Terminator is a science-fiction action franchise built around the conflict between humans and intelligent machines. The original story introduces a future in which an artificial intelligence system has initiated a war against humanity and sends a machine assassin into the past to alter the future. Human resistance fighters subsequently become central to attempts to prevent or survive that future. The franchise explores artificial intelligence, time travel, robotics, military technology, human survival, identity, and the consequences of technological development. Characters such as Sarah Connor, John Connor, and the Terminator became central to the series. Readers Area can explore the films, characters, machines, artificial intelligence, timelines, technology, organisations, actors, future histories, and the changing interpretations of humanity’s relationship with intelligent machines.