The future war scenes take place in Los Angeles in the year 2029.

The garbage truck seen at 4:45 on the DVD is made by International, a U.S. based manufacturer of commercial trucks. (In the novel, it is a GMC, circa 1975).

The "present day" scenes open at 1:52 a.m. in Los Angeles, 1984. That's when the Terminator arrives from 2029 to begin his quest to murder Sarah Connor, the mother of future resistance leader John Connor.

The garbage truck's tires appear to be made by Firestone. 

At the beginning of the movie, the Terminator has made his time jump to the Griffith Park Observatory.

One of the punks killed by the Terminator at Griffith Observatory (identified as Johnny or "Kotex" in the novel) is played by Bill Paxton, who would go on to appear in a few other Cameron films as well.

At 7:23 on the DVD, notice that Kotex has a tire tread mark down the left side of his face. Apparently, this is an intentional affectation of his.

The shot at 8:54 on the DVD appears to have been filmed around 215 7th Street, towards Broadway. Signs for several businesses are seen on the boulevard, including Burger House, Dr. Scala, and Thom McAn. Thom McAn was a shoe retailer from 1922 into the 1990s (Sears now owns the brand name, but the Thom McAn stores have all closed). At 9:33, Reese arrives in an alleyway next to a dumpster that is spray painted with the address 707 Broadway, which is right at the real world intersection of 7th and Broadway! (See the neighborhood on Google Maps.) Later, after Reese and Sarah flee from the Terminator after escaping the ambush at Tech Noir, the cop at 42:31 on the DVD refers to this location as 7th and Broadway, which is not too far from Pico (where Tech Noir is located), but it seems unlikely that this encounter with the Terminator would just happen to take place right where Reese arrived a full day earlier. (Obviously, the production shot all these scenes together at a convenient location reserved for them by the city for several days.)

The drunk vagrant in the alley just before Reese arrives in 1984 is mumbling words that sound like, "I don't have to put up with that bullshit, man. She's always after me..." 

At 9:18 on the DVD, a black sphere appears in the air above the alley, emanating electrical discharges as Reese is about to arrive in 1984. (The novel describes Reese arriving about 2 meters above the ground, falling the remaining distance.)

Multiple scars are seen on Reese's body when he arrives in 1984. They do not appear to be the result of the chronoporting, but from past injuries received in battle. (The novel reveals them to be mostly laser-pulse scars.)

The LAPD patrol car at 11:01 on the DVD has the motto "To care and to protect" painted on it. However, the actual motto of the LAPD is "To protect and to serve". At 47:07 on the DVD, another LAPD patrol car has the motto "Dedicated to serve" instead.

As the cop approaches the drunk vagrant after Reese takes his pants, the vagrant mumbles/screeches, "That son of a bitch took my pants!"

At gunpoint, the cop tells Reese the date is Thursday, May 12. But May 12 was actually a Saturday in 1984.

Reese eludes the police by breaking into a bargain basement department store, where he steals a shirt and a spiffy pair of Nike Vandals sneakers which he wears through the remainder of the film.

At 13:14 on the DVD, the gun Reese is carrying (taken from the police officer that he confronted minutes earlier) appears to be a Smith and Wesson .38 Special, in use by the LAPD at that time.

At 16:20 on the DVD, Reese looks for Sarah Connor's name in a phone booth phone book, finding three Sarah Connors: Sarah, Sarah Ann, and Sarah J. The one we follow through the movie is Sarah J. (Jeanette) Connor. (Her middle name is revealed in the novelization.)

Sarah rides what appears to be a Honda Elite 125 motor scooter to work (the novelization confirms it). Honda introduced its scooter line that year, 1984.

As Sarah is chaining her scooter up at 16:50 on the DVD, a USA Today newspaper machine is seen in the background. A Chevron gas station is also seen in the distance.

Sarah is seen to work as a waitress at a restaurant called Big Jeff's, which appears to be fictional. There is a statue of a boy carrying two hamburgers outside the restaurant, obviously inspired by the Bob's Big Boy mascot of the restaurant chain of the same name. Sarah refers to the statue as Big Buns, but it's unclear if that is intended to be the mascot's actual name or just a joking nickname she made up for it, but the script refers to the statue as "the icon of Big Jeff himself" and does not capitalize Sarah's reference to "big buns". In Resistance, a check from Big Jeff's has the slogan printed on it, "The home of the Big Bun Burger". According to Movieland Directory, the restaurant at which the Big Jeff's scenes were shot was a Carrow's in South Pasadena (815 Fremont Ave). (In the novelization, the statue is wearing a chef's hat at a cocked angle [not so here] and mustard is about to drip down to the ground from the sculpted hamburger [here it is ketchup].)
Big Buns	Big Boy (from Wikipedia)

The Terminator visits the Alamo Sport Shop to get weaponry for its hunt for Sarah Connor. This appears to have been a fictional establishment (filmed at what is now a used car lot at 14329 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, CA). The outside of the store has signs for Winchester, Colt, and Ruger. A Remington rifle is seen on the display rack inside. These are all real world firearm manufacturers. (The novelization refers to the store as Garrett's Gun Shop; the clerk is Garrett himself.)

A billboard advertising Benson & Hedges cigarettes is seen at 18:37 on the DVD. Since 1999, cigarette advertising on billboards has been prohibited in 46 of the 50 the states in the U.S.

A painted sign on the front window of the gun store has the word "clearance" misspelled (an "a" is missing.)

As the Terminator enters the gun store at 18:47 on the DVD, a business seen in the background is Artkraft Taxidermy.

The tattoos on the gun shop clerk's arms are actor Dick Miller's actual tattoos, most likely obtained when he was a young man in the U.S. Navy.

The .45 Longslide (with laser sight) pistol taken by the Terminator at the gun shop is an AMT Hardballer variant, a stainless steel clone of the Colt M1911 pistol, made by Arcadia Machine & Tool, a firearms manufacturer now owned by High Standard Manufacturing Company. The gun makes another appearance in the "Goodbye to All That" episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The Terminator also takes an Uzi 9mm. The general Uzi line of weapons was designed by Israeli Captain Uziel Gal in the late 1940s and named after him.

Among the other weapons he takes, the Terminator asks for a Phased Plasma Rifle in a 40 watt range, but the store clerk does not have one and does not seem to be familiar with it. Plasma guns are a type of energy weapon frequently used in stories of science-fiction, but not known to effectively exist as real world weapons...yet. The Terminator's description of it being in the 40 watt range seems unrealistically small, as 40 watts is the equivalent of that used by a typical light bulb! In The Future War, author S.M. Stirling uses the description of "40 megawatt range" instead.

The Terminator loads a Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun at the gun store and uses it to kill the clerk. Franchi is an Italian manufacturer of firearms. 

The novelization reveals that the station wagon driven by the Terminator is a Ford Kingswood Estate, 1978 and the car stolen by Reese is a Ford LTD.

At 20:24 on the DVD, a Cupid's Hot Dogs restaurant is seen in the background.

The street addresses for the three Sarah Connors in the phone book at 20:41 on the DVD appear to be fictional to the city of Los Angeles, as do the addresses appearing above and below those listings. Fictional addresses are often used in film and television productions to avoid confusion with, or harassment of, real people.    As the Terminator reads the lines, notice that he moves his finger down the lines to guide his eyes, just as people do. A computer as sophisticated as the T-800 wouldn't need to do anything like that given its enhanced vision. The finger is really more for the audience's benefit so they will know what to look at.

At 20:51 on the DVD, an Ertl toy truck is run over by the Terminator. The truck has a Transtar logo on the side. Transtar is a series of tractor trucks made by International. Ironically, the Terminator will himself be run over by an International truck near the end of the movie. (In the novelization, the toy is described as a dump truck.)

At 21:11 on the DVD, notice that a small dog starts barking at the Terminator as it walks up to the first Sarah Connor address. Later in the film, Reese reveals that the resistance used dogs to sniff out those Terminators disguised as humans with cloned human tissue over their metal skeletons.

The first address the Terminator points to in the phone book is 1823 Doncaster. But when he arrives at the house, the number on it is 14239. Oddly, this house number is almost identical to the business address of the Alamo Gun Shop seen earlier, 14329! (In the novelization, the house address is 12856 Hatterass St. in Studio City.)

There appears to be a doorbell button at the first Sarah Connor's house, but the Terminator knocks instead. Perhaps he's not familiar with the doorbell concept?

At 21:39 on the DVD, there is a fish and cross symbol on the door, a Christian symbol.

The Terminator just clears the frame of the front doorway as he shoots the first Sarah Connor. But a split second later, he is suddenly outside the door frame again.

At 22:02 on the DVD, cans of Tab and Sprite soda pop are seen on the table in the employees lounge at Big Jeff's. Both soft drinks are made by the Coca-Cola Company.

At 22:15 on the DVD, a P&H Crane is seen. P&H is a brand of mining equipment. There is a logo for Zonver Drilling on the side of the crane as well; Zonver Drilling is a drilling and engineering company based out of Irwindale, CA.

