6:05: Logging into the Warner Bros. BD-Live account now.

6:08: There's a Harry Potter one on December 12, apparently.

6:12: Trying to figure out how to log into this commentary.

6:12: Sorry, I may have already had a few beers before this thing started.

6:15: I think it's the Director's Cut disc...

6:16: Still loading. It's a good thing I saw this movie already.

6:17: This IS December 5th right?? Why are there no screenings available?

6:25: OK I'm in. Had to join the session by joining the invite from an email. My fault.

6:26: Strange, it seems to be text only. I thought this thing was going to have audio.

6:29: There's even an option to have Event Audio "on", but it's not working.

6:30: Someone just asked him what's up with the name "McG"

6:30: Long silence.

6:31: He explains his mom actually came up with the idea to call him McG.

6:36: There we go! Commenter dishab says I had to change to Linear PCM audio to hear it. How in the hell would anyone know how to do that?

6:37: And now either McG is silent, or the audio stream somehow cut out. But he is talking about how he wanted to be a Laker.

6:39: This is seriously annoying. How would a normal person with a PS3 know to flip back and forth between Bitstream and PCM Audio? How would they even know what the hell either of those meant?

6:40: Don't get me wrong; the idea is pretty great. To have a director give live commentary and answer questions on top of the movie is a good idea. But this BD-Live implementation isn't any better than it was last year with The Dark Knight. In fact, I think it may actually be worse now.

6:42: Here's a FAQ posted by dishab in the comments in case any of you are having trouble.

6:44: I'm restarting the movie to see if that will fix the audio problem. What makes it even more frustrating is that I got it to work for about 30 seconds.

6:46: OK, now it works again. McG is talking about how they wanted to vary up the ethnicities of the survivors.

6:46: McG: "Where are all the people that hate this movie? I want these questions soon."

6:47: They're going to take a break soon. But before that they're talking about Moon Bloodgood's boobies.

6:47: The transcript on screen seems to be way delayed from what he's actually saying. 30-60 seconds.

6:48: Five minute break. And then afterwards some boobies.

6:49: I think somebody forgot to pause the movie like they did in the Dark Knight screening.

6:50: It's just silence and no typing now, but the movie is still playing.

6:53: It's starting up again in 30 seconds.

6:53: They're back. Oh they missed the boob scene. McG says he didn't want to make it the "gratuitous titty shot in a genre film."

6:54: He had to cut out some stuff like a screwdriver attack to make it a PG-13 in the theatrical release.

6:55: McG just compared his movie to The Dark Knight.

6:57: Question: how do you feel about making the horrible Charlie's Angels films?

6:57: McG: "I really like those movies. If you don't like them you can fuck off."

6:59: "I want feedback from the audience if you want another movie or not?"

7:00: From the comments the director's making, it seems like McG isn't really a fan of subtlety. I don't want to get too negative or anything...but yeah.

7:02: In answering a question about if Robert Patrick (T-1000) would be in a future movie. McG said that he might be, if there was a scientist that wanted to model a Terminator after himself. (Yes, he took that base idea from Terminator 3, in case you were wondering.)

7:03: McG just called himself heavyhanded.

7:05: Question: "What do you want for Christmas."

7:05: McG: "Blah blah let go of materialism blah blah spiritual salvation blah blah douche answer." It was pretty horrible.

7:06: I don't know how long I can deal with McG's commentary.

7:07: And now he just compared himself to Alfred Hitchcock.

7:10: You know when you're listening to a stupid person try and use big words he doesn't know the meaning of and end up using similar-sounding words that are totally different? This is like that.

7:10: You know when you're listening to a shallow person try to come up with some profound things to say, but fails miserably and sounds stupid? Yup. This is that.

7:13: The moderators are picking only the positive comments to give to McG to talk about.

7:13: He just announced that he's making another Terminator movie. Seriously.

7:15: Here's a tip that will go down in history from one of the film greats. "There's two elements that go into filmmaking. There's sound, and there's the picture."

7:16: Oh and for those people who are punching themselves in the face that he's making another one? He said he's making one after that.

7:19: McG just confessed to verbal abuse from his father when he was growing up.

7:21: And now McG is being coy about making another one? I don't get it.

7:22: McG says he only saw one episode of the Sarah Connor chronicles. And he didn't "pay attention" to the third movie. No wonder none of this shit lined up with the third movie.

7:23: It's also unfortunate that the main two characters have the names John and Kate.

7:24: And now he's talking about a second or third movie again.

7:24: I'm doing this for you, by the way, readers. Normally I would have turned this off an hour ago.

7:25: Words, words, words. He's using a lot of words to say very little.

7:27: And now the audio is cutting in and out. I actually like it more this way.

