In The Terminator, the Terminator travels back to the year 1984.
The film’s time-travel story begins in a post-apocalyptic future, where Skynet has nearly destroyed humanity and machines are fighting the remaining survivors. Skynet sends a cybernetic assassin to Los Angeles in 1984 to kill Sarah Connor before she can give birth to John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. Kyle Reese, a human soldier, follows the Terminator through time to protect her.
The year matters because Sarah is still an ordinary young woman when the machine arrives. She has no idea that her future son will become crucial to humanity’s survival. The film’s central chase therefore takes place in contemporary 1984 rather than in the devastated future shown in its opening scenes and flashbacks.
A related twist is that Reese becomes John Connor’s father after traveling to the past, creating a predestination loop. The sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, expands the timeline and features 1995 as a major setting, which is why that year is sometimes confused with the original film’s destination. The Terminator departs from 2029 and arrives in 1984.