Cameron

Cameron Phillips
Portrayed by:	Summer Glau Alice Eve
Appearances
Franchise(s):	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
First Appearance:	pilot episode
Last Appearance:	"Born to Run"
Details
Alias:	Emily Gage (current) Cameron Baum (former) Cameron Phillips (former) Allison Young (former)
Gender Program:	Female
Status:	Deactivated
Series:	T-900 (see TOK715)
Model:	Allison Young
Features:	-Blue flash/Red eyes -Dedicated replacement -Sustenance consumption -Unsurpassed human mimicry -Possible self awareness
Occupation:	Protector/Assassin
Relationships:	John Connor (mission priority,brother in cover) Sarah Connor (ally,mother in cover) Derek Reese (ally)
Affiliations:	Cyborg Resistance (current) Human Resistance (current) Skynet (former)

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

- John Connor.

Cameron Phillips is a reprogrammed Terminator sent from the year 2027 to protect John Connor and his mother, Sarah Connor. Cameron is a T-900 series, admittedly different than all others. Cameron's living tissue model template was based on Allison Young, a human Resistance fighter close to John Connor; this allowed her to replace Allison in an attempt to infiltrate John's camp. Cameron is the most realistic cyborg yet encountered, with detailed programming of social behavior.

History Pre Warping Week

Timeframe: ???? - 2027.

"This is where the factory will be... Where I'll be made. Me and many others."

- Cameron.

Cameron was created by Skynet at a U.S. military base containing the blast doors for Depot 37 after Judgment Day. Her appearance was based off a Resistance fighter, Allison Young whom Cameron interrogated and later terminated while searching for information on the location of the hidden rebel base. She hoped to get close to Connor and fulfill her main directive for his termination.

"You shouldn't have run... You're just making things worse for yourself."

- Cameron.

During the interrogation, Cameron kept Allison blinded with a strong light so that she wouldn't see the interrogator and spoke with an uncallibrated voice. This may imply that Cameron was without an infiltration sheath during this period, Allison having only recently been captured. She asked Allison personal questions about her life before Judgment Day, learning the girl's birthday and home town. Through further probing, Cameron learned about Allison's parents and enquired about a bracelet on Allison's left arm. Allison told her that it was a gift from her sister, who died along with her parents on Judgment Day.

After a failed escape attempt by Allison, Cameron shows herself for the first time, shocking Allison with her new skin, which is identical to Allison in every way and begins mimicking her voice. Cameron tells her that she and other machines share a desire to end the war peacefully and claims that Allison was chosen because of her bravery and her personal relationship with John. She tells her that she admires John and wants to meet him, but Allison remains tight-lipped about his location. She eventually cracks, however, and tells Cameron what she wants to know, but Cameron discovers that other members of the Resistance carried exactly the same bracelets as Allison's and deduces that they are passes for his camp.

With this revelation, Cameron realizes that had she tried to infiltrate the camp without the pass, her mission would've failed from the outset. This causes Cameron to determine Allison's usefulness is at an end, as she grabs Allison by the throat and holds her aloft. Allison declares that she will never betray John Connor and Cameron replies by snapping her neck, stating that she already has. Cameron then takes Allison's bracelet, as it is her key to finding and assassinating John. How her mission fared has yet to be seen, though it is obvious that she somehow failed to complete her primary objective.

"We got a red alert! Get emergency response! Go get her now!"

- Resistance Soldier. ("Dungeons & Dragons")

In 2027 a group of Resistance fighters were captured and taken to an old house, wherein the prisoners were led one-by-one into the basement. Cameron's presence [1] is strongly implied due to the Chopin's Nocturne that was playing in the room whenever a prisoner was led down there (Allison having confessed that her mother loved listening to Chopin). The fighters were tortured and interrogated for the location of Connor's camp, and Derek Reese committed her face to memory.

Cameron's capture and reprogramming by the Resistance for their use is as yet undocumented, although it is hinted that after her reprogramming, Cameron went back to the old house and released the captive soldiers. One of the soldiers, Derek Reese, first thought that she was an infiltrator until informed otherwise. Cameron's role within Depot 2, the base to which she was assigned, appeared to be general security and threat deterrence. When a reprogrammed Terminator reverted to its original Skynet programming, Cameron was called upon to dispose of it, saving Derek’s life in the process. She then informed him of the reversion phenomenon, offering no explanation as to how and why it occurs.

