Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

I was talking about the head going through the other day with my friends. I personally found the head reuniting with the body and turning into a 'Ghost Rider' terminator the worst part, not the actual time travel. Two of them thought it was stupid because why wouldn't other metallic objects like the gun go as well. I argued that a skin and blood covering on the head wouldn't make a difference on a terminator and the machine MUST be configured to take humans and terminators, otherwise Cameron would not go through.
 
TwistedLincoln said:
I thought about this too -- I figured they'd have Reese end up as a kid in John's class or something. But then I did the math.

The first Terminator established that Reese wasn't born until after Judgement Day (originally August 29th, 1997). So even if he was born ten minutes later, he would only be 10 years old by 2007, when this show takes place.

So the real question is: was Reese born as a result of something related to Judgement Day happening (if so, then each time Judgement Day is pushed forward, so would his birth)? Or is he born at roughly the same time either way?

Really, it doesn't matter too much, as the future leader John Conner is depicted as at least ten years older than Reese when he gets sent back. So it will probably work either way.

(An interesting aside -- Wikipedia lists Reese's birthday as between 2007 and 2008. Maybe we see him born in the next episode when Sarah is in the hospital getting the results of her cancer test?)
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Imagine this:

John Conner fathers Reese who goes on to father John Conner.
 
HAHA, I joked about that the other day, which is very similar to the latest Palahniuk novel.

I revisited T2 two days ago and John's character definitely did not look or act like a 10 or 11 year old.
 
David Jimerson said:
But he's not. We've seen objective glimpses of the future.
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Those glimpses were done over her narration...so they could simply be showing what she is describing, not showing an actual event. Same with the shots of the army's in the beginning, and the bomb...it can all be conjured and could pass as a simple visual way of showing what she said.

- Kyle
 
KyleProhaska said:
Those glimpses were done over her narration...so they could simply be showing what she is describing, not showing an actual event. Same with the shots of the army's in the beginning, and the bomb...it can all be conjured and could pass as a simple visual way of showing what she said.

- Kyle
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I'm sure a writer could go that way (call it the Zeist Principle), but I'm also sure the images were intended to be literally true.
 
Captain Pierce said:
It's an interesting idea, but given that the future JC was intended to appear in T2 (and there's deleted footage of him on the DVD, I believe), I think we can rule out the "cake is a lie" theory. :) Plus, if he never existed, then Skynet wouldn't be trying to kill Sarah in the first movie (unless Reese was so much of a BS'er that he managed to put on over on the computers :D ).
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Not so. As I said, if John was a lie and Reese was successful in convincing Sarah, then John would become a reality -- a reality that the machines would then have to contend with. The solution for the machines then would be to send a terminator back to kill Sarah Connor. The terminator's arrival would be determined to coincide roughly with Reese's arrival.

OH! Here's a new thought! Next strategy by the machines -- send a terminator back to kill REESE'S mother! Or Reese himself as a child. "Terminator: The Kyle Reese Chronicles"! :smile:
 
As for the head and body:

Couldn't it be possible that as Sarah shot the terminator there's still skin attached to the head and body, yet as it exited the bubble the remaining skin burnt off? That's what I understood the first time around. She shot him just as they got sent back, so it would only make sense that in that split second he still had skin remaining on the skeleton.

As for everything else... well the whole series is built on time paradox's. Just think of that Roswell episode from Futurama. Just sit back and enjoy, don't try to make sense of what the 500 writters/producers/directors have done to the time paradox in the series.
 
Why is it so hard to believe it takes humans and terminators through the portal?

This skin talk on the terminator's head is silly.
 
jpeck said:
Why is it so hard to believe it takes humans and terminators through the portal?

This skin talk on the terminator's head is silly.
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Because it's always mentioned that only organic material can go through portals. It's been mentioned often. Last I checked, a metal skeleton isn't organic.
 
That has always puzzled me. The portal only transports organic material, hence the skin on the terminators. But wouldn't all the inorganic guts get left behind? Something tells me that if cotton clothes won't go, alloy skeletons and servos wouldn't either.
 
Jon Starr said:
Because it's always mentioned that only organic material can go through portals. It's been mentioned often. Last I checked, a metal skeleton isn't organic.
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Thinking that way only makes things more complex. Because then they could just cover weapons with skin and send it back. Maybe they already did when they put the gun in the terminator's leg in the pilot episode. Or maybe he put it in himself prior to going in as a supply teacher.

Then we get into how much skin is required? If it were true about the head, then maybe just a tiny bit?


For me, it is pretty easy to assume they are made for terminators and humans. Which makes sense since the T1000 never had a 'covering layer of skin'.
 
jpeck said:
Thinking that way only makes things more complex. Because then they could just cover weapons with skin and send it back. Maybe they already did when they put the gun in the terminator's leg in the pilot episode. Or maybe he put it in himself prior to going in as a supply teacher.

Then we get into how much skin is required? If it were true about the head, then maybe just a tiny bit?


For me, it is pretty easy to assume they are made for terminators and humans. Which makes sense since the T1000 never had a 'covering layer of skin'.
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All this would be well and good if they didn't make the limitation into at least three separate plot points surrounding the scene. I'd say the limitation is firmly established.
 
The direct quote from the first movie, at least according to IMDB, is:

Something about the field generated by a living organism.
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Now, the Model 800 Terminators are presumably more than just a metal skeleton covered by skin (although that's mostly the way they've been shown). When Reese mentions "sweat, bad breath... everything," that suggests that there's a more substantial biological component, and so I can buy that it would have whatever "field" is necessary. (The T1000 and the T-X, not so much, because there's nothing technically "living" about them.) With the 800's registering as a living being, whatever's inside them comes through whether it's organic or not. (Organic-ness is not mentioned as a prerequisite, just "living.")

The gun in the Terminator's leg in the pilot was a Glock, so I'm guessing that didn't come from the future. Honestly, the gun-in-the-leg thing was an unnecessary gimmic, IMO--no reason he couldn't have just had it in a holster, except they needed to have the kids see the "robot leg" so the FBI guy could mention it (and presumably set him up to start wondering whether Sarah's actually right about all this). It does raise the question of why you couldn't do something like that with a future weapon, although we've never really seen any pistol-sized weapons in the future sequences of the films. Maybe there's a minimum size for a "phased plasma rifle, 40-megawatt range." :D
 
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