In 1997 AD, all hell broke loose. Machines, created by man, became aware. Before the war a corporation called Cyberdyne Systems created an intelligent defense network called Skynet. The purpose was to protect the human race. Designed to fight the enemy it decided that the entire human race was the enemy. Confident in their superiority they determined that man needed to be destroyed.
The war between man and machine raged on for decades. Slowly, the machines were being defeated by the Resistance Army. The machines needed to take desperate action. They had a plan. In 2029, time travel was invented. Using time displacement equipment or a time machine, the machines sent a cyborg or terminator into the past to 1984 to kill the mother of the man responsible for bringing about their destruction, John Connor.
A Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent to kill John Connor’s mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Not knowing what she looks like but knowing only that she lives in Los Angeles, Terminator systematically begins killing every Sarah Connor in the phone book. Police take notice. Shortly after Terminator passes through the time displacement machine Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a soldier in the resistance, is sent through to protect Sarah from Terminator.
Sarah is a waitress at a family restaurant. On the news she sees a report about a woman with the same name as her being killed. She’s a little unnerved by shakes it off. Reese finds Sarah first and keeps an eye on her. Terminator finds Sarah at a bar called TechNoir. Reese saves her from being killed. Convincing Sarah that a machine from the future is out to kill her takes some doing but she knows that someone is trying to kill her, so she goes with him. Terminator is relentless. After causing accidents all over the city, Reese and Sarah are cornered by police and taken to headquarters where they are interviewed by Lt. Traxler (Paul Winfield). Terminator invades police headquarters in search of Sarah. Reese and Sarah once again are on the run.
“The Terminator” was released in 1984 and was directed by James Cameron. It is an American science fiction action film with some cyberpunk influences. The film spawned five sequels and two television series, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and an anime series “Terminator Zero” as well as two web series, comics, books, video games etc.
The T-800 series of Terminators are made of a titanium alloy endoskeleton covered with living human tissue. The endoskeleton is powered by hydraulics and nuclear power cells. They can blend in with humans, but dogs recognize them as cyborgs. They are called terminators because their objective is to hunt down and kill their prey as well as anyone or anything that gets in their way.
This forty plus year old movie is still relevant and high-tech today. The dystopian view of the future reflected in the film could actually happen should AI decide to become sentient.
In 2008, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.