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Since it is almost predestined that sequels will be largely inferior to their predecessors, it is always a pleasant surprise when a follow-up is as good as or even better than the original. So I guess you're now expecting me to say that Terminator 2 is one of those rare exceptions, but I'm not going to, because I don't think it is. But, I won't disagree with anyone who thinks differently, and I agree that Director James Cameron did manage to do what he had already one once with Aliens, namely make a sequel that doesn't suck.

Released in 1984, the original The Terminator was a tough, take-no-prisoners sci-fi sleeper that came out of nowhere and heralded the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger, action superstar. While in hindsight it may seem silly, Cameron originally wanted Schwarzenegger for the part of the rebel sent back in time to protect the "targeted for termination" Sarah Connor and not The Terminator; the hero was ultimately played by the slighter-of-build Michael Biehn. But Schwarzenegger wisely persuaded Cameron to let him play the titular cyborg, and the rest, as they say, is history. The film grossed over $40 million at the box office (not bad back in 1984 for a low-budget sci-fi film with no stars), enjoyed an even more incredible run on video and launched the careers of all involved.

When it came time for the long-awaited follow-up in 1991, Schwarzenegger was now SCHWARZENEGGER!, and Cameron had established himself as the preeminent action director in Hollywood with Aliens and The Abyss. Carolco funded the massive budget (which was probably more than the gross national product of most third world countries) and T2 managed to do what few sequels every had done, namely gross gazillions more than its predecessor and earn the reputation by many that it was better than the first. Alas, for me there is still something special about the first Terminator that I think T2 lacks, and I even find the sequel rather boring at times.

I'm sure I'll incur the wrath of angry T2 fans with this (great, more hate mail), but here goes. James Cameron cannot write dialogue. He is a master of action, plotting and pacing, and is a brilliant editor, but geez, those lines he saddles poor Edward Furlong with! You gott love the returning Linda Hamilton's sheer aggressiveness, but it must have been hard to say some of these lines with a straight face. And even more so in the extended cut, the film's middle section drags on and on. There are some killer action sequences to be sure, but the film gets heavy handed and laborious precisely when it should have just gotten to the climax. Compared to the first Terminator, which made the best of its low budget and was far more compact and streamlined in design, Terminator 2 feels overbloated.

And now I'll say what is heretical. I always thought the film's big effects coup, the "liquid metal" T-1000, looked lame. I know, I know, it unleashed the monstrosity that is "morphing" unto the world, but even by the rules and structure of the fantasy world Cameron created, the effect feels like a cheat. (But Peter, without morphing we never would have had the imaginative special effect of bullet time in The Matrix - Dan) While in the framework of the film I could believe that a liquid metal Mr. Roboto could goop around and kill people, I'm still confused as to how his clothes and skin miraculously reappear at a moments notice. And where is his CPU central processing unit located, and how are all the individual molecules bound together? And how come whenever the T-1000 gets split apart or blown up, all the pieces can still function? And if the machine is supposed to be liquid metal by Earth standards (this is still, after all, supposed to be a "realistic future"), how does the metal heat itself up and cool itself off so quickly?

Perhaps I'm asking too many questions. The film can be a heck of a lot of campy fun. It is just and one big action spectacle full of explosions, car chases, lots of cyborg fighting and Edward Furlong spouting lines like "Affirmative" in his mini-Keanu Reeves baritone. And any movie that features a Terminator asking, "Why do you cry?" has to be worth something. But what do I know? If it has been awhile since you've seen Terminator 2: Judgment Day, just sit back and crank it up. This new T2 Extreme Edition DVD is pretty rockin', so let's see what Dan thinks of the quality...

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Finally! A DVD of Terminator 2 has been released without obnoxious edge halos. Having been disappointed by the transfer of Artisan's August 2000 release of the Ultimate Edition - a transfer that looked very much the same as the original T2 release of October '97, independent of the addition of the scenes that extended the film - I was a bit wary. But for the Extreme Edition Artisan has created a new 1080p24 high definition transfer (the source of the proof-of-principle HD DVD-ROM experiment included in this two-disc set).

