"Why doesn't it just form a bomb or something to get me?!" - young John Connor,
asking the T-800 why it isn't easier for the T-1000 to kill him.
Well... why doesn't it?
While the above writeup on our favorite cinematic metallic blob was fairly thorough, there are
a few crucial pieces of information that were not mentioned about the T1K:
- As the Arnie Terminator explained to John, the T-1000 cannot form bombs - "It doesn't
wuhk that way." They are too complex and have moving parts. The only weapons that T1K can
form are knives, swords, and a wide spectrum of other stabbing weapons.
- He also cannot create a gun for the same reason. This point is driven home by a very nicely
done turn of a scene (kudos to James Cameron there) in the asylum where Mr. 1000 is walking through a barred gate but he gets
caught on the gun he is carrying which initially does not make it between the bars.
- Although technically it doesn't have to (it formed Sarah Connor without killing her) the
T-1000 is programmed to terminate whatever person he imitates.
- At the refinery, after the T-1000 forms back together after his frozen parts thaw, it is not
smooth sailing after that. The book version of the film talks at length about it, and even though
less-detailed than the book the extended version of the movie makes it more apparent, the T-1000
suffered significant damage after that misadventure. He encountered numerous malfunctions while
changing shape after that. The only indication in the theatrical version of the film is after he
becomes Robert Patrick again after reforming there's a small linear "wave" that washes over him,
starting in the lower part of his body and moving up and over his face. This damage was crucial to
the Terminating Trio being able to defeat him, as it caused him to take too long to recover from
the grenade blast from his belly, which lead to him falling into the drink.
So as you can see, has has more limitations and it was not quite as hard to defeat him as the
above writeup suggests. It's still pretty damn hard, but not as impossible as it might seem.
Also, the above writeup states that "The Time Travel in this continuum only allows biological
material (and non-biological material completely enveloped in meat) through, so the T-1000 adopted
flesh, and went back." I don't think that's accurate. I may be wrong, but I didn't think that the
T-1000 ever actually became flesh (he never bled when wounded), just imitated it. And the
mechanism by which they traveled through time would be able to distinguish between imitated flesh
and real flesh; if it's liquid metal, it's liquid metal. Plus, if it's only biological (or metal
surrounded by biological tissue) that makes it through, shouldn't they have been able to travel
with clothing made entirely of natural fibers instead of arriving in the buff? Even though dead,
wouldn't natural plant fibers be considered biological in that context? This is probably a
question for another node.