<![CDATA[io9: Terminator 2]]> http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: Terminator 2]]> http://io9.com/tag/terminator 2 http://io9.com/tag/terminator 2 <![CDATA[10 Villains Who Changed Sides (But Stayed Cool)]]> Everybody knows that villains are cooler than heroes — it's just the way things are. But if a villain hangs around long enough, sometimes he or she gets reformed and joins the good guys. Usually, this results in a tragic loss of coolness. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5823222&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[10 scifi icons (and 10 obscure characters who have the same names)]]> You know Spider-Man, but have you heard of the British anti-hero Spiderman? Everyone's seen Terminator 2, but have you seen the Italian Terminator II? Here are 10 familiar characters (and a bunch of randoms who share their names). More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5729292&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[We've seen the future and it's coming to crush us: Pre-apocalyptic stories]]> Why are pre-apocalyptic stories so popular? We get why everyone loves post-apocalyptic worlds: Everybody wants to fantasize about surviving, rebuilding, remaking the world in a new image. But why do people love stories that take place before a horrible disaster? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5698592&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Terminator 2: The Opera UPDATE: Now With More Robocop!]]> You loved the Conan The Barbarian: The Musical, now behold the singing Schwarzenegger's Terminator 2: The Opera! Which takes us deeper into the psyche of a decommissioned Terminator. "I'd give anything to kill someone again." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5626069&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[25 classic science fiction movies that everybody must watch]]> Science fiction has rocked cinemas for a century, and the genre has produced many undisputed classics during that time. But which movies are essential viewing for anyone interested in the genre? We broke down the 25 must-watch science fiction films. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5619137&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Cameron's Next Project May Not Be Avatar 2 Or Battle Angel]]> James Cameron's keeping his options open, according to his longtime producer Jon Landau: He may not direct an Avatar sequel or Battle Angel next. Landau also explained to us how Cameron might do underwater motion-capture for Avatar 2's ocean scenes. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5521563&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Is Avatar Too Realistic For Its Own Good?]]> Chinese writers condemned Avatar, a branch of the Russian communist party condemned it, the Vatican has weighed in, and other groups are endlessly debating its political meaning. What makes people respond so strongly to this flick? It's the realism. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5454186&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Skynet's Terminator 2 Symphony Of Abuse]]> Listen to the sweeping sounds of this Terminator 2 symphony, composed entirely out of T2 sound effects. Who knew the dying whimpers of some metalic punk could be so beautiful? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5447003&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[James Cameron's Love-Hate Relationship With Technology]]> James Cameron started as an effects wizard for Roger Corman, and all of his films have expanded the technology of movie-making. But his films are also all about the ways technology can fail us or destroy us. What gives? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5436595&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Actors Reprise Their Iconic Roles, Without Costumes]]> The film magazine Empire celebrated its 20th birthday with a photoshoot of famous actors returning to their most recognized roles. The shots finally leaked online, and here are the most geektastic. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5417379&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Terminator 2 Storyboards Show The Destruction Of Skynet]]> Terminator 2 storyboards include some sequences that were too expensive to film — like an extended future war sequence, where we see Skynet's destruction from the point of view of a wounded soldier. Gallery below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5336955&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[50 Glorious Scifi Movie Intro Voiceovers]]> Any movie that starts with Morgan Freeman's cask-aged voice, telling us we're screwed, is off to a great start. Many science-fiction movies open with voiceovers, which prepare you for greatness... or bombard you with backstory. Here are 50 of our favorites. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5288623&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[10 Different Timelines From The Terminator Universe]]> Are you confused by all the alternate timelines in the Terminator franchise? So are we. That's why we created a list of every timeline, and ran it past Sarah Connor Chronicles producer Josh Friedman. Spoilers... More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5191092&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[New Terminator Aims To Outdo Sarah Connor With Time Travel Insanity]]> By the end of this year, it's not just Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles that'll be giving you a regular dose of time-traveling killer robot versus determined mom carnage - Dynamite Entertainment are bringing their version of the Terminator franchise back, written by Transformers writer Simon Furman and with enough cross-time antics that your head may explode. Are you ready for Terminators in the future trying to kill a teenaged Reece before we goes back in time to get Sarah Connor pregnant with John Connor? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5066699&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Cameron Talks Avatar And Teases The Dark Knight]]> Our hero James Cameron took time out of creating weird alien planets to describe to CBC the "CG hell" that he is currently living in as he works Avatar, and getting the chance to work with Sigourney Weaver again. Even though the man is a master of the movie domain, it's a little relieving to hear him Cameron say that after so many years working on Avatar he's "just now getting the confidence that it's going to work." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5063910&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[12 Coolest Deaths In Science Fiction History]]> Click to viewIt's never great to watch a beloved science fiction hero die - but sometimes a memorable heroic death can help turn a science fiction story into a real epic. And some science fiction characters are unforgettable and bad-ass precisely because they died in a memorable way. Here's our list of the dozen greatest deaths in the history of science fiction. With some spoilers, natch. 12) Searle in Sunshine. Okay, I may be the only person who really loved Danny Boyle's blazing space opera about a doomed crew trying to reignite the sun. That's okay, I can be right all on my own. I especially love the way the character of Searle, the ship's psychiatrist, surprises you in his final moments. He's kind of a prurient asshole for most of the movie, obsessed with looking into the sun with as little filter as possible. He's a pretty terrible therapist. But when the chips are down, he knows he's the most expendable crewmember. When four crewmembers from the Icarus II get trapped on the wrecked ship Icarus I, with the airlock damaged, Searle agrees to stay behind so the rest of the away team can get back to the Icarus II. He helps blast the others out the airlock, then exposes himself to the sun, dying the same way as the Icarus I's crew. Click to view If you're going to be a creepy therapist, the least you can do is self-immolate to save the rest of us. 11) Woody in Mission To Mars. This is a pretty terrible movie overall, but a fantastic death scene. Our heroes have to abandon their vessel. And then Woody, played by Tim Robbins, leaves the others and launches himself at the Resupply Module (REMO), but after he attaches the line from the other astronauts at the REMO, he keeps moving towards the planet. His wife, Terri, wants to go after him, but Woody knows she'll die in the rescue attempt. So he takes off his own helmet and dies of depressurization rather than let her die for him. (Thanks to Meredith for the suggestion!) Runner up: Speaking of depressurization deaths, Graeme really wanted me to include Cally's death from Battlestar Galactica. But I didn't really think her death was awesome. Sorry, G. 10) Graham in "The Sleeper Wakes" by H.G. Wells. One of Wells' weirdest stories involves a man known only as Graham, who sleeps for over 200 years and wakes to find that he's not just the richest man in the world, but actually the owner of the entire world. He eventually discovers that the White Council, which governs in his name, is oppressing everyone, and he helps a revolutionary named Ostrog to mount a revolution. But afterwards, Ostrog starts oppressing people just as badly as the White Council had. So finally Graham gets mad. This time, it's personal - he gets into an airplane and rams a whole bunch of Ostrog's air fleet. (Remember, this was written in 1910.) Finally, he rams his plane into Ostrog's, then spirals to Earth, knowing that the revolution will prevail at last. Runner up: Someone suggested Hari Seldon from Forward The Foundation, but I haven't read that book and couldn't find much about it or track down a copy. Was his death truly awesome? Let me know. 9) The Controller in Doctor Who, "Day Of The Daleks" "Day Of The Daleks" is probably not on my list of the 100 greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, but it has a few really amazing moments. The greatest of these is where the Controller finally stands up to his Dalek masters. All along, the 22nd century bureaucrat has been fooling himself that he can help the Daleks govern the human race and actually do some good along the way, helping people when the Daleks aren't looking. But after a few chats with the Doctor, he finally realizes you can't work within the Dalek system. He helps the Doctor escape, and when his coverup fails, the Daleks decide to exterminate him. "Who knows?" he says. "I may have helped to exterminate you." Awesome. Runners up: Various people suggested the deaths of various Doctors, but none of them really jumped out at me as especially cool. One person suggested Adric, and I'll protect his/her identity, to save him/her from the inevitable scorn of the masses. 8) Lt. Paul Wang from Space: Above And Beyond. "Everybody's favorite tortured bipolar guy," Lt. Wang, callsign "Joker," gives his life to hold off the aliens while everyone else gets away. "This is for you!" he shouts as he pours ammo into the enemy. Commenter oconnellmd suggested this scene, and I can see why. 7) Certain people in Blake's 7, "Blake" I'm going to show an unusual degree of restraint and not say who dies in this episode. Let's just say it's an incredibly fitting end for the saga, one which makes all of the stuff that comes before seem cooler because it leads up to this. In my write-up on how to discover Blake's 7, I actually advocate watching the last episode first. At the very least, I think this is one spoiler that makes you appreciate the rest of the show more. But don't take my word for it: watch for yourself. 6) Pham Nuwen from A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. Pham Nuwen is animated by the Old One, a super-powerful artificial intelligence, and he dies fighting the Blight, another super-A.I. First Pham downloads as much of the Old One into his brain as possible, overclocking his human brain by containing this massive superhuman intelligence, which will inevitably destroy him. And then he launches the Countermeasure, an advanced weapon which moves the boundaries of the Slow Zone far enough to enclose and destory the Blight. But the Countermeasure also has the effect of terminating Pham at the same time:
The Countermeasure's writhing had slowed. Its light flickered bright and then out. Bright and then out. She heard Pham's breath gasp with every darkness. Countermeasure, a savior that was going to kill a million civilizations. And was going to kill the man who triggered it. Almost unthinking, she dodged past the thing, reaching for Pham. But razors upon razors blocked her, raking her arms. Pham was looking up at her. He was trying to say something more. Then the light went out for a final time. From the darkness all around came a hissing sound and a growling, bitter smell that Ravna would never forget.
(Thanks Annalee!) 5) The T-800 in Terminator II. After Arnold Schwartzenegger's T-800 helps Sarah and John Connor defeat Robert Patrick's mean T-1000 by blowing it up and knocking it into molten metal, Arnie knows he has to go too. If there's anything left of the T-800, the technology could be used to reconstitute Skynet and bring the badness down on our heads. So Arnie gets Sarah Connor to lower him - slowly - into the molten metal. He gives a thumbs up as he descends to his robo-fondue doom. (Thanks, Annalee!) 4) Biggs from Star Wars. I was seriously considering making Obi-Wan the coolest death from Star Wars, but really, screw that guy. First of all, as he points out himself, he comes back a thousand times more powerful afterwards. And secondly and more importantly, he's kind of a big martyr, as everyone points out in the awesome parody Hardware Wars. And Biggs doesn't have any super Force powers, or the ability to come back a thousand times more anything. All Biggs has is a X-ing, a can-do attitude, and an awesome porn-stache. And he's the greatest wingman ever, taking enemy fire and blowing up so that Luke can nuke the death star and get all the glory afterwards. And look how stoic Biggs is in this deleted scene from Episode IV, telling Luke he may never come home again because he's off to join the rebels: When does baby Biggs get his own episode of the Clone Wars cartoon? Preferably with a little baby mustache? 3) Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Martian bounty hunter Spike Spiegel gets into a duel with his former best friend, Vicious after Vicious' Red Dragon gang has killed Spike's girlfriend Julia. Spike finally decides to face the past with Vicious that he ran away from three years earlier, and he storms the Red Dragon headquarters, killing a bunch of its members as he climbs. Vicious manages to slash Spike with his katana, but then Spike shoots Vicious dead. Spike comes down the stairs, wounded and weakened, to face all the remaining members of the Red Dragon. Spike makes a gun with his fingers and says "Bang"... then collapses. Most people seem to assume Spike dies of his wounds, and it's not hard to find tons of people online listing this as one of the coolest death scenes in all anime, or all Asian films, let alone science fiction. 