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Terminator Salvation: The Essential Edition
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2009
Original Running Time:
117
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
102
Time Cut:
15
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
This is a simplified take on McG’s Terminator Salvation. Irrelevant, useless and unbelievable subplots have been removed in order to create movie that now focuses on the war effort itself.
Intention:
When Terminator Salvation was announced I was nervous. The main reason for this nervousness was McG. I didn’t think he was a competent enough of a director to pull it off. Then the third preview was released. Even though gave away a major plot point it still looked like it might be a good film, and my hope was boosted.
After I saw Terminator Salvation I was disappointed. They added so much crap to try and fool the audience into believing it was a smart film it completely bogged it down. The entire opening with Marcus in prison completely ruined his reveal later in the film. Skynet capturing and bringing Reese to their main base to bring Connor to them was stupid. (Why didn’t Skynet just kill Reese?). The setup of Marcus having a heart so he could give it to Connor at the end was dumb. (I don’t buy for a minute they could do open heart surgery in the middle of the desert decades after a nuclear war.)
I figured removing many of these elements might improve the film. Thus, Terminator Salvation: The Essential Edition was made. Now the film is more about the actual war.
After I saw Terminator Salvation I was disappointed. They added so much crap to try and fool the audience into believing it was a smart film it completely bogged it down. The entire opening with Marcus in prison completely ruined his reveal later in the film. Skynet capturing and bringing Reese to their main base to bring Connor to them was stupid. (Why didn’t Skynet just kill Reese?). The setup of Marcus having a heart so he could give it to Connor at the end was dumb. (I don’t buy for a minute they could do open heart surgery in the middle of the desert decades after a nuclear war.)
I figured removing many of these elements might improve the film. Thus, Terminator Salvation: The Essential Edition was made. Now the film is more about the actual war.

Release Information:
AVCHD
Special Features
- Text Commentary Track
- the original 3 theatrical trailers
- the original 3 theatrical trailers
Cuts and Additions:
- cut the opening credits
- cut opening scene in the prison
- cut the POV of the missile before the strike
- cut an early encounter between John Connor and a terminator popping out of the water
- replaced Sarah Connor’s cassette audio with her recording from the first Terminator film
- cut scene with Marcus and Blair in the rain
- cut the machines identifying Kyle Reese
- cut much of Marcus having a heart
- cut final scene in desert
- change end credit music
- cut a lot of bits of dialog and shots throughout
- cut opening scene in the prison
- cut the POV of the missile before the strike
- cut an early encounter between John Connor and a terminator popping out of the water
- replaced Sarah Connor’s cassette audio with her recording from the first Terminator film
- cut scene with Marcus and Blair in the rain
- cut the machines identifying Kyle Reese
- cut much of Marcus having a heart
- cut final scene in desert
- change end credit music
- cut a lot of bits of dialog and shots throughout
User reviews
20 reviews
Overall rating
8.7
Audio/Video Quality
9.5(9)
Visual Editing
9.8(8)
Audio Editing
9.9(8)
Narrative
8.0(8)
Enjoyment
8.4(20)
Overall rating
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
8.0
Conceptually speaking I really like the idea of a Terminator movie taking place fully in the apocalyptic future rather than showing portions of said future and than spending the rest of the runtime in the past not that I had a problem with said narrative setups in the previous three films though I found the difference in narrative structure to be a nice and refreshing change of scene and pace, that’s not to say I didn’t have problems with this movie oooh I definitely had problems with it though Q2 has definitely fixed some of the issues in this edit.
The first of these resolved issues being the replacing of the theatrical and extended cuts version of Sarah Connors recording where the one from the original Terminator now plays strengthening both nostalgic value and continuity with both Marcus character arc and reveal of his origin being strengthened thanks to the erasure of certain scenes that only existed to undermine the revelation of what he turned out to be later on and since the whole desert heart surgery scene is no longer present this effectively leaves him alive as a new member of the resistance able to fully earn his second chance.
The small subtle music cues scattered throughout helped to give certain scenes and character interactions more meaning and the explosive titlecard graphic was very creative and suited the theme of the edit though I do think the transition to the first war scene was a bit on the erupt side, speaking of things a little on the erupt side I will forever be baffled by the studios insistence on the use of shaky cam, not just for this film but for most action orientated films in general and quite frankly shaky cam just doesn’t work for me it neither makes action scenes compelling nor does it increase the tension in any meaningful way.
As such well the action in this film and of course the edit is pretty solid for the most part the presence of the ever erupting and erratic shaky cam makes said scenes hard to sit through and I wish something had been done to either remove the camera shake or reduce the amount of visual shakiness though I know the ability to do so depends on ones software and NLE so it’s not the fault of Q2 as such I blame the studio and whoever conceived the idea of shaky cam in cinema, another technical aspect I wish had been smoothed over is the lightning in some scenes as there way to dark making it quite hard to see what was going on.
