The T-1000 remains a potent image 35 years after Terminator 2 first appeared in July 1991. The film’s blend of computer animation and practical effects has returned to the foreground. This discussion also involves Alan Oldham, known as DJ T-1000.
The T-1000
Modern artificial intelligence generates chatbots that induce psychosis, corporate dashboards that control drones, and breakdancing toys armed with weapons. We should instead look back to the era when evil AI was fashionable, specifically 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
This is not an argument against artificial intelligence or visual effects. The core message of the film is the superiority of computers and machines over humans. Someone once told me I should have supported the humans in the movie. Roko’s basilisk, shhh.
The point is that the heavy use of practical effects in Terminator 2, combined with computer animation that looked intentionally artificial, has come full circle in 2026. What was once a technical necessity to stay within budget is now a desired aesthetic. This shift applies to music production as well.
Brad Fiedel discusses producing the score in a recent interview. The music was played live, which ironically gives it a human feel. The soundtrack makes the music sound like killer robots. The energy is comparable to an excited child singing along to the film. Fiedel explains his process in a setting featuring a Sony display, a Power Max sticker, and a vintage Pro Tools monitor. These clues date the interview to the latter part of the decade.
A mark of good composition is that you can sing the percussion part. A teacher once demonstrated this with Beethoven, noting that you can recognise any sonata by rapping the first bar on the side of a piano. Learning Javanese music also involves singing out percussion patterns, showing this is not just a Western-centric trait.
The landmark visual effect in Terminator 2 is the liquid metal transformation. It is not just the effect itself but the combination with Robert Patrick’s acting. More of this effect relies on practical techniques than many people realise.
A longer behind-the-scenes feature discusses the practical work. The film is best known for Industrial Light & Magic’s liquid effect, but part of what makes it work is that it stands out in a movie otherwise heavy with practical visual effects.
The timing of this discussion is relevant. This week George Lucas claimed that artificial intelligence is like replacing horses with cars. Lucas has accomplished much and deserves respect, but he has become notorious for overusing technology and underusing human actors in some films. Contrast this with James Cameron’s commitment to shooting real-for-real scenes, even at the risk of drowning people. Lucas’s model, that new technology inevitably replaces old technology and renders it irrelevant, contradicts the experience of artists. Lucas’s own franchise is currently popular for its use of practical effects and real-for-real elements alongside new digital compositing. The most popular character is a puppet. There is no fundamental difference between conversations in art, film, and music regarding this relationship.
DJ T-1000
Thinking of the T-1000 brings thoughts of DJ T-1000, the techno pioneer Alan Oldham. We use the copy-paste history of techno too often when we could expand that view. Alan was the original Minister of Information, a designer for much of the Transmat look which continues in his comics, chief of Generator, and a member of Underground Resistance.
Talking about techno as Black music should be more than a way to score social media points. It respects the soul of the sound. It is jackin’, banging, groovy. It is music you would actually shake your ass to. Otherwise, you rip the music out of context and out of Detroit like an artifact at the British Museum, or it becomes trendy background wallpaper. I could not attend next year’s event but the report from TEC-TROIT recently described music in the community with people actually dancing. I am especially glad to hear FBK made it, aka Kevin M. Kennedy. That is the only futurism I am interested in.
Linking this to the T-1000, this is machine music with groove, not just grids. Less Skynet, more drum machines killing fascists.
It easily skirts the line between techno and house. You need Alan’s EP from May, Prisma, in your bag.
Alan is also giving us a tour of the lost years of techno, reissuing oldschool releases from Generator like Woody McBride and DJ ESP. Because things can be cyclical, sometimes the past sounds more futuristic than the present does. Or maybe it is perspective or maturity working.
Alan also has an answer to Britney’s Work B**** with this cut if you need some motivation. But in case you slept on it during the pandemic, enjoy Detroitism:
I for one welcome our new techno machine overlords.
