12 Deleted Movie Scenes With WAY Better Answers
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - T-800 Chip Reset
As far as action blockbusters go, Terminator 2: Judgement Day is unsurpassed; it was a powerful and progressive sequel that showed director James Cameron at the peak of his directing skills.
The theme of family runs strong throughout Terminator 2. As the T-800 protects John and Sarah Connor, he begins to learn the value of human life. Judging by the base theatrical cut though, this is a bit of a headscratcher; as a machine programmed solely for a single mission, how would it be able to learn over time?
While Arnold says: "The more contact I have with humans, the more I learn", some further detail was missing.
The answer lied in a deleted scene which takes place after the three escape the T-1000 at the mental hospital. With a reprieve from Robert Patrick's ruthless hunt, John and Sarah remove the Skynet chip from the machine's skull, resetting it from its read-only state. This allows the T-800's learning computer to take on a greater amount of knowledge.
In addition to providing a better explanation, the scene also deepens the rift between mother and son; Sarah still doesn't fully trust the cyborg while John, showing some authority, stresses that they need the T-800 to survive.
While this moment was deemed unnecessary by the production team, it still offers some detail.