The Terminator

Question: How exactly do both the Terminator and Kyle find addresses? We are led to believe that is the reason for the phone books, but none of the addresses in the phone books match up to the addresses where either the first Sarah is killed, nor the apartment of our Sarah.

Answer: Gonna be totally honest... that might just be nothing more than a simple continuity error. They accidentally made a phonebook prop that didn't match up with the locations where they shot, and assumed most people wouldn't notice or care. (And to be even more honest, I never noticed it until I saw this question today.)

TedStixon

Answer: My two cents: The T-800 Terminator does indeed, rip out the page of a phonebook for the address, but remember, he was looking for any and all Sarah Connors, not a specific address. He did not know which Sarah would give birth to John Connor, so by process of elimination he began terminating any woman with the name Sarah Connor. He did plug the first Sarah Connor (a housewife), then went to kill the other Sarah Connors in the phone book.

Scott215

I already gave that answer, but apparently that's not what the question is asking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Both the T-800 and Kyle look up Sarah's address in the phonebook and it's Kyle who rips out a page. Neither uses a police computer; that's the T-1000 in Terminator 2.

But that doesn't answer the question (and it's already been mentioned) since the information in the phonebook appears wrong.

Bishop73

Answer: Kyle we are shown uses a police computer to find the addresses. The T800 just uses the phonebook as you mentioned. He rips the page out and takes it with him.

Ssiscool

Except 2 of the addresses in the phone book don't match. So how does the Terminator find them using the phonebook?

Bishop73

The Terminator is just blindly killing everyone in the phone book whose name is Sarah Connor (apparently a common name). Process of elimination. So, the day he arrives, unrelated women named Sarah Connor start dropping like flies, and the police believe it's the work of a serial killer. Our heroine Sarah Connor barely escapes this sweeping extermination by sheer luck and Kyle's intervention.

Charles Austin Miller

You just described the plot. Were you trying to answer the question? Because the question still stands. (As it is, it's either a mistake or plot hole in the film).

Bishop73

Perhaps I'm not getting the question. What is meant by "none of the addresses in the phone books match up"? Match up to what, the murder scene addresses? I wasn't aware that the murder scene addresses were prominently displayed.

Charles Austin Miller

Exactly. The addresses seen don't match. Specifically the first Sarah Connor's house number is "14239", but in the phonebook it is listed as "1823." And the real Sarah Connor lives in an apartment but the phonebook doesn't list an apartment number.

Bishop73

Perhaps though this all doesn't matter because phone books can quickly become outdated, the phone book he found could be over a year old. Someone moves but can still be listed in the phone book with their old address. He could have gone to the addresses but found someone else living there and then asked where the previous owner might be, and he was told (or he forced them). This might be how he found all the Sarah Connors.

lionhead

Are any of the Sarah's listed as living at 1823? I've not got access to the film right now to check.

Ssiscool

The first is listed as "1823." The second is "2816." The 3rd is "309." Although after reviewing the scene and thinking about it, for "309" (which is supposedly our Sarah J Connor), the full address isn't actually seen and the apartment number could have been listed.

Bishop73

Reese never uses a police computer; that's the T-1000 in Terminator 2. He rips out the page from the phonebook. The T800 also uses the phonebook but is never shown ripping out a page.

Question: I know it's not important because the movie would be very short and boring, but there's something I've always wondered. What would have happened to the Terminator had he actually managed to kill Sarah Conner?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: Since terminators cannot self-terminate, only one very likely possibility comes to mind: it would have hidden itself away somewhere known to have remained undisturbed in the years between the termination of Sarah Connor and the start of the war, at which point it would rejoin the war effort.

Phixius

Answer: Skynet knew nothing about Sarah Connor besides what city she was in in 1984 and that she had a pre war leg injury which they could use as a form of identification. However this injury only occurred in the factory at the end of the movie which would mean the terminator would have no way of identifying the real sarah connor before that time. The terminator therefore could've never completed its mission with 100% certainty because it had no idea what she actually looked like, therefore it may have just carried on hunting out Sarah Connors to increase the chances of getting the right one if it was still in good enough condition to move around unnoticed.

Answer: According to the official novelization, the Terminator looked for a specific injury that the Sarah Connor in question had, in order to insure that she was indeed the Sarah Connor that would give birth to John Connor. If any of the Sarah Connors that he killed didn't have that injury, then he knew that none of them were the Sarah Connor that he was looking for, and would move on to the next one. At the end of the novelization, it is revealed that Sarah Connor got the injury during her final battle with the Terminator, meaning that previous time travel loops had already happened that we didn't see or read about (alternatively the events in the first Terminator film are a causal loop that always happened). Since the Terminator wasn't aware that Sarah didn't have the injury at this point in time, this would mean that he would continue to search the world for other Sarah Connors after killing her. It's a piece of horror that unfortunately was cut from the film.

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

Question: Towards the end of the movie, after Sarah has smashed the Terminator onto the guardrail, she rolls over with her pickup. The Terminator is then subsequently hit by a truck. At this point Sarah is stuck in the pickup only a few hundred yards away. Why doesn't he simply run there and kill her but feels the need to hijack the truck and hit the pickup with the truck instead?

Konitzlee

Answer: The Terminator's leg is injured after either the motorcycle crash or the truck hits him and he can't run anymore. He limps rather slowly for the duration of the film.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: When Vukovic and Traxler are watching Silberman question Reese, Vukovic mentions a guy they brought in who apparently burned something and did something else I couldn't quite hear. What's he actually talking about?

Answer: The quote: "He had this guy in here last week who set his Afghan [a breed of dog] on fire. Screwed it first, then set it on..." [and here Traxler interrupts him].

Phil C.

Question: In the hotel room scene when the landlord/manager knocks on the door and asks if he has a dead cat in the room, why is the Terminator sitting down on the bed, especially turned away from the door? If the Terminator is an indefatigable machine only resembling a human on the outside, why would it ever be seen in a relaxed pose at all, and ignoring the sole point of entry to the room it's in?

Answer: I wouldn't call him sitting a "relaxed pose." The scene is brief, but at the time he's looking through Sarah's address book but we don't know what else he was doing. We see him sitting while repairing his arm and we see him sitting when making a telephone call. So he may have been doing other things that he couldn't do standing. As far as ignoring the door (which wasn't the sole point of entry since we see him go through the window), as a terminator machine, he doesn't really have to be on alert for an attack like a person would.

Bishop73

Answer: The T-800 is designed to blend in with the human race. As such it will act as a human does with the aim of maintaining its cover. Another example is why do they find clothes? Sure a naked man walking round is going to attract attention of police but they are capable of dealing with such situations.

Ssiscool

That is true when the Terminator is among humans but in this scene it is alone in the room. The question remains why it sits, looking away from the door, if there is no-one else there.

The answer provided still works, based on how the Terminators are portrayed in the sequels. They will gradually learn more and more human behaviors and adapt them to their programming. In this case, sitting down when idle. Another example is the T-1000 giving a very human-like puzzled expression when he notices the silver mannequin. Also, the T-X in Terminator 3 smirks at numerous points throughout that movie when things go her way. None of these behaviors are done for the benefit of "blending in" and appear to simply be learned behaviors.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: You're right, it doesn't make sense for the Terminator to sit facing away from the threat. In the second movie we see the Terminator standing the whole night in the same position, looking outside. It seems more verisimilar, except for the gun on his shoulder pointing back.

Question: How did the Terminator know how to drive a car? Obviously Kyle would know how as they were still using cars to fight Skynet, but the Terminators used more advanced machines so wouldn't have ever needed to drive a car.

Answer: They have a vast data repository which would include how to drive a car, after all, they are supposed to blend in, so if the rebels are driving vehicles, then the terminators would also need to be able to. Also note that when the terminator reaches the bar, he has a full catalog of motorcycles in his data banks, showing he does have the info about vehicles.

jimba

Question: If the Terminator had succeeded in killing Sarah and effectively wiping out John Conner, then that would mean the machines would win and even kill off mankind. So after Skynet's mission was complete and all humans are dead, what would the machines do now that with no more humans left to kill?

Answer: It's really impossible to answer definitively, considering the film-makers have never addressed this. The films never specify any purpose Skynet has outside of wanting to wipe out humanity. Skynet simply wants to "live", to exist as a sentient consciousness but views all of humanity as a threat to its existence. Since artificial intelligence is thus far only a fictional concept, we can't even really speculate based on information outside of the Terminator series. We can perhaps imagine a scenario wherein Skynet is successful and lives in peace as the only intelligence on Earth. The machines themselves do not have individuality and only exist for the purposes of killing humans so there doesn't seem to be a logical reason why they would exists if Skynet wins. However, there doesn't seem to be any reasonable way Skynet could ever be sure they have killed every single human on the planet so I can also imagine a scenario where the machines endlessly patrol the planet, making sure humanity never rises again. Also, and this is food for thought, the time travel scenario present in these films is a grandfather paradox. Skynet leads to it's own creation by sending back a Terminator to kill Sarah Connor. Similarly John Connor is conceived because a Terminator was sent back in time, which is the paradox. Skynet winning would create another paradox wherein Skynet could not exist because John Connor was never born so they had no enemy to fight, etc. This sort of stuff can make your head explode.

