My favorite has always been the first, with T2 in a very close second.
They’re such different films, I hate comparing them. I feel the same about Alien and Aliens.

I wasn’t a huge fan of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but I do wish it continued on.
T3 and Salvation were meh, but watchable.
Genysis had an interesting concept, but that execution was WTF.

No comment on Dark Fate...but based on the trailers, I’m not sure if I’ll watch it.

And just because
Attached File

RIP Franco Columbu
Attached File

Agree with your ranking.

I really liked the Sarah Connor Chronicles. The show took the concept away from the summer blockbuster genre(T1 opened in October)

and into a truly unsettling and creepy future. What was Cameron's real mission? What were the T1000s up to?

I loved the portrayal of Sarah, and the character of John actually grew from a whiny teen to a more ruthless and grim young man.

Cameron was also a mysterious character as hinted at in several episodes and various scenes.

I'm pretty much inline with OP, but I did like TSCC and wish it had continued.

And yeah, there were some back-stories with Cameron that could have filled a season or two.  Creepy ballet dance and music and why it freaked Derek out so much.

T2, but really liked the Sarah Connor Chroniclea

The best Terminator is the one with Khaleesi Conner. Becuse she's hot.

Reported!??

If only they had made Dawn of Fate into a movie instead of a video game...

Loved T1 and T2, 3 was meh, 4 was gah. Couldn't get into the SCC. Genysis had it's moments.

Judging only by that trailer, which I haven't seen before, I think I will catch Dark Fate in the theater.  

I actually liked Salvation...and Sarah Connor Chronicles of course. But if they had ended with T2 I would have been fine.

and we'll never know thanks to FOX.  Would have been better as a mini-series with tighter story.

So many series would be.

The original T2 Director’s Cut DVD had a code where you could insert the alternate ending into the movie.
I did that to some friends and they were “WTF?!?!”

The Terminator franchise is truly Sci-fi classic stuff, in the same league as the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" with Michael Rainey.  I saw day the earth stood still when I was a little kid, and his robot Gort scared me so badly that I memorized the words to call him off in case I ever saw a Robot like Gort.  Klatu barada nicktu.

Geez, that damned robot scared me.

Wow.  Never seen the alternate ending.

I like (in this order) 1,2, TSCC, and Genesis.  The others lacked the spirit of 1 and 2.

I liked TSCC because it played with the notion that saving John Connor was only one of several missions, and there are not only observers, but there are also other factions that are working separately towards changing the future.

My biggest gripe was final episode/ point of cancellation.  I like the original time jump was a neat plot device, however the last jump was a jump over a shark.

T1 by far.

Low budget, winging it, a novel time travel combination killer robot combination evil computer concept.
Casting was nailed.  Perfect terminator.  Perfect stressed out post apocalyptic last thread of hope by the scruff of his neck future soldier, perfect random nobody young chick on the verge of losing it.

Truly a fantastic accomplishment overall in cinematic history.

T2 was a better action movie.  A better blockbuster with more effects and 80s style action movie comedy. (In the same way that culturally the 1980s were not the 80s until RR steeping into office and replaced Carter, the early 90s were still culturally the 80s until Clinton stepped into office.)
John Conner casting was horrible.  Arnold brought Arnold. Mom brought real life chain smoking crazy substance abusing freak show and nailed it.    But Cameron’s obsession with his CGI liquid metal, while cool, destroyed a key concept of the canon time travel. I would rather have had Arnold as the underdog like Reese in the first movie against a more durable, stronger, faster updated Terminator instead of a a massive upgrade entirely new terminator concept.

I can’t deny the coolness of the liquid metal terminator and cultural impact. So, going with that I would have liked   at least a scene where an Arnold or Franco looking Terminator showed up, and the body was destroyed as then amoebic internal portion did its thing as the movie went on And the flesh shell for time travel was cast away.

I was actually fine with T3.  Another blockbuster type entry.
The casting was also off.  The Connor character was just not right.  Danes just was off in it as well.

