The Terminator has since become a milestone in science fiction, a franchise that continues to exist solely because everybody and their mother recognises its basic premise and killer robots. When the first film was made, though, it was actually riffing on a handful of existing sci-fi stories: namely, two Outer Limits episodes written by Harlan Ellison. Good artist copy, great artists steal and all that Cameron's use of ideas from Ellison's Soldier and Demon With A Glass Hand are nice homages. This Easter Egg takes a bit of a dark turn when you consider Ellison sued Cameron, it was settled out of court, and now the author gets credit on all prints of The Terminator (which Cameron hates).