I grew up in a cable TV-free household, and I didn’t get to the theater very often, so my childhood movie viewing was pretty limited. I had to rely on friends who’d lend me VHS copies of whatever. My friend Jason was one of my chief pop culture sources, introducing me to comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, Metallica, and U2.

One day, he leant me a copy of Terminator 2: Judgment Day that he’d recorded off HBO. I subsequently watched that VHS tape so many times that I’m surprised it didn’t melt in our VCR. I was, of course, blown away by the film’s visual effects, especially when it came to the shape-shifting T-1000 (played with machine-like precision by Robert Patrick), and they still look as groundbreaking now as they did 30+ years ago. In fact, Terminator 2 made me want to pursue visual effects as a career path — for a little while, anyway.

But what’s ultimately impressive is that, despite being a summer blockbuster packed with stunning effects and massive action sequences, it still feels surprisingly personal thanks to the chemistry between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 and Edward Furlong’s young John Connor. There have been multiple Terminator titles released since Terminator 2, but as far as I’m concerned, the franchise ended with the T-800’s bittersweet thumbs-up.