At 25:52 on the DVD, Reese awakens to hear the radio playing an ad for Bob's Stereo at 25000 Sepulveda Blvd. This appears to have been a fictional business...as is the later Bob's Liquor at 34:13!

At 26:10 on the DVD, General Bank is seen as Reese pulls away from the construction site in a hot-wired car. General Bank existed in the Los Angeles area from 1980-2003, then was acquired by Cathay Bank.

As Sarah and her roommate Ginger prepare for their evenings, Sarah is wearing a Jetsons t-shirt. The Jetsons was an animated sit-com produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1962-1963 and 1985-1987.

At 26:23 on the DVD, a box of Tampax tampons is seen on the bathroom counter.

At 26:49 on the DVD, Ginger's boyfriend Matt appears to be wearing a t-shirt printed with the face of Albert Einstein.

Vukovich tells Traxler that the file on the second Sarah Connor killing was sent over from Valley Division. This is probably a reference to the West Valley Division of the LAPD.

The flag seen in Lt. Traxler's LAPD office at 27:47 on the DVD may be the Los Angeles city flag, though the colors seem to be a bit different.

At 28:15 on the DVD, notice that the empty reptile terrarium has a sign on it, "Beware of Dog". Apparently the terrarium's occupant, an iguana named Pugsley, escapes frequently, as it is seen roaming the apartment at a couple different times during the first half of the film. Pugsley is Sarah's pet, though notice that Pugsley seems to hiss every time Sarah kisses him! (The novelization reveals that Sarah inherited the reptile from an ex-boyfriend.)

At 28:23 on the DVD, there appear to be playing cards laid out on the coffee table in Sarah and Ginger's apartment, in a pattern suggesting a game of solitaire was being played.

The voice of Stan Morski on the voice message as he cancels his date with Sarah is actually the voice of the film's writer/director, James Cameron.

Ginger remarks that Sarah's (canceled) date that night owned a Porsche. This lets the viewer know that he (Stan Morski) has money.

At 29:09 on the DVD, Sarah and Ginger's apartment number is seen to be 225. So, she was living at 309 Caldera Canyon, Apt. 225. The sign on the outside wall of the building reads "Mira" -something.

When Sarah opens the phone book at the pizza parlor, listings for Conin Tire Sales Inc. and Connecticut General Life Insurance are seen. I've found no evidence of a real world Conin Tire Sales, but Connecticut General Life Insurance was a real company at the time, now merged into Cigna.

At 32:45 on the DVD, a sign for Dreyer's Ice Cream is seen on the window of the pizza parlor.

Fearing for her life after hearing about the "Sarah Connor" murders and finding Reese tailing her, Sarah ducks into the Tech Noir nightclub on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, next to Super C Ranch Market. Both appear to be fictional establishments, though Pico is an actual boulevard in the city.

At 34:13 on the DVD, police receive a call of a 211 in progress at Bob's Liquor at the corner of 3rd and Cameron. At least it sounds like the dispatcher is saying Cameron! There is no street named Cameron in the Los Angeles area. "211" is the police code for "robbery".

At 35:11 on the DVD, Pugsley climbs over a box of Harvest Wheats crackers and boxes of Zesty Cheddar and Honey Grahams crackers are also seen on the shelf, all from Keebler. All three types of cracker are no longer being produced by the company (the Terminator curse!). Allbee nutritional supplement bottles are also seen.

The answering machine in the apartment appears to be an Execu Sect. I've been unable to confirm whether this was a real world brand at the time.

Ironically, Ginger's answering machine message says "Hi, there...fooled you. You're talking to a machine. But don't be shy. It's ok. Machines need love too..."

At 37:09 on the DVD, the Terminator finds a university ID card for Sarah. The name of the university is not visible off the top of the screen, but the card is for Spring 1984, suggesting she was still enrolled at this time. (The novelization states she was attending West Los Angeles Junior College rather than a university.)

At 37:48 on the DVD, a neon sign proclaiming "Coke is it!" is seen in the background at Tech Noir. This was the advertising slogan of Coca-Cola from 1982-1985.

At 38:20 on the DVD, Sarah is drinking a Canada Dry beverage of some type at Tech Noir (in the novelization she drinks a Coke instead). She accidentally knocks the bottle to the floor just seconds later and leans down from her table to pick it up, preventing the newly-arrived Terminator from spotting her as it walks by. At 39:14 there appears to also be a Schlitz beer bottle on Sarah's table, but it's possible it was left there by the previous occupant.

At 38:47 on the DVD, bar tap handles for Coors and Coors Light beer are seen at the bar at Tech Noir.

At Tech Noir, the same patron in a black and white tank top seems to be in two places at once as the Terminator makes his move on Sarah: on the dance floor at 39:12 and behind Reese at the bar at 39:28!

At 40:00 on the DVD, various brand names are seen at the bar: Laura Scudder, Schlitz, Dos Equis, and Stroh's.

At Tech Noir, Reese says to Sarah, "Come with me if you want to live." This line is repeated in Judgment Day by the T-800 protector.

What may be a production vehicle with a stage light and reflector mounted above it is visible on the right-hand side of the screen as the Terminator gets up after being blasted onto the sidewalk at 40:57 on the DVD.

At 42:05 on the DVD, Zimmer's Card & Gift is seen on the street as Reese quickly backs the car out of the alley. This was probably a real business at the time, but I've been unable to confirm it.

At 42:06 on the DVD, notice that the street Reese has backed into is the same one he arrived at through time travel earlier.

At 42:08 on the DVD, a business called Funky of New York-Paris is seen in the background. This was a real business at 219 W. 7th Street in Los Angeles as recently as 2007. It appears to be gone now. 

At 42:40 on the DVD, it can be seen that the police car taken by the Terminator has no rear view mirror and no partition between the front and back seats. The rearview mirror is also missing from the LTD and the later Cadillac stolen by Reese.

Throughout the scenes of the Terminator driving the police car, his eyebrows are missing. Don't ask me why.

A pizza restaurant called Little Ol' Italy is seen at 42:50 on the DVD. I've not been able to find any evidence that this place still exists.

At 42:56 on the DVD, Sierra Leone Diamond Company and A&A Electronic Company are seen. I've been unable to confirm these as real businesses in L.A. at the time, but they look like actual on-location storefronts.

At 43:45 on the DVD, a Thrifty truck is seen parked outside a Thrifty drug store. Thrifty was an American west coast drug store chain from 1919-1998. Just a second later, we can see a neon sign for the Hotel Clark down the street; later, at 1:26:58, a rooftop neon sign for the Hotel Clark is seen. This is a real hotel in downtown Los Angeles, now under renovation as part of a downtown clean-up project.

Reese's rank and serial number are Sergeant/Tech Com DN38416.

At 44:00 on the DVD, the Huntington Hotel is seen through the windshield of Reese's LTD. The Huntington was built in 1910 and sits at 752 S. Main St. It became something of a slum apartment building with a history of crime in recent decades, but was sold to investors and renovated to become a code-compliant apartment building now called Huntington Apartments.

At 44:49 on the DVD, a cab from Metro Cab Company is seen. I've been unable to confirm this as an actual cab service in L.A. at the time. Since the cab gets smashed by an out of control cop car, it was probably a studio car with a fictional business label on it.

The left front hubcap of the LTD comes and goes throughout the chase.

At 44:52 on the DVD, a McDonald's sign is seen on the Jewelry Design Center building. This is an actual building on 7th Street in L.A.

At 44:55 on the DVD, Thomas Fashion, Sunny Fashion, and Shoe World are seen.

Reese states the 600 Series Terminators had rubber skin, so they were easy to spot.

After abandoning the damaged LTD, the second car Reese steals is a Cadillac Eldorado.

In this film, Reese states that there will be a nuclear war "a few years from now", started by defense network computers. But in Judgment Day, the war does not occur until 1997, which many might describe as more than just "a few years" from 1984. It's possible that the timeline has been altered already by the time of Judgment Day, either by events in this film or in stories appearing in licensed tie-ins to the Terminator franchise, causing Judgment Day not to occur until 1997.

At 49:52 on the DVD, the Terminator's stolen police car has the motto "To care and to protect" on it, but at 51:22 it has changed to "Dedicated to serve".

A number of gunshots are seen penetrating the windshield of the stolen Cadillac in the parking garage, but only one bullet hole is ever seen in it during the subsequent car chase.

After crashing his police cruiser into the wall, why does the Terminator flee from the scene? He doesn't seem that seriously damaged later. Why doesn't he simply continue his assault on Sarah on the spot?

At 52:31 on the DVD, it's obvious that the "Dedicated to serve" motto on the Terminator's crashed police car is just a magnetic sticker. This is frequently done in Hollywood productions so that different mottos or logos can be easily affixed to vehicles to serve different roles in different productions.

Notice also at 52:31 that the concrete wall has a stenciled command "POST NO BILLS", yet it is plastered with bills!

During Reese's interrogation at the police station, a cop is still carrying his gun in his shoulder harness in the interrogation room. But police do not carry sidearms into interrogation, lest the weapon be taken by the suspect.

