Terminator: Back from the Future

Killer cyborgs, hot soldiers from the future, great explosions, cracking one-liners, and one of the most romantic films ever made? Yep, the Terminator franchise has it all.

GeekGirl gives you the low-down on one of sci-fi’s most enduring and endearing creations. Come with GeekGirl if you want to live…

WARNING!!!!: This article contains spoilers throughout, about the films and the TV series.

The Murky World of Terminator Time

I have to be one of the biggest Terminator fans going, in fact I am a total Termo-geek, and I don’t mind admitting it. It is because of this ‘mild’ obsession, that I have been able to make a study of what I like to call ‘Terminator Time’ – or, more accurately, its discrepancies and time paradoxes.

After extensive studying, and hours in front of a TV screen, here are some of the major paradoxes and errors of Terminator Time. Be prepared for your brain to explode…

1. The original Terminator (T-800) came back in time on 12th May 1984. We know this, because Kyle Reese asks a cop what date it is when he arrives the same night, (we are told it is Thursday 12th May) and in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, Sarah Connor confirms that the year was 1984 when the Terminator came through time to kill her.

This means that John Connor was conceived on Saturday 14th May 1984, two days after Kyle came back through time, making his birthday sometime in the middle of February 1985.

The pilot episode of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is set in 1999 and we are told that John is 15, and at the end of Series One he turns 16. This is incorrect – he would in fact be just 14 in 1999. They jump forward to 2007, which means that his ‘16th’ birthday would in fact now be in 2009…. Is your brain hurting yet?!?!?

2. John Connor is supposedly 10 during “Terminator 2”. However, in “Terminator 3”, John says he was 13. Um, this would have made it 1998, one year after the original Judgement Day, and technically one year AFTER Sarah died of cancer...!!! CHECK YOUR FACTS PEOPLE!

3. SkyNet sends back the T-X to kill John Connor – the fact that Katherine sends back the T-800 in 2032 implies the T-X is also sent back in time from 2032. This is three years after SkyNet is defeated, and the time machine was supposedly destroyed?!

 In “The Terminator”, Kyle tells us that the time machine was destroyed straight after he went through, so no one else could come back in time. How many people/Terminators did they let through before they actually destroyed it?

4. In “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”, we are told that Sarah Connor died in 1997, after battling cancer for 3 years. Again, this contradicts “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. Stick with me on this bit, it is a little confusing…

“The Sarah Connor Chronicles” are set on the same timeline as the start of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”. In fact, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” are meant to be set in the period between “T2” and “T3”. This means that Sarah Connor should have died in 1997.

However, as mentioned above, the pilot episode of “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is set in 1999, two years after she is supposed to have died of cancer, and 5 years after she was originally diagnosed with leukaemia.

However, she is clearly alive and unaware that she has cancer. This mistake is further compounded when Cameron tells Sarah – after they skip forward in time to 2007 – that she would have died of cancer in 2005, and when Sarah goes for a check up the doctor tells her she is healthy…. What?!

Don’t even get me started on what it claims in “The Terminator” books (yes, the books. I have them too.) According to these tomes, Sarah Connor dies in the future on a mission against the cyborgs, not from cancer in 1997/2005/whenever.

5. John and Sarah skip forward to 2007 to evade Cromartie (a T-888), the super-evil Terminator on their trail. This is all well and good. However, in “Terminator 3”, John meets up with Katherine Brewster in 2011, an old school friend and his future wife. OK, except John is now 8 years her junior.

She may go for young totty, but even in 2011 John would only be 18… A 26 year old woman is NOT going to fall for an 18 year old, and start having sprogs with him. The T-800 in “Terminator 3” also mentions that their children will be important in the Resistance.

Unless Katherine and John get jiggy with it when he isn’t old enough to drink, their children may be too young to be of any importance in the future fight… OK, this is showing my obsession a little too much, but it is a valid point!

6. We are told in “Terminator 3” (and it is hinted at in “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) that John is killed by a T-800 in 2032. Except the war with SkyNet ends in 2029…! Why would the Terminator need to kill him?

7. Paradox: if there is no Judgement Day, then John would never send Kyle back in time, meaning John would never be conceived, meaning their would be a Judgement Day, but without John Connor… Arrgghh! Brain melting!

8. This isn’t a mistake, just a fun point: originally, Kyle grew up after the Judgement Day in 1997. However, Judgement Day is now in 2011, and Kyle is 8 years old when he has to go into hiding.

9. If the Terminator wanted to kill John Connor, ironically all it would have to do is destroy the photo of Sarah Connor. Without the photo, John couldn’t give it to Kyle in the future, which would mean Kyle wouldn’t fall in love with Sarah and volunteer to go back in time to protect her, meaning John would never be conceived.

10. In “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”, the T-800 checks the sun visor in the car for the keys, like John teaches the T-800 in “Terminator 2”. Excuse me, but we are told that this is a different T-800 – why would he have been programmed to do that? John Connor is killed by this T-800 in the future, and it is Katherine who reprogrammes it – she wouldn’t know about John teaching the other T-800 about searching for keys, and why would she bother telling the new T-800, it is hardly important to its mission?

OK, is your brain officially about to explode? These are just a few examples of the murky world of Terminator Time. There are definitely more (for example, the impact of the T-X’s assassination of five of John Connor’s future lieutenants, the fact that in “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, Sarah escapes from Pescadero in 1997 instead of 1995), but we could go on all day.

It’s all in the song

We all know that soundtracks help set the mood for a film, but in the case of “The Terminator”, it actually explains the plot. For example, Ginger listens to a Jay Ferguson song called “Pictures of You”, with the great line “pictures of you from another time and place” – it is his picture of Sarah Connor in the future that makes Kyle fall in love with her and come back in time to protect her.

Other classic soundtrack moments:

1. When Sarah enters Tech Noir, you hear the words “I’m a moving target/On the town it’s hit and run” from the Tahnee Cain song “Photo Play”. She is a moving target for the Terminator.

2. The song “Burning in the Third Degree” is playing when Sarah meets Kyle’s eyes for the first time. It is a love song about the destructive power of love – Kyle dies for his love of Sarah.

3. Ginger is listening to the Linn Van Hek song “Intimacy” when she is making out with her boyfriend Mikey. She unfortunately is also killed by the Terminator whilst listening to this song.

Back for a new round

2009 should bring some treats to die-hard Terminator fans. Not only is “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” looking to be re-commissioned, but “Terminator 4” is due out in the Summer!!! Yes, that’s right, “Terminator 4”! This film will be set in the future, after Judgement Day, with Christian Bale playing John Connor (hubba hubba). It will be the story of John and Kyle, and we can’t wait!

Hasta la vista, Baby!