Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s T-1000 is brought to life without CGI in a new video that pulls the effect off with real liquid metal. Released in 1991, the second installment in theTerminatorfranchise hails once again from filmmaker James Cameron.Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as a T-800in the film, this time assigned to protect John Connor (Edward Furlong) from Robert Patrick’s more powerful T-1000 unit, which has the ability to turn into liquid metal. The film was widely celebrated for, among other things, its groundbreaking VFX used to bring the T-1000 to life.
In a new video, VFX artist Wren Weichman ofCorridor Crewattempts to film his own version of the T-1000, instead using primarily practical methods. The video features Wren experimenting with the chemical element gallium, which can be easily heated into a liquid form. After scanning his own head and making a 3D model, he was able to make a scaled-down mold for the gallium.
Once he had the gallium mold of his head,Wren melted it down using heat guns, and then reversed the footage, making it look as if he was reforming as a T-1000. He was then able to composite the footage of the gallium head with his real head, morphing the two together to create a T-1000-like effect. Check out the video below to see the entire process or just start from 23:08 to see the final result:
What The T-1000 Effect Meant For Terminator 2
James Cameron’s Sequel Is Beloved
The originalTerminatorin 1984 pushed some impressive boundaries visually, despite being a fairly low-budget endeavor. The ending, for example, uses stop-motion to bring theT-800’s metal skeletonto life.The T-1000, however, was a Terminator that couldn’t feasibly be pulled off practically as it is shown changing from liquid to solid formon several occasions, as well as morphing through metal bars and absorbing bullet impacts.
Terminator 2 Wasted One Of The T-1000’s Darkest Powers
Terminator: Judgment Day is an almost perfect sequel, but the movie never justifies the villain wasting a power that could have killed John Connor.
The T-1000 was, at the time, one of the most advanced CGI creations ever put to film, but its origins actually lie in another Cameron project. Prior to makingT2, Cameron madeThe Abyss(1989), and this sci-fi adventure film features a water tentacle being with a face. The CGI used to bring this creature to life served as the basis for pulling off the T-1000. The T-1000 is ultimately part of whyTerminator 2: Judgment Dayremains not just one of the most belovedTerminatormovies, but one of the most celebrated sequels of all time.
Terminator 2: Judgment Daywas also a commercial success, grossing over $516 million at the box office.
Our Take On The Recreated T-1000 Effect From Terminator 2
CGI Was The Better Choice For T2
Wren obviously didn’t have the same financial resources to pull off his T-1000 effect as Cameron had onTerminator 2, and it’s fairly impressive considering. It’s worth noting, however, that usingthe gallium method would have been a lot harder had Wren attempted to recreate more action-oriented T-1000 scenes such as his melting through the bars. Plus, though the project didn’t use CGI, VFX and compositing were still ultimately a crucial part of bringing the effect to life.
Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the T-1000 effect fromTerminator 2: Judgment Dayrecreated in this way. The video speaks to the challenges of working in special effects, and how practical elements on a film set often need to work hand-in-hand with VFX.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Cast
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a sci-fi action film directed by James Cameron, set ten years after the original. It chronicles a new effort to eliminate future rebellion leader John Connor, despite a reprogrammed terminator dispatched to safeguard him.
