. Which means the whole construction is not a human emulation device with the aim "developing by mimicry humans." If so then the terminator-race isn't doing well by puting non-human things into their human-emulation-machines.

Goekhan

It's just way the machine is put together. There could be many reasons for the machine to have a HUD, like power efficiency or even they were forced to do it this way since the CPU it needs was too large to fit in the skull. Instead of directly interfaced it reads external inputs through the HUD in its optics. Not because it wants to, but because it has to. Might not seem all that logical and efficient, but I'm saying there can be a reason for it. Even information concerning itself is done this way because it can't connect with itself directly. Programs, software tell it what is going on. If my computer would have optics and the ability to read its quite handy when it needs to read off other machines and programs, ones that are not necessarily connected to it. It would seem the terminator brain, the CPU, the AI, is separated from the robotic body. The only thing connecting it with the rest of the body is the optics, giving it information.

lionhead

Power efficiency? Putting information which came from "the eye" in the CPU and then back again into the CPU would cost double power and CPU size, cause you are doing anything two times. You are jumping now from "HUD for being human" to other translucent arguments. And your computer could have optics and read off other machines yes but it could do that without HUD. You only need a webcam and OCR. Reading data directly from inside other machines yes we call that bluetooth. However in none of these there is an extra machine outside the machine for the machine. It is always integrated into the machine and processing is internal.

Goekhan

Its all assumptions versus assumptions. I never said the HUD was there for the machine to "be more human", I said it was there because the terminator needs to keep its focus through the eyes to prevent it going internal whenever there is outside information. This all assuming the CPU in the brain isn't connected directly to the rest of the body, because of capacity and power issues. Again, all assumptions but what do you expect from sci-fi? Is it a mistake in the movie? Hardly.

lionhead

Suggested Idea: Firstly, I agree that if the terminator type CPU operates as a binary machine (such as a laptop or smartphone) all internal communication would be in 1's and 0's. Even our current computers, which may output hex code to dump files is for the benefit and 'readability' of humans. However, a theory: I believe the HUD on the Terminator may be some kind of 'diagnostic' feature which was built in to the original machines which were first developed by humans. I may be over thinking this (it is just a movie) however if you look at some remote operated drones and such, information is provided on a HUD for the benefit of human operators (in an areal drone, this may be altitude, heading, speed etc). My theory would be that perhaps this 'diagnostic' is an integral part of the CPU and Skynet did not want to 'risk' disrupting processes by restructuring the processor architecture (these must be built in very sophisticated factories, assumed to have remained from before the war due to the complexity of them). If I were a super efficient AI - personally I would see a huge advantage in removing it (think Windows - how much processing power and effort goes into 'pointless' graphics for the benefit of the user, such as the animations when you copy a file). Your modern computer has processor cycles to spare, but in the terminators I would guess these would be less so - hence the assumptions that it is less risk rather than just Skynet just 'never got around to it'.

This can be one of the reasons why the terminator has a HUD. One of the most plausible I'd say. Skynet build these terminators fast, not sophisticated, eventually they are all based off a human used robot as displayed in T3. All they did was improve its combat capabilities and human mimicking.

lionhead

Factual error: When Kyle is hot wiring the car he touches 2 wires together and you can hear the starter trying to start the engine. This indicates the wire is controlling the starter. Then he takes the starter wire and twists it onto the other wire, keeping them together. If you really did this the starter would be permanently turned on and grinding on the flywheel. In reality, you would hold the 2 wires together until the engine starts, then disconnect them.

Revealing mistake: Just after the Terminator breaks into the police station, he is firing his gun, when he fires it repeatedly he makes a policeman jump who is lying dead on the floor, look closely.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Just because someone is shot by a gun doesn't necessarily mean they die instantly. The cop is likely still alive, albeit severely wounded.

Revealing mistake: In the scene where the tanker explodes, we see the cabin of the truck getting blown up. Then in the next shot, we see no flames have even reached the cabin, and it explodes again, this time with flames.

keiko

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This is one of those incidences where they intentionally show the scene multiple times. We in fact watch the semi blow up three times.

Bishop73

Continuity mistake: When Schwarzenegger runs the car into the wall, then goes to a room to patch himself up, he's wearing a grey jacket. When he leaves, he's now wearing a leather jacket.

