What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

This weekend I was occupied with the Army so I have blogging to make up for. I would like to point out this weekend that our commander sat us all down on Friday and wanted us to brainstorm any ideas we might have on how to entice people to join the CT National Guard. My two-cents involved changing the name of the Army to “The Justice League Of America.” It sounds way cooler and the name implies you could be issued a cape with your rifle. While in Iraq, I even saw a group of Blackhawks with Superman’s symbol painted on the Engine Covers. This goes to show a preponderance of DC support in Military aviation. Even my dad’s P-3 unit back in the 90s used Batman’s “batwing” symbol on their unit patch. Whenever I can I try to push “geek friendly” initiatives within the unit.

Last night (and Sunday before it) FOX aired the Terminator TV series. I’m not sure why it’s called subtitled “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” since John tends to be more important in the long run, but you’ve got no complaint from me. The series in the timeline of Terminator takes place a couple years after Terminator 2 and appears to completely ignore Terminator 3. I love time travel stuff because they tend to weave intricate threads of plot and timeframes to the point of self contradiction. Even in Back To The Future 2, Doc Brown had to explain stuff on a chalk board. Let’s not even mention Doctor Who. So far I like the show. I could watch Summer Glau all day. There are some creative ideas that are defining the show beyond its movie origins and it may become more of a serial than a “Terminator-of-the-week” drama. Hopefully the writers have mapped out a plan and aren’t here to insult our intelligence. With a fourth Terminator movie in the works, slated for summer 2009, the whole timeline threatens to become even more confusing with this line I read on Wikipedia; “Executive producer James Middleton confirmed in Variety that the series will contain a link to Terminator 4.” I guess pick your flavor of time line and prepare to be entertained. As odd as the fractured timeline the franchise is creating sounds this isn’t without precedent. The anime series Space Cruiser Yamato, aired in America as Starblazers, is made up of 3 TV series, 5 movies , and an OVA. Depending what order you watch them in creates a different timeline. The movies are all sequels to the first TV series, but tend to kill most of the characters. The later TV series are retellings of the movies but half the crew survives, where they originally died. Then new sequels are made from these altered versions and the timeline splinters more. It’s not as confusing as I make it sound, so track them down and watch them, already.

To understand the future lets see where The Terminator series has been:

1963: A bank is founded and is modified, by operatives from the future, to contain an isotonic weapon and a time machine for use by future Tech-Com resistance. (from TV)

May 12, 1984: The Terminator.

February 1985: 9 months after the main story of The Terminator, John Connor is born.

1995: Terminator 2: Judgment Day. John is age 10. New timeline created when Cyberdyne is destroyed, pushing Judgment Day from 1997 to 2004.

August 4, 1997: Skynet goes online in original timeline.

August 29, 1997: Judgment Day in original timeline.

1997: Sarah Connor dies of Leukemia in the new, post-T2 timeline, but only in the T3 timeline.

August 24 – September 10, 1999: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Pilot. John is 14 (he appears a little older). John, Sarah, and Cameron (a new protector) fight a new Terminator (T-888) and travel to the future.

September 11, 2001: A time point mentioned in the TV show explaining why it’s harder to "stay off the grid."

July 24, 2004: Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. John is age 19. The new Judgment Day. (This time reference doesn’t occur in the TV show.)

2005: Sarah Connor dies of cancer in the new, new post T2, pre-TV timeline, if she didn’t jump to the future.

September 2007: Terminator: TSCC TV series. Sarah, John, and Cameron reappear in the timeline to bring the war to Skynet.

April 19-21, 2011: Skynet activated, bringing about the next new Judgment Day (ignoring T3).

2013: Assuming Sarah Connor doesn’t die during Judgment Day, she’ll die of cancer, as she only has 6 years to live when she jumped to 2007. (From the TV show)

2014: Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. John is age 29 (21 on the TV show). He leads the war between Tech-Com forces and Skynet.

2027: Cameron is sent back to protect John in 1999. (This is two years before Skynet started sending back units in the movie so something must have happened in the TV series to speed up the creation of the time machine.)

2029: Skynet creates a time machine, the “Continuum Transporter,” and begins sending Terminator units into the past to kill key personnel. The human resistance, led by John Connor, succeeds in defeating Skynet and sends operatives into the past to protect himself and his mother. Note: Kyle Reese sent back in time and becomes John’s father (take that Doc Brown).

2032: John Connor, age 48, is killed by a Series 800 Terminator unit. His widow, Kate Brewster, reprograms and sends the unit back to “New Judgment Day 2004” to save John.

I don’t know if the above is more confusing or less confusing. John always seems to be older than he should be, but having the weight of humanity on your shoulders probably does that to you. The TV series has seriously F’d up a linear sense of the Timeline, but is easily accommodated by ignoring T3. One can also say that by removing John and Sarah from time for eight years changed Judgment Day a second time. I’d like to know how Salvation will reference both movie and TV timelines. Arrgghh. Inconsistencies are slowly cropping up but could be easily dealt with if the writers are paying attention. It seems to me that Sarah is fated to die, no matter what. In fact, I don’t think John can become the man he should until his mother dies. Now, thanks to the show, our present time (in the South-West anyway) is littered with Tech-Com resistance fighters and Terminator units. The FBI has it’s work cut out for it.

It seems to me though that every time the Connor’s try to save humanity they just keep pushing Judgment Day a little farther in the future. At this rate John could die of old age before the war even happens. These people just need to stay off the grid for a couple years and let it happen. Then John, and his wife(?), can go about saving the last billion people on Earth. If Terminator Salvation represents John’s first successful actions against Skynet then the war must last about fifteen years, (13 if the TV show date is now correct). I’m still curious as to why Skynet developed time travel to begin with. That seems an odd choice of weapons do use against your enemy. It’s a great choice, actually, don’t get me wrong, but I got the impression from the first movie that Skynet develops and deploys time travel only when it realizes its losing. So, what prompted it to do that? The Machine Intelligence in The Matrix didn’t employ time travel, but Neo didn’t really defeat them, either.

If you like future, AI-controlled post-apocalyptic worlds, check out an old Manga that was translated in the late '80s called Grey. Same idea is The Terminator, in that an AI named Toy becomes sentient, changes its name to Big Mama, and forces what few humans are left alive in towns to fight each other. Trust me on this, it's better than it sounds. It very dark toned manga, and it was also made into a movie in 1986, Grey: Digital Target. One of my favorites in high-school. See you next broadcast.