TERMINATED SCENES FROM
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
In a less than 30 second scene, after Sarah punches in her time card at the restaurant, we cut to a shot of her locker (with her name on it) and see her walk up to a mirror criticizing her wholesome image at a job she hates. The reason why this scene is cut is for being just as self-explanatory as the scenes of Sarah of working at her job. We already see her name when she punches in her time-card and watch her unhappily work at her job in the scene that follows. Why bother showing a middle to this with information we already know about her identity (TWICE in the same deleted scene, incase if someone in the audience can't read), and having a scene that visually shows her misery after? Nothing new is gained here.
In the scene when the Terminator kills the wrong Sarah Connor, the scene was originally going to end with the machine casually walking to its car as children and neighbors flee the scene. I can see why the scene was cut. It doesn't enhance the story in anyway. But I don't think it would've hurt the film if it was kept. The image of seeing this cyborg treating a killing it committed in public in broad daylight as if it just swated a fly, not caring or acknowledging the cries from the children (most likely one from the woman it killed) around it is incredibly chilling. It's pretty messed up the more I think about it. But then again what do you expect from a machine that's programmed to kill?
Regarding authority figures in the first two films who saw Kyle and Sarah's stories about the future to be crazy, the only likable character in that category was Lieutenant Traxle. Unlike his sidekick Detective Vukovic, and Dr. Silberman who were very condescending and didn't always take their job seriously, Traxler always remained humble and professional. In the deleted scenes we see this character be given a bit of an arc. The first couple of scenes show him and Vukovic taking part in the chase after the shoot-out in the "Tech-Noir", that are so brief that their involvement in the chase is unneeded. But after Kyle's interview, we see Traxler standing silently puzzled about Kyle's story of the Terminator hoping that he is crazy. Towards the end of the shoot-out at the police station as Kyle and Sarah make their escape, they find him slowly dying, handing Kyle his gun telling him to do what he must to keep Sarah alive. Traxler believing Kyle's story doesn't add a lot to the plot, but given how much time we spent with him where he becomes the fourth important character in the movie for finding ways to warn Sarah and protect her, it seemed a little unsatisfying that he wasn't given much of a proper farewell. It's honestly refreshing to see in retrospect that someone who would accuse one of the main characters for insanity and lock them up for it, not only fully accepts that their sane when proven innocent but try to aide them before meeting their maker. This idea would be handled much better with Miles Dyson in the second film, but he's never shown trying to apprehend any of the protagonists, which is what makes Traxler's arc so amusing.
The following three Terminated scenes focus on the relationship between Sarah and Kyle. The first one happens after Sarah wakes up from her nightmare visions of the future. Sarah calls her Mother telling her to hide-out in the cabin, and she looks up the computer company responsible for the end of humanity "Cyberdyne System" in the phone book. Discovering the address, she tells Kyle her plan about blowing-up the company to prevent the future from happening. Kyle rejects the decision for not being part of his mission, and Sarah angrily runs-off and gets into a struggle with Kyle in the woods, eventually causing him to pull out his gun on her from his war instincts. Sarah cries to Kyle about not wanting to spend the rest of her life running away from the Terminator, but Kyle doesn't listen. Shocked by the beauty of the forest (the only place in the movie that isn't sleazy or dark and gloomy), Kyle slowly begins to break-down at how everything he sees is gone. Sarah comforts Kyle by telling him they can change it, causing Kyle to agree with her plan. This is the longest terminated scene out of the bunch, and while I know this scene will slow-down the tension, it's a very moving and character-driven scene. This is the moment where Sarah begins to take command, no longer being the innocent victim, which Hamilton gives a performance as powerful as she would be in the sequel where her character fully evolves. As Sarah has her moment of change, so does Kyle. Up until this scene, Kyle is always shown to be tough and angry, acting as strong and objective as a machine. All it takes for him to truly realize what is lost is how beautiful the world did look before the war, revealing the human side of his character since all his life he was trained to be a soldier which has dehumanized him. Biehn's acting does feel a little soap-operaish but his emotions are still felt. The best part about this scene is that Sarah's motivation to prevent the future from happening would have started here. In the context of the film's plot it doesn't feel needed, especially when its highly successful sequel has made perfect use of it. Still it's overall an excellent scene that develops these two characters so effectively.
As the two are making Pipe Bombs to blow-up "Cyberdyne", Sarah gets excited about showing Kyle what the past is like before the future. Kyle on the other hand is not too enthusiastic about it because he's still stuck with his mind set on war. Sarah hopes if their mission is successful the war will be over for Kyle, but to him it will never be over. In response to Kyle's feelings she now feels that she's officially part of the war after crossing paths with Kyle and the Terminator. This is a well-acted scene as Hamilton and Biehn still share such moving chemistry together. However, the stuff they talk about is already information we can easily gather ourselves that doesn't need to be spelled out to us. It does give a point to why Kyle is all of sudden making Pipe Bombs, but we can assume in the theatrical cut that he was going to use it on the Terminator after no longer feeling the need to follow Sarah around and wait for it to move-in so he can get a face of what the human-like cyborg looks like.
Following the romantic sex scene, Sarah tickles Kyle as they are still lying in bed together. It's nice to see a moment with Kyle smiling showing what he could've been like if he lived in the past. It does a better job showing it than the brief scene when Kyle laughs from Sarah playfully toying around with him, since he's still in war mode. But it does break the tension of the chase scene that follows, and as sweet as it is, I'd much rather stick with Cameron's alternate option with showing Kyle being happy.
At the end of the climax before Sarah is taken to the hospital, we witness one of the heads inside the factory discovering the Terminator's computer chip after being dismantled with the intention to use it as inspiration for future projects. Once Sarah is brought inside the ambulance, the camera pans up as ominous music plays to reveal that the factory where Kyle and Sarah were when they fought against the Terminator was at the very same company that would be responsible for Judgement Day. Seeing this scene in retrospect with the second film in mind, while showing how they found the chip, we never see them find the mechanical arm nor is there any indication that it was already taken. Unknown to how they retrieved the arm without the authorities noticing it is a big plot-hole, making it seemed retcon in the second installment if it was left in. Though to be fair (not counting any other sources outside the films), it's never fully established how the Terminators in the second film were still able to cross through time after John Connor blew-up the time displacement equipment. Regardless if the scene makes sense or not in context to the second film, the reveal of where the climax took place and how the aftermath of it effects the future plays out like an ending to a "Twilight Zone" episode, making this realization eerie and full of dread.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The absences for these scenes are quite valid as the film in its final cut works perfectly without them. The reason for this is because most of these scenes don't contribute much to the overall story for how short they are. With that said, I'd still be interested in seeing a cut of this film with most of these scenes edited into the film. Scenes like the cops taking part in the chase, the scenes with Sarah and Kyle in the kitchen and in bed, and Sarah looking at herself in the mirror wouldn't be missed for mainly stating and showing the obvious. But the rest of the scenes that follow are interesting, emotional, and scary. The Terminator walking away from the scene of the crime is uncomforting; Lieutenant Traxle believing in Kyle's story gives this character a perfect send-off; the scene with Kyle and Sarah in the woods nicely shows the character's evolving; and the reveal of "Cyberdyne Systems" is haunting. They're just great moments that deserve to be seen within the context of the movie. I'm not saying that an alternate cut of the film means to rid the theatrical version for good, it just would be highly amusing to see most of them restored for at least a limited time. If Cameron is willing to make an extended cut of the second film, I don't see why this should be an exception.
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