The Terminator (1984) movie logo and opening credits
The Terminator is a 1984 American science-fiction action thriller directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a robotic killing machine from the future that is sent back in time to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). A human resistance soldier from the battlegrounds of the future war against the machines, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), is tasked with finding and protecting Sarah from the Terminator before it can complete its deadly mission.
The opening title sequence is typeset in Bessellen, with the shiny metallic “The Terminator” logo based on Earth. Various infrared shots depicting Terminator vision and its heads-up-display, sometimes referred to as termovision, also feature text typeset in Bessellen. The bitmap type used in these visuals is not yet identified [see comments]. The closing titles are typeset in Eurostile.
Graphic animation effects and main title are designed by Ernest D. Farino.
3 Comments on “The Terminator (1984) movie logo and opening credits”
The “bitmap type” isn’t bitmap type. It’s Apple II source code printed (most likely) with a daisy wheel printer, lifted from an issue of Nibble magazine. The font is Letter Gothic or something similar.
Thank you, Mark!
Some sections of code do seem similar but the M and Q are a bit different. Most versions of Letter Gothic also do not feature the slashed zero, as seen here, but it’s mostly close enough. I did do a brief search through 70s and 80s typewriter and printer fonts prior to posting but was unable to ascertain its exact identity. As the lifted portions weren’t originally typeset by the film makers, merely selected, arranged and animated, I was content to simply identify the more major typographic elements. But feel free to chase up any loose ends.
As mentioned here and previosuly elsewhere, most of the code and other technical readouts featured in the Termovision sequences can be found in Nibble Magazine. It’s possible parts of these elements may be using bitmap fonts, potentially from an Apple II or IBM PC system. The following portions are from Vol. 5, Issue 9, September, 1984:
p51 – Figure 1 (Compass Quiz)
p89 – Listing 1: HIRES.EX
p126 – Figure 8 (MacPaint Patterns)
Several other screens from the Termovision sequences feature this AC Analysis graphic from here:
p29 – Micro-CAP (aka Microcomputer Circuit Analysis Program) by Spectrum Software.
Other elements can be found in 73 Amateur Radio’s Technical Journal (aka 73 Magazine). These portions appear to be typeset in what looks to be Courier and Helvetica. The following are from Issue 284, May, 1984:
p87 – Yagi Antenna program.
p112 – Fig. 4. Abbreviated PROM coding list. Hex/Binary code conversion table. (RTTY Loop)
Additional elements used in shots from the CRT scope of Kyle Reese’s futuristic M-25 Plasma Rifle can also be found here:
p13 – TE-12P Advertisement (Communications Specialists), see highlighted text.
p98 – Listing 4. Cobol.
p100 – Amateur Satellite Reference Orbits
The TE-12P Ad uses Helvetica and the Satellite Reference uses something pretty close to Prestige Elite. Another font, likely from a dot matrix printer, has been used for the section of COBOL code.