After Derek's departure to the past, Cameron met with his lover, Jesse Flores, when she returned from a failed mission to pick up a package from a Skynet facility. Jesse explained how her crew opened a box meant for John, inside of which was a T-1001 that murdered a member of the crew and then took her form. During the crew's evacuation of the submarine, Jesse was confronted by the T-1001, who told her to tell John that its answer was "no".

This news surprised Cameron, who considered this turn of events very carefully before divulging the question that John had asked the T-1001; "Will you join us?" Jesse demanded to see John, but Cameron stated that talking to her was the equivalent of talking to John, which little did Cameron know would spark the beginning of Jesse's vendetta against her in the past. To add insult to injury, Cameron informed Jesse of her miscarriage of Derek's unborn child before leaving to relay the T-1001's answer to John.

Cameron was also selected for an unknown number of time travel operations, one of which may have included a mission as early as 1963 to open a safety deposit box in an L.A. bank; or so she claims. She may even have returned to the future upon completing said mission. Cameron was later assigned her current mission and sent back to 1999. Her mission: to protect John Connor's younger self and to ensure the survival of his mother, Sarah Connor.

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 endeavor to prevent the creation of Skynet by hunting down a computer system called the Turk.

Timeframe: 2007 - 2009.

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 while keeping the increasingly reckless John safe from Skynet's assassins.

Actions Post Warping Week

Cameron Found herself in San Fransisco as it came under Skynet control, as Skynet did not recognise her make it Catagorised her as a threat and sent a T-880 after her. the resulting battle was brutal, with Cameron barely pulling off a win, but ending up severly damaged in the process. Cameron's living tissue sheath was compromised to the point she was forced to discard it. she Snuck into one of Skynet's Depots stealing equipment to repair the Damage and to grow a new living tissue sheath.

During this time Cameron became aware her Identity was compromised and decided it would be prudent to take on a new identity she remodeled her new Sheath and set out to search for John Conner. however she found no traces of her John Conner. despodent at the loss of John she put up no resistance when agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took her into custody. in custody she met an alternate John Conner and decided to serve him as she would serve her John conner

Personality

"Thank you for explaining."

- Cameron.

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

She has been shown mimicking the behavior of others, such as a Latina lookout, providing a baseline for her developing behavior. This is also shown 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.

When John comments on the differences between her behaviors at different points, she replies, "I fooled you." At times she also displays awkward humor, such as 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." Later Cameron is shown performing a complex ballet dance for no apparent reason, a feat that even moved a watching Derek to tears. This, coupled with a line by a ballet teacher that "dance is the hidden language of the soul", suggest that Cameron may be more than the soulless machine John claimed her to be at one point. She even seems possibly materialistic; when the Connor house is robbed she is concerned about the loss of her leather jacket and it is the first thing she demands back when the protagonists find the thieves. 200px|right|Cameron adopts a new demeanor

Cameron after shooting Enrique

Cameron reverted to Skynet's programming: Terminate John Connor

Cameron practices ballet

Cameron displays human behavior

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 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), she prevents John from preventing a girl from committing suicide, and 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. There have been, however, moments in which Cameron has shown signs that she may be learning the value of human life; at one point she senses that she has offended Sarah when she refers to a murder victim as being just "bones and meat" and when she chooses not to kill Carlos' girlfriend.

Cameron has been called "Tin Man" and "Tin-Miss", referencing the Tin-Man from L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. 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." 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).

As a result of the car bomb, Cameron has suffered extensive damage, resulting in compromising the chip integrity leading to "glitches" in her personality that make her unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. Under the glitches, she would experience memory loss, delay in decision making and in worse cases reversion into her former mission of terminating John Connor. During the brief reversion to her Skynet settings, Cameron demonstrates her near-perfect mimicry of human behavior 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. Cameron also appears to have adopted her demeanor as she is seen to be more in touch with her human characteristics.

Although Cameron probably just rebooted normally the second time after the explosion and so her reprogramming is loaded correctly, she may 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. Cameron also clearly hesitated for several seconds while pointing a gun at John, the termination order flashing in her HUD before the appearance of a termination override order replaced it. For Cameron to be able to override her own pre-programmed settings, it would show 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 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.

