The Terminator (1984) Commentary with @TheBadMovieBible

Listening to these commentaries of movie classics, movies which I can just picture in my mind scene by scene as I follow the commentary, is what gets me through the toughest work days.

46:00 “For 5p your future’s going to look pretty bleak, mate.”

was a good listen... great job lads, didn't need to watch the movie while listening, I have detailed files burned in my brain with all making of for over 30 years

Arnold's sunglasses in The Terminator are actually the Rayban Predator model. Clint wore the Rayban Balorama in Dirty Harry. They're very similar with their wrap-around style, but different. Clint was a little cooler.

1:15:35 Why would the Terminator having got different clothes be considered a goof or a cockup?

The Terminator 1 is for sure superior! Arnold was terrifying in this! Emotionless, cruel, brutal, and straight to the point m, no time wasting... ruthless. T2 is great and one of the greatest sequels ever made, but T1 holds the special place in my heart.

Its not really an accurate depiction of the future. Because its flashbacked through the eyes of Reese. And what he sees is constant resistance, hiding, and misery. Only a few moments can he can steal away from it. He dreams of Sarah Connor.

I always remember a BBC broadcast of this where (during the second where Kyle first saves Sarah) the dialogue started looping for some reason, so when he says “come with me if you want to live” and then it cuts to Arnie sitting up, that same dialogue looped - later I found out it was an error but it was actually really effective and played into him repeating the line to Sarah in T2.

Listening to your commentary again and one comment is about where Arnie got the jacket is the same place he got the motorbike

A shame the mention of Reese hoping the T-800 was a T-700 until it got up quickly was cut and limited to the novelization.

Michael Biehn acting laid down the foundations of a really complex movie.
In the hardest scenes, explaining the most intrincated ideas, playing a sensitive and also skillful fighter.
Michael is a legend.

Hear me out: Michael Biehn, in a Predator movie set around WW2. Would've been incredible if it was made in the mid '90s but alas, he's almost 70 now.

When you see the films as a kid you think man it would be cool to see a future set Terminator. But when you actually think about it logically it would just be a standard war movie with a basic war plot which isn't that interesting.

Guys anyone can tell me why Michael Bhien's career as a" hollywood mainstream" actor has tanked?

I'm glad to hear other people are giving more appreciation to the original Terminator film. For years I was in the minority who liked T1- vs T2 as the best film. While I love T2, I always thought T1 was the better movie. loving them both is okay with me lol. They are both amazing!

The eyebrow story is BS. Arnold never even shaved his eyebrows for the movie. It’s covered in prosthesis.

21:49 The hell is that huge white thing infront of them? Definitely not a video player.

I could sit and listen to you two talk about films all day.

@1:15:35 I've never heard the Terminator having another outfit talked about as a "cock up" or "goof"
I don't get why anyone would think that was a mistake.

T2 is the bigger film, not the better one.

Notice they never show Reese anything in 1984. Eating normal food probably would’ve made him sick.

She was such a fox in the original.

I like when T800 gets into the truck near the end he looks around and doesn't know how to drive it and his cpu downloads the gear shift and in seconds he knows how to drive the truck, great details.Also when he reaches to get the bomb from his hip with his left hand after the explosion his left hand is blown away and missing leaving him with no legs and one functional working right arm

It's not just demon with the glass hand and Soldier from the Outer Limits that Cameron got inspired from but also the episode "The man who was never born". The story of a guy who goes back in time to kill the mother of the guy who destroys the planet

Love this movie, but every time I watch it I catch more and more mistakes. Thank god Cameron isn't like Lucas, always tinkering with his old films. I'm sure every mistake drives Cameron nuts, but he isn't going to go back and mess with it. Imagine him replacing all the stop motion shots with CGI. People would fuckin riot lol.

The memory of Alex Cox introducing The Terminator and then watching it on a portable CRT is something burnt into my memory forever and I am eternally grateful!

