Terminator Genisys has not done overly well so far domestically in its first week at the theater, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t tried. After five days in release, it has brought in $131 million worldwide, and fans are starting to run to it a bit more now, thanks to word of mouth. With that, it’s great to look for some of these Easter Eggs and inside jokes that connect the franchise together.
There could be some SPOILERS ahead so read on at your own risk.
1. Kyle Reese narrates the opening of the film and it details that Judgment Day came from Skynet on August 29, 1997. That is the date from T2: Judgment Day , and it essentially pays no attention to Rise of the Machines or Terminator: Salvation .
2. John Connor (Jason Clarke) calls his mother by her first name — Sarah. That is the same way that he kept referencing her in T2: Judgment Day .
3. The line “Come with me if you want to live” is spoken in every single Terminator film, but this is the first time that Sarah says it.
4. As Sarah, Pops, and Kyle are speeding away in their armored truck, they slam into a car that may look familiar to you — the Delorean from Back to the Future .
5. When Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) first travels back to 1984, the scenes and lines are recreated almost identically to the original Terminator film. It only changes once the T-1000 and Guardian/Pops arrives on the scene to interfere.
6. In case you didn’t realize it, Danny Dyson (the one seemingly in charge of Skynet) is the young boy playing with a remote-controlled car in T2 . He is now in charge of Genisys with his father, Miles Dyson played by Courtney B. Vance.
7. The T-1000 (Byung-hun Lee) almost totally mirrors Robert Patrick’s character from T2 . Not only does he disguise himself as a cop, but he takes the bullets the same way and transforms in the same manner.
8. As O’Brien (JK Simmons) shows up at the hospital, other detectives call him “Optimus Prime” to make fun of his robot obsession. O’Brien originally thought that Sarah and John were aliens, and that’s actually what the Autobots are.
9. In the final scene, young Kyle Reese has a dirt bike that is very similar to that of young John Connor in T2 .
10. When Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) shoots the second Terminator (young Arnold), the T-800 turns around and gives her a thumbs up. This could be looked at as some kind of back-programming from T2 , especially the final scene.
11. Even though Rise of the Machines is largely ignored, the bus flip on the Golden Gate bridge is almost identical to construction truck flip in the third film.
12. Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese are transported forward in time and appear in the middle of a highway. This is a reference to The Sarah Connor Chronicles which ran on television for just two seasons as John and Sarah do the same at the end of the pilot episode.
13. In the final fight scene, Pops gets an arm taken off and Kyle Reese ends up using it to fight John Connor. Some believe that it’s a loose plot line, but Reese did have it at one point to fight John, and it most likely fell into the liquid metal or was destroyed.
14. The boombox plays a pretty big part in Terminator Genisys , and it looks quite familiar to the one carried by Tim in T2 . It also makes an appearance in Terminator Salvation , and it was just missing a song by Guns ‘N’ Roses.
15. “I’ll be back” is spoken by Arnie yet again, and the mid-credits scene showed that something will be back. Rumor has it that Schwarzenegger won’t be coming back for another Terminator role, but it sure seems like that isn’t true.
Easter Eggs are extremely fun to look for in films, and Terminator Genisys has no shortage of them. That can also be said for other films in theaters right now such as Inside Out , Jurassic World , and Avengers: Age of Ultron . Look for these and see if you can find any others.
[Image via IMPAwards/Paramount Pictures/ What Culture ]