Cromartie (Terminator)

Infobox character
colour =
colour text =
name = "Cromartie"
series =


caption = Cromartie in the Pilot (top) and season finale (bottom)
first =
creator = Josh Friedman
portrayer = Owain Yeoman
Garret Dillahunt
alias = George Lazlo
Robert Kester

species = Cyborg
specialty = Assassination
lbl21 = Manufacturer
data21 = Skynet
lbl23 = Model
data23 = T-888

Cromartie is a fictional character in American science fiction television series "", a television spin-off of the "Terminator" series of films. In the , he is portrayed by actor Owain Yeoman, however actor Garret Dillahunt subsequently portrays the character thereafter, [cite web | last=Andreeva, Nellie | first=and Kimberly Nordyke| url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i74aeb29ab52bc154bd84e67f2ecbae15 | title=4 for 4: Actors called for fall series | publisher="The Hollywood Reporter" |date=2007-09-24 | accessdate=2007-09-25] and is elevated from a recurring character to a series regular in the show's second season.

Within the series, Cromartie is one of many cyborg Terminator assassins sent back in time to kill future hero John Connor. In "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", Cromartie is an ongoing antagonist for the series' protagonists. He is envisioned as a T-888 model of Terminator: a slightly more advanced model than the eponymous Terminator portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film series.

Character history

In the "", he is a substitute teacher in the high school class that John is attending in 1999 and identifies himself as "Cromartie". During roll call, he removes a pistol that was concealed under his flesh and when John acknowledges his attendance, he attempts to kill John. John escapes due to Cameron Phillips taking the bullets. Cameron later runs over Cromartie with a truck and briefly disables him. Cromartie follows them home and engages Cameron in battle again. Unable to destroy him, Cameron instead shocks him with a live wire, incapacitating him for 120 seconds.

Cromartie eventually tracks John, Sarah and Cameron to a bank vault, demonstrating his model's immense strength by tearing apart the thick vault door with his bare hands. Intercepting them right before they travel to 2007, he ends up shot by an energy rifle that was hidden in the vault and is supposedly destroyed.

It is later revealed, however, that he survived, although his biological covering was destroyed, and his head separated from his body. The head is found by a salvager. The head is able to reactivate the body and able to guide it to its position. After killing the salvager and reattaching the head to its body, the Cromartie terminator, under heavy disguise, searches for new biological covering.

His search leads him to a medical scientist, Dr. Flemming, who specializes in cellular growth. When Cromartie shows him a formula that would create artificial flesh at an exponential rate, Dr. Flemming is eager to complete the task. However, after the cyborg receives his new flesh covering, he kills the scientist and takes his eyes to cover his own.

Cromartie later seeks the aid of a plastic surgeon, Dr. David Lyman, to build him a new face. After scanning through pictures of all of Dr. Lyman's patients, he chooses the face of George Lazlo, since he is a 92% structural match. He later kills Dr. Lyman and Lazlo, and takes over Lazlo's identity.

Cromartie later masquerades as FBI agent Robert Kester, and uses his false credentials to find Sarah and John. However, Agent James Ellison finds out, and attempts to capture him with a Hostage Rescue Team operation. The entire team is killed except for Ellison, who is left face to face with Cromartie in a final showdown. When Ellison lowers his gun in resignation, Cromartie simply stares at him and walks away without firing. Later that evening when Ellison goes to the ruins of Sarah Connor's house, he is startled to see Cromartie walk up. Ellison tells him that if he was left alive so that he could lead Cromartie to the Connors then he might as well be killed right now, for he will not do "The devil's work". The Terminator replies "We'll see", before walking away again.

Also, in the season two episode "The Mousetrap", Cromartie kidnapped Charley Dixon's wife, Michelle, to lure Sarah out so he could hunt John without interference. After Sarah, Charley and Derek Reese arrived, he set off a bomb where Michelle Dixon was held. Most of them survived, but Michelle was fatally wounded by the bomb's shrapnel and died from severe blood loss. Cromartie mimiced Sarah's voice in a phone call to John to bring him out into public, but John spotted Cromartie stalking him and runs to escape. Cromartie dove into the ocean after John, and sank to the bottom, nearly dragging John down with him, though John managed to escape by slipping out of his jacket. However, Cromartie was later shown walking out of the ocean, which indicates that Terminators are capable of surviving under water. He later appeared at Michelle Dixon's funeral, probably waiting to find John Connor.

Conception and casting

Garret Dillahunt was originally considered for the pilot, but he was busy. Afterwards, his schedule opened up, and the writers wrote him into the role. [cite news|title=Summer Glau and Garret Dillahunt Exclusive Video Interviews – Saturn Awards|work=Collider|date=2008-06-30|url=http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp?aid=8362&tcid=1|accessdate=2008-09-09]

The T-888 endoskeleton, shared by Cromartie, and possibly also , is very similar to the classic T-800/850 Model, with some minor differences.The endoskeleton structure contains some upgrades, including additional armour plating to protect the spinal column and chest, as well as bladed surfaces on the inner thighs, allowing a (presumably fleshless) T-888 to decapitate a human if it can get them in a headlock between its legs. [ Discussed by T-888 CGI-model designer on behind-the-scenes featurette in the special features for "" Season 1 DVD.] The endoskeleton itself is smaller than the 800/850, allowing for a wider variety of disguises. By unknown means, this model can locate its head, even over long distances, and although there is no visible evidence of audiovisual sensors elsewhere, the headless body of a T-888 can apparently also navigate itself successfully around obstacles and through the city, evade detection, and attack/kill those who get in its way.

Additionally, the silicon CPU chip is directly attached to the shock-damping assembly, whereas on the T-800 this was a separate piece which required removal before the CPU chip itself could be accessed. [ As seen in various episodes, notably and .]

Footnotes