On the DVD: Rejoice, The Terminator is back, better looking and louder than ever. After years of inferior VHS versions, the cleaned-up print of this DVD is a revelation, as is the digitally remastered Dolby 5.1 soundtrack: from the opening MGM lion's roar to the crunch of Arnie's boots and the pounding of Brad Fiedel's techno-industrial score, both picture and sound are of a quality that belie the movie's age. The first disc has the movie plus a DVD-ROM feature containing three different versions of the screenplay, which can be read scene-by-scene along with the film. On the second disc there are seven deleted scenes, including a fascinating foreshadowing of Sarah Connor's mission in T2, as well as trailers and TV spots. There are also two "making of" featurettes, one being an 18-minute piece from 1992 based around a friendly at-home chat with Cameron and Schwarzenegger ("We did the first Terminator for the cost of your motor home on the second film", jokes director to actor). The hour-long "Other Voices" featurette is an in-depth montage of cast and crew reminiscences covering all aspects of the production from its initial genesis as a fevered nightmare to the "guerrilla" filmmaking of getting the final shots. Script collaborator Bill Wisher neatly sums up the movie as "It's a Wonderful Life, with guns". The second disc also contains a stills archive of production photographs, James Cameron's amazing original conceptual artwork, plus his first story treatment. If you own a player, how can you resist? After all, the Terminator movies are what DVD was invented for. --Mark Walker
Our Price: £15.42 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Terminator was the film that cemented Arnold Schwarzenegger's place in the action-brawn firmament, and both his and the movie's subsequent iconic status are well deserved. He's chilling as the futuristic cyborg that kills without fear, without love, without mercy. James Cameron's story and direction are pared to the bone and are all the more chillingly effective for it. But don't overlook the contribution of Linda Hamilton, who more than holds her own as the Terminator's would-be victim, Sarah Connor, thus creating--along with Sigourney Weaver in Alien--a new generation of rugged, clear-thinking female action stars. The film's minimalist, malevolent violence is actually scarier than that of its far more expensive, more effects-laden sequel. --Anne Hurley, Amazon.com
The Terminator BLU-RAY edition
Review date: 2008-11-29 Rating: 6 out of 10
This review refers to the BLU-RAY edition ONLY and NOT to the DVD edition.
Well having The Terminitor series on DVD and loving them and having recently upgraded to a blu-ray player I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my collection to high definition blu-ray format.
Boy, what a mistake that was.
Picture quality is AWFUL - well awful for blu-ray anyway. They've taken the same standard definition source as the DVD and upscaled it for blu-ray - but it's still standard edition. Only the menu is in High Definition, the movie is not. I tested my DVD version upscaled against the blu-ray edition and found them identical - if anything the DVD came out slightly on top.
It also only contains 2 extras - the special effects making of and the retrospective - nothing else. My DVD edition contains over a dozen extras.
My verdict if you're thinking of buying The Terminator in blu-ray and you have an upscaling BD player - forget it. Stick with the DVD version instead, picture is the same and it has more extras. It's cheaper too.
Maybe one day this wonderful movie will receive the treatment it deserves and be digitally remastered and have it's frames scanned with a high definition camera - but until then sit on your DVD's and wait.