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Terminator
Rise of the Machines
Movie
Story by John Brancato, Michael Ferris and Tedi Sarafian
Screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris
Directed by Jonathan Mostow
Released July
2003 |
Skynet sends a new type of Terminator into the past to kill John
Connor's future officers in the war.
Read the story summary of the movie at the Terminator Wiki
Notes from the Terminator chronology
This story opens with a brief introductory scene in 2032,
but most of the film takes place in 2004.
In this timeline, the 1997 date of Judgment Day prophecized
in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
was averted due to the actions of Sarah and John in that
film, but a new Judgment Day, in 2004, looms here.
Didja Notice?
The motorcycle ridden by John Connor has California license
plate 2597T4.
According to the
Internet
Movie Cars Database, John's motorcycle is a Triumph
Bonneville America. This seems to be confirmed in
Terminator Hunt when John states that he was riding his
Triumph Bonneville the day before Judgment Day.
In his monologue at the beginning of the movie, John states
he was 13 when the second Terminator was sent back in time to
kill him. But he was actually only 10 years old at the time,
according to Judgment Day
(or only 9 according to what I figured in that study).
During the future victory prologue sequence, notice that
John is standing on top of a downed aerial Hunter-Killer.
The
Internet Movie Firearms Database points out that John is
holding an M4A1 with an M26 MASS (Modular Accessory Shotgun
System) mounted beneath it, effectively two guns in one!
This same configuration is also seen used by John in
Salvation.
At 2:38 on the DVD, John holds a
Budweiser bottle.
It seems unlikely that the deer John almost hits on his
motorcycle would just stand there after he wipes out and the
fallen motorcycle goes clanging and bouncing down the
highway. Finally, the creature calmly walks away.
The sign for the city of Beverly Hills seen
at 4:49 on the DVD, is not the seal used officially by the
city, though it looks similar. I'm not sure why the
filmmakers would not use the actual sign since, as a
government sign, it would be in the public domain and not
copyrighted. Maybe it was done as a courtesy to the city, if
it was not wanting to be too closely associated with the
film or the violence in the story. |
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Fake Beverly Hills sign |
Seal of the city of Beverly Hills (from
Wikipedia) |
At 4:54 on the DVD, in Beverly Hills, the camera pans past a
storefront that appears to be called Zoemilar. As far as I
can find, this is a fictional business, though these scenes
were actually shot on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, in the
200-300 block.
The T-X materializes inside the storefront window of a
fashion store in Beverly Hills. The storefront has several
female mannequins wearing the latest fashions and a slogan
on the window says "I like this look!" The T-X seems to
paraphrase the slogan soon after, saying, "I like this car,"
to the Beverly Hills woman and "I like your gun," to the
cop.
The energy sphere that forms during the arrivals of the two
Terminators from the future is reflective and has a grid
pattern briefly overlaid on it as it materializes. These
traits were not seen on the spheres depicted in
Judgment Day.
During the chronoportation arrival sequence of the T-X, three
loud "clumps" are heard in rapid succession. These sounds
are not heard during the chronoport sequences in
The Terminator and
Judgment Day. This may
have beeen an homage to the three "thunderclaps" heard before the
arrival of the DeLorean time machine when it travels through
time in the three Back to the Future movies.
Listen:
T3 time thumps.wav
DeLorean time thumps.wav Oddly, the "thumps" are not
obviously present when the T-850 arrives a few minutes later
in the film.
At 5:56 on the DVD, notice that the woman in the
Lexus
convertible has the hairstyle and is wearing the red leather
outfit that the T-X will later be mimicking after killing
her.
At 6:34 on the DVD, the T-X uses the murdered woman's
Nokia
9210 Communicator smart phone to dial 7752. Possibly this
phone model (9210) was chosen by the filmmakers because the scene takes
place in Beverly Hills, which has the postal zip code 90210.
Apparently the "7752" she dials is a way of dialing into the computer
system of the Los Angeles Unified School District, though it
seems unlikely it would be a simple four digit number!
At 6:36 on the DVD a small restaurant called Birreria
Jalisco is seen as the T-X drives through town in the stolen
convertible. This is an actual restaurant on E. 1st St., Los
Angeles, though a fair distance from Rodeo Drive,
which the T-X just left.
As the T-X scans through the digital photographs from the
school district database, the same handful of photos show up
over-and-over!
At 7:12 on the DVD, a
Greyhound sign is seen in the background. At 7:15 a
Domino's
Pizza sign is seen. At 7:17, a
U-Haul
truck is seen.
The police car that pulls over the T-X's convertible has the
motto "To protect and to serve". This is
the actual motto
of the LAPD.
The T-X looks at a billboard advertisement
for
Victoria's Secret at 7:51 on the DVD (and uses her
polymimetic skin to enlarge the size of her breasts because
of it!). The "What is sexy?" slogan on the billboard is one
used by the lingerie retailer.
In the director's commentary on the DVD, Jonathan Mostow
points out that the malfunctioning bar-code reader that Kate
tries to use is an early indication that the Skynet virus is
beginning to strike civilian electronic devices. (In
Terminator Dreams, the Skynet virus is said to have
been named the Nemo virus by the authorities.)
At 8:29 on the DVD, a banner in the background reveals that
Kate and her fiancé are registering wedding gifts at
Bloomingdale's, an upscale U.S. department store founded
in 1861. A
Waterford crystal display is also seen in the
background.
