Last night while I was waiting for my friend to pick me up and take me to parties I watched Terminator 3. When I first saw the movie I thought it was terrible, but last night I didn't hate it so much.
As I watched it I began to think about time travel philosophy. Here's the thing. We learned in the first movie that John Conner sent his friend back to become his dad. If he hadn't sent him back, John would not have been born. So the past didn't change. It always was as it will always be. If Sarah hadn't been chased by the machines she wouldn't have raised John to be a soldier. And if the Terminator hadn't come back in time to take him to safety John wouldn't have survived the holocaust.
So this is clearly a world where you can't change the future. Everything you do has already been determined because you did it the first time.
If you think too hard about it your brain will fry.
The point is, the Connors keep trying to stop Skynet, but they can't stop Skynet. They already tried. The future doesn't change.
So there is a built-in problem with the new Terminator series. It's based entirely on the idea that the new Terminator brought John and Sarah forward in time into an alternative timeline where Skynet didn't go online when it was supposed to. So Terminator 3 never happened.
But that doesn't make sense. The world as it is established is a timeline that can't be altered. I get why they moved the story to take place in the present; it's a hell of a lot easier for the writers to pull off. But it also would have been cool to watch John Conner run around in the '90s listening to Nirvana while he fought off the robots in his oversized flanner shirts.
I like the show overall, and I'm big on suspension of disbelief, but I don't like it when I have to suspend my disbelief from the rules already set up in the story.
But hell, it's time travel. It doesn't ever really make sense anyway.
The first two Terminator films are classic. The third one not only sucked, it was unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteThere are parts of the series that are good, mainly I've been pleasantly suprised by the acting. But...it was unnecessary. I don't feel the least bit gripped by this show after two episodes. The best thing about the two quality movies were the terminators themselves. They were great villains.
I'm still waiting for a great villain to show up on the new show.
I'll keep watching mainly because the two lead actresses are easy on the eyes.
Sounds like the "Many Worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. You've seen the past scenarios where nothing changed: now watch while I pull the other rabbits from my hat.
ReplyDeleteThat said, time travel scenarios all suck. They just devolve to "Luke, I am my own father" or "Buy AMZN when it IPOs, and sell in December 1999".
The first 2 Terminator movies definitely stand out from whatever comes after, such as the 3rd movie, the series and the upcoming trilogy.
ReplyDeleteI am a sucker for anything sci fi though and as a long time fan of firefly, happy to watch summer glau in anything, so sarah connor chronicles works perfectly for me 8)
Also, I beleive the other reason for pushing them up the timeline was that the 3rd movie established that sarah connor died so that had to tie that off somehow.
The show is alright, but the pouty over-dramatic "stare in a random direction when something about your son or whatever is brought up" acting is annoying.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, we need a villain. All we have is the terminator who lost his head, and he sucks balls.
Also, the new protector girl is nowhere near as satisfying as Arnold was is the second movie. She doesn't do the whole 'robotic' thing very well, and, when she tries to do it, she's boring.
She's cute, sure, but I don't watch Terminator for cute. That's what softcore por... sorry, I'm rambling.
Haha
The rpoducers from the TV series stated that they started an alternate timeline from T2.
ReplyDeleteSo they ignore T3 on purpose.
But..
It still makes your head spin if you think to hard about it.
Grtz
Magiel
Emily, you think too much. If people are getting blasted up -- FOX is doing it right! (joke)
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched the new Terminator series yet, and I don't plan on watching it in the future. "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is just a tide-me-over series untill the writer strike is over and new programing comes availible.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA