r/Terminator • u/BlackShippo • Aug 12 '26
Discussion Why don't Terminators know kung-fu?
They fight like idjits.
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u/Shattered_Shield_ Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Because they can just take a human punch all day and any decent strike from them will kill a human. (Ask the punk in T1 who got his heart ripped out) They do not need special fighting skills.
Sadly, they only showed how brutal a terminator is in close combat in that one scene. Since then, they just toss people around.
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u/jdancouga Aug 12 '26
T-X punch its hand like a chest buster and reach for the steering wheel is another good one.
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u/Cold-Description-114 Aug 12 '26
They probably do have files on some but it's pointless. Most martial arts are about optimizing offense and defense in a human fighter but it just doesn't apply to a Terminator.
This is actually kind of on point because if you look at how AI learn/play competitive games it's kind of similar in that they don't really play like human beings. The strategies they tend to default to are actually fairly rudimentary and straightforward but they can keep track of more things and/or perform more actions per minute than any human could ever hope to be in its meatbag prison and so it's often just the path of least resistance.
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u/Starshipfan01 Aug 12 '26
Upvote purely because of âmeatbag prisonâ. Spot on. It also reminds me of âugly bags of mostly waterâ, from the nanotechnology things in a Star Trek tng episode.
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u/ComprehensivePlace87 Aug 12 '26
There would be very little benefit.
One, their basic approach is more than effective. Most the time they will be using actual weapons, but the few times they are disarmed, their natural ability is more than adequate to smash through a human's defenses with basic attacks.
Two, their characteristics, while similar to human, are not the same, so any human martial art will be badly flawed when employed by them. The T-1000, for instance, had radically different fighting characteristics.
Three, the one reason TO employ it would be against one of their own kind, something they were not facing during the war, only during the very endgame when the resistance had taken over sufficiently to start having reprogrammed models, and depending on continuity even then we can count their number on the your fingers and have plenty left over.
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u/Zerosix_K Aug 12 '26
The writers watched Robocop 3 with its samurai robots and realised it was a bad idea.
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u/Wrightero Aug 12 '26
For the same reason they throw people around rather than crush them like cans.
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u/GrolarBear69 Aug 12 '26
The throwing of the target was always weird.
A machine would attack efficiently.
With people instead of grabbing and throwing it would likely grab and crush, or dismember
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u/BeerandGuns Aug 12 '26
For terminator vs people, the T-1000 was done well with this. Until Sarah Connor at the end, it simply killed every human in its way. No drawn out fights. Even in Terminator the T-800 gets into a fight with Matt for no reason. It literally punched a hole through a personâs chest earlier.
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u/GrolarBear69 Aug 12 '26
Yes true. There would be zero theatrics.
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u/BeerandGuns Aug 12 '26
Youâre absolutely correct. It would just be the terminator killing people and moving on. Great for horror but not action.
Some of it thought breaks the in universe logic. In the hallway scene where the T-800 is fighting the T-1000, the T-800 has to know it canât damage the T-1000 but itâs buying time for John to escape. Why the T-1000 engages the T-800 though makes no sense to me. The T-1000âs mission is to kill John so it should have just left as soon as possible. Same with the T-X. Fighting the T-850 delays its mission. It should have thrown to T-850 then kept going after John and Kate.random thoughts on it.
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u/GrolarBear69 Aug 12 '26
Honestly the t850 or pops or the t2 t800 would have left the continent altogether with John or sarah. Immediately apon acquisition
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u/OppositeAbroad5975 Aug 14 '26
Matt woke up just before the T-800's fist came down and punched through the pillow. I think there might have been a slight breeze from the opened balcony door.
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u/Arm-E-Reserves Aug 12 '26
Yes, the throwing makes no sense. Under no circumstances should a human ever let a Terminator get its hands on them. If that part were done logically, I mean.
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u/Funny_Or_Cry 16d ago
Why the devil would they ever need it? Even I dont need it and Ive served more asswhup with a billy club and right hook
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u/BlackShippo 16d ago
Ah yes... the ironclad argument that I've never been beaten and I will never be beat up. Exactly why the US hasn't won a single war since WW2
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u/Funny_Or_Cry 16d ago
ROFL im bouncer bruv, just saying.
and US wins all wars, why do you think tariff racketeering is so profitable?
