Terminator 2: The Ultimate Edition (1991) DVD Review – UK

The Terminator is back, but this time on a mission to protect John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance, against an advanced morphing machine sent to eliminate him.

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The Terminator is back, but this time on a mission to protect John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance, against an advanced morphing machine sent to eliminate him.

Runtime

2 Hours 36 Minutes

Region

Region 1

Sound

Dolby Digital 5.1 EX

Aspect

2.35:1

Release year

1991

Details

Skynet, the self-aware computer waging war on humanity, has managed to send a second Terminator back through time. This time the target is John Connor himself, still only a teenager, and the machine sent to kill him is a terrifying new model: the liquid-metal T-1000, faster, smarter and far more advanced than the original T-800.

Fortunately, the resistance has also sent a protector back - an older T-800 model reprogrammed to find John and keep him alive at all costs. Meanwhile Sarah Connor, traumatised by the events of the first film and burdened with knowledge no-one believes, has been locked away in a mental institution. With the T-1000 closing in, John must free his mother, survive a relentless pursuit and work out whether the machine standing beside him can really be trusted.

As the chase escalates from shopping malls to storm drains and into the heart of Cyberdyne Systems, the film becomes a race against time to prevent the creation of Skynet itself. It's a relentless action ride, but it also has something the majority of blockbusters don't - a surprisingly strong emotional core, as John attempts to teach the Terminator what it means to be human, and Sarah battles with the fear that fate may be unavoidable.

Picture & Sound

The picture quality is quite remarkable for its time. Colours are bold and vibrant, with no visible artifacting and a very stable image throughout. The opening nuclear nightmare sequence, with its rolling flames and crushed metal, is handled superbly. I remember my laserdisc copy struggling to keep that image stable, but here the truck grille in the opening future war scene is rock solid and perfectly defined. That said, the transfer can occasionally appear a little heavy on contrast, giving some scenes a slightly over-processed look, and minor print imperfections are still visible.

The sound and channel separation on this disc are simply stunning. From the opening battle sequences through to the Cyberdyne assault, the subwoofer is given a mammoth workout. Surround channels are not constantly active for the sake of it, but when employed they are used intelligently - helicopters sweep convincingly across the soundstage, gunfire ricochets with precision, and the musical score carries impressive weight. This is a reference-quality action mix for its era.

The inclusion of both Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES tracks will be of particular interest to home cinema enthusiasts. Switching between formats during the THX intro makes the differences immediately apparent, with the DTS track offering slightly greater punch and presence. For those with the equipment to take advantage of it, this disc provides one of the more impressive early demonstrations of multi-channel sound.

Menu & Extras

I'm always suspicious of a company which produces a "collector's booklet" which turns out to be nothing more than useless information or a few pieces of paper stapled together. Fortunately, what we have here is an interesting set of production notes along with photographs of the cast and immense chapter listings of both discs.

There are so many extras that they take up their own disc resulting in a total running time of over 6 hours on one DVD! The special edition has a number of interesting restored scenes. Amongst them are a number of scenes between John and the Terminator where the cyborg explains some of the limitations of his neural-net processor and John's attempts to reprogram him. There is also an expansion on John's attempts to 'humanise' the cyborg with a failed attempt at teaching him to smile. There are also plenty of other restored scenes which explain more about the T-1000 and how Miles Dyson's obsession led to the formation of Skynet and how they destroy all of the computers at Cyberdyne's labs.

Interesting enough, there is an insert in the disc mentioning that 'some of the advanced features' used during the creation of the disc may cause navigation problems on some DVD players. Fortunately I had no such problems with my Pioneer player. Perhaps these could be similar problems which certain players encountered when The Matrix was released.

This THX certified disc also includes the Optimode test package, allowing users to fine-tune contrast, brightness, colour balance, speaker phase and LFE crossover. For serious home cinema enthusiasts this is a genuinely useful addition rather than simple filler.

Overall

If there was ever an example of a film company flogging something to death then you need look no further than this disc. I'm certain many of the owners of the previous editions of T2 are a little miffed to say the least. However, I'm sure that these owners are still desperate to learn whether they should consider buying this disc.

Well the answer to that question depends on what edition you own. If you already own the initial special edition then it would probably be hard to justify splashing out more cash for another "Making of", although the newly re-mastered Dolby and DTS ES soundtracks make it a little more tempting. However, if you already own the standard edition of T2 then you should definitely be reaching for your credit card. Let's just hope they can't find yet more content to add to another special edition!