Terminator Anime Coming To Netflix

[Cicada 5]

He’s back and he’s two-dimensional. The Terminator universe is expanding into an anime series for Netflix, the first animated TV adaptation of the franchise.



Mattson Tomlin will act as showrunner. Tomlin has had a big few years, having written Project Power for Netflix as well as co-writing The Batman.

In a statement announcing the project, Tomlin said, “Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart. I’m honored that Netflix and Skydance have given me the opportunity to approach Terminator in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations and has real guts.”

In the same statement, John Derderian, Netflix, Vice President of Japan & Anime, said, “Terminator is one of the most iconic sci-fi stories ever created—and has only grown more relevant to our world over time. The new animated series will explore this universe in a way that has never been done before. We can’t wait for fans to experience this amazing new chapter in the epic battle between machines and humans.”

The Terminator Universe Is Back in a New Netflix Anime Series

The Terminator universe is expanding into an anime series for Netflix, the first animated TV adaptation of the franchise.

io9.gizmodo.com

 

[Gordon_4]

One the one hand, I may ask why. On the other hand, perhaps if Production ID could coax Masamune Shirow away from drawing all his porn, and through the black magic of money get him to work with Kenichi Sonoda for the visual design and do the one story Terminator can tell without retreading T1 and T2 - that of the future war up to the sending back of Kyle Reese - then we may have something on our hands.

And while we're at it, I'd like a flying cat that dispenses harps and untraceable money.

 

[Hawki]

I don't particuarly care, TBH, which might be surprising since I like Terminator a lot (and that goes beyond just the two films). I think in part it's because the last Terminator TV series we had was Sarah Connor Chronicles, and, well...y'know...

and do the one story Terminator can tell without retreading T1 and T2 - that of the future war up to the sending back of Kyle Reese - then we may have something on our hands.

That story's already been told, and we've had other stories besides.

 

[Wintermute]

Can't wait for the adventures of Kyle Weebe.

 

[Gordon_4]

I don't particuarly care, TBH, which might be surprising since I like Terminator a lot (and that goes beyond just the two films). I think in part it's because the last Terminator TV series we had was Sarah Connor Chronicles, and, well...y'know...



That story's already been told, and we've had other stories besides.

When did they tell the whole future war story? Like the one with the laser guns and HunterKillers? And no, Salvation doesn’t count because that was all using current military tech. Give me my Phased Plasma Rifles in 40Watt range and shit.

 

[BrawlMan]

Whatever.

 

[SilentPony]

I mean...sure? What's the continuity? I personally like the canon that Terminators were designed by Wayland Yutani to fight Xenomorphs, and Skynet saw Humanity as the greatest weapon the Xenomorphs had.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I mean...sure? What's the continuity? I personally like the canon that Terminators were designed by Wayland Yutani to fight Xenomorphs, and Skynet saw Humanity as the greatest weapon the Xenomorphs had.

Surely the timing is way off for that?

 

[Hawki]

When did they tell the whole future war story? Like the one with the laser guns and HunterKillers? And no, Salvation doesn’t count because that was all using current military tech. Give me my Phased Plasma Rifles in 40Watt range and shit.

Terminator: Resistance, Terminator: Dawn of Fate, Sterling's T2 trilogy, etc.

 

[SilentPony]

Surely the timing is way off for that?

Depends on the canon! Some comics have the Predators bringing the Xenomorphs to earth way early, and having WY finding both fossils and mummified eggs. Aliens Vs. Predator has WY learning about both species in like 2004 at the least, and Predator 2 have both species in new york in the 80s, and Predator 1 had at least the one species in the late 70s.
So while not every movie/book/comic follows the same story, some do have a direct link over the decades, and we know that BladeRunner and the Aliens franchise are in the same universe. When Roy does his tears speech with "Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion bright as magnesium" Ridley Scott is on record saying that's meant to be humans vs Xenomorphs planetary wars. So the Aliens world allows for robots, synths and the like. I think even the Judge Dredd canon is linked? I remember reading the Judge Dredd ABC warriors also fought in the Xenomorph wars.

So while movie wise terminator and aliens are separate, they really could mix the two in a single movie and move forward.

 

[Thaluikhain]

If you are going down that route, Batman encountered Predators 3-4 times (some good stories there, actually), Superman once or twice (not so good stories).

