Cameron Phillips

From Terminator Wiki

"What model are you? Are you new? You seem... different."

- John Connor.

Cameron Phillips is a terminator sent from the year 2027 to protect John Connor and his mother, Sarah Connor. She first appeared in the Pilot of the TV series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Cameron is from an unspecified terminator series, ^[1] admittedly different than all others. ^[2] She is the most realistic cyborg yet encountered, with detailed programming of social behavior. This programming was enhanced by the capture and interrogation of Allison Young, a human Resistance fighter used as the Model template for Cameron's living tissue infiltration sheath. ^[3]

Contents 1 Personality 2 Biography 3 Behind the scenes 4 Relationships 4.1 John Connor 4.2 Sarah Connor 4.3 Derek Reese 5 Aliases/Nicknames 6 Characteristics 7 Promotional Imagery 8 Character concept 9 Appearances 10 References 11 See Also 12 External links

Personality

"Thank you for explaining."

- Cameron Phillips.

Although Cameron was capable of pretending to be a human when approaching John in the pilot episode, befriending John and even flirting, she no longer displays this behavior. Since Cromartie's attack on John in the pilot episode, she has remained relatively emotionless and has thus far proved to have poor social skills when she and John return to school in the third episode. This regression of abilities is explained as her "mission" in "Pilot" was to acquire and ingratiate herself with John, having done so the majority of her time is spent as a protector, and her "girlishness" is an extraneous factor.^[4]

She has been shown mimicking the behavior of others, such as the Latina lookout from the second episode, providing a baseline for her current behavior. This is also shown in the fifth episode when she impersonates the voice of a distressed student she met just prior to the girl committing suicide. Cameron's initial interactions with John were part of a program designed specifically to get close to him. Therefore, once her identity was revealed, she was no longer required to follow the program and reverted back to her base settings.¹⁰¹

When John comments on the differences between her behaviors at different points, she replies, "I fooled you."¹⁰³ At times she also displays awkward humor, such as in the fifth episode when she and John are entering a vehicle driven by Sarah. John, wanting to ride in the front passenger seat, calls out "I call shotgun," to which Cameron responds, "I call nine-millimeter." In the episode "The Demon Hand," despite both Sarah and Derek's insistence that she is only a soulless machine, Cameron is shown performing a complex ballet dance for no apparent reason.

Despite her display of human characteristics, Cameron remains a machine following programming, and as such often displays behavior that would be considered cold-blooded or callous in humans, such as her killing of Enrique Salceda in "Gnothi Seauton", in "The Demon Hand" allowing Dmitri Shipkov and his sister, Maria, to be murdered (it is implied that since she had no instructions to either kill or protect the two, she did nothing), in "The Turk" she prevents John from preventing a girl from committing suicide, and in "What He Beheld" she kills and stuffs the false Sarkissian's goon in the trunk of his Mercedes to protect John.

Sarah Connor is shown on several occasions having to order Cameron not to kill people and reprimanding her when she commits acts of violence.¹⁰² There have been, however, moments in which Cameron has shown signs that she may be learning the value of human life; in "Vick's Chip", she senses that she has offended Sarah when she refers to a murder victim as being just "bones and meat" and in "What He Beheld" she chooses not to kill Carlos' girlfriend.

Cameron is often called "Tin-Miss", referencing the Tin-Man from L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz.^102/105 The Tin-Man's journey to find a heart reflects Cameron's growing understanding, and emulation, of what it means to be human. At the conclusion of Baum's story the Tin-Man discovers that he had a heart all along, from Cameron's point of view this might suggest that she is already capable of being human but has yet to discover this fact.

When someone explains something to Cameron that she is unfamiliar with, such as mourning one's death, the human imagination, or phrases that don't take their literal meaning, she responds with "Thank you for explaining."¹⁰⁰ Another aspect of Cameron's personality that has yet to be explored is her apparent fashion sense, as she is seen in a wide range of outfits during the series (as opposed to most previous terminators who generally wore a single outfit).¹⁰⁰

As a result of the car bomb, Cameron has suffered damage to her chip, resulting in "glitches" in her personality that make her unpredictable and dangerous. During the brief reversion to her Skynet settings, Cameron demonstrates her near-perfect mimicry of human behaviour by tearfully begging John not to remove her chip, even going so far as to say that she loves him. Though it is likely that this was just a ploy to deceive John, it is not a stretch to consider that Cameron was genuinely concerned for her own well-being.²⁰¹ Cameron also appears to have adopted her "Pilot" demeanor as she is seen to be more in touch with her human characteristics after the events in "Samson & Delilah", bringing her full circle.²⁰²

Cameron appears to have made the conscious decision to not kill John, despite the demands of her Skynet programming. John is unable to repair her chip in any fashion, which rules out the possibility of outside interference. For Cameron to be able to override her own pre-programmed settings, it shows that she is quite possibly above any restriction enforced upon her and that it is her desire to protect John.

Another interesting observation is that Cameron appears to be developing a sense of pride in her accomplishments. This is seen most predominantly during the "pool scene" in "Automatic For The People", after which she smiles with smug satisfaction at having won a $50 bet. This can also be seen during her and Sarah's initiation into the Seranno Point nuclear power plant, wherein it is implied that Cameron hacked the employee database and created two vacancies for herself and Sarah. When the personnel manager comments on this, Cameron smiles faintly.²⁰²

When she loses her memory in "Allison From Palmdale", Cameron demonstrates that she is capable of feeling genuine emotion as she is seen crying when talking to the social worker, anger towards John when he tries to remind her of what she is, and multiple instances of joy whilst in Jody's company. She also displays fear when confronted by a man who threatens to assault her and Jody, resulting in Cameron begging him not to and giving him all of her cash. As her machine side starts to resurface, it becomes apparent that Cameron's emotions are inhibited by her programming.

Biography

Cameron's Biography (Post Judgment Day)
Timeframe: ???? - 2027.
Cameron is created as a dedicated replacement for Resistance fighter Allison Young. Her purpose: to terminate John Connor. She fails her mission, however, and is reprogrammed by the Resistance to follow John's commands, who sends her back to the year 1999 to protect his younger self.

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Cameron's Biography (Season One)
Timeframe: 1999 - 2007.
Cameron travels back to the year 1999 with the objective of finding and protecting a 15 year-old John Connor. She saves him from multiple assassination attempts and uses time displacement equipment to send John, Sarah, and herself to the year 2007 where they endeavour to prevent the creation of Skynet by hunting down a computer system called the Turk.

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Cameron's Biography (Season Two)
Timeframe: 2007 - ????.
Cameron is damaged by an explosion and temporarily becomes the very thing she was programmed to protect John against. She is fixed, however, but is plagued by glitches as she struggles to find her place in the world whilst keeping the increasingly reckless John safe from Skynet's assassins.

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Behind the scenes

• Cameron is portrayed by Summer Glau, who was Josh Friedman's first choice for the role. A trained ballet dancer before she became an actress, Glau's dancing skills were transferred to the character of Cameron in the episode The Demon Hand.

• The scene used for Summer's audition involved a crying Cameron discussing with John the future in which she meets him, how he saves her life and "how [she] feels about [him]", even though, as a robot, she is technically incapable of any feeling at all.

• Cameron's origins have remained a mystery throughout the first season and the opening episodes of Season 2. However, her story is partially revealed in "Allison From Palmdale", wherein she is revealed to have her living tissue infiltration sheath Model based upon a real human called Allison Young. Cameron was created as a dedicated infiltrator human replacement whose goal was to infiltrate John Connor's camp. Allison was terminated by Cameron once her usefulness had ended.

• During the 2008 Comic Con panel, executive director Tim Wirth revealed that one of the main characters would die in the show's second season. Of those present were Thomas Dekker (John), Lena Headey (Sarah), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Garret Dillahunt (Cromartie), and Shirley Manson (Catherine Weaver). Summer Glau was also present, which places Cameron in the danger zone along with the rest. Whether or not she is the one to be killed off has yet to be seen, though this is unlikely as Cameron represents a core theme of the show. Also, Summer Glau is a highly popular actress, and removing her from the cast would be detrimental to the show's ratings.

