Terimator Trilogy Timeline
The Terminator film series is one with many fans, but this summer many of those fans were divided over the "McG" (or as the opening credits would have us read: "MCG") directed fourth film in the science fiction franchise, "Terminator Salvation." Much has already been said about this woefully misguided misfire, but to its credit, not all of that was the filmmaker's fault (though "McG"is "the man most directly responsible" in many a Terminator fan's eye, we'll chalk the rest of the films misfortunes up to greedy producers, too many rewrites, egotistical actors and so on). Interestingly, due to the failings of the financially disastrous fourth film, many fans now look to Terminator 3 with a renewed interest and respect.Terminator 3 is not a perfect film, but having read the original Ted Sarafian screenplay (yes it's that bad...Sample: Terminator confessing his "favorite Color" to John upon what one must assume is supposed to be an emotional death/deactivation scene but comes off as absolutely hilarious) ...surviving that read, and knowing that Mostow was up against an impossible deadline; one can respect the end result for being a solid movie not quite on par with the previous two James Cameron films, while certainly adding much to the Terminator mythology.
The fact that Mostow signed on to T3 with the Sarafian screenplay only to call his buddies John Brancado and Michael Ferris to play damage control with a massive page one rewrite that ended up being the film that was ultimately shot (rewritten in about a month or two before production, mind you) makes the film that much more of an achievement for being halfway decent with everything else going against it (like say, producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vanja fast tracking the movie with their C2 pictures as their first big tent pole cash cow shot at regaining their late 80's Carolco glory days with little concern for turning in an "A" class film -- to their credit, they have always been financially and creatively friendly with filmmakers so long as the movies fit their commercial motto).
The end result? Terminator 3 is a decent success, decently reviewed, and torn apart by the "fanboy" community for not being "a James Cameron film" among other reasons (some warranted, some not). However, what Terminator 3 did so spectacularly was finally bring the series full circle and complete the "loop" in the time travel plot that underscores the more thoughtful elements of the films. The original 1984, "The Terminator" and 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" each have a different take on the effects of time travel. Pre-Destination vs the choice of free will, and yet neither one completes the arc with a notion that makes it all come together. This is good in that it leaves more up to the mind of the viewer, but it also becomes contradictory: "If judgment Day can be stopped, how will john Connor exist if he didn't send Kyle Reese back to eventually become his own father?"
The closed arc of the third film -- Judgment Day happens. The Machines do, in fact, rise -- creates an interesting theory of the Terminator Timeline for the first three movies that makes sense of the paradox. Obviously, there had to be some original timeline before it was altered by time travel. Lets look at it this way:
Look at time linearly, before Reese was sent back in T1, how did John Connor come about? We are excluding time travel because we are up to the point before anyone has been sent back. Someone had to be John's father before Reese, and Reese changed that when he went through (the first time). To avoid too much head scratching, here is the breakdown of the timeline (and how it's changed) between the first three movies.
* Note: Terminator Salvation is not included mostly due to it's episodic and inconsequential impact on the rest of the series.
The Terminator Trilogy Timeline
Original Timeline (before any of the movies): SkyNet comes online through some government program "defense network computers" with military applications. John Connor has an original father that is not Reese (because this is before any time travel occurred, and he still had to exist to send Reese back in the first place). Judgment Day does occur, but at an unknown date.
This original timeline is altered by:
Time Travel via T1: A Terminator is sent back to kill Sarah. Reese is sent back to protect her. Both their arrivals alter the future by:
A. Leaving a Terminator in the factory, whose 2029 technology is discovered and applied.
B. Reese changes the direction of the future by becoming the father of Sarah's child (though for better or worse it still sort of unfolds in the same manner -- he's still a boy named John and leads the resistance which is about all we know about him at this point anyway)
These changes create a:
New Timeline: With the aid of Cyberdyne's research pioneered by Miles Dyson working from the remains of the first Terminator - SkyNet will come online August 4th 1997. Becomes Self Aware on August 29th. John Connor is trained from birth by his mother and prepared to be the future leader of the resistance. August 29th 1997, Judgment Day occurs when SkyNet targets humanity by launching Nuclear Missiles across the planet and John's destiny as future leader of the resistance, due this time to being prepared for it, still unfolds more or less as it was foretold.