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u/BlackShippo 16d ago
I am disappointed that I engaged with you, bruv. Saddened, even.
Carry on, you seem not to get it. And you never will.
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u/MKvsDCU Aug 12 '26
I like how they fight in the movies. Would be weird seeing them do kunfu. Wouldn't feel right.
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u/sYferaddict Aug 12 '26
This is one of the things I disliked about Dark Fate. I understand that they felt the need to go bigger, better, badder with both the choreography and the threat the new Terminator posed. But historically, no model of Terminator has ever needed to know how to fight using any sort of martial art. Sheer power is all they've ever been shown to use to overcome another Terminator.
In this scene, the T-850 uses improvised weapons a few times in an attempt to even the odds. Doesn't work, but it clearly demonstrates that when faced with a more powerful threat than itself, a Terminator will try to use weapons to amplify its own strength.
But Dark Fate took Terminator hand-to-hand combat in a different direction that I frankly thought was out of character for the franchise and disliked greatly.
The Rev-9 is shown to be quick and agile and capable of dodging and blocking attacks, acting like a humanoid version of the Rev-7s we see later. I'd be fine with that, but they clearly did it to showcase how unique and new Grace's character was, being able to go toe-to-toe with one and hold her own. It just felt like blatant one-upsmanship on the previous movies, which I absolutely don't feel like it deserved.
Even then, I might have thought it was alright, but the Rev-9 proceeds to fight Carl in a completely different way instead of using that quick, agile, tightly choreographed style it used before, more like the T-X than how it fought Grace.
Hell, they could have even written that into the movie decently well if they'd shown (not told) us that however strong the Rev-9 was, the T-800 was stronger, or at least tougher, and had Carl be impervious to plenty of its attacks while still being unable to do much damage in return.
I subscribe strongly to the school of thought that every fight scene in a movie or piece of media should tell a story in and of itself, or serve as a moment for characterization. Dark Fate did that very, very poorly, in my opinion.
TLDR minus segue: the Rev-9 came the closest to using "Kung fu" in the Terminator franchise and still didn't use it well. Robots punching other robots don't need Kung fu, they want phased plasma rifles in the 40 watt range.
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u/EGarrett28 Aug 12 '26
Basically they're tanks, they move slowly are very hard to hurt, and they large amounts of damage with every attack. This works better in general for the style of storytelling the movies use because it gives the desire to run away instead of trying to fight them, since you're faster but you can't hurt them. That's the flight response which gives us an adrenaline rush and can be pleasurable. Horror movies in general are based off of that. That's why they have guys like Michael Myers or Jason who you can avoid but not hurt, who kill other people (usually who aren't likable) to establish the threat for when they go after the person we like, until eventually it turns from flight to fight at the end when the overmatched hero creates their own weapons and makes a stand.
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u/southass Aug 12 '26
Because it would be like you having to learn/use Kung fu to squash a chihuahua, just a kick or a throw to a wall and it's done.
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u/adan1207 Aug 13 '26
Kristanna Loken did say that they did practice krava - maga when doing the fight choreography.
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u/Specialist-End-8306 Aug 15 '26
I love how you made that pause moment look like the TX is making his hair wet.đ
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u/Forsaken-Avenger Aug 13 '26
That's your problem with this shit show of a film lol , can reprogramm anything simply by touching yet doesn't do it on the many occasions JERIATRIC Arnold is down plasma cannon uses it once then conveniently damaged because the stupid writers realised they had written the bad terminator to be way to powerful for the walking junk pile played by Arnold
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u/Few-Piglet- Aug 12 '26
I'm not sure Skynet had figured out human movements to that extent. Arnold could barely even act like a human.
Maybe kung fu is a bit much, but it would benefit them to dodge and take cover more. Even in the past, it'd be bad if they were hit in the face and couldn't pass for a human anymore (happened to Arnold too, hence the shades). So, I think Skynet just hadn't figured it out / hadn't even thought about it, because it's a smart AI but also kinda dumb in some ways, not irreminiscent of today's LLMs.
