Characters from the Terminator movies
A comparison of the movies from the Terminator franchise. Unfortunately, I haven't seen The Sarah Connor Chronicles yet so I can't make any comparisons to the TV series. There was a lot of other stuff that I was planning to juxtapose here but I ran out of time so I decided to just concentrate on the characters instead.
Sarah Connor
Played (and voiced) by Linda Hamilton.
At the beginning of T1, Sarah Connor was a young woman with unfortunate 80s hair working as a waitress, preparing for a night out on the town with her friend. She looks pretty happy but it didn't last long. By the end of T1, you could already see how world-weary she looks.
Ten years later in T2 (1995), she's looking super badass. By 2004 (T3), she had passed away after being diagnosed with leukaemia but she continued to live on in 2018 (T4) through the tape recording made at the end of T1.
John Connor
John Connor, at different ages, has been played by a few different actors (notably Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl & Christian Bale). I arranged the pictures in the order of the age they're supposed to be.
When we first meet John Connor, he's separated from his mother who has been institutionalised. At this point, he's been told that he's going to be a resistance leader in the future but doesn't really believe what his mother has told him until he sees the T-800. He had awesome hair at age 10 :)
In 2004, Judgment Day that was supposed to happen in August 1997 has not yet happened and John Connor lives as a drifter, living off the grid. (We're also told that he dies in 2032.)
In 2018, John Connor is part of the Resistance but isn't the leader that he's prophesied to be (yet). This is also the year he gets the scar on the left of his face that is seen in various "flash forwards". (The one on Christian Bale doesn't quite look like the other two though?)
Katherine Brewster-Connor
First portrayed by Claire Danes, then Bryce Dallas Howard.
I was re-watching parts of T3 after watching T4, and it occurred to me how much more awesome Kate Connor was when we first met her. She actually gets involved, and defends herself pretty well against John a couple of times. However in T4, she basically stands around being pregnant :/
Kyle Reese
Played by Michael Biehn (T1 & T2) & Anton Yelchin (T4).
I thought they did a pretty good job of casting teenage!Reese. When I was watching T4, I could see that this being the Kyle Reese we had met earlier in 1984.
Dr. Peter Silberman
Played by Earl Boen in the first three movies.
Terminators
The four different Terminator models, whose mission in their respective categories is to kill the Connors.
T-800/ Cyberdyne Systems Model 101: Portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger; looks human -- bleeds, sweats etc but can be sniffed by dogs.
T-1000: Portrayed by Robert Patrick; Made of mimetic poly-alloy and is able to liquify to change its appearance as well as pass through small spaces.
T-X: Portrayed by Kristanna Loken; An upgrade of T-1000, it has weapons built internally and is able to control other machines.
T-600: Obviously does not look human and has a minigun for an arm.
Time-Travelling 'Protectors'
In all four movies, there is also a time-traveller 'protecting' the Connors.
T1: Kyle Reese travels from 2029 to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor, mother of the future leader of the Resistance, John Connor. He says that he volunteered for this mission.
T2: The T-800 is reprogrammed by John Connor and sent from 2029 (or 2030?) back to 1995 to protect his 10-year-old self after learning that the T-1000 had been sent to terminate him in 1995.
T3: The T-850 is reprogrammed by Kate Connor in 2032 after the death of John, then sent back to 2004 to prevent the T-X from killing the future lieutenants of the resistance.
T4: Technically Marcus Wright isn't a time-traveller but he dies in 2003, then wakes up to find himself in 2018. To me, that's kind of like time-travelling in a way. He helps John Connor get into Skynet's headquarters and eventually sacrifices his heart to save the latter's life.
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