As a kid, I related more to Terminator 2 because I was John Connor (Edward Furlong)’s age. As I got older, I related more to Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and Terminator 1 because that’s the story of an adult burdened with this responsibility. So it is a joy to keep revisiting James Cameron’s original as I mature, and the home video format matures.
The new 4K UHD really shows off the blackness of L.A. night in 1984, especially above Griffith Observatory. Light beams through the alleys Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) runs through cut the darkness strikingly.
Broad daylight looks like it could be today, except for the hair styles, pay phones and nobody looking down at their devices. But man, the model work and projected screen backgrounds hold up in the future war sequences.
Over the years the 1984 film must have gotten a surround sound upgrade because you hear all the future war flyovers and lasers, the electric storm of time travel, and all the gunfire in the shootouts behind you.
Bonus features from previous DVDs are included. Those include the deleted scenes, which include the seeds of Terminator 2’s plot to stop Cyberdine from ever creating Skynet. They must have been made for Terminator 3 because Jonathan Mostow discusses the influence of the first film, but they also went to filmmakers like John Landis. Furlong is in there so those are a good time capsule of The Terminator at least 20 years ago, as a bonus for the main show of the 4K UHD.