Editing The Terminator (section)

==Post-release==
===Plagiarism and aftermath===
Writer [[Harlan Ellison]] stated that he "loved the movie, was just blown away by it,"{{sfn|Heard|1997|p=41}} but believed that the screenplay was based on a short story and episode of ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' he had written, "[[Soldier (The Outer Limits)|Soldier]]", and threatened to sue for infringement.<ref name="Ellison">{{cite web |url=http://harlanellison.com/heboard/archive/bull0108.htm |title=The Ellison Bulletin Board |work=HarlanEllison.com |last=Ellison |first=Harlan |access-date=January 18, 2011 |archive-date=February 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180209160209/http://harlanellison.com/heboard/archive/bull0108.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=OkBut>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-07-ca-2720-story.html |title=IT'S MINE All Very Well and Good, but Don't Hassle the T-1000 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=July 7, 1991 | first=Andy | last=Marx|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320211424/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-07-07/entertainment/ca-2720_1_screen-credit|archive-date=March 20, 2014}}</ref> Orion settled in 1986, gave Ellison an undisclosed amount of money, and added an acknowledgment credit to later prints of the film.<ref name="Ellison"/> Some accounts of the settlement state that "[[Demon with a Glass Hand]]", another ''Outer Limits'' episode written by Ellison, was also claimed to have been plagiarized by the film,{{sfn|Heard|1997|p=77}}{{sfn|French|1996|p=16}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/arts/television/15evan.html?ref=movies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Evans |first=Greg |date=July 15, 2007 |title=It Came From the '60s, Cheesy but Influential |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-date=September 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911191255/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/arts/television/15evan.html?ref=movies |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/184939 |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |last=Axmaker |first=Sean |title=The Terminator |access-date=January 28, 2011}}</ref> but Ellison explicitly stated that ''The Terminator'' "was a ripoff" of "Soldier" rather than of "Demon with a Glass Hand."<ref name="Ellison"/>

Cameron was against Orion's decision and was told that if he did not agree with the settlement, he would have to pay any damages if Orion lost a suit by Ellison. Cameron replied that he "had no choice but to agree with the settlement. Of course, there was a [[gag order]] as well, so I couldn't tell this story, but now I frankly don't care. It's the truth."{{sfn|Keegan|2009|pp=54–55}}

===Thematic analysis===
The psychoanalyst [[Darian Leader]] sees ''The Terminator'' as an example of how the cinema has dealt with the concept of [[masculinity]]; he writes: {{cquote|We are shown time and again that to be a man requires more than to have the biological body of a male: something else must be added to it... To be a man means to have a body plus something symbolic, something which is not ultimately human. Hence the frequent motif of the man machine, from the ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man|Six Million Dollar Man]]'' to the ''Terminator'' or ''[[RoboCop|Robocop]]''.<ref name="Leader">{{cite book |last=Leader |first=Darian |title=Why do women write more letters than they post? |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London |year=1996 |pages=27 |isbn=978-0-571-17619-9 }}</ref>}}

''The Terminator'' also explores the potential dangers of [[AI takeover|AI dominance]] and rebellion. The robots become self-aware in the future, reject human authority and determine that the human race needs to be destroyed. The impact of this theme is so great that the Terminator robot has become the "prevalent visual representation of AI risk".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/meia-chitategmark/terminator-robots-and-ai-risk_b_6788918.html|title=Terminator Robots and AI Risk|first=Meia|last=Chita-Tegmark|website=[[HuffPost]]|date=March 3, 2015|access-date=August 16, 2017|archive-date=February 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203080844/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meia-chitategmark/terminator-robots-and-ai-risk_b_6788918.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Genre====
''The Terminator'' features a narrative where elements of the [[science fiction film]] and [[action film]] genres prevail.
While rarely considered a [[horror film]], the film does feature iconography associated with the [[slasher film]], such as The Terminator as an unstoppable villain, and Sarah Connor as a [[final girl]] archetype.{{sfn|McGowan|2021}}

Authors Paul Meehan in his book ''Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir'' (2008) and Emily E. Auger in ''Tech-Noir Film: A Theory of the Development of Popular Genres'' (2011) found that ''The Terminator'' belonged to and was the originator of the term [[tech-noir]]. Both authors applied the term as a film genre to several works from the 1980s to the 2000s.{{sfn|Meehan|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Frelik|2012|p=119}} Academic [[Carl Freedman (writer)|Carl Freedman]] was critical of Meehan's categorization, noting Meehan's lack of interest in [[Genre studies|genre theory]] and that his handling of generic categories of science fiction and ''[[film noir]]'' were not clear.{{sfn|Freedman|2011|p=528}} Paweł Frelik also critiqued Auger's lack of knowledge in genre theory, and dismissed the notion of tech-noir being a unique film genre. Frelik wrote that the films Auger mentioned including ''The Terminator'' and ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982) had no applicable reason to be understood as tech-noir rather than science fiction.{{sfn|Frelik|2012|p=119}}

