Other mistake: In the Director's Cut, there is a scene where they "reset the switch." The Terminator tells Sarah and John to "rotate the locking cylinders counterclockwise." But the power tool is rotating clockwise.
Visible crew/equipment: As the Terminator gets on the bike at the start, the barman comes out and fires a shotgun. Look in the bike's mirrors to see some film crew moving around. (00:09:30)
Other mistake: During the bar scene when the T-800 is on the motorcycle and the bar owner comes out and fires the gun, Arnold Schwarzenegger flinches, specifically his eyes close. (00:09:30)
Continuity mistake: The amount of ash on Sarah's cigarette during her review changes instantly. (00:23:20)
Continuity mistake: When John and Sarah are in the pick-up truck trying to outrun the overturned liquid nitrogen tanker, the driver's door of the pick-up truck goes from swinging open, to closed, to open again between shots.
Continuity mistake: When the Terminator shoots the T-1000's apart, in the shot of the T-1000 after the elevator door closes, Dr Silberman can be seen standing against a wall in the background. Then it cuts to the main trio in the elevator, but when it cuts back to the T-1000 and his head merges back together, Dr Silberman has suddenly disappeared. (01:02:40)
Continuity mistake: During the truck scene, when the truck has just come off the bridge, notice the sign on the right hand side says "24 hours." Seconds later the sign seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where the Terminator has just broken Sarah out of the hospital and the T-1000 has been shot off the back of the cop car you can see his "metal" arms bending as he rolls across the pavement, and as he gets back to his feet you can see where his real hands are.
Continuity mistake: When Sarah Connor throws the keys to a male orderly to distract him, Dr. Silberman is standing right behind him. Two shots later, we see the doctor several feet away. The time lapse between the two shots was only one or two seconds. (00:56:25)
Continuity mistake: At the hospital, a guard opens a door with his club, takes it away and looks inside. From a different angle the club is still on the door.
Continuity mistake: When Dyson enters the vault, the door is open different amounts between shots.
Continuity mistake: The position of Sarah's left hand clenched on the playground fence is higher-than or parallel-to her right hand, depending on the angle.
Revealing mistake: When the cop by the vending machine is about to be killed by the T-1000, the back shot of him reveals he's been replaced by an obvious mannequin. His perfectly trimmed hair along the nape is now long and messy, and a long stitch appears along his sideburn and down to the neck.
Continuity mistake: When the Terminator arrives on earth, his position differs between the first and second shot, with his left leg protruding more/less and his back crouched/slightly raised.
Audio problem: When Myles is shot at in his home, after he ducks, the window behind him breaks and smoke comes outs as if a bullet had gone through, but no sound is heard. (01:32:50)
Audio problem: When Terminator lifts John off his bike and places him on the chopper, John's cry is heard but his mouth isn't moving.
Continuity mistake: When the Terminator's chopper breaks through the gates of the reservoir, they sound as if they crash against the fence, yet a frame later, from the angle in front, the gates are open wide and still.
Continuity mistake: John enters the canal, passes by a bridge and pulls over 200 meters ahead. From his POV, the distance from the bridge is merely 50 meters. (00:35:00)
Continuity mistake: During the pool fight scene, you can see there's an orange ball next to the upper left pocket. In following shots it's no longer next to it and it has a dark ball in front.
Continuity mistake: At the steel mill, the T-1000 points his finger at Sarah and tells her to call John. The style and position of the loose hairs around her forehead change between frames.
Answer: He didn't steal his clothes, but copied them. He can only copy things that he physically touches. He had to touch the cop to take on his look. Also since the cop was a witness to this ruthless killing machine, it needed to kill him to protect itself from being discovered too soon. The Terminator is an infiltration unit on an assassination mission to kill John Connor. As advanced as it is, it needs as little attention drawn to it as possible. Having the entire police force chasing him down would not be ideal for his goal to get Connor and would inevitably slow him down and risk allowing Connor a better chance of escape. The T 1000 also is an emotionless machine programmed by other machines that are intent on killing off all humans in the future. It doesn't value human life, and if anything has been programmed to regard them as a pest to be dealt with. The cop was a means to an ends and an obstacle to take out. As well, the cop did also posses a weapon, and was the T-1000's quickest way to get his hands on a gun.
Quantom X ★