2. It’s not just a show, it’s a brand
With the fourth film TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE FUTURE BEGINS already staking out a May 22, 2009 release date, FOX and Warner Bros aren’t about to cancel CONNOR and tarnish the luster of one of their most valuable and storied franchises. And don’t even get me started on the t-shirt sales!

3. Prepare for TERMINATOR 24/7
Come May 2009, get ready for an invasion of an entirely different nature as the combined marketing muscle of Warner Bros. and FOX hype up the season finale of the TV series alongside the launch of the fourth. Forget manipulative and brilliant robots. Watch in amazement as the real evil geniuses [Hollywood executives] use the television series to build audience awareness for a successful movie which in turn helps bring more viewers back to the small screen come Fall 2009.

A sequel to the low-budget sci-fi action thriller that made him and star Arnold Schwarzenegger A-list Hollywood names, writer/director James Cameron upped the ante with this follow-up by employing a more sweeping storyline and cutting-edge special effects. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, now a single mother to rebellious teen John Connor (Edward Furlong), during the late nineties. Having been informed by a time-traveling soldier in the first film that John will one day grow up to become humanity’s savior from a computer-controlled Armageddon, Sarah has responded by becoming a muscle-bound she-warrior bent on educating John in survival tactics and battle strategies. Her ranting about humankind’s future has landed Sarah in an insane asylum and John in the foster care system. The rebellious John has responded to his situation by getting into scrapes with the law. When a new and improved Terminator android called the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) arrives from the future to eliminate John, an older model T-800 (Schwarzenegger) is sent to protect the boy. The T-1000, however, has the ability to morph itself into any shape it desires, allowing it chameleon-like powers and near indestructibility. The T-800 saves John’s life and helps break Sarah out of the institution. Staying only one step ahead of the dogged T-1000, Sarah leads her son and the T-800 to the headquarters of Cyberdyne Systems, the company that will invent a robotic intelligence that will eventually take over the world. There, they attempt to convince inventor Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) to help them stop the future from ever occurring by destroying his work. Dyson sacrifices himself in an explosion to save the world, leading to a final showdown between the two Terminators at a steel foundry. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which won four Oscars in technical categories for its groundbreaking effects, was followed by a short sequel filmed exclusively as an attraction for theme parks, Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time (1996). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

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Endlessly imitated,The Terminator made the reputation of cowriter/director James Cameron — who would go on to make 1997’s titanic Titanic — and solidified the stardom of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie begins in a post-apocalyptic 2029, when Los Angeles has been largely reduced to rubble and is under the thumb of all-powerful ruling machines. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a member of the human resistance movement, is teleported back to 1984. His purpose: to rescue Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of the man who will lead the 21st-century rebels against the tyrannical machines, from being assassinated before she can give birth. Likewise thrust back to 1984 is The Terminator (Schwarzenegger), a grim, well-armed, virtually indestructable cyborg who has been programmed to eliminate Sarah Connor. After killing two “Sarah Connors” who turn out to be the wrong women, he finally aims his gunsights at the genuine article. This is the film in which Schwarzenegger declared “I’ll be baaaack” — and back he was, in “kinder and gentler” form, in the even more successful Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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