MovieChat Forums > Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Discussion > What the hell happened to the THEATRICAL...

What the hell happened to the THEATRICAL version?


it's nowhere to be found... all streaming services i checked only have the extended version. when t2 is on television, it's the extended version etc. etc.
almost as if they want to erase the theatrical version from public memory. it's a shame, because i always preferred that one, better pacing and i found the arnold smile scene from the director's cut rather cringeworthy.

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The Extended Cut is better in every way, shape and form. End of.

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good for you, but i disagree. i liked the scene where they open arnold's head and the additional shots of t-1000's glitches, but all of the rest feels either redundant to me or even silly, as the mentioned smile scene.

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YUP.YOU DISAGREED,AND YOU SAID "CRINGEWORTHY"....VOMIT.EXTENDED CUT IS THE DEFINITIVE VERSION.

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i don't mind if people prefer the extended cut. that's not the topic here.

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Smiling is being human, and the T-800 was learning that. I find it strange you hate that scene, despite you liking the scene where the switch on the chip is flicked allowing the T-800 to learn all of that valuable human stuff in the first place! And the scene where Dyson describes what he thinks will be the positives of the Neural Net Processor are relevant too, it shows why he continues pursuing it. He has no idea that it will become self-aware and decide that humans are its enemy, that's almost unpredictable to him.

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i think it's good as bonus material for fans, but for the pacing and dramaturgy of the movie not really beneficial.

but like i said, this discussion shouldn't be about which version is superior (i guess that has been discussed in other places sufficiently).

my question is what happened to the theatrical version? are there still any sources where it can be found online?

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Who knows....may it's not available anymore since most like the extended. I have the extended and prefer it as well .....look on eBay maybe there is a used copy...

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I agree, I feel like the extended ruins the pacing of the film. That´s a shame if the theatrical isn´t available anymore.

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I prefer the extended too. I haven't watched the theatrical since buying the Extreme DVD in 2006.

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yay, i found a copy...

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where?

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VHS

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of course it can be found on physical media, e.g. the remastered 3d bluray which was released recently.
however, i needed a digital copy.

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There's another version? I've only ever seen what's on the VHS.

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I read up on it. I don't like the sound of those changes. Especially the bit where an infiltration robot isn't already programmed to mimic human behavior.

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while that scene is nice to watch, i'm also skeptical of the content. it never made much sense to me why skynet would equip terminators with a physical read/write mode switch. and even if, why would they be on read mode by default? write mode makes them more agile and efficient as infiltration units and for whatever task.

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why would they be on read mode by default?

It was explained by Arnie that Skynet only did that when sending Terminators out on their own. It didn't want them to get their own ideas. After all, that was the mistake humanity made with it.

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they're infiltrators. only by learning they can mimic human behaviour properly. strictly speaking, without a "write mode" the terminator wouldn't even be able to memorize things, such as john's orders.

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My understanding was that the read/write mode only applied to its higher level artificial intelligence functions. Obviously it could still remember things.

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The Blu Ray I have has both versions and yes I prefer the Theatrical. The extended doesn't really add anything valuable to the narrative, except maybe the Kyle Reese scene and maybe the scene of Sarah getting abused by the hospital staff which makes it all the more awesome when she beats their faces in and it now makes sense why the guy licked her face.

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Why did you previously think he ‘licked her face’?

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As a kid I actually thought he licked her face to see if she was actually really fast asleep. Though I thought it was weird her eyes were open. I'd never heard of anyone sleeping with their eyes open.

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Lol

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I mean I just assumed he was a pervert abusing his power, but in the extended version that licking scene doesn't just come out of nowhere as it does in the theatrical. Other than that the extended doesn't add anything useful.

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I prefer the extended but I think my favorite added in scenes are the scenes of the T-1000 Glitching. Like I said before the one Glitch Scene Cameron left in was too vague for most people back then. Nobody I watched it with back in the 90s got that he was glitching in that scene. Then he goes up to Sarah, stabs her, and asks her to call to John. Which makes no sense in the theatrical cut. I always wondered why he didn't just kill her right away and imitate her. He should've cut that scene out too. It makes no sense without all those other glitching scenes.

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The DVD I bought at Walmart in the $5 bargain bin a decade ago comes with both versions. The theatrical version is far better. Much better pacing, less cringey shitty forced humor, far less pretentious.

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Recorded it a few weeks back here in the UK possibly on film4 and it was the theatrical version. Think I've seen the directors cut once and while some interesting scenes like you I think the film flows better without them. Like you mentioned the chip scene is interesting but we don't need to to see Arnie is learning what it is to be human

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Like you mentioned the chip scene is interesting but we don't need to to see Arnie is learning what it is to be human
What are you talking about? Even without the extended scenes that is what the movie is about. The Terminator learning to become more human. To the point he sacrifices himself for all humanity at the end.

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Yeah and so my point is the missing scenes help to further show this and are interesting but removing them doesn't hurt the film and for me makes it flow better

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I agree that the theatrical version is much better. I recently watched the extended version, and although it does have some good information surrounding the lore of the series and explains why some things happen the way they do, like the terminator learning, there is a lot of humor that they rightfully took out and some cringy acting. Spot on about the pacing also, the extended version's pacing is not very good and the film kind of drags in those added scenes. The only thing that I think they should have kept in, briefly, was showing that the T-1000 was damaged after being frozen and then exploded, like when it touches the guardrail. I would leave out the malfunction on that last part though, when there are two Sarah's. I always liked the thought that John knew his mother well enough that she wouldn't call to him, but instead in the extended version, it shows that the T-1000 had blended with floor.

Normally you have the option to watch the theatrical or extended version when you buy the extended version.

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I do think he should've kept at least one of the extra glitching scenes cause I never figured out he was glitching at all int he scene where a line runs up his body. It just never occurred to me. Then you have this confusing scene where he tries to force Sarah to call to John and you don't even get why he doesn't just kill her and imitate her.

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Haha me either. I always just thought they were showing off cool special effects with the ripple and had no clue that he was damaged until I saw the extended version!

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