The tangled tale of the Terminator timelines After a 12 year hiatus, Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising his most famous role as The Terminator, in the latest iteration of the sci-fi blockbuster movie franchise, Terminator Genisys. The key to understanding the new movie’s convoluted plot is to remind yourself of its predecessors SPOILER ALERT!!! --------------------------------------------------- KEY CHARACTERS Skynet: Military artificial intelligence that sees humanity as threat. Triggers nuclear war and deploys Terminator robots to wipe out survivors Sarah Connor: Mother of future human Resistance. Responsible for raising John Connor and educating him in ways of warfare John Connor: Leader of Resistance. Skynet decides he is focal point of rebellion and his termination will nullify opposition Kyle Reese: Sergeant in Resistance and close ally of John Connor. As result of predestination paradox*, he is also John Connor’s father T-800: Model of Terminator, mass-produced by Skynet. Hyperalloy endoskeleton encased in living tissue – Arnold Schwarzenegger ---------------------------------------------------- HOW THE MOVIES FIT TOGETHER Bad Terminator travels back in time Good Terminator travels back Kyle Reece travels back Marcus Wright jumps forward in time ----------------------------------------------------- TIMELINE 1965: Birth of Sarah Connor 1974 THE TERMINATOR (1984) Director: James Cameron Budget: $6.4m Global box office: $78m Movie #1 1984: Unwittingly, Sarah Connor becomes target for assassination from dystopian future where Skynet is at war with mankind 1984 T-800 Kyle Reese 1985: John Connor born (fathered by Kyle Reese) 2029: Having mastered time travel, Skynet sends T-800 Terminator back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, before she can give birth to her son. John Connor sends back Kyle Reese to destroy Terminator and save his mother – and by such actions, himself. Reese is killed protecting Sarah T-800 Kyle Reese TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991) Director: James Cameron Budget: $102m Global box office: $520m Movie #2 1995: Sarah Connor is patient in California psychiatric hospital. John Connor is in foster care 1995 T-800 1997: Sarah Connor dies from leukaemia 2030: Skynet sends new T-1000 liquid metal Terminator back to 1995 to kill John Connor as a child. Future John Connor sends reprogrammed T-800 back to protect his younger self. T-1000 is destroyed. Cyberdyne Systems laboratory(where Skynet is being developed) is blown up. T-800 self-destructs to prevent advanced computer chips being used for Skynet development TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (2003) Director: Jonathan Mostow Global box office: $433m Budget: $200m Movie #3 Judgement Day†: Nuclear apocalypse 2004: T-X Terminator (with female form) arrives from 2032 to kill John Connor’s lieutenants, including Kate Brewster, his future wife. T-800 arrives to protect them both from T-X and impending Judgement Day, which is inevitable 2032: John killed by T-800. His widow reprogrammes T-800 to go back to 2004 and save them both Only Terminator movie to have conventional forward progressing timeline TERMINATOR SALVATION (2009) Director: McG Budget: $200m Global box office: $370m Movie #4 2003: Death row inmate Marcus Wright leaves his body to medical research following his execution 2003 T-X 2004 T-800 2019: Wright emerges from wrecked Skynet base, destroyed by Resistance. Realising he is now Skynet cyborg designed to lure John Connor to his death, Wright rebels against his oppressors and saves John’s life *Paradox of time travel often used as convention in science fiction (also known as causality loop). Event 1 is cause of some later Event 2, but through time travel, Event 2 is also cause of Event 1 Ensuing years: Skynet tries unsuccessfully to kill Sarah by sending back T-800 and T-1000 Terminators (as in first two Terminator movies). Finally, it sends new T-3000 Terminator (nanotechnological human-cyborg hybrid in form of adult John Connor) TERMINATOR GENISYS (2015) Director: Alan Taylor Budget: $170m Global box office forecast: $500m Movie #5 1974: Terminator arrives from 2029 and kills Sarah Connor’s parents before being destroyed by T-800, sent back to protect her. T-800 then raises Sarah 1984: Kyle Reece arrives (as in original Terminator movie) only to find things are not as they should be due to alteration in timeline from events in 1974 †In Terminator 2, Skynet instigates nuclear war in 1997, which is later averted by events in movie. But it only delays apocalypse until 2004 – see Terminator 3 Note: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) TV show omitted because it ignores parts of timeline 2019 Marcus Wright 2029 T-800 2030 T-1000 2032 T-3000 2032: John Connor killed by T-800 ---------------------------------------------------- Sources: Terminator Wiki, Empire, IMDB Pictures: Paramount Pictures/Skydance Productions words 731