Terminator: Back to the Future

Terminator: Back to the Future is a 2024 computer animated science-fiction film, directed by Robert Zemeckis and James Cameron, and produced by Paramount Pictures and How it Should Have Ended, based on the parody trailer The Terminator: How it Should End from 2009. It is a crossover of the franchises The Terminator and Back to the Future, serving as the seventh installment of the former and the fourth installment of the latter. It is the first film of both franchises to be animated with CGI rather than filmed in live-action, and is How it Should Have Ended's first full-length theatrical feature film. Most of the cast members from the previous movies reprise their roles.

Plot
In the year 2030, John Connor has finally defeated Skynet, and has full control of the technology created by the machines. Fearing that Skynet may someday return and continue to use time travel in an attempt to win the battle (possibly sending a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Connor as an infant), John decides to end the battle forever by sending a T-1000 back in time to November 5, 1955 in order to kill Doc Brown, the inventor of time travel, and Marty McFly, Doc Brown's friend.

In 1955, the T-1000 kills a police officer and disguises himself in his uniform. Unknown to him, a T-101 has also been sent back in time by an unknown person. The T-101 manages to find Marty and rescue him from the T-1000, afterwards arriving at Doc's house just in time to rescue him. The team hides out at a drive-in movie theatre, where the T-101 reveals the plan by John Connor to prevent time travel from being invented, and Marty and Doc come up with a plan to return Marty to his own time (1985) and get his future parents back together to insure Marty's birth.

After failing to get Marty's future father, George McFly, to ask Marty's future mother, Lorraine Baines, to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, the T-101 intervenes by scaring George in the middle of the night and threatening to terminate him if doesn't ask Lorraine to the dance. George oversleeps and isn't at school the next day, leaving Marty impatient. Conflict is soon raised when the T-1000 enters the school to look for Marty and Doc and kills Mr. Strickland, sending the school into a panic. The T-101 fights off the T-1000 while the the building is evacuated, and Marty escapes. The T-101 follows Marty to Lou's Café where he meets up with George McFly and prompts him to ask Lorraine out. This fails when Biff Tannen interrupts George, prompting Marty to punch Biff. Biff attempts to chase Marty outside, but is shot in the foot by the T-101, and Marty finds that he has bigger problems when the T-1000 shows up, having also followed Marty to the café. The T-101 fights off the T-1000, losing half the skin from his face along with one of his arms, and Doc arrives in the DeLorean time machine to rescue both of them. Unfortunately, the T-1000 follows them to the theatre in a manure truck, forcing them to flee to another hideout.

After making plans with George for him to "rescue" Lorraine from Marty, Marty sits with Lorraine in Doc's car outside the school dance with the T-101 keeping watch from a safe distance. Biff shows up and attacks Marty and Lorraine out of revenge for his injured foot, but George comes to the rescue and Lorraine starts to fall in love with him. Unfortunately, the T-1000 arrives and disguises himself as Biff in an attempt to kill Marty, and when the crowd of students see the T-101 fighting the "killer" who terrorized the school earlier, the dance is cancelled. Desperate, Marty yells into the mic on the stage for George and Lorraine to kiss because they might never get a chance to ever again. They kiss and fall completely in love. Unfortunately, the T-101, having been reprogrammed by the T-1000, attempts to kill Marty again, and everyone in the school flees. Marty is rescued by two mysterious figures who overpower the T-101 with future technology and tell Marty to flee while he still can.

Marty arrives at the clock tower where Doc has been waiting for him, but the T-1000 has arrived first and has disguised himself as Doc, leaving Marty wondering which of the two Doc Browns is the real one. Deducing it through Doc's words to him, Marty attacks the real T-1000 while Doc wonders how to fix a wire that he done undone from the clock tower. The two mysterious figures arrive to help the duo, along with a new T-101 that they have transferred the old T-101's memory chip into. The two figures reveal themselves as Marty and his wife Jennifer from 2030 (having been soldiers in John Connor's army), and also reveal that they were the ones who sent the T-101 back in time to protect Marty and Doc. They take Doc to a secret basement room under the clock tower where they have set up time-displacement equipment set to activate when the lightning strikes the clock tower. The T-101 reattaches the wires while Marty drives towards the clock tower at 88 MPH with the T-1000 attempting to stab him through the roof of the car. Marty reaches the clock tower in time when the lightning strikes, sending him back to 1985 and sending Doc, old Marty, and Old Jennifer to 2030, blowing up the clock tower in the process and leaving the T-1000 and T-101 behind.

In 2030, Doc confronts John Connor about his foolishness in attempting to change the timeline so drastically, and John Connor realizes his mistake and gives Doc, old Marty, and old Jennifer the device to deactivate the T-1000. Old Marty reveals the DeLorean time machine, which is what he used to travel to 1955 to rescue Doc and Marty in first place, which he has since kept in a secret room to wait 75 years until it is used again. The trio travel back to 1955 a few minutes before they previously left, waiting for their other selves to depart, afterwards attacking the T-1000 and disabling him with the device. Doc meets up with a Marty a few days older than the one he knew for a week, who is confused by the sights he just saw (because he is from a different timeline). Doc assures him that everything is fine, and the two depart to read the letter that Doc wrote for Marty in 1885, while old Marty and old Jennifer return to 2030 in the DeLorean.

Voice Cast

 * Christian Bale as John Connor
 * Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-101
 * Robert Patrick as the T-1000
 * Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
 * Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown
 * Jeffrey Weissman as George McFly
 * Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines
 * Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen
 * Elizabeth Shue as Jennifer

Production
Ever since the original parody trailer had been uploaded in 2009, many fans wanted to see it turned into a real movie. Robert Zemeckis and James Cameron agreed to direct the movie after seeing the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a film with a similar crossover concept. How it Should Have Ended agreed to help with the production for the film, and most of the actors from the previous movies agreed to reprise their roles. The film was animated with CGI rather than filmed in live-action in order for the characters to still look the correct ages.

Reception
The film was a critical and financial success, with many critics praising the film for its multiple references to both film franchises and for giving fans the sequel they'd been wanting to see.