James Cameron addresses the current challenges that the science-fiction genre faces, including in the development of Terminator 7. Even though he continues to be busy working on the upcoming Avatar sequels, it is confirmed that Cameron is writing a Terminator 7 script. After directing The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, both of which became science-fiction classics, Cameron stepped away from the franchise until returning as a producer to help develop the story for the most recent installment, Terminator: Dark Fate.
In an interview with The Guardian, Cameron reflects on how the science-fiction genre has changed since his early Terminator films, and how this is largely due to the way real-world technology has vastly accelerated and transformed society in only a few decades. He is candid about some of his earlier work in the genre not standing the test of time due to these real-world changes, while acknowledging the movie that has aged well. Cameron also discusses how these ongoing changes make it difficult to develop a truly relevant and compelling story for Terminator 7. Check out his comments below:
People pay the compliment, “Oh, it still holds up.” I actually think that’s true of Terminator 2 qualitatively. I think Terminator 1 qualitatively is pretty obsolete, although story-wise it’s still pretty intriguing. There’s some interest around this idea that it was a bit prescient on certain things, like the emergence of AI, the potential existential threat of AI, which is transforming our world before our eyes.
We’re at a point right now where it gets harder and harder to write science fiction because we’re living in a science fiction world on a day-to-day basis. I’m working through some of the themes that I want to bring into a new Terminator film or possibly even a kind of a reboot of a larger story framework, and it’s difficult right now because I want to let the smoke clear on the whole thing. That’s going to be a ride that we’re going to be watching for probably the rest of human history, but certainly the next few years are going to be quite telling.
What doesn’t hold up in Terminator 1? I always figured the movie was bare bones enough that it holds up fine. There’s only a few sci-fi elements in it because it basically takes place in the modern world. I guess because it takes place in the 80’s it’s making the timeline difficult?
Hear me out. Terminator needs to pull a Prey/Godzilla Minus One. The T-1000 can’t kill Sarah Connor before John is born? Send another one to kill Sarah Connor’s great grandmother. It’s the turn of the century, and a T-1000 is hunting a young adult in 1895. I’d watch that. It’s be a smaller budget, but it’d be so exciting because Great Granny Connor has to be incredibly resourceful in order to take out a beast like that.
That’s a really great idea! I’d 100% watch that.
The only thing that seems obsolete in t1 is Sarah Connor being a typical screamy hysterical girl and the main soldier hero taking care of everything.
and the HUD and computers at the end look a little silly for state-of-the-art future tech, I guess?
but it does hold up remarkably well, I think he’s being hard on himself, maybe because he’s comparing it to T2, which still looks amazing.