The Terminator Poll

1 & 2 were great for whole different reasons. Ones a horror/monster movie, ones a buddy cop/coming of age dramedy.

VERY FUNNY, WHOEVER VOTED FOR TERMINATOR SALVATION.

Boy, that's really tough though... Terminator 1 and Terminator 2 is almost like Alien and Aliens, where they're both great but quite different.

@rachelepithet: They are very different films. Also, I think 1 has aged better than 2.

When the OP gives no qualifications for why they want someone to choose just one of these very different movies/TV series...

/thread

What makes you say that? The effects in 1 are admirable for sure, but I don't think they hold up. 2 still looks amazing. I can't think of a scene that has aged too bad... plus so many huge practical effects...

No Country for Old Men is the best Terminator movie. It's basically the same thing as the original. All the way down to the self-operation in a Motel Room. Both Antagonist were unstoppable killing machines of few words and One objective.

Glad to see the best movie is winning.

I really liked the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but I have to go with Terminator 2.

Terminator 2 is my favorite of the bunch, and I've actually seen all of them. I didn't like Terminator 3 at all, and except for the hilariously awesome cameo by "Arnold" in the fourth one, I found Salvation to also be a boring movie for the most part. I only saw a few episodes of the TV show, but I don't really remember disliking it, but at the same time I can hardly remember it, so I think that alone speaks more for it than anything else.

For your consideration:

Dan is crazy for liking 3. 3 is terrible. I'd like to hear Dan"s opinion on Salvation though.

The first and second are just as good as one another, but for slightly different reasons.

Terminator is a great horror movie.

Terminator 2 is a great action movie.

Terminator 3 is... well...

Fuck Salvation.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a beautiful thing killed in its prime. Gone but not forgotten.

Spoilers: TSCC ended with teenage John Connor travelling into the future with a friendly(?) T-1000, and in this future (without a grown-up John) he meets a suspicious Kyle Reese, leader of the Resistance. Like I said, killed in its prime.

Is this even a question?

Terminator 2 is a perfect film. The others range from "meh" to "great," but nothing can reach the absolute mastery which is T2.

TSCC was good though.

@guyzea said:

@wrecks said:

For your consideration:

Chet and Shao Kahn, Street Punks

I wondered where I'd seen that guy on the right before!

also Terminator 2!

@guyzea said:

@wrecks said:

For your consideration:

Chet and Shao Kahn, Street Punks

Came to say this, was not disappointed.

I remember when my parents watched the original Terminator when it was first released on video, and I was allegedly too young to watch it. Mum was excitedly telling me all the next morning of the whole factory ending to the movie, and I couldn't help but feel stoked this thing existed/bummed I couldn't watch it. (See also: RoboCop)

I wore out two VHS copies of T2 as a kid. That is one of my all-time favourite flicks, man. There's nothing else to be said about it that everyone doesn't already know.

T3 was not great. Every time I hear Dan enthuse about it, I get a little caught up in his excitement and think, "yeah, that does sound like a kick-fuckin-ass movie!" But then I actually remember the movie and can't go with him on it. But I still always love Dan's unabashed love for that flick.

Terminator Salvation I actually really enjoyed a lot (going in with low expectations helped). It's not the best movie ever made by a long chalk, but it does do some cool stuff and is a pretty decent little potboiler entry in the series.

Never seen the TV show, despite wanting to.

So, I guess in summary for me it goes T2 > T1 > Salvation > T3. With a view to watching and finding a place for the TV series in there somewhere in near future.

The first. It's one of my favorite slashers from the 80s. Love that soundtrack.

Both of those first films are brilliant, but only one had that shotgun. Twirling that thing is the coolest that Arnie's ever looked. Glad to see Sarah Conner Chronicles getting some attention here, that show was fantastic. As @ch3burashka says, that show ended with a brilliant idea that would have super interesting to see play out.

Terminator 2. I mean this shouldn't even be a conversation. When you saw Terminator 2 in 1991 that movie blew your mind. Terminator 1 was good but it didn't blow your goddamn mind.

#1 The Terminator
#2 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
#3 Terminator 2

Everything else was just junk unworthy of discussion. The only thing I regret is that "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" was not occurring in this era of excellent television. The TV show should have been done by HBO with maybe eight episodes per year.

I really liked the Sarah Conner chronicles, so I voted for it to give it some attention. Otherwise, I can't go past how cool the T1000 was.

Holy shit, I JUST WATCHED TERMINATOR 2! Watched it last night. Fell asleep the second the credits ended.

What a movie. God damn. It's great.

T2, definitely.

T1: Great movie, but not my favorite.

T2: Absolutely amazing. Shame that they scrapped the horror angle, but man... what a movie.

T3: Better than its reputation, but not as good as it could have been. And the whole magnet thing was just silly.

T4: I'm more interested in the pre-war setting, honestly. Even if Salvation were good, I probably wouldn't have been fond of it.

TSCC: My favorite thing to come from the franchise, but I can't place it above T2, because *shrug*.

Common, really? Salvation is not bad. Judgement Day will probably always be the best. But third one was probably the worst of the bunch, not Salvation.

I enjoyed TSCC except for the one fact that it more or less became The John Connor Chronicles. And that ending is rough to watch. It's quite unfortunate that it'll never get any Firefly treatment for some closure.

