Terminator gets rebooted in 2015

[Tribble]

We don't know whether or not T1-T4 is a single (very convoluted) timeline, a series of parallel worlds where the paradox is a must, or if there was a single timeline which didn't contain a paradox that the other timelines branched out of. There is evidence for each of them being the case, so it really just boils down to personal preference. None of the directors have come out and stated which one is correct; in fact James Cameron deliberately changed the original ending of T2 in order to leave it more open ended and ambiguous. Our ideas are perfectly valid, but they are nothing more than speculation.

Incidentally, all 3 scenarios requires thinking in 4 dimensions, so the insult is as unwarranted as it is unnecessary.

[jollyreaper]

Without the time travel component you basically have Ironman: AI. Terminator is more than just the killbot, its the soul crushing drama of getting the fore knowledge of an unavoidable apocolypse of our own making, later reversed by the hopeful realization that they might actually be able to avoid it. Additionally, half the terror of the Terminator itself is that he a foreshadowing of the horror humans will face, leaving mostly to our imagination to fill in the rest from this small personification of hell on Earth we see on film.

The time travel doesn't work if you think about it, but the move has enough successful themes for most viewers to accept it as a justified handwave to andvace a greater story. Its on different that intersteller travel via "insert vaguely Russion sounding name" drive, check your questions at the door mechanics.

Where can the go with a Terminator story?
1) Time travel assassination like the first three movies. Been there, done that, only the first two were any good.
2) Tell the story of the machine war. Seems like a good idea, fourth movie aside. But would there be any interesting stories to tell there, given that we basically know how the storyline is supposed to progress? I'm not feeling it.
3) What if we pick up the story after the war?

There's a story worth telling. Not really suitable for a film, I think. But imagine picking up the pieces after the Machine War. Imagine how big of a mystery SKYNET would be for the victors. How could the Americans have built a machine they did not understand? How could it go rampant and cause Judgment Day? What made it tick? How could it develop such fantastic technology that we even now can barely understand? You know there's going to be an urge to recreate SKYNET in a sandbox.

Imagine a few decades out from the end of the war. There's a generation of kids growing up who have never known the direct fear of terminators getting into the warrens, of HK's patrolling the skies. There's going to be the cognitive dissonance of humans relying on machines even as the ultimate machines threatened our extinction. Given that the biosphere is trashed and there's not many humans left, there's going to be the temptation to use automated machines to make up for the labor shortfall.

I have a feeling that looking into the guts of SKYNET will give humans a temptation much like the US and USSR looking into the Nazi archives in 1945. Ok, yeah, the nazis were terrible but look at all this science! Yes, this medical research was produced with horrifying atrocities but the victims are dead and gone and the results are still good. And let's not forget the rockets!

I don't think this sort of story would lend itself to a blockbuster format. But it would be more interesting than a rehash of the original movie. It still holds up and is very entertaining. Something like Space Battleship Yamato, the original was pretty rough. The faithful remake was totally worth it.

[jollyreaper]

Not supported and directly contradicted in the first movie:

REESE
...it had no choice. The defensive grid was smashed. We'd taken the mainframes...We'd won. Taking out Connor then would make no difference. Skynet had to wipe out his entire existence. We captured the lab complex. Found the...what-ever it was called...the time-displacement equipment. The Terminator had already gone through. They sent two of us to intercept, then zeroed the whole place. Sumner didn't make it.

Notice the use of singular for the Terminator and that the other guy who stepped in with Reese was another human, not a repurposed T-800 who was also supposed to accompany Reese.

SILBERMAN:
Then how are you supposed to get back?

REESE
Can't. Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It's just him and me.

Obvious explanation: the original movie was never written with a sequel in mind.

Retcon explanation: Reese only ever knew of himself going back, Connor knew this from what his mom told him, thus he told Reese he's the only one going back and that the place will be blown the moment he clears. No need to tell him about the T-1000 since he never knew about it originally and Connor doesn't want to bork his timeline.

Explanation for Terminator 3: there is none. I'm so sorry.

[Tribble]

If you treat the screenplays/novelizations as being canon except for when the film contradicts them, that's more or less what happens.

Here is the screenplay for how T2 was originally going to open... http://www.hopeofthefuture.net/deleteds ... mit04.html
IMO it's real shame this never made it past the drawing board. I understand the reasoning and it made sense at the time, but in hindsight I think this would have been much better than T3 and T4.

Anyways, this is a quick conversation between Reese and Connor just before Reese enters the TDD:

REESE
Did you know I'd be the one who
volunteered?

Connor nods.

CONNOR
I've always known. Sarah told me.

Reese nods. Suddenly understanding everything.

REESE
That's why you moved me to your
unit? Kept me so close.

Connor shrugs enigmatically.
One of the techs interrupts them

TECH
We're ready, Sergeant.

And after Reese leaves:

When the glare fades the floating rings are empty. They
slow to a stop, seared and smoking. Reese is gone.

FUENTES, one of the officers, turns to Connor.

FUENTES
Now what happens to Reese? I mean,
what did happen?

Connor's gaze seems far away from this time and place.

CONNOR
He accomplishes his mission and in
doing so, he dies.

FUENTES
He is a good soldier.

Connor solemnly nods.
CONNOR
Yes... He's also my father.

FUENTES
Mother of God!

Fuentes stares at Connor in amazement. He has just been
given a glimpse into his leader's private Hell. Connor
turns from the smoking chamber. He seems suddenly ten
years old as his features drain of strength, shoulders
sagging.

Fuentes shouts an order to a waiting Sapper team.

FUENTES
Sapper team. Set your charges.
Let's blow this place back to Hell.

Connor shakes his head no. Mustering his strength.

CONNOR
Not yet. There's one more thing we
have to do.

I'd use the novelization as it's very similar, but I don't have a copy atm.

[jollyreaper]

Ah, that is a nice bit there.

These behind the scenes glimpses we get for beloved movies, it's funny how the abandoned ideas come across. Sometimes a missed idea feels so right that it's a tragedy it never got into the canon. Other ideas it's like what the hell was the original team thinking? This idea is so bad, so off from the work in terms of theme, characterization, execution, everything, how did it make it beyond the very first draft? It feels really weird to see something from the original production team, created at the same time as the original, presumably with the same inspiration and spirit and yet it seems so off, so ill-conceived that it feels like terrible fanfic. Star Wars had more of that than the first two Terminators, looking at the behind the scenes material. The subsequent Terminators and spin-off properties became just as bad as the Star Wars EU. The comic writers didn't just miss the boat, they weren't even in the same ocean.



Terminator chefs?!

[Tribble]

OMG, I remember seeing that pic somewhere! It's just wrong on so many levels LOL

IMO, perhaps the least objectionable part is the terminator chef. I would imagine that terminators could make quite good chefs, what with the superhuman dexterity and immunity to cooking hazards like cuts and burns. And would you dare j-walk in front of that T-800 police officer?

What I really would have liked to have seen was the Terminator nun.