Cameron: 'Terminator: Salvation Needed Schwarzenegger'

Cameron wrote and directed the original 1984 movie which starred Schwarzenegger as a futuristic robot sent back in time, and returned to direct Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1992.

The moviemaker sat out the third movie Terminator 3: Rise of the MAChines in 2003 and had no involvement with the most recent installment, this year's (09) Terminator: Salvation.

Cameron admits the director, McG, did a good job reworking the story - but felt the movie was a disappointment without Schwarzenegger, who only made a brief cameo appearance in the new film.

He tells Ugo.com, "Interestingly, I think MCG did a good job. I think he was almost too referential to the myths of the first and second film. He over-quoted them in a way. It didn't feel to me to be enough of a reinvention. The thing we did with the second film is that we reinvented the first film completely; spun it on its a** and made the Terminator the good guy, and came up with a whole new concept for a villain, it felt fresh.

"I didn't feel the fourth picture was fresh enough. It also lacked a certain stamp of authenticity because Arnold wasn't in it. I mean, he was in it briefly, digitally, but that's not the same thing."