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.
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??

 

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.

 

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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