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. James Cameron is one of those very few storytellers who leave the fans with more answers than any scifi fan would hope for, certainly much more than any other scifi storyteller. While movies are about the kinetic energy, emotions visual art and story, and they are certainly not obligated to explain or elaborate on every fictional aspect of it, Cameron, often praising the audiences as 'smart' and ones who 'get it', spread just enough clues and sprinkled bits of information that are enough for the viewers to draw they answers from, without a need to do it through dialogue, ruining the flow, pace and running time of the film. And he always goes extra miles unlike anyone else to give reason and logic behind everything, even fictional made up tech.
Novelizations used to be for fans who wanted that extra insight into the story, unburdened by the limited running time of a movie and it's pacing - they dwelled on character's thoughts and explained things that couldn't be visually or weren't absolutely necessary or crucial to explain in the film, and so they're often almost like the Bible of the film, along the script. Let me underline that none of the answers are my own opinions, they are an intent of the filmmakers and official sources will be quoted when necessary. And have in mind, this entire site is just about Cameronverse only.
Let's continue with "Why Didn't Reese Recognize the Terminator?"
Reese explains to Sarah that he had to wait for the Terminator to make a move to find out which one is it. Some fans nowadays are confused for two reasons. One, they assume all Terminators or all T-800s look like Arnold, which was never true - there were only 10 Arnold-looking models made among hundreds of different looks, and only two were used, as explained in T2 script (See HERE). Reason two is cited by some slightly more seasoned fans than those - didn't they have data on the terminator that was sent that they gave to Kyle?
No. First of all, T2 script goes into details about how alien the Skynet fortress is, with no lights, no doorknobs, no buttons, technology so alien to human beings none of it makes sense to us. There are no monitors or computer keyboards to type on - I think such thing would be silly to exist in a "hive" of techno race that isn't human or even alive. And they haven't seen the Terminator models and haven't accessed cryo storage until after Reese was sent (again, see the link above). Resistance actually had very, very little information to go by. According to the original script from 1982 in which Reese explains a bit more to Dr Silberman, the only clues as to what Skynet had done before its death were time machine's coordinates - they knew nothing more than the set coordinates was to 1984 to Los Angeles. Below, excerpt from the original script
Connor's world's best techs could barely scratch the surface of the technology, and they cracked it enough to send Reese back, and they're far from proficient at it since Reese arrives hours later and above the pavement, and in the original script a soldier appears impaled by fire escape ladder.
So Reese knew absolutely nothing about the terminator. The novelization makes it clear multiple times that he doesn't even know if the Terminator is an 800 or 700, and only figures it out when it gets up after multiple shotgun blasts.
He knows the 101 part from Connor, just like everyone else finds out about the T-1000's existence from John as well. There was no data in the terminal about the assasins who were sent at all. The T2 novelization also explains that the only clue that the two terminators sent were reading of two power spikes registered in the chamber prior to Reese's departure. The techs discover the existence of the second power spike after moments after Reese left, and it's the only clue and only information on a second terminator sent (the T-1000). All the knowledge of who and where/when he was sent came from adult John. Below, Excerpt from T2 Novelization
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