June 25, 2026

A Script By: James Cameron - The Terminator

A Script By: James Cameron - The Terminator

Before it was a film, it was a script. Brad Koszo dives deep into some of Hollywood's most celebrated screenplays to analyze their structure, themes, and page-to-film journey. Get ready for a look at the writers behind the words as he explore their...

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Season 7
Before it was a film, it was a script.

Brad Koszo dives deep into some of Hollywood's most celebrated screenplays to analyze their structure, themes, and page-to-film journey. Get ready for a look at the writers behind the words as he explore their process, what influenced them, and how they inspired some of the iconic cinema we enjoy today.

This month, Amber "The Voice of Reason" Lewis travels across time with Brad to discuss a sci-fi classic; James Cameron's The Terminator!

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WEBVTT

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Welcome to a Script. By episode five, I am your host,

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Brad Kozo. Thanks for joining me on this show. We

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break down some of Hollywood's most notable screenplays and explore

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why they remain so powerful the page. Last episode, I

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mentioned that this month's screenplay would be Mean Streets by

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Martin Scorsese and Martic Martin, but after some consideration, I

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decided to call an audible and swissings up a bit.

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Now.

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While Mean Streets is a fantastic script, I ultimately felt

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that it might be a little too obscure for the

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season first season of the show. But don't worry, we'll

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definitely get us some Scorsese next season. Because today I

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have a real crowd pleaser, a screenplay so well crafted

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that it's almost impossible to put down once it starts moving.

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I'm talking about nineteen eighty four As the Terminator, written

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by James Cameron with Gail and Hurd, a script so

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iconic that Cameron's words on the page became part of

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American film culture itself. A screenplay that perfectly blends action,

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science fiction, horror, and real world anxieties into one relentless

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cinematic experience. From its dark haunting opening to its terrifying

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vision in the future. The Terminator is a screenplay that,

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much like the Machine as its center, simply does not stop.

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This is a script by Let's turn the page. Welcome

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back to a script by I am your host, Brad Kozo.

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And this is episode five The Terminator written by James

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Cameron with Gail and Herd. Now let me explain the

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difference of James Cameron with Gail and Herd instead of

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by Cameron and Herd. Written by typically means the credited

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person or person's contributed substantially to most story and screenplay,

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with often suggest additional collaboration, development, or contributions that were

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meaningful but not necessarily equal authorship. While The Terminator's mistakenly

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driven by Jim Cameron's voice and storytelling instincts, Gail Ann

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Herd was an important creative collaborator in helping shape the

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screenplay and bringing the project to life. This is the

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script that changed science fiction forever by blending time travel,

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one of my favorite subjects, the threat of artificial intelligence

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and the fear of nuclear holocaust one of my least favorite.

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You know subjects sometimes overlooked by the bigger and financially

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more successful Terminator to Judgment Day. The magic all starts here.

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The script doesn't just move, it hunts you. Every scene

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pushes forward, every moment escalates, every line has purpose. I

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mean it like the machine does not stop. And that's

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what makes The Terminator such a fascinating script to study.

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But as always, I would like to introduce my guests

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this evening. She did such a great job with me

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on get Out, I thought it would be wise to

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bring her back. That's right. Jeff Johnson likes to call

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her the voice of Reason. Returning to the show is

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Amber Lewis. Amber, welcome back.

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Thank you. I love this movie. I can't wait.

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What are your earliest Terminator type of memories, because I mean,

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I don't remember the first time I've seen it. I

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just remember that era of seeing it a lot.

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Yeah, it was one of those that kind of was

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always on at some point in like the later eighties.

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I was not really interested. My brothers definitely.

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Were, Oh it was a guy film.

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Yeah, yeah, I was just like, you know whatever.

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I'd be in and out and it was on in

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the room.

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And then they were so excited for Terminator too that

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I know that I it was probably around that point

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that I saw out the first Terminator, Like all the

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way through it seemed like pieces and you know, heard.

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Arnold say I'll be back, you know, and all that.

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But I think I didn't sit down and actually watch

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it until nineteen ninety one.

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Yeah, I think it was like I wore I rented

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the video, taped it from cable, watched it on cable,

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you know, wore out the probably the tape that I

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taped it on. You know, it was just so much but.

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The boys, but that was not me.

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But I had never actually read the script, and reading

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it for the first time, I mean just you know,

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I was really surprised how well this script is written.

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I mean his Cameron's description of images and camera movements.

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I mean, it's very easy. This is not for a

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novice person. I mean, you know, Chinatown last Picture showed.

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These are all great, but they're not really fun reads.

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You know.

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It's like The Terminator is a script with exciting descriptive

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and highly emotional and I mean I had a hard

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time putting it down. If I could, I just want

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to read this one little portion. This is the portion

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where the Terminator is in Sarah Connor's mother's cabin in

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like big Bear, and I just want you to read

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his direction and his description, and it is dead on

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what you see on the screen. Slow pan around the

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room as the conversation between Sarah and her mom continues

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completely voiceover. The pan continues, revealing an overturned chair. The

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pan comes to a table, smash plates, spilled coffee, a

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splatter of blood, a phone. It follows the phone cord

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onto the terminator and close up as it continues in

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a perfect simulation of her mother's voice, I love you too, sweetheart.

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I mean, that's exactly what you see. I mean, what

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did you think reading this for the first time.

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Well, like you said, sometimes scripts are difficult to read,

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Like you write, yeah, it's a movie you like, and

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you think, oh, it'll be interesting to read the script

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and it'll be just like watching the movie. And then

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you're like, this is not the thing. And I always thought,

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correct me if I'm wrong. I thought it was like

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a faux pas. To put camera direction in a screenplay

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you're planning to direct it yourself, really doesn't matter. But

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so I was fascinated at how, like you said, how

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technical it is. But even with those technical aspects, it

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doesn't make it difficult for you to envision what he

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is describing. And I also was very interested in how

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specific he is, Like he could have just said machine gun,

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but he you know, AR one eighty, you know, like

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I gotta know what that is.

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And the thing is, he's dead on in the movie.

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That's exactly what he has. Each time it's it's it's hilarious.

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But now you know, of course, we know James Cameron

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is so about the technical and so about the little details.

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But for his kind of first movie, you know, uh,

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to have that specificity is really interesting right out of

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the gate.

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Yeah, and just I can imagine the person, the studio

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person at Hemdale that reads this for the first time

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and it's just like Stellar, Let's let's go right ahead.

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I wonder if they were like that, or if they

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were like, who the heck is this guy?

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This is? You know a star? Yeah, well, then let's

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get into a background of James Cameron, because to understand

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the Terminator, you gotta understand where James Cameron was at

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the time in the eighties. Camera wasn't the filmmaker we

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all know today. He did a variety of jobs in

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the film industry, model making effects work, all that stuff.

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Now that technical background would become as like you were saying,

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one of the defining you know, the strengths of the Terminator.

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But at the time he had only directed one picture,

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Pirana to the Spawning, covered previously by a film Buy,

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a troubled production that suffered from budget issues and creative conflict.

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But while he was staying in Rome on the picture,

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he had a fever dream above a metallic, metallic skeleton

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emerging from fire carrying blades. That image became the spark

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that eventually evolved into the Terminator. The script was so

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arrived at the perfect moment. You know, America was deep

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in the Cold War anxieties, living with fears of nuclear

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war advancing technology. Terminator just tapped right into those fears,

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I mean, but at the same time turning it into

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one of the most iconic science fiction stories. I mean,

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it's it's a nightmare, but it's one of the you know,

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Hollywood's defining screenplays.

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Well, and I think it succeeded so well because it

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wasn't it I don't know, for me, it wasn't selling

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the fear of a nuclear holocaust like say war games.

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You know, did.

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It was this almost like a slasher film, with this

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relentless you know, machine coming after this woman and the

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hope that if we can get her to the end

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of the movie, everything's gonna be okay.

