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[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Front Row Apocalypse Part II


Consider... how many times has he felt threatened and retaliated to non-machines?

Start - at the veterinary, he is armed with a paint ball gun. Many have taken issue; calling him a pacifist buffoon. How can he lead the resistance? Question should be - why does he have a paint ball gun?

Heartbreaking answer, John Connor has taken many lives in the intervening years - human lives; people he had mistaken for Metal. He has a legitimate reason to be paranoid. Always on the guard - 'is that guy following me?' Have to be sure... *pulls trigger*

Touched upon in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" series (2008 - 2009; Fox). Episode, "The Demon Hand" (February 25th, 2008), extended cut (on home video); Dr. Peter Silberman (now played by Bruce Davison) believes Sarah's rantings of the coming Judgment Day. The former psychiatrist has been murdering people he thought were Metal; burying them on his property in the woods - paranoid.

We may never know how many innocent lives John took, but we know he's tremendously guilty which is why he carries a paint ball gun instead of a real one (scare away, not to murder). Add to the fact, he hasn't seen a Terminator in years - just alone in the dark with his apocalyptic thoughts.

That's why Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) is so vital, not because she's his future wife.

She is probably the single most important person in the entire resistance.

Not joking.

She has medical training... with animals, true - not it. Not for battle strategy, she has none. Kate is the person who rebuilds John into the man we expect him to be. She gives him back what was lost - confidence. Let that sink in. In this entire saga, SkyNet should've targeted her - priority one. Off her; John remains a broken kid who grew into a fragile adult.

When I found out that Edward Furlong wasn't reprising John Connor (from T2) I was bummed; I like continuity. Then I saw Stahl as John at the theater on opening day - was pleased.

Early on, Furlong was going to play John, but in December of 2001 news came out he was dropped. The actor has a long history of substance abuse. Stahl then got the part before shooting started in April 2002.

A side note...

The same fate happened to Nick Stahl; alcohol and narcotics. In fact Stahl went missing in 2012 for nearly a week. He was found and sent to rehab. He continues to work to become better.

- - -

Which brings up another protest... Kate Brewster?



Why is she there? She isn't mentioned in T1 or T2 if she was so important?

Why would she be mentioned? The events in T1, John was conceived. Sarah and Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) had better things to deal with than her son's future mate. He had to keep her alive so that she can gives birth to the savior.

In T2, John was a boy, who with his mother and robot Protector tried to stop SkyNet from being formed with help from Miles Bennett Dyson (Joe Morton) who reverse engineered the damage neural-net processor from the crushed Terminator in T1. Yes, that was a run-on sentence.

AND why would the T-800 even bring up Kate? Why would child John even think about child Kate, whom he knew from school (West Hills Junior High)? There isn't a conflict at all. She wasn't part of the stories they were telling, non-issue.

Consider her absence as deliberate. As I wrote, she could very well be the lynchpin of the entire resistance; her safety for John's well being is the thing that will bring about the end of the machines. Crush her, crush humanity. Rule number one... 'we don't talk about Kate'. And she may not be known to the soldiers as John's wife, but his lover, a.k.a. Special Lady Friend.

That's what the T-X is doing now... Brewster is on the list. But that's something that's only now happening. The other time travel executions did not have her marked; maybe because SkyNet didn't know.

Claire Danes wasn't cast as Kate originally. The roles was played by Sophia Bush. Footage was filmed of her, but those dailies didn't flatter her. The director believed she looked too young in the scenes. The role was recast with Danes at the last minute. This footage isn't on the DVD.

- - -

Then there's a whole gaggle of Garys from Fremont who are bothered by Judgment Day even happening - invalidates Kyle's message to Sarah (Linda Hamilton) in "The Terminator" (1984); "No fate but what we make". It makes all the events in T2 pointless. Humanity will fall to Metal, no matter what it does. For that reason - this group don't even acknowledge T3 as canon. *deep sigh*

Absolutely zero conflict.

