I recently heard that they are making Terminator 4, I can’t help but be interested ^_^. Action flicks and Science Fiction are of course two of my favorite types of movies.
Earlier today, I was thinking about it. In general the Terminator Universe has always presented me with some what of a paradox, in Terminator John Connor and Skynet essentially create the impetus for their own creation.
Yet, how could they possibly exist in the future: in order to create themselves in the past!
Let us postulate that such a thing is impossible and that at some point their creation must have come apart through the natural flow of time. I admit, while it is quite possible for Sarah Connor to have had a son named John. It is rather improbable or quite probable depending on your frame of mind, that an artificial intelligence or super computer the likes of Skynet could have crept into existence [yet] but hell, it is a movie after all !!!!
In which case when Skynet sends the first Model 101 back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor before its greatest enemy, John Connor can be born. Is ‘time line 0’ the first part of the time flow.
John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor, altering history in the process: thus creating a new path in time, ‘time line 1’
John Connors father is now Kyle Reese from the future in time line 0, Sarah Connor is now warned of the future and tries to prepare John for it, potentionally creating an even more effective form of John Connor, who will lead the human resistance in time line 1’s future against skynet, then that of time line 0.
The crushed arm and CPU of the Terminator find their way into Cyberdyne Systems hands, leading Miles Dyson to create Skynet, bypassing Skynets original creation in much the same way as John Connor.
Now that John Connor of time line 1 is more effective then the John Connor of time line 0 at fighting Skynet. The new Skynet sends a more lethel killing machine back in time, the T-1000, in an attempt to kill the young John Connor. John Connor sends back a reprogrammed Model 101 to protect himself but this too ultimately changes history, creating another alternate flow of time, ‘time line 2’ when history is changed in time line 1’s past.
Learning from the Terminator about the history of Skynet in their own flow of time, time line 1. The Connors embark to destroy Skynet before it is completed, changing history themselves…
The creator of Skynet is destroyed, the data is destroyed (although for us more computer savvy types, the probability of backups on or off site surviving is quite high). The arm is destroyed, the CPU is destroyed, both Terminators are destroyed, and John Connor is further prepared to lead the resistance against the machines.
This leads to a fork of time line 1, creating the aforementioned ‘time line 2’ in which the method of creation from time line 1 for Skynet no longer occurs.
However the method by which Skynet was originally created in time line 0, is still uncertain… Now if we postulate that the original creation of Skynet within time line 0, leading to Kyle Reese and the first Model 101 being sent back in time to change history. Was in fact a Department of Defense related project, like the Cyber Research Systems work under General Brewster in Terminator 3…
Skynets birth has merely been delayed, Judgement day occurs late, John Connor and Kate Brewster’s future in time line 2 leads to the Skynet of time line 2 sending back a super weapon, the ‘T-X’ back in time to time line 0s past, before Skynets own creation… In effect changing history again when the ‘T-X’ begins killing off members of the human resistance, in an attempt to cripple the resistance before it is even created.
Thus causing a fork of time line 2 resulting in ‘time line 3’ being created when the T-X begins killing off people. The third Model 101 sent back by Kate Connor to protect John Connor and herself in the past is ultimately succesful, into which they are now much more formidable foes for Skynet in the *new* future or time line 3.
Where time line 3 is the superposition of all the events within time lines that lead to it’s creation, except for elements not merged because of the alterations or ‘created’ time lines caused by said events.
e.g. 2004 in time line 3 is different then that of time line 2, where the T-X does not exist yet because it is created in the future, which is a future that does not exist yet because Skynet was created by Cyberdyne Systems in time line 1, which occurred because of events within time line 0 that caused a change in history…
You could say I believe in the possibility of destiny but not paradoxes, even if the concept of a paradox is more then occasionally abused by sci-fi writers.
And I think people are right, I just think to damn much lol. But hey, in lack of interesting things to try and analyze… Whats wrong with a little TV to supply the input?
It’s not like anyone has invented a time machine yet or a way of proving the dynamics of time travel, if such a thing is even within mans capability.
Besides, unlike in real life (if time travel ever occurs) you can’t foul up the space time continuum if you don’t get it right because it’s only a movie :-).