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And the thing is, though it is and it isn't.

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Right, you still have the war, Like, we're not stopping

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the war, We're just saving the woman who's going to

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give birth to the hero.

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Of the war.

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Yeah, game, well, very much like your brothers. I was

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very intrigued when I found out A Terminator two was

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happening because I was so obsessed with the first film,

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you know, and it had been but eight seven eight years,

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you know since that movie came out, So that fever

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dream finally coming true and seeing what was could almost

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be at first looking at it somewhat of a cult movie.

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It got a little bit of a cult movie. Look

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then the next time around, turning into this spectacle, you know,

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just monstrosity, you know, spectacle. But that was I was

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one of those guys, you know, and I it felt

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good knowing the movie so well that when the little

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things were thrown at me, I was like, I know

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what he's talking about. I know what he's talking about.

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Well, and see I have missed that all these years.

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Like I remember seeing T two in the theater and

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just enjoying the ride like it was fabulous, But it

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was I just rew had to do a double feature

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because that's what you do. And there were a lot

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of things that went over my head, like I didn't

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know that the psychiatrist was the same guy.

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I was like, oh my god, is that guy.

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The first thing that Arnold says to her in T two.

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I'd forgotten that that was the first thing that Reese

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says to her in the first movie.

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So like, there were all.

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Kinds of little things that I was very excited about

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this time because I had just done them back to

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back like that.

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The only thing is I wish they wouldn't have shown

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in the trailer that he was, you know, protecting him

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this time. I would have been a nice to go

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in not knowing.

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But they is a good point, But I mean they

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were they were so excited about the T one thousand.

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I can't blame him for being.

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Like, Okay, forget it, this is the really cool thing

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that we have to show you.

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Yeah, well we're gonna take our first break and when

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we come back, we're gonna dive in the first ten

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pages and Act one of The Terminator. Welcome back to

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a script by We are covering the script for The Terminator.

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So let's get into those first ten pages. Now. What's

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amazing about the first ten pages of The Terminators that

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James Cameron and Gayle an Herd established nearly every essential

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element of great screenlighting almost immediately. The tone from the

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opening images of darkness, machines, human skulls, The screenplay media

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feels cold, apocalyptic and dangerous. Mystery. Who are these men,

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why have they arrived? Who is Sarah Connor? And who

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exactly is this real threat? This real threat? The script

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constantly pulls us forward, though unanswering, you know, not answering

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the questions. Character. Cameron defines character through action. The Terminator's

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calmon mechanical Reese is desperate and traumatize, Sarah's ordinary and vulnerable.

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We understand them before it's even explained to us. Conflict

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starts early Terminator versus the punks, rece versus the police,

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you know, all of them, racing towards Sarah Connor. Theme

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core fears technology overpowering humanity, future invading the present. You know,

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normal people getting caught in these catastrophic events. The pacing,

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what incredible speed, future war arrivals, pursuit, Sarah's introduction, and

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the first meds all happened within the first ten pages.

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And as we talked about, before, he tells this story visually.

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He talks about the red scanning, the point of view,

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the phone book, the police sire, I mean, everything is

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in there. The suspense, I mean the audience learns before

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Sarah does you know, we know something's hunting her? She doesn't.

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That tension locks the audience in almost immediately. That's why

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these opening pages are so effective. The screenplay doesn't just

226
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introduce the story, it creates momentum. My question is these

227
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first ten pages it throws a lot at the audience.

228
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Why do you think it feels exciting instead of confusing?

229
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My biggest thing is the lack of dialogue.

230
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Yeah, I feel like if it had been very exposition

231
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heavy already trying to kind of explain things, we would

232
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have gotten lost and you wouldn't have been able to

233
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retain all of that for the rest of the story.

234
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The fact that you know you're really just visually following

235
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these characters. You know there is some dialogue, but it's Yeah,

236
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it's not exposition at all.

237
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So it allows you.

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To start asking questions and making inferences and you are

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actively engaged with what you're watching. And then just when

240
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you start to kind of hit fatigue, he cuts to Sarah,

241
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who is the familiar.

242
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:07.600
She's going to work.

243
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:13.279
It's daytime, La looks pretty, you know, it's regular life.

244
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And I just think that that pacing, like he knows

245
00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:19.799
exactly when everybody's gonna say, all right, I've had enough,

246
00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:24.919
Like what is going on? Yeah, and he chooses to switch,

247
00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:26.840
and I find that very interesting.

248
00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:30.039
Yeah, and you he keeps throwing you know when she

249
00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.639
clocks in, you know, and like he says in the script,

250
00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.879
Sarah Connor. And we've seen you know them, both Reese

251
00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:39.960
and the Terminator going through Sarah Connor, Sarah Connor. So

252
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:43.759
we just what we know is the all these three

253
00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:47.559
have something in common, you know. And like remember we're

254
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.679
trying to envision, envision this screenplay with with virgin eyes.

255
00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:53.960
You know, It's it's hard when it's that dude, but

256
00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:56.399
you just kind of have to put your mind in

257
00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:01.480
that weird place. So let's get into act one. Act

258
00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:05.159
one of the Terminators built around a terrifying idea. Sarah

259
00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:09.279
Connor has done absolutely nothing wrong. She isn't a hero yet,

260
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.320
she isn't a warrior. She's just a young waitress trying

261
00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:15.720
to get through the day. But somewhere in the future

262
00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.559
has already decided that she matters, and that decision is

263
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:23.360
what drives the entire first act. The story's first inciting

264
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:28.840
incident actually happens before Sarah even appears. Recent Terminator arrive

265
00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:32.639
in nineteen eighty four. With that moment, normal reality is broken.

266
00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.480
Future is now in the present, war does not happen

267
00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:40.399
yet is already moving forward to moving towards Sarah Conna,

268
00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:44.679
and the brilliance of Cameron structure is that Sarah doesn't

269
00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:47.480
know any of this. She lives her normal life. The

270
00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:52.360
screenplay is quietly tightening around her, you know. Germinator begins searching, Reees,

271
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:57.440
follows police, investor, gate, other Sarah Connor's stop dying, The

272
00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:01.679
phone book becomes this like weapon, and then the city

273
00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.559
kind of gets uglier, you know, a little bit, you know,

274
00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:10.359
And then we reach Sarah's personal inciting incident. She learns

275
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:14.119
that women named Sarah Connor are being murdered and she's

276
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.319
the next one. On the list. Now the danger is personal.

277
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.359
Now it was mystery. Now it's fear. She doesn't know

278
00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:26.640
what's going on, but something's wrong. That tension defies Act one.

279
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:30.200
The audience knows more than Sarah. We understand the threat

280
00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:34.799
is coming, she doesn't. I mean, when the Terminator finally

281
00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:39.480
reaches her and rec intervenes the mystery, all of it is,

282
00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:45.079
it just explodes open in well literally in gunfire, because

283
00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.440
we learned the truth and that's the inciting incident. Three

284
00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:51.960
the future exists, machines will destroy humanity, and she has

285
00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:55.319
become the center of that war. Act one ends the

286
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:59.440
moment the questions stop and the survival begins. Act one

287
00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.759
of the Terminator is very interesting because Sarah isn't She's

288
00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:07.000
not driving the story, yet the story is driving toward her.

289
00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:10.599
Do you think that makes the opening more suspenseful? And

290
00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.960
at what point did you feel Sarah truly became the

291
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.240
center of the movie.

292
00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:22.559
I think the scene in the nightclub is really brilliantly done, because,

293
00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.440
like you said, we've been following just this normal woman

294
00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:32.119
who is starting to become incredibly concerned because women with

295
00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.039
her name are dying in the city and everyone.

296
00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:38.480
Is converging on her.

297
00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:41.400
Yeah, and I think that that is so interesting that

298
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.440
you've got Reese following her, you've got the Terminator coming

299
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.759
from another direction, you've got the cops coming from another directly.

