15 Things That Almost Ruined The Terminator Franchise

15. "I Will Be Back"

The one line which has landed The Terminator on many, many best-of lists. The one line synonymous with Arnie€™s hulking cyborg, moments before using a car to destroy a police station and possibly the worst dummy in the history of stunt dummies:

I€™ll Be Back.

There€™s a classic simplicity to it. It wasn€™t penned with the hopes, all fingers and toes crossed of penetrating into the public sphere, but it did to such an extend that it is now impossible to say in any situation without a stilted Austrian accent.

On set, the catchphrase was up for debate. Schwarzennegger, the man to deliver said line, believed the machine would never say I€™ll be back. His opinion was that the contraction - I will to I€™ll - would never be uttered by a Terminator. Why? He thought a robot would maintain a more straightforward style of speech. Oh, and he thought it sounded girly.

James Cameron was not in agreement. He apparently told Arnie €œI don€™t tell you how to act, so don€™t tell me how to write.€

All in all, a win for the franchise. The phrase went on to be recycled throughout the series, and became ineffably cemented into the public consciousness. Would that have been the case with €œI will be back€?

Contributor
Contributor

Gem is a freelance writer, musician and librarian. Her hobbies include: recreating movie death scenes from LEGO, concocting new types of bird suet cakes, walking on fresh snow and playing the glockenspiel - all at the same time.