The Terminators (the Cyborgs)

[Dave]

This thread is for discussion of the cyborgs themselves -- their history and development.

I have to admit that my memory of the back-story is a little rusty. I read this today, and was a little confused...

DARK HORIZONS -- 'Ever since the "Terminator 3" shoot began, robot-creator/visual effects maestro Stan Winston has been dropping hints with every coming interview about the new robots he's designing for the film. When he talked to SciFi.com at Comic Con, he went even further, announcing that yes, one of the new robots he was designing would be the T1's (which had been on set shooting with him before coming to San Diego), the precursors to the familiar T-800 played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Apparently, the T1's aren't that great as in the footage shown at Comic Con, we all saw the T-800 endoskeleton (unless that was a T1 - an early model T-800 without skin) being designed and built. Between now and the release of the film, look for Stan Winston to eventually reveal the entire plot of both "T3" and the forthcoming "T4".'

In "T3" I understood that the new super-termimator was a "TX". Does any one know why they are discussing "T1"s?

I thought that the original series of Terminators made was the "T-600", then came the "T-800" -- the original 'Arnie' 'bot -- then next came the "T-1000" -- Robert Patrick shape-shifting version -- and now a new "TX" version -- the 'Terminatrix'.

From 'Terminator'
Kyle: The Terminator's an infiltration unit, part man, part machine. Underneath, it's a hyper-alloy combat chassis - micro processor-controlled, fully armoured. Very tough. But outside, it's living human tissue - flesh, skin, hair, blood, grown for the cyborgs...The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy. But these are new, they look human. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero him.

Sarah: Look, I am not stupid, you know. They cannot make things like that yet!

Kyle: Not yet, not for about 40 years.

Sarah: (disbelieving) Are you saying it's from the future?

Kyle: One possible future. From your point of view. I don't know tech stuff.

Sarah: Then you're from the future too - is that right?

Kyle: Right.

Sarah: Right.

Maybe the next sequel "T4" is going to be a future-prequel (set in the future, but before 2029, when 'Skynet' rules, but before the 'T-800' has been designed and sent back in time to 1995) and the "T1"s story could be told in that film. But where do the "T-600" series fit in that Kyle talks about.

Unfortunately, 1997 has already come and gone without any 'Machine Wars', so it all becomes a little difficult to follow.

[Dave]

SCIFI WIRE -- Stan Winston — the visual-effects guru who is creating cyborgs for the upcoming sequel film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines—told SCI FI Wire that he’s designing a precursor robot and an advanced one. “Terminator 3, we're shooting,” Winston said in an interview last week at Comic-Con International in San Diego. “I just got off the set at midnight last night. [We were] shooting a scene with the T1's, which are robots that are precursors to the Arnold [Schwarzenegger T-800] robot. We've also created a female called the TX, the Terminatrix, who is about as bad as you can get. You don't want to come up against her.”

Winston declined to detail the abilities of the newest terminator, except to say, “I can tell you that you just don't want to come up against her. She will kick your butt. And we had a great time designing her and creating her. And the fact of the matter is there is nothing like the wrath of a female, even if it's a robot. So this is the one. She is bad. She is real bad.”

As for technology, Winston said there’s a vast difference between the upcoming sequel and the previous two Terminator films. “Terminator 1, with the use of puppetry and stop-motion animation, we pretended that we had created a robot,” Winston said. “Over the years we have been advancing our robotic and animatronic technology. [In] Jurassic Park we were creating robotic dinosaurs. So our robotic technology and engineering at Stan Winston Studio is beyond any robotic technology literally in the world. We have advanced beyond aerospace. I have guys that come from aerospace, working for me. Absolutely. We have more points of articulation than any existing robots in our robots. And we have a robot that is a precursor to Arnold, which is called the T1, which is the real deal. We pretended we built robots in the first Terminator. [In] Terminator 3, we built robots.” T3 is slated for release in 2003.

Having thought about this more, I think that they have just forgotten about the T-600.

Also, sounds as if the T-1 will be seen in 'T3: The Rise of the Machines' along with the TX.

[Tabitha]

Why do you thinks dogs could tell the difference between the cyborgs and real people?

And I always wondered how come they never had some kind of X-Ray machine - they did have quite a lot of hardwear for futuristic rebels, didn't they?

[sarakoth]

Originally Posted by Tabitha

Why do you thinks dogs could tell the difference between the cyborgs and real people?

And I always wondered how come they never had some kind of X-Ray machine - they did have quite a lot of hardwear for futuristic rebels, didn't they?

Maybe the cyborgs don't emit bodyodor.

[Quokka]

Ok this is a bit out of date now, we've seen the T-1 in the third Terminator movie but at this stage they are never referred to as Terminators. The T-1 was still created by humans but I wonder if the T-600 (machine skeletons covered in rubber skin mentioned in the original movie) is the first one designed by Skynet specifically for the war against humans. That would make the T-600 the first actual Terminator and also mean that Terminators was a name the machines gave themselves?

Of course then you need another explaination for what the T stands for in the T-1's .

[Dave]

Yes, it is an old thread, but do they address any of this in the new TV series (Sarah Connor Chronicles)? Can dogs still tell the difference between them?

[sarakoth]

Originally Posted by Dave

Yes, it is an old thread, but do they address any of this in the new TV series (Sarah Connor Chronicles)? Can dogs still tell the difference between them?

Yes

The dogs reacted violently to Cameron the Terminator in the TV series when they were at the Hispanic's house.

[C Of K]

They've pretty much addressed most of that stuff in the tv series already. They even addressed time travel, you know how nothing dead can go through time?

Then they went ahead and sent a metal machine head through time...