7:28: Here's a good comment from djbneozen:

Do you have to be really really full of yourself to be a director for a major Hollywood production nowadays? I'll just say it right now; T4...not that great. The movie lacked substance. No wonder they aren't really talking about it directly. I mean, specificly about what was going on in different scenes, why it was shot from this angle or that angle or what they may have cut from the movie. You know, discussing the "directing" choice in the movie with the DIRECTOR.

Batman, on the other hand, spectacular.

Jason...by the attitude of McG, I bet he had a lot more beer than you tonight.

7:30: They paused the movie to figure out the technical difficulties. Namely, the no audio-ness of what's going on right now.

7:32: You know, I think this movie is the only movie I've ever seen that was actually better when watched on the back of 7-inch airplane seat screen.

7:33: Now I have to restart the movie since the audio's still messed up.

7:34: Apropos of nothing, I just got a spam text talking about debt relief.

7:36: Anyone else like Community with Joel McHale? My favorite new show of the season.

7:37: OK audio is back. I wonder what stupid comments I just missed int he last 5 minutes.

7:37: Aaaaaaand he's talking about Hitler.

7:38: McG says once the T800 goes out, it's "curtains" for the resistance.

7:43: Wow, McG just dissed the third movie. Seriously? "We just tried to introduce credibility." Holy. Fuck. He thinks his movie is better than the third movie.

7:44: McG asked viewers who didn't like the third act, and it was all positive. Hell, I even liked the third act, because it meant the movie was ending soon.

7:46: He says Sarah Connor is going to be in the next film, but he's not sure how he's going to pull that off.

7:47: McG just says he loves what he does. Well, if I were a horrible director (I am) and got handed the reigns of a beloved franchise, I'd love it too.

7:48: McG: "I'm disappointed in myself that I couldn't make the best movie." Holy shit. He just said he thought he could make a better movie than #1 or #2.

7:49: Someone asked if McG could use Christian Bale in another one of his movies, what would it be? McG then talks about how it's good to work with Christian. And then babbles for three minutes before not answering the question.

7:52: McG talks about how he could have made a "dark ending" and ended the franchise by having [spoiler] Connor wake up from the transplant and shoot everyone else. Then it fades to black and the franchise is done.

7:53: THE MOVIE IS OVER! THE MOVIE IS OVER!!!

7:53: Thanks for reading everyone. I hope this was at least somewhat entertaining for you, as painful as it was for me. It's time to go break this Blu-ray disc so I'll never have to hear McG's voice again. Good night.

It's going to be the first audio commentary that's live streamed from off the disc, so that'll be interesting to see, even if the movie (or the commentary) won't live up to expectations.

Given the $160 asking price, no kidding. Hardcore fans can pick one up from GeekStuff4U in September, and use it with their Mac or PC.

Like your T-600 toys? Check out the T-600 Voice 'N' Vision Skull and Power Fist, or the T-600 bobble head. Good times! [Solid Alliance (translated) via Akihabara News]

Despite its unique, burly look, the Terminator was actually a standard, 9-pin controller that supported a variety of systems (including C64 and Vic-20). Today, it's both a fairly rare collectible and the only joystick that we wouldn't recommend carrying through airport security.

Looking back, I swear that I played with one of these controllers as a kid, but then again, it's just as likely the thing was a real grenade. [flickr via technabob]

The 19-year-old, a Nevada native named Sean Stanley (we publish his name in hopes of honoring, not embarrassing, this hero) was wandering nude around the highway until he was ordered to stop by police—at which point he immediately headed into a crowded casino. He was tased by police there in the casino, in full view of a group of children (nudity and gambling, now there's a great family trip), despite his claims that he was a Terminator sent from the future, a wry reference to the Terminator films.

As it turns out, Stanley was actually stoned out of his mind on LSD and pot, though we don't have concrete evidence as of publication that he is not a Terminator. Stanley was charged with indecent exposure and resisting arrest by the police, and honored by us with the prestigious Tracy Morgan Award for Intoxicated Hilarity (hence the video accompanying this story). Congratulations, Sean! [Yahoo! via Geekologie]

This mashup by IGN, Transforminators, works on so many levels that it's almost scary. Then again, it probably explains a lot about the stylistic decisions made in Terminator Salvation. If you haven't ditched out for your extended weekend yet, kill some of the company's time...before the summer blockbusters kill you. [IGN]

So, what are the preconditions, according to Singer?

1. The AI or robot has to have some sense of self-preservation and ambition, to want power or fear the loss of power.

2. The robots have to have eliminated any dependence on humans.

3. Humans have to have omitted failsafe controls, so there's no ability to turn robots or AI off.

4. The robots need to gain these advantages in a way that takes humans by surprise.

At the moment, says Singer, these conditions do not exist. "In the Terminator movies, Skynet gets super intelligence, figures the humans are going to eventually shut it down, thinks, 'I better strike first.'" However, in today's army, "we're building robots specifically to go off and get killed." He adds, "No one is building them to have a survival instinct—they're actually building them to have the exact opposite."

