Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son?

Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son? - Concentrated kid trying making steps on planked footpath in dark deep forest in cold day

In the movie Terminator 2, in the scene in the steel mill, the T-1000 machine tortures Sarah Connor to make her call her son John. Watching the movie we learn that T-1000 can reproduce human voices of the people that he touches, so why does he torture Sarah and try to force her to call John? Why doesn't he call John directly?



Best Answer

The T-1000 had past experience of trying to imitate Janelle (John's foster parent). It tried to pretend it was her when John rang to warn them. But it took the wrong tone with John & he knew something was off.

So that attempt failed, and it got to confirm that when it checked the dog's name.

That, added to the damage it had sustained, probably convinced it that imitating a woman that was even closer to John would be a failure. Hence, next strategy, torture compliance out of Sarah (which ended just as poorly, in the short time it had access to her).




Pictures about "Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son?"

Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son? - Woman in White Crew Neck T-shirt Using Silver Macbook
Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son? - Side view of young black angered man with Afro braids in white t shirt pushing sad wife with closed eyes against tiled wall during conflict in bathroom
Why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son? - Stylish concentrated man looking in mirror in bathroom



Why did the T-1000 need Sarah to call to John?

She had utility. It assessed that her real pain could be enough to coerce John out of hiding to help his mother. It likely figured that the real thing would have a better chance than its mimicry, and didn't have a chance to terminate Sarah before Uncle Bob intervened.

Why did the T-1000 scream?

Finally, when the T-1000 is being destroyed by the molten steel, it is screaming in fear and pain. This hints that that T-1000 is operating on more than programming: it's possibly a machine-made being that had chosen to side with SkyNet.

Why did Skynet discontinue the T-1000?

In order to protect itself from its own creation, Skynet did not mass produce the T-1000. For this reason, Skynet later discontinued the T-1000.

Who sent T-800 to protect Sarah?

At the last minute, Skynet manages to send a Terminator, a T-800, back to the year 1984 in a last-ditch attempt to kill Sarah Connor, John Connor's mother. John therefore sends his second-in-command, Kyle Reese, into the time machine to protect Sarah from the Terminator, thus securing victory in the present.



Your Foster Parents Are Dead - Terminator 2 (1991) Movie CLIP HD




More answers regarding why does T-1000 try to force Sarah Connor to call her son?

Answer 2

A possible reason is raised in a deleted scene: The T-1000's mimicking skills are compromised after freezing, melting and cohering again. From the IMDB FAQ:

The T-1000's decreasing efficacy is explained in a few scenes cut from the theatrical version of the film but are able to be viewed as part of the director's cut or on most versions of the DVD as a deleted scene. After being frozen in the liquid nitrogen and then shattered, the T-1000 starts to show evidence that it may be malfunctioning. As it is walking, its feet, up to about the knee, involuntarily imitate the diamond plate flooring it walks across and its hand bonds with and imitates a yellow-striped railing. The T-1000 itself seems confused by this but is unable to stop it. Later, when it calls John in Sarah's voice, the glitch occurs again: John glances down, and there's a quick shot of the T-1000 imitating the grating its standing on right before Sarah shoots it the 1st time. In the theatrical version, the only evidence of the glitch is the slight flutter that you see after it crushes Arnold's arm in the gear. This may explain why it moves much more slowly during the final conflict, which allows Sarah to escape while it is dealing with the T-800.

TVTropes raises a couple of other valid points, like:

  • T-1000 is unable to replicate emotions that well;
  • T-1000 wanted to put Sarah at risk so John would come to her aid, since this happened before.

Answer 3

The T-1000 only seems to be able to emulate the voices of people that it's heard speaking. Up to that point in the theatrical version of the film, the only contact between Sarah and the T-1000 has been at the barrel of a gun which means that until Sarah says "F*ck you", he's not heard her before and therefore can't replicate her voice.

On top of that, I think it's reasonable to suspect that John and Sarah will have a pre-arranged code to help him identify whether she's been replicated.


You may wish to note that in the film's official novelisation, the reason for him attacking her was that he genuinely thought that she might accede to his demands, offering further confirmation to the theory that he can't replicate her voice yet

THUNK! A steel needle slammed through her shoulder, pinning her. The polymorphic killer cocked back its other hand. The index finger extended as a gleaming needle, toward her eye, angling to slash through her frontal lobe and up through her upper medulla. It said in a smooth, chilling voice, “Call to John. Now.” Sarah had survived one metal motherfucker, only to be skewered by another. She was terrified, but more than that, she was mad. She couldn’t stop herself from screaming through her gasps of pain, “Fuck you, asshole!”

Once it successfully concluded its request had been denied, the T-1000 went into termination mode and arched back to deliver the killing blow.


Out of universe, there's actually a deleted scene in the film in which the T-1000 locates various tapes from Sarah. This means that he should have been able to sample her voice before the "Call to John" scene. Obviously that makes no sense from a continuity point of view which is almost certainly why it was removed.

Answer 4

It can reproduce her voice mechanically, but cannot figure out the proper tone and content to coax her son out of hiding. However, it is apparently intelligent enough to know that it can't do this... and instead attempts to force her to do it.

The funny thing is, given what we learn in the movie, I don't believe she has any better idea how to do it than the machine.

Answer 5

All answers thus far are in-universe, however I think there is another not-insignificant answer:

The scene suited the portrayal of the T-1000 as a sadist, despite his nature making him presumably incapable of such a thing. He's been menacing people for the whole of the movie prior to this scene, and capping it off by forcing Sarah to help him endorses his cinema baddie credentials.

Answer 6

I always assumed it was because the T-1000 was not yet able to emulate Sarah because it had not yet sampled her "by physical contact". This is backed up by the fact that, after having made contact with her, it then does emulate her a few scenes later.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Tatiana Syrikova, Anna Shvets, Alex Green, Andrea Piacquadio