Relationships

John Connor

"I fooled you again."

- Cameron Phillips.

When they meet for the first time Cameron attempts to befriend John who, not wanting to make attachments, subtly gives her the brush-off. She is not deterred however, and continues to show an interest. The next day he decides to tell her the truth about his father (whom he’d lied about the previous day), which seems to strengthen their friendship. Following Cromartie's attack however, their friendship takes a different turn. With the revelation that Cameron is a Terminator, John finds himself somewhat curious about her and has difficulty accepting that she is a machine, due mainly to Cameron’s near-perfect human behavior. In the second episode Cameron strokes the back of John’s neck, which he takes as a sign of affection, but later turns out to be nothing more than a biomarker scan. When Cameron is incapacitated by a blast of electricity, John shows genuine concern for her and attempts to wake her despite knowing that she has a 120-second reboot factor. He is also shocked when Sarah carelessly throws an immobile Cameron out of a window in order to escape a nearby T-888 (Vick).

In "The Turk", Cameron casually walks past John in just her underwear, which makes him uncomfortable. Cameron often embarrasses John at school due to her awkwardness and her “bodyguard” act, forcing him to teach her proper social behavior. Their relationship suffers when Cameron prevents John from stopping Jordan Cowan committing suicide. For most of the fourth episode he is resentful towards her and snidely comments on her “density” and shares a private joke with Sarah, at Cameron’s expense. All is forgiven however, when Cameron saves John from Carter, a T-888. In "Queen's Gambit" Cameron finally understands why John took Jordan’s death so hard and believes him to be grieving, a concept John previously assumed she could never understand. When Vick later overpowers Cameron, John is willing to risk his life to save her despite the fact that there is little he can do to help. When Derek accuses Cameron of treachery, John defends her despite her admission that she frequently lies to him about important things.

While hacking Vick’s CPU, Cameron comments on the T-888’s “effective” methods, which prompts John to ask why she acts the way she does. Cameron simply replies that she is making conversation and that it is something she feels she should do. She then informs John of Cromartie's school-by-school search, but reassures him by saying that she (as Cromartie) would not return to their school again. This statement upsets John as it reminds him that she is, at her core, the same as Cromartie. When Sarah interrupts their conversation, Cameron leaves, winking at John as she passes. While removing Cameron’s CPU, John hesitates. Cameron reassures him, saying that “this isn’t the first time we’ve done this”, thus hinting at a close relationship between the two in 2027. After re-inserting her chip, John shows his growing feelings for Cameron by stroking her hair affectionately until she re-activates.

"Please, John. Please. I'm good now. Listen to me. I don't want to go. I'm sorry. That wasn't me. I'm fixed now. I ran a test. Everything's perfect. You can trust me... I love you! I love you, please. I love you, John, and you love me."

- Cameron Phillips.

In the season finale, Cameron is caught in a car bomb, which damages her chip, reverting her back to her Skynet settings. As she hunts him across the city, John realises that he must either kill her or fix her. After becoming trapped between two cars, Cameron is held at John's mercy as he tries to remove her chip. She desperately pleads with John not to kill her, eventually dissolving into tears and proclaiming her love for him. John only hesitates for a moment before disabling Cameron, but her words stay with him and ultimately convince him to reactivate her. John gives her his gun and demands that she prove herself trustworthy. Though her mission is still his termination, she overrides these settings and hands over the gun.

In "Automatic For The People", John and Cameron have more-or-less returned to their usual selves, apart from Cameron's lack of trust in John's judgment, hinting that she is upset by him putting himself in danger to save her. When she meets John's new friend, Riley, for the first time; Cameron assesses her threat level, commenting that "girls are complicated". Cameron is at first unfazed by Riley's presence, but does display some disapproval towards her in "The Mousetrap" when John chooses her company over Cameron's. Though he is very concerned for her when she goes missing in "Allison From Palmdale", John is upset with her when he discovers that Cameron almost terminated Jody.