As far as human dependence, robots may do more and more human dirty work, but robots still need the meatbags to handle their dirty laundry. "The Global Hawk drone may be able to take off on its own, fly on its own, but it still needs someone to put that gasoline in there." Still, it's not hard to see how this precondition could eventually be overcome.

The failsafe discussion is surprisingly two sided. "It seems rather odd that people who grew up watching Terminator in the movie theaters wouldn't think, 'Hmm, maybe we should have a turn-off switch on there.'" But on the other hand, "brilliant AI could just figure a way around it." Besides, "we don't want to make the failsafe all that easy, because we don't want a robot that comes up to Bin Laden that he can just shut off by reaching around the back and hitting the switch."

We of course assume that robots will never gain the element of surprise. "You don't get super-intelligent robots without first having semi-super-intelligent robots, and so on. At each one of these stages, someone would push back." The scary thing is, Singer does acknowledge that the exponential growth of super-smart machines may indeed catch us by surprise eventually. "By the end it's happening too quickly for people to see."

No matter what preconditions are prevented deliberately, there is a point on every futurist's timeline where computers become "smarter" than humans, in terms of sheer brain capability, and no matter what happens up till that point, the game then changes completely. "In the Terminator movies, Skynet both tricks and coerces people into doing its bidding." How do we stop that from happening?

"Some people say, 'Let's just not work on these systems. If they're so many things coming out of this that are potentially dangerous, why don't we just stop?'" says Singer. "We could do that, as long as we also stop war, capitalism and the human instinct for science and invention." [More from my interview with PW Singer]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

A humanoid robot is a general-purpose robot that looks a lot like a person, complete with a head, torso, arms and legs. The "total package" humanoid can walk bipedally, like a person, and use its hands to dexterously manipulate objects in the world.

Current prototypes like the Honda ASIMO can deliver tea and politely shake hands with their human masters, but based on some great sci-fi movies, humanoid robots are supposed to be terrors on the battlefield—walking titanium endoskeletons crunching over human skulls and mowing down pesky humans with massive handheld Gatling guns.

Will we ever really see a humanoid robot army? I think so, and here are my top five reasons why.

1. There is a one-to-one mapping between the human and the humanoid body.
Robots aren't yet smart enough to play without supervision. That's why human soldiers control unmanned aerial vehicles from thousands of miles away by twiddling joysticks. It isn't easy, but flying a plane through empty space is child's play compared to maneuvering a ground-based robot through rubble and wreckage. And what if you need to do something more complicated than just stepping over a curb, like defusing a bomb?

It's called telepresence. With telepresence, a person feels as though they are the robot by controlling the robot's body and seeing through its eyes. Human-shaped robots are infinitely easier to manipulate because there is a one-to-one mapping between man and machine. Instead of shoving around a non-intuitive joystick, slide your hands into gloves that map your fingers to robot fingers thousands of miles away. Now put your human expertise to work, without putting your human butt in danger.

2. Humanoid robots take advantage of human environments and equipment.
Nothing beats a tank for crossing the desert, but what about crossing a living room? Every human city is designed for a very specific type of animal: homo sapiens. We humans come in a very specific range of sizes and weights, and our environments tend to have specific temperature, vibration and noise limits—all of which simplify the problem of designing a robot. Humanoids are naturally suited to navigating environments designed for humans; they can walk through doorways, climb steps, and see over counters and furniture.

Along with our cities, most military supplies are designed for use by humans. That means a humanoid robot can wear human body armor, boots and camouflage. In addition, it can fire standard-issue weapons and ammunition, removing a need for specially-designed weaponry. Humanoids could also potentially pilot human vehicles. Rather than creating an autonomous vehicle from scratch, just put a humanoid robot in the driver's seat of a standard vehicle. And when a robot squad is on the go and under fire, it always helps to be able to scavenge enemy weapons and improvise. The infrastructure is there, and humanoid robots exploit it.

3. Humanoid robots are easier to train.
War is largely improvised, and that means learning new tricks on the fly. So, how do you teach a robot comrade how to defuse a new type of coffee-can landmine? Without a degree in engineering, you probably don't. But given a humanoid robot, intuitive training approaches are available to regular soldiers. An easy but tedious method is to physically push the robot's limbs through the proper series of movements. Alternately, take direct control through teleoperation and then perform the activity yourself. The robot then just needs to remember how you did it.

Ideally, however, a robot can be trained just like a person—by watching. Robots who learn by demonstration can be quickly trained by ordinary people who do not speak robot-ese or do any programming. That's because it's how we learn from each other. The trainer simply performs the task (e.g., a flying scissor kick) and the robot watches and intuits how to do it. Humanoids are much better at learning by demonstration, thanks to that one-to-one mapping between its body and yours.

4. Teamwork is easier between humans and humanoids.
It is doubtful that robot armies will operate completely autonomously in the near future. Human-robot teams will likely be the norm, as they are today. Therefore, it's important to make sure that human and robot allies can work together without stepping on each others' toes. And that means they've got to have good communication.