This timeline is altered by:
Time Travel via T2: Two Terminators are sent back through time. A reprogrammed T-800 model 101 to Protect John, and an advanced prototype T-1000 to ensure his destruction.
The Terminators change the course of the future by:
A. The Terminator tells Sarah Connor exactly who is responsible for this timeline's version of Judgment Day, giving her motivation to prevent the war altogether.
B. All remaining Terminator Technology (except for one misplaced T-800 arm in a steel mill) is destroyed along with all of Cyberdyne's research on the left over Terminator from 1984.
C. John and Sarah now both believe they have prevented Judgment day due to the destruction of (almost) all evidence and Cyberdyne's research...but what about the development of Skynet from the Original Timeline that had nothing to do with technology from the future left behind? These events create a:
New Timeline: Judgment Day has been postponed (or set back to it's original unknown date) via SkyNet's creation through a Government Program: CRS. This could be how SkyNet originated in the first place. (Side note: SkyNet cannot come into being by using parts of its future self unless it was originally created in the first place). John Connor meets Katherine Brewster and through her makes contacts with remnants of the U.S. Military, forming the core of the resistance.
These events are altered (and/or expedited) by:
Time Travel via T3: A T-X is sent through time to kill John Connor's lieutenants. A T-850 model 101 Terminator is sent through time to ensure the survival of John Connor and Katherine Brewster after Judgment Day, altering the timeline by:
A. Forcing John Connor and Katherine Brewster together (though who knows what could have happened after their initial meet at the pet shop) and presumably reestablishes their connection postponed by the timeline changes in T2 (since according to T3, they were "supposed to meet" much earlier).
B. Giving John Connor a head start at forming the resistance via a headquarters at Crystal Peak (and radio communication with remnants of the U.S. military).
C. The T-X ensures that SkyNet goes online and that the machines will rise.
New Timeline: Judgment Day occurs presumably at its original date. Events now unfold as they were meant to. John Connor becomes leader of the worldwide resistance and defeats SkyNet, who out of desperation tries to reset the future in its favor by killing John Connor before he was born, and additional models at later dates to apparently see the job through, starting the loop all over again.
The Future War: What has to happen according to the mythology of the Terminator Trilogy.
A. John Connor from Crystal Peak along with Kate Brewster form the resistance with what's left of the military.
B. Eventually John meets Kyle Reese, liberating he and others from SkyNet work camps and recruiting them all for the resistance.
C. John Leads an Attack on SkyNet that wins the war. He Learns of the Time Displacement Equipment and must send Reese back to protect his mother along with a reprogrammed T-800 Model 101 to protect his younger self, and intercept the Terminators initially sent back by SkyNet to retroactively murder him, and by association: win the war.
D. Presumably John and Kate Connor lead the resistance to wipe out the remaining machines when a T-850 Model 101 assassinates John Connor on July 4th 2032.
E. Kate Connor captures and reprograms the same T-850 model that kills John to ensure her and John's mutual survival when a T-X is sent back through time to kill their lieutenants and ensure judgment day.
F. Kate Connor continues to lead the resistance against what is left of the machines. Her and John's Children become important in the events that unfold after this.
End Note: There are small inconsistencies between characters' ages from T1 to T2, and again to T3. Micro details are overlooked in favor of the big picture.
Essentially we start with a John Connor who becomes the leader of the resistance all on his own -- with some help from mom -- but from the moment Reese and the two Terminators are sent back through time, John goes from becoming the leader of the resistance to being made to be through everything Reese tells Sarah, and what the Terminator tells him. Essentially the same things occur: Machines Rise, Connor wins, time travel -- but which each "trip" things unfold a little differently.
The best way to look at this is that there is one timeline that is constantly being rewritten due to the changes inflicted upon it by time travel.
The rest of it is what you make for yourself.
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