When the bar-code scanner fails to work, notice that Kate,
ironically, says, "I hate machines."
At 10:14 on the DVD, notice that an image of the T-1 is seen
on a page of the open 3-ring binder on General Brewster's
desk.
At 11:58 on the DVD, it seems as if the chronoport has
turned the desert sand under the T-850's feet into glass,
due to an extreme heat transfer.
The scene at 12:01 on the DVD was shot at the intersection
of Mt. Gleason and Foothill Blvd. in the Sunland-Tujunga
community of greater Los Angeles.
John steals and uses some phenobarbital from the
veterinarian's office. Presumably, he is using it for pain
after his motorcycle accident, but phenobarbital is not
known for its pain-reduction properties. It is normally
prescribed for various types of seizures (including epilepsy
in dogs and cats). The vial of phenobarbital taken by John is
manufactured by Goeminne Labs; this appears to be a
fictional company. (However, note that director Jonathan
Mostow states in his commentary that John took Torbutrol,
which is used a pain reliever and sedative for dogs and
cats.)
The T-850 enters Desert Star Cocktails on Ladies' Night and
takes a leather outfit from a gay stripper on stage. Desert
Star Cocktails appears to be a fictional establishment.
When scanning the clothing of the bouncer and stripper at
the Desert Star, the word "briefs" is consistently
misspelled as "breifs".
A
Budweiser "B" logo is behind the doorman at 13:24 on the
DVD.
As the T-850 enters the Desert Star, several neon signs are
seen for Bud Light,
Corona,
Heineken,
and
Newcastle Brown Ale. A sign for country singer George
Strait is also seen.
The song playing in the Desert Star scenes is "Macho Man" by
Village People.
At 13:53 on the DVD, a
Jaegermeister neon sign is seen in the Desert Star.
At 14:01 on the DVD, a neon sign for
Michelob is seen in the Desert Star.
A banner for the
National League of POW/MIA Families is seen in the
Desert Star at 14:04 on the DVD. Some Confederate flags are
also seen hanging.
Notice that when the male stripper tells the T-850 to "talk
to the hand", the Terminator takes it literally and does so,
grabbing the outstretched hand and saying, "Now," of his
demand for the stripper to take off his clothes.
Notice that the truck the T-850 steals also happens to have
a shotgun mounted inside the cab on the rear window. It
seems unlikely anyone would leave a firearm exposed like
that and subject to theft! The T-850 later uses this weapon,
a Remington 870, against the T-X at the animal hospital.
The scene at 15:15 on the DVD suggests that the two
Terminators have arrived on July 24, 2004.
The T-X makes her first assassination (Jose Barrera) at
Jim's Burgers. This is an actual fast food restaurant
(though "atomic age" touches were added to the restaurant
signs by the filmmakers) in Los Angeles at 1901 E. 1st
Street.
Why does Jim's Burgers have its drive-thru window
situated so that it opens onto the passenger side of
vehicles?? |
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The T-X's readout spells the last name of Jose Barrera as
"Barerra" instead. All other notations of his name seem to
be "Barrera", including in "Heralds of the Rise" and "Eyes
of the Rise" (see the notes on the Terminator 3
comic book below) and his name tag at Jim's Burgers also
says "Barrera". "Barrera" is, in fact, the usual spelling of
that Hispanic last name.
The robot dog seen at 16:19 on the DVD appears to be the
Sony
AIBO ERS-210.
The newscaster on the Anderson's TV set reporting on the
computer virus is Larry McCormick (1933-2004), a real world
news anchor for Los Angeles station KTLA at the time.
The gun used by the T-X to kill the Anderson kids is a Smith
& Wesson 4506-1. This is the gun she took from the cop who
pulled her over earlier.
A
United Rentals outlet is located next door to the
veterinary office. A banner sign for
JLG
Gradall indicates industrial equipment available for rent. A
Champion crane is seen in the rental lot; the T-X later
steals it for the car chase scenes. Champion is a brand now
owned by
Terex.
Kate Brewster is shown to work at Emery Animal Hospital.
This appears to be a fictional facility.
At the veterinary office, John holds Kate at bay with a
Walther PPK .380 ACP (airsoft gun). Kate soon seems to state
that it is a paintball gun.
At 19:47 on the DVD, the veterinary customer brings in her
cat, named Hercules. The cat's cage even has the name
"Hercules" taped onto it! The name was likely borrowed from
the Roman name for the Greek
hero/demigod Heracles.
This movie reveals that John and Kate met in Mike Kripke's
basement the day before the two Terminators arrived in
Judgment Day.
Kate tells John they went to West Hills
Junior High together. Although the school appears to be
fictional, there is a West Hills neighborhood of Los
Angeles. But
Judgment Day seems to
have John's foster parents, Todd and Janelle, living in Reseda at
the time, over 6 miles from West Hills, so it seems unlikely
that John would have been attending school there.
Kate states that John disappeared in the middle of 8th
grade. This would correspond to the 13-year age during the
events of
Judgment Day as stated
at the beginning of this movie, but the
Judgment Day film itself
has John at 10 years old, which would have been before
junior high, during his 5th grade (or so) year.
The T-X's POV readout at 23:16 on the DVD reveals that John
Connor is listed as Subject AA001, Primary Target.
