19. Extended Cut: A Vision of Kyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2yG5fH8J6g&feature=player_embedded Cut from the theatrical release for pacing reasons, Sarah has a dream that the father of her child, Kyle Reese, comes to see her. It heightens the emotional stakes and highlights Sarah's worries that her future and that of her son may not be secured, as well as demonstrate how much she misses Kyle. For fanatics, this scene is an important addition albeit one that is perhaps understandable in its theatrical elision.
20. Tying Up Loose Ends
Of course, the end of The Terminator left us with a lot of questions worth answering, specifically with regards to what happened to the remains of the T-800, crushed in a mechanical press. Cameron fields out one line of dialogue that wraps it all up neatly, as we discover that Cyberdyne enacted a self-preserving cover-up, which only helped Sarah Connor's committal to the mental hospital later on.
21. Nikki Cox Cameo
It's one of those oddities that will make you giggle in retrospect and make you wonder how you never saw it before. It's truly strange, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? A young Nikki Cox, now best known as
Las Vegas star and, lest you believe it, Bobcat Goldthwaite's ex-fiancée. Here's what she blossomed into:
22. The Slow Burn
The blockbuster film is typically associated with attention-deficit filmmaking, and looking at the likes of Peter Berg and Michael Bay's recent efforts, that assertion seems to be mostly on the money. However, much like Christopher Nolan's recent
The Dark Knight Rises, it's a long haul, and in this instance, has us wait a full half-hour before John, the T-1000, and the T-800 square off in that parking lot hallway. Cameron is confident enough in his script to let the tension and suspense just build, an approach he repeats later on during the talkier - but also brilliant - New Mexico scenes.
23. The Reveal: Arnie Isn't the Baddie
It seems hilariously obvious to us now, but at the time, as so many of my older friends tell me, it wasn't so clear who was good and who was bad in T2's advertising. Owing to clever marketing like the aforementioned teaser trailer, this accentuated the feeling of surprise when Arnie's T-800 is revealed as John Connor's protector. Though the T-1000, with his early murder of a police officer, is clearly a bad guy, the notion of a bigger, badder sequel could simply have implied that this time, Sarah and her son had not one, but two machines to escape. I deeply wish that I could have seen the film at the time of its release, for it is a product of a time before the Internet told us far too much about upcoming releases.
24. The Innocent Bystander
I bet the bespectacled man who happened to be walking through that mall hallway didn't expect "Kid, you can't go in there!" to be his last words. As the T-1000 emerges from the other side, the man is brutally shot to pieces while his scalding coffee goes everywhere, probably burning him before he dies. Poor guy, but it's also a pretty funny way to go.