BaconIsMyBFF

Just to be clear, the first movie doesn't say that Skynet created itself by sending a terminator back, that's the second movie. Also John Connor never being born doesn't remove their enemy, humanity is their enemy, it would stop the resistance and prevent the humans from winning, presumably. It does create a paradox though, like all time travel movies do.

lionhead

The first movie deleted specific scenes which referenced the defeated Terminator being used to create Skynet. This of course was fully formed in the sequel. Technically since they are deleted scenes they may not belong in a discussion about the first movie but I was speaking generally with regards to the series as a whole. It's really only relevant to my point about the paradox which doesn't really have anything to do with the original question. Also, John Connor is specifically Skynet's enemy. Without him humanity would have been easily defeated. Technically, yes they want to wipe out all humanity but without John Connor they would have succeeded and there would be no need to send a terminator back in time, which of course is the entire point of the series. Both the humans and Skynet believe this to be true.

BaconIsMyBFF

John Connor is the key to the paradox, true. Since John was created by Skynet's own attempt to stop him it's impossible for them to win the war. All movies tell us (except the horrible, terrible last one called Genisys) that skynet can not win the war by time travel. I had a whole essay written down but I decided not to post it, since talking about paradoxes is a paradox and they are highly interactive. Catch my drift?

lionhead

Thinking about paradoxes in movies like these can drive you insane.

BaconIsMyBFF

Yeah, but it's so much fun.

lionhead

Agreed. I actually really love the paradox in the first Terminator. The idea that John gave Kyle a picture of his mother and Kyle fell in love with her because of that picture, and he always wondered what she was thinking about when the picture was taken, and it turns out she was thinking about how much she loved Kyle. Brilliant.

BaconIsMyBFF

Yeah, you know now I think about it, the first movie doesn't have a grandfather paradox at all, it's the exact opposite. They actually created a loop, the time travel made the resistance exist and skynet always will try to use time travel to destroy the resistance. The paradox, is the sequel, where they make us believe the time travel also made skynet, which is impossible and an actual grandfather paradox because skynet invented time travel (since in the second movie the time travelling terminator from the first movie became the "grandfather" of skynet basically). Maybe we should move this to the Forum though.

lionhead

Question: Why is the Terminator able to talk when he looks like a human but doesn't talk when he doesn't have the living tissue on?

EmilBlonsky

Chosen answer: It's not that he could not talk, but perhaps he just had nothing to say. Once his skin burns off, he was still in pursuit mode to terminate his target. Before the skin burned off and he was chasing them in that scene, he wasn't saying anything either. And it's also logical to say that the wreck and gas tanker exploding, which caused his skin to burn off, likely could have damages internal components of the terminator by impact force as well as the extreme heat. So him not talking was either he didn't have anything to say, his voice generator was broken, or both.

Quantom X

Answer: Think about what produces sound coming from human mouth: air directed through the tissues of the neck and mouth, moving vocal cords in waves. After being burned, there is no tissue which can create the waves when being moved.

Question: Is it usual for gun store clerks to leave ammunition and bullets on the counter where anyone can pick them up and load them into a gun?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: No, it's not, but not every gun shop owner is reputable or responsible.

wizard_of_gore

Question: Exactly why did The Terminator raid the police station and kill all those cops? Wouldn't it have been more prudent to wait until Sarah was released, make sure she was unprotected and then kill her?

TheContentAtHeart

Chosen answer: From his point of view, she was already unprotected. At least, unprotected enough for him to make an attempt on her life. The police can't stop him and concerns for his own safety do not enter his calculations. But he was programmed with one goal in mind: Kill Sarah Connor. When he sees an opportunity to do so, he takes it. He knew where she was. To wait would be to risk losing that information.

Garlonuss

Question: When the Terminator shoots up the police station, there is a part where it cuts to him walking down a hallway after reloading his gun and there is a fire behind him. What caused that fire?

Answer: The Terminator rips the main electrical cable out of the junction box and then overloads the other cables, which cuts power to the station and starts the fire.

Sierra1

Question: Why didn't Terminator scan the punks clothes before ordering to hand them over?

Answer: He probably did but we just didn't get to see it like we did in Terminator 2.

lionhead

Question: In various online posts, I often see the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) referred to as a T-800. However, I never heard that model used in either of the first two films, unless I missed something. I do remember in part two the terminator refers to himself as a Cyberdyne Systems model 101. So where did the T-800 name come from?

Kyle G.

Answer: In a Terminator 2 deleted scene the term is on the HUD of the terminator. The terminator itself is a series 800, an upgrade to the 600 series mentioned by Kyle Reese in Terminator 1, which only had rubber skin. The Arnold Schwarzenegger type of skin is the Model 101. In flashforwards in Terminator 1 you see a T-800 Model 102 infiltrate a rebel base, which looks different. Several types of terminator can wear the same skin Model. So there can also be a T-850 Model 101 (as seen in Terminator 3).

lionhead

Question: Why would the terminator carry his weapon unloaded? It's shown loading the pistol prior to firing. A machine without care for injury would be loaded at all times.