Predators have been in Archie comics in I think 2 separate occasions.

Not sure how well the themes of Terminator and Aliens mesh, though.

 

[Gordon_4]

Terminator: Resistance, Terminator: Dawn of Fate, Sterling's T2 trilogy, etc.

Okay so that’s a forgettable game from a year or two ago and what I presume are some comics. Now I like a good comic but I’m not seeing compelling proof to NOT do the future war based on the examples provided on a more mass appeal media.

 

[Hawki]

Not sure how well the themes of Terminator and Aliens mesh, though.

Amoral corporations who fool around with shit they don't understand, causing normal people to pay the price?

Not that I'd ever mix the two together, but there's at least some potential thematic link.

Okay so that’s a forgettable game from a year or two ago and what I presume are some comics. Now I like a good comic but I’m not seeing compelling proof to NOT do the future war based on the examples provided on a more mass appeal media.

Didn't say you couldn't do it, just saying it's been done.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Amoral corporations who fool around with shit they don't understand, causing normal people to pay the price?

Not that I'd ever mix the two together, but there's at least some potential thematic link.

I'd interpret the Terminator films somewhat differently, the people behind Skynet weren't bad people (to the extent that killing them would be morally wrong, evne if it saved billions of lives). They were just trying to build better computers, and/or help the US military (which was not portrayed as being a bad thing). Humanity was fated to build machines that would try to destroy it, there was nothing people could do about it, it would just happen when the stars were right.

By comparison, everything in Aliens was the fault of evil people (and/or stupid people, especially in the later films). The Xenomorphs absolutely wouldn't be a serious threat if people took them seriously.

I might even argue that Terminator is close to Lovecraftian horror than Aliens. A terrible alien entity is going to arise and devastate mankind, and there's nothing that can be done about it, it's just going to happen sometime. Compared to Xenomorphs, which, while nasty, pop up in isolated areas and can be dealt with if people were interested in doing so.

 

[Hawki]

I'd interpret the Terminator films somewhat differently, the people behind Skynet weren't bad people (to the extent that killing them would be morally wrong, evne if it saved billions of lives). They were just trying to build better computers, and/or help the US military (which was not portrayed as being a bad thing). Humanity was fated to build machines that would try to destroy it, there was nothing people could do about it, it would just happen when the stars were right.

By comparison, everything in Aliens was the fault of evil people (and/or stupid people, especially in the later films). The Xenomorphs absolutely wouldn't be a serious threat if people took them seriously.

I might even argue that Terminator is close to Lovecraftian horror than Aliens. A terrible alien entity is going to arise and devastate mankind, and there's nothing that can be done about it, it's just going to happen sometime. Compared to Xenomorphs, which, while nasty, pop up in isolated areas and can be dealt with if people were interested in doing so.

Cyberdyne and Weyland-Yutani aren't 1:1, but I disagree with that overall thesis.

I'll start with Terminator. Terminator is generally skeptical of the military-industrial context, regardless of intent. Yes, Miles Dyson built Skynet with noble intentions, but he willfully kept his head down as to the origins of the hand and chip. It's not a case of "military bad" or "technology bad" (ideas that SCC ran with, or with Sterling's T2 trilogy going to the other end of the spectrum), but it's there. All the more so in Battle Across Time, which fires shots across the bow of military hardware.

I'm not going to go into every Terminator incarnation, but let's stick with the films. In T3, CRS builds Skynet solely for the purpose of warfare. In T6, LEGION is a military AI that turns against its creators. I disagree with the notion that humanity is fated to build machines that destroy it (it's an idea that T2 explicitly refutes, even if T3 refutes the refutement), but Terminator is wary of the idea of technology without ethnics.

Now for Aliens. Again, I disagree with the ideas that xenomorphs aren't a threat, and it in part depends on how far you want to go into things. Even in the films alone, xenomorphs wipe the floor with most humans. Go into the EU, and the xenomorphs are everywhere. Alien is certainly more Lovecraftian than Terminator because it's a grimdark setting while Terminator isn't. In Alien, things are bad, have always will be bad, and humanity lives in a pretty nightmarish universe. Terminator is post-apocalyptic, sure, but it's a more optimisitc franchise than Alien is.