This is a wonderful transfer compressed with great care; this is made immediately apparent by the appearance of the white opening titles. In every previous release, the white was brighter at the transition between the interior of the letters and the background. Here, the letters are uniformly white. This initial impression was born out as I watched a lovely, detailed, film-like presentation. Small object detail, like facial features in long shots, and fine textures, like the weave of the institutional clothing worn by Sarah Connor, are brilliantly conveyed to the screen. Shadow detail in the many night scenes is first-rate. Compression artifacts simply aren't there; I could see no mosquito noise or blocking. Pure colors are conveyed with no chroma noise or smearing. My only nitpick is a tendency of flesh colors to lean very slightly toward blue, imparting a vague, unnatural pinkness. Regardless, it was a pleasure to revisit the film with a new level of clarity. Well done.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital EX mix is a blast. Very deep bass extends into the region of tactile feel. Explosions, gunshots, any loud sound effects with considerable bass energy have tremendous visceral impacts. Even the bike that the Terminator appropriates at the beginning of the film has a great sense of audible presence. A quick but strictly subjective impression comparing this track to the EX mix found on the Ultimate Edition was difficult since I had to swap out discs and navigate through opening screens and menus before starting. I could be wrong, but I was left with the impression that the average level had been reduced on this Extreme Edition DVD to accommodate greater headroom for a more impressive dynamic range. The surround channels are very active and directional cues may be heard emanating from all directions behind and around the viewer; the surround field imaging is outstanding. Brad Fiedel's raucous score is reproduced with conviction and bite. The dialog has great presence, particularly Linda Hamilton's voiceover work; it is probably the best example of “in-the-room” voice fidelity I have heard from a motion picture DVD.

The DTS track found on the Ultimate Edition has been dropped in favor of a couple of other audio options. An English track is mixed for the Dolby Headphone process, which provides a simulated sense of three- dimensional space with a pair of stereo earphones. And then there's the commentary track that I'll describe in the supplement section.

The audio is supported by English and Spanish subtitles, and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

To offer a third release of this film on DVD, Artisan had to prepare something special, and the studio certainly built some compelling extras into this Extreme Edition. As in the Ultimate Edition, the supplements are spread over two discs. The first disc contains the extended version of the film, but as Peter published in a daily column, the theatrical version is available as an easter egg that utilizes seamless branching, “just go to the main menu, select Play Extended Version, and click right five times on the remote. Voila! You get the theatrical cut...”

There are two significant extras on disc one, The Interactive Mode and a brand new commentary. The Interactive Mode is accessible from the Sensory Control screen. This text-based option simultaneously superimposes two sets of factoids on the screen. In the upper left, shown in yellow, are explanations of filming location. Sets, locations, and miniatures, for example, are identified. On the bottom of the screen you'll find a continuous collection of trivia in white lettering that relate directly to the scene. This running text commentary is dense with detail and very informative. Sometimes you'll see an arrow pointing to a cameo; watch for Van Ling in the CyberDyne research center. From time to time on the upper right, the Cyberdyne logo may appear. Similar to the White Rabbit feature of The Matrix DVD, pressing Enter on your remote control or computer will branch to a 4:3 video snippet demonstrating the crew and players at work, or perhaps some stills accompanied by comments or an interview. Owners of the Ultimate Edition will recognize some of these elements. Artisan has very thoughtfully window-paned these 1.33:1 interactive supplement images in the anamorphic frame, so objects appear in proper proportion without having to modify your display mode. Thank you Artisan; nicely done.

The second supplement on this disc is a new feature- length, screen-specific commentary with writer-director James Cameron and co-writer William Wisher. This is a great conversation between the two filmmakers in which the plot, the characters, and the meaning of the film is discussed. More importantly, Cameron offers fascinating details, trivia, and anecdotes from the shoot. He delves into the technical aspects, describing the special effects and the techniques used to fool the audience. Cameron is known for his concern for detail, so he has a lot to offer. I thoroughly enjoyed this commentary.

This is a THX certified DVD, so you'll also find the THX Optimizer on this disc. Remember, these test patterns only apply to this disc; they are not absolute, as you'll find on such DVDs as the AVIA Guide to Home Theater.

The rest of the supplements are on disc two. Click on Information Programs to get to the featurettes. Wait too long and a naked Terminator will give you a dirty look. Here you'll find a newly produced featurette by Van Ling. In No Feat But What We Make (24:25), James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Dennis Muren, and Stan Winston are prominently featured. They discuss the early history of CGI and its development to present day, including its application in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The short explains why Cameron should be considered the director responsible for pushing CGI technology, first in The Abyss, then in T2. Even Dennis Muren admits that T2 made Jurassic Park possible. Some interview footage from 1993 is integrated into the short, but much is new. This is a fine documentary, informative and entertaining. The second short is entitled T2: On The Set (8:23). This is a montage of candid moments from the shoot. We see the filmmakers and the players at work and at play. We also get to see the occasional goof, like when Schwarzenegger hit Furlong on the head with a shotgun. Droll and delightful.

