Terminator plotlines

For those who need a helping hand in remembering what happens in each film, here is a brief plot synopsis of each film and the TV series (contains spoilers!)

“The Terminator”

Kyle Reese and the Terminator travel back through time, one to kill Sarah Connor and one to save her. Sarah Connor is the future mother of John Connor, the man who will defeat the machines and save mankind in the future. Sarah and Kyle fall in love, and John is conceived. Kyle is killed fighting the Terminator. Sarah destroys the Terminator then goes into hiding. The film ends with her heavily pregnant, driving off into the Mexican desert.

“Terminator 2: Judgement Day”

Sarah Connor has been locked up in a mental hospital, for trying to blow up factories that will help create SkyNet in the future. John is now in the foster care of Todd and Janel. SkyNet sends back a T-1000 to kill John, an advanced Terminator that is made of liquid mercury and is a polymorph.

The future John Connor sends back a T-800 to protect his younger self. John and the T-800 run from the T-1000, and rescue Sarah from the hospital. Sarah Connor then tries to kill Myles Dyson, a scientist at Cyberdyne Systems who helps create SkyNet. She can’t do it, but explains about Judgement Day.

After the T-800 shows Myles his metal arm, Myles believes them and tries to help destroy the arm and chip from the original Terminator that Cyberdyne had discovered, and is using to build SkyNet. Myles is killed when they blow up Cyberdyne Systems.

The T-1000 tracks them down and chases them to a metal refinery. The T-1000 fights Sarah and the T-800 and is destroyed in a vat of molten metal. The T-800 then asks John to destroy him too, to help prevent Judgement Day. John lowers the T-800 in the molten metal, and the film ends with Sarah believing Judgement Day has stopped.

“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”

Sarah Connor is dead and John is now in his mid-twenties, living “off the grid.” He is injured in a motorbike accident and breaks into a veterinary surgery for some antibiotics. He is found by Katherine Brewster, an old school friend and vet.

A T-X (the Terminatrix) has been sent back to kill Katherine Brewster and 22 of John’s future lieutenants. She hunts Katherine down to the vets and discovers that John Connor is there as well.

A T-800 appears to save John and Katherine in the nick of time. We discover that this is a new T-800 that was sent back by Katherine – this is because this T-800 kills John Connor in 2032 before being captured by Katherine.

We discover that Katherine’s father is building SkyNet, but does not want to use SkyNet to destroy a mystery computer virus that is spreading across America. The T-800 tells Katherine and John that her father is to be terminated unless he launches SkyNet, so they try to save him, and stop SkyNet from being launched.

The T-800 tells them it is probably too late, as Judgement Day will start in less than 3 hours, and they should get to safety. Katherine orders the T-800 to help them. They arrive too late – SkyNet is launched, and it is only then that the military realise that SkyNet had caused the virus in the first place.

Machines start to ‘come alive’ and kill everyone in the building. John and Katherine arrive, only to find that the T-X is there as well. Katherine’s father tells them to get to the Crystal Peak bunker, and they think SkyNet is based there. John and Katherine evade the T-X and get to plane to fly to the bunker.

In the meantime, the T-X has captured and reprogrammed the T-800 to fight John. However, the T-800 is unable to ‘fail’ his original mission and shuts himself down long enough for John and Katherine to start the plane. They get to the bunker, only to be followed by the T-X. The T-X has them trapped, until the newly rebooted T-800 arrives and saves them, holding the bunker blast door open for John and Katherine to get inside, before it is crushed by the door.

When they get inside the bunker, they realise SkyNet isn’t there – Katherine’s father and the Terminator fooled them, to get them to safety. The nuclear bombs start erupting. John hears a radio transmission from other bases asking for help, and starts to take on the role of military leader.

We discover at the end of the film that SkyNet had infiltrated thousands of servers and home computers via the internet, and couldn’t have been stopped. Judgement Day was inevitable.

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”

Set after “T2” in 1999, Sarah and John ‘Reese’ are in hiding. Sarah is engaged to Charlie, a paramedic. However, after John is attacked by a new Terminator, Cromartie, at school and they discover that the beautiful girl Cameron is a Terminator sent back to protect John, they leave Charlie and go on the run.

They go to a bank where Cameron has stored futuristic weapons to destroy Cromartie. However, Cromartie gets to the bank before they are ready, so Cameron uses a time machine to move them forward to 2007, so they can get out of harms way.