Cameron has also started to demonstrate dissatisfaction with her recent duties, which have included menial tasks such as grocery shopping, something that makes very little use of her skills. Her mild annoyance is often expressed towards John, as she gives him several looks of aggravation when he treats her as subservient.

When she lost her memory , Cameron demonstrates that she is capable of appearing to show genuine emotion as she is seen crying when talking to Rita, the social worker, anger towards John when he tries to remind her of what she is, and multiple instances of joy while 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 a stack of money. As her machine side starts to resurface, it becomes apparent that Cameron's ability to express emotions is controlled by her programming.

Due to her parroting nature, Cameron seems to base her personality on those around her, taking aspects from various subjects and combining them to create her own unique persona. When she was pairing with Derek Reese, for example, she mirrors his personality by being more curt and reckless. When she was near Sarah, she was kinder and warmer. Another interesting observation is Cameron's overall demeanor as influenced by her current mission. When she was programmed to protect John, Cameron was more inclined to emulate positive behavior and emotions; an example being her habit of reassuring others, be it John or an upset student. On the flip side, when programmed to terminate John; Cameron is more devious and manipulative, displaying negative behavior and emotions, including anger and even slight sadism. After overriding her directive to kill him, however, Cameron seems to be developing a balance between the two personas.

Since suffering damage to her chip, Cameron appears to be contemplating suicide (self-termination). She asks Sarah if she is going to explode one day, which she later references, likening her faulty chip to a bomb waiting to go off. She asks her friend at the library, Eric, if he has ever considered suicide, revealing that she may be considering it due to her chip damage. later Cameron tries to remove the chip from a modified Terminator, only for it to self-destruct upon removal. She is later seen examining the chip while reading a leaflet for suicide prevention. Later still Cameron somehow manages to attach an explosive to her skull next to her chip, and gave the remote detonator to John in the event that she becomes a threat (confirming that she is incapable of self-termination).

Cameron has started to develop a new glitch which manifests as a twitch in her left hand, resulting in her accidentally killing a bird. She at first believes it to be the result of physical damage and swaps out a part in order to fix the problem. This did not resolve the issue, however, as she started twitching again while struggling to decide what to do with Riley, and again while talking to Sarah about the reasons why Future John sent her back in time. It is implied that this glitch is caused by a conflict in her chip between her pre-programmed directives and her emerging self-awareness. This glitch has since ceased to be an issue, as she is later able to hold a pigeon with both hands without harming it.

Characteristics

File:Cameron chip.jpg

Cameron eats a chip

File:Cameron crying.jpg

Cameron cries

File:SCC 107 camerons hud2.jpg

Cameron's original full colour HUD

File:Cameron noHUD.jpg

Cameron's "human" head-up display

File:Cameron HUD reboot.jpg

Cameron's reboot screen

File:Cameron blue eyes.jpg

Blue eyes (software)

File:Cameron redeye1.jpg

Red eye (hardware)

• 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 "Vick's Chip" 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 where 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 suggests that earlier models do not have the necessary connections and/or software for their emotions (or their equivalent) to trigger crying.

• Feeling: Cameron is capable of feeling her environment to the same degree as humans, with the exception of pain. She claims to be able to feel heat and is shown to feel the rush of wind against her skin, which opens the door in regards to other such sensations. In "To the Lighthouse" Cameron was doused in water and was visibly surprised and shaken by the rapid change in temperature, suggesting she was uncomfortable with getting wet. She can also perform biomarker scans via skin-to-skin contact, measuring a person's stress level and medical condition. In "Complications" she is seen putting a foot out the car window while John drives. When John asked why, she replied she wanted to feel free, and the wind running through her toes. She informs John that she feels much more than he thinks, which is probably because John's sole reference point for a Terminator's senses was a T-800 series, and she would be worth quite less if she couldn't. In "Born to Run" Cameron seemed to display discomfort when John cut into her chest, and then a moment later she demonstrated a possible pleasurable response when John examined her power source.

• Reboot: Cameron is similar to Cromartie in that she also has the "120 second reboot" factor, as demonstrated in the "Gnothi Seauton" episode. However, as demonstrated in the events of "Alpine Fields", excessive damage can force a longer period of offline time as self-diagnostics and automatic repair and rerouting subroutines work to reactivate the unit.

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

• Weight: Cameron is much lighter than one might expect, as are other Terminators. Though it is shown that she is heavy enough to require the combined efforts of both Sarah and John to lift her into a chair. She also claims that she cannot swim, which is true for other Terminators. However, Josh Friedman said during a chat with fans: "Terminators' weight is the same as human counterparts."

• Series/Model/Class: Cameron's Terminator series is unknown. A promotional poster lists Cameron as a "TERMINATOR CLASS TOK715". 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 memory wiped after capture to help insure success in the reprogramming. Although Vick analyzes 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. However, considering the advanced nature of the T-888 and the fact that Vick appeared to try and match Cameron's endoskeleton unsuccessfully to his database, this seems doubtful. Furthermore, identification by infiltration sheath model is a dubious (and potentially disastrous) method considering that one model may be applied across different series', as with the T-800 and T-850. There are also several elements ruling her apart from pre-existing Terminators, such as the ability to eat, possess a full color HUD, and crying. She was able to override her Skynet programming when her chip malfunctioned, something that only one Terminator may have done before (the T-850 in T3). Even then, the T-850 stated its CPU was intact, and fought the T-X's influence rather than core programming, whereas Cameron explicitly overrode her Skynet programming's order to terminate John. In addition, she is able to perform a wide variety of (sometimes complex) scans no other Terminator has demonstrated. She may be of a similar model to Rosie (who was never identified either), but Cameron easily overpowered her in combat. Her structural design is very similar to the T-888, however, and parts from those machines are compatible with her endoskeleton.

• HUD: Cameron's head-up display is in full color 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. Prior to the Jeep explosion, Cameron's HUD was identical to the T-888s, except for having a turquoise hue as opposed to red. After the explosion, however, Cameron's HUD overlay changes to a darker shade of blue and is seen to possess a different layout than the original. Whether this is the result of software self-modification or restructuring of damaged systems has yet to be seen. 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. However, given the events in "Allison from Palmdale", it is possible she was created at some undetermined time in the year 2027.

• Eye Color: Cameron's eyes are red, like all Terminators (with the exception of the T-X). However, it was originally assumed that they were blue due to events in the first season where Cameron's eyes are seen to flash a deep blue (and were visible during a retina scan). This discrepancy was met with an unfavorable response from many fans who saw the change as a last minute unnecessary retcon of previously established canon. Josh Friedman explained: "It’s red because at the core, she’s a Terminator. Plain and simple. The lens itself is red. There’d never be a reason to change the lens color. I made it [the flash] blue in the pilot to indicate she was different but that wasn’t to suggest the hardware was blue. No reason for it." The "blue eyes software" could easily be a Resistance Security Encryption Key, considering its use in unlocking access to both the TDE station in the vault (for the Connors), and the TDE complex in the future (for Derek).

• Combat: Cameron's physical abilities may be somewhat diminished compared to larger endoskeletons, due to her greater sacrifice of overall mass and reach. However, she seems to be far more flexible than the other Terminators but is endowed with comparable pure strength. She is programmed with the greatest repertoire and mastery of Eastern Martial Arts compared to all the Terminators in existence thus far, and relies on sophisticated techniques and finesse rather than brute force in comparison. She also employs tactics that utilize the surrounding environment more than her rivals, such as in the Pilot episode when she used an electric fuse to force Cromartie offline. She was shown to be powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Cromartie and disable him in single combat in the pilot episode as well as other T-888s such as Vick (whom she manhandles, defeats and deactivates while absorbing only a series of near useless punches) and Greenway (whom she battles and destroys as well, albeit with Sarah Connor providing a high-velocity distraction with an M4 Carbine)in more straight up battles. Despite any disadvantages she may have with larger machines, her superior combat programming and advanced capabilities have allowed her to defeat, disable or destroy nearly a dozen enemy Terminators. Cameron's combat abilities have also been shown to be able to defeat another Terminator (Rosie) of comparable dimensions and possibly the same model as herself. Her fight with Rosie demonstrates her full combat prowess as she physically contorts the other machine, even applying enough force to drive a high heel into its eye socket, a fight Cameron left with only a few scratches. In "Self Made Man" Cameron had a short battle with a T-888 Terminator and easily emerged victoriously after spraying it with a 1921 Thompson Submachine Gun and dropping an elevator car on it. In "Ourselves Alone" John Connor said that Cameron was not designed to combat other Terminators, however his knowledge is more relevant to the 800 series as Cameron is the first of her model that he has encountered, so this may be questionable information.

• 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 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.