Theatrical cut vs special edition

Special edition. My biggest gripe with films is they are paced too fast, and I feel films are made for people with short attention spans, whenever I have seen uncut versions of movies I notice is at least one important story telling scene that gets omitted for the theatre cut,

Sometimes I even watch movies not fully understanding the content, then I do after I see cut scenes.

The brain surgery, leaning mode stuff I felt was really important for starters and even the extra scenes showing the T1000 was not operating properly with it melding with the floor at the end.

I like that they show the T-1000 glitching out in the special edition. Shows that it can be harmed or killed.

if you're a fan of T2, the special edition adds more substance to the film. From what I remember of the extra scenes there was:

- sarah getting attacked in the looney bin by 2 guards. Removing this scene lessens the impact of sarah getting revenge on the 4 eyed guard later on with the savage beat down

- Kyle meeting Sarah in her cell just after she's attacked by the guards. Removing this takes out a much needed connection between T1 and T2 and arguably the best actor of the saga, Michael Biehn. It also reaffirms Sarah's willingness to escape and be with her son

- T-1000 killing the dog, knowing he wasn't called Wolfie, meaning he could tell he was being lied to. Shows how advanced he was and that he'll be after them

- removing the T-800's chip from his head and Sarah trying to destroy it before john stops her - shows that Sarah still doesn't trust the Terminator, making her handshake at the end more impactful that she's now come full circle to finally trusting a machine

- T-1000 malfunctioning after being shot to pieces. It now makes more sense when john knows that Sarah is really the t-1000 in the steel mill. Also cool to see the glitches in the T-1000

- More scenes of Dyson at home with his wife and kids. Makes his sacrifice more noble at the end

Special Edition (though of course not the extra-special edition with the lame ending and unnecessary T-1000 searching John’s room)

The world of Terminator 2 is incredible and spending more time in it, with these characters is an improvement. I also love the extra T-1000 glitching effects, especially when his feet take on the corrugated metal floor texture, I still marvel at how good it looks. Also it later on explains how John is able to distinguish between the two Sarahs, that important scene makes no sense in the Theatrical.

All of Cameron’s Special Editions are superior, I can’t go back to the Theatricals for any of them (obviously excluding Avatar - those films are pointless)