In the meantime, Agent Ellison from the FBI is trying to find Sarah Connor, as she is a wanted felon. He is shocked when he sees her on television 8 years after he thought she died in the bank, and he starts his search again.

Fed up with running all the time, they decide to fight back and try to stop SkyNet from being built. They find out that Andy Goode has built The Turk, which will one day become SkyNet. Sarah tries to destroy The Turk, but is unsuccessful.

Andy is murdered by a man who we discover is Derek Reese, Kyle’s brother and John’s uncle. He is arrested, and Sarah breaks him out of jail. The Terminator Vick chases them, and Derek is wounded. Vick’s hand is ripped off when he chases them, which is later found by Ellison.

Sarah takes Derek back to the house, and tells John who he is. John fetches Charlie to save John. Charlie learns about Cameron, terminators and Judgement Day. He believes Sarah and becomes an ally. Cameron destroys Vick, but keeps his memory chip hidden.

John finds out that Sarah had put him up for adoption when she was in the mental hospital, but Derek tells him not to be too hard on her. Sarah says she never forgave herself for doing that, and tried to break out of Pescadero the same day she signed the forms, to get to John and protect him.

Derek doesn’t trust Cameron, and hints that she hurt him in the future. He is shocked when he sees Cameron dancing ballet, her grace is not that of a machine, but is very human. It frightens him.

Ellison is hot on the trail of Sarah, and goes to Dr Silberman’s house to talk to him about Sarah. Dr Silbreman thinks that Ellison is a Terminator and drugs him. Once he realises Ellison is human, he tells Ellison that Sarah Connor is trying to save humanity and he must not try to stop her. He ties Ellison down to and sets fire to the house. Sarah discovers that Ellison has Vick’s hand and that he is at Dr Silberman’s house. She arrives in time to save Ellison and destroy the hand.

Sarah and Derek chase down the Turk. They discover that Andy’s business partner has sold it. They try to find the man who has the Turk. In the meantime, Derek finds out that Cameron still has Vick’s memory chip.

Cameron claims it is so they can find out what Vick’s mission was, as this would be stored in his chip. John deciphers the chip, and discovers that Vick was married to a human woman, a woman who builds an LA transport system that will later be invaluable to SkyNet.

Sarah and Derek try to break into City Hall to spread a virus to destroy the transport programme. This is unsuccessful, but John manages to plant the virus using Cameron’s memory chip which he inserts directly into a traffic light, thus destroying the transport system

They contact Sarkissian, the man who has the Turk. He wants $500,000 for the Turk. They go to meet him, but are stood up. When they return home, they find Sarkissian sitting in their house. He threatens them, telling them he will contact the FBI unless they give him $2,000,000.

When Derek threatens to kill him, we learn that Sarkissian has a man trailing John at the Science museum. We cut to see John at the Science museum, and he is upset. Cameron asks what is wrong, and we learn that it is his 16th birthday tomorrow, and he thinks his mother will forget. Cameron doesn’t understand the concept of birthdays.

As John explains to her, Cameron notices that they are being followed. She kills Sarkissian’s man, and they dump his body in the boot of his car, then drive it home. They are followed by a girl who saw her family murdered by Sarkissian. She offers to take them to Sarkissian.

Once they arrive, Sarkissian captures John, putting a gun to his head. Derek takes a young girl hostage, then kills Sarkissian. They take the hard drive from Sarkissian’s computer to find out where the Turk might be.

In the meantime, Ellison realises that Agent Kester is actually Cromartie in disguise, although he does not realise that Cromartie is a terminator. He launches a raid on Cromartie’s house, and his partner and all his men are killed, although he is spared.

Charlie hears about the raid on the police radio, and rushes to the scene with his ambulance to help Ellison, but it is too late. Everyone else is dead, and Cromartie has escaped.

Derek takes John to the park to celebrate his birthday. They watch two young boys playing baseball. After a few moments, John notices that the elder boy has REESE on this top. He realises that the boys are a young Derek and his father, Kyle. Derek tells John that he has worked out Kyle is his father, and has taken him to see his father (aged 5!) as a birthday treat.

When John returns home, Sarah offers to take him out for a meal for his birthday, and sends Cameron out to get a cake. As John is about to shut down his computer, a file opens that shows them the man Derek killed was not Sarkissian. At the same time, Cameron gets into the car. She sees the real Sarkissian walking away, before starting the engine. The car explodes and Series One ends.