They don’t take bullets
The T-1000 robot was built from a metal that could shift between solid and liquid forms. When bullets struck, its body behaved like a thick liquid: a hole appeared and quickly closed. To visualize this effect, Stan Winston, head of the special effects team, and his crew spent weeks dropping heavy weights into semi-liquid clay and observing the three‑dimensional shapes that formed. Craftsmen later created numerous latex‑coated rubber appliques that could be affixed to clothing, especially police uniforms.
These appliques consisted of rubber or foam covered with metallized latex to simulate frozen metal. Because the bullets hit the Terminator during continuous filming, there was no time to connect the wounds to the main body. Instead, the openings were mounted on a spring‑loaded mechanism that opened the “hole” like a flower. Space was needed for this mechanism, so the uniform was worn over a thick chest plate with built‑in “flowers.”
Wounds were created with computer graphics, and if one looks closely, they appear more pronounced and less convincing today.
Sword Hands
The T-1000 could morph parts of its body into bladed weapons. It pierces John Connor’s stepfather, a security guard at a psychiatric clinic, with sharp hands and grips the heroes’ car with hooked hands. These blades and hooks were achieved by applying fake blades to the actor. In a scene where John talks with his adoptive parents, the T-1000’s blade is strapped to the actor’s shoulder, with a leather base serving as a dummy.
Like the bullet holes, the liquid metal skin of the Terminator used metallized latex on a polymer core. Crafting a convincing fantasy metal required many revisions of the models.
A blend of on‑location shooting and computer graphics was used when the T-1000 pierces a guard’s eye with a sharp finger, right before the audience. The hand was a three‑part model with short, medium, and long tips, switched within the frame while intermediate frames were computer‑generated to create smooth motion.
Puppet Show
Visible gaps appeared after the T-1000 sustained heavy damage: a shotgun shattered its head, a steel rod nearly sliced its shoulder. These moments were filmed with highly detailed mannequins and puppets. The life‑like “babies” were so convincing that their faces could be photographed up close.
One scene shows the head breaking by placing two dolls on a person’s head. Clay was sculpted into the exact shape of the actor’s head, then the soft clay shattered as if struck by liquid metal and replaced with a foam model once hardened. The first model could be opened later, a detail visible in a freeze frame where the head shows a gap before the shot.
The second puppet posed more challenges. The terminator had to “shut down” to signal recovery, and its eyes moved during the process. Both elements used moving mechanisms, and only in the third frame was Robert Patrick’s face reconstructed with computer work.
The scene where a steel bar is fired followed a similar approach. The actor wore a doll that simulated the severed right side of the body, maintaining an angle that preserved shoulder width. The device opened on impact, the actor pretended to be stunned, and then reached for the opposing stick to counterattack.
For the climactic moments of the T-1000’s life, a more complex puppet setup was required. The body explodes after a grenade launcher hit, and the Terminator loses control, sinking into molten metal.
This sequence used three puppets controlled by rods and strings. The first opened on command to convey the explosion’s aftermath, the second showed a stunned T-1000 swaying with human operators manipulating its movements while the eyes and mouth moved via radio control, and the third puppet, already beyond control, slid into the molten metal.
Break and Melt
One standout moment in Terminator 2 is the chase in a tanker truck filled with liquid nitrogen, leading to a fatal breach into a metallurgical plant. The tank ruptures, the robot’s metal stiffens and becomes brittle, and it cannot be controlled. The T-800 fires, shredding the frozen foe into many pieces, but heat from the plant rapidly reunites and re‑forms the T-1000.
To depict the Terminator’s disintegration, an amputee was recruited and polymer prosthetics were crafted into boots. The prosthetics were split in half and held only by the connecting piece, which breaks on cue. When the stunt character attempts to lift the leg, it detaches from the tibia, and the same event recurs in the next take.
Another effect involved showing a real hand that was treated as a prop; the doll was torn to pieces while appearing authentic on screen.
A low‑melting metal was placed on a heated steel plate to demonstrate how frozen pieces turn liquid. Mercury was used for a subtler, more realistic look, and the team filmed a hair dryer dispersing a puddle of mercury before reversing the frames to reveal its pooling toward a central indentation. In another account, mercury was seen flowing toward the center as well, though the team may have combined both methods.
Replacing Steel with Water
The concluding scenes take place in a steel mill under production. Vats hold molten materials, and both Terminators end up submerged. If a director like Christopher Nolan had helmed the scene, the realism might have involved real molten steel. Instead, James Cameron and crew opted for water mixed with translucent mineral oil and other additives. Bright orange lights at the bottom of the tub gave the liquid a hot, glowing look. Ultimately, both Terminators complete their journey in this liquid “steel.”
Terminator 2 marked a leap in computer graphics for its era. It demonstrated how the T-1000 could pass through a steel grid or shapeshift by blending practical effects with digital imagery. Even when photographed with dolls and models, the characters maintained a lifelike presence, a testament that still resonates in 2023.