Reese explains to Dr. Silberman that Skynet was built for SAC-NORAD. SAC was the Strategic Air Command at Offut Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska (SAC has since been disbanded in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union). NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint operation of the U.S. and Canada to provide early warning and defense against air and space offenses against the two nations.

Dr. Silberman returns as Sarah's criminal psychiatrist at Pescadero State Hospital in Judgment Day.

Reese claims that John Connor and his men were to blow up the time displacement equipment after his passage to 1984.

At 57:25 on the DVD, we see that the Terminator's sunglasses are Gargoyles.

A Sony VCR is seen in the police station at 58:07 on the DVD. At 59:12, we see that the TV is a Toshiba.

Lt. Traxler tells Sarah that the police's TAC guys wear body armor. TAC is an abbreviation for "Tactical"; the more common term for such police forces is SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics).

Vukovich explains to Sarah that her attacker (the Terminator) was probably on PCP when he smashed his fist through the windshield of Reese's car to grab her. "Broke every bone in his hand and wouldn't feel it for hours." PCP is a hallucinogenic drug that can have an analgesic effect on the body as well, deadening pain receptors for a time.

Sarah's mother is said to live in Big Bear. This is a mountain community about 96 miles east of L.A.

At 1:01:06 on the DVD, the police desk sergeant has the name badge "Wright". In the novelization, his name is Eddie Rothman. No final exclamations are audible by the sergeant when he dies as the Terminator plows the car through the lobby, but in the novel he says, "Oh, shit."

At 1:01:11 on the DVD, the doors of the police station say Central Division. The Rampart area of the LAPD does fall under the Central Bureau. (The novelization of Judgment Day refers to it as the Rampart Division West Highland police station.)

The Terminator's eyes are just barely visible through his sunglasses as he speaks to the desk sergeant. Both eyes are human, though one of them should be red and electronic at this point.

The Terminator crashes into the station house in yet another, presumably stolen, car. The novel states the car is an Impala, but the car in the film does not look like any Impala model I can find reference to.

At about 1:02:29 on the DVD, we see from the desk nameplates that two of the police officers killed by the Terminator at Rampart Division are Captain Chapnick and Warden Bryan.

At 1:03:15 on the DVD, a Westinghouse logo is seen on an electrical box in the precinct house.

At 1:04:51 on the DVD, a missing person poster on the precinct wall is for Kevin Collins. The photo matches that of Kevin Andrew Collins, who went missing from the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco on February 10, 1984 and has never been found.

Reese and Sarah escape from the police precinct in what appears to be a Gremlin automobile. In the novelization, it is a Pinto. The Gremlin was manufactured by AMC from 1970–1978, the similar Pinto by Ford from 1971–1980.

At 1:06:32 on the DVD, the radio announcer gives the station's call letters as KFLB. This is a fictional station as far as I can tell, but the novelization refers to KFWB at one point, an actual L.A. radio station.

At 1:08:12 on the DVD, Sarah uses a Johnson & Johnson first aid kit to dress Reese's wound.

Reese relates John Connors' message from the future to Sarah. One part of it is "I can't help you with what you must soon face except to say that the future is not set." How does John know that the future is not set? Did he already have knowledge suggesting that the timeline had already been altered from the original?

During the flashback sequence at 1:12:06 on the DVD, Reese and his men allow the dogs to sniff their hands as they enter the underground human bunker. This is an early indication that dogs are able to smell the difference between a human and a Terminator encased in cloned human tissue.

The shot at 1:14:44 on the DVD would seem to suggest that the internal red, electronic eyes of a Terminator encased in cloned human tissue can be seen under the proper, dark, lighting conditions. The novelization reveals the weapon he carries is a General Dynamics RBS-80, a phased plasma rifle seen throughout the Terminator series. General Dynamics is a major U.S. aerospace and defense company.

Back in 1984, apparently the injured flesh on the Terminator's body is starting to rot because the motel janitor (named Rodney in the novel) complains about his room wafting an odor like a dead cat and flies are heard and seen in the room (the novelization reveals the flesh was, indeed, rotting and even getting gangrenous). The flies on the Terminator's face in the scene from 1:15:39-1:16:12 are obviously fake, as they never move!

In Sarah's address book, the Terminator finds the address and phone number of her mom's Big Bear cabin, 181 Spruce Lane, 555-9861. This is an actual residential address in Big Bear. The 555 prefix of the phone number is a long-time convention in Hollywood TV and film; the actual prefix in that area of Big Bear is 585.

The German Shepherd dog leashed outside the office of the Tiki Motel is James Cameron's dog, Wolfie. The name Wolfie was also used as a dog name in Judgment Day.

The man in the hallway of the motel as the Terminator walks by at 1:16:20 is wearing a sports shirt that reads "HAVASU" with the number 80. It is probably a reference to the class of 1980 of Lake Havasu High School in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Reese and Sarah stay in room 9 of the Tiki Motel. The exterior scenes were shot at the actual Tiki Motel at 7301 Santa Fe Avenue, Huntington Park, CA. The novelization reveals that they hitched a ride part of the way there. Sarah gives the number of the motel as 408-555-1439; the 408 area code is actually part of coastal central California, not southern (and notice the use again of the 555 prefix). (Also, in the novel, it is spelled "Tikki" instead of "Tiki" and is south of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, much further south than Huntington Park.)

A deleted scene from the film reveals that the pistol carried by Reese which he gives to Sarah at the motel was Lt. Traxler's; Traxler gives it Reese as he lays dying after the attack by the Terminator at the police station.

At 1:17:23 on the DVD, Reese walks past a Shell service station, as evidenced by the "Service is Our Business" slogan seen behind him. This was the slogan of Shell Oil from the 1960s through '80s.

At 1:18:25 on the DVD, the Terminator dials the number of the Tiki Motel, just given to him by Sarah over the phone, to get their address. But instead of 1439, he dials 1469...and still gets an answer from Tiki Motel!

After Reese's shopping trip, Sarah just rips the first grocery bag open, to spill the contents! I guess she was really hungry! (In the novelization, it is Reese who tears the bag open after setting them down on the counter.) Of course, it turns out that Reese brings back little or nothing in the way of food, just Enoz Moth Balls, Karo Corn Syrup, Springfield Ammonia, Albers Corn Meal and similar products for making plastic explosives. (Other than ammonia, I've been unable to confirm if these materials are actually useful in making plastic explosive). The four brand names seen are all real brands.

At 1:24:25 on the DVD, the bandage on Reese's right hand has disappeared. It's back again in later shots.

The owner of the pickup truck stolen by Reese and Sarah at the motel is revealed to be named Herb Rossmore in the novel.

The pickup truck stolen by Reese and Sarah at the motel has light guards on the front grill and cab top that say "Super Off-Roader". Light guards with this slogan were formerly made by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels. At 1:26:39, we also see a Dick Cepek sticker on the rear window.

As dogs were earlier shown as capable of sensing the difference between a Terminator and a human, the German Shepherd outside the motel barks as the Terminator approaches, warning Reese and Sarah of his presence. It's also a nice touch when the two are escaping in the truck and pass the dog, the dog doesn't bark, but as the Terminator runs after them, he does.

As the Terminator races after the two humans on his motorcycle at 1:24:52 on the DVD, Spartan Burgers is seen across the street. This is an actual restaurant across from the Tiki Motel, still in existence today.

At 1:25:11 on the DVD, the Terminator passes a Bekins moving truck.

At 1:26:13 on the DVD, a sticker for T/A High Tech Radials is seen on the rear window of the stolen pickup. T/A High Tech Radials were tires made by BF Goodrich.

At 1:26:46 on the DVD, an oval-shaped sticker is seen on the stolen truck's rear window which wasn't there before. The shot must have been filmed in a different cab interior.

The tractor-trailer truck that runs over the Terminator at 1:27:48 on the DVD is an International (in the novelization, it is a Kenworth). The cab doors have the logo of J&G Oil on them; though there is currently an actual company located in Texas, I'm not sure if they were in business at the time this film was made. At 1:28:26, we see the truck has T/A mud flaps; T/A is the abbreviation of TravelCenters of America, a chain of truck stops.

The driver of the tanker truck leaves his door open as he gets out to check on the person he hit. But the door is closed again when the Terminator goes to climb into the cab.

At 1:28:39 on the DVD, the door handle on the cab of the tanker truck is the push-button type under the side window. But later shots of the vehicle have a lower pull-type handle near the base of the door.

At 1:28:45 on the DVD, the Terminator climbs into the cab of the tractor-trailer and tells the man in the passenger seat, "Get out." This same scene is replayed in Judgment Day when the T-1000 oozes into a police helicopter in midair, telling the pilot, "Get out."

As the tractor-trailer chases Reese and Sarah down the city streets, I like how the viewer can see the Terminator's exposed red eye glowing in the cab!

At 1:30:30 on the DVD, the tractor trailer smashes up an AMC Gremlin. (At 1:30:21, the rear of the Gremlin can be seen to already be marred, either from a previous take or from the production obtaining an already scrapped vehicle to destroy.)

After striking the Gremlin, the headlights of the tanker truck go out. But they are on again when the truck blows up just seconds later.

At 1:30:34 on the DVD, a cable is clearly visible pulling the tanker truck forward.

The dumpster in which Reese dives for cover from the explosion of the gas tanker has the phone number 266-1218 on it. This is the phone number of City Rubbish Company TS in Los Angeles.

The truck cab used in the burning tanker scene as the Terminator stumbles out of it appears to be a different model than the chase one, as evidenced by dual headlights present on the driver's side as it burns, while the chase model had single headlights.

Running to escape from the Terminator in its T-800 form after its skin has burned away, Reese and Sarah run into a factory which is later revealed in Judgment Day to be part of Cyberdyne Systems, the soon-to-be manufacturer of HKs, Terminators, and the Skynet computer itself. (However, in the alternate timeline of "Tempest" Part 3, it is implied that the T-800 was destroyed at a factory other than Cyberdyne.)

As Reese switches on a bunch of the factory's automated systems to confuse the T-800's sensors, at 1:34:32 on the DVD, a console has the logo of GMFRobotics. This is a reference to the FANUC Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of industrial robotic systems. The display was an actual one used for controlling FANUC assembly line robots. A number of the industrial robots seen in the factory have the FANUC logo painted on it.

At 1:34:37 on the DVD, a robotic arm in the factory is seen to have a Motoman logo painted on it.

Notice at 1:35:59 on the DVD that Sarah accidentally leans on a button that activates the hydraulic press that she will shortly use to destroy the Terminator as it grasps for her.

When Reese collapses in the factory from his wounds and exhaustion, Sarah grabs at him, exclaiming, "On your feet, soldier!" A vision of Reese says the same to her in a restored scene on the Judgment Day Extreme DVD and in the Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Good Wound". (Reese also says it to himself on page 19 of the novelization, right after he arrives in 1984.)

By the end of the movie, it seems there are more pieces of the Terminator still somewhat intact than just the arm and a partial microchip as revealed in Judgment Day. The torso and skull were pretty much flattened by the hydraulic press, but the pelvis and legs should still be found strewn around the floor of the factory after Reese partially destroys the robot with a plastique pipe bomb; in fact, a nearly whole mechanical leg is seen lying on the floor at 1:37:39 on the DVD. In "Tempest" Part 3, many more parts are seen, in an LAPD evidence locker.

When Sarah is loaded into the ambulance, she is loaded feet-first. EMT's always load a patient in head-first.

At the end of the movie, Sarah is recording Tape 7 on November 10. It must still be 1984 since she is seen pregnant with John, to whom she is making these audio recordings. At 1:42:48 on the DVD, we see that she is recording on a TDK brand cassette tape.

Sarah is driving a Jeep Renegade at the end of the film. She pulls into a Pemex station. "Pemex" is short for Petróleos Mexicanos, a Mexican petroleum company, indicating she is in Mexico (the Spanish language signs and speech in the scene also help!). Oversized advertising cans of Tecate beer are seen hanging from the ceiling of the station's sun-cover. Several piñatas are also seen hanging. What appears to be a Ford Pinto is parked there on screen left. The station owner may have a small farm behind it, as a couple of chickens are seen walking across the gas lanes. A few watermelons are also seen near the gas pumps, probably for sale. An old-time truck (looks like a Ford) is also seen parked in he background, but I can't quite identify the model.

At 1:42:02 on the DVD, the Spanish signs at the Pemex station can be translated as: cigaros=cigars, litro=liter. A red, octagonal street sign at the intersection reads "ALTO", "STOP".

The Mexican boy takes an instant photo of Sarah with a Kodamatic camera, made from 1982-1986 until a lawsuit by Polaroid forced Kodak to stop manufacturing of instant cameras.

At 1:42:36 on the DVD, we can see that Sarah has a large jug of bottled water on the floor of the passenger seat for her trip south. Also, previously recorded audio tapes are seen on the passenger seat.

Although she pays the boy for the photo, Sarah never pays the old man for the gas he pumped before pulling out of the station!

Notes from the novelization of The Terminator by Randall Frakes and Bill Wisher (The page numbers come from the 2nd printing, paperback edition, published February 1985)

(Two novelizations of The Terminator were produced. The earliest version was published in 1984 in the UK and was written by Shaun Hutson. The second was first published in 1985, the version I'm analyzing here, written by Randall Frakes and Bill Wisher. If I come across the Hutson version for a low price someday, I'll add a study of it too!)

The T-800 is referred to only as "Terminator" throughout the book, not even "the Terminator".

The book places the day of arrival in 1984 on Friday, March 9, 3:48 a.m. In the movie it's Thursday, May 12.

On page 1, the graffiti "History Is Dead" is scrawled on a wall near the Griffith Observatory. This may be a wry reference to the near-death of humanity in the not too distant future.

Page 1 describes the Griffith Observatory as no longer being a working one, instead relying on its planetarium to project artificial views of the night sky for its visitors, due to the light and air pollution of the metropolitan area in which it resides. Sadly, this is largely true.

Page 2 compares the Griffith Observatory, once academic, now to a tourist spot like Disneyland.

Page 2 describes the view from Mount Hollywood (at the peak of which Griffith Observatory rests) over Los Angeles and beyond Santa Monica to the Pacific Ocean. Santa Monica is a beachfront city adjacent to Los Angeles.

The trash truck driver is identified as Del Ray Goines, as he drives up Vermont Canyon Road. This is the actual road that heads up Mount Hollywood to Griffith Observatory (becoming Observatory Avenue in the final stretch).

Del Ray is listening to B.B. King on his Walkman. King is a renowned blues musician, singer, and songwriter. "Walkman" is Sony's brand name for its personal audio/video devices (at the time of this story only audio, being the brand of an audio cassette tape player).

Page 3 reveals that Del Ray was a linebacker for the Houston Oilers for two seasons as a young man. The Oilers were the NFL football team of Houston, Texas from 1959-1998, after which the team moved to Nashville, Tennessee to become the Tennessee Titans.

The book reveals that the punks encountered by the Terminator at the observatory were riding in Rick's '68 Chevy Malibu.

On page 4, one of the punks (the Bill Paxton character in the movie) has his hair done up in purple spikes that reminds Del Ray of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. The Little Rascals was a series of short comedy films, originally known as Our Gang, about a gang of precocious kids, produced from 1922-1944. Buckwheat was an African-American boy in the series, known for his wild hair.

Del Ray's trash truck is described as having a bumper sticker that reads, "This Property Insured by Smith & Wesson". Smith & Wesson is a manufacturer of firearms. Del Ray is revealed to actually carry a different brand though, an HR .22 handgun. "HR" stands for "H & R" (Harrington & Richardson), another firearms manufacturer.

Page 4 describes Del Ray's history of shooting Budweiser cans with his .22.

The book reveals the names of the three punks encountered by the Terminator: the one using the telescope is Rick, the one with the spiked hair is Johnny (nicknamed Kotex), and the third (who winds up giving his clothes to the Terminator) is Mark. Johnny's nickname of "Kotex" is presumably based on the brand name of feminine hygiene products.

On page 6, the punks' ghetto blaster is playing "Let's Have a War" by Fear. This is an actual song by the hardcore punk band Fear, from their 1982 debut album The Record. The song title used here may be another dark reference to the coming war for human existence. (In the movie, there is no music being played on a ghetto blaster.)

Page 6 mentions that the three punks had started their evening at the Cathay before getting into a fight with some rockabillies and then piling into Rick's Malibu and finding themselves on Mount Hollywood. The Cathay is a reference to the Cathay de Grande, a rock club in Hollywood during the early 1980s best known for featuring punk bands.

Page 7 describes the electrical flashes of the time displacement effect as the Terminator arrives as being like a thousand Instamatics going off in Del Ray's face. The Instamatic was a low-cost camera manufactured by Kodak from 1963-1988.

Page 8 describes the explosive sound of the Terminator's arrival into 1984 as a gargantuan Mean Joe Green (sic) slamming into the Rocky Mountains. Mean Joe Greene was the nickname of NFL player Charles Edward Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers, considered by many to be the best defensive lineman to ever play football. The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in the western portion of North America.

Page 9 describes the Terminator's eye color as cobalt-blue. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's eyes are, in fact, blue.

After seeing the cold-eyed Terminator, Del Ray bolts on foot from his trash truck, thinking of him sarcastically as the Man from Glad. The Man from Glad was a spokesman for Glad trash bags and food storage containers played by various actors in television commercials over the years of Glad's existence since 1963.

Page 11 refers to the act of time travel as "chronoporting". It also describes a conduction jelly applied to the Terminator's skin (and Reese's later) to prevent flash burn during the process. The conduction jelly turns to a white ash during the transport, making the Terminator's perfect body look like a classical sculpture by Bernini or Rodin. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) were possibly the foremost sculptors of their respective times.

