Sep 2021
Here's a slew of similarities between the two.
Both films are tech noirs that came out in 1984 within a couple weeks of each other and are set in Los Angeles. They feature rugged male protagonists from dystopian futures who go back in time from the month of July to stop a bizarre threat from altering the future. While in the past, they go to punk clubs and fall in love with women who will affect their own lineage and existence. In the end, neither of these men return to their respective futures.
Then both franchises got a quasi continuation in 1988 with the Trancer's City of Lost Angels short and Terminator's emergence in Top Comics.
Big deal, right? Well, the sequels to each film both came out in 1991 within a month of each other and feature a returning lead actress who is essentially written out of the franchise after the second entry. Both sequels have our protagonists break a woman out of a mental institution run by a guy trying to further his own career.
In Trancers 3, Jack Deth is sent to 2005. In Terminator 3, the T-850 is sent to 2004. Both films feature military compounds in the process of creating the very threat each series is about.
By the third entries and beyond, the directors of the first two entries of each respective franchise left and had very little if any involvement in the franchise thereafter.The tone of each franchise changed a bit and important plot elements of each were no longer relevant. The part 3's were both okay, while the part 4's and 5's were kinda shitty.
Both 4th entries in each franchise were raped by producers. The original Terminator 4 script suffered from a zillion rewrites, while a trivia bit of Trancers 4 is: "Several budgetary problems occurred during filming, to which director David Nutter went on to say that they were resolved by simply tearing out various pages in the script." Neither film was made as originally intended.
The 5th entry of each (and 4th of Trancers) deal with deviations in the timeline and introduce the concept of alternate dimensions.
The 6th entry in each franchise is set in the 2020s and is all about girl power. As of now, there are no plans for any follow-ups to either franchise. I'd say these franchises are somewhat similar.
Both films are tech noirs that came out in 1984 within a couple weeks of each other and are set in Los Angeles. They feature rugged male protagonists from dystopian futures who go back in time from the month of July to stop a bizarre threat from altering the future. While in the past, they go to punk clubs and fall in love with women who will affect their own lineage and existence. In the end, neither of these men return to their respective futures.
Then both franchises got a quasi continuation in 1988 with the Trancer's City of Lost Angels short and Terminator's emergence in Top Comics.
Big deal, right? Well, the sequels to each film both came out in 1991 within a month of each other and feature a returning lead actress who is essentially written out of the franchise after the second entry. Both sequels have our protagonists break a woman out of a mental institution run by a guy trying to further his own career.
In Trancers 3, Jack Deth is sent to 2005. In Terminator 3, the T-850 is sent to 2004. Both films feature military compounds in the process of creating the very threat each series is about.
By the third entries and beyond, the directors of the first two entries of each respective franchise left and had very little if any involvement in the franchise thereafter.The tone of each franchise changed a bit and important plot elements of each were no longer relevant. The part 3's were both okay, while the part 4's and 5's were kinda shitty.
Both 4th entries in each franchise were raped by producers. The original Terminator 4 script suffered from a zillion rewrites, while a trivia bit of Trancers 4 is: "Several budgetary problems occurred during filming, to which director David Nutter went on to say that they were resolved by simply tearing out various pages in the script." Neither film was made as originally intended.
The 5th entry of each (and 4th of Trancers) deal with deviations in the timeline and introduce the concept of alternate dimensions.
The 6th entry in each franchise is set in the 2020s and is all about girl power. As of now, there are no plans for any follow-ups to either franchise. I'd say these franchises are somewhat similar.
So, to sum up: basically, my first two sentences in my first paragraph are as close as I can get to making a substantial contribution to this thread. Beyond that, I'm somewhere between agreeing with you and not knowing quite what to think.