See How Terminator 2: Judgment Day Did Its Coolest Special Effects

By Nick Venable | Updated

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While the first Terminator film did its part in jolting the adrenaline of our youth, its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, came close to ruining all signs of optimism from a whole generation.

At one moment, we were in school learning all of our state capitals and a slew of world capitals, and then, thanks to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, we now knew exactly what they would all look like in the aftermath of nuclear warfare. That was thanks to the amazing effects work done on Terminator 2: Judgment Day all the way back in 1991.

It was a stark and terrifying reminder of the sheer destruction of these weapons, all in one Terminator 2: Judgment Day scene that many experts have called very accurate.

Two effects tests from Terminator 2: Judgment Day emerged, thanks to the Stan Winston School of special effects. And believe it or not, at around a minute, they still show off two of the greatest effects in the film.

All a very cool behind-the-scenes look at Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Of course they would show off Sarah Connor getting burned up, the exact moment in which our childhood died. Incidentally, it’s a really great and non-complicated effect using tissue paper, tempera paint, and napkins. Then you blow it all to hell.

Again, the scene from the movie has been examined by experts and members of the federal nuclear testing labs unofficially said that Terminator 2′s nuclear nightmare scene is “One of the most accurate depictions of a nuclear blast ever created for the screen.”

Is it amazing being accurate around that kind of thing? Yes, but in a totally morbid way. We now saw what it would look like for our bodies and world to be disintegrated in one blink of an eye. Thanks James Cameron.

The Terminator 2: Judgment Day second scene shows the T-1000, as Janelle, killing her husband, John’s stepfather, with the super-cool gigantic blade coming out of the end of her arm. It was a troublesome effect where the final result was worth everything the crew had to go through.

These were just two of many special effects scenes from Terminator 2: Judgment Day that have stood the test of time. Don’t even get us started on what they pulled off with Robert Patrick as the T-1000 and that shape-shifting prototype. It was all so cool, so groundbreaking, so memorable, and well, just so freaking awesome.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day still holds up today because of the work they put in at the time.