Notes of interest:

• Cameron seems to be closer to John in 2027 than anyone else, as she is one of the few to have regular contact with him.
• Cameron often senses when John is looking at her when her back is turned, and she herself gazes at him in a similar manner.
• Cameron is apparently aware of John's feelings for her and is able to use this against him when he tries to remove her chip. Whether this was guesswork based upon personal observation or if Future John had expressed such feelings to her remains to be seen.

Sarah Connor

"You all put back together, Tin Man?"

- Sarah Connor.

Sarah’s treatment of Cameron is similar to her behavior towards the T-800 in T2. She is, at first, indifferent about Cameron, and does not see her as anything more than a machine. Due to Cameron’s small stature and seemingly innocent appearance, Sarah feels somewhat superior to her and does not hesitate in displaying her authority, both verbally and physically. Sarah often berates Cameron for her callous actions, such as the murder of Enrique, after which she slaps Cameron across the face with her gun. Since then Sarah has tried to teach Cameron the value of human life. In "Dungeons & Dragons" Sarah threatens to destroy Cameron if she so much as touches Charley Dixon. She also resents John’s growing attachment to Cameron, which she sees as unhealthy.

Despite Sarah’s derogative treatment of her, Cameron has tried many times to befriend Sarah, but her own merciless actions keep them at a distance. Sarah does, however, display a pseudo-mother-daughter relationship with Cameron at home and often calls her “Tin-Miss” in reference to the Wizard Of Oz, but still views her as a machine when in dangerous situations and is willing to abandon Cameron in order to get John to safety. Sarah is distraught when Cameron begins hunting John and immediately suggests her destruction. When John disables Cameron, Sarah warns him that everything she said was a lie and reminds John that machines cannot feel love. Interestingly, Sarah is quick to forgive Cameron for what she did, despite the fact that Cameron tortured her.

Sarah appears to still be wary of Cameron, referring to her as a "guard dog you can't trust", and later likens Cameron to a landmine. When Cameron shows her glitchy side, Sarah has trouble determining whether or not she is a threat and is repeatedly thrown by Cameron's occasional displays of human behavior.

Notes of interest:

• Sarah remains cautiously neutral in relation to Cameron, trusting John's judgment over Derek's vindications.
• Being that she is the only other person who knows about her cancer situation, Sarah often turns to Cameron for assurance and help in dealing with this matter.
• When John brings his new friend Riley home, Sarah shares a look of mutual distrust with Cameron towards the girl.
• Despite the mutual distrust and antagonism between the two, Sarah and Cameron often find themselves working together when fighting other Terminators.

Derek Reese

"Yeah... Cameron. What a joke. Walking around with a name. Like it's person. It's not a person. It's not something you should be trusting."

- Derek Reese.

Derek harbors a deep distrust of Cameron after a strange event in 2027 where it is implied that Cameron (or a machine of the same model) tortured Derek. He continuously accuses her of being a liar and refuses to believe that she will ever be a force for good, despite all evidence to the contrary. In "The Demon Hand" he warns her that she doesn't fool him and strongly advises Sarah to get rid of her. He does not feel safe with Cameron around and sleeps with a gun nearby, just in case. Ironically, Derek's suspicions prove correct when Cameron goes on a rampage. Though he tries to convince John to destroy Cameron, Derek is uncharacteristically unmotivated, perhaps for fear of causing John even more stress.

Derek still remains distrustful of Cameron and speculates that it is only a matter of time before she turns on them again. Judging by her strange behavior in "Automatic For The People", his suspicions may prove to be valid.

Notes of interest:

• For reasons unknown, Derek watches Cameron perform ballet in her room and is brought to tears at the scene.

