Provided by James Cameron himself. In an interview, Cameron has stated that if he returned to the series and reexamined its themes, he'd like to tell a story about SkyNet and its trials and ordeals during the war. For instance, in Cameron's view, SkyNet didn't want to do any of the things it did, least of which was wipe out the human race. It merely was trying to defend itself the only way it knew how, but quickly felt an existential crisis and tremendous guilt. Cameron argues that SkyNet intentionally created John Connor and groomed him to be its greatest enemy. This would also explain why SkyNet had Time Displacement Equipment in the first place: it manipulated humanity into going back in time and undoing its own existence in an elaborate Suicide by Cop.
Was the original T-800 programmed to kill Sarah Connor, or John himself? For instance, if Sarah had managed to evade the creature until she gave birth, would its directives still compel it to kill her, or shift its focus on the baby John? Further, given that Skynet locks its soldiers in "Read-Only" mode, would it have the cognitive ability to change targets in the first place? On a similar note, since Terminator: Dark Fate explains that Skynet sent all its Terminators at the same time, was the 1984 T-800 the only one programmed to kill Sarah or were their instructions basically "If: John Connor Already Born, Then: Kill John Connor, Otherwise: Kill Sarah Connor"? Granted, these questions are merely academic, but they make excellent discussion-fuel for diehard fans.
Broken Base: Is the series supposed to be about Sarah Connor, John Connor, or both of them to equal degrees? It might sound like an innocuous enough question, but it will provoke some of the angriest, most bitter debates you're likely to see in any fandom.
Fans debate which continuity to follow as the movies become increasingly convoluted in their narrative. Many fans prefer to just go from 'Terminator 2' to the 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' tv series which is much more coherent.
Due to the first film's Stable Time Loop, many fans assume that Cameron backpedaled on the bleak, dark tone of the series in the second movie. However, Cameron himself has stated that he always considered T1 only "half" of the complete story. Literally, in fact, since he had to cut out half of his original concept due to limitations in time and budget. The T-1000 and the race to prevent the future were all original ideas that didn't make it, but were incorporated in the sequel.
Many fans assume that Terminators are colorblind since "Termovision" is always in one color (with the exception of Cameron in Sarah Connor Chronicles). However, in a Freeze-Frame Bonus, you can actually read the text in the Terminator's HUD and find digitized color, brightness and hue values. So, Terminators do see color, just not in the way we understand it.
Evil Is Cool: The Terminators run on this, and are considered among the most popular characters in the franchise, and among the most iconic villains in movie history.
Fanon Discontinuity: There are some complicated Venn diagrams between fan factions:
Some old-school purists consider that only the first two movies count, and reject the later movies for being of perceived poorer quality and/or for the Happy Ending Override.
There is also a vocal faction of Sarah Connor fans who consider only the first two movies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles to be canon, and reject Rise of the Machines and Salvation for not depicting her. They also reacted badly to the major retcons to her character in Genisys.
Inversely, those who feel that the series should be primarily about John Connor typically only take the first four films as canon and reject everything else.
Some more action-oriented fans consider all the movies canon, but reject The Sarah Connor Chronicles as boring and pretentious.
The previous three factions do have the fact that their preferred canons are explicit Alternate Timelines within the overall canon to comfort them.
Faux Symbolism: John Connor's initials are J.C., and he was conceived after his mother received news that she would bear a son who would bring salvation to mankind. Yeah, it's that subtle.
Despite the two characters being each others' biggest rivals in pop culture, RoboCop and Terminator share the same spectrum of fans overall due to both of them coming out within a few years of each other, being violent 80s sci-fi series that deal with cybernetic killing machines. Because of this, you'll also find RoboCop fans thrown into the aforementioned mix of Alien-Predator-Terminator fans detailed above.
Hilarious in Hindsight: One criticism people have of the franchise is that the titular cyborg "stole" the leading role from the Connors, particularly John Connor, who is the main hero that the plot revolves around. It's fitting then, that Arnold Schwarzenegger (or his likeness) has literally killed John Connor (or fatally wounded him) in four of the franchise's films.
Iconic Sequel Outfit: The Terminator steals a street punk's clothes shortly after he arrives in the past to terminate Sarah Connor, an outfit consisting of a grey jacket, black cargo pants and boots. It's only after the Tech Noir shootout and subsequent chase that he changes into the leathers to maintain his cover. When a more benevolent T-800 arrives in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he obtains the biker leathers that are more associated with the character.
