Some new Terminator: Salvation stuff

[SylasGaunt]

Okay so apparently the film has wrapped principle photography and moved into post.

http://io9.com/5080334/new-terminator-4 ... -war-movie

This got linked and it's been pulled down in a couple places, but it gives a look at some of the new stuff we're going to be seeing.

[Lord Relvenous]

Hmm, that is looking pretty. I'm very, very excited for this.

[NecronLord]

The harvester is not something that makes me happy. While there were always some lame-duck designs in Skynet's arsenal (centurions ho) a lot of the stuff cameron did was at least half practical. With the 'mini-hunter' and 'silverfish' concepts perhaps the best examples of believable killing machines.

"We did a lot of research... on the internet"

Also, when he says 'we're in battle with these terminators on a daily basis' a glowy blue plasma terminator like the TX? No thanks.

[Shroom Man 777]

It wasn't a glowy blue plasma Terminator, it was a broken electro-sparking dying Terminator like a crushed or impaled T-800.

At least these guys know that the T-800s are T-800s, NOT T-101s.

I think this'll be cool on a visual level, and with Christian Bale in, well, I'm hopeful.

Hey, I found Resident Evil: Apocalypse to be tfun. T4 can't be possibly any worse than that!

[Erik von Nein]

Mechs and motorcycles? What?

Oh, well. I suppose it has the chance to be decent. It doesn't look like Terminator 3 in any way, so that's always a plus. I still have my doubts about McG, there, but Bale's been pretty decent in the roles I've seen him in.

Seriously, though, all those buildings looked like they were out of Fallout 3. Holy moley.

[NecronLord]

Mechs and motorcycles? What?

Eh. The motorcycle war machine is at least not so bad. Though obviously a tricycle would be better. But there is at least precedent for bikes in warfare.

[Shroom Man 777]

The mech will be cool. Sure, they're unfeasible, but I enjoyed the Giant Mechanical Spider from Wild Wild West...

Those machine motorcycles would be excellent in killing soft targets in the flatlands, and if they're armed with anti-tank weapons, they could be a bane for whatever armor the Resistance can scrounge up. Fast, low target profile, plus a decent weapon's loadout...

[tim31]

The Harvester's going to good... I like the big and scary angle. Hell, that scene in I, Robot where a demolition droid cranks up while Will Smith is still in the house was scary.

[Singular Intellect]

The only thing that threw me off with was the harvestor concept; but I'm willing to cut that angle some slack, because when it comes down to it your normal Terminators are also technically 'mechs'.

Certainly looks interesting though.

[NecronLord]

The only thing that threw me off with was the harvestor concept; but I'm willing to cut that angle some slack, because when it comes down to it your normal Terminators are also technically 'mechs'.

No they're not. They're humanoid robots. Mechas are big things, pretty much by default, competing with proper vehicles for the role. What's more, their intended function is infiltration; a very good reason to look like a human.

[Ghost Rider]

It looked like they went the Japanese animation angle and merged it with Fallout. I'm missing T1 and T2 more and more in this particular context.

[Singular Intellect]

The only thing that threw me off with was the harvestor concept; but I'm willing to cut that angle some slack, because when it comes down to it your normal Terminators are also technically 'mechs'.

No they're not. They're humanoid robots.

So was the harvester I saw.

Mechas are big things, pretty much by default, competing with proper vehicles for the role.

Given the destruction humanity's infrastructure (like roads) suffered during nuclear bombardment, coupled with a decade of neglect, it's not exactly impossible to suggest a walking machine would be more efficient than a wheeled one in areas where even a tracked vehicle would have problems.

What's more, their intended function is infiltration; a very good reason to look like a human.

Only when equipped with flesh covering, something we know is added specifically for infiltration missions. It's not a default attribute; Skynet has clearly established it has a tendency to build humanoid robots, with flesh coverings as an optional addon.

[NecronLord]

So was the harvester I saw.

Unlike them, it gains no advantage from being humanoid, and many many disadvantages.

Given the destruction humanity's infrastructure (like roads) suffered during nuclear bombardment, coupled with a decade of neglect, it's not exactly impossible to suggest a walking machine would be more efficient than a wheeled one in areas where even a tracked vehicle would have problems.

There are very, very limited situations in which walking robots are actually an advantage. And even then, bipedal ones are asking for trouble.

