Question about Terminator 2

[JesterFace]

Arnold was the baddie in the first Terminator.... However, at the time of the release of T2 was it known that in the sequel he would be the good guy and someone we might have originally thought was the good guy was actually the baddie?

I started wondering this when watching that movie recently. The scene in the arcade when John escapes to a hallway and both Terminators arrive in the different ends of the corridor, was that the actual moment we learned Arnold was now good and protected John?

 

[NCC-73515]

Only if you didn't see the trailer

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I watched it with a friend who didn't know anything (before we went to watch Genisys), and he was soooo confused until the T-800 explained it

 

[Guy Gardener]

I saw this 18,000 times before I saw the movie.

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[Starkers]

The film definitely plays it like Robert Patrick is the new Kyle Reece and Arnie is just another remorseless killing machine at the start, but I definitely knew before I saw it that this wasn't actually the case.

 

[Captaindemotion]

They really did mess up with the trailer, insofar as it gave away the twist. Maybe at that stage with Arnie having become more established as a heroic box office draw they wanted to emphasise that side of him when publicising and promoting the movie. But I don’t know anyone who saw the film at the time it came out and was surprised when his Terminator proved to be a good guy (though I’m sure there were some who hadn’t realised beforehand).

 

[Guy Gardener]

Hmm?

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[The Wormhole]

Yeah, the promotional material made it clear well in advance that Arnold was the good guy of the movie. I remember back when Star Trek Into Darkness was in theatres, after the cat was out of the bag about Khan, Orci actually cited T2 as his reasoning for trying to keep Khan such a secret, saying that the T-800 being revealed to be a good guy in T2 could have been the greatest plot twist in cinematic history if the promotional material hadn't already given it away.

 

[JesterFace]

They should not have given it away before opening night.
It could have been something like The Empire Strikes Back "No, I am you father" moment.
Almost....
Maybe there should have been two completely different trailers, one before the movie was released and another one after it was out. Well, bit late for that advice.

 

[NCC-73515]

Just like the SFS trailer showed that the Enterprise explodes, which the makers wanted to keep secret

 

[Timby]

Just like the SFS trailer showed that the Enterprise explodes, which the makers wanted to keep secret

They put it in the trailer because Gene Roddenberry had already leaked it to the fanzines and the press, so Harve Bennett said, "Fuck it, that's our money shot for the movie, put it in the promo."

 

[Smiley]

In the case of T2, the reveal that the T-800 is working to protect John comes just before the big vehicle action sequence in the first act, so I'd say that is fair game for the marketing.

The best made films like Empire Strikes Back and The Wrath of Khan are still satisfying on rewatches, even though all of the twists and surprises are known.