October 26, 1984: “The Terminator” Premieres

October 26, 1984: The Terminator premieres. Originally, director James Cameron wanted football player-turned-actor O.J. Simpson to star as the eponymous villain. This was rejected, because a focus group suggested that O.J. wouldn’t be believable as, literally, a heartless killing machine. So they got Arnold Schwarzenegger. And the rest is… uh, history?

In 2029, what then seemed like a fairly distant future, Earth has been devastated by a nuclear war, and is ruled by machines. But the tide has turned, as humanity's rebellion, led by a man named John Connor, is beginning to win. So the machines send a cybernetic assassin back to 1984, before John's birth, to kill his mother, Sarah (Linda Hamilton, who later married Cameron). Knowing that this is the plan, John (never actually shown in the film) sends one of his soldiers, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) back to protect Sarah. He does so, at the cost of his own life -- but not before fathering Sarah's child, his boss.

This movie began Schwarzenegger's use of the phrase, "I'll be back" in every movie. As a result, people started using it, instead of what they used before: General Douglas MacArthur's line, "I shall return."

The movie also began a franchise that has, through 2022, extended to 5 films and a TV series, which have often contradicted each other, producing an incredibly convoluted timeline, including Schwarzenegger playing both good and evil Terminators.

When Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California in 2003, he became known as "The Governator."

In a 2015 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played the Terminator. His opponent, as played by "Nice" Peter Shukoff, was RoboCop.

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October 26, 1984 was a Friday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA season opened, with 6 games:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 119-104 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands. Dominique Wilkins, the dunk artist known as "The Human Highlight Film," scored 34 points for the Hawks.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-101 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 130-123 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. Isiah Thomas scored 35 points in defeat.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Bullets, 109-93 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 122-114 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 102-94 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Quebec Nordiques played to a tie, 2-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. John Ogrodnick and former Sabre Danny Gare each had 2 goals.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 8-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. Jari Kurri scored 2 goals. Wayne Gretzky didn't score any, but he and Kurri each had 3 assists.