ANSWERS: 3
  • That version of the T-1 was initially programmed by Skynet TO assassinate John Conner, just like the one in the first (Sarah instead of John.) and second film. But this third film is basically the second one all over again, only less awesome. The T-1 was ''captured'' by the resistance in 2032, and reprogrammed by Conner's wife to execute the contrary of its actions, so now it wants to protect John in the past rather then kill him, which is what it was supposed to do, much like they did with the older model in the second film, only that one in the second was a virgin cyborg that hadn't seen any actions yet. But before it was reprogrammed, it succeeded in its original mission, which was to kill the man who puts a stop to the machines during Judgement Day. Since it was reprogrammed and destroyed later, it will never appear in the future to kill John, since matters can be transported back in time, but never be brought back to its original year. The T-X (Terminatrix.)erases the reprogramming in the end of the film though, leaving the T-1 with its original intent, but it gets destroyed, before coming up with its classic ''I'm a machine but I make my own human decisions from now on'' revelation so eloquently presented through the beating of a poor harmless jeep, so no worries, THAT particular one isn't coming back for John, as it no longer exists in the future since it was sent to the past. And it was Skynet that programmed it to assassinate, NOT John's wife who does the complete contrary to save him, and the rest of humanity.
  • He left the toilet seat up.
  • John Connor's wife did NOT task a terminator to terminate John. SKYNET sent a series 800 (actually an 850 with CPU enhancements over the earlier model) model 101 (Arnie skin) terminator to terminate John Connor in the post- Judgement Day future. The model 101 was chosen to take advantage of John's now established emotional ties with that model (robo daddy he never had) in order to infiltrate and assasinate him before he succeeds as leader of the resistance in the defeat of SKYNET. Yes, this plot point is ridonkulous, but it's in the script. Having successfully terminated John Connor, the terminator was captured by John Connor's wife, who proceeded to re-jigger the terminator's programming and send it back in time to ensure that John (and, as it panned-out) her earlier self survived the inevitable Judgement Day to become the fearsome machine-god-killing leaders-of-men that they are fated to become. _____ Further clarification of time-travelling semantics appears to be necessary: Of course, as the Terminator has already killed John before being sent to the past, John is likely still to be killed by the same terminator than ensured his survival... except that in the Terminator universe, each event altered in the past (present) causes an off-shoot (or 'tree-branch') reality that continues into an alternate version of the future. This is how SKYNET can become the seed of its own creation without creating a universe-destroying paradox - timelines spool off into alternate branches. Essentially, in the Terminator Universe, if you were to travel back in time and kill yourself as a child, you would continue to exist. Unfortunately, you would now be a wanted murderer, travelling forwards through time in the conventional way, towards a future that no longer contains the original 'you' (only the older, death-row version of you). The future from which you travelled no longer exists for you to travel from, but you continue to exist in a new 'tree-branch' reality. Many events may remain the same, but as you have killed your younger self, no future tree-branch from this present will result in a future from which a version of you will travel back in time. In other words, John may well now evade his own murder (by not attempting to hug the familiar looking terminator as it smashes its way into his command centre), or may never have to face that possibility (alternate timeline SKYNET may not see the need or opportunity), and does not actually have to send a terminator back to save himself. The reason? SKYNET should have worked it out already, really. If you send someone to travel back in time and change something dramatically, the reality they alter will become a tree-branch off of the past from which your reality is derived, the two differentiated by being rooted in moments either side of the dramatic change. All this is affected without changing a thing in your own past, as it has already occured - anything you had to do in time manipulation terms has already been done by an alternate timeline version of you, and has already affected the changes that culminated in your own present. Unfortunately, this means that there is at least one alternate timeline in which SKYNET succeeds in assasinating John Connor before he snatches victory, and nothing can be done after that event by those who inhabit that reality. They may only attempt to meddle in an alternate timeline's events/history, and hope that in an alternate timeline, John is saved, or evades his assasin. Further, in all but the first timeline in which John sent Kyle back to the past to become his father, John no longer has to send Kyle back. His timeline has already branched, and he already exists - sending Kyle back again would simply create another alternate (and unreacable from the future present) timeline in which Kyle was sent back twice. As a final note, in countless realities in this ol' tree, there are countless SKYNETs, all of whom must have figured out already that they can't change their own past, but only create alternate presents (to which they have no possible access). That SKYNET continues to send terminators back in time suggests that SKYNET sees a benefit for alternate timeline versions of itself, and is actually performing an essentially selfless act in attempting to perpetuate an alternate timeline's SKYNET without ever really knowing any outcome but its own, and what has resulted from alternate-timeline SKYNETs meddling in its own history.

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