| T-1000 | |
|---|---|
 ' | |
|
Real Name: |
T-1000 |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Color: |
Silver |
|
Element: |
Metal |
|
Type: |
Assassin |
|
Series: |
Terminator |
|
First appearance: |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
The T-1000 prototype is the main antagonist of the sci-fi action film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day by James Cameron. Though portrayed by multiple actors, its main/default form is portrayed by Robert Patrick.
Character Overview[]
The T-1000 is polymorphic assassin who serves as the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He is composed of a liquid metal substance that can be used to take the form of anything he wishes. He is sent back to the past by Skynet to kill the future leader of a resistance team, known as John Connor. The T-1000 model is a more advanced version of its predecessor, the T-800.
Appearance[]
The T-1000’s appearance is that of a man made from liquid metal. However, he can change his appearance at will. His most well known appearance is that of a police officer with slick backed, blonde hair.
Personality[]
The T-1000 does not possess much of a personality, simply trying to carry out its mission. It can display emotions, but these are usually only for tricking others. At one point in Terminator 2, when disguised as a police officer, the T-1000 carries out a conversation with the Connor family to learn the location of his target, showing off a large repertoire of emotions and social skills.
Despite the general lack of a definitive personality, he has shown sincere fear and pain when he was about to die.
Special Abilities[]
The T-1000 possesses many basic abilities shared by other polymorphic beings, such as: Shapeshifting, mimicry, reformation, and weapon formation. Due to the T-1000’s regenerative nature, it is very difficult to destroy him. At one point, he was frozen by a canister of liquid nitrogen and presumed dead. However, the frozen pieces eventually melted and he reformed yet again, continuing his mission. Conventional weapons and combat seem ineffective against the T-1000, making it rather resilient. However, despite how advanced it might seem, the T-1000 is slowed down by heavy gunfire, unlike the older T-800 model.
The assassin’s mimicry is also rather advanced. It can simulate flesh, clothing, and other materials, as well change voices and emotions. However, it cannot morph into anything smaller or larger than its mass. Taking on the form of heftier lifeforms requires it to step down a bit harder when in motion as its size and mass would be disproportionate and that its density decreases as well and it can only assume the forms of others if they already possess a sample of their DNA such as blood or a foot/handprint. High temperatures make it difficult for the T-1000 to maintain a disguise though. If heated too much, the T-1000 would need to cool down before being able to take on a disguise again.
It is shown flattening itself into a carpet, squeezing through prison bars, and adding extra limbs onto itself as well, which are prime examples of its shape shifting capabilities. In battle, it will use any on-hand conventional firearms on its person which it can conceal in its mass for a later time. It will also not hesitate to use any objects surrounding its immediate area to use as a weapon. If none are present, it will morph its hands or forearms into pikes and blades to take down its targets
Synopsis[]
Skynet sends the T-1000 to the past on a mission to eliminate John Connor, the leader of a future resistance group against the machines. The T-1000 slays a police officer, taking on his form and using his vehicle’s computer to track down Connor. Unlike the T-800, the T-1000 has no qualms with killing innocent people while carrying out his mission. The two Terminator models then confront each other at a shopping mall, where the T-800 and John Connor try to escape as John and the T-800 getting away on a motorcycle with the T-1000 giving chase in a stolen truck. The intense chase leads down to a levee with the truck taking heavy damage due to the difficulty of managing its size. The 800 manages to damage the truck's gas tank and another well placed shot destroys it. However, the explosion only serves to slow it down and it continues its search. Using the information it gathered earlier in its arrival to the 90s, it heads to John's residence and attempts to lure him back home, having already killed and impersonated his foster mother although the attempt fails. It instead goes for a second option and heads to the rehab center where Sarah Conner, John Conner's mother is being held after the events of the first movie with the intent of killing her and then taking her form to lure John into a trap.
However, the 800 and Conner had already deduced its plans and intercepted it just as Sarah herself was making her breakout from the center. It chases them down the elevator to the police car they escaped with although it is persistent and manages to latch on to their trunk before the 800 blasts it away with a shotgun. Having failed again, it takes another bike to make up for lost time and attempts to track them down again. It later appears at the Dysons' residence where Miles, one of Cyberdyne's employees, has already destroyed the documents that would end up leading to the blueprints of the early Terminators and later overhears a transmission where the Cyberdyne building was invaded by the 800 and the Conners. Having deduced that they intend to erase Skynet from history by destroying the confiscated arm of the first 800 that appeared years that intended to kill Sarah, it furthers its mission to take them down at all costs.
Arriving at the already destroyed Cyberdyne building, it hijacks a helicopter and chases the Terminator and the Conners again on a SWAT van although it is taken down again by the humans' efforts. Growing increasingly frustrated, it takes down a passengerby and takes his truck as he chases them down one final time on a regular, smaller pick-up truck. The battle ends with them crashing into a smelting factory. With the T-1000's truck overturned, it attempts to chase them down.
To its shock however, the truck it had commandeered carried with it a large tank of liquid nitrogen that sprung a leak. As the sub-zero vapor blows its against its frame, it begins to slow down quickly and become brittle, breaking off both its legs and losing its arm in the process. It is then that the T-800 shatters it by shooting its frozen form. However, it quickly melts and reforms due to the mill’s high temperatures, and it continues its mission although it is visibly damaged from the extensive recovery as its mimicry functions begin to glitch as indicated by the shifting silver textures and its body briefly melding with the floor against its will. It later attacks the T-800 while the Conners hide. Due to its still fully functional malleable body, it is able to easily overpower the larger frame and jam its arm into a couple of grinding gears, continuing its hunt for the Conners instead of finishing it off. It eventually comes across Sarah and stabs her arm to hold her in place, oddly requesting her to summon her son to them and proceeds to threaten him. However, Sarah bitterly refuses in the face of death. That is when the 800 manages to sneak up on it and slices it with a metal pipe from behind although he catches it and repels it. With the weapon in hand, he does one final bout with the 800 and quickly overpowers it, pummeling it with the pipe and then bludgeoning it with a nearby girder, repeatedly slamming it in its face. Knocked down by the blunt force, the 800 crawls forth and spots the grenade launcher. However, the 1000 shoves the pipe through its frame and twists it around before jamming it through its power source, shutting it down.
With its only obstacle out of the way, it finally assumes Sarah's form and calls to John itself. John follows its voice and finds it, only to discover the real Sarah from behind and is promptly blasted from behind. Sarah assaults the machine with a barrage of gunshots that, although do not damage it significantly, pushes it back to the edge of the platform although she runs out of ammo before the final blow can be administered and it quickly recovers, taunting her with a finger gesture. Finally having them cornered, it advances in for the kill. That is when the 800, reactivated again, makes a surprise appearance with the grenade launcher in hand and fires a live round into its body, tearing it apart from the inside. Now a mangled mass and unable to properly reform itself, it stumbles off the platform and plummets into the molten steel, writhing in agony as it randomly shifts between all the forms it had taken throughout its mission in an attempt to find away out, but uselessly flailing about. It eventually becomes a writhing mass of melting metal and finally gives in its death throes as it disintegrates into the lava, ending the T-1000 once and for all.
Despite failing to kill John Connor, the T-1000 did interfere with John Connor from developing relationships with the creator of Skynet and his daughter.
Trivia[]
- In the movie's closing battle, there was original footage of the T-1000 visibly malfunctioning after its lengthy recovery. This was removed in the theatrical release to make it appear more invincible and intimidating, no matter how much damage it had been taken.