300
00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.640
She's like in the center of this bullseye. And I

301
00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.920
just find that so fascinating, the way everybody converges on

302
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:03.839
this one spot. But the thing I love the most

303
00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.839
is that she is just so completely normal.

304
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.000
Yeah, Like she.

305
00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.880
Doesn't, you know, take karate, So there is nothing about

306
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:16.200
her that is remarkable other than just being who she is.

307
00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:19.880
Yeah, just a nineteen year old girl that's you know,

308
00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:24.440
going to school, working as a waitress to pay the bills,

309
00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.799
going out with girlfriends, going out on dates, I mean,

310
00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:32.799
just having the best time, and then just rug pulled

311
00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:36.519
out from under your legs. Yes, well, we're gonna take

312
00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:38.400
our final break and when we come back, we're gonna

313
00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:41.799
jump into Act two of the Terminator. Welcome back. We

314
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.200
are talking about Act two of the Terminator. The Act

315
00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:48.599
two of the Terminator is where the script stops asking questions,

316
00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.079
it starts moving. Mystery of Act one is now gone.

317
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:56.720
Sarah know she's being hunted. Reese reveals the truth machines

318
00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.119
are real and humanity has already just lost one. From

319
00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:04.519
this point forward, the screen baby becomes a chase. But

320
00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:07.839
what makes Act Too work is that Cameron doesn't rely

321
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:12.279
on the action. He builds it through inevitability. The Terminator

322
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:17.839
isn't angry, not emotional, not personal, It just continues. Every

323
00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:22.720
escape really does feel temporary, you know, every safe moment

324
00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.039
feels very very fragile. You're not really safe, you know,

325
00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:29.559
you know, he gives it the full story sky Net

326
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.039
Judgment Day, John Connor, Future War. All of her options

327
00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:36.640
are just getting smaller. And then we reach that midpoint

328
00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:40.160
at the police station, and for a brief moment, for

329
00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.720
a small moment, you think the characters are safe. She's

330
00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:46.359
surrounded by officers. Remember we have we have thirty cops

331
00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:51.680
in this building. But no, no, you know, the Terminator

332
00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.599
does not stop. And when he walks into that station,

333
00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.319
the film crosses the line. This no more survival, no

334
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.079
more of hiding who we are. This is war.

335
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:03.319
You know.

336
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.000
From that moment forward, she's no longer running from there,

337
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:10.000
She's running from fate herself. Act two of The Terminator

338
00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:13.680
doesn't build suspense through mystery. It builds it through inevitability.

339
00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:18.359
The police station scene feels like the moment the Terminator

340
00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:22.480
genre changes, you know, it's is that where the movie

341
00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:27.880
stops being a thriller and becomes a nightmare. And was

342
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.079
that also the moment you realize nobody's safe from this thing?

343
00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:34.319
You know, I mean it might not even be killable, absolutely,

344
00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:39.319
because the thing is up until now, he's kind of

345
00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:46.279
moving within society's he's doing violent things, but he's not

346
00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:49.920
really trying to draw attention to himself. He's just kind

347
00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:53.200
of methodically going down this hit list.

348
00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:54.680
He's keeping it low key.

349
00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:55.599
Yeah.

350
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.079
And when he first arrives at the police station, you know,

351
00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:03.960
he asks the the officer at the desk, it a

352
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:07.160
very politely, may I please speak with Sarah Connor.

353
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:08.039
I'm her friend?

354
00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:15.920
And from the moment he is taking measure visually taking

355
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.559
measurement of the wall in front of him. From that

356
00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:25.160
moment on, like he, I guess has just decided I'm

357
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.880
going to kill everyone until I can get to her.

358
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:34.839
And I find that really an interesting choice because he's

359
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:38.200
killing people he doesn't have to, like, there are no

360
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.599
threat to him.

361
00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:43.359
But he's a they're humans, you know, he's a killing machine.

362
00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:47.359
Yeah, And so it's interesting that he just kind of

363
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.119
that's the moment he flips the switch and is like,

364
00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:53.640
I'm just gonna take out everybody because it's easier that way.

365
00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.440
Yeah. I mean, like I said, if you're trying to

366
00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:01.240
see it through virgin eyes, you know, you don't see

367
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.880
that coming. You see him trying to get in there

368
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:05.960
some way, but just fooling me, Like, you know, I'm

369
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.799
just going to tear the place apart. I'm sick. I'm

370
00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.519
sick of going back and for chasing her. Then I've

371
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:16.160
already taken out my eye, my wrist, my arm got

372
00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.839
all screwed up. Enough is enough, you know, he just

373
00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:22.480
oh man, he just it's a slaughter.

374
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:23.400
It is.

375
00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.279
And I thought it was interesting in the script because

376
00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:28.319
obviously hasn't been cast yet.

377
00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.519
Yeah, he had.

378
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:36.119
Cameron had the terminator like jumping over a desk and

379
00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:41.680
running and doing all these very like kind of live

380
00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:48.039
athletic things, and that's not Arnold's style. So you know

381
00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.319
the difference between what was on the page and then

382
00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:56.839
what that became with the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger I

383
00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.640
thought was an interesting difference.

384
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.519
Yeah, it was a big slap in the face to him.

385
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:06.160
Because he came in to read for Reese and yeah,

386
00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:09.119
they read it and he's like, be sure I'm not

387
00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:11.960
better for the for the terminator. And then they thought about, like,

388
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:14.920
man with this guy's size, and imagine what we could do him. Yes,

389
00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:17.720
imagine that we could be And I think they thought, like,

390
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:19.839
we just beat him up, he will be able to.

391
00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:23.000
Take it well. And he absolutely fits.

392
00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:26.680
One of my favorite lines at this point is when

393
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:31.720
Reese is trying to explain to Sarah what this thing

394
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.720
is and he says it can't be reasoned with, it

395
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:40.160
can't be bargained with, and it absolutely will not stop ever.

396
00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:44.279
And then you see that happen in the police station.

397
00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:47.720
Yeah, and you're like, yeah, he's this is this is

398
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.920
full on just a killing machine. Written is very close

399
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.519
to the way it was directed. You know, he like

400
00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.880
I said, he's he pulls this one up, this type

401
00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.559
of ar rifle with this and he's got this I

402
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:04.640
mean even like him getting shot in the just you know,

403
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:07.480
a little part right here and stuff. So just something

404
00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.960
that doesn't even matter to the rest of the movie.

405
00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:13.160
He had in there well, and talking about when he

406
00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:16.799
pulls the the electrical wire. Yes, the while he's like

407
00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:19.240
it said it was like a four forty or something.

408
00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.519
I'm like, yeah, who cares, it's an electric thing exactly.

409
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:25.359
He set fire to the building.

410
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:29.839
Is the point, Well, let's get into act three. Act

411
00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:33.200
three of the Terminator is where the screenplay becomes pure survival.

412
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.720
By this point, almost everything has been taken away. Police

413
00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:39.599
are gone, the city can no longer protect Sarah. Reese

414
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:42.839
is wounded, the future that once felt distant is now

415
00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.960
staring directly in front of her. What makes his final

416
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.680
act work so well is how Cameron keeps escalating the danger,

417
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:54.200
why stripping away the Terminator's humanity. The truck explodes, flesh

418
00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:59.400
burns away, the machine underneath is finally exposed, and somehow

419
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.519
it becomes even more frightening because now there's nothing left

420
00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:08.519
to disguise it just metal, movement and purpose. That screenplay

421
00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:13.000
turns the Terminator into something mythic. It isn't evil, it

422
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:17.279
isn't angry. It just continues, And then we reach Sarah's

423
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:21.519
resurrection moment. Reese dies. Sarah's alone, and for the first

424
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.640
time in the film, nobody is coming to save her.

425
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:28.559
Hope is nearly gone. The Protector is dead, she and

426
00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.440
is still moving and it feels like the story has

427
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:34.880
reached its end. But this is where Sarah changes. She

428
00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:38.880
stops running, she stops surviving, and then she starts fighting.

