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He Said He'd Be Back: Terminator Zero

ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

An energetic Jacki Jing takes the stage in front of a packed ballroom at the JW Marriott here at Anime Expo 2024.

Jacki drops one of the iconic lines from the storied Terminator franchise: “Come with me if you want to live.” The eager crowd responds with cheers. The excitement in the room is palpable.

It's a fascinating moment. The Terminator franchise has struggled to strike a chord with audiences since the first film The Terminator in 1984 and its much-lauded sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. Despite some big names attached later installments, and even folding Arnold Schwarzenegger back into the mix, it hasn't quite captured the magic of James Cameron's original pair of films.

This new spin on the franchise seeks to light that match and get the fire going again.

2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity.

Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee, who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet's impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.

The crowd is excited, certainly, but it's clear that some of it is pure curiosity. Netflix teaming up with Production I.G, the animation studio behind Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Psycho-Pass? To do a brand new animated entry into a Hollywood action movie franchise? Sure, why not. Let's see how this goes.

Jacki then introduces the series' Executive Producer Mattson Tomlin to talk about production of the eight-episode series, collaborating with Production I.G, and his goals with Terminator Zero. He mentions that the show has been in production for four years now, so he's a bit nervous, but excited to talk about it.

But first Jacki wants to check his anime bonafides, so she asks Mattson to share his top five anime. He cites Ghost in the Shell and AKIRA as his “holy texts”, two classic cyberpunk anime films. He mentions that The Matrix is his favorite movie ever, so naturally The Animatrix is among his top choices. “Anything that Peter Chung has touched, so like Æon Flux." (Some might take issue with that one but we'll count it!)

Last one? Samurai Champloo. The crowd cheers and has clearly accepted him as legit. He's one of us!

He gives the elevator pitch for Terminator Zero: It takes place in August 1997, leading up to Judgment Day. It channels the lore and vibe of the first two movies, but particularly the first. There was a desire to go back to the horror elements of that first film.

Mattson later shares that when he saw the first Terminator film when he was eight years old, the “eye surgery” scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger rips out an eyeball gave him nightmares. When Netflix asked what he wanted to do with Terminator, he said he wanted to evoke exactly that kind visceral horror.

There's this scientist named Malcolm Lee (voiced by André Holland), “who's like the Steve Jobs of Japan at the time”, who believes that if he successfully launches a new AI called Kokoro (voiced by Rosario Dawson), he can stop Skynet and thereby stop Judgment Day from happening.

Sounds cool on paper!

Before sharing a taste of the show with the audience, Jacki asked Mattson to share some more about the world of Terminator Zero, why the medium of animation was the right choice, and collaborating with Production I.G.

“It's very much designed to feel like the 90s, and 90s Japan,” Mattson said. “So for anyone who loved anime from that era, it feels like the cyberpunk anime of that time.”

Production I.G feels like a perfect fit to achieve that. Mattson shares that he believes the first Terminator film is more of a suspenseful serial killer horror movie than its sequel, which is often cited as one of the greatest action flicks of all time. That puts their aim of Terminator Zero's slower, scarier vibe squarely in Production I.G's strike zone. “We wanted to feel the weight, that heaviness of the machines of the first movie.”

Mattson shares details about the responsibility he felt to set Production I.G up for success:. “I write very full, detailed scripts, and everything kind of falls back on me. [I had to make] sure Production I.G had everything they needed to do their best work.” For things like action scenes, there was still some healthy back-and-forth. For sequences like fight scenes, Mattson took care to communicate the emotional weight, and made sure there were real stakes for the characters involved, so when passing that to Production I.G, they understood what should be emphasized.

Mattson's respect for his collaborative partners at Production I.G is clear: "They're the true gods. I felt like I had a real partner in both Production I.G and [Masashi] Kudo (Director). We both pushed each other to be the best we could be.

After a lengthy preamble, the crowd was clearly ready to see the goods, and Jacki enthusiastically got the hype going. “Are you ready to get a taste of Terminator Zero?” The crowd responded in kind.

