Over the course of six movies, time travel and the Terminator franchise have become inextricably linked; allowing the ever-changing story to shift dates, locations and characters with ease, stretching the ‘what if‘s’ into endless possibilities in an attempt to expand the science fiction universe – but has the over-use of that plot device come at the expense of truly great storytelling? The Terminator franchise has a time travel problem.
When James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd and William Wisher Jr. collaborated on the script of the first Terminator movie back in 1984, the rules were pretty simple (after all, the future was not set – a sequel wasn’t yet on the table); as Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) told Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen):
“The Terminator had already gone through. Connor sent me to intercept him and they blew the whole place.”
Kyle Reese
To which Silberman asks:
“Well, how are you supposed to get back?”
Dr. Silberman
Kyle states:
“I can’t. Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It’s just him – and me.”
Kyle Reese
With the release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) the rules were changed somewhat, when SkyNet sends a more deadly Terminator unit back in time to terminate young John Connor. Though the dangerous prototype, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), isn’t the only Terminator sent back – this time a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) which has been reprogrammed by Connor and Tech-Com – is also sent back to avert disaster.
It would be easy to say that time travel within this universe is a must as the franchise was built around the mechanism of past present future after all, but if we remove the element of journeying through time and space, well, where would that actually leave the story?
Terminator Salvation, that’s where.
Terminator Salvation avoided time travel by preceding the existence of the TDE (Time Displacement Equipment) – at least as far as we know – the big unveiling of T4 is the disclosure of plans for a T-800 unit, keeping the characters very much in one place in time. Yes, Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) does start in one time and end in another but that isn’t via the use of time travel so much as existing through time in an unconscious state (bad man got arrested, condemned to death and signed a waiver allowing his body to be used for science by the mysterious Dr. Serena Kogan AKA Helena Bonham Carter).
Though Salvation didn’t exactly tick all the right boxes en route to the future war we’d all been anticipating, it did understand that time travel is a rabbit hole that the franchise can actually avoid falling into.
As the movies have progressed, more through sheer quantity than evolution, the stories have also become stuck in the same rut of consistently drawing upon time travel to explain plot details which should have been better developed by the writers in the first place.
Time travel should never have become the crutch of the Terminator franchise – it’s simply a vehicle to get from A to B; one small aspect in a universe of potential material and characters. The over-reliance on a permanent get-out-clause for any and all mistakes, bad choices or plot holes is becoming too big an issue for many Terminator Fans, and understandably so.
The instances of time travel per movie have only increased with each of the later installments, creating more questions than answers, in what can only be assumed are a cynical excuses to open up a new story arc within one of the failed trilogy plans.
T1: “Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It’s just him – and me.”
T2: It’s just him and him.
T3: It’s just him and her.
T4: –
T5: It’s just him and him and him and her and him.
T6: It’s just him and her and him and… (backstory) 1, 2, 3… them… ?
With each time jump the plot becomes less plausible and the consequences matter less, as the story and the characters start to seem disposable and one-time-use.
Does it matter if they save the day if it’s all wipeable? Should you get attached / emotionally invest if the story can be erased?
So, what’s my point?
Refocus.
Remember the roots of the franchise. The story is the most important part of any good movie, the story is what drew us all to the the Terminator franchise and being Fans in the first place. Time travel is only one small part of that story.
What’s more intrinsic to the Terminator franchise than time travel? Humanity. Humans fighting a war where the odds are stacked against them – fighting against a foe which doesn’t feel pity, remorse, or fear.
Living and dying on hope alone.
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