How Many Films Are There In The "Terminator" Series?

There are currently four films in the series, the most recent being the 2009 film  “Terminator Salvation”. “Terminator Salvation” has already been released in the United States and is due for release in early June in the United Kingdom. So far, the film has received both positive and negative reviews.

The very first “Terminator” film was released in 1984 and has become an extremely popular film. The first instalment tells the story of a robot (the Terminator) who has been sent back in time to kill a woman named Sarah Connor before she gives birth to her son, John. A man named Kyle Reese is sent back in time to protect Sarah and he explains that the Terminator has been created by Skynet, who plan to destroy everything and everyone in the future. It is believed that Sarah's son will play a large part in the future war, leading a human rebellion against Skynet's robots. In response, Skynet has sent the Terminator to kill Sarah so that John will not be born and therefore will not be able to do his future duty. Kyle and Sarah spend an evening together, in which John is conceived. Later, a pregnant Sarah and Kyle try to escape the Terminator, but Kyle is killed. Sarah manages to defeat the Terminator and escapes.

The second instalment, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, was released in 1992. In between the first and second film, Sarah gives birth to John and he is ten years old in the second instalment.  Sarah has been placed in a mental institution and John is being raised by foster parents. John is aware that he has a large role to play in the future war. He doesn't believe everything his mother tells him, but realises she is telling the truth when another Terminator, the T-1000, is sent to kill him. The same Terminator from the first film is also sent back, but this time he has been reprogrammed by the future John Connor to protect the younger John. A Terminator protector has been sent rather than a human, as a Terminator stands a better chance of killing another robot than a human does. The Terminator helps John to free Sarah from the mental institution. Together, they defeat the T-1000, but the protector Terminator also has to be defeated. Having built up a kind of friendship with the Terminator, John does not want him to go, but the Terminator explains that he must be destroyed to prevent himself from being used by Skynet again. The film ends with John and Sarah saying goodbye to the Terminator as they lower him into molten steel, where he is destroyed.

The third instalment is entitled “Terminator 3: Rise of the machines”. It was released in 2003. In this instalment, another Terminator, this time the T-X, is sent back to cause destruction after the previous failed attempts by the other Terminators to kill Sarah Connor and her son, John. The T-X plans to wipe out as many of the human resistance officers as it can, including John's future wife. In this instalment, the T-X is a female robot who is more deadly than the previous Terminators. John's mother, Sarah, is now dead, having passed away from leukaemia. Once again, a protector reprogrammed Terminator (the same Terminator from the first and second films) is sent to stop the T-X. The film centres around John and his wife's escape from the T-X and ends with the protector destroying both himself and the T-X using a hydrogen fuel cell.

The fourth and most recent instalment, “Terminator Salvation”, centres around the war between Skynet and humanity, with John Connor leading the human resistance. The film also features Kyle Reese, John's father. The Character Marcus Wright also appears in the film. He possesses a robot's body but is more human than other Terminators. He unknowingly lures John into a trap set by Skynet, but later saves John's life by sacrificing himself and giving John a heart transplant.