15 Things That Almost Ruined The Terminator Franchise
3. The Comics
The gap between The Terminator and Terminator 2 spanned seven years. Its not that long. Well, it is when you consider Marvel kickstart new movie franchises and pump out countless sequels in that same amount of time.
While the Terminator was absent on the big screen, it wasnt dead in the water. It spun off into an animated comic series by NOW. Between 1988 and 1990 the label published 17 issues under The Terminator banner. The storylines deviated from the events of the first movie, and instead were based in the future. The year 2031, to be precise, when John Connors resistance army continue to battle against the machines.
Sounds awesome, right?
It wasnt until the later issues (The Burning Earth) that the series garnered any acclaim whatsoever (and that was for the artwork.) In the earlier comics, entire townships founded by machines were in operation like a dastardly version of The Stepford Wives. Terminator police officers, traffic wardens, heck, even bakers all lived happily together when they werent stealing skins from humans.
In another nugget of bizarro mythology, which was thankfully shrugged off and ignored by Cameron, was the purpose of the machines killing sprees. In one panel, the brother of Kyle Reese goads a Terminator for failing to get his skin. Skynet might have taken over the world but they apparently cant recreate human tissue - so they murder people then wear their skins like suits. A bit like Buffalo Bill but without the dancing.
Thankfully no-one optioned the comic rights to adapt that short-lived run into a terrible, terrible movie.