429
00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:43.519
Then the ordinary waitress from Act one disappears, and her

430
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:45.920
place is at the beginning of the Sarah Connor we

431
00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:51.319
remember fittingly. The final confrontation happens inside a factory, a

432
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:56.319
place built by machines, where humanity finally pushes back. Sarah

433
00:26:56.359 --> 00:27:00.720
crushes the Terminator not with superior strength, not with your weapons,

434
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:06.119
but through endurance, transformation and the will to survive. Act

435
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:09.880
through the Terminator doesn't end with victory, it ends with resurrection.

436
00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.000
So Act three strips everything away, both from the Terminator

437
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:19.880
and in the screenplay, Reese dies, the Terminator keeps moving,

438
00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:22.880
and Sarah stands alone. Was this the moment the film

439
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:26.519
stopped being about survival and became an origin story?

440
00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:27.480
Yeah?

441
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.039
I didn't actually think of it that way until you

442
00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:34.839
pose the question. But one hundred percent what I love

443
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:40.480
is that in a kind of story like this, there's.

444
00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:41.720
Basically two kinds of people.

445
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:46.519
There's people that freeze in fear and are killed and

446
00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:51.920
they don't survive, and then there's people that kind of

447
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:57.960
develop their own terminator, likability to keep going and say,

448
00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:01.039
you know, I may die, but I'm gonna die like right,

449
00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:04.759
you know, no matter what, I'm going to keep trying.

450
00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:10.960
And the visual of her, you know, she's wounded, her

451
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:14.039
her leg had trapnel in it so she can't run,

452
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:18.079
and her clawing her way.

453
00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:19.440
Through these machines.

454
00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:22.960
And I love the visual of the terminator. He's just

455
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.240
like a rib cage in an arm, yeah, you know.

456
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:29.160
And just the relentlessness of him still coming after her,

457
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:38.000
and you know, her willingness to just she has no skills,

458
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.240
she has nothing.

459
00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:44.759
The only reason she knows to crush it is because

460
00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.960
she bumped into it earlier as they were running around

461
00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:51.160
trying to escape the terminator. That's the only reason she

462
00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:53.640
wasn't like, oh well, but she was like, oh yeah,

463
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:55.759
I hit the up. We'll crush him.

464
00:28:55.960 --> 00:28:56.200
Yes.

465
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:02.640
And it's that, you know, strength of character that I

466
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:04.160
don't think she even knew was there.

467
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:08.000
Yeah, you know, that enables her to make it that far.

468
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:13.440
I mean, once she starts kind of I think it's

469
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:19.319
once Reese gets shot, once he gets shot, she is

470
00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:21.559
the first time she kind of strikes the terminator with

471
00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:24.880
the truck. You know, she actually is the one that

472
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:27.200
cuts over and you know it's a pretty good thing,

473
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:30.400
you know, truck tips and stuff. Then she's carrying him,

474
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:34.640
and once she starts doing the on your feet soldier, yes,

475
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:37.720
you're like, who is this woman? And that's the one

476
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:41.559
obviously we end up seeing and you just you just

477
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:45.119
get these little teases, like you know, at the time,

478
00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:47.440
obviously we were like, who knows what's going to become over,

479
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:50.599
you know, but but seeing that, you're like, Okay, she

480
00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:52.119
has the potential to do it.

481
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.839
Yes, absolutely, And you know, there were a couple of

482
00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.000
scenes in the script that didn't make it into the movie,

483
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.599
and I understand why he cut them, and I think

484
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.519
they know they were good cuts, I have to admit,

485
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:11.519
but you started to see hints of she's smarter than

486
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.839
you think she is and she's tougher than you think

487
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:19.039
she is. But I do think that the payoff is

488
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.200
worth missing those moments.

489
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:24.599
Yes, because you're very much in there and being like,

490
00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:29.119
oh he had a bigger plan. Yes, yeah. All right.

491
00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.880
Now that we have covered all three acts of The Terminator,

492
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:34.559
it is time to go beyond the page and our

493
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:39.079
first section foreshadowing and setup. One of the most impressive

494
00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:41.799
things about The Terminator is how carefully James Cameron builds

495
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:45.200
the future before fully explaining it. Almost nothing in the

496
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:49.119
script is random early on that details feel small, He's

497
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.119
gonna miss on a first watch. The Future War imagtry,

498
00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:56.319
the crushed skulls, the machines, all of it, even the

499
00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:01.200
way the Terminator studies people moves. Some environments so at

500
00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:03.599
first they just kind of feel like atmosphere, but they're not.

501
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:08.359
They're set up because Cameron is quietly planting information. The

502
00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:12.640
audience doesn't fully understand yet, but eventually they will. The

503
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:17.319
Future War isn't just opening spectacle, it's the world Sarah

504
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:20.920
will help create. The phone book isn't just a prop.

505
00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:25.200
It becomes a weapon. The other Sarah Connors aren't random victims.

506
00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:29.720
They're showing us how systematic the Terminator really is. Even

507
00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:33.720
Sarah herself is set up. She begins so ordinary that

508
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:37.880
the transformation later feels earned. And that's what makes the

509
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:41.559
screenplay so effective. The revelations don't feel like twist. They

510
00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:45.960
feel inevitable because Cameron has been preparing us the entire time.

511
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:49.680
That's the difference between surprise and payoff. The Terminator doesn't

512
00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:53.839
simply reveal the future. It builds it piece by piece.

513
00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:00.200
Looking back at the script, what detail felt small all

514
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:03.400
the first time but turned out to be much bigger

515
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:04.640
once everything came together.

516
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:10.039
The one thing that really stood out for me was

517
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:14.160
the scene in the police station when Reese is talking

518
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:23.839
to the psychiatrist and he says, we'd won the machine

519
00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:28.960
sent the terminator through as a last ditch effort. Yeah,

520
00:32:29.799 --> 00:32:35.839
And I had never picked up on that before, and

521
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:37.799
so when I read it, I was like, is that

522
00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:41.599
in the movie? Yeah, And so I was looking for that,

523
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:45.880
waiting for it when I did a rewatch, and it

524
00:32:45.960 --> 00:32:46.359
was there.

525
00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:50.720
So the idea that they had actually.

526
00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:55.680
Defeated the machines in the future, and this was an

527
00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:01.599
attempt to circumvent that. It wasn't just take out rebels

528
00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:02.960
that were being annoying.

529
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:05.480
Yeah, it was their hell Mary.

530
00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:09.160
Yes, I thought that was a really great detail.

531
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.119
Yeah, you're right, that was a perfect detail, because, yeah,

532
00:33:12.119 --> 00:33:14.640
it goes by kind of quick. You know, he's just

533
00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:18.400
like we'd want, you know, and just you're still just

534
00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:21.000
kind of studying and finding out who Reese is really

535
00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:24.599
and just taking it all in. Yes, So that brings

536
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:29.519
us to dialogue character and subtext. Most surprising thing about

537
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:33.200
The Terminator is how little dialogue is actually needs. This

538
00:33:33.240 --> 00:33:36.480
isn't a script that around long speeches are complicated conversation.

539
00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:41.920
He keeps the dialogue mean, direct, purposeful, and because of that,

540
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:45.279
the character is often revealed through behavior rather than words.

541
00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:50.079
The Terminator barely speaks, but we understand everything. It's about

542
00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:56.400
its movement. It's focus, complete lack of emotion. That silence

543
00:33:56.440 --> 00:33:59.400
becomes part of the character. Now Reese is the opposite,

544
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:02.480
carries the way to the future. It's dialogues feel with

545
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:06.440
urgency and trauma and exhaustion. He doesn't speak like a hero.

