T-1000
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- For the car, see Pontiac T1000.
The T-1000 (Advanced Prototype Terminator Infiltrator Series 1 Model 1A Type 1000) was a fictional android assassin, featured as the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
T-1000, played by the actor Robert Patrick in the male appearance it assumed throughout most of the movie, was an extremely advanced Terminator made of a liquid mimetic polyalloy. It was able to morph its liquid metal form to impersonate people and objects in order to get closer to its target.
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[edit] Technical specs
The T-1000 was capable of perfectly emulating the shape, color, and texture of anything that it touched, provided that the object being emulated was of similar size and mass. The T-1000 (or pieces of it) seemed to be able to perfectly match the color and texture (but not shape or size) of things larger or smaller than itself. Combined, the pieces of the T-1000 were very capable, but separated pieces of mimetic alloy seemed to be programmed to rejoin the main T-1000 mass instead of attacking on their own. Separated or damaged mimetic alloy became glitchy (partial melding with metal objects) after it was frozen in one instance.
The T-1000 was capable of altering its molecular state between solid and liquid at will. The T-1000 preferred to use its body as a primary weapon. Although it could not form "complex machines" because "guns and explosives have chemicals, moving parts," it could "form solid metal shapes [like] knives and stabbing weapons." Any advanced weapons that the T-1000 decided to use (such as handguns) were acquired instead of simply being fabricated.
When damaged on the physical level, the T-1000 was capable of reforming itself in seconds. Projectile weapons such as firearms could stun the T-1000, but only for a few seconds. Bullets and other solid projectiles seemed to pass through the mimetic polyalloy without cracking it (leaving nothing more than a splash of metal that quickly healed itself), except when the mimetic alloy was frozen or otherwise incapacitated. In such a state, the T-1000 became brittle and was easily shattered. After being completely dismembered, the mimetic polyalloy automatically sought itself out and rejoined into the full T-1000, but the metal needed to be thawed out to become a liquid once more to reform.
The T-1000 was difficult to destroy, since it was seemingly immune to all forms of damage. However, the T-1000 could be destroyed or rendered inoperative. Mostly this was to be done by damaging it on the molecular level which is why ballistic weapons and physical attacks had little effect. Extreme cold could damage a T-1000 at the molecular level and cause it to lose some control over its emulation functions, but it would not permanently stop it. The T-1000 could apparently endure much heat such as that of a typical diesel fire without damage, but could not withstand being in contact with molten metal.
Once the T-1000 was adulterated with other types of liquid metal it was rendered inoperative. As its material was destroyed in this way, the T-1000 lost control of its functions, changing shapes randomly until enough of its material was destroyed to render it nonfunctional. Since the T-1000 simply reforms instead of truly regenerating itself, the destruction of enough of the molecules that compose the T-1000 eventually led to the demise of the unit.
The T-1000 was stronger than the T-800, but it's impossible to know if he was stronger than the T-X.
Although not shown in Terminator 2, mimetic polyalloy is strongly affected by magnetism. A strong magnetic field was sufficient to remove the mimetic polyalloy sheath from the T-X in Terminator 3, and once held in place by magnetism, mimetic polyalloy seemed incapable of moving on its own.
T-1000 units were also more adept at mimicking human behavior—speech patterns, vocal inflections, and facial expressions—in such a way that, unlike the more monotone and matter-of-fact speech of a T-800, the T-1000 could pass itself off as human more efficiently as well as converse with humans (an example would be where the T-1000 sees a police motorcycle and comments to the officer riding it, "that's a nice bike!"). However, when not interacting with humans its mannerisms were generally far more strict and mechanical. It is never specified if the T-1000 actually understood human emotions or was merely able to copy the appearance of emotion.
[edit] Role in the series
In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-1000 was sent by Skynet from 2029 back to 1994 to kill John Connor (Edward Furlong), future leader of the Human Resistance against the machines. As before, the Resistance was able to send back a lone protector, a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The T-1000 ambushed a police officer on arrival and took on his role, tracking down John Connor through the police cruiser's onboard computer, eventually tracking him down in a shopping mall. It wasn't clear until this moment which Terminator was the hunter and which was the protector.
It predicted that John and the T-800 would next attempt to rescue Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), John's mother, and infiltrated the mental hospital at the same time John arrived and Sarah made an independent escape attempt. It demonstrated impressive abilities, such as flattening itself into a thin 'carpet' of metal and oozing through prison-style bars while maintaining the shape of a walking man. The attack failed, though the T-1000 followed them on their frantic escape.
Once again predicting its target's actions, it arrived at the home of Miles Bennett Dyson (Joe Morton) after the family was already evacuated and the files destroyed, speeding to the labs of the Cyberdyne Systems Corporation in a confrontation between it, the Connors and their allies, and hundreds of police officers. It hijacked a police helicopter in a freeway chase sequence, and used a submachine gun to attempt to kill Connor, even sprouting a third hand to still control the helicopter while reloading. The chase concluded in its ramming a tanker truck of liquid nitrogen into the entrance of a steel mill, which was rapidly abandoned.
