{"id":494029,"date":"2026-02-21T06:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/494029\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T06:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:01:20","slug":"how-a-belgian-techno-producer-with-some-old-synthesisers-has-reimagined-terminator-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/494029\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Belgian techno producer with some old synthesisers has reimagined Terminator 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few film scores of the 90s as iconic as Terminator 2: Judgment Day.<\/p>\n

So it’s a bold move to set that score aside, with its signature drums-of-war rhythm (DUN-DUN DUN DUN-DUN!), and screen the film with a whole new musical soundtrack.<\/p>\n

But that’s what Hear My Eyes will do in the coming weeks, and has been doing with cinematic classics for a decade \u2014 commissioning new music for old movies, and bringing it all to life right before your eyes (and ears).<\/p>\n

Belgian techno producer Peter van Hoesen has composed a new score for James Cameron’s iconic Terminator sequel, and will perform it live with the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS) from February 25 in Melbourne, followed by shows in Sydney and Canberra.<\/p>\n

Also \u2014 there will be lasers.<\/p>\n

But how and why would you do such a thing?<\/p>\n

Taking old films to new places<\/p>\n

Hear My Eyes has previously unleashed King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and friends on Italian horror classic Suspiria, had Sampa The Great put a new spin on the French coming-of-age drama Girlhood, and hired much-loved band Tropical F*** Storm to play along with the score-less No Country For Old Men.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the biggest film of 1991, and remains a sci-fi classic. (Supplied: MESS)<\/p>\n

But Hear My Eyes artistic director Haydn Green concedes its never tackled a film as big as Terminator 2: Judgment Day.<\/p>\n

“In terms of mainstream appeal and wider knowledge of the film, Terminator 2 is a film that everybody knows,” Green said.<\/p>\n

“Those drums, that opening theme of the score comes to everybody’s mind, so changing it is definitely a challenge to some.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want anyone to come if they are offended or feel this is going to change their relationship with the film \u2014 I wouldn’t want someone to come and have a bad time.”<\/p>\n

But Green said Hear My Eyes’s mission of “re-contextualising cinema [and] taking it in a new sonic direction” has won over some hardcore fans.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Terminator 2: Judgment Day saw Arnold Schwarzenegger return as the T-800 cyborg assassin. (Supplied: Hear My Eyes)<\/p>\n

“After Pan’s Labyrinth, we had one person comment that they were really sceptical of the idea [because it] was their favourite film \u2014 they’d seen it over 30 times,” Green said.<\/p>\n

“Then they came and saw it with this new score, which they adored, and they cried for the first time \u2026 watching Pan’s Labyrinth.”<\/p>\n

A techno movie<\/p>\n

So where do you start when you’re making a new score for a film with an already iconic one?<\/p>\n

Green gave van Hoesen a brief \u2014 he wanted an electronic score that was “more techno and more contemporary” to go with the fact that the film and its themes of AI gone wild have aged so well.<\/p>\n

“The original score is amazing \u2014 it’s a piece of art,” van Hoesen said, adding that T2 is one of his favourite films, and that he rewatches it about once every 18 months.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Peter van Hoesen has written a new score for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. (Supplied: Camilla Blake)<\/p>\n

“The movie really fits a techno score.<\/p>\n

“It’s very interesting how Haydn saw that connection.<\/p>\n

“I never made that connection before until I was asked and I was like, ‘Actually, yes this makes total sense.'”<\/p>\n

The big challenge for van Hoesen was putting aside Brad Fiedel’s original score, both consciously and subconsciously.<\/p>\n

“The first four days I was writing and at the end of the fourth day I realised, ‘You’re doing basically the same score but with different notes,'” he said.<\/p>\n

“I realised \u2026 it needs to be me \u2014 my music needs to be in there.”<\/p>\n

The result will be brought to life live on stage by van Hoesen and five other musicians playing old and new synthesisers from the MESS collection.<\/p>\n

A dream come true<\/p>\n

One of those musicians will be Gus Franklin.<\/p>\n

As an 11-year-old growing up in Port Fairy, Franklin read the script to Terminator 2 three times before he even saw the movie, after finding the screenplay in his mum’s second-hand bookstore.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gus Franklin is one of the creative leads on a project that saw the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio come to Warrnambool. (ABC News: Emily Bissland)<\/p>\n

It started a lifelong love of the film, which is peaking with the chance to perform a new live score as part of the MESS ensemble.<\/p>\n

“This is getting to fulfil a lot of my younger adolescent-self’s interests,” Franklin said.<\/p>\n

“And because I know the film really well, it’s almost like reading your favourite book or hearing your favourite record. I’m not getting sick of it, watching that film over and over again.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t get old, it’s so perfect.”<\/p>\n

Franklin has previously performed with various MESS ensembles and runs regional sessions for the studio in Warrnambool.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio will use old synthesisers to perform a new score to Terminator 2. (Supplied: MESS)<\/p>\n

He’s also worked with Hear My Eyes on re-recording sound effects and sound design for their screenings of Suspiria, Wake In Fright and Hellraiser, helping prep the films for their live performances.<\/p>\n

“[Terminator 2] coming up and having the opportunity to join the ensemble \u2026 yeah, I put my hand up pretty high [to be in it],” he laughed.<\/p>\n

Aside from working on a favourite film, the whole experience is a rare one for MESS and Hear My Eyes, given the blockbuster status of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was the biggest film at the box office in 1991.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Terminator 2: Judgment Day helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger one of the biggest actors on the planet. (Supplied: Hear My Eyes)<\/p>\n

“You have orchestras who get to do \u2026 Star Wars and Ghostbusters and all these big-time Hollywood movies,” Franklin said.<\/p>\n

“But for a smaller independent company like Hear My Eyes, with a comparatively unknown techno producer in Peter [van Hoesen] composing and then the MESS ensemble playing an all-electronic score \u2026 that’s a really different thing for such a big film.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few film scores of the 90s as iconic as Terminator 2: Judgment Day. So it’s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,249184,15200,249185,249183,136,5400,8724,97699,249182],"class_list":{"0":"post-494029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hear-my-eyes","12":"tag-live-score","13":"tag-melbourne-electronic-sound-studio","14":"tag-mess","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-score","17":"tag-screening","18":"tag-soundtrack","19":"tag-terminator-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}