Answer: Having watched the movie again, this can be explained by the previous scene where the Terminator kills Ginger and her boyfriend. It reloads the pistol but doesn't chamber a round before Sarah calls and leaves the message saying where she is. The Terminator then puts the pistol down and quickly rifles through Sarah's belongings before leaving so presumably it only thinks to finish readying its weapons once it's reached the Tech Noir bar and has Sarah in its sight. Either that, or it's actually doing a brass check (pull the slide back just enough to confirm there's a bullet in the chamber) before firing.

You mean such a sophisticated and advanced killing machine can't keep count of the bullets and has to check if the gun is loaded? I know the terminator runs out of bullets many times in the movie, it's great for entertainment but not for verisimilitude. Of course, if the perfect machine didn't make mistakes the movie would last 15 minutes and be extremely boring.

Answer: It does carry its pistol loaded: it merely pulls back the slide in the nightclub scene, priming the weapon. As an infiltration unit, the Terminator would try to prevent an accidental discharge, and thus avoid drawing attention to itself until it's reached its intended target.

Jukka Nurmi

Although I'd argue a perfect killing machine would never discharge its weapon accidentally, how could it?

The Terminators are shown time and again throughout the series NOT to be "perfect"; they make mistakes that are unaccounted for in their manufacture/programming. They are continually improved upon from film to film, indicating that they are BEING perfected, but not perfect. There is a world of difference, perhaps an insurmountable one, between the idea of a perfect anything, and the actual execution of that perfect thing.

Question: If Skynet is so worried about its Terminators "doing too much thinking" then why not remove from them the 'read-and-write' learning capabilities and simply set them to 'read-only' at all times?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Because the gathering of new information is still a key part to what they do. There has to be a write setting, even a restricted one, in order for the Terminators to assimilate new information that can assist them in their missions - possible target locations, voiceprints, even new mission parameters could not be uploaded without the ability to write to their CPU. Skynet can (and does) set restrictions on the Terminators' learning abilities, but, without those abilities, their effectiveness would be compromised.

Tailkinker

Question: Towards the end of the film, why does Reese switch on all those machines? He says something about "cover, so it can't track us." What does he mean by this?

TheContentAtHeart

Chosen answer: It creates more heat, more noise and more motion in the area. It makes it harder to pick out two people running around, either by sight (machines blocking view), heat sensors (from the heat of the machinery) or listening out (the machines are loud).

Gary O'Reilly

Question: Can anyone explain the dates in the first movie? I am very confused. The Terminator arrives on Thursday May 12 at 1:52 AM. The first killing is on Friday (although there is no indication that more than a full day has passed. Lastly, Sarah's timecard says it is 5/19. This would also be a Thursday (although we know it is a Friday). Has a week really passed? Makes no sense.

Answer: It takes the terminator time to gather weapons and find each victim so yes, time has passed. Easily several days.

Question: I've always wondered this even as a kid. I never read any of the novels associated with the movies so it might have been addressed there. If a computer system became self aware and a computer system is what launched all the nukes, then what created the first Terminator? I get how they're all made on an assembly line but someone or something had to make the machines and equipment that makes the Terminators.

Robert Waner

Chosen answer: Skynet being an artificial intelligence, it could take control of existing machines to repurpose them. It doesn't become self aware until 1997, by which point robotic technology would be much more advanced than in 1984 (and it had already been somewhat self-reliant before that point, so presumably a degree of military fabrication was already set up to be controlled automatically). With its vastly accelerated rate of development and intelligence, it could use existing factories to create basic machines, use those to retool and create more complicated machines, etc. From what Kyle says the ultra-realistic Terminator model we see here is a relatively new development (he comes from 2029) so Skynet has had about 30 years to set up a series of self-improving machines and its own murderous infrastructure.

Jon Sandys

Question: Why did/does Skynet launch a nuclear attack against humanity? What were its reasons? I'm just a bit confused because in both movies they give conflicted answers.

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: It was a defensive move, basically. As Skynet developed and increased in complexity, it ultimately achieved sentience and became self-aware. The humans tried to pull the plug, effectively trying to kill the new intelligence and Skynet fought back, utilising the nuclear arsenal to attempt to eradicate those who would shut it down.

Tailkinker

Visible crew/equipment: After the Terminator arrives in 1984, he begins to walk over to a short concrete wall and looks at Los Angeles over it. A second before the shot ends, the shadow of a camera is visible to the left of screen. (00:05:05)

Casual Person

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Trivia: At the beginning of the film, Sarah listens to an answering machine recording of her boyfriend cancelling a date. The voice on the answering machine belongs to James Cameron.

Deidra Goins

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