And The Answer Is...(7)

And the winner of the previous Take a Guess Challenge is: ...once again, the movie trivia juggernaut, Pat Hatt.

Even though he left his answer in riddles/code, it's fairly obvious he knew what was what. Pat is an evil rhyming/encyclopedic genius. Enjoy more of his musings at his blog over HERE.

The answer to the previous challenge was:

James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi classic, The Terminator. This is the one that started it all folks. Arnold would go on to become the biggest star in Hollywood and future governor of California. Cameron, well he pretty much holds the entire global box office in the palm of his hand nowadays. All that stems from the sheer awesomeness of this one, low budgeted, sci-fi B movie that knocked everyone on their asses back in the 1980's and continues to do so nearly 30 years later.

The Terminator is about a time traveling robot assassin from the future who must execut...er, terminate a young woman so her unborn son stays that way, and doesn't grow up to mess with the evil robot's future world. Sound insane? It is. The thing is, even if you ignore the film's plot, The Terminator is still one badass fucking chase film. It's literally like a relay race of death/carnage. What James Cameron did on a shoe string budget with The Terminator boggles the mind when compared with his most recent crap fest, Avatar. Yes, before Cameron got all George Lucas on us he was one hell of a filmmaker. Throwing millions of dollars at a shitty movie and dressing it up with special effects does not a good film make. The Terminator's cast does all the heavy lifting in Cameron's original masterpiece (although Stan Winston's makeup effects do look pretty cool...for their time). Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Arnie's mug are the only effects needed to sell this story alright?! Well that, and lots of guns.

"It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

Make no mistake about it, The Terminator is a dark film. Arnold plays the terminator (Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 for you fanboys) like the grim reaper on steroids. He prowls the dark underbelly of Los Angeles, blasting his way to Hamilton's Sarah Connor character come hell or high water, killing her friends, family and anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. You know, aside from the gigantic time traveling robot aspect, Cameron also succeeds with injecting a gritty dose of realism into the film as well. The Terminator is a wildy fantastic sci-fi film that takes place in (seemingly) real world Los Angeles and thanks to Cameron's direction, you almost believe this type of wacky shit could really take place. Like how Christopher Nolan makes you think some rich nutbag could actually run around in a Bat suit. It's really amazing how well this film holds up nearly 30 years later.

Because of the film's dark suspense elements and geek-tastic plot, Cameron dubbed The Terminator as "tech-noir," a mix of classic film noir and science fiction. This was also the name of the dance club where Arn...er, the terminator first encounters Sarah Connor and where Tahnee Cain & the Tryanglz song, "Burnin' in the Third Degree" from the previous Take a Guess Challenge is heard.


Cameron had the whole time travel gimmick down before Zemeckis could take us Back To The Future. He also realized that audiences love robots and guns. When their powers combine...awesomeness was born.