I often had to squint my eyes in some scenes just to see the full picture with an example of one of these scenes being where Connor and his soldier are in the valley of death and I get that dark lighting can make for a dramatic, atmospheric and at times impactful scene but it shouldn’t be dark to the point of near eyestrain though speaking of stuff relating to Connor I wish the scenes involving the higher ups ordering Connor about were axed as it doesn’t really make much sense why he’s taking orders despite previous films foretelling him as this great leader of the resistance (though the trimming and removal of the majority of the whole air strike sub thread was a good call as it’s presence only drew attention to the executive commanders rather poor levels of insight and intelligence.
Not only that but said scenes made things feel far to robotic and less human when the whole idea of the war is that through human perseverance the resistance will succeed, that and the sub threads removal makes said resistance easier to root for with the removal of the part where the machines identify Kyle Reese as Kyle Reese being a smart choice as it not only fixes a plothole at least partially but makes Skynet come of as far more competent than they were in the theatrical and extended cuts saying that though I do think the part of the scene with Marcus that shows which cell Kyle Reece is in should have been taken out.
Another scene that should have been taken out or at least trimmed or cut around was the one where Connor claimed that Marcus tried to kill his mother and tried to kill Kyle Reese as that raises questions as to how he knows Marcus is of the same model as the previous Terminator model in Terminator 1 or if he’s even the same model as the one in T1 and how the timeline placement and continuity in regards to these events even works in short it causes a bit of a headache though maybe I am overthinking it and there is a logical explanation to his statement.
This last point isn’t a criticism though it would have been cool if some of the interior and night scenes had that same blue tint as in Terminator 2 Judgement Day otherwise I would definitely say that this is a step up from the theatrical and extended versions of this time looping entry in the Terminator franchise.
The first of these resolved issues being the replacing of the theatrical and extended cuts version of Sarah Connors recording where the one from the original Terminator now plays strengthening both nostalgic value and continuity with both Marcus character arc and reveal of his origin being strengthened thanks to the erasure of certain scenes that only existed to undermine the revelation of what he turned out to be later on and since the whole desert heart surgery scene is no longer present this effectively leaves him alive as a new member of the resistance able to fully earn his second chance.
The small subtle music cues scattered throughout helped to give certain scenes and character interactions more meaning and the explosive titlecard graphic was very creative and suited the theme of the edit though I do think the transition to the first war scene was a bit on the erupt side, speaking of things a little on the erupt side I will forever be baffled by the studios insistence on the use of shaky cam, not just for this film but for most action orientated films in general and quite frankly shaky cam just doesn’t work for me it neither makes action scenes compelling nor does it increase the tension in any meaningful way.
As such well the action in this film and of course the edit is pretty solid for the most part the presence of the ever erupting and erratic shaky cam makes said scenes hard to sit through and I wish something had been done to either remove the camera shake or reduce the amount of visual shakiness though I know the ability to do so depends on ones software and NLE so it’s not the fault of Q2 as such I blame the studio and whoever conceived the idea of shaky cam in cinema, another technical aspect I wish had been smoothed over is the lightning in some scenes as there way to dark making it quite hard to see what was going on.
I often had to squint my eyes in some scenes just to see the full picture with an example of one of these scenes being where Connor and his soldier are in the valley of death and I get that dark lighting can make for a dramatic, atmospheric and at times impactful scene but it shouldn’t be dark to the point of near eyestrain though speaking of stuff relating to Connor I wish the scenes involving the higher ups ordering Connor about were axed as it doesn’t really make much sense why he’s taking orders despite previous films foretelling him as this great leader of the resistance (though the trimming and removal of the majority of the whole air strike sub thread was a good call as it’s presence only drew attention to the executive commanders rather poor levels of insight and intelligence.
Not only that but said scenes made things feel far to robotic and less human when the whole idea of the war is that through human perseverance the resistance will succeed, that and the sub threads removal makes said resistance easier to root for with the removal of the part where the machines identify Kyle Reese as Kyle Reese being a smart choice as it not only fixes a plothole at least partially but makes Skynet come of as far more competent than they were in the theatrical and extended cuts saying that though I do think the part of the scene with Marcus that shows which cell Kyle Reece is in should have been taken out.
Another scene that should have been taken out or at least trimmed or cut around was the one where Connor claimed that Marcus tried to kill his mother and tried to kill Kyle Reese as that raises questions as to how he knows Marcus is of the same model as the previous Terminator model in Terminator 1 or if he’s even the same model as the one in T1 and how the timeline placement and continuity in regards to these events even works in short it causes a bit of a headache though maybe I am overthinking it and there is a logical explanation to his statement.