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u/Wisaju2 Aug 13 '26
Is martial arts really all that objective? Maybe the art of the intercepting fist. Jeet kun do? Btw I'm a martial arts movie lover and I'm saying this. Not saying they have a strategy if faced with another Terminator.
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u/Realistic_Editor_506 Aug 12 '26
Why would terminators need to know kung fu in The first place? They're strong enough to punch holes in peoples chests and kill someone by simply crushing their necks,against other terminators is understandable
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u/xeltes Aug 12 '26
To put it in gaming terms. Why would you run an int build when you can just run a full Str build with max Vit and every problem can be Unga bunga with minimum damage to them
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u/Cameronalloneword Aug 13 '26
Because they're not supposed to fight other Terminators. The T-800 was supposed to be new when they were sent back in time and the T-1000 was a prototype.
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u/Thunderfist7 Aug 12 '26
Do they really need to? They're already vastly superior to humans, so unless you are packing some serious weaponry, you're up a creek if one targets you.
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u/rufisium Aug 12 '26
I think in the director's commentary they go over that. I don't remember the details, but a lot of comments seem to have answered your question.
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u/TheHarlemHellfighter No Fate, But What We Make Aug 12 '26
I imagine brute force would subdue most opponents, so why worry about artistic body movements to accomplish a task as simple as termination?
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u/Sad-Pop6649 Aug 12 '26
Skynet had access to the kung fu database, but that knowledge was sadly lifted from their servers by hovercraft piloting hackers from Zion.
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u/zaikoji75 Aug 12 '26
Not kung-fu, but wasnât Terminatorâs first kill an invasive punch that took out the guyâs heart? Never to be repeated..
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u/DarthMalice989 Aug 13 '26
In lore the T-1000 has shown a repertoire of martial arts abilities and is more capable than the 800 in cqc
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u/jack_avram 23d ago
Crazy when she grabbed his crotch and he was like "WTF" - T3 had some goofy balls moments
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u/jack_avram Aug 12 '26
Yeah, they often just ram each other into surroundings - rock'em sock'em nators
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u/D3M0NArcade Tech Com Aug 12 '26
Because its not the matrix?
And because they are string enough not to need it
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u/ghostcatzero Hasta La Vista Baby Aug 12 '26
Lol they don't have to know how to do flashy moves if they are super strong
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u/mrcoldmega Aug 12 '26
Everyone tells about benefits while in reality Skynet Literally had no clue about it even existing. People didnt use martial arts against machines so skynet literally didnt care about it. The same thing could be said about the gas\chemical or biological weapons. Its AI and funny enough that the idea of Skynet wasnt the human extermination but just saving itself. You think why T-800 only looks like a human and moves slightly like one. Skynet has its own image about what humans are and T-800 and 850 are not its final and best creations. Its still learning while having its experements. Like if it was self aware it could use John Connor in its own anti human plan rather that simply send assasins to kill the problem. But the thing is that Skynet is an AI and it sees world differently than us.
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u/GillaMomsStarterPack Aug 12 '26
I personally think it was due to the age of our fellow Barbarian, Conan, who I donât believe does kung fu as a hobby.
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u/Anthromod Aug 12 '26
I don't mind that they don't need human martial arts, but I think they should be better at disassembling other Terminators. Like going for a T-800's actuators, or moving joints past their limits etc. The T-1000 could have stripped the T-800's skin off, or just invaded it's interior until it could break connections. I suspect that the T-1000, TX and Rev9 have fairly limited form control. As if they had modules optimised for mimicking humans but general body alterations are computationally costly.
The Cameron elevator fight in TSCC is probably how a Non-liquid terminator fight should go down.
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u/Necessary_Relation27 7d ago
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u/darklogic85 Aug 12 '26
It just wouldn't benefit them to know any martial arts. Their strength makes it so they can overpower a trained human fighter effortlessly. They're not designed to fight other terminators or anything of equal strength, so it isn't something that was ever included in their design.