Episode 647: The Terminator
Added 2024-10-21 11:00:13 +0000 UTCthick Austrian accent: I'm a listener of Retronauts. I was told that you podcast here. Can I listen please? Where is the download button?
NO! Sorry, everyone, this is Diamond Feit, and you do not want to tell that man anything. He's not a man, a machine. Not a robot, a cyborg. Cybernetic organism!
You must know that I'm talking about The Terminator this week, and I'm talking to regular host Jeremy Parish and returning guest James Eldred. We've got plenty to say about this impactful film from October 1984—yes, it's 40 years old this month—plus we go over the video games it directly inspired and even a few "indirect inspirations" if you know what I mean.
Art by John Pading; edits by Greg Leahy
06:57 - Reese Dreams of Future War
20:11 - Future Flashback | Main Title
27:20 - Linn Van Hek: "Intimacy"
35:39 - Love Scene
46:14 - Future Flashback (cont.) | Search for Sarah
57:17 - Tahnee Cain: "Burning in the Third Degree"
1:11:20 - Tunnel Chase | Journey to Silius: Prologue
1:24:00 - The Terminator (MD, PAL): End Credits
1:33:15 - The Terminator (Sega CD): Taking to the Air
1:42:59 - Terminator Gets Up
Closing - End Credits: Final Suite
Comments
This was great, I recently got my wife (then fiancee) to watch this for the first time because she wanted to watch T2, which is literally one of my favorite movies ever…but I insisted she start with the first one and man does it hold up like you guys were saying. It worked for me on a different level as a kid too because I saw T2 first, then when I saw T1 I slowly realized Arnold was the bad guy and it explained why Sarah was so freaked out of him in the sequel! And I’ve never played any of the games based on the first one, mainly because I didn’t have a Sega CD and in the case of the others self-care!
James Krusling
2025-01-11 22:03:33 +0000 UTCAn excellent movie to do an episode on, thanks y'all
takeshikitano3
2024-11-04 23:32:51 +0000 UTCThank you!
James Eldred
2024-10-31 08:09:35 +0000 UTCPlease sir, can I have some more James Eldred? Dude knows everything about everything and has such obviously deep love for music and film. I'd like to hear more about the games he likes. I miss his old podcast with Jeremy and Elliot Long, Alexander's Ragtime Band, which this episode almost felt like. PS: I'm not James Eldred.
Shrunken Shrine
2024-10-31 07:48:08 +0000 UTCJust dropping this out there: during the history section two gaming connections werent mentioned, if anyone cares: Michael Biehn voices Rex "Power" Colt in Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. A character which is an 80s spoof in an of itself. Lance Henricksen voices Admiral Hackett in Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. Such a cool voice, who you only ever hear in the first two games, but you finally meet the character in person (or via hologram comms, rather) in the third game.
xarathion
2024-10-30 01:24:49 +0000 UTCThanks so much!
James Eldred
2024-10-27 01:29:31 +0000 UTCJames was a fantastic guest! Knew his stuff and very fun to listen to.
Andrew Eikum
2024-10-27 00:14:10 +0000 UTCI'm pretty sure the Bethesda Terminator was criticized at the time for its controls, though looking up the reference card they're not that bad and actually pretty simple in the "walking" portions which make up most of the game. Most PC gamers would just keep the reference card next to them as they played or probably pin it to the wall behind their monitor so they could check the specific controls they needed real quick for the driving segments (and the fact that there are apparently both automatic and manual transmission cars to steal is an amazing detail btw). Also, you are 100% supposed to read the manual for these kinds of PC games (and that would be half the fun of them IME). Honestly, I wish more people appreciated the complexity of these computer games from the 80s and early 90s. For better and worse, they're unique products of the computer markets and technologies of their time (designed for an older audience, focused more on making you think about how you're interacting with the gameworld and systems, often hybridizing computer technology with pen & paper). They can be incredibly frustrating but also incredibly fulfilling in a way basically nothing today is.
Ana
2024-10-22 22:04:49 +0000 UTCJames Cameron is one of my filmmaking heroes. I love that during his trucker days, he'd stop off at UCLA and make photocopies of the film majors' thesis essays to study (because film school is ridiculously expensive). The fact that his film career has outpaced all of the far more privileged film students he was borrowing from cements my respect for him. Adapting a movie to a video game is a fascinating process, and one I've recently become familiar with. Earlier this year, I adapted my first feature film into a video game, and hence "Lost Phoenix" for the Gameboy Color was born. I prepared for the adaptation by studying other movie tie-in games (good and bad) to get ideas for how translate an 85 minute movie into a 5 level platformer. Balancing gameplay and level progression while still capturing the broad strokes of the film's plot and characters was an interesting challenge. Making the game was a great experience and I plan on creating more ambitious game adaptations of all my films going forward. I'm also advocating for other indie filmmakers to embrace gaming and find ways to use it to expand on their own films. This is a space that the major studios seem to have abandoned, so it might be a perfect time for independent artists to take it over.
James Couche
2024-10-22 15:43:58 +0000 UTCThank you!
James Eldred
2024-10-22 06:29:51 +0000 UTCJames Eldred is a delight.
thatcamjones
2024-10-22 02:03:18 +0000 UTCThank you very much!
James Eldred
2024-10-21 22:05:51 +0000 UTCTWICE
Diamond Feit
2024-10-21 22:02:46 +0000 UTCJames Eldred. Amazing guest. More from this guy on retronauts!
Kakuei Tanaka
2024-10-21 13:47:32 +0000 UTCThe Sega CD game was a favorite growing up. Also, wasn’t expecting a Bebe’s Kids name drop in a Terminator episode.
Rasheen Jordan
2024-10-21 12:29:35 +0000 UTC
