10 Smartest Decisions In Sci-Fi Movie History

7. Giving The T-1000 The Wrong Dog's Name - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2 may be a film about time-travelling robots murdering the crap out of one another, but it's also one of the most smartly-written sci-fi films ever made.

There's subtle yet brilliant proof of that shortly after the benevolent T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) "acquires" John Connor (Edward Furlong) and John insists on calling to check that his foster parents (Jenette Goldstein and Xander Berkeley) haven't been harmed.

But of course, John realises something is up when his foster mother is uncharacteristically warm on the phone, and the T-800 is tipped off by the sound of John's dog Max barking (dogs can detect Terminators, as established in the first movie).

The T-800 then takes the phone, mimicking John's voice as he asks his mother what's wrong with "Wolfie". John's mother, having been assimilated by the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), doesn't know the dog's real name is Max, and so goes along it, giving them all the evidence they need that everything is not OK in House Connor.

With an hilarious bluntness, the T-800 then hangs up and tells John that his foster parents are dead, as we cut to that brilliantly gratuitous shot of the dad impaled against the wall by the T-1000's metal arm.

In a deleted scene, the T-1000 actually kills Max and, upon looking at his collar, realises that he's been duped. But even for the high standards of an ultra-logical machine, this was a terrific ploy by Arnie's Terminator.