On page 14, rivulets of rain begin to wash off the ash of the conduction jelly from the Terminator's body, giving it "the appearance of Renaissance statuary that had been exposed to the elements for centuries." The Renaissance, of course, was the cultural movement from 14th-17th Centuries which resulted in a flowering of ideas across all aspects of European society.

As the Terminator approaches on page 14, Mark clutches the pearl handle of his knife, thinking, I got your pearly gates, pal. The pearly gates, of course, is a reference to the gateway to Heaven as described in the Bible's Book of Revelation.

Page 16 states that Reese has arrived about 24 minutes after the Terminator and almost 8 kilometers away. Reese's landing at 7th and Broadway is actually about that distance from Griffith Observatory, as the crow flies.

Page 17 reveals that the vagrant from whom Reese takes the pants was a former film studio CEO named Benjamin Schantz. Schantz is able to glimpse the Bonaventure Hotel between the buildings from his space in the alley. The Bonaventure is located about 9 blocks away from Broadway and 7th and, though the hotel is tall, I'm not sure one could really see it from the ground that far away. The Bonaventure towers have appeared in numerous movies and television shows for their high-tech look.

The lightning-like discharge that accompanies Reese's arrival in 1984 is described as undulating like St. Elmo's Fire. St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon that is known to create a glowing plasma field around a grounded object.

On page 19, Reese thinks of Schantz as a "scav". Presumably, this is short for "scavenger".

On page 19, Reese, newly arrived in 1984, wishes he could have brought his Westinghouse M-25 plasma rifle. This is, of course, a fictional future rifle model. Presumably, "Westinghouse" refers to the Westinghouse corporation which manufacturers electrical and other devices. The "M-25" designation indicates a military model (M=military in firearms nomenclature).

Also on page 19, Reese thinks of a Model Seven aerial as being similar to a helicopter. Presumably, a Mark Seven is a model of aerial Hunter-Killer. Page 175 describes a Mark Eight Aerial as the new model.

Page 21 reveals that the cop who chases Reese in the alley and gets his gun taken from him was Sgt. Michael Nydefer.

Page 22 makes a reference to Taco Bell.

On page 22, Sgt. Nydefer peers between two Dempsey dumpsters, looking for Reese. Dempsey Brothers, Inc. manufacturs large dumpsters and trucks for the removal of garbage.

Page 26 describes Reese's new shoes, picked up as he runs for cover through the closed department store, as having "Nike" stitched on the side. But, Nike shoes have only the "swish" logo on their sides, not the brand name. Reese is described as only knowing of the name from the obsolete Nike ballistic missile; this was a U.S. anti-aircraft missile system from 1951 through the 1970s.

On page 27, Reese steals a Remington 870 pump shotgun from a police car. This rifle has actually been in use by U.S. law enforcement since 1951.

Also on page 27, Reese runs after stealing the police rifle to the corner of Sixth and Olive, Pershing Square. This is a real world location, just a block away from his arrival near Seventh and Broadway. Reese realizes he was born less than a mile from here in the future.

Pages 28-45 feature scenes not found in the film.

In the novel, Sarah lives at 656 Jasmine Street, in the Palms District of Los Angeles. The district is surrounded by Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Culver City, just as described in the book. Jasmine Avenue (not "Street") is an actual road in the Palms district, lined with numerous apartment buildings, but there is no 656 address.

Page 29 reveals that Sarah is just 19 years old and has had Ginger as a roommate for the past 8 months. Page 223 reveals she weighs 106 pounds. Reese's age is not firmly established but Lt. Traxler guesses he is around 19 or 20. (Both actors were actually 27 at the time of filming.) Judgment Day confirms Sarah's age here by Dr. Silberman's statement that she is 29 in that film, set in 1995.

Page 30 reveals that Sarah's canceled date that evening was supposed to take her to a Julian Lennon concert at the Bowl. Julian Lennon is a musician and son of the late John Lennon. "Bowl" is presumably a reference to the Hollywood Bowl.

Page 30 reveals that Ginger's last name is Ventura.

On page 31, Ginger is listening to Bruce Springsteen on her headphones. Springsteen has been a rock 'n' roll singer/songwriter/musician since 1969.

Also on page 31, Sarah thinks of Ginger as someone who could portray Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is, of course, a superheroine appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.

After playing a little joke on her on page 33, Ginger tells Sarah she's an easy target. This may be a joking foreshadowing by the authors that Sarah is about to become the target of the Terminator.

Page 33 reveals that Sarah does not feel she is the type to raise children and, ironically, that she was not the type "from which great men and women would be made." Of course, she winds up being the mother of John Connor (and, in Timeline TT-3, of Jane Connor).

Page 33 also reveals that Sarah's father died when she was a young girl, leaving her mother to raise her alone. Infiltrator is a bit contradictory in stating that he died (from a heart attack) when she was 17.

Page 33 mentions the Himalayas. The Himalayas is a reference to the Himalayan Mountain Range in Asia which hosts the world's highest peaks.

Page 34 mentions the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is a large portion of the southwestern United States, mostly in the state of California, but also encompassing portions of Arizona and Nevada.

The film script spells the name of Sarah's pet iguana as "Pugsley", but the novel spells it "Pugsly".

Page 35 reveals that Ginger's boyfriend Matt's last name is Buchanan. But in the film script, his last name is McAllister.

On page 35, Sarah thinks Matt could bench press a Winnebago.

Also on page 35, Sarah muses on the obvious love between Ginger and Matt and wonders when she will ever inspire such passion...maybe tonight. She's thinking of her first date with Stan Morski scheduled for that night. Of course, Stan cancels out of the date, but Sarah does meet with Reese instead.

Page 36 reveals that the pizza parlor Sarah eats at that night is called Stoker's. This appears to be a fictional establishment. The movie tells us it is on Pico Boulevard since it is only a couple doors down from Tech Noir which is identified as being on Pico. The original script had "Stoker's" as the name of the night club (instead of "Tech Noir").

Matt offers to give Sarah some money in case her date strands her in some god-awful place like Anaheim. Anaheim is a real city in southern California. But it's not so god-awful. Really.

Page 37 describes Sarah's Honda Elite scooter as having a 125-cc engine. "CC" stands for "cubic centimeter" and represents the size of the engine in volume swept by an engine's rotating cylinders. The 1984 Elite model did, in fact, have a 125-cc engine (in the next year's model, the engine went up to 150).

On page 37, Reese walks through the Miracle Mile district. This is an actual business district of Los Angeles along Wilshire Boulevard.

Page 37 reveals that Reese was shot up full of amphetamines by the techs in 2029 before he made his trip through time. Amphetamines are a type of stimulant.

Page 38 reveals that John Connor had told Reese that he would be able to intercept Sarah at 20:19 hours at 656 Jasmine in Palms. It seems that Sarah must have somehow remembered the exact time she left her apartment building that night and told her son about it, so he was able to relay it to Reese in the future.

On page 38, Reese moves along an alley behind Gajewski's Foreign Auto Repair. This appears to be a fictional business.

Page 40 mentions Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." This is a 1984 song off the album of the same name by Bruce Springsteen.

Also on page 40, Reese watches Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley chatting on TV screens in a storefront window. Gumbel and Pauley were the hosts of the NBC network's morning news show Today in 1984.

Page 40 also mentions Pussycat Theatre, Caesar's Palace, Golden Nugget, and Marlboro country. "Marlboro country" was part of an advertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes. Pussycat Theater was a chain of porn theaters in California from 1966-1992. Caesar's Palace and Golden Nugget are both casinos in Las Vegas (Golden Nugget has locations in other gambling-mecca cities as well).

Page 42 intimates that humans consider dogs partners in survival in the war-torn future against the machines of 2029.

Page 42 reveals that the hotel in which the Terminator has taken shelter is called the Panama Hotel in the Silver Lake district. Silver Lake is an actual, trendy district in central Los Angeles. The Panama Hotel depicted appears to be fictional.

Page 43 reveals that the Terminator is booked in the Panama Hotel as "Mr. Smith" (the clerk chose to enter him that way when the behemoth neglected to sign the register).

Page 43 mentions the Terminator coming down Ventura Canyon Road like a god descending Olympus. There is no Ventura Canyon Road, but there is a Ventura Canyon Avenue in Los Angeles. "Olympus" is a reference to Mount Olympus in Greece which was the mythological home of the Greek gods.

Page 43 also reveals that the chronoporting of the T-800 fused electrical circuits in the L.A. neighborhood in which he arrived for a hundred-meter circumference.

Also on page 43, the Terminator sees a woman getting into her BMW.

Page 44 describes the Terminator cruising down Los Feliz in his stolen Ford Kingswood Estate until it "knifes into Sunset". Actually, Los Feliz Boulevard knifes into Western Avenue, which pierces Sunset after a few blocks.

On page 45, the Terminator raids some tools from a hardware store, including X-Acto knives. In the novel, he uses the X-Acto blades to slice open the legs of the Sarah Connor victims, but in the movie we also see him use one to cut out his damaged organic eyeball, exposing the robotic one beneath.

Page 45 mentions Melrose. This is an actual avenue in L.A., a dining, entertainment, and shopping destination.

