Dr. Silberman

Peter Silberman
First appearance	The Terminator
Last appearance	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Portrayed by	Earl Boen (films) Bruce Davison (TV)
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Title	Doctor
Occupation	Criminal psychologist

Dr. Peter Silberman is a fictional character played by Earl Boen in the Terminator series of films, and Bruce Davison in The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series. Silberman is the only charaacter to have appeared in all three films. Silberman is also the only character to have appeared in the TV series and all three films. Boen and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the only actors to have appeared in all three films. Boen also makes a cameo in T2 3-D: Battle Across Time. ("Silbermann", is a German surname translating to "silver man". The literal cognate would be the phrase "silberner Mann". This is obviously a reference to the Terminators in the series in general and the liquid-metal, mercury-like, shapechanging appearence of the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day in particular.)

The Terminator

In The Terminator, Dr. Silberman, a criminal psychologist, is brought in to question Kyle Reese, the soldier sent from the future to protect Sarah Connor from the Terminator machine that hunts her. He downplays Reese's story as delusional and constructed in such a way that it cannot be refuted (such as how there is no evidence of advanced technology, because the time machine can only send things back that generate a bio-energy created by living tissue). He leaves the police station seconds before the Terminator attacks.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Dr. Silberman returns, as one of the staff at Pescadero State Hospital, where Sarah Connor is held, now imprisoned as a mentally unsound patient. It is revealed that he has made little headway with her, and has constantly been a victim of her attacks when the opportunity presented itself: at some point before the movie's events, she had stabbed him in the knee. Sarah briefly uses him as a hostage to try and get out of the asylum when he refuses to have her transferred to minimum security. During Sarah's escape attempt, Dr. Silberman witnesses both the T-800 and T-1000 Terminators, and is stunned when the latter machine uses its shape-shifting powers to step through a barred gate in a humanly-impossible fashion, effectively proving the truth of Sarah Conner's "delusions". He is ultimately left alone in the corridor with the unconscious guards as the two Terminators travel down to the car park. In one version of the script, Silberman is taken away in a straitjacket as the guards believe he is crazy.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, a police force has followed the Terminator, John Connor, and Katherine Brewster, when the Terminator retrieves weaponry from Sarah Connor's grave. Kate is believed to be a hostage, and the police attempt to rescue her. Among the police force is Dr. Silberman, who takes her aside and, quite unlike before, expresses some measure of self-doubt, possibly stemming from having seen the two Terminators in the previous movie in Pescadero (although he still seems to partially attribute it to stress from the traumatic situation).

When he spots the Terminator robot, which resembles the one he has seen before in the hospital, he flees on foot.

His fate is unknown, but in an extended scene of Terminator 3's 'Judgment Day' scene, he was shown to be killed. This scene was later cut from the movie.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

In the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV-series Doctor Peter Silberman is seen in episode seven: The Demon Hand and is played by Bruce Davison.

Following Sarah Connor's escape, Doctor Silberman entered into retirement along with the majority of the Pescadaro staff. He has become a recluse and has purchased land among the mountains. In his solitude he gardens and works on a book about his experiences as a psychiatrist. While being interviewed by James Ellison in reference to Sarah Connor, Doctor Silberman poisons the FBI Agent and takes him hostage as he believes him to be a new model Terminator Infiltrator sent to find Sarah Connor. After injuring Ellison in a series of tests to confirm him as a human, Ellison shares with him that he has brought the hand of a Terminator with him as evidence (which Silberman refers to as The Hand of God). To protect Sarah Connor, Silberman sets his home on fire with Ellison still inside and is going to leave with the artifact when Sarah Connor arrives. She knocks him unconscious and takes the hand.

Following Sarah's departure, Agent Ellison wakes Silberman demanding the hand with Silberman revealing to him that Sarah Connor took it. The FBI Agent arrests the Doctor and he is incarcerated at the same psychiatric hospital he once ran, and in a form of poetic justice, in Sarah's old cell.