Retro Reviews & More

Welcome to the 50th post of Retro Reviews & More!  Last week , I promised something special. When I launched the blog over two-and-a-half years ago, I did so with five posts on the Terminator film series, first, a four-parter on timeline theories,  1  The Terminator  | T2 , 2  T3 | Salvation , 3  Genisys , and  4  Dark Fate , and then finally, " +/- Reviews of the Threequels ". In that fifth post, I mentioned potentially revisiting the other "threequel", the television series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , and for both theory and review purposes, which I always intended as a promise, as well. But before we get to that, I wanted to mention two things I have worked on to prepare for this 50th post. First, I recreated the original four timelines and updated those posts with the new images (it always bothered me that the screenshots had the markup for spelling and grammar "errors"). It was recreated faithfully, aside from a few b...

Terminator : Timeline Theories (4 of 4) Terminator: Dark Fate (& Final Thoughts) Abbreviations used are as follows:  T1 = The Terminator (1984) T2 = Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) T3 = Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) TS = Terminator: Salvation (2009) TG = Terminator: Genisys (2015) TDF = Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) JD = Judgment Day TDE = Time Displacement Equipment To summarize the previous three posts and the basic principles behind my Terminator Timeline Theory, I propose T1 is told on a Timeline Prime, and T2 starts on it. This Timeline Prime contains a loop which means Kyle Reese always fathered John, the 1984 T-800 wreckage was always Cyberdyne's source of technology to develop Skynet and Sarah's knowledge of the future always motivated her to train John. When the Connors and T-800 meet the Dysons during the events of T2 , it creates the first branch from the primary timeline. Points in time exist simultaneously, so branching from Timeline...

Terminator : Timeline Theories (3 of 4) Terminator: Genisys Abbreviations used are as follows:  T1 = The Terminator (1984) T2 = Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) T3 = Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) TS = Terminator: Salvation (2009) TG = Terminator: Genisys (2015) TDF = Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) JD = Judgment Day TDE = Time Displacement Equipment To summarize the previous two posts and the basic principles behind my Terminator Timeline Theory, I propose T1 is told on a Timeline Prime, and T2 starts on it. This Timeline Prime contains a loop which means Kyle Reese always fathered John, the 1984 T-800 wreckage was always Cyberdyne's source of technology to develop Skynet and Sarah's knowledge of the future always motivated her to train John. When the Connors and T-800 meet the Dysons during the events of T2 , it creates the first branch from the primary timeline. Points in time exist simultaneously, so branching from Timeline Prime does not cease it to...

Terminator : Timeline Theories (2 of 4) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Terminator: Salvation Abbreviations used are as follows:  T1 = The Terminator (1984) T2 = Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) T3 = Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) TS = Terminator: Salvation (2009) TG = Terminator: Genisys (2015) TDF = Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) JD = Judgment Day TDE = Time Displacement Equipment To summarize the previous post and the basic principle behind my Terminator Timeline Theory, I propose T1 is told on a Timeline Prime, and T2 starts on it. This Timeline Prime contains a loop which means Kyle Reese always fathered John, the 1984 T-800 wreckage was always Cyberdyne's source of technology to develop Skynet and Sarah's knowledge of the future always motivated her to train John. When the Connors and T-800 meet the Dysons during the events of T2 , it creates the first branch from the primary timeline. Points in time exist simultaneously, so branching from Timeline P...

Terminator : Timeline Theories (1 of 4) The Terminator | Terminator 2: Judgment Day Abbreviations used are as follows:  T1 = The Terminator (1984) T2 = Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) T3 = Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) TS = Terminator: Salvation (2009) TG = Terminator: Genisys (2015) TDF = Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) JD = Judgment Day TDE = Time Displacement Equipment Whether you are a fan only of the first two films, the whole series or pick and choose, the timeline of the Terminator films has always been convoluted at best, even within the context of those first two films. Perhaps you are like me and can enjoy things more once any open-ended items have been settled, at least theoretically and conceivably. Briefly stated I propose the Terminator film series' timeline is as follows: prior to the Connors and T-800 meeting the Dysons during the events of T2, everything happened within a time loop, seemingly a grand design of unknown source. I refer to t his t...