James Cameron

writer, director, creator
Feature Film

Terminator 1

The Terminator

Artificially intelligent machines from 2029 send a killer cyborg back to 1984 to kill Sara Connor because, in 2029, her son John will lead the resistance against the machines’ rule.

The story has a classic self-defeating act: The Terminator goes back in time to kill Sara Connor, causing Kyle Reese to follow and become romantic with Sara Connor, causing John Connor to be born and eventually lead the revolution, causing the Terminator to go back in time to kill Sara Connor, . . . —Michael Main
Kyle: [to Sarah at the Tech-Noir Club] Come with me if you want to live.
Gun-toting Arnold Schwarzenegger in his trademarked Terminator sunglasses and fingerless gloves.
  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Terminator 2

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Once more, the machines from 2029 send back a killer cyborg, this time a T-1000 to kill young John Connor in 1995, but Resistance-leader Connor of the future counters by sending a reprogrammed original T-800 to save himself. —Michael Main
The T-800: [to Sarah at the Pescadero State Hospital] Come with me if you want to live.
Shotgun-toting Arnold Schwarzenegger in his trademarked Terminator sunglasses sits stoically on his stolen motorcycle.
  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • 1992 Hugo
  • 1991 Nebula
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Terminator 3

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

If they can’t get John Connor, then the machines from 2029 will send a T-X terminator for his lieutenants in 2004. Seems like a good play, but they don’t count on John sending back another T-800 to lend a hand to John and his future wife Kate. —Michael Main
John Connor to Kate Brewster while fleeing the T-X: Get in! Do you wanna live?! Come on!
A giant half-skinless terminator / half Arnold Schwarzeneger terminator in sunglasses overlooks a dozen or so skinless terminators.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Terminator 4

Terminator Salvation

The entire Terminator franchise is infused with time travel, but no time travel™ occurs in this pure Future War film. —Michael Main
Kyle to John after stringing up a Terminator: Come with me if you wanna live.
A red-eyed, skull-faced Terminator wields a Gatling gun.
  • Science Fiction
  • Time Phenomena
Feature Film

Terminator 5

Terminator Genisys

  1. Watch The Terminator.
  2. [optional, but recommended] Watch T2.
  3. Suspend all questions about how various timelines can mesh.
  4. Enjoy Genisys.
  5. Bonus points if you can identify the other excellent time-travel movie with a main character named “Pops”! Answer: It Happened Tomorrow
—Michael Main
Sarah to Kyle: Come with me if you wanna live!
Emilia Clarke (as Sarah Connor) walks through a wheat field into the sunset, carrying a terminator
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Terminator 6

Terminator: Dark Fate

After the excitement of T2, you’d have thought that Sarah Connor and her son John could have settled down for a well-deserved, peaceful life. But, no: First a leftover T-800 Model 101 Terminator kills young John, and then 20 years later, Sarah meets two new characters—young Dani Ramos and an enhanced woman from the future—who are running from a new kind of terminator built by a new kind of Skynet. Certainly a fun T-romp, cast in the mold of T2, but really?!, if those johnny-come-lately millennial writers wanna live, they can’t be messing with the come-with-me line. —Michael Main
Grace: [to Dani and Diego at the car assembly plant] Come with me or you’re dead in the next 30 seconds.
Linda Hamilton (as Sarah Connor), Arnold Schwarzenegger (as the Terminator), and two new characters stand defiantly as a Rev-9 terminator walks single-mindedly toward us all.
  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel