Terminator: 20 Easter Eggs And References You Must See
20. The First Film Ripped Off Harlan Ellison
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).
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