I remember seeing this movie a lot as a kid, and in my first adult rewatch, I caught the nuance of his hair being burned by the fire and Arnold losing his eyebrows. I feel like the sunglasses were as much of a cover the no eyebrows decision as it was a cover up the cut out eye. It also feels like a classic Arnold move where he felt like he looked weird minus the eyebrows and wanted to have a reason to wear the sunglasses, hence the eye gag was born, or at least they didn’t just do a makeup appliance the entire time because Arnold demanded he wear sunglasses until the end.

The first Terminator was the dark scifi, robotkiller movie I remember as a kid on television. Terminator 2 was thé Blockbuster when I was 16, I was so excited they made a second one that I saw it 5x in theater. The most I saw any movie in the cinema. This was such a classic, the Guns and Roses video on MTV was preparing us for what was to come. Good 'ol times 😂

Maybe I missed it in this commentary or others, or maybe there are deleted scenes. But isn’t anybody confused as to what The Terminator was doing when he first got to L. A.?
He comes there at 1:52 AM, immediately steals the clothes from Bill Paxton and the boys, and then the next time we see him it’s bright light. At least 8 or 9 in the morning, maybe later. WHAT THE FUCK HAS HE BEEN DOING FOR AT LEAST 6 or 7 HOURS? Hanging around? Catching the sights?
He’s a Terminator. He could’ve found all three Sarah Conners and been back to the future by daylight. And when is the best time to find most people? In the middle of the night.
Unless there’s some kind of explanation, it’s a HUGE plot hole that ruins the movie.

Rewatched this again recently. It really has aged so well. I agree that it's the superior of the two films, even though I love T2. The atmosphere, pacing, sound design, effects (which generally have aged amazingly well). The performances are great too.

The Terminator is one of those rare 10/10 films. Perfect film made for its time and has aged beautifully.

Everyone talks about Arnold...but Michael Bein is INCREDIBLE. I would argue that he is the BEST actor in the Terminator series. (Arnold is a close second for sure.)

The comment about Arnolds Terminator's style would explain why I like no other James Cameron movie.

It's crazy, you have almost the same experience as I do regarding seeing the second one first (in theaters) as a young child, being absolutely obsessed with it, then seeing the first on, and having that one become the favorite, except for me, that happened immediately upon seeing it and it has remained my favorite movie to this day. The commentary points out and discusses everything I have observed and thought about this movie word for word.

This movie sparked my love for small scale, really gritty SciFi movies. You don‘t need politics or military or glossy space ships getting involved to tell a great story.

Watched the 4k release at the cinema the other day and the new weapon sound effects really spoil it for me. Such a shame as it needlessly tarnishes a great film

Yeah Harlan Ellison was a genius no doubt but his personality is colorful to say the least lol

During the Pandemic Michael did that speach that virus is out there it won't stop until we are dead

I disagree a low budget film showing the future war filmed EXACTLY like the future was war filmed in the 1st and 2nd film would make a perfect companion piece to to the first 2 movies. No jai Courtney or any of that bollocks but a de aged Kyle Reese would be amazing, just about them getting Kyle back in time. But again shot the same sound the same. Dialogue to match the original.no fancy over the top camera angles no CGI it should just match the originals. For the fans not to try and re re re launch the franchise.

Man...Terminator and Solider are just way to different. Yeah they both have time travel but that's it. Nothing else is a copy of the story idea.

Nothing in this an 8 year old shouldn’t see? What the actual heck is wrong with you, dude?

Oliver and Rob, fantastic work as always, really enjoying these commentaries, could you both please do Alien 3?

T2 has a great villain, but there's not much else to it and is more of a kid's film.

Quick niggle: the gruel that Reese makes while he and Sarah are at the Tiki Motel isn't food. It's the explosive charge for the pipe bombs he uses later. When Sarah is going through the shopping bags, she finds mothballs and ammonia; turning to Reese, she asks "what's for dinner?" And Reese answers, distracted, "Plastique".

Great