https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/dvi9da/in_t2_why_didnt_the_t1000_turn_into_the_t800/
At the end of the movie - After the T1000 and the T800 fight he goes off and finds Sarah. Before this, he could have morphed into the T800 - why didn’t he?share
From a story point of view I can see why he didn’t. It would have ended the movie. But is there a logical reason he didn’t?
Maybe he wanted to but couldn't manage it as he was malfunctioning at this point.
shareyeah, that's why he also asked sarah to "call to john" first, instead of just taking sarah's shape himself (which he did later on nonetheless).
share In a deleted scene the t-1000s feet where blending into the floor (malfunction) whenb he was impersonating sarah connor. Thos is how john could tell his mother apart rom the imposter t-1000(You see him looking down and noticing the feet followed by a shot of the t-1000s feet melding into the floor)f. I think it was a mistake cutting those shots of the t-1000 as he was malfunctioning.
So with these cuts back in the movie it made sence for the t-1000 to try to get the real sarah connor to call John as this was more optimal then what happened later and helped expose the imposter.
The T-1000 must touch (sample) what ever it intends to imitate and it had just speared sarah connor. Its not clear how well it sampled the T-800 at this point (even though we know they had fought hand to hand for a few scenes already at this point). The real question is why was Sarah Connor still alive considering that "Typically what ever the t-1000 samples and imitates is terminated" as explained by the t-800. The t-1000 had already sampled sarah connor but didn't terminate her which is what really what tipped off John as he then saw two sarah conners indicating onee was the imposter.
I don't think he could. Perhaps he could transform into any person but not into another terminator.
shareThink the OP means copy the likeness not the complex interior
shareWell I am just saying the T-1000 might not be able to become exactly the same shape and size of the Terminator.
shareHe copied that fat security guard
shareYes. But that's different. Maybe like I said it can't form the exact size and shape of the Terminator. Otherwise it probably would have become the terminator after fighting it when John was trying to start his dirtbike.
shareDifferent...why? If it could copy the big fat security guard I'm sure it would have no problem copying Arnie. Why become him after the fight in the mall when John and the Terminator weren't separated until the steel mill?
shareI was thinking of the scene after John runs down the stairs to the parking lot. Right after he's knocked out the Terminator temporarily he could've morphed into him as he's walking down the stairs to the parking lot where John is. John would mistakenly think it's really him and then mission accomplished. I feel it would've done that too if it could've. Then again I guess the real reason it never morphed into him is that they'd have to pay Arnold an extra bit of money for it.
shareAt this point John is in panic mode and is simply fleeing the scene. Doubtful he would have stopped to listen. He only realises or knows for sure that the Arnie Terminator is not there to kill him when he is saved by him in the truck chase scene.
shareAt this point it was still unclear what the T-800s motive were. Any one in the theatre that didn't see the trailers wouldent know the motives of either terminator at this point. We all knew arnold was the good guy from the trailers but from the perspective of John connor both terminators could have been going after him which untill shown otherwise was a good assumption.
shareThere was a conversation between the T-800 and John Connor about the T-1000 not being able to copy complex things like bombs or missiles. I wonder if the T-800 counts as "complex machinery" and isn't able to be copied. Or maybe Cyberdyne put in some special chip inside of Arnie, or his living tissue is not 100% exactly like our human DNA....like an "anti-piracy" measure so that he can't be copied (okay, I admit that's a crazy idea. Just throwing ideas out there).
That's probably reasonable. in the movie, they stated that he had to make contact with the original not just look at it. Maybe the innards inhibited the process
shareIt was malfunctioning by that point of the movie, it's how John spotted it when it was trying to mimic Sarah. Also since the T-800 was damaged a lot, John would spot that it's not the T-800. It can mimic how the character will look but what about the damage like the T-800's arm being ripped off, and all the shots to the T-800's face? It's not like it can mimic those.
shareI only suggested that it could've morphed into the T-800 after fighting it in the mall. He could've even stole the gun it had to fool John as well. But it didn't. And I was suggesting that it might not have been able to for whatever reason. Of course like I said probably the film makers didn't want a scene like that cause they'd have to pay Arnold a bit more for it.
shareFair enough but what would be the point? After the mall the T-800 is with John the whole time until after Cyberdyne. If you mean right after the T-800 is thrown through the wall I don’t think that’d matter either cause it was already chasing John. There wasn’t one moment where it would benefit it. Only part I can think is when it opens the stairwell door before John starts his bike but even then John wasn’t really trusting the T-800 yet cause he was too scared and wanted to get out of that situation.
shareI was talking about right after T-1000 threw him through the glass door in the mall.
shareJohn was running from both of them at that point. While yes the T-800 did save him by shielding him from the T-1000's gun shots, John wasn't fully analyzing the situation at that point. All he knew was there was a cop searching for him and had open fire on him, and the Terminator that his mother had always warned him about. He knew he had to just get out of there.
share The t-800 was knocked on his ass at that point. The t-1000 probably wasn't expecting John to be near an escape vehical and thought he could just sprint and kill John at that point and haden't morphed. You can see that the T-1000 came very close at that point to catching John Conner as he speed out of the parking lot. Dispite the T-1000 not making optimal decisions 100% of the time (And its only optimal when you consider everything in hindsight) it was clearly very effective and would have eventually killed john had it not been for the intervention of the T-800 and a lot of *scripted* luck.