Terminator 2 Questions

06-29-2003, 06:03 PM

I just finished watching the 1st 2 movies in preparation for the 3rd when a few questions came up.
The 1st movie takes place in 1984. How old would you say Sarah Connor is?
And in the second one how old would you say John Connor is?
The reason I ask is because in the second one when she's in the psych ward, the doctor says she's 29. Now John looks like he's 13, 14 which would mean Sarah was 15 in the 1st movie. Even if you say John is 10(which I don't buy) that means Sarah was 19 in the 1st. (Linda Hamilton isn't believeable as 19, she was 28 when the 1st movie came out and Edward Furlong was 13 when the second came out.) The character should have been around 37 not 29.
Second
Reece explains that nothing non human can come from the past, that's why they show up naked. The T 101 can come thru because he's got living flesh over his metal skeleton. But how can the T-1000 pass thru? He's liquid metal, he has no living parts.
Third
How is he able to copy the guard in the psych ward? He never touched him, the guard stepped on him when he was imitating the floor. There's a shoe in between him and the guard, they never had actual contact.
I know these are silly questions and these movies are not to be taken seriously but still, in theories to explain any of this?

Matt Stone · 06-29-2003, 06:12 PM

I don't know about the age thing...but I don't remember Sarah ever being referred to being 29. I always assumed she was in her mid to late thirties.

As for the other ones...I'd just say that you're probably looking to deeply into the films. They aren't monuments to logic.

06-29-2003, 06:13 PM

The doctor from the 1st one refers to her as 29 in the scene where she is working out in her room.

Larry Eshleman · 06-29-2003, 06:19 PM

I seem to recall that T2, despite being released in 1991, was set in 1994 or 1995 (wasn't there some line about John being 10 years old in T2?). That would make Sarah 18 or 19 years old in 1984, when T1 was set.

Matt Stone · 06-29-2003, 06:21 PM

Are you sure he didn't say that she was 29 when the shit hit the fan in the first film? I should know this, I just watched the damn movie yesterday.

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06-29-2003, 07:02 PM

Nope, he didn't say she was 29 in 1984.

Matt Stone · 06-29-2003, 07:05 PM

Hmmm...okay. I'm at my parents house right now, but when I get home I'll pop it in.

Michael Reuben · 06-29-2003, 07:15 PM

Quote:

I seem to recall that T2, despite being released in 1991, was set in 1994 or 1995

That's what Cameron says in the new commentary on the Extreme Edition DVD.

Quote:

Reece explains that nothing non human can come from the past, that's why they show up naked. The T 101 can come thru because he's got living flesh over his metal skeleton. But how can the T-1000 pass thru? He's liquid metal, he has no living parts.

This is also covered on the Extreme Edition; I believe it's in the "trivia track". There were several possible explanations, but I don't recall what they were.

M.

MatthewLouwrens · 06-29-2003, 07:24 PM

Jonathan Mostow talks a bit about the problems of timelines here:

Quote:

Question: How tough was it to maintain the timeline because even some things had to be fudged a little?

Answer: One of the difficulties of the time line is actually a result of a casting choice that (James) Cameron made. I’ve never spoken to him about it, but I think I understand why it was made. He originally wrote John Connor in the script as ten years old, but when he went to find an actor, my guess is that he couldn’t find a ten year old that could handle the complexity to that role. So he had to go older, and so he picked Eddie Furlong. He played, in my mind thirteen… fourteen… or something like that. And so when it came time to the sequel, I had the problem of, wait a second, do I stay faithful to the screenplay and maintain the timeline that way? Or do I stay faithful to the movie where I’m just going from what he looks like, and he looks like he’s three or four years older than what was in the script. So I chose to go based on what Eddie Furlong looked like, so for the real hard core fans, they may find an inconsistency. Numerically we tried to dodge the issue as much as we could, but that’s wherein the timeline has an inconsistency.

Holadem · 06-29-2003, 07:31 PM

Quote:

How is he able to copy the guard in the psych ward? He never touched him, the guard stepped on him when he was imitating the floor. There's a shoe in between him and the guard, they never had actual contact.

I don't believe it was ever said that he had to touch the guard's skin to copy him.

He is a copy of the appearance of the guard. For all intents and purposes, the shoe is part of the guard.

No matter how terrible T3 might turn out to be, I will always be grateful for it's release, thanks to which I can now watch T2 on the big screen for the first time

.

--
Holadem

06-29-2003, 07:48 PM

So, John Connor was suppose to be 10, that explains things. But that means Sarah Connor was still suppose to be only 19, a bit of a stretch for the then 28 yr old Linda Hamiliton.
Interesting idea about the guard, I guess he didn't need to touch skin to copy someone.
But how did he come from the past when he's liquid metal and doesn't have living flesh?

I saw the movie on the Ultimate edition, I didn't buy the Extreme. No DTS.

Jacinto · 06-29-2003, 08:02 PM

What the hell is Mostow talking about when he says that going from the movie (rather than the screenplay) he only had what Jon Connor looked like to go on? When the T-1000 looks Jon up on the cop's computer at the very beginning of T2, it clearly says on the screen that Jon Connor's age is 10. So it's not like that information from the screenplay never made it in to the film.

The only thing I noticed as a discrepancy when watching both films back to back yesterday is that in the first movie, Kyle never says the whole "the future's not set" line the way they say it in T2. If I remember correctly, he never goes into the "there's no fate but what we make" bit.