You may know that Ron Perlman was a beast long before he donned the horns and red skin of Hellboy, and that Linda Hamilton was certainly a beauty before she became the iconic Sarah Connor in the Terminator films, but did you know that one of the people at the reins of their rise to fame in the Beauty and the Beast TV series on CBS was George R.R. Martin?

That’s right — before penning the slaughter of entire families in his A Song of Ice and Fire books, which were adapted into HBO’s Game of Thrones, Martin was juggling a delicate love story during an era where violence on television was limited to fake bullet wounds and energetic shoving matches.

Terminator Anthology
Directed by James Cameron, Jonathan Mostow, McG
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Edition
Release Date: August 28, 2012

“The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight…”

In 2008, James Cameron‘s 1984 film The Terminator was deemed “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the Terminator, a relentless cybernetic assassin from the post-apocalyptic future of 2029, sent back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a resistance fighter from the future, follows the Terminator back in time to protect Sarah – but why am I even explaining this, obviously you’ve seen this movie… right? Please, for the love of God tell me you’ve seen The Terminator.

Just recently it was reported that Justin Lin had signed a two–year deal with Universal Pictures that would see him working on numerous different films, including Fast and the Furious 6, the follow–up to Fast Five, which Lin directed in addition to The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious.

But one of the multiple other projects that Lin is attached to direct is Terminator 5, which is still being developed and does not have a major studio backing it yet. Even so, Lin had a chat with MovieHole recently, and discussed the future of the Terminator franchise, including bringing back Sarah Connor somehow.

Big news for fans of NBC’s Chuck came on Saturday at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con as the actress set to play Chuck’s mom in season 4 was revealed, and it’s none other than Linda Hamilton (The Terminator). In a show that has prided itself on having a lot of popular guest stars may have topped itself with this casting. Creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz spoke about the upcoming season and how the main plot running through the season will be Chuck’s (Zachary Levi) search for his mother.

If you ever get a chance to come to SDCC, I highly recommend checking out the Chuck panel, as it’s always a good time. This year’s panel opened with the Hamilton announcement and then cut into a performance by series band Jeffster dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. Then the cast was introduced and discussed the upcoming season as well as their yearly “Thank You” to the fans. If you’re a fan of the show, you always feel very appreciated after seeing one of their panels, and you can tell that this is a show with a very passionate fan base.

I’m going to assume that 99.9% of us have seen at least The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, if not Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines as well. If you have not, and you’re planning on seeing Terminator Salvation this week, then Geeks of Doom is your place to make sure you at least have some kind of an idea of what the hell is going on.

Keep in mind — I can absolutely promise you that Salvation and any others ever made will not be anywhere near as good as the first two, and I strongly urge you to see them first; but if you just don’t have time and have to get you some Christian Bale action now, hopefully this will help out a little.

Before you continue here, be sure to check out our own BAADASSSSS!’s in-depth and thoughtful retrospect of 1984’s The Terminator — A Look Back At James Cameron’s “˜The Terminator’. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

OK, now that you’ve read up on the first movie, here’s the promised quick recaps of both T2 and T3 so that you can complete the Zelda tri-force and be fully prepared to see Terminator Salvation!