546
00:34:06.839 --> 00:34:08.920
He speaks like someone who's already survived the end of

547
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.800
the world. And then there so early on, her dialogue

548
00:34:12.840 --> 00:34:17.679
feels casual, normal every day. You know, he wants her

549
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.639
to feel ordinary. That's what Cameron's trying to do. The

550
00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:25.039
transformation only works if you believe who she was before.

551
00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:30.239
Underneath all of that is the subtext, because the Terminator

552
00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:33.480
is not just about a killer machine. It's about fear.

553
00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:38.599
Fear of technology, fear of losing control, fear that humanity

554
00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:42.880
might create something it cannot stop. Even the famous line

555
00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.440
like you mentioned before, it can't be bargained with, It

556
00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:50.000
can't be reasoning with. It's doing more than just describing

557
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:55.559
the Terminator. It's describing the inevitability, the future, the idea

558
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.920
that just some things keep coming, whether or not we're

559
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:01.559
ready or not. That's why the dialogue works. It's not

560
00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:04.800
flashy dialogue. It isn't trying to impress us. It gives

561
00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:09.480
us exactly what we need. It lets the characters, the actions,

562
00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:12.760
and the tension do the rest. The Terminator doesn't explain

563
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:17.679
its people, it just reveals them underneath the action and

564
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.320
science fiction. Do you think The Terminator is really a

565
00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:24.719
move about technology or is it more about fate inevitability?

566
00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:29.039
Well, I don't. I know you like time travel. I'm

567
00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:33.079
not personally a fan. I get very frustrated it's time travel.

568
00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:39.679
So I think this one T two is very like

569
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:44.440
fate and you know, can you change your future and

570
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:47.599
all that. I think this movie is one hundred percent

571
00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:54.519
about technology. You know, coming as it did in the eighties,

572
00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:59.599
we were having like this huge tech explosion where everybody

573
00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:03.519
could have an atari, everybody was starting to have computers,

574
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.159
you know, everything was becoming much more accessible and much

575
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:13.519
more automated. And I think Cameron really didn't tend for

576
00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:17.039
us to kind of look at what kind of future

577
00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:20.800
are we creating for ourselves? And it, you know, kind

578
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:23.360
of came on the heels of we were already getting

579
00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:28.199
similar stories. You know, I mentioned wargames you know, roll

580
00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:31.079
your eyes if you want. But Superman three had you know,

581
00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:33.079
a computer that became self.

582
00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:34.360
Aware and took over That's right.

583
00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:36.320
Yeah, you know.

584
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:39.679
So these are already you know, things that we're starting

585
00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:41.000
to get concerned about.

586
00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:45.400
Yeah. I mean, and I think too it. It's kind

587
00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:50.400
of telling you it goes very fast, and I think

588
00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:56.159
we're living it. The technology is just improving quicker than

589
00:36:56.199 --> 00:36:57.239
we can keep up with.

590
00:36:57.760 --> 00:36:59.880
Which is interesting because we are creating it.

591
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:08.199
Yeah, and that's the kind of stuff and you're when

592
00:37:08.360 --> 00:37:10.599
you know, you're you're reading it, you're watching meing like

593
00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:15.199
this seems pretty much like today. You know, this seems

594
00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:17.239
pretty much like where we're going. I hope you know

595
00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:21.000
what you know? He does say, Uh, I know a

596
00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:24.119
lot of people. I know, there's not I'm not just

597
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:28.320
the only one that watched Terminator two and saw the

598
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:30.559
scene of there is no fate but what we make

599
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:34.880
for ourselves And notice that it wasn't in the first film. Well,

600
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:38.079
it is in the script. It is in there, so

601
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:41.840
I don't know if anybody else noticed, but that line

602
00:37:42.360 --> 00:37:45.239
was after rewatching the Terminator again and again and even

603
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:47.480
this time catch him. Like you know, it is in

604
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:50.840
the script. It's just one of the scenes that is omitted,

605
00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:55.000
which brings us to the page versus the screen. One

606
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:57.960
of the fascinating things about reading The Terminator is how

607
00:37:58.119 --> 00:38:00.920
closely the finished film matches is what Cameron wrote on

608
00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:06.559
the page. It's not a case where the movie discovered itself,

609
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:08.760
you know, during production, like Jaws or something. I mean,

610
00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:12.360
the movie was already there. The atmosphere of the pacing,

611
00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:17.360
the future, war imagery, the machine perspective, I mean, even

612
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:23.960
many visual beats appear almost exactly as Cameron described in

613
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:26.039
in that percision is the big reason Cameron had to

614
00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:29.079
direct the film himself. I mean, the screenplay doesn't just

615
00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:33.000
tell the story, it visionallys And like you said, Cameron

616
00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:38.400
wrote The Terminator not with Schwarzenegger in mind, so there's

617
00:38:38.440 --> 00:38:42.559
a few notable differences between page and screen. Sarah and

618
00:38:42.599 --> 00:38:45.320
Reees share more quiet moments of the screenplay, giving their

619
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:50.559
relationship additional you know, emotional weight. There's more discussion involving

620
00:38:50.599 --> 00:38:55.599
Cyberdyne Systems, even ideas about blowing it up that we

621
00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:59.639
eventually will get to. And one of the biggest details

622
00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:02.599
come at the ending. And I looked for this too

623
00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:06.400
recently as I rewatched it, and I don't see it but.

624
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:09.400
Right before we got on here and I was like

625
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:12.079
focused very closely, But it's.

626
00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:16.239
Not there in the screenplay and you can you don't

627
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:18.840
have to believe this or is everything, But in the screenplay,

628
00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:21.760
the factory at the end of the film is a

629
00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:26.199
beginning version of Cyberdyde Systems. It's not there, you know,

630
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:30.440
but I looked for it. But I guess it's supposed

631
00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:35.119
to be the you know, cyberdive facility. I mean, it

632
00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:40.840
creates a fascinating layer of irony. Yeah, But the thing is,

633
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:43.719
that's the thing. It just wasn't a screenplay that was written.

634
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:48.000
I mean, this this movie had vision and the finished film,

635
00:39:48.119 --> 00:39:51.000
you know, it's pretty much close to what already existed

636
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:55.920
on his pages, the Finnish films. You know, it stays close.

637
00:39:56.880 --> 00:40:00.159
And like you said, reading it, you know, detail was

638
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:05.639
that you never realized before Cyberdyne and all that after

639
00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:08.360
reading it. Do you think Terminator is one of those

640
00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:11.119
rare cases where the writer and director had to be

641
00:40:11.159 --> 00:40:11.880
the same person.

642
00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:12.559
Yes.

643
00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:20.039
I think it's clear that he had the complete vision

644
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:23.519
in his head of what the story was going to be,

645
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:27.840
and the challenge was like getting it out and getting

646
00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:33.920
it onto the page. I mean the version that we

647
00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:37.440
read was the fifth draft. I mean that's not a lot.

648
00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:42.519
Of drafts, no, but I mean it's I mean you

649
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:47.480
could tell, like you said, the omitted ones were yeah,

650
00:40:47.639 --> 00:40:52.000
better that they were admitted. Like the tickling scene. There's

651
00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:56.000
a tickling scene, which dumb Sarah, but I.

652
00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.599
Really wanted the scene. But then again, it changes who

653
00:40:59.639 --> 00:41:03.880
Sarah is. But there was a scene where she like

654
00:41:04.239 --> 00:41:07.440
pulled a page out of the phone book and took

655
00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:10.079
it to Reese and said, this is where we're going.

656
00:41:10.920 --> 00:41:13.599
And it was her idea to go to Cyberdine and

657
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:18.000
blow it up. Yeah, and just circumvent the war entirely,

658
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:23.440
and which causes a whole other set of like time

659
00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:28.159
travel problems that I can't even the paradoxes just pile.

660
00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:28.639
Up after that.

661
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.719
Yeah, but I liked that she had that idea, that

662
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:34.119
somebody had that idea.

663
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:36.880
Yeah, you know, and.

