In terms of sequels never being as good as the original Terminator 2 is an exception (Director James Cameron had already added to the list of superior sequels with Aliens). With state of the art special effects which were literally jaw dropping for audiences seeing the film for the first time in 1991 Cameron took the sequel to another level with action sequences which, even 27 years later, stand the test of time and the film could easily have come out this year (and would have been far better than some of this summer’s blockbusters). None of the sequels have lived up to the standard of the seond film and thankfully Cameron is back on board with Terminator 6 which starts filming in 2018.
Much like Titanic which Cameron converted to 3D he’s done the same here with Terminator 2 whilst he had the time before he started work on the next bunch of Avatar sequels which he’s shooting back to back.
Having originally hit British screens in 1991, complete with groundbreaking special effects, this became Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (Total Recall, Predator) most iconic role to date, as well as one of the most quotable scripts of the decade.
It has been 10 years since the events of Terminator. Sarah Connor’s (Linda Hamilton – The Terminator, Dante’s Peak) ordeal is only just beginning as she struggles to protect her son John (Edward Furlong – American History X, Pecker), the future leader of the human resistance against the machines, from a new Terminator (Robert Patrick – Walk the Line, ‘The X Files’), sent back in time to eliminate John Connor while he’s still a child. Sarah and John don’t have to face this terrifying threat alone however. The human resistance have managed to send them an ally, a warrior from the future ordered to protect John Connor at any cost.
With the film now available on blu ray in 3D and also on dvd and 4K UHD too for the first time here’s 10 facts you might not know about Terminator 2…….
- The opening scene at the biker bar scene was located on the opposite side of the street where LAPD beat Rodney King.
- Concerned at the escalating budget the studio tried to get Cameron to drop the biker bar scene from the shooting schedule.
- Some of the buildings in the city wiped out in a nuclear explosion were made of Matzos crackers and Shredded Wheat in order to easily break when ‘blown up’.
- Linda Hamilton’s twin sister appears in several scenes including the children’s playground during the nuclear explosion.
- The hospital security guard was a twin and both appeared in the film at the coffee vending machine. They are Don and Dan Stanton and had appeared in Gremlins 2 the year before.
- Schwarzeneggar was paid $15m for the role. In terms of the amount of dialogue he had to say it worked at $21,429 per word. In addition the studio boss Mario Kassar gave him a Gulfstream jet.
- The film won four Oscars ( Best Sound, Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects, Make-up)
- Michael Biehn was going to be the T-1000 but, having appeared in the first film as a good guy and ultimately John Connor’s father, it was thought it would be too confusing for the audience.
- Early on in script development there were going to be twin Terminators.
- The role of Miles Bennet Dyson the computer genius was offered to Denzel Washington.
The new 3D disc has a whole bunch of great extras on it including:
- NEW T2: Reprogramming The Terminator. A 55-minute documentary including exclusive interviews with Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron, Edward Furlong and many more)
- Feature Commentary with 23 members of Cast and Crew (1993)
- Feature Commentary with director James Cameron & co-author William Wisher
- The making of T2. A 30 minute 1993 (from 2003 edition)
- Seamless Branching of the Theatrical version (137 mins approx.), Special Edition version (154 mins approx.) and Extended Special Edition version (156 mins approx.)
- Deleted Scenes with audio commentary
- NEW T2:3D trailer (2017)
- T2 theatrical trailers: This time there are two, Same make new mission and Building the perfect Arnold
Here’s a glimpse at the featurette on the disc……
Terminator 2 3D is available from Monday 4th December 2017
