T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996) – What Happened to This Sci-Fi Action Short Film?

The following is the tale, no, the journey of, design of, and most importantly the experience of perhaps (at least in this guy’s opinion) James Cameron’s magnum opus of movie experiences. Not merely an easter egg filled ride based on a movie IP, but a short film considered by some as the most authentic follow up AND true sequel to Terminator 2 – in the entire franchise. This is the story of T2-3D: Battle Across Time.

The story truly begins on July 3rd of 1991. The release date of what many consider the greatest action movie of all time: Terminator 2. The movie was obviously a juggernaut smash hit critically and commercially, making over $500 million at the box office and becoming the third highest grossing film of all time (at the time). Not including the toys, games, and other merchandise. The world was enamored with Skynet, Arnold, the T-1000, and everything in between. So, it makes sense then that at some point in the early 90s, Universal Destinations & Experiences Chairman and CEO, Jay Stein, wanted to turn that success into an attraction at Universal Studios. productions. Battle Across Time crossed their minds during a glorious time for the park. After adding unforgettable experiences like “Jaws Lake” in 1976, the early 90s saw the additions of standalone movie rides such as E.T. Adventure and Back to the Future: The Ride. Both huge hits that would have a lasting effect on any generation lucky enough to experience them. For the development of his Terminator 2 experience, Stein looked to Landmark Entertainment group. It had been the same team who built the legendary “Kongfrontation” ride. The spectacle featured tourists riding an open air tram vehicle and encountering two separate 39 foot tall Kong animatronics with banana scented breath. You may have had to be there but trust me, it was awesome.

Bringing Terminator to life with a live action stunt show fueled with pyrotechnics and cutting edge technology seemed like a no-brainer. But if you’ve seen any of our WTF Happened To videos on the Terminator franchise, you know that nothing comes easy when it comes to the rights of the franchise. Stein first had to first seek permission from Universal Creative and then, after an entire year of developing the project, James Cameron himself. Who initially scoffed at the idea of the Terminator franchise becoming a theme park ride. It was up to them to change his mind. Thankfully, after seeing the storyboards and hearing the pitch….he was in. I’m just going to say it. Whoever made that pitch has balls of steel. Imagine James Cameron smoking a stogie and staring at you from the other side of a definitely oversized desk, knowing he already has strong feelings against what you are about to try and sell him. Adamantium balls, even.

The crew headed to an airplane hangar in the Van Nuys Airport in the San Fernando Valley to bring their vision to life. They took the exact measurements of the stage they would be using at Universal Studios and built their set. This would feature three 23 by 50 foot screens and six “Iwerks” projectors for the 3D. The film shown during the ride and performance would be filmed in an abandoned mine in California. The running time of the movie portion ran for a total of 12 minutes with a jaw dropping budget of $24 million dollars. I’m not Ben Affleck in The Accountant, but at that price-per-minute rate, T2 would have cost $274 million to make. Adjusted for inflation, that number would be $661 million dollars today. And to be honest, you can see every bit of that $24 million on the screen during those 12 minutes. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Edward Furlong all reprised their T2 roles and gave the audience something the franchise hasn’t managed to in the litany of sequels since. But let’s start at the beginning.

The experience of T2-3D begins as you enter a building meant to replicate Cyberdyne Systems just a short amount of time before Skynet goes live. Complete with a titanium (looking) overhang that reads “Cyberdyne Systems”, the building just feels like a blockbuster movie set with as many over the top Demolition Man vibes as Terminator ones. Everything is grandiose and larger than life. Even the hallways looked state of the art and futuristic. The queue, where you waited for the ride to open, featured tons of TV screens playing Skynet propaganda, short video clips, and a CCTV feed of you, the audience. Tiny details such as the words “We are the future” imprinted above the doors leading into the lobby or the main auditorium being adorned the “Miles Bennet Dyson Memorial Auditorium” take even the waiting room to the next level.. The entire experience was built to be 100% KFAB as they used to say in the wrestling business. The production was dead set on pretending this entire thing is real all the way through the exit into the gift shop. So much so that the desk where you pick up your 3D glasses for the movie is called the “Safety Visor Center”; the glasses spoken of as a protection device for the Cyberdyne Visitor tour about to take place.

Eventually the overtly animated Cyberdyne Director of Product Development actress greets the audience, welcoming them to the “Cyberdyne Expo”. A promotional reel then shows off the company’s latest tech, including the arms of a metal exo-skeleton tucking a small child in for bed. The reel highlights the subtle ways in which techno-propaganda can lead to some questionable technologies being accepted by the masses in the name of innovation.