A number of guns are named by the Terminator on page 46, during his visit to the gun shop. These are all real firearms, except for the plasma pulse laser, mentioned in the film study above.

Page 48 describes how it took the Terminator about 16 minutes to adjust himself to the driving patterns of 1984 Los Angeles and master his stolen automobile.

Page 49 mentions Fountain Boulevard, but it is presumably referring to Fountain Avenue in the Silver Lake district of L.A.

Page 49 reveals that the man at the pay phone who gets tossed aside by the Terminator is named Carlyle Leidle and he had just crashed his Harley 900 when the muffler of a 1968 Dodge van fell off in front of him. "Harley 900" is presumably a reference to the 1954-1956 KH Model 900-cc motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson. A 1968 Dodge van would have been of the A100 line. In the movie, Mr. Leidle tells his old lady on the phone that his bike "broke down".

Page 51 has Sarah reminiscing about a boy she briefly dated in her high school days, a varsity football player named Rich Welker. It reveals that she had become a cheerleader in her senior year just to be near him.

Page 52 reveals that Sarah attended Linguistics class with Professor Miller on Fridays at the college. Her next class is Psych 104, which she attends with an annoying classmate named Rod Smith who puts the moves on her.

On page 54, the toy truck is being fought over by two children, Mike and Linda, before it is knocked out of Linda's hands and into the street, where the Terminator runs over it with his station wagon. The children's names of Mike and Linda were surely inspired by the actors playing Reese and Sarah in the movie, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton.

Page 55 mentions the cartoon Tom and Jerry. This is a reference to the cartoons about a cat, Tom, and a mouse, Jerry, produced by MGM at various times since 1940.

Page 57 reveals that the manager of Big Jeff's is named Chuck Breen.

On page 58, Chuck Breen brags about using an Apple Macintosh 128K in his manager's office at Big Jeff's. The Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984.

On page 62, after spilling a glass of water on the jacket of a restaurant patron, Sarah asks, "That isn't real leather, is it?" In the book, it is, apparently, real leather, but in the movie the patron shakes his head "no". Also, here it is a little girl who afterwards plops a scoop of ice cream into Sarah's tip pouch, not a boy as in the movie.

Also on page 62, Reese finds himself at the corner of Pico and Doheny in Century City. This is an actual intersection in the Century City district of west Los Angeles. Reese also touches Spaulding and Alcott, two other streets in the area. As he moves through the city, Reese tries to project an aura of stillness, "like a skid-row Buddha", so as not to be noticed. Buddha was the Indian spiritual teacher Siddhārtha Gautama whose teachings began the Buddhist religion.

Page 63 mentions Calvin Klein fashions.

Before hot-wiring the Ford LTD, Reese attempts to steal a Cadillac and a Chrysler.

On page 65, the vocals of Jim Morrison are playing on the radio of Reese's LTD, "Take the highway to the end of the night..." Morrison was the lead singer/songwriter of The Doors from 1965-71. The lyrics are from the Doors' 1967 song "End of the Night". Later, Reese changes the station to KFWB, a real world AM news station in L.A.

Page 65 reveals that Reese is wearing a stolen digital watch. It doesn't say where or from whom he stole it from, but possibly from a sporting goods store he is stated to have broken into earlier that night to steal boxes of ammunition.

On page 66, Reese picks up some supplies at a liquor store on Crenshaw, including two bottles of Perrier, fourteen Snickers bars...and a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine! (He looks at the ads featuring beautiful women.) Crenshaw Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the Crenshaw district of L.A.

Reese watches the treads of a Caterpillar churn up dirt at the construction site on page 67, reminding him of the H-K's in his own time.

   In the flashback to Reese's time in the war in 2029, the CRT screen in Reese's helmet goes dead. CRT stands for cathode ray tube. CRT monitors were commonly used on computers for decades before being largely replaced by slimmer LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors since 2000. Possibly the technology never went out of style in the Skynet-ruled future of the Terminator universe.

   The female soldier Reese works with in the flashback and who dies from an H-K laser is revealed here to have been Corporal Ferro.

   Reese spies a dead boy, still clutching an ancient M-16; the M-16 is the most widely distributed U.S. military semi- and full-automatic rifle from 1962 to present day.

   Explosions fall eastwards from Rexford to Sherborne (sic); Sherbourne Drive does actually exist several blocks east of Rexford Drive.

   On page 71, a Camaro has been converted into an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier).

Page 73 reveals the small black-and-white TV watched by the waitresses in the employee lounge at Big Jeff's is a Motorola.

Page 74 reveals that the second Sarah Connor (Sarah Helene Connor) lived in Hancock Park. Hancock Park is an affluent residential neighborhood of central Los Angeles.

Page 75 reveals that both Matt and Ginger work at Good Life Health Spa in Santa Monica. This appears to be a fictional business, though there is currently a spa by that name in Suisun City, CA.

Also on page 75, Ginger's calisthenics class is dancing to the music of Deniece Williams. Williams is a real world singer/songwriter known mostly for funk and soul music.

Page 75 also reveals that one of the menu items at Big Jeff's is a Jiffy Burger.

Page 76 refers to Ginger grimacing like a D.I. at her calisthenics students. D.I.=Drill Instructor.

Page 76 also refers to Night of the Living Dead, the first of five Living Dead horror films made by director George Romero, this one in 1968.

After hearing about the first Sarah Connor murder from her Sarah, Ginger hums a tune and says, "There's a signpost up ahead..." The tune and quote are from the original 1959-1964 TV series, The Twilight Zone.

Page 79 reveals that Traxler and Vukovich's precinct is in the Rampart district. Rampart is the LAPD's name for its district which is the most densely populated part of L.A., west and northwest of downtown. Also revealed is Traxler's full name, Edward Theodore Traxler and Vukovich's first name, Hal.

On page 80, Vukovich lights a Camel, a brand of cigarette made by the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company.

On page 81, Vukovich tells Traxler, in reference to the Sarah Connor murders, that the press is "gonna be short strokin' it all over this one." I'm not sure what he means by "short stroking"; possibly it is a condescending reference to self-pleasuring, i.e. masturbation.

Page 81 reveals that Traxler chews Wrigley's gum.

On page 82, Vukovich tosses Traxler a bottle of Tylenol.

Page 83 reveals that Sarah's date, Stan Morski, studies film at USC and his father is a television producer. USC (University of Southern California) is well-known for its School of Cinematic Arts.

On page 83, Sarah describes Stan Morski as a cross between Tom Cruise and Pee-Wee Herman. Tom Cruise is a world-renowned movie star. Pee-Wee Herman is a well-known comical character created and portrayed by comedian Paul Reubens in television, film, and stage acts.

Also on page 83, when Ginger is impressed that Stan drives a Porsche, Sarah remarks that Hitler had a Porsche, too. I'm not sure Hitler actually owned a Porsche, but he did commission Austrian-German auto engineer Ferdinand Porsche to design a practical small car for the masses and Ferdinand designed what became the Volkswagen Beetle. Porsche also designed military vehicles and tanks for the Nazi war machine and is the founder of the Porsche automobile corporation.

Page 84 mentions Barry Manilow and Twisted Sister. Manilow has been a popular singer/songwriter since 1964. Twisted Sister is a heavy metal music band that has been playing off and on since 1972.

As she leaves for the evening on page 87, Sarah's Honda Elite scooter is chained in the parking structure of her apartment. But in the film, she does not have it chained when she arrives at its parking spot.

Feeling spooked while in the parking structure alone, Sarah thinks of Theresa Saldana and Sal Mineo. These were both actors who were attacked by stalkers in the 1970s and '80s, though Saldana survived her attack, while Mineo did not.

On page 88, Lt. Traxler struggles past the crowd of reporters in the station hallway, including an Eyewitness News minicam crew. This is likely a reference to the Eyewitness News broadcast of L.A. station KABC, Channel 7.

On page 90, Traxler smokes a Pall Mall, a brand of cigarette made by the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company.

A Niagra of blood is said to be pumping past his ears as Matt makes love to Ginger on page 92. Niagra is a reference to Niagara Falls at New York's Niagara Falls State Park.

After Stan cancels their date, Sarah decides to see a Burt Reynolds car-chase comedy at the Picwood Theater. Picwood was an actual theater on Pico Blvd. at the time, but was later closed and demolished in 1985. Burt Reynolds (1936-2018)was a well-known American actor. The car chase comedy Sarah went to see was most likely intended to be a reference to Cannonball Run II, which was released in 1984...but it was released on June 29, months after the March 9 date given at the beginning of the book.

On page 94, the newscaster mentions the LA Zoo after reporting on the second Sarah Connor murder. In the movie, he moves on to a story about a spectacular fire instead.

Looking at the listings of the three Sarah Connors in the phone book, Sarah realizes they've been killed in order and she is the last, thinking, Then there was none. Isn't that how it went? Three pretty Sarahs, all in a row. She is mixing a children's song, "Ten Little Indians" ("then there were none"), and a nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" ("pretty maids all in a row").

