Corrected entry: When the Terminator "finishes off" Sara's girlfriend Ginger he stands over her and fires four or five rounds into her body. He shuts his eyes and flinches at every shot he fires. I would have thought the T would be a bit tough for this.
Corrected entry: The Terminator runs his finger down the phone book to look up the Sarah Connors. Why would a cyber with enhanced vision need to do this?
Correction: The Terminators are designed to appear and, more importantly, act, as human as possible. It would look very suspicious if he were to just open the book and pick the names out without using some means of keeping his place on the page.
I think is an overused cop out of the Terminator doing things a machine wouldn't need to do. First off, it would have to be programmed or somehow learn that's how humans look up names in a phonebook. Also, a lot of people can look up names in a phonebook without running their fingers down the page and nothing would be very suspicious if someone just opened it up and started looking for a name using just their eyes. It's done just for the audience.
Correction: He probably does not technically "need" to do this, but he also "wants" to get it right the first time (i.e, not make a mistake). The print in phone books are often quite small. So using a finger reinforces what the eyes are seeing. [The running of his finger down the page might be more for the audience to see what he is doing (looking for), but that wouldn't mean a terminator could not do it to facilitate speed and accuracy, too.].
The idea that a highly advanced machine with targeting systems, etc. needs to use its finger to help it read slightly small print which any human with 20/20 vision would have no problem with is a bit of a stretch. There's zero reason why with a futuristic CPU driving its every action it would need to validate what line it's reading with a finger. Hell, Google Lens on a smartphone can read a page of small text and accurately make the printed words machine readable, and it definitely doesn't need a finger's help to do that.
I wrote, "He probably does not technically 'need' to do this..." Need and want are two different things. Terminator 2 was more advanced. Did he need sunglasses?
It is possible that seeing so many Sarah Connors (as opposed to just the one he was looking for) caused a problem. If he was programmed to stop at Sarah Connors, using his finger enabled him to override the first and each successive one until he found the one (s) that looked most likely to be the correct Sarah Connors.
Corrected entry: The Terminator has state of the art visual tracking. This is obvious for many reasons including when we get glimpses of how it sees things by heat analysis or infrared. Most notably it even has a little cross-hairs targeting system. Why then does he need to get a gun with a laser sight?
Correction: The Terminator doesn't fire through his eyes. The cross-hairs must be there for the purpose of adjusting his eyesight (maybe measuring the distance). Not aiming weapons.
Correction: Two other possibilities: 1. The Terminator wanted the .45 longslide for its concealability and stopping power. The laser sight was just an unnecessary bonus that it didn't bother (or wasn't able) to remove. 2. Laser sights are often used for intimidation as well as accuracy. If the Terminator didn't need it to know where to shoot, it could definitely exploit the human tendency to freeze for a split second upon seeing the red dot on their person, providing the window it needed to make the kill.
But why would a Terminator need the target to freeze for a split-second to make the kill when he could make the kill when he lines the gun up?
Corrected entry: After the car chase in which Kyle and Sarah are being chased by Arnold, Arnold's stolen cop car crashes into the parking lot wall. When the trailing police haul Sarah and Kyle away, Arnold is missing from the car he's just crashed. Kyle has clearly stated that the Terminator will absolutely not stop until Sarah is dead. Why would he flee the scene from a few cops - given his resilience - when he could have kept after Sarah and killed her right there? Was he "afraid" of doing it in front of the police? Was he concerned about getting away?
Correction: The terminator was injured in the crash as we see later when he repairs his arm and eye. He also has no way of knowing that the police don't have weapons that could damage him (he asks for a plasma rifle at the gun shop, implying he knows little of 1980s weapons).
Yet the Terminator apparently does possess a 1980s database, allowing him to instantly operate a variety of 1980s automobiles (including tractor-trailers), use telephone directories and telephones, and even select appropriate curse words of the day. He also, obviously, possesses a database of current 1980s road atlases (allowing him to track Sarah and Kyle by physical address). It would be inconceivable to equip the Terminator with all of this 1980s data and yet not equip him with full knowledge of available 1980s weaponry, given the purpose of his mission. Thus, the "plasma rifle" request at the gun shop was either a glitch in his programming or it was a plot-hole in the movie. Just as his fleeing the scene of the car wreck was a plot-hole. The Terminator had absolutely no fear of 1980s law enforcement, as is made apparent when he destroys police headquarters single-handedly.
Correction: I disagree with why this is in the corrections as this assessment as earlier in the film, Sarah asks Kyle "Can you stop him?" And Reese replies "with these weapons, I'm not sure." So, obviously, the weapons that are carried around couldn't have stopped the terminator. Plus the terminator wasn't worried about the weapons being used as we see later on it goes into the police station to kill Sarah Connor, so this proves it wouldn't have been worried about the weapons being used. Also, Kyle has said to Sarah, the terminator will stop at nothing to kill her, so why stop here?
I think the weaponry concern was less of an issue than him being injured. With a damaged arm and eye and facing reinforcements he opted to withdraw and repair himself before trying again. Not to mention that Reese doesn't say: "With these weapons, I'm not sure." He specifically says, with a doubtful tone of voice: "With these weapons, I don't know."
Exactly. Not stopping for anything doesn't mean he isn't tactical.
Corrected entry: Pay close attention to the scene at the TechNoir club. Right as Reese sees what is about to go down when the Terminator approaches Sara with his gun, Reese pulls his shotgun. At this exact moment, Reese turns and cocks his shotgun and a club patron (movie extra with a pink-ish shirt) walks right in front of Reese and looks at him nonchalantly as Reese cocks the gun, as if nothing is out of the ordinary, and continues on walking. This seems odd, most people would have been shocked or jumpy if they suddenly saw somebody pull out, then cock, a shotgun.