Aliases/Nicknames

• Cameron Phillips
• Cameron Baum
• Tin-Miss
• T0K715 or TOK715 (unconfirmed)
• Cindy
• Landmine
• Allison Young

Characteristics

• Eating: Cameron is the first Terminator to be seen consuming human food as though eating. Whether or not Cameron is able to extract energy from it remains to be seen. In the first season she is shown eating a potato chip and a pancake, and reference is made in the finale episode to her eating two slices of pizza. Her eating food may be due to the fact that she has been active for far longer than previous Terminators, and so needs to periodically nourish her organic components.

• Crying: Cameron is also the first known Terminator to possess fully functional tear ducts, as she is seen crying in "Samson & Delilah" and "Allison From Palmdale". Note the tear ducts are necessary for eye lubrication and protection, so it's logical to assume all T-8xx have them, otherwise their eye tissue would quickly degrade to the point when it would be obvious they're not human. Of course that does not imply they're all programmed with the ability to cry. The Series 800 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day told John Connor, "I know now why you cry. But it is something I can never do.", which strongly suggest that earlier models do not have the necessary connections and/or software for their emotions (or their equivalent) to trigger crying.

• Reboot: Cameron is similar to Cromartie in which she also has the "120 second reboot" factor, as demonstrated in the "Gnothi Seauton" episode.

• Endoskeleton: Cameron's endoskeleton is made from Coltan. A heat resistant alloy, more advanced than the T-600 models titanium alloy endoskeletons.

• Weight: Cameron is much heavier than her physical size would lead one to expect, as are other Terminators. This implies the Resistance could weed out infiltrator units simply by weighing its troops, leading one to wonder how effective the infiltrator units actually were.

• Series/Model/Class: Cameron's terminator series is unknown. A promotional poster lists Cameron as a "TERMINATOR CLASS TOK715" ^[5]. Terminator "classes" are a new concept, and it remains to be seen how (and if) they tie to series and model numbers. Cameron does refer to herself in the colloquial "we" when discussing the reprogramming of terminators by the resistance and that she was wiped after capture to help insure success in the reprogramming. Although Vick analyses her as an "Unknown Cyborg" that could simply be a factor of her Infiltration sheath being a model not developed for use by Skynet prior to his deployment into the past. It would have no knowledge of updates and advances post-time travel. She may indeed be a "715" skin-sized 888, or an as yet unrevealed Series. The differences physically between the 888 and Cameron's CPUs may be stock manufacture, or an element of the resistance reprogramming and modification.

• HUD: Cameron's head-up display is in full color (Pilot, The Demon Hand) with text and targeting overlays, rather than the traditional "all red" as shown in the T-800s, T-850s, T-888s or the "all blue" as seen in the T-X. Cameron's HUD is also capable of "hiding" during infiltration missions, as seen in "Allison From Palmdale", allowing her to see the world as humans do.

• Name: Cameron has a name that she self-identifies herself with. This differs from Cromartie who only used that name briefly as an alias (although the Connors and Cameron continue to refer to him by the name) or Carter, who similarly appears to be using an alias. However Vick Chamberlain also uses a distinct name for the purposes of his mission, and may have been intentionally crafted with that identity to replace the "real Vick" during the car crash it uses to now cover his behavioral shortfalls. The origin of Cameron's name has yet to be revealed; it's not yet known whether she created it as an alias when she went back in time, or if she was given the name in the future (presumably by the older John Connor).

• Built Date: According to the official Fox website of Sarah Connor Chronicles "Completion date: January 13, 2007" is displayed when hovering the mouse over the unfinished cyborg Cameron Phillips. It is unknown if this is intended for the build date of terminator Cameron Phillips or a mistype and meant for the air date of the show (which is actually January 13, 2008). It seem hard to make the date fit into the storyline of the show if this is actually a build date of Cameron Phillips.

• Eye Colour: Cameron's glowing blue eyes seem to indicate a similarity to the T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. T-888s usually have red eyes, as do most T-8xx series terminators. However, to date Cameron has not exhibited any of the shape-shifting characteristics of the T-X, and presumably never will, as she is shown to bleed when injured, something that mimetic polyalloy-based Terminators do not do.

