Terminator 2 Questions (1 Viewer)

DAN NEIR · Jun 29, 2003

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 · Jun 29, 2003

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.

DAN NEIR · Jun 29, 2003

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

Larry Eshleman · Jun 29, 2003

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 · Jun 29, 2003

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.

DAN NEIR · Jun 29, 2003

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

Matt Stone · Jun 29, 2003

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

Michael Reuben · Jun 29, 2003

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.

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MatthewLouwrens · Jun 29, 2003

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

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 · Jun 29, 2003

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

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DAN NEIR · Jun 29, 2003

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 · Jun 29, 2003

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.

Holadem · Jun 29, 2003

Progress was made with time travel technology in the future between the two installements. However, humans haven't acquired the new technology yet in T2 - heck they still hadn't acquired a T1000, which is why they were stuck with sending the obsolete Arnie. So the machines can send stuff without tissue, humans can't yet until they get around to stealing a new time travel device.

You wanted an explanation, ya got one. Copyright Holadem, 2003.

--
Holadem

Colin Jacobson · Jun 29, 2003

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.

Heck, 26-years-old-during shooting Tobey Maguire played a teen in Spider-Man. And weren't most of the 90210 actors actually in their 50s through that show's run?

Click to expand...

Dennis Pagoulatos · Jun 29, 2003

Yeah have you guys watched Grease recently? Everyone's 40+ in that movie!

Anyways...in the first film Kyle also mentions that the time displacement equipment was destroyed (how does he know that for sure??) but if that's true then how do they even send anyone else through in T2? A different machine somewhere else I guess...

-Dennis

Dan Rudolph · Jun 29, 2003

When the T-1000 looks John up in the police computer, it says he's 10 and was born on 2/28/1985. This means the events of the first movie takes place around late May of 1984. Terminator 2 must be sometime between 2/28/1995 and 2/28/1996. I guess Sarah was 19 in the original. No worse than Charisma Carpenter who played a character 10 years younger than her on Buffy starting when the character was 15.

Dan Rudolph · Jun 29, 2003

More on the above. As they're leaving the gas station, The Terminator tells Sarah that in a few months, Dyson will create a revolutionary type of microprocessor. In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. Then a Skynet funding bill is passed and the system is brought online 8/4/1997. This would seem to imply this date is more than three years away. This doesn't make sense as even if John turned ten yesterday, this date is closer to two years away than three. So we have a plot hole.

Adam_ME · Jun 29, 2003

The timeline in T2 has always been one of the movie's biggest plotholes. It's stated that Sarah is 29 and John is 10 which places the events in the film no earlier than 1995. Yet we're told repeatedly that Judgment Day would happen on August 29, 1997(before they went and changed history, of course).

So if this is the case, then why does the T-800 tell Sarah that "in 3 years, Cyberdyne Systems will become the largest supplier of military computers"? That would mean Skynet couldn't even exist until 1998 at the earliest.

And as stated earlier in this thread, there are other massive plotholes like the T-1000 coming through the time displacement equipment despite not being covered by living tissue. And if you wanna explain that one by saying Reese was misinformed in the first film, fine. Then explain to me why Skynet(who had to be aware that non-living things could be sent back) didn't arm any of the bad Terminators with "ray guns" before sending them through?

Adam_ME · Jun 29, 2003

Beat me to it, Dan!

Ben Osborne · Jun 29, 2003

If the CSM-101 can travel back in time simply by being surrounded by tissue even though it has metal innards, maybe the T-1000 can simulate a layer of living tissue around itself. That would explain why he too was naked when he came through the portal (of course the real reason is to get the audience to assume he's human and be surprised later when they find out he's not).

The whole idea of being able to smuggle machines through by surrounding them with tissue raises other questions though. Couldn't they wrap a phase plasma rifle in skin and send it through? Couldn't they put a gun inside the terminator's gut, and have him rip it out once he gets to the other side? The thing to remember here is that stealth is important to the success of the terminators. For them to be carrying around technology from the future might arouse too much attention. Besides, Skynet knows that the terminators can get weapons fairly easily, and they're dangerous enough with 20th century weapons. The T-1000 in particular doesn't need sophisticated weapons, given his ability to get close to the target while being unnoticed.

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Terminator 2 Questions (1 Viewer)

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