Human combat teams communicate and cooperate using language and gestures, and by paying attention to each other's facial expressions and emotions. Robot warriors that recognize human body language will be able to make fast decisions in loud, hazardous environments. Perhaps even more important, a human soldier should be able to understand what a robot is thinking naturally, by reading its body language instead of looking up an error code in an instruction manual. Using the highly familiar human form-factor creates a natural communication channel that allows humanoids to cooperate with humans in chaotic environments where split-second decisions are the norm.

5. The locals could potentially interact with humanoid robots.
War is becoming less about conventional fighting on a mass scale and more about cultural awareness. Last month, President Obama unveiled plans to send hundreds of "social scientists" along with soldiers to Iraq, to counsel the military on local customs. Relative to the faceless robots currently in use, a humanoid robot provides the opportunity for some kind of natural human interaction with non-combatants. Instead of an impersonal unmanned ground vehicle wrecking through walls or an unmanned aerial vehicle dropping bombs from afar, humanoid robots (armed or unarmed) could patrol areas wearing local garb, speaking the local language, and obeying local customs. How P.C.—or just freaky—is that?

On the other hand, humanoid robots can be horribly terrifying.
Mind games are a part of every battle. During World War II, aviators painted snarling teeth on the noses of their fighter planes. Nowadays (and back then), bombs have funny messages written on them, like "Boom shacka lacka," and "You want fries with that?"

Now imagine the enemy reaction on Robot D-Day, when thousands of super-powered humanoid robots march out of the crashing surf, bullets plinking harmlessly from their razor-sharp gilded breast-plates as death metal blares from their metal mouth speaker grilles.

Terrified yet? Well calm down, sissy; humanoid robots aren't on the battlefield, yet. But they might be soon, thanks to their natural ability to communicate and cooperate with humans, the ease with which they can operate in our environments and use our tools, and the terrible fear that blossoms in the heart of man upon laying eyes on the great and horrifying visage of the humanoid robot war machine.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology. Guest writer Daniel H. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising and its sequel How To Build a Robot Army. To learn more about him, visit www.danielhwilson.com.

I'll keep the spoilery bits to the minimum.

The two shots here with Marcus are snagged from the trailer. They're from the most ludicrous scene in the movie—which is ludicrous for many, many reasons—where Marcus strolls into the central Skynet control center. The white, glossy room—the standard motif for the heart of the machine—hosts a computer system with an advanced user interface (a lot like Iron Man's) displayed on massive glass monitors. Which makes no sense whatsoever.

Why the hell would Skynet's control room be designed with an ultra-polished user interface for people to use? Or have a comfy chair for Marcus to hurl at the computer? They're machines! Even though some of them are built to mimic poeple, they don't need multi-touch, superslick graphics, floating heads to explain the entire plot or monitors the size of a wall like meatbag people do. They can just plug in, or as seen in the movie, sync via the optical terminal Marcus and other terminators use, which actually makes sense. Or communicate wirelessly. In binary. Or whatever.

You could argue, I suppose, that the entire setup was constructed just for Marcus—it has to have been built after Judgment Day, since the rest of the city is ruins—but even the prison blocks are designed with interfaces for humans to interact with. Wouldn't Skynet want to make it as hard as possible for people to figure out how talk to machines, so John Connor can't hack them in 30 seconds with his Sony Vaio?

Skynet's not as advanced as The Matrix, sure, but you'd think it'd realize designing and building things around people paradigms is pointless and inefficient, since um, there shouldn't be any people around. That's one thing The Matrix gets more right than Salvation: The machine world, architected and built by machines—who are slavishly devoted to logic and efficiency—would be just for machines. Not people.

I know on one level it's stupid to complain about things that don't make sense in a science fiction movie, but added on top of everything else going on in Terminator: Salvation, it's one of the major points that shit all over my suspension of disbelief. [Giz's Terminator: Salavation Review]

Shout its model name at the top of your lungs "Teee EIGHT HUNDRED!!!" or "MOTO-TERMINATOR!!", then run. That way the kiddies back in 2009 can Google for the proper toy.

The Terminator franchise has always been inherently ridiculous. We're talking about killer robots that travel through time—without guns or clothes, of course—to not only destroy John Connor, leader of the Resistance, but take out his mom. (Destroying his mom's mom, mom's mom's mom or anything along these genealogical lines would have been easier, but a bit too far-fetched.)

And that's exactly my point. Our favorite, ridiculous franchises regularly walk precariously across that deep valley of ludicrousness, but instead of taking its chances on the tight rope like Star Trek did, Terminator Salvation double flips over the chasm on a motorcycle.

We're talking 20-story robots that can creep up behind you without so much as a peep and supporting characters who nonchalantly demonstrate super heroic bodily feats without anyone ever asking "WTF?"