This last point isn’t a criticism though it would have been cool if some of the interior and night scenes had that same blue tint as in Terminator 2 Judgement Day otherwise I would definitely say that this is a step up from the theatrical and extended versions of this time looping entry in the Terminator franchise.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
A stripped-down and well-told take on Salvation, this edit makes what was previously a pointless epilogue/prologue to the franchise into an indispensable interlude between the first two films. It's entirely possible to watch this as the future prior to John's having encountered the good T-800 and the T-1000 as a child, and the film works perfectly, without spoiling any of the first-act plot twists in T2.
The pacing, action and motivations are all repaired and streamlined here, with character motivations and choices much clearer. My only quibbles are that now it's less clear why the machines pick out Kyle from the rabble of humans and why John is able to survive such a seemingly mortal blow at the end without the "heart transplant" section, but neither of those are major problems and a moment of head-scratching is still a worthwhile trade-off for the countless improvements. The chance to see the John Conner of the future as a struggling but good-hearted leader rather than a generic warrior god/saviour has no longer been squandered, thanks to Q2's skillful editing.
The pacing, action and motivations are all repaired and streamlined here, with character motivations and choices much clearer. My only quibbles are that now it's less clear why the machines pick out Kyle from the rabble of humans and why John is able to survive such a seemingly mortal blow at the end without the "heart transplant" section, but neither of those are major problems and a moment of head-scratching is still a worthwhile trade-off for the countless improvements. The chance to see the John Conner of the future as a struggling but good-hearted leader rather than a generic warrior god/saviour has no longer been squandered, thanks to Q2's skillful editing.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Although I never really disliked this movie as so many others did, it was still not as good as it could have been. Q2 has turned it into a vastly superior film to the original, the editing is perfect and the pacing is much improved and at no point was I bored like a few times in the original. The new intro set the tone perfectly for the rest of the film and the new conclusion also works better then the original. So thanks Q2 for improving this movie and turning it into how a Terminator should be and a worthy inclusion into the series.
Y
Overall rating
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
9.0
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
F
Overall rating
8.3
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
8.0
Quality - Good. A little soft for my liking, but perfectly fine.
Visual editing - pretty much flawless, except that the fades on the flashback to the prison cell felt unnatural to me (might be a true black thing?).
Audio editing - excellent for the most part. Although, once again, the flash back to the prison didn't really work for me. Narratively, it was fine. But it was the only part of the editing that just felt off - plus, the audio on Sarah's tape was a bit too quiet and difficult to hear. A direct comparison to the audio from the other tape scene shows a relatively big difference.
Narrative - good. An improvement? Not so sure. Q2 fixes some problems, but creates others. The removing of the rain scene robbed Marcus and the girl of development, and made both the attack seem abrupt and the "I'm cold" scene feel rushed. The removal of her willingness to offer antibiotics also just felt off to me and robbed the scene of a conclusion (she shoots him in the leg, but we don't see him exit?)
I was pleased to see that the twist that Marcus is a Terminator delayed, but it also felt that as a result the reveal of how he came to be what he is was less clear. Its a case of picking the lesser of 2 evils, unfortunately.
Enjoyment - Good. I enjoyed it. I recognise Terminator Salvation as a flawed film, but I've never thought it as bad as many people seem to. It's by no means a work of art, but it's competently made, has decent effects, good action sequences, a reasonable story (granted, with holes) and a good twist. I think both this cut and the original have thier strengths and weaknesses.
Terminator Genysis - now THAT'S a bad film.
Visual editing - pretty much flawless, except that the fades on the flashback to the prison cell felt unnatural to me (might be a true black thing?).
Audio editing - excellent for the most part. Although, once again, the flash back to the prison didn't really work for me. Narratively, it was fine. But it was the only part of the editing that just felt off - plus, the audio on Sarah's tape was a bit too quiet and difficult to hear. A direct comparison to the audio from the other tape scene shows a relatively big difference.
Narrative - good. An improvement? Not so sure. Q2 fixes some problems, but creates others. The removing of the rain scene robbed Marcus and the girl of development, and made both the attack seem abrupt and the "I'm cold" scene feel rushed. The removal of her willingness to offer antibiotics also just felt off to me and robbed the scene of a conclusion (she shoots him in the leg, but we don't see him exit?)
I was pleased to see that the twist that Marcus is a Terminator delayed, but it also felt that as a result the reveal of how he came to be what he is was less clear. Its a case of picking the lesser of 2 evils, unfortunately.
Enjoyment - Good. I enjoyed it. I recognise Terminator Salvation as a flawed film, but I've never thought it as bad as many people seem to. It's by no means a work of art, but it's competently made, has decent effects, good action sequences, a reasonable story (granted, with holes) and a good twist. I think both this cut and the original have thier strengths and weaknesses.
Terminator Genysis - now THAT'S a bad film.
T