On page 97, the cops staking out Sarah's apartment are talking about the Lakers when they are called to a 211 on Venice Boulevard. In the movie, the 211 is at 3rd and Cameron (but there is no Cameron in L.A.). At least here, Venice Blvd. is, in fact, in close proximity to Jasmine Avenue, where Sarah's apartment is located.

On page 99, Ginger begins fixing herself a sandwich on Roman Meal bread. Roman Meal was a brand of bread from 1912 to about 2015.

On page 100, Ginger listens to Prince and the Revolution on her Walkman. Prince and the Revolution was an American rock band, active 1979–1986. On page 101, Ginger is listening to "Let's Go Crazy", suggesting she is listening to the band's debut album, 1984's Purple Rain (a movie soundtrack). However, again, the album was not released until June 25th of that year.

Fighting the Terminator on page 101, Matt swings a brass lamp like a Reggie Jackson homer. Jackson is a former Major League Baseball player, active 1967–1987.

Also on page 101, Ginger builds her sandwich into what is called "a carbohydrate tower of Babel". The Tower of Babel is known in the real world mostly for its part in the story of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament of The Bible, a tower built by humanity in an attempt to reach Heaven.

Despite Pugsly still running loose, as established on page 100, the iguana is stated to be in his terrarium on page 103...and then loose again on top of the book shelf on page 107! It seems the authors forgot to keep track of Pugsly's whereabouts!

Following Sarah to Tech Noir, Reese recognizes it from history as a nightclub and is reminded of the name Sinatra. This is a reference to Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), a singer and actor who got his start in nightclubs and whose repertoire has become a staple of nightclub musical acts.

On page 113, Reese hopes the Terminator chasing Sarah is a 700 Series model, not an 800. In the movie, a Series model is never mentioned, with Reese only referring to it as a Cyberdyne Systems model 101 (according to James Cameron, models that all look like actor Arnold Schwarzenegger); we don't learn of the T-800 Series designation until Judgment Day. A T-700 is not officially seen and identified until Salvation. Cyberdyne is, of course, a fictional company, though there is a modern Japanese company called Cyberdyne, founded in 2004, which manufactures powered exoskeletons which the company claims "augments body movement and increases user strength by up to ten times."

Page 115 reveals that the Terminator has his Uzi holstered in a De Santo shoulder jig under his jacket. I believe this is intended to be a reference to DeSantis Holster & Leather Goods, which has made various types of hidden gun holsters since 1972.

As Reese and Sarah are being chased by the Terminator, Reese tries to hit the gas tank of a '67 Impala parked on the street with his shotgun to cause an explosion. The Impala is a car model built by Chevrolet.

Page 120 reveals that the cop killed by the Terminator on Pico in order to take his police cruiser was named Nick Delaney.

Page 120 mentions Crescent Heights. This is an area of Los Angeles through which runs Crescent Heights Boulevard.

On page 121, Reese heads the LTD down Pico, towards the ocean and passing La Cienega. Pico Blvd. does, in fact, run east-west through L.A., the westbound lanes ending at the coastline and crosses the north-south-running La Cienega Blvd. Before reaching the ocean, Reese swings onto Oakhurst and then Whitworth, followed by Rexford; one can actually follow these directions on an L.A. map. During the chase, Reese rides alongside a slow-moving Toyota to dodge the T-800 in the police cruiser. On page 123, Reese has driven back onto Pico and then south on Motor Avenue.

On page 122, Reese heads down Olympic Boulevard. Olympic Boulevard was called 10th Street prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles (though the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Summer Olympics were held in 1932 and 1984, is not even located on Olympic!).

As the Terminator drives the stolen police cruiser, unit 1-L-19, he is forced to respond to dispatch in Officer Delaney's voice, saying he's "westbound on Olympic approaching Overland." Overland Avenue does cross Olympic.

On page 124, Reese drives the car through a small alley near Glendon and later pulls into a parking complex. A police dispatch on page 128 states it's at Colby and La Grange. These are references to Glendon, Colby, and La Grange Avenues in L.A. However, at least in the current day, there is no parking structure at the intersection of Colby and La Grange.

On page 128, the Terminator is driving through Westwood on Sepulveda, turning onto Massachusetts. Westwood is a neighborhood in the Westside region of L.A. This includes Sepulveda Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue.

Hearing the police dispatch that the suspect vehicle has been located at the parking structure at Colby and La Grange on page 128, the Terminator swings his car around, narrowly missing a Volkswagen Bug loaded with stoners returning from a Van Halen concert. Van Halen was an American hard rock band 1974-2020.

Page 131 describes the concentration camps for humans as "the Final Solution for homo sapiens (sic)". The original Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan for the systematic extermination of Jews, what Hitler referred to as "the final solution to the Jewish question".

On page 133, the Terminator's police cruiser clips the fender of a Chevy pickup truck. "Chevy" is a colloquial nickname for automobiles produced by Chevrolet.

Page 138 refers to CinemaScope. CinemaScope is type of anamorphic camera lens, used for shooting in widescreen film formats from 1953-1967.

The book reveals that Sarah will have a metal pin surgically implanted in her leg at some point in the future. The Terminator assumes she already has it, and that is why he sliced open the legs of the two other Sarah Connors he killed, in an attempt to confirm her identity. These scenes do not appear in the film.

On page 149, a typo turns the word "umpire" into "unpire".

Traxler refers to police special forces as SWAT rather than TAC as he does in the film.

Page 150 reveals that Sarah's mother was a registered nurse and that she lives in San Bernardino. San Bernardino is a city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Yet, on page 198, she is in Big Bear, a mountain community about 96 miles east of L.A., where she is said to live in the movie.

Page 151 reveals that Lt. Traxler is carrying a .357 Magnum caliber handgun in a shoulder holster. In the movie, he carried a standard .38 Special, as revealed in a deleted scene.

On page 151, Vukovich tells Traxler to have another Juicy Fruit.

Also on page 151, Traxler muses that Reese has a look like some of the special forces guys who went to 'Nam and participated in the Tet offensive. These are references to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. The Tet offensive was a series of attacks in phases made by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam roughly from January-September of 1968. Traxler estimates that Reese would have been about 4 years old during the Tet offensive; of course, Reese wasn't even born yet at that time, being from the future and born roughly around 2009!

Trying to dismiss Reese's story, Sarah asks herself why the attacker is targeting her and not Mertyle Cornwaithe or John Smith. "Mertyle Cornwaithe" appears to be an entirely made-up name simply intended to have an unlikely moniker for her to attach to a terrifying event. "John Smith" is often used as a generic-sounding name in English-speaking countries.

On page 152, Sarah wonders why an insane man (Reese) would concoct the bizarre story of her future son's nativity. "Nativity" is from the Latin word nativitatem, meaning "birth". Of course, the (usually capitalized) word "nativity" has become synonymous in Western culture with the birth of Christ and John Connor does seem to be something of a messiah and savior of humanity; notice that his initials are J.C., frequently used in fictional stories featuring protagonists that are meant to be symbolic or satirical stand-ins for Jesus Christ (the novelization of Judgment Day even has Sarah realizing that one of the reasons she's thought of as crazy by the doctors at Pescadero State Hospital is that she has named her son to have those initials and has claimed he will save humanity). Hour of the Wolf has Cyberdyne executive Oscar Cruz thinking of John Connor's resemblance, and possible connection to, the returned Messiah.

As Dr. Silberman is leaving the police station on page 153, his pager goes off, showing his home number, indicating that Douglas was calling to find out when he would be home. Though it is after 2:30 in the morning, Dr. Silberman is "wide awake and feeling aggressive" and hoping Douglas would still be up when he got home. Who is Douglas? His son? His gay lover? This is the only mention of Douglas in the novel. In Judgment Day, the abusive head attendant at Pescadero State Hospital, where Dr. Silberman then works, is also named Douglas, but it's unknown if this is the same character. (In the Judgment Day novelization, Douglas claims only he is married when Sarah tries to come on to him in an attempt to win him over to her side.)

Page 154 reveals that Reese is soon to be transferred to the psycho ward at County General. This is presumably a reference to Los Angeles County General Hospital, also known as Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center. The hospital does have a psychiatric, as well as jail, ward.

Page 155 suggests that John Connor warned Reese to trust no one and depend on nothing during his mission in 1984.

Page 158 hints that Sarah's father may have been an angry man. Whether he was truly abusive is not stated.

On page 159, the Terminator has his AR-180 banana clips taped together jungle style. A banana clip (in this case, the more accurate term should be "banana magazine") is the curved type of ammunition magazine often used on assault rifles. "Jungle style" is the term used for two ammo clips taped together for quick reloading; in the Terminator's case here, inverse-style, butt-to-butt.

Pages 161-162 describe Reese driving the stolen Pinto down Alameda to the I-10 East, then the Pomona Freeway east, 57 South, and off on Brea Canyon Road, where he and Sarah ditch the car down a canyon slope when it's about to run out of gas. The two spend the night in a concrete drainage culvert under the 57. Again, one can actually follow along with these directions on a map.

