Let's step out of our bubble for a second time. This site celebrates and only acknowledges the Terminator movies made between 1984-1996, without the contamination of the latter films/fanfictions and without acknowledging their existence. I broke the rule once when I reviewed all the latter films HERE, but I decided to do it one more time in order to shed some light on the changes in the Endoskeleton design throughout the years because it's a subject that isn't really covered anywhere. And yes, I will include the design changes from the latter films to show how, for the most part, they ruined that design.
Let's get right to it without any unnecessary introductions and explanations. I noticed that most generic fans have no idea that there are actually design differences between the endoskeleton in the first and second film, and some fans only know about the hands. There are differences, although they are very minor, so let's see them all
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
1. Let's start with the skull. One of the round ports on the top is completely different: the original's looked like a motorcycle fuel cap, while the T2 one had a flat surface. Comparison between screen used items and a cast from the screen used prop (M1 skull kit)
And a comparison using movie screenshots
2. The jaw is wider in the T2 ones, making them look "meaner". The overall shape is different too. The T2 ones have been vertically "squashed" down a bit on the top, so the top of the skull doesn't go as high up, and the temple edges protrude out more a bit at the corners.
The original Endoskeleton had a big seam in the middle of its neck, gone in the T2 design. You can see the seam in the first comparison photo
Fun Fact: some parts of the endoskeleton were an existing item. The original's temporal inserts were actually parts for a toy car model
3. The screws holding the lower jaw were Phillips in the original, Allen key in T2 (the two dots seen on the cheek in left picture are still there on the T2 endo; the T2 photo is flipped for better comparison)
4. The original has more wiring in the collar bone area. Also, note the different pistons
Fun Fact: Torso has another existing element. This time a part for a Rotary Engine kit
5. Shoulders are different
6. There are more exposed vertebrae in the original. You can see five sections, while in T2 there are only three sections visible, making the endoskeleton look bulkier
7. Different knees: no protruding kneecap in the original
8. Arms are completely redesigned: The knuckles and joints are different. With the advancement of technology, Stan Winston and his team redesign the knuckles because the original hand could not move realistically with the joints it had. And it did look a bit clunky and required a redesign.
Stan Winston Cinefex Magazine, August 1991
Richard Landon from Stan Winston Studios, Fangoria #107, October 1991 Magazine,
John Rosengrant of Stan Winston Studios, it's current chairman, in an interview with JamesCameronOnline 2009
TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES
1. Now let's move on to the other area: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The endoskeleton is mostly the same as the T2 one, with few minor differences. First one that jumps right at you is the teeth. The teeth in the T3 endoskeletons are much shorter. They're half the size!
2. Another comparison (the 1991 frame comes from the Gun'N'Roses Music Video)
3. Another difference is one of the mouth pistons. Its different in T3 than in the other two movies.
4. Also, the side hoses are connected completely differently. They go directly into the skull, rather than having a connector piece
The way the eye lenses work is different as well. In the original movie, the lens was a solid blood red. In T2, it showed some grid in the closeup. In T3, the lens is basically white with a red ring around it and a very prominent grid. I remember that was something that drove me nuts at the time because I hated that, I didnt like that they changed it and I didn't like the look.
The two red dots were creepy. It's like an animal at night, and that creepy imagery was used in many great movies, including John Carpenter's "The Fog".
Adding lighting effects and texture to it is overdoing it and loses the creepy factor. Unfortunately the white and red grid look is something that has stayed with the design since T3
The idea of an iris enlarging and contracting for focus has also been abandoned post T2
And now off to the most ridiculous, goofy sequel I've ever seen, disguised as something serious by desaturated colors and inclusion of good actors (some of whom years later stated they regret starring in it). Talking about :
TERMINATOR: SALVATION
Boy do I despise that movie for going against every single thing the original movies did. But I'll try to hold off on my unbelievable dislike for this excuse of a movie and focus on the awful redesign of the endoskeleton it did. So the fourth movie doesn't just add or change a detail here or there. It actually redesigns the whole thing. Most of the parts still look like the endoskeleton we know but they're all changed. It's no longer a skeleton. Its proportions have been completely changed, and all the empty gaps filled in. It's now a bodybuilding robot, which makes it look like a caricature
The mass of extra parts that fill the endo add bulk, while others fill in what would have been empty spaces in the endoskeleton chassis. With all that extra clutter, the endoskeleton looks more solid and less skeletal.