664
00:41:36.800 --> 00:41:40.079
Then I also liked kind of right after that, there

665
00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:43.559
was another scene where I don't know, she's trying to

666
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:45.719
get away from him again, or she's mad and walks

667
00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:47.920
off or something, and they end up walking into the

668
00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:51.679
woods and all of a sudden, Reese is like overwhelmed

669
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:55.599
and drops to his knees and he's like, I've never

670
00:41:55.639 --> 00:41:59.639
seen this. It's so beautiful. It's all gone where I am.

671
00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:02.719
Yeah, and I loved that moment.

672
00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:06.920
I would have loved to have kept that, but I think,

673
00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.639
you know, Cameron has the ability to really tighten things

674
00:42:12.719 --> 00:42:16.440
up and just stick with the essential storytelling, which I

675
00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:18.039
think is really important.

676
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:22.199
I mean, it keeps it more that darker tone, you know. Yeah,

677
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:24.639
it'd be cool to mention like she mentions in there,

678
00:42:24.679 --> 00:42:26.239
like you know, I can't wait to show you these

679
00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:30.159
things that you've ever seen before, you know. I'm like, yeah,

680
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:32.639
but it doesn't really, I mean.

681
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:34.840
Well, it doesn't fit with where they were because like

682
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:36.639
we're still in deep trouble.

683
00:42:36.360 --> 00:42:41.719
Like yeah later, Yeah, it takes away the fears, So

684
00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:46.079
I'm definitely glad it was omitted. Now we come to

685
00:42:46.280 --> 00:42:49.880
the moment that I believe defines the script. It's the

686
00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:53.360
moment where Kyle Reeves finally tells Sarah the truth about

687
00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:56.960
the future, about John Connor, about her place, and everything,

688
00:42:57.480 --> 00:43:00.159
because this is a scene where the movie changes up

689
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:03.360
until now. Sarah thinks she's running from danger, she thinks

690
00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:07.199
survival is a goal, but Reese reveals something much bigger.

691
00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.519
This was never just about her life. It was about

692
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:15.719
humanity's future. The war, Judgment Day, the resistance, John Connor,

693
00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:18.800
all of it traces back to one ordinary woman who

694
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:22.079
has no idea how important she is, and that's what

695
00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:25.880
makes the scene so powerful. Sarah isn't chosen because she's strong.

696
00:43:26.119 --> 00:43:30.119
She isn't a warrior, she isn't special, Yet she becomes important,

697
00:43:30.360 --> 00:43:34.320
portant because of the circumstances force her becomes someone greater.

698
00:43:35.079 --> 00:43:39.440
This moment also redefines Reese. He isn't simply a protector.

699
00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:45.000
He's carrying history, memory, hope. The future already sees Sarah

700
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:48.800
as legendary, but she hasn't met that version of herself yet.

701
00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:51.920
And that's the emotional heart of the script. The audience

702
00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:55.719
knows Sarah Connor is an icon. The scene reminds us

703
00:43:55.960 --> 00:44:00.840
she started as a person, scared, confused, ordinary. The weight

704
00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:03.360
of the world is suddenly placed on her shoulders, and

705
00:44:03.400 --> 00:44:07.159
she never asked for it. That's why this scene defines

706
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:10.800
the Terminator, because beneath the action, beneath the science fiction,

707
00:44:11.400 --> 00:44:14.039
beneath all the machine from the future, the Terminator is

708
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:18.960
really about transformation, the birth of a hero. The machine

709
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:22.320
may drive the plot, but Sarah Cotter drives the meaning.

710
00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:25.239
Reese gives Sarah the weight of the future in just

711
00:44:25.960 --> 00:44:29.000
this scene. You know, was this moment you stop seeing

712
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:31.400
her as the target of the story and started seeing

713
00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:37.800
her as its hero. No, yeah, not yet.

714
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:41.480
Not yet, because it's so if she doesn't believe it,

715
00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:44.719
then you're not gonna believe it. And you know, her

716
00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:47.880
response is like, I can't even balance my checkbook.

717
00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:50.480
Are you kidding me? Like this is not You've got

718
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:51.599
the wrong person.

719
00:44:52.039 --> 00:44:57.079
Yeah, and really think about yourself at nineteen. Think about

720
00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:01.960
what you had in your life and you're given this.

721
00:45:01.960 --> 00:45:04.239
This is what you're going to This is your destiny.

722
00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:07.039
This destiny sucks well.

723
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:12.280
And the truckload of things that she's being asked to

724
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:17.960
accept on very little background. You know, she's being asked

725
00:45:18.199 --> 00:45:24.480
to accept that time travel exists, that you know, there

726
00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:29.440
is this relentless machine that is targeting her that she's

727
00:45:29.599 --> 00:45:32.639
going to somehow have a child that is the savior

728
00:45:32.679 --> 00:45:36.440
of humanity. Yeah, I mean all of the you know

729
00:45:36.480 --> 00:45:39.840
that all of humanity is going to be destroyed. I

730
00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:42.760
mean that's a lot to process in.

731
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:44.400
Yeah, you know, forty eight hours.

732
00:45:45.119 --> 00:45:50.119
Yeah, and when he explains, you know, the machines becoming

733
00:45:50.159 --> 00:45:54.880
self aware at least hits the that does make sense

734
00:45:55.360 --> 00:45:57.639
kind of button, you know if like, if it was

735
00:45:57.679 --> 00:46:02.039
a machine, you know it, that's where too. It's like,

736
00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:06.239
you gotta deal with all of it. And I'm I'm

737
00:46:06.280 --> 00:46:10.440
glad he kept her at such a not the hero

738
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.639
hero until we, like I said, we saw that out

739
00:46:13.679 --> 00:46:16.440
there the towards the end, you know, with the on

740
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:19.840
your feet soldier. So I like that we still saw her.

741
00:46:20.119 --> 00:46:23.440
We didn't know what was coming next. We had no idea.

742
00:46:23.519 --> 00:46:26.440
I mean, our brains, Terminator fans brains went wow, what's

743
00:46:26.480 --> 00:46:30.599
Sarah Connor going to be like? But she became a

744
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:35.559
screen icon, which brings which brings us to legacy and lessons.

745
00:46:36.199 --> 00:46:40.119
The Terminator did more than launch a franchise, It launched careers.

746
00:46:40.679 --> 00:46:43.599
James Cameron went from a struggling filmmaker with one trouble

747
00:46:43.639 --> 00:46:47.719
feature to one of Hollywood's most defining directors, Arnold Schwarzenegger,

748
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:50.519
became more than an action star, he became an icon,

749
00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:54.840
and Sarah Connor helped redefine what a female protagonist could

750
00:46:54.840 --> 00:46:58.239
be in a science fiction film. But maybe the biggest

751
00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:01.320
legacy of The Terminator is how deep it entered our culture.

752
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:06.599
When people hear conversations about artificial intelligence, automation or machines

753
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:10.400
becoming two events, we all think of The Terminator. The

754
00:47:10.679 --> 00:47:14.599
film becomes shorthand for our fears about technology, the idea

755
00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:17.800
that humanity might create something it can no longer control.

756
00:47:18.599 --> 00:47:21.679
That fear did exist in nineteen eighty four, and yet

757
00:47:21.800 --> 00:47:25.400
somehow it still feels very relevant of the today. The

758
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:29.639
impact of the film became so significant that The Terminator

759
00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:32.360
was selected for the Preservation in the National Film Registry

760
00:47:32.400 --> 00:47:36.559
by the Library of Congress, recognizing it as culturally, historically,

761
00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:41.119
and aesthetically important. But the real legacy lives within the

762
00:47:41.159 --> 00:47:47.039
screenplay itself. The script proves something important. Big ideas are

763
00:47:47.079 --> 00:47:52.960
not enough. The execution matters. The Terminator is a brilliant concept.