Correction: Not if that person was drunk and/or on drugs.
Corrected entry: When the Terminator starts shooting up the Police station, Traxler goes into the room where Sarah Connor is and locks both doors, yet when Kyle Reese comes in later, he is able to open the other door in the room without a key.
Corrected entry: When Sarah is driving off into the storm at the end of the film, the scene is obviously shot on a blue-screen. Some of the storm appears to be real because you can see several clouds moving, but the rest of the clouds never move at all. Also, the mountains look incredibly fake. (01:43:25)
Correction: The scene was not shot on blue screen. The production did not use any CGI throughout the entire film, as the budget was severely limited. The image of the mountain was a matte painting.
Corrected entry: When Kyle is looking for Sarah in the phone book, it lists two Sarah Connors and a Sarah J. Connor. When the Terminator and Sarah look up the name, there is a Sarah Connor, a Sarah Anne Connor and a Sarah J. Connor.
Correction: I watched the scene where Kyle is looking through the phone book, and the names are correct: "Connor, Sarah", "Connor, Sarah Anne" and "Connor, Sarah J".
Corrected entry: When Arnie is in the gun store he asks for a Plasma Rifle in the 40 watt range. Surely this must be an error in the Terminator's computer files. They know enough about the past to know roughly where and when Sarah Connor lives, that he can find a phone book in a public phone booth, how to drive a 1984 car, etc., but not that a plasma rifle wasn't invented until many years later?
Correction: The gun store owner didn't ask the T-800 to pick a weapon off the shelf, he asked if he would like another type of weapon. The T-800 complied with his request and requested the gun that he would like to have: a Plasma Rifle in the 40 watt range. The gun owner didn't specify the time period that the gun had to be from, so the T-800 was perfectly justified in requesting it.
Corrected entry: The terminator cuts open its arm to repair the finger cables. But when it is reduced to a skeleton, there are no cables.
Correction: There aren't cables - just sliding poles.
Corrected entry: In Tech Noir, The Terminator fires his Uzi at Reese who leaps behind the bar. In the next shot, The Terminator very briefly has the .45 Longslide he dropped earlier, the shot cuts back to Reese. It then returns to the Terminator who has the Uzi again. (00:35:55)
Correction: Careful frame-by-frame review of the scene, cannot see the Longslide anywhere. In the 6-frame (1/4-second) shot you speak of, he is holding the Uzi - in real time, it does look a little like a handgun, but it is the Uzi.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Arnold is going to drive the truck, his eyes point in different directions. However, when he gets up as a cyborg while the truck is burning up (and in rest of the film), he can move both eyes in the same direction. (01:27:25 - 01:31:05)
Corrected entry: When the Terminator comes through at the start of the film, it has longish hair, but when it is removing its eye, its hair is shorter and spiked. When would it have gone for a haircut?
Correction: The Terminator's hair was singed off when it jumped through the fire onto the hood of the car.
Corrected entry: It is mentioned in the extra commentary that a production error caused the Endoskeleton to be made of STEEL - extremely heavy - causing Special effects shots to require multiple puppeteers. This is partly the reason why the Endoskeleton moves so slowly while the T800+organic skin moves so quickly.
Correction: Movie mistakes are about on-screen errors, not foul-ups in prop fabrication. While this did happen, hence the citation in the commentary, it cannot be said to count as a movie mistake. Even the disparity in movement speed between the flesh-covered cyborg and the exposed endoskeleton is adequately explained within the film as being due to damage sustained, so that cannot really be considered error-worthy either. I suggest that you resubmit as trivia.
Corrected entry: The photograph taken by the boy at the end of the film doesn't match what Sarah Conner was doing. When the boy took the photograph, she was caught unawares and wasn't looking directly at the camera, yet the picture shows her staring toward where the camera would have been.
Correction: False. She begins to glance at him as he raises the camera towards her, but he does not actually take the picture until she is looking directly at him.
Corrected entry: At the end when Sarah Conner is talking into the microphone, recording something for her future son, the boy takes a photograph of her a split second after her last word, yet the microphone isn't pictured in the photograph.
Correction: He takes the picture as she is lowering the recording device away from her face. Since the photo is of her from the upper waist and up, the microphone should not, and does not, appear in the picture.
Corrected entry: When Kyle and Sarah have changed cars and the Terminator is chasing them, they exit the car park with their headlights on, but in the next shot and the rest of the chase they are off.
Correction: Since headlights have an "off" switch, and they remain OFF for the remainder of the scene, there is no continuity mistake made. Only if they were alternating between OFF and ON between the scenes would this be counted as a mistake. He quite simply turned them off.
Corrected entry: During the first night when the Terminator chases Sarah her shoes are yellow with green laces. The next morning her socks are yellow but the shoes are now white with green laces.
Correction: White shoes can appear yellow under street lighting.
Corrected entry: At the end of the movie when the Terminator is being squished, you can see that its metal body is still shiny and clean, despite surviving 2 explosions and burning in the wreckage of a truck.
Correction: He's a machine from the future, made by other machines. Who knows what he could be made of, or what kind of coating his metal parts may have?
Corrected entry: After Traxler is shot by the Terminator, Vukovich finds him wounded, says "Ed," then jumps into the hallway and opens up on the Terminator, calling out "Hey." Lance Henriksen is just shaking the weapon in his hands; there is no muzzle flash and no spent shells eject. (00:59:55)
Correction: In fact, the gun Lance Henrikson fires does have a muzzle flash, and does eject spent cartridges. The lighting and angle of the shot just makes it difficult to see.
Correction: True, but seeing as the terminators are infiltrators who are designed to appear as human as possible, it wouldn't be too far fetched to assume that they would flinch at times when humans would, eg, when firing a weapon.