Oddly, no trailers or other promos are included. But wait, there is more...

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

These supplements are also on disc two. Click on DVD ROM from your InterActual Player and be transported to some clever applets in the
"T2 FX Studio." The first is the T-800 Match Move Studio. This cute little application allows you to import a JPEG file, match the shape and size of a translucent terminator skull to a face, and then inflict some serious damage. The result can be exported to another JPEG file for distribution. Just don't send the picture to an ex-lover; you'll find yourself named with a restraining order...

The second is the T-1000 Morph Studio. Once again you can import a photo, or make that two; it's your choice. By selecting from an array of icons representing the best match to the pose of the subject in the photo, a wire frame overlays your picture. You can then pull on a variety of handles to best match the shape and size of the subject. If you had input a second image, the process of matching is then done for the second picture. If not, you have the option of selecting a T-1000 in all its chrome-like glory. You'll then be free to morph one image into the other. Cool!

The last is the Online Robot Challenge. You must be connected to the Web to access this opportunity to design your own automaton. This is rather fun interactive robot fight 'em game. Choose between different bots (you can even name 'em, too), customize them, then send them into battle against each other. Even if you choose the same robots and match them up, you'll often get different results. This is a pretty adddictive way to kill a few hours (just don't start playing at work...you might get into trouble with the boss.)

I've left the most interesting and most controversial supplement for last. It had been widely reported that in March the DVD Forum would establish the standards and specifications for the much-anticipated HD-DVD. That deadline has come and gone. We've now been told that the fall of '03 is the earliest we can expect to hear from the TG1-1HD subgroup - responsible for the “Creation of Video Format for HD-Video (HD-DVD9)” - of the Forum's Working Group 1, which oversees DVD-Video Applications. One can only imagine the politicking and lobbying going on behind the scenes; after all, obscene amounts of money in the form of royalties are involved.

It's been reported that DVD Forum is assessing a number of new CODECs, including H.264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 with an enhancement layer, and Microsoft Corporation's Corona, which may be found in its downloadable Windows Media Player (WMP) version 9. The last is favored by Warner Bros. since it may permit the use of current red laser DVDs in which Warner has a stake. In a bold and imaginative move, this Extreme Edition DVD set includes a proof-of- principle high definition transfer on DVD-ROM. The theatrical version of Terminator 2 has been encoded and compressed for playback using the WMP9 decoder.

The film has been telecined at high resolution in the 1080p24 format. Then the images were remapped to a resolution of 1440x816 anamorphic. The number 816 is about right for the active number of rows in a 2.35:1 film digitized at 1080p24 (or 1080i30, for that matter). The 1440 pixels across each row is a compromise. The 1920 pixels were remapped to reduce the amount of data (and reduce the requisite data rate) to permit more available personal computers to decode the film without dropping frames. During playback, the Windows Media player stretches the 1440 pixels per line to a restored 1920 pixels per line. Windows then scales the image to the computer display's aspect ratio and its graphics resolution as set from its desktop properties. This high definition DVD-ROM test bed will have potentially 4.5 times the resolution of a conventional DVD, but the remapping to the computer's resolution will then diminish the viewable resolution. Even a display resolution as high as 2048 by 1024 (1600 by 1200 is recommended) will require that data from surrounding pixels are mathematically blended during the remapping process to establish the RGB values for each new pixel. Regardless of the algorithm, this may be considered a form of averaging, which constitutes a low pass filter. The lower the display resolution, the softer the image will become.

Getting your system to play this high definition experiment will take some care. First, visit the web site for your display adaptor. Download and install the most recent device driver for your particular card. The WMP9 player is already on the disc, or you can download and install it from the Microsoft Media Player download page. (You may want to visit the high definition demo page, as I did, to grab several rather gigantic files.) When you configure your copy of WMP9, specify that the application should acquire Digital Rights Management Licenses automatically. Please note that Microsoft offers the following disclaimer for proper playback of its high resolution demo files, “Although other system configurations may be able to playback this content, for an optimal experience we recommend systems of at least a 2.53 GHz Intel or AMD Athlon XP 2200+ or higher processor for 720p and 3.0GHz or greater processor for 1080p. For either scenario, an AGP4x based NVIDIA or ATI video adapter card with at least 32 MB of RAM and the most recent OEM driver updates is recommended.” (To the best of my knowledge, there is no indication that you might be able to enjoy this technology on a Mac any time soon.) My current platform is a Dell equipped with a 2 GHz Pentium 4 microprocessor, so as I expected, my final results were inconsistent. Some clips dropped frames. A 2 GHz microprocessor does not seem to be enough, but my understanding is that the first of a new generation of graphics boards that includes hardware-decoding assist for WMP9 will be made available this month for about $100.

