Terminator Vault by Ian Nathan (book review).

Author Ian Nathan wrote ‘Terminator Vault’ before ‘Alien Vault’. Getting hold of a copy cheaply is not easy, but some are now appearing on auction websites, so you might be lucky. This one has a lot of enveloped extras, which are easy to open. There’s even the final photo of Sarah Connor in her Jeep. Be careful not to set fire to it.

This book covers the original ‘Terminator’ film and its sequel, ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’, so it’s hardly surprising that the opening chapters focus on director Jim Cameron’s early career because a lot of it gets incorporated into the opening film. It’s an old adage: write what you know, and, in his case, his experience in blue-collar jobs certainly applies. There is a reference to Cameron reading a book about ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Although the title isn’t given, it has to be the paperback ‘The Making of 2001’ by Jerome Agel, if you haven’t got it and it’s not difficult to track down. When it was released, it was the only book about the film.

On page 19, the look at Skynet takes on my thoughts that with each film, Skynet has to ensure Kyle Reese goes into the past chasing a Terminator to ensure its own future. Maybe that explains Skynet capturing him in the fourth film, ‘Terminator: Salvation’.

There’s the well-known comment that Schwarzenegger, practicing for the part, learned not to flinch when firing a gun. I ran the first film again, and although it would be hard to say in which order his gun scenes were shot, in film order, his first use of a rifle has his eyes widening instead.

Although we always praise Cameron and Stan Winston, people tend to forget that it was Gene Warren, Jr., doing the animation on both films and his team making the scale models.

It’s also noted that the other Terminator in the future is named as musclebuilder/actor/body double Franco Columbu (1941-2019). I like tidying up loose ends, but you’ll have to pay attention when they are attacked. The desk sergeant in 1984 was a man from the bond company with acting experience, Bruce Kerner. I love Ian Nathan’s attention to detail here.

When it came to the creation of ‘Terminator 2’, it was rather interesting seeing Cameron and his co-writer William Wisher’s creative process; it looked like a hard slog for them. As an SF writer, I might pause and examine all the options for a plot point before choosing one, and that might not even be on my list, but knowing it clears the shelves for something different. A lot of it is down to creativity, and Cameron drives himself as much as anyone he works with. The exasperations of perfectionists and hard work come out in these chapters, even though Cameron says he’s not a perfectionist.

It’s rather weird watching T2 again after reading this book. It might be my eyes fast reflex catching T2 detail, but I was tuned in a lot more. I mean, did you spot that Linda Hamilton was also in the playground when the nuclear bomb went off? I could also spot the change to stunt people, but I do that as a normal habit these days. I also have a lot more respect for actor Robert Patrick, as he was a lot less stolid than I remembered from the last time I watched the film.

There’s a brief look at what happened after ‘Terminator 2’ shows how much was caught up in legislation and more amazing, four more films, let alone a TV series, were made later and rewatched. In many respects, the ‘Terminator’ series can’t help but be a repeat at various levels of robots being sent back into the past by Skynet to track down the man before, in the future, it would succeed in destroying it. What was really happening was steering Connor’s path to ensure its own creation and probably its ultimate survival. We can only assume Connor succeeded, but we never saw that. If we did, that would be the ultimate finale. Whether they go that far, we’ll never know, as Jim Cameron now has his copyright back, and he probably won’t be back.

If you need a book to complete your Terminator book collection and missed this one, then if you can get it at a good price, it’s worth pursuing.

GF Willmetts

February 2024

(pub: Aurum Press, 2013. 173 page illustrated squarish hardcover. Price: varies but can be a lot. ISBN: 978-1-78131-126-4)

check out website: www.aurumpress.co.uk