2) Someone from Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Since this book just came out and it's a bit of a major spoiler, I won't say who dies and how - click here if you've already read the book and/or don't care about spoilers. 1) Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. I'm not putting the pointy-eared green blooded Vulcan first just because I know I'd get lynched otherwise. I'm not even including the death of Spock because I pretty much memorized all the dialog from that scene as a little kid. I'm including it because it's the template of how to do a memorable, important death in a science fiction epic. The movie isn't ABOUT Spock at all, but it still feels as though the whole film has been leading up to his death. A lesser film would have been more clumsy and obvious about giving Spock a bunch of cool moments leading up to his death, and trying to manipulate us into feeling the Spock love before he snuffs it. Instead, we do get plenty of cool Spock moments, including giving Kirk his present and mentoring Lt. Saavik. But it's woven into the rest of the movie, and the film's running theme of the "no-win situation" and the impossibility of cheating death every single time help to set up the death of Kirk's best friend way better than a scene where Spock talks about what he's going to do when he retires and goes back to Vulcan. The result is one of the most amazing moments in Trek history, one of those moments where you can really beleive Trek is a sweeping saga instead of just a zany adventure with green women and Saurian brandy. Runner up: I can't believe I left out Roy Batty in Blade Runner, as various commenters have pointed out. Especially since I went on a whole tangent about Roy's amazing death scene in my rant about why there shouldn't be a BR sequel earlier in the day. Suffice to say the Roy Batty death scene is definitely one of the all-time classic, and easily up there with Spock's. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5056076&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Which Skull Stomping Terminator Future Is Your Favorite?]]> The time line for Terminator 4 plops John Connor in the year of 2018, in between Judgment Day and the eventual triumph of the human race in 2029. When you start to wrap your head around the many timelines of the Terminators, it's easy to get them confused. For example, the original Terminator includes robot-sniffing dogs and rat-eating people, while T3 features Nick Stahl (easily as disgusting). Click through for a video round-up of all of the possible Terminator futures and voice your vote on the best doomed world of the future. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5034474&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Joe Morton Says Frankenstein Is Not a Nerd]]> Joe Morton plays Henry Deacon on mad scientist show Eureka, and his character is in many ways the moral center of the show. One of the most brilliant scientists in town, he's suffered great personal loss and prefers to spend his time tinkering in a garage in greasy overalls rather than stuffed into a white coat in a lab somewhere. Morton has also played some of the most iconic roles in science fiction: He's the scientist at Cyberdine who invents Skynet in Terminator 2; and he played an alien fleeing an oppressive planetary regime in John Sayles 1980s flick Brother from Another Planet. At the Sci-Fi/Entertainment Weekly party at Comic-Con, we asked him how he feels about playing "nerdy roles." He told us quite charmingly that he never plays nerds, and then gave us a taste of what's next on Eureka, in another clip below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5030534&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Terminator 4's PG-13 Rating Will Mean More Dumb Explosions]]> First they gave us a sub-standard Teminator (T-X) that kicked 75% less ass than Terminator 2's T-1000. Then they added Claire (Shopgirl) Danes to the equation, and the result, T3, was a poor person's Terminator 2. The only thing that kept hope alive was the promise that Christian Bale would blow us all away as an embattled John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (aka T4). But now news has broken that T4 will be rated PG-13 instead of R, like the previous installments. How can this movie rock half as hard as T2 with Disneyland limits? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=387374&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Must See: Terminator 2]]> Must-see movies are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale. Written by James Rocchi. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=305437&view=rss&microfeed=true