Time travel as I envision is a lake. Throw pebbles into it; breaks the surface and causes ripples, these alterations can be felt by those next to it. But if you were on the other side of the lake, you wouldn't notice anything.

These were personal changes of other people, that have no bearing to your existence. The bigger the stone thrown, the more of a splash it makes - more it effects others.

SkyNet going A.I. deciding to eradicate mankind is the equivalent of throwing a mountain into that lake. It touches all, no one is spared. Such is that scale - consequences are global. Can't walk way from that wave unscathed. Can't be changed, has to happen and WILL happen - that wave forever alters the lake.

But as in life, there are loop holes.

John (Furlong), Sarah and his robotic Protector did change history, Judgment Day was pushed back; 08/29/97 goes by and nothing happens. They gave us seven more years of pre-war life. Judgment Day as seen in T3 happens on July 24th, 2004 (press materials).

By the way, TX arrived at the very least, 10:55pm on the 23rd as seen on the woman's cell phone clock when the Terminatrix got online after arriving - which read 10:59pm; some time passed, now morphed into the clothing of the woman it has just slain.

The culling cannot be prevented, but can be postponed. In fact, continued diligence, can be pushed back for decades to come. Who knows, by that point we may have finally reached the stars and the robot take over of Earth won't be as devastating as the first time around.

This fanboy rage is the equivalent of a guy who had surgery to remove terminal cancer - was a success... then twenty years later is dying from the same cancer. 'But I had surgery!!!' Yeah, you got decades more life you would not have had.

Seriously consider this...

If Judgment Day never happens, he will never lead the resistance, and he will never send his father back to be conceived. The very fact the he is ALIVE means that Judgment Day HAS to occur. There is no escaping. He is a paradox, he cannot prevent the end of the world, he can only rise above it and fulfill the inevitable destiny of his own conception.

- Metatron

This concept in Western culture bugs the frack out of me; notion that a single touch/push/change will always have the intended momentum. One hero, one big gesture makes it all better - rides off in the sunset. NO!!! There has to have persistence to maintain a particular goal. And even with checks and balances; governments can still turn stupid. Without those eyes, things can and WILL go bad.

Perfect example of this is "The Butterfly Effect" (2004). I hated that movie, just want to punch Evan (Ashton Kutcher), repeatedly. He has the ability to travel through time within himself; becoming his younger self for a few minutes. He makes changes in the past and was never there to continue to apply pressure. Things go worse with each jump he makes.

HE NEVER GETS IT! He does more jumps and makes it even more horrible. Then decides to kill himself in the womb so that he can give everybody else a better life; strangling himself with his umbilical cord. Yes, I spoiled it. Man, that still makes me mad; from alternate ending.

Answer is so simple. How could he NOT see???

Evan has the ability to travel back in time. Changes he does in the past will effect him - fact. His mother (Melora Walters) loves him, cares and would believe him - fact.

Go for broke. Hire some folks to do a history of the stock market, sports, winning lotto numbers, then upcoming companies and news stories. Or do the work yourself. Pick the date where to jump; that's the starting point, compile data - take six months to gather particulars. NO hurry - get it right.

Once done, format into sections that will fit onto a single sheet of paper; widdle away until it covers important, family relevant news and financial. Now take that data, memorize it. Write it down, over and over and over... until that note can be written down - accurately in under a minute. Until the message is embedded in muscle memory. Like the data assembly, no hurry here. Do it right.

Now Jump; find a sheet and pencil/pen; scribe like a 'muther. Leave that note on the frig, that's it. Doesn't matter if his mom is home or not at that time. She will find it, address it to her, "a note from the future". Big point is to have that evening's sporting scores and next day's news events on the top - immediate proof.

The mom is the answer, she's the anchor to save him and his girlfriend; continued, applied pressure. A moment later adult Evan will find himself in an altered world. A place where he is wealthy, gets the girl and has the life he's always wanted. The end. How is that not obvious? *deep sigh*

Back to subject.

The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.

- Kyle Reese

Quite correct.