Right away, Terminator Zero introduces us to what we should fear. Eiko, a resistance member in an apocalyptic future, holds her breath while hiding as the Terminator’s heavy footsteps march through a hallway of bloodied bodies. A dying soldier groans for help before a comrade activates a bomb, right before their robotic predator guns him down. Eiko shoots the bomb before bolting away into the smoke, starting a trigger-happy chase from her pursuer. Between the shots of Eiko’s escape, the Terminator’s melting “skin” exposes a chrome skull with a glowing red iris.
It’s this dance between hunter and prey that stuck with me throughout the Terminator Zero panel at Anime NYC. Showrunner and executive producer Mattson Tomlin, director Masashi Kudō (Bleach), and product design coordinator Haruka Watanabe spoke about their inspirations and involvement with Terminator Zero before and after the two-episode premiere. Their words, combined with the sneak peek into the series, sold it to me as a modern Terminator adaptation that appropriately leans into the series’ hardcore sci-fi roots while also creating something standalone.
How does Terminator Zero fit into the franchise?
Tomlin highlighted the horror elements from The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day that influenced the anime. However, Terminator Zero isn’t a continuation of the original film series with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the iconic cyborg assassin.
Similar to the Terminator films, an AI called Skynet has initiated the apocalypse after deciding humanity is a threat that needs to be eliminated in Terminator Zero. This reality is reflected in the opening where Eiko is evading the Terminator in 2022. However, the series swaps between two timelines. Back in 1997, scientist Malcolm Lee is developing an AI called Kokoro that could be the one salvation against Skynet. Unlike Skynet, which has decided humanity is a threat, Kokoro is still deciding. Eiko returns using time travel to stop Malcolm from uploading Kokoro and becomes a part of steering their fate in the process.
“We’re going on this epic saga to see if humanity has fate or not,” Tomlin said in describing the series.
The first few minutes of Terminator Zero, which Netflix already has online, shows the horrific sci-fi elements that the team adapted into the animation. As the Terminator hangs onto Eiko’s foot, my heart flutters at the thought that she might not be able to untie her boot in time or suffer a gunshot or injury because of it. Even as the cyborg falls to its “death,” the dead silence in the facility implies that the peace won’t last for long.
When the episode jumps back to the past before the AI takeover, I’m primed to feel apprehensive about machines. Whenever I see the mass-manufactured robot workers introduced at the start of the show, I feel uneasy when looking at their wide faces and lightless eyes (something that Watanabe said was intentional). Even as the store owner pounds on the head of the broken robot, I can’t help but feel he shouldn’t be doing that because of the feeling that machine might take revenge given the premise about mechanical monsters.
The fear these moments put in the heart of the watcher could only be rightfully classified as horror. Not the kind with zombies and vampires, but one with an equally dangerous and seemingly invincible villain. After the suspenseful pauses and framing, I anticipate a sudden danger that may or may not be there.
To the future: AI and beyond
Some of the horror comes from the uncanny valley of an everyday sight suddenly becoming a cause for concern. It’s one thing for aggressive AIs to be the norm; it’s another for something seemingly harmless at one moment to turn into a terror the next. The premise of AI as a helpful tool turning into an intelligent and hostile enemy haunts humanity even today, especially with the sector’s evolving technology like ChatGPT. When Malcolm’s children are bullying a seemingly innocent robot cat, I can’t help but imagine what it would be like it if it were suddenly hijacked by the all-powerful Skynet.
James Cameron, director of the first two Terminator films, once spoke about leaning more into AI if he were to ever do a Terminator reboot. Similarly, Tomlin addressed AI in the Q&A at the premiere. Terminator Zero’s production started in 2021, when AI was still in its infancy.
“It felt like [AI] had two feet both in the realm of science fiction. In 2024, it doesn’t feel that way anymore,” he said. Even seeing all the ways AI can help humanity, he knew a big challenge in Terminator Zero would be portraying the struggle between humans and AI. Exploring the redeeming qualities of humanity compared to the efficiency and objective “correctness” of machines has been a core of the Terminator series since the first movie and continues in Terminator Zero.
He aimed to answer these questions in the show: “Is there a way to find balance? Is there a way to make the world better, or are we headed straight to the apocalypse?”
Terminator Zero purposefully plays with the idea of AI and how humans interact with it. Our AIs are far from the sentient gods in the show, but the premise still asks the pertinent question: What can humans do that machines can’t? Why is humanity worth saving? It’s something Kokoro asks Malcolm in the first two episodes.
Terminator Zero isn’t the kind of series I would typically watch, as I’m someone who’s used to lighthearted everyday anime and happy fantasy endings. In some ways, it reminds me of the grim setting of Attack on Titan, where the characters have to fight back against a seemingly unstoppable foe. Terminator Zero certainly matches the level of blood and gore, which ties back in with the gritty realism that the anime attempts to copy in its adaptation. However, it’s still set in 1990s Japan in a way that makes it feel grounded in realism and explores a setting that the Terminator series has never reached before.
Anime NYC only showcased the first two episodes of the eight-episode series, so it’s difficult to predict how Malcolm and Eiko’s worlds will ultimately collide and how it’ll affect the future. But this could be the series for anime lovers looking for a thrilling action adventure with a hint of horror.
Terminator Zero launches on August 29, 2024.