Or, I'll put it this way. The Terminator films have humanity avoiding their own extinction in a number of them. The Alien films 'save' humanity from the xenomorphs, only for humanity to destroy its own homeworld regardless.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I disagree there, however, I'm not that attached to any particular interpretation, especially as the franchises have been developed with people with wildly different ideas. I'd also note that I'm really going by the films, and not seen the later Terminator ones.

(I'm putting stuff in spoilers on the off chance that someone else reading the thread hasn't seen all the films I have.

I'll start with Terminator. Terminator is generally skeptical of the military-industrial context, regardless of intent. Yes, Miles Dyson built Skynet with noble intentions, but he willfully kept his head down as to the origins of the hand and chip. It's not a case of "military bad" or "technology bad" (ideas that SCC ran with, or with Sterling's T2 trilogy going to the other end of the spectrum), but it's there. All the more so in Battle Across Time, which fires shots across the bow of military hardware.

I'm not going to go into every Terminator incarnation, but let's stick with the films. In T3, CRS builds Skynet solely for the purpose of warfare. In T6, LEGION is a military AI that turns against its creators. I disagree with the notion that humanity is fated to build machines that destroy it (it's an idea that T2 explicitly refutes, even if T3 refutes the refutement), but Terminator is wary of the idea of technology without ethnics.

Well, in the Terminator films, they never have to kill someone working for Cyberdyne. You can argue that they are shady, but there's also an argument that they are not (keeping the origin of the hand and chip secret isn't a terrible crime). The heroes, after all, decide they shouldn't be killed, even if it's the easiest way to stop Judgement day. There's no grey zone in Weyland-Yutani, they are just evil (and also rather stupid).

As for it being fated, I'd argue that despite what was said in T2, the existence of anything in the franchise after that means it was wrong. You could argue that it wasn't fate, but humans just did it anyway, though.

Alien is certainly more Lovecraftian than Terminator because it's a grimdark setting while Terminator isn't. In Alien, things are bad, have always will be bad, and humanity lives in a pretty nightmarish universe. Terminator is post-apocalyptic, sure, but it's a more optimisitc franchise than Alien is.

Or, I'll put it this way. The Terminator films have humanity avoiding their own extinction in a number of them. The Alien films 'save' humanity from the xenomorphs, only for humanity to destroy its own homeworld regardless.

Disagree with this. Sure, Earth is apparently a mess according to Resurrection (which is what I think you are refering to), but humanity is all over the place by then and Earth is not longer relevant. And it's humanity that's the reason why.


EDIT: Argh, the thing ate my section about why the Aliens aren't really scary. Anyway, it was about how people had to make 2 really evil/stupid decisions for things to go wrong in Alien, and about 4 in Aliens (and the Aliens being really lucky in where they chose to put their nest), and even then they only are a threat because there's dozens or hundreds of them for each survivor (who are low on resources, injured, and on a time limit).

Just get one of those decisions right, and things would have gone very differently. Not saying it's unrealistic (look at the covid threads), but that it's not the aliens that are the real threat.

 

[Gordon_4]

Cyberdyne and Weyland-Yutani aren't 1:1, but I disagree with that overall thesis.

I'll start with Terminator. Terminator is generally skeptical of the military-industrial context, regardless of intent. Yes, Miles Dyson built Skynet with noble intentions, but he willfully kept his head down as to the origins of the hand and chip. It's not a case of "military bad" or "technology bad" (ideas that SCC ran with, or with Sterling's T2 trilogy going to the other end of the spectrum), but it's there. All the more so in Battle Across Time, which fires shots across the bow of military hardware.

I'm not going to go into every Terminator incarnation, but let's stick with the films. In T3, CRS builds Skynet solely for the purpose of warfare. In T6, LEGION is a military AI that turns against its creators. I disagree with the notion that humanity is fated to build machines that destroy it (it's an idea that T2 explicitly refutes, even if T3 refutes the refutement), but Terminator is wary of the idea of technology without ethnics.

Now for Aliens. Again, I disagree with the ideas that xenomorphs aren't a threat, and it in part depends on how far you want to go into things. Even in the films alone, xenomorphs wipe the floor with most humans. Go into the EU, and the xenomorphs are everywhere. Alien is certainly more Lovecraftian than Terminator because it's a grimdark setting while Terminator isn't. In Alien, things are bad, have always will be bad, and humanity lives in a pretty nightmarish universe. Terminator is post-apocalyptic, sure, but it's a more optimisitc franchise than Alien is.