Also, the inner sides of the upper arms have an additional support that doesn't exist on previous endoskeletons. The outer sides of the upper arms have curved structures that bulk out the arms.
The pelvis was narrowed compared to previous endoskeletons. The spinal column was also changed. In previous endoskeletons, the spinal column was tapered so that it was widest at the base. But in Terminator Salvation, the spinal column is tapered so that it was narrowest at the base. Those changes also help minimize any empty space within the confines of the chassis. Together, those changes minimize empty space while simultaneously increasing bulk. Legs have been massively bulked up as well
And the worst offense - for the first time the skullface has been redone as well. The tiny teeth return from T3. The cheekbones have different shape, rounded as opposed to harder edges. There are no indentations on them, the nose is much narrower and so is the shape of the skull and designs on it, and the proportions and eye sockets differ as well. It also has lips, which explains the small teeth. LIPS!
The T3 mouth piston and the side hose connection also returns. The grid on the eyes and the white has been toned down from T3, but is still present
TERMINATOR: GENISYS AND TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
Skydance wanted to create a Marvel version of the mythology and bring it into the modern times. That meant a complete redesign of the endoskeleton with current design sensibilities. Stan Winston's Company, now called Legacy Effects, took care of the redesign and tasked Vitaly Bulgarov to bring the endoskeleton into the modern Marvel Universe. While most parts in general are kind of the same in a general form, every single part was retweaked or redesigned, and lots of parts were added. Here is the modern endoskeleton design:
The proportions had been changed slightly. Nowhere near what the fourth movie did, and the endoskeleton is still a skeletal figure, without a doubt, but the hands are shorter and the head is smaller and much slimmer/ Screenshot below from the "Making of" Featurette on the Terminator: Genisys Blu ray.
You can compare the head shapes in the photo comparison below. Also, this is the first symmetrical endoskull which changes some of the elements of the skullface. Teeth look larger with a smaller skull
The most obvious change is the chestplate, now designed to resemble a Cyberdyne logo. The spine now resembles the human spine, same with pelvis.
Bulgarov: "I was faced with a difficult task which was to update the T-800 endoskeleton design. The original T-800 made by a genius creator Stan Winston is still to me the most badass robot ever made and will most likely remain so. Needless to say, it is hard to update or improve what is already perfect.
The biggest challenge was to respectfully preserve the key areas of the iconic Stan Winston's design look while updating the mechanical design to make it more in-line with today's manufacturing technologies as well as more according to the industrial design continuity of the endoskeleton as a whole. The original skull became sort of an anchor point and reference for the visual language and I didn't allow myself to retouch its design. One of the aspects I tried to refine was to how internal skeleton's parts would affect the outer fleshy shapes seen at the skin layer. That thinking suggested a slightly more round bone-like reshaping of the forms that were previously a bit too pointy or too harshly mechanical at the areas that were in direct contact with muscles or close to outer skin layer. That pass was done in a more subtle way in order to preserve the powerful scary feeling that a raw mechanical skeleton originally suggested, something essential to Terminator design’s story telling aspect. Another thing to address were the tech panels that suggested a hollow structure of certain skeleton parts. I decided to design some of those with a more cnc-milled looking aesthetics that would visually suggest a stronger, heavier structure that can resist a heavy impact. My overall philosophy was to try if make any changes to the original design to do it not for sake of making it look different or to modernize it for no reason, but rather continue the original idea and tighten up the peripheral details where the flow permitted it and also enhance the sense of structural strength and terrifying rigidity."
The finish is also different: it's a more polished, clean chrome with black elements. Some fans say it's an unnecessary change, or that it's overdesigned, I personally freaking love it. It retains the classic endoskeleton and adds the more complex, modern look to it. I don't necessarily like it more than the original, but I do like it in addition to the original. And the design did make it into the Terminator: Dark Fate, produced by James Cameron.
This endoskeleton also appears in the Mortal Kombat 11 add on from 2019, which featured skins from Dark Fate, underlining the fact that this version has become the current official endoskeleton
