Terminator (character concept)

An 800-series terminator endoskeleton, a robot-only version of the cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the Terminator film series, a terminator is a fictional autonomous robot, typically humanoid, originally conceived as a practically indestructible soldier and assassin, as well as an infiltrator.

James Cameron introduced the first terminator character in the 1984 movie The Terminator, featuring a single cyborg simply called "The Terminator", portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When later Terminator movies introduced additional models, some sources retroactively gave Schwarzenegger's character a model number, leading to multiple conflicting names.

Development of the Terminators

According to the films, the terminators were created by an artificially intelligent computer, Skynet, to wipe out the remains of humanity. Some models are designed to look exactly like humans in order to infiltrate their bases, progressing from fake rubber skin, to cloned human flesh over their electronics, to mimetic polyalloy able to mimic any person or object.

According to the first two films, terminators were Cyberdyne Systems models created after the war between man and machines started. In the altered timeline of T3 created by the destruction of Cyberdyne in T2, terminators were created by the Cyber Research Systems division of the Air Force to replace soldiers on the battlefield prior to Judgment Day, starting with the T-1.

Terminators were actually created as part of a predestination paradox caused by time travel. Parts from the terminator sent back to 1984 in the first film were reverse engineered and used to develop Skynet and more terminators. In this case, the terminators triggered their own invention.

In the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron Phillips establishes that modern terminators are made of coltan for heat resistance, while previous models were made of titanium.

Models

The first terminator model shown, simply called "The Terminator", was introduced in the first film, with a new model terminator added for each subsequent film. In addition to those models shown on screen, other spin off sources have introduced more, including the T-70 from T2 3-D: Battle Across Time and the female I-950 from T2: Infiltrator.

	Model	Portrayed by	Appearances
File:Terminator 3 T-1.jpg	T-1	practical remote controlled robot	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
	T-70	practical special effects model	T2 3-D: Battle Across Time
	T-600 Series 600		Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
File:Terminator2004.jpg	T-800/850/101 aka T-800 (T2) Series 850 Model 101 aka T-101 (T3)	Arnold Schwarzenegger stop motion practical effects computer-generated imagery	The Terminator Terminator 2: Judgment Day T2 3-D: Battle Across Time Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
File:Cromartie in TSCC.jpg	Cromartie/ T-888	Owain Yeoman Garret Dillahunt computer-generated imagery practical effects	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
	Vick / T-888	Matt McColm	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
	I-950		T2: Infiltrator T2: Rising Storm T2: Future War
File:T-1000.gif	T-1000	Robert Patrick other cast members computer-generated imagery	Terminator 2: Judgment Day T2 3-D: Battle Across Time
File:Terminatrix1001.jpg	T-X	Kristanna Loken other cast members computer-generated imagery practical special effects	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
File:Cameron Phillips in TSCC.jpg	Cameron Phillips/ ?	Summer Glau practical effects	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
	T-1000000	computer-generated imagery	T2 3-D: Battle Across Time

External links

• 'T2 and Technology', an essay by chief technical consultant Larry Yeager