Or, I'll put it this way. The Terminator films have humanity avoiding their own extinction in a number of them. The Alien films 'save' humanity from the xenomorphs, only for humanity to destroy its own homeworld regardless.

Skynet was is more law of unintended consequences of science without humanity staying at the wheel and being vigilant: Miles Dyson is not an evil man nor was anyone else who worked there. And the T-800 learning to respect the sanctity of life through John Connor is proof positive to that A.I. is not always out to kill us.

Aliens is Resident Evil and Weyland Yutani are the Umbrella Corporation. They are one of sci-fi’s ur-examples of moustache twirling villains.

 

[Casual Shinji]

So is this franchise just being kept on life support by aging fanboys who still think Terminator is some hot commodity? Cuz it's not, people. Not that that's necessarily a reason to keep a franchise going, but we have, what, a bad movie ratio of 60% now? Can we fucking give it a rest on this please?

 

[Hawki]

As for it being fated, I'd argue that despite what was said in T2, the existence of anything in the franchise after that means it was wrong. You could argue that it wasn't fate, but humans just did it anyway, though.

There's a divide between T1/T2 and the rest of the franchise. The presence of material after T2 doesn't inherently negate T2. Cameron ended his films there, everything after that is pretty much fanfiction. I don't mean that in a derogatory manner, but the divide remains. It's why almost all of Terminator media treats T1 and T2 as having occurred, but then does its own thing. SCC, T3, and T6 all occur after T2 for instance, but all are mutually incompatible with each other.

Disagree with this. Sure, Earth is apparently a mess according to Resurrection (which is what I think you are refering to), but humanity is all over the place by then and Earth is not longer relevant. And it's humanity that's the reason why.

Wait, are you disagreeing that Alien is Lovecraftian, or that it's grimdark?

Anyway, Earth is screwed by the timeframe of Resurrection, and it's implied that humans are the reason why. That isn't a happy thing, that's a tragic thing. And even if humans are spread beyond Earth, the quality of life doesn't seem to be that good.

EDIT: Argh, the thing ate my section about why the Aliens aren't really scary. Anyway, it was about how people had to make 2 really evil/stupid decisions for things to go wrong in Alien, and about 4 in Aliens (and the Aliens being really lucky in where they chose to put their nest), and even then they only are a threat because there's dozens or hundreds of them for each survivor (who are low on resources, injured, and on a time limit).

Just get one of those decisions right, and things would have gone very differently. Not saying it's unrealistic (look at the covid threads), but that it's not the aliens that are the real threat.

I disagree.

The xenomorph in Alien is definitely a threat. Even if Ash wasn't trying to keep it alive, things would have probably gone badly.

As for Aliens, I doubt things would have gone much better regardless of...well, I'm not quite sure. The xenomorphs would have got the drop on the marines regardless. If things went better, they could nuke the site from orbit, but even then, the xenomorphs overtake an entire colony in the first place.

Also Alien 3. One xenomorph is able to kill, directly or indirectly, an entire prison colony bar one person.

But the xenomorph aside, I'd argue that Aliens is grimdark, at least by my definition. Even if the xenomorphs didn't exist, humanity is still in a state where corporations wield enormous influence, where frontier life is rough, where Earth is in a state of collapse, etc. If you look at the timeframe of the Alien films, things get worse over time, from the more upbeat future of Prometheus/Covenant, to the corporate sociopathy of Alien, to the increase of that sociopathy in Aliens/Alien 3, to the squalid state of things in Resurrection. Yeah, WY is gone by then (even if in the EU, it takes over from the USM), but life still seems to be crap.

Or, TL, DR, things in Alien are bad for humans, stay bad, and never get better, in fact, they get worse as you move forward in the timeline. Terminator, on the other hand, has multiple futures where even in the worst case scenario, humanity still wins against Skynet after Judgement Day, and in the best, JD is averted completely.

 

[Hawki]

Skynet was is more law of unintended consequences of science without humanity staying at the wheel and being vigilant: Miles Dyson is not an evil man nor was anyone else who worked there. And the T-800 learning to respect the sanctity of life through John Connor is proof positive to that A.I. is not always out to kill us.

True, but I'm not sure that's at odds with my statement that Terminator is skeptical of the MIC.