If we have to go to a movie franchise to describe what could happen to the world at the moment in which an artificial intelligence is aware of its own existence and decides to command more than any human, it is certain that the vast majority of people those we ask pronounce a magic word: Terminator . There has not existed in the world, over the last 40 years, a cinematographic universe that has penetrated as deeply into the collective subconscious as the one caused by that Skynet that one fine day messed up the blanket to the head until causing a nuclear holocaust .
The Terminators (1984)
This film is one of the highlights of science fiction cinema of the 80s, with a practically unknown James Cameron who until that moment had only directed the sequel to Piranha . On this occasion, the Canadian will give free rein to his imagination by developing a small story but with a mastery that opened the doors of Hollywood wide for him.. This time we will meet Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a waitress who will be immersed in a future war between humans and machines that is fought in the present of 1984 on the streets of Los Angeles. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) will travel to the past to protect the mother of the future leader of the Resistance, John Connor, while Skynet will do the same to a T-800 Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) with the sole mission of preventing that from happening. . Is it necessary to tell what happens at the end?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Although arguably the first film contributed much more to the franchise, Terminator 2 The Last Judgment was a real success that swept theaters around the world. In addition to the demand to know what happened after the events of the first film, we will now have on screen a conflictive teenage John Connor who will once again be the center of Skynet’s intrigues. Only this time, the fight will be between two different models of Terminator: on the one hand the one we already met in 1984 played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and on the other the new T-1000, a killing machine capable of transforming into anything.
Terminator 2 ‘s new computer-generated digital effects made a movie shine even brighter that served to leave the franchise open for future installments. Too bad that the freshness of The Terminator was not maintained despite the enormous display of media by a James Cameron who had already triumphed in those years with films like Aliens the return or The Abyss . Just four years later he would break the box office again with Risky Lies and, in 1997, he reached first place with Titanic .
Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines (2003)
Unfortunately for the franchise, James Cameron let his creature end up in other hands and the third installment in the franchise almost completely turned fans off from the original two installments. With Skynet supposedly finished, the time travel story throws us back to another future where artificial intelligence still has a chance to wipe out humanity. On this occasion, the new Terminator is a woman, her code name is TX and she will travel to the past, to 2007, to eliminate all the high-ranking commanders of the resistance that she can. John Connor appears on the screen, as does his wife and, of course, an Arnold Schwarzenegger who will have the role of protecting the entire world from Skynet. Of course, it is not one of the most remembered films of the seriesalthough the abilities of the new threat are practically infinite. The (or rather the) TX is an even more advanced model than the T-1000 from Terminator 2 and offers such deadly power that the original T-8o0 itself from the first movie doesn’t seem to be enough to combat it.
Terminator Salvation (2009)
This fourth installment was one of the most anticipated by fans after the small fiasco of Terminator 3, since the story focused exclusively on a period that we had not seen until then, such as the fight of the Resistance led by John Connor. Virtually all of the action takes place in the alternate future that has been woven throughout the previous three films where Skynet is still hell-bent on wiping out all humans. We are in a world ravaged by machines and we have Christian Bale in the role of a leader who is not as rocky as he might seem. In addition, a new character joins the cast, Marcus, who is a human turned android and who will unleash the suspicions of many members of the Resistance.
Although it was one of the most anticipated films, it did not meet the expectations of the fans, who had seen in this Terminator Salvation a way to delve into the lore of a saga that, far from the hand of James Cameron, had made waters away from the spirit of the first two installments. Even so, as a curiosity to have more information about the story, it is not bad, but little else. A shame because it was a wasted opportunity.
Terminator Genesis (2015)
Proof of the drift of the franchise in the last two unsuccessful films, in addition to a whole string of financial problems that beset the company that owns the rights to the saga, Terminator Genesis became a kind of new twist (plot ) of the saga returning to common places celebrated by fans. In this way, and far from telling what happened after the fourth film, the story takes us back to the past, to the 80s again, with a Sarah Connor played by Emilia Clarke and a T-800 looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Once again, Skynet returns to the fray to try to kill John Connor’s mother, only offering a very different point of view than the 1984 film.
In any case, the film saves us a whole series of bizarre changes in the time lines, with alternative pasts to the one we met in the first film. So much so that the c (aged) Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger is now known as the grandfather, because he arrived in 1973 to protect Sarah Connor from a T-1000 and later had a run-in with his other self from 1984, which caused a paradox in the timeline that should have led to the events of the first The Terminator . In this way, the old T-800 will become the protector and instructor of a woman destined to give birth to the leader of the Resistance and who will be able to face any threat on her own. Including an ultra advanced T-3000.
Terminator: Dark Fate (Terminator Dark Fate) (2019)
If after reading what happened in Terminator 5 you don’t already know where the franchise is going, you’re not alone. James Cameron must have thought the same thing and after years of insulting the good name of his first two films, he announced with great fanfare that he had repurchased the rights to take charge of the Skynet circus himself, Sarah Connor, his son and T -800. The result of that first film is Terminator Dark Fate , released just three years ago and directly connected to what happened in Terminator 2 . So much so that practically in the opening scene James Cameron destroys everything we had seen in the third, fourth and fifth films in one fell swoop.
The fact is that in Terminator Dark Fate 25 years have passed since what we saw in T2 and we verify that Skynet’s desire to end the ties of the Resistance in the past has not stopped. Now, yes, his objective will not be the usual one since the new Terminator REV-9 that will travel to the past will insist on looking for a certain Dani Ramos . In turn, the Resistance will make a modified soldier, Grace, travel through time in order to defend Dani, while Sarah Connor and the T-800 played by Arnold Schwarzenegger join in the fight against the machines. Anything else? Yes, we will have to wait until Terminator End of War to find out what exactly happens.
Terminator 7, the end of the saga
Terminator is one of the best-known movie franchises in the world and its first two installments are surely to blame for how we perceive science fiction in these times of super computers and increasingly complex artificial intelligences. Even so, James Cameron is still at the foot of the canyon expanding that universe and proof of this is that this same year we will have the seventh installment of the saga, an End of the war that we will see how it leaves the old history of the fight of Humanity against a Skynet that he became aware of his own existence on August 29, 1997 at 2:14 in the morning.
At least we are assured of the presence of the fireproof Arnold Schwarzenegger in his barely changing role as Terminator, sometimes with the chip set to annihilate and kill humans, and other times to protect future assets of a Resistance originally commanded by Sarah Connor’s son. . But hey, so as not to get too confused, we are going to explain which are the movies that have reached theaters inspired by this franchise. Deliveries that sometimes have not been as brilliant as we would have expected.
When does Terminator 7 come out?
The only thing that is known about the film is that it is in development. The trailer you have above is nothing more than a concept created by fans of the saga, so it only serves to give us a completely unrealistic idea of what the Terminator could look like in this latest installment. As soon as we have official news of the premiere or the first official trailer, we will update this article so that you are up to date.