The latest build of the InterActual player is required and it's included on the Extreme Edition. When I read the back of the DVD set's keepcase, at first I was somewhat disheartened. The recommended system requirements for HD playback include: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows Media Player version 9, 512 MB of RAM, a 3 GHz Pentium 4, and a 128 MB/3D video card. Damn! How many of us own such a machine? How many of us even have such a platform as a home theater PC? But that hardware decoding assist graphics card is beginning to look mighty appealing! I pressed ahead and installed the latest InterActual player. Then I set my graphics board hardware acceleration setting to maximum (otherwise, the InterActual player will not function). (I had turned mine down to correct a problem with WMP9 before I downloaded a new graphics board driver, so I lost some time sorting that out. That's why I'm recommending starting with the installation of the most recent driver first.)

Also be aware that Artisan has imposed Digital Rights Management (DRM) on T2's HD content playback. To playback in high definition requires an active connection to the web so that you can obtain a license from them. I found that once I had obtained that license, I could play the HD content without having to reconnect to the Internet. (The DRM license is currently good for 5 days.) So if you choose to move your PC to your theater and connect it to a frequency agile projector that can accept RGB-HV, please run the HD content at least once on your computer monitor with an active web connection before you shut down and move. (Of course, if you have a telephone connection for a modem or high speed Internet access in your theater, obtaining a license in advance isn't important.) I don't know if the license has an expiration date or if it's good indefinitely on the original machine.

I connected my PC to my projector through my Extron RGB-HV switch and booted up. I then set up a new display configuration on the projector and touched up the convergence and image size. I was able to play the standard resolution DVD from my Denon DVD-9000 player and synchronize that source with the high definition version playing from my PC. That allowed me to switch back and forth between the two presentations and, with a minimal delay as my NEC projector synchronized to the scan rates, was able to perform convenient A/B comparisons. So how did the HD content look?

I must offer up-front that your experience will largely depend on what compromise there will be between stuttering (dropping frames) caused by your system's horsepower and screen resolution. The higher the screen resolution, the more computational power is required to display the images. The possible net gain in resolution over the standard definition DVD has a full potential of 450%. Regardless, even reducing my computer's display resolution down to 1024 by 768 pixels while maintaining 32-bit color (the color depth also affects computational requirements), there were clear visual improvements. The raster disappeared, allowing me to get closer to the screen, which is more involving. For relatively calm scenes, spatial resolution was noticeably improved based on skin texture, clothing weaves, hair, and other small details. Color balance and shadow detail remained the same between the two sources.

However, as impressive as the Corona CODEC appears to be, if you are forced to go with low bit rates artifacts will be visible. When we first see Sarah Connor, she's in her cell doing pull-ups on her bed frame. A close-up of Linda Hamilton's face reveals beads of sweat as she repeatedly pulls herself up into the frame. On the DVD, the beads of sweat during this dynamic motion are clearer; on the HD content, the dynamic movement masks the detail. And on more than one occasion, I noticed a subtle tearing in small areas on the interface between a bright background and a briskly moving dark object, like a swinging arm clad in a dark sleeve. At full horsepower such problems will be rendered mostly moot, but I'm left to speculate that at low bit rates, dynamic scenes will be adversely affected while relatively static scenes will still look considerably better than a 480p presentation of a conventional DVD.

I suspect that the authors of this HD content fully expected it to be viewed on a computer monitor, too small to reveal the advantages of the higher resolution and small enough to hide the flaws. Let it be said that the results will be splendid on a huge home theater projection screen and the necessary firepower. The results must exceed the performance of high definition digital videocassettes and over- the-air ATSC transmissions. The issue becomes whether the extreme computer requirements for this HD supplement of the Extreme Edition is worth the investment, even if you have a great front projector that can accept signals from your personal computer. I'd welcome e-mails concerning impressions of this HD content from any of our readers who routinely use very powerful home theater PCs connected to HD-capable front projection systems. And please consider that this noble high definition experiment only enhances the appeal of this best yet DVD release of T2.

Parting Thoughts