As a die-hard fan of the Terminator series, I must say that keeping track of all these timelines is as challenging as outrunning a relentless metal monstrosity! Each film adds a new layer to the intricate tapestry of the franchise, and Terminator Zero certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Spoiler Warning for Terminator Zero
2024 saw the premiere of Netflix’s show, “Terminator Zero,” on August 29th. Interestingly enough, this date marks Judgement Day in the Terminator franchise as depicted in both the original 1984 film, “The Terminator,” and its sequel from 1991, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.” Being the second TV series derived from the iconic sci-fi franchise, following the brief run of live-action “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Terminator Zero” serves as the most recent addition to the series, released five years after the sixth movie, “Terminator: Dark Fate.”
The Terminator series, known for its time-travel element, has a complex and sometimes confusing timeline due to this feature. Movies like “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” “Terminator: Genisys,” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” often contradict each other and offer different possible continuations from “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” This is because the franchise has been passed on to different hands, leading to changes in plans over time.
Terminator Zero Takes Place in the Original Timeline and a New Timeline at the Same Time
In the science fiction film “Terminator Zero,” the narrative unfolds in two separate time periods: one is set in Japan on August 29th, 1997, while the other takes place in 2022, a time when mankind engages in a battle against Skynet. The events that transpire in Japan on August 28th, 1997, hold significant importance because it is the day before Judgement Day, a pivotal moment established in both “The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.”
In Episode 4, Skynet initiates its attack with missiles, seemingly triggering Judgment Day. However, fans of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” recall that John Connor, his mother Sarah, and the T-800 managed to prevent Judgment Day in 1995. This implies that “Terminator: Zero” is set in a timeline where Skynet launched its attack, leading to the destruction of the planet.
In the narrative of “Terminator Zero,” fans will notice a shift from previous stories, as Skynet initiates, and Judgment Day takes place, yet incompletely. For the moment, it seems that Skynet has been temporarily halted. As humanity grapples with both artificial intelligence factions, there are hints suggesting some humans may have allied themselves with Skynet while others side with Kokoro. “Terminator Zero” presents a timeline where Skynet activated on August 29, 1997, but offers an alternate occurrence from the films. To understand how this fits into the “The Terminator” timeline, it’s essential to know that this timeline has already been altered.
Terminator Zero Timeline Has Been Altered
The big twist in the penultimate episode is that the timeline has already been altered. Scientist Malcolm Lee is, in fact, from the future where Skynet nearly destroyed humanity, the one glimpsed in 1984’s The Terminator. He was born in 2025, about four years before John Connor sent Kyle Reese back in time. In 2045, he created Misaki, a machine that was made with a blank-slate consciousness, removing the specific reasoning from Skynet’s programming blueprints, which allows her to create her own identity and, in essence, give her free will. Malcolm hopes this can make her a bridge between humans and machines.
Meanwhile, Malcolm and Misaki found themselves at odds with other resistance members due to her acceptance. Consequently, they journeyed back in time to 1983, envisioning a future that boasted advanced technology as their shared aspiration. Misaki sacrificed her CPU to Malcolm for the activation of Kokoro, an entity designed to prevent Judgement Day and foster harmony between humans and machines. Their objective was to avoid the devastating cycle of human-machine conflict and establish a peaceful coexistence instead.
If you’re perplexed, let me clarify: The franchise’s unique time-travel rules serve a dual purpose – they help clarify the plot and tidy up inconsistencies from previous films, while also setting the stage for the shocking series finale twist.
Terminator Zero Rewrites The Timeline Rules of the Franchise
In “The Terminator,” the concept of time travel is depicted as recurring or circular. It forms a continuous, interconnected chain. Initially, Skynet dispatches the T-800 to kill Sarah Connor before she can conceive John, the leader of the resistance. However, John later sends Kyle Reese back in time to safeguard her. Their encounter leads to Sarah’s pregnancy with John. Simultaneously, the Terminator is vanquished by Sarah, but its remaining arm is salvaged for study, ultimately aiding in the creation of Skynet. Thus, Skynet’s attempts to eradicate John Connor before his birth paradoxically lead to both his emergence and the rise of Skynet itself. The cycle is finally broken in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” when Skynet is thwarted.
