July 2nd – A Retrospective

“This is the day of reckoning. Out of the ashes of our world, THEY will rise. A new generation of Terminator, designed to annihilate the human race. And our last hope in the war against machines, will be one of THEM…

The life you know, all the stuff you take for granted… it's not gonna last.

Imagine a world of permanent darkness, where machines control man's destiny. Imagine you were the only one who could stop it, but before you do, something terrible has to happen.....

There's a new Terminator; the T-X. It is designed for extreme combat. It's faster, more intelligent and more powerful. It has been programmed to destroy other cybernetic organisms. It was sent back through time for one purpose only…. to kill us all.”

Well here we are again, at the date that Terminator fans the world over were waiting for back in 2003, for the release of the long awaited and hugely anticipated third instalment of the Terminator series – Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Directed by Jonathan Mostow , the man behind such films as Breakdown and U-571, T3 was gunning to be the smash hit of the summer, ready to terminate all competition out of the box office. Sorry to all of the Charlie's Angels & HULK fans – but T3 was just so much bigger and better than your movies!

After 12 years of waiting since 1991, when the biggest grossing movie ever (at that time) and the most successful sequel ever, Terminator 2: Judgment Day , was released, moviegoers and film makers alike were eager to see the follow up to it.

But there were many critics and fans unable to see a positive side to it. They claimed that there were too many things missing from this movie that had been key factors to the success of the previous two, most noticeably writer & director of T1 & T2, James Cameron, and Terminator co-star, Linda Hamilton, the warrior waitress that was the legend, Sarah Connor. Brad Fidel passed on it, claiming that without Cameron helming it, he wouldn't do it, and T2 star Eddie Furlong, our first John Connor, was not considered for the role due to drug abuse problems.

In all, only a handful of cast and crew returned. Stan Winston, the genius behind all of the Terminator special effects, gadgets and building of the machines was back to do his job with new additions to the family of Skynet's lovelies, such as the T-1 patrol unit and the T-X, the brand spanking new female Terminator. Co-writer of T1, and producer of both T1 and T2, Gale Ann Hurd, was back to sit in the producers chair again for a third time around, along with T2 producer Mario Kassar, head of C-2 Pictures, the production company responsible for T3. Earl Boen returned once again as the cunning but now somewhat withdrawn Dr. Silberman, although this was his shortest appearance yet. And of course, the Terminator himself returned – Arnold Schwarzenegger . Ready to don the black leathers and sunglasses, Arnold was pumped to the max, spending hours in the gym, sculpting his body to look just as it did back in 1984. And all that hard work certainly paid off!

But could this all new cast and crew pull it off? New additions Nick Stahl , Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken would be just as important to the success of the movie as the rest of the cast and crew. Could Stahl cut it as Connor? Could Loken pull off the style of a Terminator? Could Claire Danes cope with being in an action movie and getting dirty and smelly? After seeing the trailers & t.v. spots, 90% said yes.

The final, domestic trailer for T3 was released on May 15th 2003, and was the best yet. Fans queued up at cinemas just to get a peek of the trailer before it hit the internet, on T3's official site. We got the first shot of Arnold standing up after his arrival scene, and the results of his hard work in the gym were fantastic. It really did look as though he'd gone back through time and brought his 1984 self back with him!

As July 2nd approached, a hell of a lot more anticipation came about, because T3 was everywhere. Billboards, magazine covers, t.v. and radio spots. People knew that the Terminator was BACK!

On the eve of July 2nd, fans across USA & Canada waited patiently outside their cinemas to purchase their tickets for the first midnight showings of T3. Some people were smart and had booked in advance, going straight through to the waiting area.

As midnight finally approached, the excitement levels climaxed, and as the opening titles of the movie came on, cheers, rounds of applause and whistles came from the crowd as the name 'ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER' appeared in black and white. He was BACK!

The movie was greatly accepted by all audiences. Some said it was the best Terminator movie yet. Others said it was a close call between that and the others, and others were just happy to have seen it.

Terminator fan, and webmaster of fan-site Terminator-3.co.uk, Georgio Sfakiotakis, travelled all the way from sunny England over to New York City to be able to see the movie when it first came out. “It was just something I had to do!” he recalls.

Another Terminator fan, who goes by the name of T-10X, saw the movie over 100 times for the 2 month period it was in cinemas. “I worked as John Connor at the T2:3D attraction ride in Universal Studios, Florida, so I'd just pop into the cinema a few times a day to see it!”

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was a huge success, garnering over $430 Million worldwide in box office receipts alone, and another few hundred million with DVD & VHS sales. Arnold showed the world that the Terminator was BACK, and he was still the badass that he was back in '84!

After the success of T3, T4 is pretty much a go picture. All we need is the perfect script to be completed, and for Arnold to reprise his role, however big or small it may be. With Stahl & Danes back as John & Kate, the future will not be set, and the Resistance will fight the machines until death.

Remember, the future is not set…. we'll be back.

Global Arnold Staff