Of the entire franchise, I rank the original as the best film.  It is king of the relatively lower budget B movies.  It’s a suspense film, a violent film, a romance film, an action film, a sci Fi film.

The sequel was a fantastic action blockbuster film.  I love the movie.  Cutting edge incredible effects.  But am more impressed with what was done for so much less in classic effect era od the original.

And I was fine with T3.
It was a chance to revisit a favorite franchise.with better casting, and perhaps Cameron a little more willing to be involved in it, it could also have been an icon.  But it got too delayed and he didn’t, so it’s not.

I wish they had done a FutureWar movie with this guy
Attached File


Hell if I know if he could act, but he sure as hell had the look.

Exactly! That's what I came to post.

Seriously though, you nailed it.
I could never have put it so precisely.

Salvation

I have a feeling you might be a bit biased...

Salvation had all the components of a great action/SCI fi film.

Something just did not quite mesh.  Like, if you went to a list of ingredients of Hollywood movie styles it needed half a cup less of Michael Bay flavor,
A few teaspoons of 80s James Cameron, and hold a half a cup less of McG, and add a dash of John McTiernan.  Then the cake might not have failed to rise.

I did not hate it.  It just did not slam home the memorable impact and feat  of the first two, or Aliens, or Predator, etc.

Genisys should have been epic.  Casting was even worse than some of the previous horrendous choices.  Like Dolph Lundgren was good for only his role in Rocky IV, the mother of dragons did not seem right for the Sarah role and dint pull it off.  It would have helped if she had some Chemisty with Reese.  But there was not a lick.  Plus that casting was nothing like some half starved, scraping by, haunted, horrific life future soldier like Biehn nailed.

Subverting John into the bad guy was so wrong.  Bale should have showed up to fight side by side with a better cast Reese and died brutally in a sacrifice  helping them.  Or an old, broken Biehn could have been cast as old has been John, falling by the wayside in a similar matter.  There were easily a dozen different ways to have a super bad for the big boss battle.  In 2017, instead of John Conner showing up a a machine phase matter terminator, John played by Bale or Biehn could have shown up, and an advanced terminator also.  John dies helping Pops stop the advanced terminator.  Who arrive and took over the 75 year old version of Dr. Silberman, then we get a bad ass, crazy, evil version of the police psychiatrist and a fitting end to John Connor.

I don’t even want to go into Dark Fate.  I’m cool with a busted old Arnold Terminator.  I’m cool with a reboot attempt with the John Connor wipe.  I’m cool with a ragged out old Sarah.  I’m cool with a new, young Latina as the future savior.  I’m cool with the future soldier being an augment.  But...
Make the new savior a hot 27 year old version of Selma Hayek or Penelope Cruz with an M.S. in Comp Sci from MIT and five years as an Intel operative with a SMU.  Make the augment some totally bad ass dude or brutal hottie like Gina Carano.

This is the answer.

But also it was a good show.  I actually like the newer ones over the older ones.

The TV show was interesting.

It did have a lot of boredom and fill,
And some oddities.

But some incredible sequences did shine through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKIK5ei_Lhg

I would like to have seen where the plot thread was heading.

I hate shows canceled on a cliffhanger.

It has happened enough I end to wait till a show has been completed and then will go back and watch.

I get a little behind though.

I just did Babylon 5 a few years ago.

Maybe...

I hear ya. That's why I haven't started watching The Expanse yet.

T1 and T2 just go together. T2 was slightly better IMHO

T1 is like a Huey full of SEAL/SF/LRRP/Ranger/Force Recon guys with Car15s, LCEs, a ton of mags, M79s, M60s, Randal knives, Seikos, submariners, tomahawks, machetes,  and grenades in jungle fatigues and tiger stripes rappelling into the jungle after several false insertions to go kick ass.

T2 is like a stealth Blackhawk full of operators with the newest and bestest.

Sure, the second one might be better.
But the first one is more awesome.

That’s a beautiful way of putting it.