The Terminator (1984)

This is one of those films that upon viewing, I realized I had never actually seen before. Weird.

I was going to start this post by comparing it to First Blood, in that it is fairly distinct in style and structure compared to subsequent films in the franchise, but this is really not the case here. Essentially, what the Terminator franchise does is shuffles the roles of the characters, with slight variations, but maintains a fairly similar structure. Observe:

T1:

Villain: The Terminator
Fugitive/Character unaware of the future: Sarah Connor
Protector of fugitive/Hero/Love interest of fugitive/Crazy person who knows the truth: Kyle Reese

T2:

Villain: T-1000
Fugitive/Character unaware of the future: John Connor
Protectors of fugitive/Heroes/Friends: The Terminator and Sarah Connor
Crazy person who knows the truth: Sarah Connor

T3:

Villain: Terminatrix
Fugitive/Crazy person who knows the truth: John Connor
Protector of fugitive/Hero: The Terminator
Friend/love interest of fugitive/Character unaware of the future: Kate Brewster

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Villain: Cromartie Terminator, the FBI
Fugitive: John Connor
Protectors of fugitive/Friends/Heroes: Sarah Connor, Cameron Phillips, Derek Reese
Character unaware of the future: James Ellison
Crazy person who knows the truth: Sarah and John Connor?

Although the recently announced fourth Terminator film appears at first to alter the formula, it could still easily operate along the same lines:

Villain: Skynet (and doubtlessly some new form of Terminator)
Hero/Protector of fugitive/Crazy person who knows the truth (now about the past): John Connor and Kate Brewster-Connor
Fugitive/Friend/Character unaware of the past (which is his future): Kyle Reese (who now needs to be protected in order to ensure John Connor's existence)


All by way of saying, the franchise has been adept at creating (often complex) variations on the basic villain-fugitive-protector formula.