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50 free The Terminator (1984) trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Terminator is the 1984 film that turned James Cameron from a fired Piranha II director into a bankable one and made Arnold Schwarzenegger a leading man with just 17 lines of dialogue. A cyborg is sent back from 2029 to kill Sarah Connor before her son can lead the resistance against Skynet; a soldier named Kyle Reese follows to protect her. Made for about $6.5 million, it topped the US box office for two weeks and earned $78.3 million worldwide. This quiz stays with the first film only. It covers the cast and the actors who nearly had the roles, the fever dream in Rome that started everything, the one-dollar rights deal Cameron came to regret, the night shoots in Los Angeles, Stan Winston's endoskeleton, Brad Fiedel's synth score, the Harlan Ellison settlement, the critics' split verdict and the honours that came later, from the Saturn Awards to the National Film Registry. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed The Terminator?
James Cameron
He also co-wrote it with producer Gale Anne Hurd; the film is credited with launching his career.
Q 02Who plays Sarah Connor?
Linda Hamilton
She had just finished Children of the Corn; Arquette and Thompson both auditioned for the part.
Q 03Who plays the soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah?
Michael Biehn
He initially thought the script was silly; to get into character he studied the Polish resistance in World War II.
Q 04From which year is the Terminator sent back to 1984?
2029
Franco Columbu, Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding friend, plays a Terminator in the future-war scenes.
Q 05What is the name of the hostile artificial intelligence in the film?
Skynet
The Terminator robot has since become what one study called the prevalent visual representation of AI risk.
Q 06What is Sarah Connor's job when the film begins?
Diner waitress
The script describes her as 19 with 'a vulnerable quality that masks a strength even she doesn't know exists'.
Q 07Who produced the film and shares the writing credit?
Gale Anne Hurd
She had been Roger Corman's assistant at New World Pictures; the director later said she 'did no actual writing at all'.
Q 08Which studio distributed the film?
Orion Pictures
The studio had so little faith in it that it held only one press screening.
Q 09The director dreamed up the premise while ill during the release of which film?
Piranha II
It was his first feature as director; he had worked on the other two as an art director and effects man for Roger Corman.
Q 10In which city did the director have the fever dream that inspired the film?
Rome
The dream featured a metallic torso holding kitchen knives dragging itself from an explosion.
Q 11Which low-budget slasher film inspired the director to write a slasher-style script?
Halloween
His agent disliked the early horror concept and asked him to work on something else, so he fired the agent.
Q 12Which friend helped the director turn his draft into a script, swapping scenes by phone?
Bill Wisher
He was handed the Sarah Connor and police-station scenes to write, and later co-wrote Terminator 2. He also plays a policeman in the film.
Q 13The original outline had a second Terminator made of what?
Liquid metal
The technology of the time could not do it, so the idea waited until the T-1000 in Terminator 2.
Q 21How long did Schwarzenegger train with weapons to prepare for the role?
Three months
He privately called it 'some shit movie I'm doing' during a Conan the Destroyer interview, then changed his mind after seeing twenty minutes of the edit.
Q 22Which film had the actress playing Sarah just finished when she was cast?
Children of the Corn
Lisa Langlois had been offered Sarah first but was already shooting The Slugger's Wife; Cindy Morgan was also considered.
Q 23Which effects artist led the team that built the Terminator after Dick Smith declined?
Stan Winston
His seven artists spent six months on a puppet molded in clay, cast in steel-ribbed plaster and chrome-plated.
Q 14For how much did the director sell the rights to his producer?
One dollar
The condition was that she could produce it only if he directed; he later regretted the bargain price.
Q 15John Daly of which company agreed to finance the film in late 1982?
Hemdale
Daly and his head of production Derek Gibson became executive producers, with help from HBO and Orion.
Q 16Which actor burst into the financing pitch dressed and acting like the Terminator?
Lance Henriksen
Leather jacket, fake cuts and gold foil on his teeth; he was rewarded with the role of Detective Vukovich.
Q 17Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?
$78 million
About $38.3 million came from the US and Canada and $40 million from other territories.
Q 18Which action star turned down the role of the Terminator?
Sylvester Stallone
Mel Gibson also passed; Orion's Mike Medavoy suggested O. J. Simpson, whom the director didn't find believable as a killer.
Q 19Which rock musician did the director meet about playing Kyle Reese?
Sting
He wasn't interested because the director was too much of an unknown at the time.
Q 20Roughly how many lines of dialogue does Schwarzenegger speak in the film?
17
Fewer than 100 words in total; the director thought even his accent had a 'strange synthesized quality' that worked.
Q 24In which city was filming originally set to begin in early 1983?
Toronto
Dino De Laurentiis invoked an option in Schwarzenegger's contract, making him unavailable for nine months.
Q 25Schwarzenegger's commitment to which film delayed the start of production?
Conan the Destroyer
The director used the wait to write Rambo: First Blood Part II and to start talks on a sequel to Alien.
Q 26During the delay, the director was hired to write the script for which sequel?
Rambo: First Blood Part II
He also met David Giler and Walter Hill about an Alien follow-up, which became Aliens in 1986.
Q 27Orion suggested giving Kyle Reese what companion, which the director refused?
A robot dog
The studio's other note, to strengthen the romance between Sarah and Reese, was accepted.
Q 28Which company, headed by Gene Warren Jr., created the future-war and stop-motion scenes?
Fantasy II
A shot of Schwarzenegger limping was filmed so the stop-motion endoskeleton could plausibly imitate his walk.
Q 29The laser-sighted pistol on the poster was a modified version of which gun?
AMT Longslide
Diode lasers weren't available yet, so its helium-neon sight ran on an external power pack Schwarzenegger switched on by hand.
Q 30In which city was most of the film shot, largely at night?
Los Angeles
Night shoots meant tight schedules before sunrise; production began in March 1984.