Netflix’s Terminator Animated Show Can Fix A 33-Year-Old Problem All Of The Judgment Day Sequels Had

Summary Terminator Zero anime could bring the franchise's best villain since T-1000.

Terminator Zero series will potentially innovate in visuals and storytelling compared to the disappointing movie sequels.

The animated format allows new directions and a fresh take on the Terminator franchise.

Terminator Zero, Netflix’s upcoming Terminator animated show, can give the franchise something it has been missing since 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. From 2003’s Terminator: Rise of the Machines to 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, the Terminator saga has struggled to replicate the impact of its first two films. It is no exaggeration to say that none of the Terminator movies released after T2 came close to being as good as Judgment Day, to the point the future of the franchise on the big screen is unclear.

Between critically panned movies and box office disappointments, Terminator has been on a negative streak since Rise of the Machines. There hasn’t been a widely praised Terminator movie in 33 years, and even the franchise’s attempt at a TV spinoff with The Sarah Connor Chronicles was short-lived. Fortunately, Netflix’s Terminator anime series looks incredibly promising and could give the franchise a new path on the small screen without the limitations that come with the live-action movie format.

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Terminator Zero Can Give Terminator Its Best Villain Since The T-1000

Terminator Zero looks more promising than Terminator’s previous films

Although not much is known about Terminator Zero’s plot, the upcoming Terminator anime can give the franchise the villain it has been missing since the T-1000. Played by Robert Patrick, the T-1000 is widely regarded as one of the best movie villains of all time. Faster, stronger, and more advanced than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800, the T-1000 took everything that worked about the first movie’s Terminator and expanded on it. Now that the T-800, or at least a different version of it, was the good guy, T2 needed a villain as menacing as Schwarzenegger's character had been in the first film.

2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he’s hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future, which forever alters the fate of his three children.

Whereas Terminator was a sci-fi slasher that made the most of its relatively small budget, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was an action epic that pushed the limits of vision effects and action cinema in general. T2 is James Cameron at his best, but the film would not have been as great as it was without Patrick’s T-1000. From the lack of dialogue to the facial expressions, the T-1000 was an instant classic villain. As arguably the most exciting Terminator project in years, Netflix's Terminator Zero is expected to have at least one impactful villain that can live up to the T-1000.

Why Terminator Never Had A Villain As Good As The T-1000 Again

Terminator’s disappointing sequels didn’t have memorable villains

Terminator Zero's timeline seemingly adheres to the chronology established in the first two Terminator movies – the one in which Judgment Day is set to be on August 29, 1997. This means the series will likely have many connections to The Terminator and Terminator 2, even though it will be an original story following brand-new characters. There have been many Terminator movies and even a TV show since T2, yet none of the franchise’s villains after the T-1000 managed to be as impactful as Robert Patrick’s character. Generally, Terminator never outdid Terminator 2.

Movie Main Villain The Terminator T-800 Terminator 2: Judgment Day T-1000 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines T-X Terminator Salvation Serena Kogan Terminator Genisys T-1000 (alternate version); John Connor Terminator: Dark Fate Rev-9

Between sequels, prequels, and reboots, Terminator has tried a lot of different things after T2, none of which were as well-received as the franchise’s first two films. Rise of the Machines felt uninspired compared to its groundbreaking predecessor, and its villain, the T-X, was very much a rehash of the T-1000. Terminator: Salvation’s convoluted plot made Serena Kogan less impressive than she should have been, whereas Terminator: Genisys’ John Connor twist was among the franchise’s worst decisions. Dark Fate’s Rev-9 could’ve been the saga’s best villain since the T-1000, but the movie’s problems played against him.

Terminator’s Animated Show Can Do Things None Of The T2 Sequels Did

Terminator Zero can be unlike anything Terminator has ever done

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The reason why Terminator Zero has the chance of having a villain as great as the T-1000 is that an eight-episode animated series designed for streaming has far more freedom than a live-action blockbuster movie. A Terminator anime can do things a live-action film would never do in terms of visuals and storytelling, which is exactly the kind of innovation that the saga has been lacking. Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a groundbreaking film because it pushed the limits of what could be done at the time, with effects and tricks that hold up three decades later.

Related Terminator 7: Script Announcement & Everything We Know James Cameron has announced he's currently penning a script for Terminator 7, and here's everything we know about the new Terminator movie.

The Terminator franchise should be synonymous with cutting-edge technology and bold storytelling instead of yet another action franchise. This is something the latest Terminator movies have failed to capture, resulting in films that do not feel too different from other sci-fi or superhero franchises. Terminator Zero can take Terminator in unexpected directions and offer a fresh, exciting story that is unlike anything the live-action movies have done. Hopefully, Terminator Zero’s villains and the show as a whole will be on par with the saga’s best offerings.

Source: Netflix