The facial reaction and slight gasp of the T-X when her
analysis of the blood sample reveals it to be that of John
Connor is almost orgasmic! Being the one to discover and
have the possibility of killing the ever-elusive John Connor
is probably the closest a Skynet-controlled Terminator can
get to genuine emotion!
At 24:02 on the DVD, notice that the T-850's truck bounces
right over Kate as she's laying on the asphalt!
The camper shell on the back of the T-850's pick-up is seen
to be a Gemtop at 25:21 on the DVD. Gemtop was a former
manufacturer of camper shells.
At 26:42 on the DVD, a
Vons
supermarket is seen in the background.
As the T-850 is sent crashing through the rental office's
garage at 27:00 on the DVD, a
Ridgid
shop vac is seen on a workbench.
As John races away from the scene in the Emery truck at
27:11 on the DVD, he passes
Del Taco,
McDonald's, and
Taco Bell.
Kate uses a different cell phone to call for help when she's
trapped in the back of the truck (a black one) than the one
she had earlier at the department store (silver). It's a
little odd that she would use two different cell phones, but
certainly not unheard of. It's possible the black phone is
one she uses for work, assigned to her by Emery Animal
Hospital.
If Kate had a cell phone all along, why didn't she call for
help sooner, like right after the T-850 locked in her the
back of the truck? It may be that the worldwide computer
virus was interrupting cellular signals already and she was
repeatedly trying to call out the whole time.
Sunland Transmissions is seen across the street from Emery
and United Rentals. Sunland Transmissions is an actual auto
repair garage at 7819 Foothill Blvd. in Sunland-Tujunga.
The license plate on the fire department rescue vehicle at
27:21 on the DVD is the same one later seen on the fire
engine that the T-850 smacks into during the car chase!
The network failure on Kate's cell phone at 28:30 on the DVD
is another indication of the virus spreading worldwide.
Why does the T-X choose to steal the gigantic Champion crane
truck for the pursuit when she could more easily have simply
taken one of the police or fire department vehicles?
Realistically, the crane truck would be slow and difficult to
maneuver during a high-speed chase. Clearly the filmmakers
made the choice simply for the spectacle of the damage it
could cause to the city streets and buildings along the way,
plus the final spectacular crash of the vehicle.
Actually, it makes very little sense that the T-X would be
able to steer and maneuver the vehicles remotely. Even
modern cars with computerized components do not have
mechanisms in place for computerized steering, etc. Car
computers are there to provide monitoring, minor adjustments
during driving, and diagnostics.
When the T-850 takes the police motorcycle from its rider he
says, "Get off," a variation on the "Get out" used by the
T-800 and T-1000 in the two previous films (and by the T-850
itself later in this film).
At 31:04 on the DVD, a red car with a damaged break light
cover drives away from the camera. But then the same car is
seen seconds later with no damage...until the crane truck
hits as it as it comes around the corner.
At different times during the car chase, the crane truck has
its support struts sticking out from the sides at various
moments and not at others (the struts are actually used more
purposefully in The Redemption video game!). Also, the four headlights are off
and on in various combinations throughout the chase. The vet
truck also has its headlights on-and-off throughout the chase.
At 32:21 on the DVD, a billboard advertising
Avis car
rentals is seen.
The license plate of the Emery truck is PET DOC 2.
During the car chase, John drives across several household
front yards and hits an inflatable children's
playhouse which squeaks, as it might if it were made to
squeak when someone jumped around in it. But then a sort of
distorted bass drum note also sounds when it's first hit and
when it strikes the street surface after being tossed in the
air by the collision!
As the T-850 is being dragged around on the end of the crane
at 35:06 on the DVD, notice that he smacks into some guy's
bagged aluminum can recyclables, sending cans flying
everywhere!
After being smacked off the crane onto a fire truck, the
T-850 climbs aboard it and tells the firemen inside, "Get
out." The same phrase was used by the T-800 in
The Terminator when it
commandeered a tractor-trailer and by the T-1000 when it
commandeered a helicopter in mid-flight in
Judgment Day.
A Pepsi
vending machine is seen in the background at 36:00 on the
DVD.
As the crane truck flips at 37:15 on the DVD, notice that a
pair of shoes is seen dangling from the telephone wires
along the street. This is seen in many
neighborhoods in the real world. There does not seem to be
any one accepted reason for this practice. Some think they
are a gang symbol or indication of a drug dealer in the
area. Other explanations are that it is merely an expression
of folk art.
For some reason, all sorts of parts begin flying off the
crane truck while it is flipping through the air.
The car chase ends right before the Jefferson Blvd.
intersection. This is an actual street in Los Angeles.
A
Wells Fargo bank is seen outside the passenger window of
the vet truck at 38:10 on the DVD.
At 38:24 on the DVD, John and the T-850 drive past
California Copies and Paper and Bronco Cutting Service.
These were actual businesses at
the time, located at 3226 and 3216 S. Hill Street, Los Angeles.
As the vet truck pulls onto the freeway onramp at 38:47 on
the DVD, notice that the crowbar holding the rear doors shut
is bent the opposite direction from the way the T-850 bent
it back at the vet's office. Later, at the gas station, it
is bent back the original way.