764
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:56.039
It's a brilliant concept machine set back through time to

765
00:47:56.119 --> 00:48:00.000
kill the mother of humanity's future. But this screenplay success

766
00:48:00.119 --> 00:48:03.960
needs because Cameron and gayle An Hrd build that idea

767
00:48:03.960 --> 00:48:08.559
with precision. The structures clean, the tension escalates, the setup

768
00:48:08.599 --> 00:48:13.440
pays off, every scene pushes forward. Now, for writers, there

769
00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:17.480
are some incredible lessons here. Lesson one, start moving immediately.

770
00:48:17.960 --> 00:48:24.480
Lesson two, reveal information in layers. Lesson three. Character is

771
00:48:24.599 --> 00:48:27.920
built through pressure. Sarah does not become strong because the

772
00:48:27.960 --> 00:48:31.320
script says she is. She becomes strong because the story

773
00:48:31.519 --> 00:48:37.039
forces her to change. Lesson four. Action is story, the

774
00:48:37.159 --> 00:48:40.000
chases and the set pieces. They don't interrupt the character,

775
00:48:40.280 --> 00:48:43.480
they create it. And maybe the greatest lesson of all,

776
00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:48.559
ordinary people make the best heroes. Sarah Connor starts as

777
00:48:48.599 --> 00:48:52.679
a waitress. By the end, she carries the future. That

778
00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:56.280
transformation is why the Terminator serves Because beneath the science fiction,

779
00:48:56.400 --> 00:48:59.760
beneath the action, beneath the machine, the story is about

780
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:03.079
coming the person the world needs you to be. And

781
00:49:03.159 --> 00:49:06.719
more than forty years later, as I said before, like

782
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:10.440
the machine at its center, the screenplay just hasn't stopped.

783
00:49:11.119 --> 00:49:13.840
I mean, The Terminator became more than a movie. It

784
00:49:13.840 --> 00:49:19.000
became how we talk about AI technology, the future. Why

785
00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:23.440
do you think it's becomes so relevant for so long culturally, I.

786
00:49:23.400 --> 00:49:30.000
Think because the tech wasn't so advanced as to seem unbelievable,

787
00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:36.119
and the action takes place on Earth instead of outer space,

788
00:49:36.199 --> 00:49:39.480
and it takes place in our Earth. It's not future Earth.

789
00:49:39.639 --> 00:49:45.639
It's you know what was fredy are now Earth? You

790
00:49:45.679 --> 00:49:50.039
know Los Angeles. It's not glamorous Los Angeles. It's you know,

791
00:49:50.239 --> 00:49:54.960
urban neighborhoods, you know, very relatable, you know to everyone.

792
00:49:55.079 --> 00:49:59.960
And in the end, it's humans fighting the relentless advance

793
00:50:00.360 --> 00:50:05.239
of the future and trying to hold on to their

794
00:50:05.280 --> 00:50:10.280
place and ultimately succeeding. And I think that all of

795
00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:14.000
those things, you know, it just comes back to what

796
00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:17.800
is special about humanity and what separates us and what

797
00:50:18.800 --> 00:50:21.079
you know makes us unique and special.

798
00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:27.880
Well said, yeah, thank you, very Well said yeah. I mean,

799
00:50:28.159 --> 00:50:30.880
like I said, the fear was there, then the fear

800
00:50:30.920 --> 00:50:33.360
is here now, you know, like I said, it's it's

801
00:50:33.960 --> 00:50:37.159
you know it just are we doing this? Is was

802
00:50:37.199 --> 00:50:41.679
this a you know fore telling? You know, it's it

803
00:50:41.719 --> 00:50:44.719
does creep in your mind, you know, especially if you're

804
00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:49.840
like me and you've seen the movie way too many times. Well,

805
00:50:49.920 --> 00:50:53.480
let's jump into our companion picks. Each episode, we like

806
00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:56.000
to highlight a companion piece that pairs well with the

807
00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:59.119
script we are discussing. For this episode, I want to

808
00:50:59.119 --> 00:51:02.519
avoid the obvious choices. Now, yes, you can go with

809
00:51:02.559 --> 00:51:05.199
the Aliens or Terminator two, which you are welcome to do,

810
00:51:05.760 --> 00:51:08.559
but instead I want to look at that's right, I

811
00:51:08.599 --> 00:51:11.599
picked more than one. I picked two. You know so good,

812
00:51:11.719 --> 00:51:16.880
me too, Two films that connect the Terminator in more

813
00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:21.639
interesting ways. My first companion pick is Westworld from nineteen

814
00:51:21.760 --> 00:51:25.239
seventy three. At first glance might not seem like the

815
00:51:25.320 --> 00:51:29.280
obvious in choice, but its influences everywhere you see it

816
00:51:29.400 --> 00:51:33.719
echoed through Halloween with Michael Myers and later into The Terminator,

817
00:51:34.079 --> 00:51:39.239
the calm, pursuit, the inevitability, this threat that won't stop.

818
00:51:40.079 --> 00:51:43.119
I mean, it's fascinating to watch west right now, recognize

819
00:51:43.119 --> 00:51:46.599
how many pieces would later appear in Cameron's films. But

820
00:51:46.760 --> 00:51:50.159
interesting enough. My second pick is a film, a little

821
00:51:50.199 --> 00:51:52.440
seen film, but it's kind of I've been seeing getting

822
00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:56.000
some traction online. It's a film called Miracle Mile from

823
00:51:56.159 --> 00:52:00.000
nineteen eighty eight. It's a little more unexpected. It captures

824
00:52:00.119 --> 00:52:02.480
the same Cold War dread that lives under the Terminator.

825
00:52:02.800 --> 00:52:07.840
It's about a guy, Anthony Edwards and the always awesome

826
00:52:08.119 --> 00:52:12.679
Mayor Winningham, who have just started dating. And Anthony Edwards

827
00:52:12.760 --> 00:52:16.960
takes a phone call and it's a wrong number that

828
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.519
the person called, explaining to him though that nuclear war

829
00:52:20.679 --> 00:52:24.239
is fifteen minutes away and he's got to like figure

830
00:52:24.320 --> 00:52:28.559
all this out. And funny enough, I'm watching it recently

831
00:52:28.559 --> 00:52:31.000
because I watched it just very recently and it says

832
00:52:31.599 --> 00:52:34.840
produced by the Hemdel Film Corporation. I was like, that's

833
00:52:34.840 --> 00:52:37.719
what Terminator was filmed on. And then I started to

834
00:52:37.760 --> 00:52:43.119
see some familiar faces. You start to see Earl Bowen,

835
00:52:43.159 --> 00:52:47.039
who plays a psychiatrist in The Terminator. You see Jeanette Goldstein,

836
00:52:47.880 --> 00:52:51.559
She's in all of Cameron stuff except besides this, I mean,

837
00:52:52.119 --> 00:52:57.320
there's a lot of stuff that it really does feel

838
00:52:57.400 --> 00:53:02.400
like a companion to the Terminator. And it's i mean

839
00:53:02.440 --> 00:53:05.719
the same kind of like you can almost imagine it

840
00:53:06.039 --> 00:53:10.480
really happening in that universe. So yeah, check out Miracle Mile.

841
00:53:11.159 --> 00:53:14.880
I know it's streaming Westworld. I don't know if it

842
00:53:14.960 --> 00:53:18.039
is streaming. Funny enough, I tried to actually even restream

843
00:53:18.119 --> 00:53:21.039
the series West World, but HBO actually took it off,

844
00:53:21.119 --> 00:53:27.559
So wow, what have you got for your two companion picks?

845
00:53:28.679 --> 00:53:33.800
So I also went Vintage for one of them. My I,

846
00:53:34.079 --> 00:53:36.719
like I said, not a huge fan of time travel.

847
00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:39.920
It takes a lot out of me. But I love

848
00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:48.199
the nineteen sixty The Time Machine starring Rod Taylor.

849
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:50.400
And it's the HG.