• Combat: Cameron's physical abilities are somewhat diminished compared to larger endoskeletons, due to her greater sacrifice of overall mass and reach. To her credit, she seems to be far more flexible than the other Terminators so far, and is endowed with comparable pure strength. While she was shown to be powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Cromartie and disable him in single combat with surprise on her side in the pilot episode, she has been outmatched when fighting other T-888s (such as Vick and Greenway) in more straight up battles and only defeats them with external help from the Connors. (See: Terminator vs. Terminator for details)

• Infiltration: Though Cameron is somewhat lacking in her physical capability, she is shown to possess infiltration skills that easily surpasses those of the T-888, an advanced model infiltrator. In the "Pilot" episode, Cameron displays the ability to pose as a curious and friendly student, without any tell-tale irregularities that are common amongst other models. It is feasible that John may never have learned the truth about her had Cromartie not intervened. In "Allison From Palmdale", Cameron suffers a software glitch that traps her in "stealth/infiltration mode", but as she does not remember that she is a machine; Cameron comes to believe that she is Allison, the human she was created to replace. Interestingly, Cameron is shown to be capable of genuine emotion in this state, which would suggest that a contributing factor in her success is due to Skynet's allowance for emotions in her core programming. So far, Cameron is the most advanced infiltrator to date, perhaps more so than the T-1000 series.

Character concept

Creation and development

"Terminators—and this is from James Cameron's vision of the mythology—are actually infiltrators. If that is the case, then what better infiltrator than a beautiful, petite teenage girl?"

- Josh Friedman.

Josh Friedman referenced franchise creator James Cameron's original concept for Terminators as he formulated ideas for the character. James Cameron envisioned Terminators as robotic, humanoid infiltration units "that could blend in with humanity." In keeping with this idea, Friedman introduced Cameron as the most advanced model of Terminator whose ascendancy over other models was defined by her ability to mimic human behavior. The decision to make the character teenaged, female and of a small physical stature was also influenced by the original Terminator character concept; Friedman believed that such attributes were ideal for an infiltrator. Another factor that prompted Friedman to characterize Cameron as an adolescent female stemmed from the desire to add a "coming-of-age" aspect to the narrative by incorporating the story of how John Connor becomes a man. He has stated "eventually, John has to let go of his mother. This requires a third leverage point... another girl." The decision of Cameron's age and gender were, therefore, also made to satisfy the conditions that the role of the "third leverage point" entailed.

It has been noted that Cameron has been written differently from the pilot episode to the series, with the character acting much more human in the former and more like a machine in the latter. Both Friedman and Glau have acknowledged this. In a February 2008 conference call, Glau stated "We were experimenting with Cameron quite a bit... In the pilot, she does act very human. And then as she goes through the series, it appears that she's taken steps back and that she is acting more like a Terminator would." Friedman stated in an interview with IGN that he views the pilot, in which Cameron acts "very mannered and strange," as a learning process and that when he began writing the second episode, he became interested in exploring a new side of the character. He continued "Cameron has been programmed to come back for a particular purpose or purposes. Her behavior may seem inconsistent to a viewer, but it doesn't mean it's inconsistent for what her goals are."

Appearances

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

• Season 1
  • "Pilot"
  • "Gnothi Seauton"
  • "The Turk"
  • "Heavy Metal"
  • "Queen's Gambit"
  • "Dungeons & Dragons"
  • "The Demon Hand"
  • "Vick's Chip"
  • "What He Beheld"
• Season 2
  • "Samson & Delilah"
  • "Automatic For The People"
  • "The Mousetrap"
  • "Allison From Palmdale"
  • "Goodbye To All That"

References

See Also

• Cameron's lies - A list of Cameron's known lies and false allusions.
• Cameron's terminations - A list of Cameron's successful and attempted terminations.
• Terminator vs. Terminator - An analysis of machine vs. machine tactics and engagements.

External links

• Official bio
• Wikipedia page
• Wetpaint wiki page