After careful consideration I gotta go with T1. T2 is a great movie but its got some flaws. That annoying kid, over reliance on one liners, ect. While T1 is a movie that aces everything it sets out to do. The police station scene in T1 alone puts it ahead.

I have an eternal hatred for Edward Furlong, and I'm almost positive it stems from T2.

Terminator 1 and 2 are both great films but I feel like T2 was one of the defining violent films I watched as child up there with the Aliens films and Robocop. Also:

:'(

As far as I'm concerned, the series ended in Terminator 2 3D when John and the T-800 blow up Skynet. Anything made since has just been a figment of everyone's imagination.

I think I'm more of a horror guy than an action guy. I tend to fall on the Terminator/Alien side of things rather than T2/Aliens. Not that I don't see the value of both. They're kind of all awesome, and all hugely responsible for a lot of what defines my creativity as an adult.

Oh, and this poll really could have been distilled to the first two options, but I guess it's good to see what percentage of the community here has terrible taste.

Oooh... The thing about Sarah Conner Chronicles was that it took a long time to get going. If TSCC was a 12 part mini-series, it'd be pretty bad ass. The major plot episodes were great, but the filler episodes were filler. It wasn't really until they show was about to get cancelled where it got -really- good and that cliff hanger still upsets me to this day. I need to know what happens!

Everything else in the Terminator series outside what you listed is just garbage. Watched and enjoyed by folks who've never eaten a baked potato or played good video games.

I need to watch Salvation again to make sure, but I'd say it was way, way better in tone and setting than 3. Rise of the Machines was some dumb-ass family comedy. Make the scary unrelenting killing machine a funny buddy and the baddie little more than some pandering sex appeal. Bullshit, all of it!

At least Salvation returned to a darker, tone and tried to make Terminators scary again, even if it did bring along some dopey story baggage along with it. Plus it gets a pass in my books as I was one of those kids who'd rewind and watch the future scenes over and over because those were just so bad-ass.

But, if we're talking the best film of the series, it's got to be The Terminator. Two is a damn impressive film, but there's a little too much of that softness showing through. I prefer hard cyber punk industrial nightmares, not "Now I know why you cry".

Why is there more than two options?

Blame @danryckert

@vierastalo: Oh, this is a Bombcast thing? I've not heard it yet. Dan is going to be the downfall of Giant Bomb as we know it!

Both of those movies were incredible. It's such a shame they never made any after them.

Yeah, Terminator with modern special effects imagine how cool that would be...

1 and 2 are classics and the other garbage isn't comparable. I also lean T2 with the minigun scene alone pretty much, that defined many hours of play as a 8 year old.

Oh I wasn't referring to the special effects, clearly 2's are superior. I meant more the humor is dated with cheesy one-liners and such.

No matter what you vote for Skynet always wins.

Who ever says T2, has not seen that movie recently. It does not hold up as well as the first.

@guyzea said:

@wrecks said:

For your consideration:

Chet and Shao Kahn, Street Punks

Funnily enough, the guy on the left ended up playing Hudson in Cameron's "Aliens", while the guy on the right played said MK villain in MK Annihilation, in which Raiden was portrayed by James Remar, who was originally going to play (and actually shot a couple of scenes as) Hicks in Aliens.

Speaking of which: I do believe the first two Terminator movies have a similar relationship to each other as the first two entries in the Alien franchise. Their originals being more creppy, Horror-SciFi (and excellent at it); while the sequels pack a punch as much more action-ey Sci-Fi movies. Oddly enough I'd still pick T1 over T2 while, in my humble opinion, Aliens ranks just a tad higher than Alien.

@charlie_victor_bravo: what about it exactly? I can't really think of anything in particular that hasn't aged well about T2. It's been a long time since I saw the first movie though, so I don't have too much of an opinion on that one.

Terminator 1. As much as I love 2, I have a lot more history with 1.

The first has always been a bit of a surreal experience for me though. Linda Hamilton in that movie looks almost EXACTLY like my mother did when that movie came out; if you put pictures of them side by side from the same year you would seriously think they are closely related. Which is totally weird, because Linda Hamilton has a twin sister. Also my mother's maiden name is Linda Hampton. !!?!?!?!?!!!!!

So watching the first Terminator is like watching an hour and a half of a future murderbot try to get my mom.

None of the above.

The correct answer is American Pie 2 with the Sherminator.

Both are pretty great but I liked the writing and story in 1 a little bit more. Just a little bit. This is, as everyone else has said, an Alien-Aliens comparison. Both great, but which one you prefer really just boils down to whether you like effective use of minimal plot elements and atmosphere or a multilayered plot coming together as the movie nears its end.

*has seen that movie recently*

T2. The cheese is part of the charm.

Terminator 4 would have been great had it ended like this.

Bale's John Connor dies from the wounds he sustained. Sam Worthington's Terminator takes up the name John Connor cause John Connor is not a person but an idea in this changed future. Viva la resistance!

I actually really like all the Terminator's for different reasons. I think T3 gets a bad rap for being a bad movie but I really like the overall story just hate Kristanna Loken's terminator.

@jertje: Mostly the tone. T1 is still gritty but T2 feels tamer than it should. Not to mention that T2 relied much on special FX that have not aged well (specially on bluray). T2 was my favorite movie when I was a kid and was kind of shocked when I saw it again.