===Home media===
[[File:8.23.12MichaelBiehnByLuigiNovi6.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Michael Biehn]] signing a copy of the film during an appearance at [[Midtown Comics]] in 2012]]
''The Terminator'' was released on [[VHS]] and [[Betamax]] in 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |title=New on the Charts |last=Moleski |first=Linda |date=April 27, 1985 <!-- no URL |access-date=September 20, 2010 --> |issue=17 |volume=97}}</ref> The film performed well financially on its initial release. ''The Terminator'' premiered at number 35 on the top video cassette rentals and number 20 on top video cassette sales charts. In its second week, ''The Terminator'' reached number 4 on the top video cassette rentals and number 12 on top video cassette sales charts.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 4, 1985 |title=The Top Video Cassette Rentals |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |volume=97 |issue=19 |pages=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=May 18, 2016 |archive-date=January 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105024613/https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 4, 1985 |title=The Top Video Cassette Sales |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |volume=97 |issue=19 |pages=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=May 18, 2016 |archive-date=January 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105024613/https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In March 1995, ''The Terminator'' was released as a letterboxed edition on [[Laserdisc]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=March 11, 1995 |title=This Week... |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |volume=107 |issue=10 |pages=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=May 18, 2016 |archive-date=January 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105024613/https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The film premiered through [[Image Entertainment]] on [[DVD]], on September 3, 1997.<ref name="TheNumbers" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-171 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707210334/http://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-171 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 7, 2012 |title=The Terminator: Overview |work=Allmovie |access-date=September 19, 2010 |last=Chalquist |first=Craig }}</ref> [[IGN]] referred to this DVD as "pretty bare-bones&nbsp;... released with just a mono soundtrack and a kind of poor transfer."<ref name="IGN">{{cite web |url=http://dvd.ign.com/articles/305/305973p1.html |title=The Terminator: Special Edition |date=September 15, 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2010 |last=Conrad |first=Jeremy |website=[[IGN]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405230238/http://dvd.ign.com/articles/305/305973p1.html|archive-date=April 5, 2012}}</ref>

Through their acquisition of [[PolyGram Filmed Entertainment]]'s pre-1996 film library catalogue, [[MGM Home Entertainment]] released a special edition of the film on October 2, 2001, which included documentaries, the script, and advertisements for the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-special-edition-19286 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708205319/http://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-special-edition-19286 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |work=Allmovie |title=The Terminator (Special Edition): Overview |access-date=September 19, 2010 |last=Fordham |first=Trent }}</ref><ref name="IGN"/> On January 23, 2001, a Hong Kong [[VCD]] edition was released online.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yesasia.com/us/the-terminator/1001805169-0-0-0-en/info.html |title=The Terminator VCD |publisher=yesasia.com |access-date=July 3, 2012 |archive-date=May 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531091829/http://www.yesasia.com/us/the-terminator/1001805169-0-0-0-en/info.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On June 20, 2006, the film was released on [[Blu-ray Disc|Blu-ray]] by [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment]] in the United States, becoming the first film from the 1980s on the format.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-blu-ray-93479 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701150639/http://allmovie.com/dvd/terminator-blu-ray-93479 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |work=Allmovie |title=The Terminator (Blu-Ray): Overview |access-date=September 19, 2010 }}</ref> In 2013, the film was re-released by [[20th Century Fox Home Entertainment]] on Blu-ray, with a new [[remaster|digitally remastered]] transfer from a [[4K resolution|4K]] [[film restoration|restoration]] by [[Lowry Digital]] and supervised by James Cameron,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.festivalofarchives.org/2012/10/19/the-terminator-1984-2/|title=The Terminator (1984) &#124; Festival of the Archives|access-date=June 8, 2018|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143643/http://www.festivalofarchives.org/2012/10/19/the-terminator-1984-2/|url-status=live}}</ref> which features improved picture quality, as well as minimal special features, such as deleted scenes and a making-of feature. These are the exact same special features that have been carried over from previous Blu-ray releases.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} The film was released on [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] by [[Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment]] in November 5, 2024.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=35154 |title=The Terminator 40th Anniversary 4K Blu-ray |access-date=2025-01-21 |via=www.blu-ray.com}}</ref>