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Future Coda
T2 deleted scene )
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Scene description Also known as Future Park or Coda Park. This is the alternate(/original) ending in which Judgment Day and the future war has been prevented. Reason cut T2 Ultimate Edition DVD: The second omitted scene is the original and more optimistic ending to the film, which involved a 64-year old Sarah musing about the war which never happened as a result of their actions at the steel mill. Linda Hamilton endured a six-hour makeup job sculpted by Stan Winston for the scene, and Michael Edwards returned to play a non-scarred adult John Connor playing with his granddaughter in a sunny Washington, D.C. park. The scene, althought somewhat out of context to the final film as it evolved, presents an interesting theoretical and philosophical side to the film, that of alternate timelines and possible futures. Another moment that was considered for this scene but did not even make it to the written page was a moment where Sarah sees a young Kyle Reese in this future park, an unscarred non-military Reese to whom Sarah wistfully can say nothing. Although the Future Coda ending was completed, it was ultimately cut from the film for a variety of reasons: on an emotional level, the prospect of a definitive, happy ending had a tone that was somewhat incongruous to the rest of the film; on a visual level, the sunny park in Washington and the futuristic buildings felt again out of place against the dark and gritty two hours preceding it; on a pseudo-narrative level, this ending effectively negated the storylines of both the first film and the first sequence in the second, raising to question the "grandfather paradox" of time-travel stories without the proper time to address it; and on a perceptual level of the characters, it was difficult to accept Sarah as a contented old observer after seeing her throughout the film as an intense, athletic heroine. (And then there was the small matter of how a juvenile delinquent like John, linked to a massive spree of destruction at age ten, could become a Senator...) The decision to maintain a sense of narrative ambiguity --to leave the future open-ended-- felt more in keeping with the tone of the film. Van Ling (Creative Supervisor), in T2, the Book of the Film, An Illustrated Screenplay: In the released film, the image of Sarah and John at the steel mill dissolves to a shot traveling down a dark highway at night, with a final voiceover from Sarah: "The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it for the first time with a sense of hope, because if a machine, a terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can, too." The original Future Coda ending was filmed and completed, but omitted for a variety of reasons: on an emotional level, the prospect of a definitive, happy ending felt somewhat out of context; on a visual level, the sunny park in Washington and the futuristic buildings felt again out of place; on a pseudo-narrative level, this ending effectively negated the storylines of both the first film and the first sequence in the second, raising to question the "grandfather paradox" of time-travel stories without the proper time to address it; and on a preceptual level of the characters, it was difficult to accept Sarah as a contented old observer after seeing her throughout the film as an intense, athletic heroine. (And then there was the small matter of how a juvenile deliquent like John, linked to a massive spree of destruction at age ten, could become a Senator..) The decission to maintain a sense of narratiev ambiguity --to leave the future open-ended-- felt more in keeping with the tone of the film. Comments This scene is re-inserted back into the ultimate edition version of T2 (this is not the special edition cut). Status - Source Terminator 2 script, revised final shooting script: 214 HOLD ON JOHN AND SARAH, watching through the heat ripples as we --
DISSOLVE TO:
215 THE SUN, PURE IN A CLOUDLESS SKY
Tilting down reveal that we are in a park, very green. People are
casually dressed, having fun. Cycling, reading... children are
playing in a playground.
Beyond the line of tree we see the skyline of Washington, D.C., with
the Capital Building and the Washington Monument. The skyline is
subtly changed, with a lot of new buildings, advanced high-rises.
A CARD APPEARS
July 11, 2029
WE BOOM DOWN AND TRACK LATERALLY through a playground in the
foreground. Children swinging on swings. Sliding down slides.
Timeless things that 4 decades of technical advancement will not
change. As we track we hear:
SARAH (V.O.)
August 29th 1997 came and went. Nothing much
happened. Michael Jackson turned forty. There
was no Judgment Day. People went to work as
they always do, laughed, complained, watched
TV, made love.
We pass a jungle gym, neither melted nor burned, but full of kids
swinging and yelling raucously. Past it we drop down to see a boy
pumping the pedals of a tricycle.
SARAH (V.O.)
I wanted to run down the street yelling... to
grab them all and say "Every day form this day
is a gift. Use it well!" Instead I got drunk.
STILL TRACKING we come to rest on an elderly woman seated on a bench.
It is SARAH, now 64 years old. The world has aged her, but she seems
at peace in this moment. She speaks into a microcassette recorder.
SARAH (V.O.)
That was thirty years ago. But the dark future
which never came still exists for me, and it
always will, like the traces of a dream lingering
in the morning light. And the war against the
machines goes on. Or, to be more precise, the
war against those who build the wrong machines.
There is a man in is forties playing with two small children
nearby. He turns. It is John Connor. Through he has the same stern
features in adulthood, there is no eye-patch, no scarring. He is far
from the haggard man on grim destiny we saw in the world that might
have been. But there is still penetrating intelligence, even wisdom,
in his eyes.
SARAH (V.O.)
John fights the war differently than it was
foretold. Here, on the battlefield of the
Senate, the weapons are common sense... and
hope.
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD GIRL runs to her to have her shoelace tied.
GIRL
Tie me, grandma.
Grandma Sarah smiles. It is the only time we have seen her smile so
far. She bends as the little girls puts her foot up on the bench.
She ties as we hear:
SARAH (V.O.)
The luxury of hope was given to me by the
Terminator. Because if a machine can learn
the value of human life... maybe we can too.
Sarah ruffles the kids's hair as she runs off to play with her dad.
FADE OUT
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