The lights dimmed and the crowd leaned in as the clips started playing, opening to a dark scene with slow, but powerful thumping music.

So how was it? The clip was a scant six minutes long, but it leaves a strong impression. The scene that plays out is a woman being pursued by a Terminator unit, pulling out every stop she can to try to escape with her life and stop her pursuer in its metal tracks.

It's gripping and suspenseful, and the quality of animation is typical of Production I.G, which is to say: TOP NOTCH.

At the same time, and perhaps most critically, it has that same tense and heavy feel of the very first Terminator movie. The work Mattson and Production I.G put in to capture the feel of the series' magic is paying off. Having recently rewatched the first film, it felt right at home with the slow but ever-threatening chase scenes.

This will put audiences at ease. After some mediocre entries in the franchise, and now a jump from live-action to animation, there's understandably a number of things that could make viewers nervous about an anime adaptation of the Terminator world. I would say it's very wise to use the opportunity to tell a new story that's interwoven with but adjacent to existing Terminator lore.

It wasn't until the scene ended and Jacki asked Mattson about it that I realized there was absolutely no dialogue the whole time. The scene really speaks for itself, even though none of the characters themselves did.

“Why did you choose to have no dialogue in that opening scene?” Jacki asks. “I wanted to just blow people away and start off on the strongest foot possible.” Mattson replies. “I recognize there's this question of ‘Do I wanna watch something Terminator [related]’, and 'Do I wanna watch something animated?'. I wanted to just blow people away and start off on the strongest foot possible.

Starting out with a scene with no dialogue may be bold, but focusing on the tone, and featuring some intense action right out of the gate is a smart choice. The audience responded positively to the footage, and Mattson seemed relieved.

After the sneak peek, the conversation shifted to the characters of Terminator Zero. First up was Eiko, the character featured in the clip everyone just saw, voiced by Sonoya Mizuno.

“What was the thought process behind Eiko's design?” Mattson shares that there was a fair bit of iteration, but that from the beginning they were aiming for the kind of character you'd expect from not just the Terminator franchise, but any of James Cameron's works. The term “strong female character” is perhaps over-used, but for them it had to mean more than just a woman with strong arms and a gun. They designed Eiko to be hard-hitting and visceral, but also vulnerable. She has the weight of saving the world on her shoulders, and that obviously wears a person down. “It was important to us to have a character that was hard as nails, but would still start to show some cracks from the heavy burden she carries.”

Next they discussed Malcolm, voiced by André Holland. Malcolm is shown briefly at the end of the clip that was shared, seeing apocalyptic visions in his dreams. Malcolm's part of the story unfolds in 1997, leading up to Judgment Day. He believes the world is about to end, and is haunted by it. Mattson praises André's portrayal, saying he can evoke emotion even with a mere sigh.

They also talked about Kokoro, the AI entity Malcolm has created, who is voiced by none other than Rosario Dawson.

“[Rosario] was kind of my dream for Kokoro. That character is trying to program not with 1s and 0s, but with conversations. So I wanted a character that felt human, but also very god-like,” Mattson says. “I thought, 'Okay, I'm making a show where someone needs to voice god…', and for me, that would be Rosario.”

Mattson tells the audience that he's been nervous about the project for the entire four years it's been in production. “I just don't want to fuck it up.” Approaching it as a creator, and as a fan, “I was honest with what worked and what didn't [in the Terminator franchise].” Mattson wants to break new ground, but still make it something that feels like Terminator.

“Who Cares?” That's a phrase Mattson has tattooed on his hands. For him, that's his north star. “For me, that sort of means 'so what?'. So when I'm looking at a scene, I ask myself that, and really try to strip it down to its core and find the raw nerve that will answer that question.”

Based on the clip, and the energetic reception from the audience, chances are looking good that Mattson's efforts will pay dividends. I'm personally looking forward to watching more.

Jacki caps off the panel with a final question: “Anything you want to say to the fans?”

Mattson: “Tweet nice things?”