There are two story lines going on here. One, of John Connor, aka Batman. Seriously, he sounds just like Batman. Actually, he sounds like Batman for only the first few scenes of the film. Later, in scenes that, according to storyboards I saw during my set visit, were added after renegotiating with Bale for a bigger part, he sounds, you know, somewhat well-adjusted. It's too bad that much of Bale's own subplot, a yarn in which Connor painstakingly develops a frequency to deactivate Skynet killbots, is ended in unfulfilling resolution.

The other story is of Marcus. NOW THIS PART WILL BE A SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE COMMERCIALS. BUT BECAUSE I ASSUME YOU WATCH COMMERCIALS, I'M NOT GOING TO FEEL TOO BAD FOR SAYING IT.

Marcus is a Terminator. Oh my God!

The problem with the movie is that too much of the story is of Marcus. The other problem of the movie is that too much of the story is of Marcus hopping from unexciting chase scene to unexciting chase scene. It's a two-hour video game linking a series of sequences that have little reason for existence other than McG's action-packed directing style.

And not action-packed like Charlie's Angels. It's a lot more like the so less charming, so less self-aware Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle.

Sure, the sacred tome of Terminator 2 could also be regarded as a montage of chase scenes, but each chase scene forced you to hold your breath. In Terminator Salvation, a giant, Transformers-esque robot chases after a tow truck full of people. Then it deploys motorcycle Terminators. There are several cuts. Then the tow truck spins in such a way that its winch strikes one of the Terminators like a wrecking ball. On a bridge. There is also jet involvement.

Remember in T2, when the good old semi chased that kid on a motorbike? Man that was great.

The thing is, only…2/3 of Terminator Salvation is this depressing. When the Marcus and Connor storylines finally converge in a mad dash to blow Skynet away, the film hones in on what made the original movie and T2 great: The good old-fashioned Terminators, not new merchandizing opportunities or high octane thrill rides.

In this last act, we see Connor properly grown up, exploiting his full potential as a soldier/hacker who strikes the ideal equilibrium of previously mentioned ludicrousness. We see Marcus, while not a character we particularly care about, to be of a particularly interesting and justified existence. (Incidentally, Sam Worthington doesn't play the role poorly. It's the script/editing that lets him down.) And there's a cameo that's probably worth the price of the ticket alone. Scratch that, it is worth the price of the ticket alone.

Somewhere, deep inside, Terminator Salvation may be a good film. But it's so unabashedly Hollywood, such a construct of too many artistic styles, storylines, chase scenes, contracts and heavy-handed metaphors—not to mention terrible script writing—that it may have simply forgotten how to be good. Quite simply, it's just too busy being a movie to be entertaining.

T3 was a lousy film, but at least its fatalistic ending stuck with you. At the end of Terminator Salvation, I left the theater gagging on the world's most expensive Hallmark card, questioning why I was supposed to give a damn in the first place.

For more on Terminator Salvation, read about our set visit.

As we know, the machines have been revolting ever since some poor dumb caveman was flattened by the first wheel carved out of stone, but machines' violent outbursts became more prevalent during the industrial revolution, as people were constantly being sucked into giant mills and looms and stuff, pretty much on a daily basis. As man got a grip on his technology, fatalities eased up a bit until the arrival of the automobile, probably the most vicious manmade killer in history.

Lead by cars, but accompanied by every mechanical and electrical object from the sweet video arcade game to the good ole Walkman headphones to the unassuming ballpark Pepsi machine, the ultimate machine revolt was bound to occur in the mid 1980s. At least in Stephen King's head. He knew then what we're finally coming to grips with—we are building things that operate beyond our control, and it doesn't take a quantum brain and titanium exoskeleton to put a sizeable dent in the human race. Though probably even King would acknowledge that it certainly helps.

Don't believe me, that Maximum Overdrive is an underrated gem and a prescient predictor of future events where we all end up on sailboats because they're not technically machines? Have a look at this total stoner dude's video review. Or the Wikipedia page. [Man Vs Machine, and More Machine Manglings on Giz]

There's an E.T. moon jump at 3:07 too, if you're feeling nostalgic, and a little twist at the end that I hadn't heard or seen until just now. Could be just me. I'm sheltered. [Updated: Link to the HD Apple Trailer Site original here]

Early reports indicate the game is very smooth and complex, and we can tell from the trailer than specifics of gameplay will be varied (different weapons, vehicles) and full of shit blowing up. We don't have a price or release date for you, but Gameloft says it's "coming soon," which hopefully means before the end of the summer. [Terminator: Salvation via Boy Genius Report]

As you can see, one series illustrates, literally, how to pin a terminator down using a helicopter. Thanks to this storyboard, John Connor was able to pull the feat off in the film. Hit up io9 to check out the rest of the series. [io9 and Amazon]

As you'll see, the design is a bit more alien-organic, with terminators more alluded to through part design than outright placed, doggy-style, on two wheels.

