The Terminator Mortality Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Terminator.

Quote #4

REESE: Hunter-Killers. Patrol machines built in automated factories. Most of us were rounded up, put in camps for orderly disposal. [He shows her a barcode scarred into his arm.] This was burned in by laser scanner. Some of us were kept alive. To work. Loading bodies. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever.

Of course, the real threat isn't the death of a single woman: it's the death of our entire species. Sure, 99.9% of species in Earth's history have gone the way of the dodo, including the dodo. But this is one instance where "We are the 99%" won't make for an effective rally call.

Quote #5

Traxler is shot by the Terminator.

TRAXLER: Ed…

VUKOVICH: Hey!

Vukovich unloads into the Terminator, but the cyborg turns around and kills him.

Traxler and Vukovich represent authority and the safety of the status quo. How well does authority fare when faced with the hard facts of death? Um…not too well. Not too well at all.

Quote #6

Reese sticks a piece of dynamite into the Terminator's endoskeleton. The explosion rips the Terminator in half but kills Reese as well. When Sarah finally reaches his body, he stares blankly in death.

Okay, when three nameless punks die in a film, we don't bat an eye. That's how movies work. But when one of the main characters dies and isn't even given a stirring death speech? No chance to breathe his last in his lover's arms? Now that drives home the message that death comes for us all—and can do so in an instant.