With a budget of only $6 million, it was described by contemporary film critics as a “ B-movie with flair”. The first movie in the Terminator franchise was released in 1984 and is argued to have “changed the face of science-fiction movies forever”. How many films are there in the Terminator franchise? Consequently, whilst references are made to other films in the film franchise, priority is given to the lore established in the first two Terminator movies. As a point of comparison, the “fame” ranking of the other entries in the Terminator series is as follows: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (73%), Terminator: Salvation and Terminator: Dark Fate (both 62%), and Terminator: Genisys (54%). Similarly, 95 per cent of the British public reported having heard of the Terminator, and YouGov polling ranks it as the second most popular Sci-Fi/Fantasy film for which polling information is available. According to YouGov polling, 87 per cent of the British public had heard of Terminator 2, and the film is currently ranked as the sixth most popular action movie for which polling information is available. The two most popular and highest acclaimed entries into the series are the Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The death of John Connor has the effect of creating a timeline separate from the events shown in the earlier films Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation. To provide just one example, in the prologue to the most recent film in the series – Terminator: Dark Fate – a still teenaged John Connor is killed by a third T-800 sent back in time by Skynet before its destruction in the Future War. This complicates any review of the entire film series. Not only does the series involve time-travel as a plot device but the multiple failed attempts at rebooting the series have produced several different timelines of events. It is important to note, however, that the Terminator film franchise has a complex and, at times, contradictory story arc. In researching this piece, the author has drawn from a variety of secondary sources and the scripts for the Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The piece provides some background on the plot and main characters of the Terminator franchise, as well as some brief observations about the importance of the Terminator trope and what it suggests about cultural depictions of AWS in the United States. It has been written for two audiences: readers who may have not watched any of the Terminator films, and want to know more about their lore and substance and readers who may have watched parts (or all) of the Terminator films, but who may be interested in revisiting the aspects of the Terminator franchise which have gained particular traction in the debates on AWS. Elsewhere, American defence officials have spoken of grappling with the “ Terminator conundrum” brought about by the integration of ever more autonomy into the critical functions of weapon systems, and as seeking to avoid a “ Terminator scenario”.Īs part of the research which the AutoNorms project is conducting on the cultural depictions of AWS, this piece provides a primer on the Terminator film franchise. In describing their concerns about the potentially apocalyptic dangers posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), public figures such as Elon Musk have regularly drawn a direct line to the Terminator. Nevertheless, news coverage on AWS regularly feature either textual references to the film series or images of metallic humanoid skulls with piercing red eyes, an iconography derived from the franchise. As others have neatly summarised it: the Terminator is the “poster boy for any debate on lethal autonomous weapons”.Ĭoncerns have been expressed about the somewhat “ problematic” character of the Terminator trope because it feeds into a misleading perception about the current state of AWS development, and downplays the serious – if, perhaps, not apocalyptic – challenges which less than “fully” AWS present. From the perspective of non-governmental organisations seeking to regulate the development of AWS, forms of science fiction like the Terminator franchise are understood to shape the “socio-political context in which campaigners must navigate to be effective” ( Carpenter 2016, 54). On his estimates, nine out of every ten “serious conversations” he has had with officials about these technologies has included at least some reference to the film series. Paul Scharre – author of one of the most influential studies on these technologies, Army of None – has noted being “struck by how much the Terminator films influence debate on autonomous weapons systems” (264). References to the Terminator are an ubiquitous feature of debates on Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS).
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