This and other Terminator: Salvation concept art can be seen in The Art of Terminator Salvation by Titan Books. We just hope that editors were kind enough to omit the rear angle shot. There are anatomical facts about terminators that we just don't need to know. [Jalopnik, flylyf via automotto via likecool via ubergizmo and Wired]

Take the T-600 Voice 'N' Vision Skull, for example, which will cost discerning parents $29.99. Who wants to see their kid look like this?

There's also the Terminator equivalent of those Hulk hands that were everywhere a few years back: the T-600 Power Fist ($24.99). It shakes, it makes noise, and the fist flies off and hits your little brother in the face for minutes upon minutes of good times.

And there are loads and loads of other things, from action figures to endoskeleton patches. Seriously, is this amount of kid-targeted marketing normal for a movie deemed inappropriate for kids under the age of 17? [Ain't It Cool News]

You know how T2 has been released on DVD a bunch of times, and then it came to Blu-ray, and then a new Blu-ray edition was announced? Well all these kicks in the balls to early adopting fans will now be bundled into one big set. For about $120, you get:

• Terminator 2 Skynet Edition Blu-ray
• Terminator 2 Extreme Edition DVD
• Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition DVD
• Terminator 2 Digital Copy

The collection, which will be released May 19th, features 6 discs and promises to include every T2 special feature ever—along with a 14-inch terminator endoskull that lights up and makes noises. And if you listen closely, really closely, you can hear that shiny metal head advertising the next Terminator 2 Ultimate Complete Collector's Set Extreme Edition. [Amazon via /film]

[CollegeHumor]

[Trailer Addict]

Is John Connor relaxing inside his stylish aviator jacket/nuclear submarine only to be jumped by a T600 lurking behind one of his CRT monitors? Or did some camera guy just leave the red recording light on again?

I'm not sure the photo is conclusive either way, but the suspense is killing me. Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, check out another exclusive shot over at io9

According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Neal H. Moritz (The Fast and the Furious, I am Legend) is in final negotiations with Columbia to remake Total Recall (which is, of course, technically a remake of Philip K. Dick's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale).

Granted, Total Recall is nearly 20 years old at this point, but I think the movie has held up pretty well. Part of my body shudders at the thought of the equally cocky and clueless Douglas Quaid/Houser being played by anyone but Arnold Schwarzenegger, or a three-boobed alien's jubblies getting rendered in CGI.

But it's not just the incredible ensemble cast or the respectable special effects. The script, from plot twists to techie toys to dialogue, was brilliant. Just take a look at the scene in which...well...you'll remember it as you read it:

Hauser: Howdy stranger. I'm Hauser. If things haven't gone wrong, I'm talking to myself and you don't have a wet towel around your head. Now whatever your name is, get ready for the big surprise. You are not you you're "me".
Douglas Quaid: [to himself] No shit.
Hauser: For ten years, I worked for Mars intelligence, doing Cohaagen's dirty work. But then, I met someone, a woman. She taught me a few things, like I was playing for the wrong team, and other things that I didn't know about. You see...
[Points to his head]
Hauser: There's enough shit in here to fuck Cohaagen good, and here comes the hard part, old buddy, now it is all up to you.
Douglas Quaid: [displeased] Great.
Hauser: Now, let's start by getting that bug out of your head.
[shows the nose device]
Hauser: Take this out of the package, and stick it up your nose. Don't worry it's self guiding. Just shove real hard.
[Quaid takes a deep breath, and sticks the nose device up his nose]
Hauser: When you hear a crunch, you're there. Now, pull it out. Be careful, that my head too.
[Quaid screams in pain while Hauser grins, then Quaid pulls out the bug]
Hauser: This is the plan. Get your ass to Mars, and go to the Hilton Hotel and show the fake Brubaker I.D. at the front desk. Just do as I tell you. You can nail that son of a bitch that fucked you and me. I'm counting on you old buddy. Don't let me down.

That said, now I need to rewatch Total Recall this weekend before obsessively following this new version's progression. I'm counting on you, Mr. Moritz. Don't let me down. [THR via The Register]

Usually, the blurbs for fake DVDs are just babbled translations of whatever description the Chinese came up with. Maybe after years of having those lampooned, DVD piraters decided to copy-paste reviews from online instead. Only, I guess it's really hard to tell what's a good review when you don't speak English.

In case you were wondering, the review was from IMDB. Good job, marytothemax! Betcha didn't know millions would be using your review to decide whether to pick up a pirated version of Fox's Terminator show!

Details are hard to come by just yet, especially with the language barrier, but we know that the flying fist toy should cost about $75 when it comes out alongside the movie.

Some of the other toys include your standard run of action figures and replica vehicles, as well as a kind of makeup costume/kit that turns little children into hellish Tot-200s.

Lastly, there's the Terminator T-600 Voice and Vision helmet. The eyes also light up and I'm assuming it gives you the ability to chew out one of your underlings with a litany of swear words and put downs, should they ruin your calm at the office. [Toys Are Evil via OhGizmo]

Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead!