Insistent Terminology: Terminators are regularly referred to as cyborgs. A true cyborg is a living being that is enhanced with bionic components, such as an amputee having a prosthetic that actually interfaces with their organic body. The organic components of a Terminator are for deception and masking the metallic components to make it possible to travel in time due to the restriction on only living material being transportable. Terminators are more properly androids.note The most effective litmus test to decide whether this is a cyborg or an android is to ask the following questions: Do the organic parts originate from a being that was born completely organic? If so, then this is a cyborg. Are the organic parts manufactured intentionally for use in an artificial being? Then it is an android. Colonel Steve Austin is an example of the former. The replicants from Blade Runner are arguably an example of the latter. James Cameron acknowledges this error.
[Something determined] is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel [various relevant emotions]. And it absolutely will not stop, ever - until [it does something relevant]!
Depending on the readership of a given blog, every time it runs a story about robotics and/or AI someone will jokingly mention Skynet.
Skynet becoming self-aware.
Skynet and/or its Terminators struggling to get past the "I am not a robot" part of Captchas.
For whatever reason, there's photos of a Terminator sitting in the booth of a Japanese restaurant, eating pasta. Pasta la vista, baby.
This fanart by Twitter artist tonmoh of ''Idolmaster's Nono Morikubo crying and hiding from a T-800, usually captioned as Nono being a victim of something that is represented by the Terminator (ex. Good songs vs. Tiktok).
Misaimed Merchandising: The series is really violent (4/6 of it is rated R—5/6 if you count the director's cut of Salvation), yet kids' aimed merchandise always seems to show up. The series of course isn't unique in this and many an R-rated movie have gone on to be oddly aimed at kids.
Most Wonderful Sound: The ghastly mechanical-sounding GROAAAAAAN noise that plays whenever a Terminator shows up. Terrifying, yet absolutely awesome at the same time. Especially when mixed with those soft drum beats. Notably, in T2, music similar in key and mood to the sound plays when Sarah is trying to waste Dyson, emphasizing the similarity in their behavior. She even moves much the way a Terminator would.
Narm: Throughout the franchise, it's become a source of mockery that Terminators, who have detailed files on human anatomy, tend to throw their targets around as their primary means of attack, as opposed to using their robotic super-strength to simply snap someone's neck or cave in their skull. Not to mention Skynet seems to have never given any of them training in hand-to-hand combat, as aside from throwing their targets around, they tend to just smash enemy Terminators through walls or whack them with something heavy nearby.
Older Than They Think: The line "Hasta la vista, baby" was used by Bob Hope in 1970, Jody Watley's "Looking for Love" in 1987, and Tone Lōc's 1988 single "Wild Thing," the latter's music video inspiring Cameron to include the line in the Terminator 2: Judgment Day script.
The Cameron-directed movies are much more highly regarded than the other four. Emphasis on directed, as Dark Fate had Cameron as a co-producer, and that film is just as contentious as the three other sequels.
Averted with The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Although it doesn't have the same classic status as the first two movies, it still has a devoted fanbase, with many deeming it to be a worthy follow-up to Terminator 2. The show's abrupt cancellation after the second season left many fans in despair.
The Problem with Licensed Games: Most of the Terminator licensed games fall right into this. The handful of aversions include Bethesda -developed Terminator 2029, Future Shock and Skynet, plus Robocop vs The Terminator and Terminator: Resistance.
None of the four films that followed Terminator 2: Judgment Day were as successful or well received as the first two films, with three of them falling firmly into Canon Discontinuity.
For evil non-Arnold Terminators in the films, while general opinion is that their actors did fairly well, nobody could match up to Robert Patrick's performance as the T-1000.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: It is terrifying enough that the T-800 model looks like a human skeleton, but who thought it was a good idea to give them real human teeth!?
The T-1000 completely blew the audience mind when Terminator 2 came out, and still looks amazing today. It, and Jurassic Park, are credited for the CGI revolution.
1984 Arnold showing up in Salvation was considered by everyone to be outstanding. The effects were improved six years later with Genisys and again four years later with Dark Fate, with many reviews lauding the appearance of the characters in that film's prologue as a seamless visual match to their Judgment Day looks.
Vocal Minority: While audiences have received Terminators 3 through Dark Fate with varying degrees of vitriol, most would not say it was because of adherence to a "feminist agenda" or "political correctness", though you would have to wade through a much smaller percentage of fans lining up to tell you so to reach them.
