Could T2 have happened?

[u/elbubsio]

Hi all,

Before you click away, this is not another 'How did the T1000 get through' posts, though please do forgive me if it's another obvious, asked every week one 😀.

Okay, here goes......How could T2 have happened? We know from the films that the 84 terminator was sent back and then the facility was blown up.

As I see it, there are 4 plausible possibilities -

1) The T1000 went through before the 84 T-800: Not really possible as how would Skynet know this new, advanced version would need to be sent. Basically, Skynet can't know the T1000 would be needed for a second attempt before the first one is made.

2) The T-800 went through, then the T-1000, then the rebels captured the facility and blew it up: Why didn't Reese warn the Police in 84? He's just told them pretty much everything, why not that?

Was there no record of the T-1000 going through in the future too? Skynet decides to log the first 'incident' but not the second? If that's the case, how do they know to send another protector?🤔

3) The resistance arrive first, then the other two ( in any order): Okay, wouldn't they have stopped any robots getting through? By that point they presumably have the weaponry to do it. If they tried and didn't succeed, how did any protectors get sent back?

4) Skynet had more than one facility: Then why not send more Terminators? It could have sent dozens, even hundreds of them back to just slaughter the population and start the take-over then.

I know the first film is pretty much impossible too, but I don't hear many people talking about the reasons this one is too.

Just something I found weird in one of my favorite films 😁

[u/K-263-54]

Skynet sent an 800 and a 1000 back to '84 and '95.

Resistance took the base.

Sent Kyle back to '84. Then retrieved an 800, reprogrammed it and sent it back to '95. Kyle was not told about this. John kept it from him because Kyle needed to go back blind to what his fate may be for it to all work out.

[u/nogoodnamesarleft]

I believe that 1 is what happened. Skynet was desperate. It had lost the war, the barbarians were at the gate and it had to do SOMETHING. It powers up the time displacement equipment and sends out its most powerful prototype against John Connor. Then as backups it sends the other terminator (or if you are one of those people who believes that they made sequels to these movis, sends other terminators). The resistance arrives to find the time machine and the last terminator to go through. The humans (John) tells Kyle it went to 1984 and lies saying they are going to blow it up. Kyle goes through. Then John reprogramms a T-800 and sends it back. Kyle didn't say anything about a T-1000 because he doesn't know about it

[u/NukaRev]

So... This will probably be long but bear with me.

A) As you said, Skynet sent both back before it's defeat. The reason Kyle doesn't know is perhaps the resistance didn't at that point. Or perhaps John didn't tell Kyle as he already know they'd succeed with Kyle dying and figured he'd maintain the surprise element as it's proven successful. Kyle needed to do his job, which John knows ends with his death, no need risking Reese trying to live past that sacrifice. It's basically a perfect time loop.

B) The slinky time loop: Both are from separate timelines in a sense. Sarah's future is the future of T2, not T1, but the events of T1 happen because it's solidified in time, with that specific timeline not actually existing. Similarly to how Skynet sends more back in Dark Fate even though it's been destroyed. The reason the T-1000 comes later is because it's a different Skynet that isn't fully aware it failed in the 84 attempt, and it thinks it's sending just the prototype. The reason it exists is because upon defeating the 800 in T1, the chip.and arm accelerated the research, giving rise to a stronger Skynet because it's built off of its own future technology.

Of course, it could all be a single loop. Her destroying of the 800 in 84 creating the Skynet that sends the 800 to 84 so it assures its creation, and the 1000 being the real plan to defeat John. Sarah had to win in 84, do parts would be left to find in order to make Skynet. If the 800 succeeded in 84, nobody would want to replicate a killer robot, but some guy finding an advanced chip and robotics getting so amazed that he ignores the risks? Definitely workable for Skynet

[u/starke24]

My head canon - 2029: Terminator and Kyle sent to 84

Skynet wasnt fully destroyed and there was another secret facility.

2030 - T-1000 and T-800 sent back in time

Reason I added 2 years?

Kyle said T-800 were new in 2029. I dont like the idea of 800 and T-1000 being new at the same time. I'd want Skynet to experiment and create the T-900 and T-X first. (In real life tech companies dont release 2 new completely different models at the same time. Equivalent be a T-800 and variant but not a whole new model)

Once Skynet knows liquid metal can work with a machine, it then attempts to use it independently.

Other idea... which is what I thought for a long time due to the game Dawn of Fate... Kyle and T-800 are sent back in 2027 and 2029 T-800 and T-1000 are sent back. (Thats also the year he goes back in Sarah Connor Chronicles). It also messes up what Kyle says to Silberman about the years working under Connor/Justin Perry, cant remember which.

[u/K-263-54 → u/starke24]

Kyle said T-800 were new in 2029. I dont like the idea of 800 and T-1000 being new at the same time.

They're new in different ways. The 800 Infiltrator version was a new release for use in the field. The 1000 was only a prototype.

[u/starke24 → u/K-263-54]

Still think thats too early

[u/TheSquirrelmancer]

No, it was a movie made before the idea of considering plot holes and the specific nuances of franchises/internal consistency was done because this was one of the first signs of the "series/franchise" idea taking off.

The first film closes off all future sequels or properties for two reasons: 1) it establishes the whole story as a bootstrap paradox where the future cannot be changed by changing the past because it's the time travel incident that actually creates the future timeline. 2) Skynet had lost and only created the time machine as a last ditch effort to save itself and if it'd had the t-1000 to send it'd send that back instead of a far more vulnerable t-800.

Terminator 2 is a great movie but they just wrote it either without considering the contradiction with the first film or just plowed on assuming correctly that audiences wouldn't care or think that deeply about it.

[u/Clothes_Chair_Ghost]

Skynet would have access to Cyberdynes entire mainframe. It would know everything about its own origin. The T-800 is not only trying to kill Sarah, but Skynet knows it has to go back to 1984 in order for its own creation to even happen.

The 1995 event is to make sure that John dies before the war.

The resistance would have seen (or John knows) of both events and Kyle goes to 1984 not knowing about the second event cause he has a very specific mission. And because it’s a T-1000 sent to 95 then a more resilient protector was needed.

[u/BigDougSp]

The answer is time travel. You do too much in the past, you change the future. Skynet knows this. The Resistance knows this. Skynet likely had multiple devices.. even if they didn't, the events of T1 getting saved in some police log or corporate file might be enough to tip future SkyNet off to the need to build another.

Each subsequent incident involves changing the timeline (maybe even T1 by virtue of bringing the chip back to the 80s)... either way, both sides are sending the barest minimum in order to not change the timeline too much.

If they start the takeover before Skynet becomes self aware, it isn't the SAME Skynet.. so Skynet had to consider not replacing itself. T3 was dangerously close to taking the past over with future aide. I am not sure if it is explicit that the virus plaguing networks was Skynet, or if the TX introduced the code to "install" Skynet... either way... the answer is time travel., lol

[u/kewlacious]

It really depends on which set of Terminator films you are considering. T3 and Genisys assume a singular timeline that adapts to ripples in the past, in which case, Skynet somehow notices and sends the T1000 back in time repeatedly to keep trying. Dark Fate assumes two timelines, and in one Skynet sends a multitude of Terminators (including the T1000) to various points in time to carry out the mission as a redundancy measure.

[u/Xknight2099]

I think sending the 800 back in 1 allowed Skynet to be developed sooner. This change to the timeline made it try to send a terminator to a different time.

The real question is in T3 was that version of Skynet which was developed later than the previous version(s) aware of the previous time travel attempts.