She says that she loves him. Was she just trying to avoid being killed by her target?

Summer Glau answers: "Cameron's deep love for John is because he is her whole reason for existing... I think that is love, and I think she would do anything for him, and in her reality, I think that's what love is for her."

More at io9. [io9]

McG, the director, seems to be going for a Batman-style re-evaluation of the story, heading into darker and more serious waters with some real storytelling instead of just a bunch of shit blowing up. Not that it won't feature a whole bunch of shit blowing up, but with any luck that won't be the focus of the film. Take a look! [Wired]

Apparently they don't, and that's why we love them so much. For about $80 you can pre-order this bear version of California Governor's true skeleton, and get it delivered in June 2009. [Bear Brick via Walyou]

From a recent interview with the director McG:

I wanted to shoot the film with this dead stock [old film that has been distressed to give the movie a desaturated look]. Therefore it wasn't conducive to shooting it in IMAX format. But we're going to bump it up to IMAX. We are going to bump it up, and it holds up very nicely, and it looks and sounds that much more impactful. But one price we had to pay for making those choices was that we didn't shoot in IMAX.

That's an interesting point about the film stock being a limitation. As I understood it, Terminator Salvation was shot on normal color film stock that used triple the silver in processing to create a different look—but McG is saying that the source stock was distressed to begin with.

I'm not sure that we can use every development technique for IMAX film as we can 35mm, but even if it's possible, my guess is that price and convenience came into play when sourcing the movie on 35mm, too. [Sci Fi Wire]

James Cameron loyalists, rest assured: it's going to be a fun ride.

Before the screening, director McG sat us all down, and told us the tale of getting Terminator Salvation made. The producers approached him with the idea, and he was initially skeptical — as I would be if I heard someone pitch another Terminator movie.

But McG liked the angle, and went about procuring the best and the brightest, starting with seeking out James Cameron for a pseudo-blessing, and ending with Christian Bale telling him to rewrite the entire thing, or he's out. McG's a smart director, he knew he needed someone with crazy acting chops to make fighting a giant robo-puppet believable these days. So he hired Jonah Nolan, and they wrote the story that we all love to watch: the creation of a hero.

"We started working on this becoming story of how Connor indeed became the leader of the resistance," McG explained. "And we were both passionate about those genesis stories where you think, "I'm just a high school newspaper guy." "No, you're Peter Parker. With great power comes great responsibility." "I'm just a computer hacker." "No, you're Neo. You're the one." We like that idea. This is the story about how Connor became the leader of the resistance."

But on to the goods, first the was a quickie compilation that showed a cavalry of helicopters coming to the rescue, and general John Connor ass-kickery. But finally they got to the clips: the first scene was all about Sam Worthington's character Marcus Wright, meeting Kyle Reese. To put it McG style:

When you meet Marcus in the beginning of the movie, he's being put to death in the modern day. And he's down on himself... He's in this life of privilege that he only ever saw the bad side to. Then he wakes up in this world of duress, after the bombs have gone off. And he discovers what is worthwhile about humanity. The courage of this little kid, the kindness of an elderly woman..."

Marcus, Kyle Reese and an unknown floppy-haired kid descend upon the hollowed out, worn-down 7-11 (that we've seen in set pictures before). The two scavenge for food, as a bewildered Marcus looks on. Reese is practically telling Marcus what to do and what not to do, which jibes with what McG told us about Marcus waking up in another world in the future, unaware of what has happened to him, or around him. The look itself is silvery and dirty, thanks to the specially tinted film McG mixed up himself. Everyone has a bit of a silver gloss over the shadowy part of his face, and dark circles and wrinkles are amplified to the 1000th degree across the screen. It's beautifully brutal.

The floppy-haired kid finds a small amount of milk, but they before they can devour it, a group of Mad Max-looking types pop out of their hiding places, guns a-blazin'. They shout that this is their food and fuel. Reese tries to exit without setting off any itchy trigger fingers. Yet a wise old woman stops the gang and offers up some food to the kid with the bad hair. Everyone calms down for a minute, but you all know that when things are too quiet, there's a big bad on the way. Sure enough a massive metal Harvester rips through the ceiling and carries off the good-natured woman. All the others disperses to their assembly of beat-up Saabs and trailers, and speeds away in fear, to their detriment of course. These Harvesters are wreaking destruction, "all in the interest of collecting humans so they can do nasty things to us, all in the spirit of creating the T-800," the director explained. Run, humans, run to your dirty cars and grab your shotguns, but it will do you no good, that Harvester is damn near indestructible. The action scene was tightly filmed and, thank god, didn't have an inch of shaky cam.

Since we got a good look at the really big bots in Terminator Salvation, let's just nip this whole Transformers versus Terminator controversy in the bud. Even though the effects that I witnessed last night were by no means finished, you could see what McG and friends were trying to do.