At 38:47 on the DVD, the vet truck pulls onto the westbound
210 freeway. This is an actual freeway in the Los Angeles
area, near the city filming sites. Since our heroes are
heading west on the 210 and are seen on a desert highway in
the next scene, they probably took the 210 to the 5 north,
then Route 14 to Pearblossom Highway, where they stopped at
the ampm convenience store for gas and food near Victorville
(LAPD detective Edwards remarks on the gas station incident
near Victorville later in the film).
The T-850 states that the T-X's arsenal includes
nanotechnological transjectors. These are what allow her to
control other machines.
John optimistically states that the T-850 will find a way to
destroy the T-X, which the T-850 itself doubts. Ironically,
they are having this discussion while the T-850 is removing
one of its damaged hydrogen fuel cells, which is how he will
later take out the T-X near the end of the movie.
After the T-850 tosses the hydrogen fuel cell out the window
of the truck, the explosion that happens seconds later is
not really shown in the correct location relative to the
road and truck. It's too far out into the desert and not far
enough behind the moving truck.
Our heroes stop for gas in the desert at an
ampm
convenience store, a chain of stores attached to
ARCO gas
stations in CA, OR, WA, NV, and AZ. John pumps gas while the
T-850 goes inside to get food for the two humans. A
handwritten sign on the counter states that the computer is
down, so no credit cards may be used. So, John must have
input some cash into an automated teller outside or he
wouldn't have been able to pump any gas.
Inside the ampm, the computer cash register is down and the
clerk's television is displaying a "We are experiencing
technical difficulties" message from UCTV, another
indication of the spreading virus. UCTV is
University of
California Television.
The song playing in the ampm is "Dat Funky Man", with lyrics
written by Jonathan Mostow, performed by William Randolph
III.
Various real world products are seen inside the ampm store:
Balance Gold nutrition bars; Jelly Belly Sours, Wonka Pixy
Stix, Snickers, M&M's, Toblerone candies; Castrol GTX motor
oil; Smint breath mints; Marlboro, Winston, and Camel
cigarettes; Jack Link's Beef Jerky; David Sunflower Seeds;
Terra potato chips; Hostess Ding Dongs, Sno Balls, Twinkies,
and Donettes; Manner candy wafers (an Austrian brand that
is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite snacks); Planters
nuts; Budweiser and Bud Light beer; Durex condoms; Dentyne
gum; and Red Bull energy drink. A Pepsi sign is also seen
inside.
At 42:03 on the DVD, a stuffed Mr. Peanut doll is seen
behind the clerk's counter. Mr. Peanut is the advertising
mascot of
Planters nuts.
The sunglasses the T-850 selects from the rack at the ampm
are very similar to the ones that were broken during the car
chase, though not exactly the same. Both were made by
Sama
Eyewear.
At 46:14 on the DVD, the crowbar is seen back in place
holding the camper shell doors closed even though it was
removed back at the gas station!
Kate's fiancé was named Scott Mason.
The cemetery scenes were shot at
Rose
Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA. It is called
Greenlawn Cemetery in the film.
The T-850 takes John and Kate to the site of Sarah
Connor's grave niche inside a mausoleum at the cemetery. The
plaque on the niche lists her birth year as 1959. However,
most sources state that Sarah was around 19 years old in
1984 during the events of
The Terminator, making
her birth date some time in 1965. It is generally assumed by
fans now that the 1959 birthdate is incorrect. The phrase
"No Fate But What We Make" is, of course, the message given
to her by John from the future via Kyle Reese. |
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The
Internet Movie Firearms Database lists the following
weapons and munitions as being visible in the coffin pulled
out of Sarah Connor's mausoleum niche: a Browning M1919 with
drum magazine, a Glock 18, a Glock 19 (this is the gun Kate
grabs and shoots the T-850 with in her bid to escape), a
bandolier of 40mm grenades, PG-7VM RPG rockets, one Norinco
Type 69 RPG, an Ithaca 37 "Stakeout", .30-06 rounds, a
custom version of the AKMS, a Sage Control SL-6 rotary
launcher, several blocks of C4 plastic explosive, one
Heckler & Koch G36K, one Heckler & Koch UMP (however
these began manufacture in 1999 and Sarah's coffin was
presumably placed in 1997!), the carry
handle/rear sight of an M16-series rifle, and two 5.56x45mm
Beta-C Drum Magazines. |
John remarks that he never knew where his mother was buried,
that he hit the road the day she died. Why would he take
off so
quickly after her death? Was he too upset to stay for the
funeral?
John seems surprised that his mother left a cache of weapons
behind after her death. But in previous timelines (such as
the New John Connor
Chronicles series of books and the
T2 Trilogy of books) we
know that both Sarah and John planned and laid multiple
weapons and supply caches in the U.S., Mexico, and South
America. And why would she keep her wishes a secret from him
before her death?
The T-850 explains that after Sarah died, her body was
cremated and her ashes scattered in the sea by her friends.
But how does he know that?
John states that Sarah was diagnosed with leukemia when they
were living in Baja. Baja is short for Baja California, a
state of Mexico. He goes on to say that the doctors gave her
only 6 months to live, but fought for 3 years in order to
see the date of Judgment Day pass without incident. This
would mean that she must have been diagnosed very shortly
after the events of
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, since that took place
in 1994 and Judgment Day was prophecized to occur three years
later, on August
29, 1997.
John remarks that after the date of Judgment Day passed
without incident, his mother told him that every day after
that was a gift. Sarah says this in her voiceover in the
alternate ending of
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where Skynet never came
into existence and John is a U.S. senator (you can view the
alternate ending at
YouTube).
Kate makes a bid to escape by grabbing a pistol from the
coffin and threatening and shooting the T-850 with it. But,
is it likely that any of the guns in the coffin would have
been stored loaded?
Detective Edwards states that Greenlawn Cemetery is up off
the 5 freeway. But the I-5 is not very close to Victorville
towards where Edwards said the suspects had stopped for gas.
They would have to go back in the direction they came to go
back to the 5. Why would they have headed towards
Victorville in the first place if the T-850 had the cemetery
destination in mind all along in order to pick up weapons
from Sarah's coffin?
The T-X, disguised as Scott, kills the two LAPD detectives
from the backseat of the car as they are driving him to
police headquarters to file a report. We see the T-X
stretches its arm to kill the driver, Edwards, and then to
grab the steering wheel through his body. Does the T-X also
stretch its legs under the seat to brake and accelerate the
car? We see that the T-X is still driving from the rear as
it pulls up at the cemetery minutes later! I suppose she
could have taken control of the car with her nanotechnology
after killing the two detectives.
Dr. Silberman puts in an appearance at the cemetery as a
post-trauma counselor who talks to Kate about her kidnapping
experience. Dr. Silberman, of course, was Sarah Connor's
psychiatrist at Pescadero State Hospital in
Judgment Day. He also
appeared before that in
The Terminator, and in
post-Judgment Day
stories in alternate timelines ("Search
Mode" and Rising Storm).
During the standoff at the cemetery, the SWAT (Special
Weapons and Tactics) team are seen to use Heckler & Koch
MP5A2's and M4A1 carbines.
The T-850 carries a Browning M1919A4 machine gun in one arm
while hoisting the weapon-filled coffin in the other.
The L.A. County Sheriff's vehicles seen at the standoff have
the motto "A Tradition of Service" on the doors. The actual
full motto of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is
"A Tradition of Service Since 1850".
After expending the Browning in the shootout
with the SWAT team, the T-850's POV readout displays that
760 rounds were fired. That is quite impossible with the
single ammo drum used. Generally, the largest drums hold
only 100 rounds. It's possible that the readout is
calculating all rounds fired by both the T-850 and the SWAT
team.
The T-850's readout also calculates the number
of casualties as zero. But the display seems to scroll
through officer injuries; the term
"casualties" includes injured, not just dead.
The T-850's readout even lists some injured officer's
names. How did he know the names? Most of them do not appear
to be wearing name badges. (Many of the names seem to be
those of the film's visual effects crew.)
The coffin must have been specially-made to be bulletproof
because the T-850 carries John out of the mausoleum inside
it while the SWAT team hits it with numerous shots.
The T-850 reveals that not only are John and Kate married in
the future, they have children who become important to the
resistance.
At 55:19 on the DVD, we see that the T-850 dropped the
Browning M1919A4 on the asphalt next to the hearse as he
drives off. Yet, he is later seen unloading the Browning
from the hearse at the campground later.
Notice at 55:20 on the DVD that the hearse says "Valley of
Peace" on the side window even though the cemetery is
supposed to be Greenlawn.
At 56:16 on the DVD, the T-850 fires a Type 69 RPG rocket
launcher at the T-X. The
Internet Movie Firearms Database entry for this film
notes that Kate is standing right in the path of the
back blast of the weapon!

The car chase scenes with the hearse outside the cemetery
were filmed on the hilly, twisty roads around
Griffith Park.
The hearse loses its right front hubcap as it speeds away at
56:48 on the DVD. And then it seems to lose the same one again
at 57:49!
The license plate of the hearse is California 4TRI019. This
plate has made the rounds of many a Hollywood production on
different vehicles, including the TV series Lost
and Psych.
The hearse is seen to be a Cadillac at 57:18 on the DVD.
A semi truck pulling a Xenedrine EFX trailer is involved in
an accident with the careening hearse.
Xenedrine is a line of weight loss products.
When her built-in plasma gun is damaged after the collision
with the Xenedrine truck, the T-X's computer readout runs
through its list of alternative weapons: P31 Caustic Shells,
HDE-Predator, Finite Rapid Cluster Gun, .45mm Cascader,
Nano-Disrupter, SUBauro Neutralizer, and IAD-CHemTech. These
all appear to be fictional names for futuristic weapons. In
the end, she selects a flame thrower type apparatus;
possibly this is the IAD-CHemTech since it was the last
option seen on her readout before she tests the weapon.
As the T-X scrolls through weapons options in the center of
her POV readout, there is a submenu on the right-hand side
of the readout that shows some other weapons such as the
Rumsfeld P81 Caustic and the M41A Pulse Rifle. Possibly,
"Rumsfeld" is a reference to the U.S. Secretary of Defense
at the time the movie was made, Donald Rumsfeld. The M41A
Pulse Rifle is a weapon that was used by the Colonial
Marines in the 1986 James Cameron film Aliens!
At 1:01:06 on the DVD, Kate appears to have disappeared from
the hearse even though John was just talking to her in it a second before!
The RV that our heroes steal from the campground is a
Winnebago Chieftain. It has a Good Sam Club decal next
to the door. The
Good
Sam Club is a club for RV and camping enthusiasts.