The T-1000 left its truck and tried to track them down on foot, but the chilled nitrogen froze it into a bewildered statue in moments. The T-800 shattered it into thousands of pieces with a gunshot, but it soon thawed out into tiny droplets that ran back together into the T-1000. It started to exhibit glitches after this resurrection: it involuntarily picked up the textures of nearby objects and stuck to exposed metal surfaces. (The scenes showing these glitches were cut from the theatrical release, but were included as extras on most DVD releases.) After a short hunt, disabling Sarah and the obsolete T-800, it tracked down John, who was confronted with two identical versions of his mother. A quick glance down showed the feet of one of them melded with the steel grating, and the impostor was destroyed through a combination of explosive damage and being mixed into a vat of liquid metal, where it melted in a frenzy of previous disguises. It was succeeded as Skynet's time-traveling infiltration assassin by the T-X.
[edit] Comics
It is explained in the Terminator 2: Judgment Day Nuclear Twilight comic published by Malibu Comics in 1996 that an injured Tech-Com soldier named "Griff" was abducted by a troop of T-800 Terminators and brought back to Skynet. It was there he is drugged and while in a delirious state (believing he has died and gone to Heaven) he was questioned by Skynet on details regarding Tech Com's acquisition of a T-800 unit. When he had supplied all the information he is aware of, two T-1000 Terminators entered the room, both assuming his appearance before killing him. One of these T-1000 units was then sent to infiltrate the human resistance, the other sent through time to kill John Connor as outlined in the Terminator 2 movie.
However, as the synchronous story-lines of the Nuclear Twilight and Cybernetic Dawn are in direct conflict with the happenings of the third Terminator movie, it was either to be considered non-canonical, or a possible time-line that was avoided by the conclusion of the second movie.
[edit] Special effects
The T-1000 special effects were revolutionary for 1991, a new step in computer-generated imagery. The effects won an Oscar and were referenced in Virtuosity and The Matrix.
[edit] Pop Culture References
- Todd the T1000 is a song by Jonathan Coulton about a Terminator servant.
- T-1000 is a remix song by industrial band Fear Factory, off their remix album "Remanufacture".
- T-1000 was spoofed in movies like Hot Shots! Part Deux (Saddam Hussein freezes, melts, and rebuilds himself, but winds up fused with his similarly-shattered Yorkshire terrier). Wayne's World and Last Action Hero feature Robert Patrick in a brief cameo in the familiar police uniform.
- In "the 138th Episode Spectacular", an episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns releases a robotic Richard Simmons to scare off Homer Simpson. Smithers shoots the robot with a shotgun, and the damage to its face is repaired in the same manner as the liquid metal T-1000. In another episode, "Homer Loves Flanders", Homer walks through a hedge as the theme for the T-1000 plays. Later on in the same scene he runs after Ned Flanders' car and uses golf clubs to latch onto the back, like the scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day where the T-1000 attempts to latch onto the car containing John and Sarah Connor and the T-800. A third ode to the Terminator movies appears in "Homer the Smithers". Smithers punches Homer in the stomach, which only traps his hand within its fat. This of course was modeled after the scene in which the T-800 punches the T-1000's head only to be trapped by the liquid metal machine. In "Day of the Jackanapes", the bomb that Sideshow Bob attaches to Bart in an attempt to kill Krusty is thrown into a room with two network executives who rebuild themselves after the explosion in the same way the T-1000 does (one of these executives was dragged behind a car earlier in the episode, in the same way the T-1000 was in the movie). In a Halloween episode, a TV screen with Ned Flanders on it morphs up from the black & white-tiled floor, just as T-1000 does in the mental institution scene.
- Universal Studios Theme Parks feature an attraction titled Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time, featuring a combination of live actors and filmed elements, the latter reuniting actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong and Robert Patrick, all reprising their roles from the film. The presentation has high production values, but is clearly non-canonical to the Terminator franchise. It briefly features a "T-1000000", a much larger spider-like version of the T-1000.
- The character of Milton Fine a.k.a. Brainiac from the TV series Smallville, played by James Marsters, shares many of the T-1000's characteristics, including his distinctive complexion, his 'liquid-metal' anatomy and ability to turn his hands into stabbing weapons.
- In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch a match pitting Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone against each other, Arnold fires a RPG at Stallone and blows him to pieces, but he reforms himself in the style of the T-1000.
- Issue #16 of the Pinky and the Brain comic book, which parodied Terminator 2, featured an antagonist in the form of a prototype robot called the V-1000, built by the leader of a movement intended to dispose of Brain in the future and place their own ruler in its power. In what appears to be its normal form, the V-1000 looks like Pinky, causing Brain to think Pinky's the movement's leader and the robot's creator, an idea he finds laughable, which insults Pinky. However, the V-1000 soon reveals that it was in fact created by Snowball and attempts to exterminate the mice. Similar to the movie's ending, the V-1000 is defeated when the original Verminator (introduced in an earlier issue) punches it into a fondue pot.
- In Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic is seen using a shapeshifting ability similar to that of the T-1000 to imitate Dr. Eggman and shift back to his original form.
- Although he lacks the shapeshifting, Meshugah, the Golem King in Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, has similarities to the T-1000, including the ability to rebuild himself after being shattered (and the resulting "glitchiness"). He is killed by another golem, Dorfl, in a factory containing vats of molten tallow.
- In one of the episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock accidently kills his other roomates and has a party. The next morning, Carl, his neighbor, comes over to comfort him, and one of Frylocks fries shape-shifts into a blade like the T-1000 did when he took the form of John's foster mother.
[edit] External links
- T-1000 technical data
- Utility fog, is this the stuff T-1000 is made of?
- Engine of Creation, by K. Eric Drexler
- Eterminator.com T-1000 data (site is currently offline, link courtesy of archive.org)
