We here at Cinema Blend like to answer the tough questions that keep the message boards active at night. With Terminator Genisys dropping early on Digital HD, ahead of its home video release, we got to thinking about one question that's been bugging us throughout the entire series: why does the T-800 sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger? As you'll see in the clip below, the answer was almost revealed in a previous film: it makes him sound more bad-ass than the alternative.
Thanks to some digging, as well as a quick Reddit consultation, we were reminded of a deleted scene that was a part of the special features on the Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines DVD. In the scene above, we learn that Sgt. Candy is the muscular bad ass that the T-800 gets its intimidating looks from, while his voice comes from one of the suits in the room during a pitch meeting to sell Skynet to the highest bidder. Despite its release to the public, the scene was cut from the finished product. Yet with an answer to one of the biggest questions in the Terminator franchise, why would we be deprived of such closure?
The reasoning is pretty damned obvious when you go back and re-watch the "Sgt. Candy" scene, as the scene is played as a bit of a jokey mess in its presentation in the home video release. Part of this could be blamed on the fact that the scene is a bit of a rough cut, but even if the dubbing were perfected, the gag involving a highly exaggerated southern man's drawl over the look of Schwarzenegger is something that's just too jarring. Not to mention, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines is the same Terminator film that took the T-800's bad assed entrance and turned it into a big joke. Apparently, getting Arnold Schwarzenegger to say, "Talk to the hand," was ok – but a gag involving swapped vocal cords was going over-board.
It should also be noted that we don't know who provided the voice of Sgt. Candy, but some Redditors have theorized that those pipes belong to the legendary Toby Huss. You'd probably best recognize Huss as Artie, The Strongest Man In The World from The Adventures Of Pete And Pete, but most recently you've had the pleasure of watching him butt heads with Lee Pace as John Bosworth on AMC's Halt And Catch Fire. While we're not so sure the two voices match up, you can listen to the following clip from the AMC show and decide yourself.
While some would debate whether Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines is even still canon at this point, the fact still remains that the there is no further events conflicting with the Sgt. Candy "theory" put forth by the writers and film-makers involved. So without any sort of refutation, a strong case could be made for the scene being included as canon. No matter what your stance, there's one thing that Sgt. Candy can teach us all today: the grinning Terminator gag from Terminator Genisys is officially off the hook for being the cheesiest laugh in the series.
Terminator Genisys hits Blu Ray and DVD on Tuesday, but you can catch it early through Digital HD.
