In The Terminator, the Terminator arrives in Los Angeles in 1984.
The time-traveling cyborg is sent from a future devastated by war between humanity and machines. He arrives naked in Los Angeles and begins searching for Sarah Connor, whose future son will become an important resistance leader. Kyle Reese also travels back from the future to protect her.
The year 1984 is central to the film’s setting and is stated in the opening chronology. It is also the year the movie was released. The story’s future war is not set in 1984; the machine uprising and nuclear devastation occur later, making the present-day Los Angeles storyline a prelude to those events.
James Cameron directed the film, released in November 1984. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the Terminator, while Linda Hamilton plays Sarah Connor and Michael Biehn plays Kyle Reese. The sequel moves the story forward to 1995.