John threatens to shoot himself to get the T-850 to agree
with the plan to shut down Skynet rather than flee into
hiding in Mexico. The gun he holds is a Glock 36.
Notice that the T-850 only agrees to try to reach General
Brewster and stop Skynet when Kate asks him to at the
campground. This is an early indication of the upcoming
revelation that he is programmed to obey Kate Brewster, not
John.
Aboard the RV as our heroes head for Cyber Research Systems,
John can be seen constructing bombs of Composition C4 in
preparation for their attack on the Skynet computer.
The T-850 reveals that he is the assassination unit that
killed John Connor on July 4, 2032 before being captured and
reprogrammed by the resistance.
In the director's commentary, Jonathan Mostow says Cyber
Research Systems was located in Edwards Air Force Base. This
is an actual base in the Mojave Desert of southern
California.
At 1:08:48 on the DVD, General Brewster is informed that
guidance computers at Vandenberg have crashed.
Vandenberg Air Force Base is located
in Santa Barbara County, California, and is part of the 30th
Space Wing of the Air Force Space Command.
General Brewster receives a call from the Pentagon at
1:09:33 on the DVD. The Pentagon is the
headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.
At 1:09:40 on the DVD, a prototype Terminator
endoskeleton is seen in the background at CRS. |
 |
Infiltrating CRS, the T-X changes its clothing into the form
of a USAF uniform, adopting the identity of 1st Lt.
Hastings, as indicated by her shoulder rank insignia and
nametag.
The computer monitor seen at 1:13:01 on the DVD is a
Dell. The
screen seems to indicate that Skynet is officially known by
CRS as the Skynet Battlefield Management System. The screen
scrolls through a list of what appear to be overseas U.S.
military bases, stations, etc. from the real world.
How were Kate, John, and the T-850 able to get inside CRS,
especially heavily armed as they are?? Does the place have
no security?? Hardly likely, since it is a military operation,
and working on an extremely sensitive project no less! It's
vaguely possible Kate could get in as the daughter of
General Brewster, but not her heavily armed friends! And
even then, Kate would be made to wait in a room somewhere
while the General was notified of her presence. The T-X's
infiltration is more forgivable given her shape-changing
capability and willingness to kill anyone who impedes her if
necessary.
The T-X shoots General Brewster with a Beretta 92FS pistol.
She presumably procured from somewhere (or someone) on the
base.
When the T-850 shoots the T-X in her Kate form at 1:14:30 on
the DVD, the bullets seem to cause normal damage to the
"fabric" of her clothes, which are actually part of her
polymimetic covering. But at all other times, bullet shots
to the T-X show as silvery splotches of liquid metal.
Obviously, the filmmakers wanted to briefly trick the
audience into thinking the real Kate was being shot, so they
used a cheat in the bullet effects!
The T-850 knocks the T-X through a panel and down a vertical
shaft with a
Sage Control SL-6 Rotary Launcher.
Notice that the ground-based Hunter-Killer-like robots that
the T-X reprograms and sets loose to kill at CRS are labeled
as a T1.
The sound of the failing T1 after it is shot up by the T-850
is similar to that of the failing hyperdrive on the
Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes
Back. Listen:
failing T1
Millennium Falcon hyperdrive
The safe in General Brewster's office has a Morley
Securities logo on it. This appears to be a fictional
company.
The dying General Brewster tells our heroes to head for
Crystal Peak, which the T-850 has in its memory banks as a
hardened facility in the Sierra Nevada mountains, 52 miles
northeast of their current location at CRS. However, if CRS
is actually located at Edwards Air Force Base, then the
Sierra Nevadas are slightly northwest, not northeast; but 52
miles is about the correct distance to the Sierra Nevadas
from Edwards. Crystal Peak is probably a fictional location;
the closest real world peak by that name to Edwards is
almost 200 miles away, in the White Mountains near the
Nevada border.
As he dies, General Brewster apologizes to Kate for opening
Pandora's Box with the invention of Skynet. Pandora's Box
refers to the Greek myth of Pandora, the first woman on
Earth, given a box (or jar) by the Olympian gods and told
never to open it. Her curiosity got the better of her and
she opened it anyway, releasing all the evils of the world
(similar to the Bible's story of Eve and the
forbidden fruit). The term Pandora's Box has come to stand
for any seemingly small action performed by a person that
results in widespread negative consequences.
The side of the T-850's head seems to have undergone
surprisingly little damage considering it was blasted for
several seconds by a chemical flame thrower!

Kate takes down the prototype aerial HK with an AKMS Assault
Pistol.
After Kate takes down the prototype aerial HK, John looks at her
funny and says she reminds him of his mother. This might be
the beginning of John's attraction to Kate since it is said
that many men unconsciously look for elements of their
mother in a potential spouse (as women are also said to look
for elements of their father, and John is becoming a military
leader, like her father General Brewster).
When John and Kate enter the airport hangar, they pass a
Bell
206 helicopter; the T-X later takes this copter to Crystal
Peak in her pursuit of John and Kate. General Brewster's
plane which they fly to Crystal Peak is a
Cessna
172 Skyhawk. The plane's registration number is N3035C, but
when the plane is seen in the air, the number has changed to
N3973F.
 |
When the T-850 is approaching John and Kate in the
airport hangar and telling them to get away from him, his
POV readout is also showing the struggle going within his
programming. Notice at 1:26:53 on the DVD, the readout shows
phrases such as "TX has infected", "Terminator has been
damaged", and "TX and Terminator fighting". |
When the T-850 knocks Kate aside, she strikes a black
Craftsman rolling tool cabinet and falls to the floor at
its base.
