Terminator just starting

[Zippy]

Terminator 2 is one of my favourite films and the special effects were terrific, but I think the story was what sold it. We dig out the DVD and watch it about twice a year.

[Clippy]

Yes the liquid metal was a great use of effects. These days they just have the hyper realism of things like Avatar, but somehow it lacks that cool factor.

There's a bit at the end of Terminator with the skeleton walking into the factory. Most of it is a head and shoulders shot, which looks totally realistic, and somewhat terrifying, and that was a puppet with two guys underneath operating it. Then it cuts to a bit of stop motion because somebody thought it was necessary to see the whole Terminator-skeleton, and it looks laughably cheap and spoils the atmopshere.

That's a good example of how the "look at what we can do" approach to effects has often spoiled movies.

And then there's the "inside Arnie's head" bit in T2 which you'd think was just CGI (yawn), and was actually done with a fake mirror and Linda Hamilton's twin sister. That always amazes me.

I know what you mean. That scene was cut from the theatrical release to reduce the movies running time.

However, if you look at that and the other scenes that were cut, they are actually excellent examples of how they actually further the narrative but you can understand them being cut as it doesn't detract from the overall story. Another good example is the scene where John Connor teaches Arnie to smile!

The same is true for the Aliens Special Edition and the sentry gun scene but, IMHO, it's a brilliantly effective scene which really ramps up the tension of the movie and shouldn't have been cut.

[bobhope]

You overlooked the fact that Wargames was on the same time on Sunday night?

"The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"

[VectraMan]

The same is true for the Aliens Special Edition and the sentry gun scene but, IMHO, it's a brilliantly effective scene which really ramps up the tension of the movie and shouldn't have been cut.

My Aliens DVD has that on it. I had no idea it had been cut out.

[fullyautomatix]

Terminator was a great movie for me simply because it was a Part 2 and bettered part 1. No other movie since has managed it for me. Another movie I keep watching every time on telly is Fifth Element, which is awesome.

[VectraMan]

Terminator was a great movie for me simply because it was a Part 2 and bettered part 1. No other movie since has managed it for me. Another movie I keep watching every time on telly is Fifth Element, which is awesome.

What was Terminator part 2 of?

[fullyautomatix]

What was Terminator part 2 of?

Dunno.

[Pogle]

I'm a big fan of the Alien films, saw the alternative version of the 3rd one (the one that was slated, set on a prison world) and it was actually quite good - Lords knows why they hacked it about for the cinema release.