850
00:53:50.480 --> 00:53:56.639
Wells story of a scientist who builds this time machine

851
00:53:56.800 --> 00:54:03.760
and goes forward to see this utopian future that has

852
00:54:04.480 --> 00:54:09.000
a dark underlayer two it so humanity is still in danger,

853
00:54:09.079 --> 00:54:12.800
but just not in the way that you expect. And

854
00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:18.119
I just love that movie. It's absolutely delightful. The effects

855
00:54:18.159 --> 00:54:22.119
are really fun. I love Rod Taylor, so that one

856
00:54:22.280 --> 00:54:25.320
is the one time travel movie that I'm always hanging

857
00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:25.599
on to.

858
00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:30.840
I have seen. You're not gonna like this the I

859
00:54:30.880 --> 00:54:33.920
only saw the I think it was two thousand and

860
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:34.840
one version.

861
00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:38.519
No, we don't talk about Bruno no no, yeah, it

862
00:54:38.679 --> 00:54:41.440
was count no no no, no no.

863
00:54:43.639 --> 00:54:44.519
Seek this out.

864
00:54:46.320 --> 00:54:48.880
I think it's I don't know that it's streaming, but

865
00:54:49.199 --> 00:54:51.719
you can probably definitely rent it on Amazon.

866
00:54:52.480 --> 00:54:55.119
Yeah, I'd like to see it because I've heard its.

867
00:54:54.920 --> 00:54:58.679
Original absolute delight. It is so much fun.

868
00:55:00.039 --> 00:55:03.719
And then I wanted to do another James Cameron so

869
00:55:03.840 --> 00:55:09.159
I picked my personal favorite original story of his.

870
00:55:09.119 --> 00:55:12.920
The Abyss. It also has.

871
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:19.599
A great story about relationships and humanity and great machines,

872
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:22.760
and you know, the aliens are really kind.

873
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:26.360
Of defined by their machinery and.

874
00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:33.599
How that relates to the humans and their machinery. And

875
00:55:35.440 --> 00:55:39.679
my my son actually stopped by a film buy and

876
00:55:39.800 --> 00:55:43.400
did a Mother's Day episode with Jeff oh Over on

877
00:55:43.440 --> 00:55:46.679
the Patreon about this about this movie, and we all

878
00:55:46.719 --> 00:55:50.639
agree that it wasn't perhaps as successful as it could

879
00:55:50.679 --> 00:55:53.440
have been because Michael Bean is kind of the villain

880
00:55:53.960 --> 00:55:55.519
and no one wants to see him.

881
00:55:55.320 --> 00:55:59.280
Be a villain. Like he's Kyle Race. He cannot be

882
00:55:59.320 --> 00:55:59.840
the bad guy.

883
00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:06.119
I I was so excited when that finally came out

884
00:56:06.159 --> 00:56:09.400
in the Abyss Special Edition. I think it was like

885
00:56:09.400 --> 00:56:11.199
a year or two ago. I mean I only was

886
00:56:11.239 --> 00:56:15.840
able to get it like last Christmas. And I've only

887
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:19.039
cracked the surface of that, you know, that collection. I

888
00:56:19.039 --> 00:56:21.599
haven't watched seventy percent of the stuff on it, but

889
00:56:21.679 --> 00:56:23.440
just what I've seen so far, I mean I've watched

890
00:56:23.440 --> 00:56:25.199
it already like once, but I need to watch it again.

891
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:29.360
It's it is such a that one is an underrated Uh,

892
00:56:29.639 --> 00:56:31.400
definitely an underrated masterpiece.

893
00:56:31.719 --> 00:56:34.159
Yeah, I like nobody talks about it enough.

894
00:56:35.119 --> 00:56:39.320
I with the I am not a big fan of

895
00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:41.480
the Avatar films, but.

896
00:56:41.719 --> 00:56:44.719
I slept through the first one like three times, so

897
00:56:44.760 --> 00:56:45.760
I've given up on it.

898
00:56:45.840 --> 00:56:46.719
But I've tried.

899
00:56:47.599 --> 00:56:50.920
Our friend Dayton Johnson over at Docum Bay seventy seven

900
00:56:51.000 --> 00:56:54.559
podcast says, I can go ahead and just watch the

901
00:56:54.599 --> 00:56:58.800
second one and I'll like it a lot. And I'm

902
00:56:58.800 --> 00:57:00.960
not missing out that I have and seen the first one.

903
00:57:01.119 --> 00:57:05.039
So that's his advice is dive in and watch the

904
00:57:05.039 --> 00:57:06.320
second one.

905
00:57:07.079 --> 00:57:08.519
So I don't know what out of order.

906
00:57:09.039 --> 00:57:12.480
When I've got, you know, six hours to suppare, I'll

907
00:57:12.519 --> 00:57:13.280
give it a try.

908
00:57:14.440 --> 00:57:16.920
I mean he hit a home run after the Terminator,

909
00:57:16.920 --> 00:57:22.400
it was like Terminator Aliens, uh, the Abyss then Terminator

910
00:57:22.440 --> 00:57:26.400
too True Lies Titanic. I mean he was just just

911
00:57:26.480 --> 00:57:27.880
the champion.

912
00:57:27.760 --> 00:57:31.840
Yes, and I hate that he's just kind of decided

913
00:57:31.920 --> 00:57:32.840
he's stuck in this.

914
00:57:33.519 --> 00:57:36.480
I please, there's I mean, we obviously see there is

915
00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:39.280
so much more that you can do besides this world.

916
00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:43.159
You did that world. Now give us something new, you know,

917
00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:46.639
something different. Yeah, well that's going to be a rap

918
00:57:46.679 --> 00:57:49.719
on the Terminator script by James Cameron with Gail An

919
00:57:49.840 --> 00:57:52.719
Heard a screenplay that proves great science fiction isn't just

920
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:57.559
about machines, explosions or futuristic ideas. It's about people, about

921
00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:01.480
fear about change, and about ordinary, very individuals being forced

922
00:58:01.519 --> 00:58:05.639
into extraordinary circumstances. And that's what makes it work. It's

923
00:58:05.679 --> 00:58:08.559
not just the action, it's what's underneath it. The fear

924
00:58:08.599 --> 00:58:12.480
of technology, the uncertainty of the future, the idea that

925
00:58:12.559 --> 00:58:16.760
humanity might create something it cannot stop. He said. More

926
00:58:16.800 --> 00:58:21.559
than forty years later, those ideas still feel just as relevant,

927
00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:24.559
and maybe that's why the Terminator continues to endure, not

928
00:58:24.599 --> 00:58:27.639
simply because of the machine, but because of the woman

929
00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:32.000
running from it. Next up on a screen buy we

930
00:58:32.039 --> 00:58:36.480
are heading to the docks of Hoboken. We're diving into

931
00:58:36.840 --> 00:58:41.519
on the Waterfront, a script by Bud Scholberg, a character

932
00:58:41.599 --> 00:58:46.719
driven drama of loyalty, corruption, guilt, and redemption that helped

933
00:58:46.760 --> 00:58:49.920
redefine realism American film and gave us one of cinema's

934
00:58:49.960 --> 00:58:54.920
most iconic performances. That's coming up next, Well, I want

935
00:58:54.960 --> 00:58:58.559
to thank my guest Amber Lewis for joining me. Make

936
00:58:58.599 --> 00:59:00.960
sure you keep up with a film with new episodes

937
00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:05.039
dropping every Monday, and the continuing Star Trek series Phaser

938
00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:08.440
set to stun every Wednesday. You can also find us

939
00:59:08.639 --> 00:59:12.880
on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and x Be sure to visit

940
00:59:12.960 --> 00:59:17.800
the official site at a wwwafilmbypodcast dot com and email

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us at a Film By Podcast at gmail dot com.

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We love hearing from you, sharing opinions, taking requests, and

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debating great movies that'll do it for a script by.

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Thanks for listening, See you next time.