There can be very little doubt that The Terminator franchise has endured with four films, a television show, comic books, video games, novels, and a new cinematic trilogy in the works. In 2008, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the American National Film Registry in acknowledgement of its "cultural, historical, and/or aesthetic significance." Yet, when director James Cameron embarked on his mission to create a low-budget, high-concept, science fiction film over three decades ago, his sole ambition was to truly launch his directorial career. Mission more than accomplished.

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The film was presumed to be destined for modest financial success, but defying all expectations, The Terminator was number one at the box office for two weeks, ultimately earning an impressive $78 million during its theatrical run and continuing to yield dividends in home video sales over the next 30 years.Hailing from B-movie masterpiece maker Roger Corman Studios - where Cameron worked as a miniature model maker and Terminator co-writer/producer Gale Anne Hurd worked her way up from an assistant position - both director and producer were well-schooled in the art of low-budget filmmaking. When honing in on the story for The Terminator, they knew that for budgetary reasons they needed to shoot locally, in Los Angeles, and that in order for the film to work they'd have to create a tone and setting that would lend itself to a grittier aesthetic. In other words, one they could afford.In the vein of Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) The Terminator seamlessly fit into an era of "dirty" sci-fi and a rough-edged vision of future tech. This was no sleek, streamlined, and gleaming white ship. This was a hard core, punk rock vision of the future that reflected an urban culture that was all of those things. The film also played into lingering nuclear fears, as well as a fundamentally western conception of technology as relentless, unstoppable, and ultimately destructive to and for humanity.The Terminator, like others of its ilk, postulated that we would be the authors of our own demise; that in our ravenous hunt for progress (an "easier"/more tech reliant life) we would become the temporary Gods to the machines that would then make it their mission to strip the planet of the human race. The trope is in many ways a reflection of the fear that we are robbing ourselves of fundamental aspects of the human experience as we separate more and more from nature and slide further into a virtual existence.Cameron wasn't reinventing the sci-fi wheel with the film, but he was hitting on some themes that felt both universal and relevant to that particular moment in time, which is no easy task. What's more impressive, is that his story wraps all of that concept in a highly entertaining film that feels in some ways like a blend of Dirty Harry and any number of stalker horrors.The Terminator is engaging, fast-paced, often terrifying, and serves up kick-butt action and what was - for the era and budget - exciting effects work. This was at once a time-traveling adventure and quippy, fun, gun-blasting, actoner filled with quotable one-liners and featuring an ordinary man and woman (Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor) triumphing in extraordinary circumstances. Many future action and science fiction films would take their cue in part from The Terminator model.

IGN Presents The History of The Terminator

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The paradox that the Connors represented also helped to pave the way for multiple sequels and adaptations. The film followed a singular mission: Keep Sarah alive so that she may birth the savior of the future. Yet, it opened the door to a tantalizing and fundamentally archetypal (John's unusual birth is a first step in the heroes journey) mystery: "Who is John Connor?" It's a question we don't want fully answered, which is one - just one - reason that Terminator Salvation didn't ultimately work. No real world version of adult John can live up to our expectations of who and what that man ought to be. More on why an adolescent incarnation of the character is viable in a moment.It's a fascinating and mind-bending twist of the tale that if the world hadn't fallen into despair then John would never have existed. Yet, his entire life's mission is to set things right, thus negating the need for his arrival! If the Connors were able to stop Skynet before it could launch its attack on the Earth, then John would simply cease to be. Equally, it was Sarah who carved John into the man and leader he would become, but she never would have herself developed into the woman and mother capable of such strength if John hadn't sent his father back to her. It's fascinating, and no wonder that we've spent 30-years pondering and exploring that base premise.For some, it's really Cameron's follow-up, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, that accounts for the Terminator legacy. I can say that for me, as an audience member, Sarah Connor's transformation was a revelation. She was unlike almost anything I'd ever seen on screen; a fierce and terrifying mother-bear who had honed herself into a living weapon whose sole purpose in life was to protect the life of her child and train him to take on an unbearable destiny: save the world. Heady and awesome stuff. As far as John goes, he was still a work in progress, here. While there are some who may disagree, the developmental stage that the boy was in still left the door open to the possibility that he would become a larger-than-life figure best left to our own individual imaginings.That is to say nothing of the clever turn Cameron made in transforming the villain into the hero, playing on Arnold Schwarzenegger's increase in popularity. Nor the genuinely remarkable and lasting technological advances that the film made. Terminator 2 was and is an action masterpiece. The expansion of this world was thrilling, as was the possibility for the nature of the characters and relationships to morph. Once you're playing with time, nearly anything is possible.However, the blueprint for T2 is crafted entirely in first film. In fact, if you watch them back-to-back you can see the ways in which the sequel really does mimic the beats of the original. For myself, I love them both. The first film gave us the world and the second the evolution of these captivating, now iconic, and enduring characters.Happy 30th Terminator, I'm glad you were born...I'm particularly pleased that you were created solely in a work of fiction. And to those who embrace Siri and her kind: STOP BUILDING SKYNET.