In 2029, giant super-computers dominate the planet, hell-bent on exterminating the human race! And to destroy man's future by changing the past, they send an indestructible cyborg - a Terminator - back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman whose unborn son will become mankind's only hope. But can Sarah protect herself from this unstoppable menace to save the life of her unborn child? Or will the human race be extinguished by "one mean hunk of mutant metal" (L.A. Herald-Examiner)?
 


Editor's Note

James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR is one of the tightest, tensest sci-fi films ever made and a landmark in the genre. In the year 2029, battles rage between the superintelligent machines that rule the world and the last vestiges of humanity. In late-20th-century Los Angeles, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) suddenly finds herself stalked by an unstoppable killing machine--a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent from the future to kill her and her unconceived son, John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. Sarah can rely only on Reese (Michael Biehn), a soldier sent from the future to protect her from the seemingly indestructible Terminator and save humanity. This low-budget masterpiece was the breakthrough film for director Cameron, who weds special effects, thrills, and understated romance to create one of the finest action films of the 1980s, which spawned many imitations but few equals. Science fiction author Harlan Ellison sued over the film's similarities to his own works, especially the OUTER LIMITS episode "Demon with a Glass Hand," and won acknowledgement in the film's credits. Schwarzenegger will forever be known as the relentless Terminator, a heartless killing machine who returns (in a kinder, gentler form) in 1991's TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY.