Writer of Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for October 26

1984: The ‘Terminator’ Comes to Earth for the First Time

James Cameron’s iconic science fiction movie, The Terminator which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, was released in theaters on this day in 1984. Schwarzenegger played said “terminator,” a cyborg from the year 2029 sent to 1984 to kill the woman who would one day be the mother of the son who would become a “savior against machines.” It was the top film for two week and received favorable reviews from fans and critics alike. The film inspired four sequels (Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003, Terminator Salvation in 2009 and the reboot Terminator Genisys in 2015) as well as the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX which only ran for two seasons. The original film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2008.