Phil C.

Trivia: The production of the film was dealt a severe blow when Linda Hamilton broke her ankle and tore several ligaments just before shooting began. The production schedule was rearranged to shift most of the running scenes toward the end of shooting, and even so Hamilton had to do all of those scenes on an ankle which wasn't even close to healed and had to be taped up every day.

Phil C.

Trivia: James Cameron originally wanted Lance Henriksen as the Terminator, and Henriksen really got into the idea of playing the character. Cameron scheduled a meeting with executive producer John Daly to show how great Henriksen would be as the Terminator. Unfortunately Henriksen showed up early - in full makeup, with bits of metal exposed and utterly in character - and frightened the hell out of everyone in the building before Cameron arrived and was able to reassure everyone.

Phil C.

Trivia: The original concept for the Terminator films came to Cameron in a fevered dream he had in Rome - a persistent mental image of a mechanical figure standing in flames. Cameron has since admitted that he gets frequent inspiration from nightmares and that "pleasant, happy dreams are sort of a waste of time."

Phil C.

Trivia: The battle rifles carried by the endoskeletons in the Future War segment were created by fitting a fully-automatic Calico 950 handgun, with a 100-round helical-feed magazine, into a fiberglass shell.

Phil C.

Trivia: In the shot where the SWAT van skids across the floor of the Cyberdyne main lobby and ends up with its back end against the elevator lobby, the tile floor was so slick that an industrial adhesive was sprayed all over the floor to allow for greater control.

Phil C.

Trivia: The look of the T-1000 after its freezing in liquid nitrogen was created by covering actor Robert Patrick's face and head with finely chopped reflective cellophane Christmas garlands and then spraying over with canned flocking.

Phil C.

Trivia: The character of Sarah was originally to have a knife scar on her upper lip to make her look harder and more feral than she did in the first film. However, since this would have meant a detailed makeup job every day, the concept was dropped after the first day or two of shooting. In some of the desert scenes, you can still see the scar if you look closely.

Phil C.

Trivia: Makeup artist Jeff Dawn has said that in order to give the Terminator (Arnold Schwarznegger) a look that set him apart from the other "human" actors, the makeup artists "mixed in a little bit of K-Y Jelly into the straight make-up, to give him that 'I'm different-looking but you don't know why' look...It's a sort of plastic-man appearance."

Phil C.

Trivia: The police computer which the T-1000 uses to locate John Connor's juvenile delinquent record was a functional mobile data terminal on loan from ElectroCom Automation. The prop was the subject of many crew members' inquiries of "Hey, can you look up my record for any outstanding warrants?" They were disappointed when they found out it was not hooked into any actual police databases, but had been programmed to simply display John's record.

Phil C.

Trivia: The roiling pit of molten steel where the Terminator and T-1000 meet their ends is actually a Plexiglas trough which was filled with a mixture of water, powdered sugar and mineral oil, and lit from below with orange lights.

Phil C.

Trivia: The scene where the pirate is chasing the maid through the streets, laughing madly, is also taken directly from the original Disney attraction.

Phil C.

Trivia: During a pan shot (I believe it's just before Quatermain's car pulls up at the League's headquarters) near the beginning of the film, a poster can be seen on one of the brick walls with several names on it. The names are those of the creators of the original comics series: Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw and Bill Oakley. (00:20:55)

Phil C.

Trivia: In the scene where Cleric Preston picks up the puppy to keep it from escaping, then hands him back to the Sweeper, the puppy makes several whimpering and yipping sounds. Director Kurt Wimmer had listened to all the "dog" sounds that the sound editor had in his library, but wasn't quite happy with any of them as characterizing the puppy quite right, so they actually hired a voiceover actress whose job it is to characterize dogs to create the puppy's sounds for this scene. (00:44:25)

Phil C.

Trivia: Director Kurt Wimmer designed the Tetragrammaton insignia as four T's, joined at the middle. When the symbol's (unintentional) resemblance to a Nazi swastika was pointed out to him halfway through the film, he was startled and upset, but it was too late to change by then so it was left that way. (00:09:00)

Phil C.

Trivia: Near the beginning of the film, Agent Smith drives up in an Audi with the license plate "IS 5416". This appears to be a Bible reference--Isaiah 54:16--reads as follows (from the King James Version): "Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy."

Phil C.

Trivia: Look for a cameo by noted racial scholar and professor Cornel West during the Zion Council meeting (he plays the Council Member who requests that a ship be sent to ascertain the fate of the Nebuchadnezzar).

Phil C.

Trivia: Director/writer Kurt Wimmer appears three times in the film. The first is in the opening sequence as the silhouetted Cleric performing gunkata movements during Father's voice-over. The second time is as the voice of the Tetragrammaton officer who tells Cleric Preston that they have a warrant for his wife's arrest (in Preston's flashback dream sequence). The third time is as the Resistance member who is shoved up against a column and executed by the police during the warehouse raid (he's the one who holds up his hand in front of his face in a futile attempt to protect himself). (00:01:00 - 00:57:15)

Phil C.

Trivia: The muzzle flash from Cleric Preston's pistols appears in the shape of the Tetragrammaton insignia in several of the gun battles: first, in the nighttime battle over the dog, when Preston first fires his pistol; secondly, several times during the hallway battle near the end of the film (most noticeably just before and after the pistols are reloaded from the wrist-loaders); and finally, when Preston fires the single shot that executes Dupont. (00:51:40 - 01:37:35)

Phil C.

Trivia: The "streaks" that appear in the film when fires or explosions are shown are deliberate. This is a phenomenon that would often appear in actual WWII combat photography and was intentionally emulated when the film was made.

Phil C.

Trivia: Director Steven Spielberg reduced the color saturation of the film by approximately 60% to more closely match his artistic vision. This led to a flood of complaints by customers when the movie was broadcast on TV and cable, so the cable and TV companies had to turn the colour gain back up again.

Phil C.