My websites were always targeted primarily for the hardcore fans who almost know it all. The purpose of my sites was too shine light on some very obscure interviews and facts that aren't accessible in well known books or extras that are still available for purchase. However, times change, and new generations and fans come along - and I realized that a lot of my audience consist of fans who aren't diehards who know every book and interview by memory for decades (like all the fans at the Terminator Files Forum years ago), or just never went outside the films. So this is the first part of a different type of FAQ section, for those less initiated in Cameronverse.
Let's continue with "What Model Number Did Franco Columbu Play?"
While many fans may say it was always fairly obvious that the bunker Terminator in Reese's tale, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger's friend, Franco Columbu, was an 800 Terminator just like Arnold, for some new fans it may be more unclear.
The film itself is pretty straightforward about it:
1. Reese explains that the model that Arnold Schwarzenegger played, the ones covered in flesh, were the newest. He recalls a story to Sarah under the highway overpass, and in this story he introduces himself by the door as DN38416, which is also his current ID number, which he identifies himself as to Sarah while escaping. He tells Silberman that previously he fought under Col. Perry between 2021-2027, which means he would have a different number back then. So the story he recalls to Sarah can only be either from 2028 or 2029, so obviously he will recall an encounter with something they're facing now, an 800.
2. Columbu is obviously an 800 - he is clearly covered in flesh, as he's shown very sweaty
3. The bunker terminator posed as a survivor, who was found by rescue team and led to the base. Obviously from talking to him and all this time spending with him, they would know right away if he was anything than an 800, covered in flesh. The dogs are the only ones who detect him, who help detect the indistinguishable from humans terminators.
As for official sources, there's quite a few. Van Ling, Cameron's Creative Consultant on The Abyss and T2, wrote an email to a Terminator fanpage back in very early 2000's explaining what model numbers mean, using CSM 102 model as an example, and that designation stuck to Franco
The 102 is the one cited the most often, and in the Official The Terminator Card Game from 2000 Columbu is also a 102 model T-800, albeit slightly upgraded (T-808)
The best confirmation is actually from T2 - or at least a process of making it. See, Franco was suppose to return in the opening future sequence of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, lying damaged in the ruins, with his face on but most of his skeleton exposed.
While the scene was cut, the body for Franco was already built and it is indeed, a T-800 endoskeleton
And if it needs to be spelled out, Stan Winston's book, Winston Effect, does indeed name Franco a T-800
As of lately, Franco appears in a DLC for Terminator: Resistance game, and is clearly labeled as a T-800
Not only that, but in the other DLC, there’s a human character with Franco Columbu’s likeness and there’s an entire backstory as to how Skynet used him to create model 102, a model number specifically stated by Reese in a cutscene.
Sure, Franco was much shorter than Arnold, but that's in real life - in the film he is shown from the lower angle, signifying height, and the novelization also states that he is head taller than everyone else (in the game hes also a very big guy)
There is aTerminator RPG game that heavily suggests that the Bunker Terminator was a T-700, however, the RPG is a fan project that got funded through Kickstarter. Not to knock it down, because it’s a terrific and very well put together game with great graphics. And it was definitely made by hardcore fans. By switching Franco’s model to 700, they were trying to explain an inconsistency - Arnold’s eyes were never glowing in the dark, however, they were suppose to when he was on his bike and driving under a bridge, but due to technical/production problems, that optical effect was never done. So the RPG says in their character book that the 700’s eyes lit up in the dark when switching vision modes . While a cool fanfic explanation, it is a fanfic after all
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