From Near-B Movie to Franchise

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2011)

In 1984, when I was dragged to a theatre in San Fransisco by my thumbs to see this and was made to sit through two viewings by my friend, I noted two names: James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. I did not know that Cameron was one of veteran b-movie filmmaker Roger Corman's prodigies. At the time, I did not know much about Corman other than he had something to do with "Battle Beyond the Stars" which I liked although I thought it was rather silly.
Cameron learned all of his tricks from Corman... As this film shows. Basically, Terminator was a B-Movie made to look like an A-Movie. Using all Corman's budget saving tricks, Cameron produced a film that at least to a viewer's initial viewing, looks like it had a much higher budget than it actually did - Much like Corman's AIC films of the 60's.
Now Terminator borrowed heavily from basic science fiction material, to the point where Harlan Ellison sued due to plot details similar to his short story "Demon with a Glass Hand" which was made into an Outer Limits episode - One of the earliest Science Fiction things I had ever seen, I was maybe 4 years old when I saw Demon with a Glass Hand. I did notice the similarities, but basically I did not care. You can also see elements which may have been influenced by the short story "All you Zombies" by the dean of science fiction, Robert Anson Heinlein. The Terminator then, borrowed from both of these sources. I was not surprised to learn later that Harlan Ellision sued to get story recognition put on the credits of the film, this was a very Ellision thing to do- Cameron should have done this in the first place though, you can't just borrow parts of plots from Hugo Award winning science fiction stories - And Cameron did it again in Avatar, borrowing the main plot elements of Poul Anderson's "Call me Joe" (Guy in a wheelchair, spinal injury, moon of a superjovian planet, remote controlling a genetically created body on the surface of said moon and eventual transfer into that body), and since Poul Anderson passed in 2008, I'd say Cameron released Avatar just in time, eh? But he did not get away with it in 1984, as he was a fledgling director at the time. What Cameron did, was blend these borrowed items, and he created a new piece of work. Now, it never bothers me that film writers borrow from all over, in 1984 Cameron was made to put the acknowledgment into the film, and I am glad for that, because as I was sitting in the theatre, I was thinking, "This guy reads a LOT of Science Fiction" - And as his taste was just like mine, I wholly enjoyed seeing the material used.
Now what nobody really knew was how immensely popular this film would become, basically shadowing Arnold Schwarzenegger to this date with "I'll be Back" and other quotes- Actually The Terminator is responsible for creating a whole subculture based on some of the phrases from the film. But what The Terminator really did was create a launching point for a Franchise.
This film was a milestone for Special Effects Animatronix Wizard Stan Winston - Who created a whole working mechanical Arnold for a lot of the shots which reveal Terminator internal workings. When you view Terminator in 2011, these effects look rather primitive - What people have to realise that in 1984, nothing like that had ever been done before. This put both Cameron and Winston on the map from then on. Also we can thank Tom Woodruff, Jr, who has operated Winston (and other creatures) effects from the 80's through the 2010's.
This film also made use of unknown actors, Michael Beihn, Linda Hamilton, the three punks Brad Reardon, Brian Thompshon (The Shape Changing Alien from X-Files) and of course the great Bill Paxton. And of course this was the breakthrough for Arnold even more than "Conan the Barbarian"... More people identify Arnie as The Terminator rather than any role where he basically ran around in a loincloth.
Now, I really don't care that Cameron basically borrowed material from several Hugo-Award Winning Science Fiction Authors, because nobody was USING that material, and any films made from material by those greats (A Boy and His Dog) were done poorly... Now here is a director not afraid to take this source material and make it LOOK the way it was written in these classic Sci-Fi stories, and so what we have here, is Part One of a now-Quadrilogy of great Sci Fi stories - This first installment set the basic foundation, and what has been done, is that Cameron is now responsible for creating a new kind of American Mythology based on these "borrowed" concepts of Time Travel, Cyborg Soldier, Grandfather Paradox (Ie - Man goes back in time, becomes his own grandfather). Just as Lord of the Rings was created by JRR Tolkein to become a new kind of British Folklore, The Terminator has become part of An American Folklore. And "in 100 years, who is going to care" that Cameron raided the refrigerators of Heinlien, Asimov, (Martin) Caiden* Ellison, and Anderson?
*(aka, writer of Cyborg, originator of the phrase and creator of the 6 million dollar man)