Terminator (character)

The Terminator, also known as a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or T-800, is the name of several film characters from the Terminator franchise portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator itself is part of a series of machines created by Skynet, an artificial intelligence, for infiltration-based surveillance and assassination missions. It is a cyborg, with a tough computer-controlled metal endoskeleton covered in living tissue. The first appearance of the Terminator was as the titular antagonist in The Terminator, a 1984 film directed and co-written by James Cameron. While the original Terminator was destroyed, other machines with the same appearance are featured in the sequels. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Schwarzenegger's Terminator serves as the main protagonist, while in Terminator Genisys (2015) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), it serves as a supporting protagonist, and is pitted against other Terminators sent by Skynet and its successor Legion. In Terminator Salvation (2009) and Dark Fate, the character also appears briefly as an antagonist. In the context of the stories, the plot device of having various robots looking the same provides a certain continuity for the human characters by exploiting their emotional familiarity with a particular "human" visage associated with each "model". The "Terminator" title is also used as a generic name for other human-simulating characters in the Terminator franchise, such as the liquid-metal T-1000 antagonist in Judgment Day. The Terminator is Schwarzenegger's best-known role, and resulted in two catchphrases, "I'll be back" and "Hasta la vista, baby", used in the first and second film respectively.