Since no one else has commented on this — and I come to this article late-I’ll add the fact that Cameron has a little bad habit here. If you watch Aliens, which he directed after Terminator, you might note that there are several familiar lines of dialogue for anyone familiar with the works of Robert Heinlein. The term “Artificial Person” which Bishop claims he prefers over “android” is lifted from Robert Heinlein’s book Friday. Several other lines are lifted from Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. As far as I know there was never any lawsuit, but it was clear to me as a longtime fan that Cameron had few compunctions about using prior art in his works, apparently without permission.
“Is this going to be a stand-up fight or just another bug hunt?”
“How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?”
The overall idea of the Colonial Marines is a direct ripoff of Heinlein’s troopers.
The mechanized loaders seem to be clearly inspired by Heinlein’s concept for powered armor, as well as the “steadicam guns” the Marines use.
The mixing of male/female combat troops might be the only argument against a Heinlein ripoff. While Verhoeven did the same thing in the movie version of Starship Troopers, he was parodying Heinlein. In Cameron’s version, I think he simply was defying Heinlein, and he did well in doing so. The female Marines were decently badass.
Just saying…