Family5

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He changed jackets.

Plot hole: When Arnie is driving the cop car and shooting at Conner and Reese, 5 or 6 inch holes from the gunfire are shown in the door right beside Connor. If the shell penetrated the steel door (which it could easily do - and was shown to do), there's nothing inside the door or on the other side of it to stop the bullet. Connor, and probably Reese, would've been ripped to shreds.

ReRyRo

Continuity mistake: When Reese and Sarah are fleeing from the Tech-Noir nightclub, right when the Terminator jumps on the car they're driving away in his hairstyle magically changes.

Revealing mistake: After Reese blasts the Terminator with his shotgun while at the Tech-Noir nightclub there should be huge holes in the Terminator's shirt and jacket, but there are none.

Continuity mistake: When Reese and later the Terminator go through the phone book to locate Sarah Connor, the second Sarah is listed as Sarah Ann Connor. Later, when Traxler and Vukovich are discussing the death of the second Sarah, Traxler reads the name on the police file as Sarah Louise Connor.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: A similar mistake was already corrected. When Vukovich says "girl number 2", he says she was killed earlier this afternoon, not that she was the 2nd victim. Sarah Louise Connor was shot first.

Bishop73

While Sarah is having pizza in a pizza place, the reporter confirms that "2 hours earlier" Sarah Ann Connor was the second victim.

The Terminator mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the Terminator is washing his face in the motel room after he was wounded during the chase, the tap's valve is showed in different positions between two shots.

Continuity mistake: The number 1874 is on supposedly different patrol cars driven by the T-800 and the police officers.

oswal13

Continuity mistake: As Kyle and Sarah hijack the black pick-up truck, the bandage on Kyle's hand is missing.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: No, the bandage is still on his right hand the whole time. There's a few moments you can see it when he's pulling the man out of the truck. There's no camera cut when he starts to back up and you can see a little bit of the white bandage. But with the shadow and the way he's holding his hand, it could look like it's not there.

Bishop73

Revealing mistake: When the inner workings of the T-800's damaged arm are shown, he uses a vise grip to pull one of the finger control rods. As he does, the finger uncurls a split second before the rod is pushed back.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: As the T-800 starts chasing Reese and Sarah in the garage, there are a few shots of the Cadillac's windshield getting a hole blown in the upper right corner a few times, but there is only ever one hole.

Movie Nut

Revealing mistake: When Kyle gets to the past and hits the floor his body changes - even his hair and the sweat on it, showing the stuntman.

oswal13

Continuity mistake: When Sarah rolls Kyle's body over and looks at him, his face is covered in blood and his eyes are open. When Kyle is later zipped up in the body bag, his face is clean and his eyes are closed.

Gavin Jackson

Continuity mistake: We see the Terminator remove his left eye in the hotel room and it leaves a wound about the size of the sunglasses lens, in most face shots after that while he is wearing the sunglasses the wound has disappeared and the skin around the eye is perfect when we see that side of the face.

More quotes from The Terminator
More trivia for The Terminator

Question: I've always wondered, what's the significance of the kid pointing a wooden gun and making 'pew pew' noises at Reese when he enters the human hideout? Is it meant to be purely a bit of comical play between the two, or a subtle inference that mankind will never be able to abolish its inherent desire to destroy itself, even in the face of total extinction?

Answer: Its simply a child being a child and playing, but more than anything, showing the innocence of the children that inspite of the near death of the human race all around them, there's still time to play and be... human.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: I think it refers more to the irony fact the kids innocently playing soldiers, would soon become real soldiers in a fight for their lives.

Answer: I've always thought it was to show that these children didn't know anything else. They hadn't had a childhood due to the war against the machines and all they knew was to shoot guns because that's all they've seen people do.

The_Iceman

Answer: I agree with the playing and innocence aspects, as well as some comic relief. Toddlers/children prepare for possible future roles in life by mimicking adults' behaviors. What the child lacks is a sense of danger, showing no fear (or guilt) "shooting" a much larger person who knows how to kill. The child also lacks an understanding of consequences of behavior and meaning/permanence of death.

KeyZOid

More questions & answers from The Terminator

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.