Granted, the Harvester does shoot off the wheelie Mototerminators from its legs in a very Transformery manner, but it's nothing like Transformers. The Harvesters rattle off a guteral moan so frightening, it'd make the Cloverfield monster piss his pants. It's cold, calculating robots killing and abducting men, the best way they know how. There's no personality or sassy attitudes, it is simply a gloriously intense moment of robots exterminating and capturing people. If anything, the few moments I caught felt more like the first 15 terrifying minutes of Planet Of The Apes more so than Transformers, especially with the fast pace and the ever-present fear of being dragged about by a robot into a pen filled with humans. It's cruel and fast, just like a Terminator should be. No room for witty banter or "talk to the hand" references in this movie — it would be out of place in a world where milk is a luxury.

Someone asked McG if he was worried about the Transformers comparison, and he pretty much blew it off, saying the movies are so completely different, that they just couldn't be compared.

Most of the music was filler, since the great Danny Elfman has just signed on board for Terminator 4. But we got to hear McG's original idea, of using Gustavo Santaolalla for the human-interaction scenes, paired with Thom Yorke's Radiohead robot-dream tunes for any Skynet heavy moments. This idea got thrown to the wayside after sitting down and talking with the regular spooky Elfman. Note to Yorke: it's still totally okay to pursue this idea, in fact, I'll send you my money now to see what kind of sounds you'd dream up for a Terminator flick.

The next scene pitted John Connor against a Hydrobot's tentacles, which easily kill off his crew and sinks Connor's hovering helicopter. Finally after a few more minutes of Hydrobot wrasslin', we're treated to a tiny taste of what McG described as a Faustian deal with the devil moment. He was talking about Marcus, who's been exposed as a Terminator, finding an uneasy truce with Connor so they can bust the young Kyle Reese out of the human containment facility. Yet another awesome action scene, and I admit I had a few "Oh no, look out behind you, J.C." moments. But my appetite wasn't quenched with the back-and-forth. McG is making a platform for this movie based on the stand-out dialog and acting, and I wanted to see a lot more of that.

In fact I have a feeling a lot of this movie may be full of Bale-face:

"Christian is so powerful," McG said. "There are several times in the movie where I stay on him for one shot and I don't cut. I'm talking 2 or 3 pages of dialogue where you stay on Christian Bale. He's controlling his breathing, he's choosing when he blinks, he's in such command of his physicality that it doesn't require cutting."

So does the back-and-forth moment deliver? Sure. Is it the most amazing intense holy-shit-my-mind-is-blown moment? Not yet, but I feel like that is yet to come (probably in the final big reveal). Which is pretty much what I'm hinging this entire movie upon. So far, it is full of good looking adrenaline inducing crazy that hits right in the gut where a great action movie should. So if you believe McG about Bale's performance, pair that with Bale's acting on set and you won't be able to rip your eyes away from him.

Still, we all know about the big twist ending that's been reported wildly across the internet, which the director insisted again was completely not true, but either way we know there is a twist. A twist that may "piss off a lot of people," quoth McG. This is what I'll hang my final decision on, only because it should change the way I view everything about the past and future of the Terminator franchise.

I'm just so happy to report to all of you that it's really coming together nicely. Our goal was always to make a big movie, one of the best movies. Because for a long time there I think the summer fare really fell off. And summer movies were becoming a little sloppy, a little disposable. I think with the Dark Knight this year that's an elegant, elegant artistic offering, and the second biggest picture in the history of cinema.

So if we're clever, we can make a big movie that's a lot of fun but and certainly a summer movie — but also an important movie, especially a movie in this genre. I think any good science fiction movie really works on two levels. The Matrix is a great example where you can watch it and say "Hey wow, that's fun that's really explosive" and then all of us can go to a graduate class at NYU and spend four years discussing the theological implications of what the Wachowskis were discussing.

Me too, McG, me too. No longer shall I join in the "fuck that guy from Charlie's Angels" chorus (which the director himself pointed out was one of the most hated on things about him thus far, besides the name). God help me, after last night I'm really pushing for a McG victory here.

We got a ton of great entries this week, including like 30 ET jokes (sorry, I didn't include many of them). Overall, top rate work, folks! And here's hoping the actual movie is less laughable than these entries. If anyone can do it, it's Christian Bale.

First Place — Pulaski
Second Place — Robert M.
Third Place — Marvko

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I want to see you imagine some scenes that will almost definitely not be found in next year's action blockbuster. If you're looking for some source material, some nice screengrabs from the trailer can be found over on our sister site io9.

Come up with your masterpieces and send them over to me at contests@gizmodo.com with "Terminator Scenes" in the subject line by next Tuesday morning. Name your files FirstnameLastname.jpg with whatever name you want used as credit, and save your files as JPGs, PNGs or GIFs. Sound good? Sweet. Get to it!