In the glove box of the Pinto, Reese finds Pepto Bismol and a Thomas Brothers map. Thomas Brothers made a popular series of street maps and street atlases from 1915-1999. Thomas Guides are now published by Rand-McNally.

On page 162, Reese tells Sarah they may need to head to Mexico to disappear. This may be what inspires Sarah to have hideouts/contacts in Mexico as seen in Judgment Day.

Page 169 reveals that Reese used to be a member of a street pack as a youth, but he broke off from it when he was old enough to join up with the resistance.

On page 169, Reese recalls his briefing about Sarah Connor before he was sent back in time. He was told that she was a 20-year old student and waitress who at this point in her life had no unusual survival abilities or talents.

Pages 169-170 describe John Connor as a man who became a brooding loner after his mother died, lacking intimate relations with anyone. This is a fairly accurate description of the John Connor seen in Rise of the Machines, though the future John is revealed to have had a wife named Kate Brewster in that film.

On page 173, Sarah slips into REM sleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement and refers to the rapid back-and-forth movement of the eyeballs under a sleeping person's eyelids when they enter dream sleep.

Page 174 describes an aerial HK as maneuvering like an Aircobra helicopter. I have not been able to find any confirmation of an Aircobra helicopter; there was a WWII-era American fighter plane called the Bell P-39 Aircobra.

Page 175 refers to Mulholland Drive. This is a road through the Santa Monica mountains which drops down into Hollywood. 

The resistance bunker seen in the flashback is revealed to be called Firebase E-9, once D level of the parking structure underneath the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City. This is located at 2040 Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles.

Page 177 reveals that during the battle against Skynet that was being waged on the day Reese went back in time, John Connor was coordinating a dozen major offensives throughout the world over a mobile communications unit, using Skynet's own hacked satellites.

In the book, the photo of Sarah that was given to Reese by John was a Polaroid (in the movie its a Kodamatic). Polaroid is the company that introduced instant film to the camera community in 1948 and the photos taken on this film were often referred to as Polaroid prints or just Polaroids. The Polaroid company has not manufactured instant film since 2008 due to falling sales as a result of the popularity of digital cameras.

On page 182, Reese and Sarah are walking through an uninhabited pocket of chaparral between Diamond Bar and Brea. There is, in fact, a range of chaparral hills between these two cities.

Page 183 reveals that the Terminator sewed up or Krazy Glued the most severe tears in the flesh of its body. Krazy Glue is a brand name of instant glue.

Page 184 reveals that the Terminator could operate at full power for 24 hours a day on its existing power cell for 1,095 days. Under normal operation with periods of inactivity, it could easily last through the upcoming nuclear devastation and check in with Skynet afterward for new programming.

Page 185 mentions I-5 and several southern California cities, plus Orange County and El Toro Marine Base. These are all real locations in southern California.

The pickup truck that picked up Reese and Sarah gets off the I-5 at Sand Canyon Road and stops at a Mobil gas station. However, there is no Sand Canyon exit off the I-5 and Sand Canyon Road is not in Irvine as stated as the destination by the driver earlier. It seems that the authors may be referring to the Sand Canyon Road exit on SR-14 in Santa Clarita; there is even a Mobil station at this off ramp! But later, they seem to walk, within a couple of hours, to the Tikki Motel, described as south of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, which is almost 130 miles south of Santa Clarita! Page 193 goes on to reveal that the Tikki Motel is in Oceanside, which is south of Camp Pendleton.

On page 189, Sarah sees a couple of kids playing with a Nerf football. Nerf sells products made of a solid but light and spongy material for safe indoor/outdoor play.

Also on page 189, Sarah sees a Lincoln Continental at the Mobil station. This was a luxury car model made by Ford at intervals from 1939-2002.

On page 194, Sarah acknowledges that the motel is not the Waldorf. This a reference to the original Waldorf Hotel in New York City, known for its luxurious accommodations.

On page 196, Reese saunters into what he considers the Fort Knox of food, though it is only a supermarket. Fort Knox is the United States Bullion Depository, where the U.S. Federal Government's gold reserve is kept, at Fort Knox Army Base in Kentucky.

Page 197 mentions the Supreme Court.

On page 199, the Terminator's presumably-stolen motorcycle is said to be a 900-cc Kawasaki.

On page 200, the Terminator is travelling down the southbound 215. This is an actual freeway running through the Inland Empire region of southern California.

On page 207, the vehicle stolen by Reese and Sarah at the motel is a Ford Bronco, but that is not the make of the vehicle in the film.

On page 211, the chase drives past a Datsun 240-Z. The Datsun 240-Z was a 2-door coupe sports car manufactured by Datsun (now Nissan) from 1969–1978.

Page 211 reveals that Reese uses a Bic lighter to ignite the fuses on the pipe bombs he uses against the Terminator.

On page 212, a Corvette spins out on the freeway and is blown into splintered fiberglass by an out of control truck on the freeway.

On page 216, the Terminator kills the driver of the tractor-trailer, with the man's limp body melting "onto the pavement like a mass of Jell-O and broken sticks." Jell-O is a gelatin dessert made by Kraft Foods.

Page 231 claims that the factory in which the Terminator was destroyed was in the city of Leucadia, CA and that it was not Cyberdyne itself; a microchip is found by researchers Jack Kroll and Greg Simmons, employees of the company that owns the factory (revealed in the novelization of Judgment Day to be Kleinhaus Electronics), and they leave the company to start their own venture based on the chip under the name Cyberdyne. However, the films take precedence in the continuity and the Judgment Day film states that the factory was owned by Cyberdyne from the start. Also, a deleted scene in The Terminator film shows a phone book entry for Cyberdyne that shows its facilities as located at 18144 El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, California; this is an actual address, though there is no Cyberdyne facility there, of course, and the city of Sunnyvale is about 350 miles north of Los Angeles! Additionally, "Tempest" Part 1 (and later installments of the various Dark Horse Comics Terminator mini-series) implies that Dr. Bertram Hollister founded Cyberdyne.

Page 235 reveals that the Mexican gas station that Sarah stops at at the end of the film is outside the town of Buenaventura. This may be the town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. "Buenaventura" means "good luck" in Spanish.

Page 235 also reveals the gun carried by Sarah is a .357 Colt Python and her German Shepherd is named Pugsly, Jr.

Page 236 reveals that Sarah devised a plan while recovering in the hospital from the encounter with the Terminator. After her release, she emptied her meager bank account, collected on her murdered mother's life insurance, bought the German Shepherd, the .357, and the Jeep, and is now heading for the southern tip of South America to give birth to John and raise him to be prepared for the coming war and its aftermath where he was relatively safe from the coming nuclear attack. (Something must have happened to scare her away from South America within the Endgame timeline (TIMELINE TT-3), because she gives birth to her child in Odessa, Texas in "Endgame" Part 3.)

Page 237 reveals that Sarah refers to the audio recordings she is making for her son as "The Book".

Page 237 also reveals that the leg injury Sarah receives in the factory from a piece of the metallic debris of the Terminator's body resulted in the pin in her leg bone that the Terminator was searching for in the two other Sarah Connors he had killed.

On page 238, Sarah speculates that the old man tending the gas station might be full Yaqui. Yaqui are the indigenous people of the Rio Yaqui valley in the Mexican state of Sonora. His red-rimmed eyes are said to be the result of too much of the cheap local mescal; mescal is an alcoholic drink made from maguey, a Mexican agave plant.

Unanswered Questions

What happened to Pugsley, Sarah's pet iguana? Did someone adopt him after the massacre at the apartment? Or did he go wild?

Early drafts of the script had the Terminator eating a chocolate bar at one point because it needed food to sustain the flesh covering its metallic body. The scene was cut from the final draft, but should we assume that the Terminator does need to eat anyway? Otherwise, how is it able to maintain its biological elements without organic sustenance? And if it does eat, does it also need to excrete waste in a manner similar to humans? The later novel An Evil Hour claims the Terminator does not need any human food. In "Secondary Objectives" Part 2, the Terminator I825.M (later known as Dudley) is seen to consume potato chips, though he is actually a human who has been converted into a part-Terminator by Skynet.

Memorable Dialog

couple kegs short of a six pack.wav

just what you see, pal.wav

you can't do that.wav

you got a serious attitude problem.wav

Sarah Connor?.wav

you're dead, honey.wav

come with me if you wanna live.wav

you've been targeted for termination.wav

Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.wav

sweat, bad breath, everything.wav

one possible future.wav

cyborgs don't feel pain.wav

it absolutely will not stop.wav

a new order of intelligence.wav

your unborn son.wav

it's just him and me.wav

I didn't build the fucking thing.wav

I could make a career out of this guy.wav

he'll find her.wav

he's a loon.wav

I'll be back.wav

tell me about my son.wav

a chance to meet the legend.wav

the mother of the future.wav

your son gave me a message.wav

a good field dressing.wav

fuck you, asshole.wav

what's for dinner?.wav

you must be pretty disappointed.wav

the women in your time.wav

I came across time for you.wav

you're terminated.wav

a person could go crazy thinking about this.wav

there's a storm coming in.wav