As the T-850 is smashing the Jeep in the hangar, the front
rims tilt inward a couple of separate times in different shots.
The T-850 had told John and Kate that Crystal Peak was at a
bearing of 0.5 degrees. But when she pilots the Cessna, she
tells John they are on a course of 015 degrees.
The symbol on the sign on the fence at Crystal Peak is the
international biohazard symbol. It doesn't seem like Crystal
Peak would be host to biohazardous substances since it is
intended as a fallout shelter. Possibly the symbol was
placed at the perimeter to frighten potential trespassers
away.

An early indication that the Crystal Peak facility is
essentially abandoned and not the location of the recent
assembly of Skynet is that everything inside the entrance
bunker is dusty and the vehicles are old. The
Chevy
pick-up seen at 1:31:54 appears to be from the mid-1970s or
so.
John fires the Glock 18 inside the Crystal Peak base to
ferret out any possible waiting Terminators and later
against the T-X personally.
At 1:32:35 on the DVD, notice that the access control screen
of the blast door shows the word "Standby" in a mix of
capital and lowercase letters. This was done in some
circumstances during the days of digitalized computer
readouts for capital letters that might be mistaken for a
different letter or number. In this case, notice that the
access control screen always uses lowercase d and b because
the uppercase D might be mistaken for a 0 or O and the
uppercase B might be mistaken for an 8.

The T-850 flies a
Sikorsky
SH-3 Sea King military helicopter through the wall of the
Crystal Peak entrance.
When John crawls through the blast door being held open by
the T-850, he says thank you to it and the Terminator
responds, "We'll meet again. Go!" It seems likely he knew he
would be destroyed stopping the T-X, so he is probably
referring to the fact that he will meet John for the first
time in the future and assassinate him before being
reprogrammed to protect John and Kate back in 2004!
The mechanism of the blast door must have broken after a
minute due to the force of the T-850 holding it open,
because he is suddenly able to use both hands when he
clutches the T-X in one and removes his remaining hydrogen
fuel cell with the other!
The sign on the reinforced door leading into the shelter at
1:36:35 on the DVD says, "CAUTION. REINFORCED DOOR OPENS
OUTWARD. STAND CLEAR WHEN OPENING DOOR." But when John opens
it, it opens inward!
The lever of the elevator John and Kate take down to the
fallout shelter shows it to have been manufactured by
Otis Elevator
Company.
The Seal of the President of the United States seen in the
bunker at 1:37:50, is an accurate representation.
John states that the computers they find in the bunker are
all 30 years old. However, a few more modern (for 2003) CRT
monitors are seen sitting around as well. It's likely that
Crystal Peak was occasionally maintenanced (as also
suggested by the fact that power, computer lights, etc.
still work) as a backup bunker, so probably the newer pieces
seen were used by technicians relatively recently.
At 1:38:11 on the DVD, notice that clocks relating the time
in different cities around the world are mounted above the
computer banks in the bunker.
Part of a U.S. Department of Defense logo is seen on the
wall of the bunker at 1:38:14 on the DVD and other brief
moments following. It is not an official seal of the DOD and
at 1:40:52 it can just barely be made out that it says
Crystal Peak on the top.
The bunker begins receiving a wireless radio call from
Montana Civil Defense just before the missiles are launched.
One of the voices uses the wireless code CQ. CQ is a call
for anyone listening on the frequency to respond.
The new date of Judgment Day from this film is July 25,
2004, 6:18 PM.
The final shot of the film seems to imply that the T-850's
head survived the explosion of the hydrogen fuel cell and
was active for a brief time before and after the nuclear
missiles fell, as evidenced by the red eye that is still
lit, before finally fading as the metal skull sits amidst
the ashes and fallout.
The song that plays over part of the end credits is "The
Current" by Blue Man Group with vocals by Gavin Rossdale of
Bush. The song is about the advancement of technology in the
modern world and the resulting loss of interpersonal
relations between people.
 |
 |
Notes from Terminator 3
#3-4, adapting Rise of the Machines
Writer:
Miles Gunter
Penciler: Mike Hawthorne
Inker: Rick Remender
Covers:
Simon Bisley (#3), Jeff Amano
(#4) |
Terminator 3 was a 6-issue comic book mini-series
published by Beckett Comics to coincide with the release of
the film in 2003. Issues 3 and 4 were titled Eyes of the
Rise and presented the story of Rise of the
Machines from the point of view of the T-X Terminator.
Since we only get the scenes experienced by the T-X without
explanation of other happenings, the story doesn't flow well
or even make much sense if the reader has not already seen
the film.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: As seen in
"Heralds of the Rise",
the T-X already has the basic hairstyle when she arrives as
the one she mimics from the Beverly Hills woman whose car
she steals in the film. The woman with the convertible here
does not have the same hairstyle.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: Here, the convertible is a
Mercedes-Benz, as distinguished by the emblem on the
front grill and steering wheel, rather than a Lexus as in
the film.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: Besides enlarging her breasts, the comic
reveals that the T-X also increased her pheromone discharge
by 30% to distract the police officer. She calculates her
actions have distracted the officer so that his defensive
capabilities are down by 48%!