Since then, the franchise has continued with numerous sequels, each exploring the concept that Judgment Day was merely delayed rather than prevented. The timeline suggests Skynet activation happens in 2004 (Terminator 3: Judgment Day), 2011 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles), 2017 (Terminator Genisys), and 2020s (Terminator: Dark Fate). In one instance, they manage to halt Skynet, but Judgment Day still transpires under the supervision of a new AI named Legion. On the other hand, Terminator Zero suggests an alternate possibility where Judgment Day could occur as early as 1997, with a different outcome.
In the second installment of Terminator Zero, we learn that all subsequent Terminator stories, including Terminator Zero, are set in alternate realities stemming from the same point in the timeline. This concept is clearly explained by The Prophet who states in episode two, “Skynet has dispatched a Terminator through time. This act has spawned a new reality, and our window to follow won’t remain open for long.” The idea is further explored in the sixth episode where The Prophet expounds on the complexities of time travel. She illustrates this by drawing a line and explaining that individuals usually move along it sequentially, but when someone travels through time, it becomes more intricate. She says, “People typically progress along a single path, but when one ventures through time, it’s far more complicated.”
“Traveling back in time means moving to a former period, not referring to the past as a whole. The time you’re visiting and the time you depart from are separate realities…The time you are traveling to and the time you’re leaving are distinct timelines. Each instance of time travel, every time someone uses one of those machines, essentially trades one reality for another.”
In the Terminator series, whenever a character goes back in time, it leads to a separate timeline that diverges from the original. So when someone like Kyle Reese, The T-800, Grace (from Terminator: Dark Fate), and Eiko (Terminator: Zero) travel through time, they end up in alternate realities that are not connected to their original futures but can be influenced or changed by them. The concept of multiple branching timelines was hinted at in Terminator Genisys, and it’s made clearer here. Terminator: Zero now explains how all these timelines can coexist without contradicting each other, upholding the final message of T2 that “there is no fate but what we make.”
Terminator Timelines
After the arrival of “Terminator Zero,” it’s become tricky to follow the connected films and events in the Terminator series. Here’s a simplified breakdown of the eight timelines within the Terminator franchise. These timelines primarily stem from the occurrences in both “The Terminator” and “T2: Judgment Day,” with the exception of “Terminator Zero,” which appears to have been initiated by “The Terminator” alone, without the influence of “T2.”
- Original Timeline — Skynet launches, wiping out most of humanity. John Connor becomes the hero of the resistance and sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother, Sarah Connor, in 1984 from a Terminator. The Terminator arm that is left behind is studied, which means Skynet creates itself and brings about its own creation.
- The Terminator/Terminator 2 Timeline — John, Sarah, and the T-800 stop Skynet from ever launching, creating a new future from the original timeline.
- T2: Battle Across Time — The Universal Studios attraction created by James Cameron shows the T-800 and John Connor going into the future to destroy Skynet once and for all, creating the first alternate timeline ending in T2.
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines/Terminator Salvation — Judgement Day is postponed to July 25, 2004, and Skynet launches. John Connor and his wife, Kathern Brewster, lead the Resistance, while Skynet turns Marcus Wright into a new advanced Terminator that John Connor was not prepared for.
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles — Judgement Day was delayed to 2011, and John and Sarah go into the future to 2007. In this timeline, Sarah Connor also treats the cancer that she died from in the Terminator 3/Terminator: Salvation timeline.
- Terminator Genisys — When John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to save Sarah Connor, Kyle winds up in a timeline where a T-800 is protecting Sarah Connor, altering the future and now Skynet will launch in 2017 as an app called Genisys.
- Terminator: Dark Fate — Skynet was successfully defeated, but a Terminator that was already sent to kill John Connor finds him and terminates him. Instead of Skynet, an artificial intelligence named Legion is created and enacts Judgement Day sometime in the 2020s.
- Terminator Zero — After watching past attempts to travel back in time to kill/save a person from the past, Malcolm Lee traveled back to 1983 from the future with Misaki to prevent Skynet from launching with the hope of bridging the gap between humans and machines. Skynet launched on the original Judgement Day of August 29, 1997, but a second AI, Kokoro, also launched and counterattacked Skynet.
In essence, Terminator Zero aligns itself within the broader Terminator narrative. Malcolm Lee, traveling from the original timeline seen in The Terminator, established a different timeline where he aimed to reconcile humans and machines for a harmonious future. As the characters and franchise move forward, they find themselves treading uncharted waters towards an uncertain but promising future.
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Terminator Zero
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2024-09-02 03:02