18 More Things You Didn't Know About The Terminator

11. Terminator's Vision

Terminator Kyle Reese
Orion Pictures

There are many elements that make the Terminator iconic. The chilling red eyes, the masterfully crafted animatronic, Arnie's deadpan delivery, etc. But another memorable factor in the series is when we, the audience, observe a scene from the point of view of the the main villain. As the antagonist observes its surroundings, the screen is filled with a red hue and overlaid with schematics, descriptions, potential responses, and threat assessments.

James Cameron incorporated this into the film so the audience could figuratively get inside the Terminator's head. This idea had been used before in the film, Westworld, but The Terminator popularised it, inspiring movies like Robocop and Iron Man to use similar techniques.

At the time of the film's release, computers were in their infancy and the average household wouldn't own a PC for over a decade. Because of this, most viewers had no idea what they were looking at when the shot changed to the Terminator's perspective. If you're a bit of a tech-wiz, you may recognise the informatics used for these shots are based on the Apple II computer.

If you own an Apple II (somehow), you can make the screen resemble the Terminator's vision by entering the code, -151*p.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows