The Terminator (Two Disc Special Edition) [1985]

On the DVD: Rejoice, The Terminator is back, better looking and louder than ever. After years of inferior VHS versions, the cleaned-up print of this DVD is a revelation, as is the digitally remastered Dolby 5.1 soundtrack: from the opening MGM lion's roar to the crunch of Arnie's boots and the pounding of Brad Fiedel's techno-industrial score, both picture and sound are of a quality that belie the movie's age. The first disc has the movie plus a DVD-ROM feature containing three different versions of the screenplay, which can be read scene-by-scene along with the film. On the second disc there are seven deleted scenes, including a fascinating foreshadowing of Sarah Connor's mission in T2, as well as trailers and TV spots. There are also two "making of" featurettes, one being an 18-minute piece from 1992 based around a friendly at-home chat with Cameron and Schwarzenegger ("We did the first Terminator for the cost of your motor home on the second film", jokes director to actor). The hour-long "Other Voices" featurette is an in-depth montage of cast and crew reminiscences covering all aspects of the production from its initial genesis as a fevered nightmare to the "guerrilla" filmmaking of getting the final shots. Script collaborator Bill Wisher neatly sums up the movie as "It's a Wonderful Life, with guns". The second disc also contains a stills archive of production photographs, James Cameron's amazing original conceptual artwork, plus his first story treatment. If you own a player, how can you resist? After all, the Terminator movies are what DVD was invented for. --Mark Walker