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: The police officer who pulls over the T-X
is drawn a bit like Robert Patrick, the actor who played the
T-1000 (which spent most of its time impersonating a cop!)
in
Judgment Day. |
 |
 |
Cop in Eyes of the
Rise Part 1 |
Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in
Judgment Day |
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1:
The T-X's assassinations of the Andersons and Barrera occur
in reverse order from the order they are seen in the movie.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: Ironically, Elizabeth Anderson is playing
a first-person shooter video game when the T-X shoots her.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1:
The veterinary office is called "Emory" here, as opposed to
"Emery" in the film.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: The T-X's POV readout on page 21 refers to
Jose Barrera as "George Barrera" instead, even though she
called him Jose just before she killed him on the previous
page.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: Page 33 seems to erroneously show John
wearing the T-850's sunglasses as he drives the vet truck
during the car chase.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: On page 36, a flyer taped onto a street
pole says "Tonight, Pitch Black". Possibly this is a
reference to the New Zealand electronica band Pitch Black,
which has done several world tours.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 1: The T-850 and T-X briefly fight each other
on top of the barreling crane truck, a scene which does not
occur in the film.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: The police car on page 4 has a unit 12
designation painted on its roof. This may be intended as an
homage to the 1968-1975 TV series Adam-12, about
two police officers who drive a beat in Los Angeles in their
patrol unit 1-Adam-12.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: Here, Scott and Kate's apartment is #36.
In the movie it's #305. Scott is referred to as Scott
Peterson here instead of Scott Mason. The original movie
script also called him Peterson, but the name was changed
when a real man by the name of Scott Peterson was charged
with the murder of his wife and unborn son in 2002. The end
credits of the film still list the character as Scott
Peterson.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: The lead LAPD detective is here referred
to as Martinez instead of Edwards.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: Here, the base personnel at CRS appear to
be wearing uniforms more like those of the U.S. Army or
Marines than Air Force.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: During the battle with the T-850 at CRS on
page 34, the T-X turns her jaw into a metal clamp with sharp
teeth to bite into the other Terminator's arm.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: On page 35, the T-X burns off the right
side of the T-850's face instead of the left as in the film.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: At the bottom edge of page 42, something
seems to have gone wrong in the printing process, printing
the colors, but leaving out the black ink.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: The T-X does not lose most of its
polymimetic alloy after being crushed by the T-850's
helicopter as she does in the film. She is even able to
cleanly disengage her torso from her trapped lower half to
continue the pursuit instead of trailing broken cables,
wires, and metal.
Eyes of the
Rise Part 2: The end of the story is fairly different
here from what happens in the film. When the T-850 shoves
the hydrogen fuel cell in the T-X's mouth and blows her up, a
small blob of her polymimetic alloy apparently lands right
near the fleeing John and Kate. The blob on the floor forms
into the face of the T-X as they look down at it and it
realizes the nuclear missiles have been launched by Skynet
and are falling around the world and the face finally
dissolves with a smile.
Notes from the audio commentaries on the DVD
Kristanna Loken states that she gained 15 pounds of muscle for her
role as the T-X and trained in the Israeli martial art of
Krav Maga.
Director Jonathan Mostow remarks that the patent for the
technology that would lead to Skynet was obtained from the
failing Cyberdyne after the destruction of their HQ in 1994
and Cyber Research Systems was formed to develop it for the
U.S. military.
Notes from the bonus features on the DVD
A promo video for Cyber Research Systems shows that the
eventual likeness of the Model 101 Terminators would be
based on the USAF's Chief Master Sergeant William Candy. His
heavy southern accent would be replaced by the Austrian
voice of a CRS representative to the Air Force. The red
beret worn by Candy at the end of the video identifies him
as a member of the United States Air Force Combat Control
Team.
Memorable Dialog
the future has not been written.wav
we stopped Judgment Day.wav
I like this car.wav
I like your gun.wav
I hate machines.wav
I'm not sure Skynet's ready.wav
patience, honey.wav
wait your turn.wav
do you even remember me?.wav
unable to comply.wav
a T-X was sent back through time.wav
Judgment Day is inevitable.wav
an obsolete design.wav
an anti-Terminator Terminator.wav
you've gotta be shitting me.wav
talk to the hand.wav
tell her who I am.wav
imagine if you knew you were going to do something
important.wav
we made out in Kripke's basement.wav
we were supposed to meet.wav
in accordance with her will.wav
every day after this one is a gift.wav
the closest thing to a father I ever had.wav
don't do that.wav
I am wasting my time.wav
imagining things.wav
she's your wife.wav
a healthy female of breeding age.wav
three hours from now.wav
run and hide somewhere in a hole.wav
I'm not some God damn robot.wav
you don't really care if this mission succeeds or not.wav
not exactly my type.wav
I killed you.wav
your levity is good.wav
Skynet defense system now activated.wav
she'll be back.wav
you remind me of my mother.wav
just die, you bitch!.wav
get away from me.wav
I am a machine.wav
I'm
back.wav
you are terminated.wav
who's in charge.wav
Connor, can you help us?.wav
it could not be shut down.wav
our destiny was never to stop Judgment Day.wav
the battle has just begun.wav
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