Finally Skynet is pitched as the most powerful thinking machine ever, meant to protect us as a fully controlled defense system “targeting the bad guys before they can target you”. Skynet will have the ability to look in any window or room and take control of any military weapon in the world. Including nuclear weapons. Finally the signal is interrupted and we’re treated to Sarah and John Connor in full tactical gear, hacking the feed and warning us that Skynet is about to end the world as we know it. Crazy Sarah starts ranting about how the Skynet Executives should be taken out and barbequed before John tells her to chill out. He then deadpans that we have five minutes to get out of the building before the resistance takes Cyberdyne and the building we’re standing in down.

Cyberdyne reclaims control of the feed and takes us back to their promo, which, in a dark and hilarious way ends with children playing in a park that all too coincidentally resembles the park we watch the children be incinerated at in Terminator 2.

Folks are then ushered into the 700 seat auditorium where they can take their seats equipped with a “drop seat” technology Universal would end up patenting. The expo begins and we’re introduced to live action terminators that don’t look like the T-800. Or anything we’ve seen in the movies. Dubbed the T-70’s, these are the first Terminator models that resemble the human form. The eight foot tall robots put on an ammunitions demonstration, firing their weapons into the air and giving us our first real fireworks action of the experience. The host suddenly lets out a blood curdling scream as the actors portraying Sarah and John drop down from the ceiling on ropes firing their weapons in the air. It’s a little hokey as we see the actual Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong on the giant screens performing and saying their lines, while the live action actors try without much success to time their lip syncing up…but who cares? Sarah is firing her weapon off live in the audience and a genuine feeling of fun panic sets in.

Suddenly the T-1000 shows up and those 3D safety visors get to do some heavy lifting as he shapeshifts into a long, frightening, metal head that careens through the audience looking for John. We’re in full holy-shit mode now as he chokeslams the Cyberdyne lady Undertaker style. Arnold finally shows up, rolling in on a motorcycle and looking badass. The live action actors size, head-shape, and outfit are believable enough. Especially while seeing the actual Schwarzenegger speaking and acting out the motions on the screen behind him. It’s a bonified fun, surreal moment.

The Terminator drops a few classic lines, throws John on the back of his bike and drives it right through the screen and out of the auditorium. We are now fully in 3D movie mode and the future war is all around us. The film was projected on 70mm film using a two camera setup weighing 450 lbs. The sound was state of the art with 156 speaks and 24 subwoofers that Cameron said made it “the greatest sounding show in the world.”

For the next twelve minutes we’re treated to John and the T-800 surviving a wasteland full of dangerous encounters. They first have to dispatch the flailing T-1000 in a chase scene that resembles the greatness of Terminator 2 before the short film gives us something the franchise never would again: actually getting to see T2 Arnold on a motorcycle, wearing the leather jacket and sunglasses, fighting in the future war. The future has all of the sights and sounds one would expect of Cameron at his peak while the characters attempt to infiltrate and destroy Skynet’s Central Core. After the pair survive the T-1000 and a handful of drones called Mini-Hunters, Arnold faces off with a Terminator endoskeleton who he hilariously calls a college roommate before blowing his head into the audience. The two penetrate Skynet and are now back in the auditorium with us.

It’s truly an amazing experience to feel like you’re inside of not just any Terminator movie, but a mix of the future-war scenes from the first film alongside the high tech awesomeness of T2. The film alone is worth a watch on YouTube by itself as a chaser to T2. But we’re not done with the show yet….

As they try to destroy the Skynet generator with a plethora of pyrotechnics before our very eyes, we’re introduced to the T-1000000. Basically a huge spider version of the T-1000’s metallic form. It’s gigantic, haunting, and in 3D. The T-800 sends John to a time machine, once again sacrificing himself to save John Connor and the world. When the T-800 successfully blows up Skynet, sprinklers rain down water on the audience, faux smoke blows into the auditorium, and the seats suddenly drop as the building shakes around you. Simply put, it’s f*cking awesome. And story-wise, if you want, kind of bookends the Cameron trilogy in a way. Much cleaner than ever having to spell Genisys with a y.

The show received glowing reviews when it arrived in 1996 and ended up expanding to Universal Hollywood in 1999, and ultimately Universal Japan as well. Where other parks like Disneyland saw a 5% drop in attendance at the time, Universal Studios maintained steady, which they attributed to the ride. But while I’ll never agree with any of Universal’s classic rides being shuttered, such as Jaws, Twister, or Kongfrontation… everything must eventually come to an end. As Battle Across Time had taken the place of Fievel’s Playland and the American Tail Theatre in 1997, it would eventually be replaced by Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem in Hollywood in 2012. At least in Orlando the ride was replaced by something similar with a Jason Bourne show titled The Bourne Stuntacular. Finally, the Japan ride shut down due to Covid-19 in 2020 and never re-opened. Hasta La Vista, baby. We can always hope and dream for maybe a nostalgia Universal Studios park to someday open up featuring the great relics like Jaws or the Back to the Future ride. But for now… that, my friends, is T2-3D: Battle Across Time.

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