Only when equipped with flesh covering, something we know is added specifically for infiltration missions.

Actually, canonically, there's no model that's not designed to be an infiltrator. Given the original context of the T2 future war scene (Skynet is desperate, it is killed fifteen seconds later) it's possible the 'endos' in it were all intended to be infiltrators, but were sent out in desperation.

Of course, in a more general sense, the skeletons share some advantages - particularly in navigating human structures. A giant mecha has none of that.

[TheMuffinKing]

I am intrigued and slightly disappointed from what I've seen. On one hand I really liked the way the future war was portrayed in T1 and T2, I was hoping to see a similar premise, but with future soldiers utilizing more of today's equipment (a minor point, just visual nitpickery on my part). Based on the limited clip we've seen this may still be the case.

I'm on the fence concerning the terminator designs as shown, they aren't awful, but seem (to me at least) kind of far fetched. Yes I know this is a movie about time traveling killing machines. Something just doesn't jive with me.

IN spite of all this, I'm enthusiastic that this will be better than T3

[Eleas]

I shared in the disappointment upon seeing the harvester, especially when I realized that they're aptly named. From what I can tell from the video, it is a machine designed to locate and round up humans, presumably interring them in camps for later extermination. Fine. It's at least a rationale, if a poor one. But its realization makes no sense whatsoever.
What we have is basically a building-sized hunk of advanced, no doubt labour-intensive robotic machinery that releases smaller robots... in order to capture humans. Solitary humans. Solitary humans with, at most, small-arms weaponry. Why devote an enormous amount of resources in such a staggeringly inefficient manner? To what end? If you need the humans as templates for convincing infiltrator models, almost any option would have been better. It certainly doesn't look as if the 'harvester' is particularly suited to delivering intact specimens, either, which would negate the apparent purpose of that monstrosity.

[Stark]

Oh dear. It looks like a piece of terrible fanfiction, and I'm not so desperate for OMG SPECIAL EFFECTS that I'll pay money for that.

[charlemagne]

IN spite of all this, I'm enthusiastic that this will be better than T3

I think that this won't be really hard to accomplish.

I'm more concerned if and how it will clash with the T:SCC series.

The imagery so far looks like Fallout meets Terminator indeed, but then again, how many ways are there to depict nuclear wastelands? Save for the Harvester, the designs are cool, and the T600 looks ok, too - although the question really is why Skynet would bother building a T600 at all if it already built those huge Harvesters plus many smaller machines that can do the fighting. You'd think Skynet would only "release" it's infiltrator model once it's done and could actually pass as a human being. Kyle said that models before the T800 had "rubber skin", but he didn't mention that they looked like Frankenstein's monster.

[Erik von Nein]

And shot like shit?

Yeah, I know, all the bad guys need to be terrible shots. Hell, the first two movies the terminators had terrible accuracy shooting at the plot important characters. But the first terminator had pretty hot shit accuracy when murdering a building full of police officers. Why the heck did this one miss with a minigun against an unsuspecting target?

Well, there's always the possibility it was heavily damaged.

[Darth Nostril]

No. Just no.
"Ten new types of terminator", why? T1 & T2 clearly depicted ground based and airborne units in addition to the endos.
As Stark said this is terrible fanwank, I'm certainly in no hurry to offend my eyes with it.

[VT-16]

A giant mecha that isn't in Transformers or Gundam live-adaptions? I'm in. It looks more like a gorilla anyway, I'm sure it can stabilize itself with the front manipulators, so it's less worrisome than "true" mecha. Did the fact that McG was directing this, not work as a warning sign? Geez, this actually makes me hopeful for the film. This and Christian Bale being in it might negate any worry I had after hearing who's directing. I do agree that seeing the tank terminator alongside the humanoid harvester terminator will be weird. Like why couldn't the harvester have tank threads as well?

[Shroom Man 777]

After T3, I don't really give a crap about rationalization or shit. As long as Terminator isn't defiled by the namesake character going around in gay clubs and telling people to talk to his hand, I don't care.

T4 will be an excuse to see technological obscenities kill the fuck out of people. Apparently, some of the HKs will be frickin' mechanical Sea Serpents that resemble Skorponok's tail, so fuck yeah! This'll be like Transformers, minus the useless teenager premature ejaculation subplot and with more explosions, robots, and exploding robots! And Christian Bale!