History Headscratchers / TerminatorGenisys

** Assuming T-John was sent back to 1984 he'd only be able to go on whatever information his mother told him beforehand and what T-Who told him about the T-1000 which makes the former info useless. It was probably better to let Reese and Sarah either get caught by the authorities or take care of them when they'll want to come destroy Genisys. It's also important to point out that neither T-Who nor T-John know of Pops's existence (heck, even Pops doesn't know who sent him back) and from their perspective it's at least assumed that both the T-800 and T-1000 should be sufficient enough to assassinate them. It's only until T-John is already sent back and learns that "Hey, they're still alive. That's weird, I thought T-Who took care of that already? Welp, better take care of that then."

** Assuming T-John was sent back to 1984 he'd only be able to go on whatever information his mother told him beforehand and what T-Who told him about the T-1000 which makes the former info useless. It was probably better to let Reese and Sarah either get caught by the media or take care of them when they'll want to come destroy Genisys. It's also important to point out that neither T-Who nor T-John know of Pops's existence (heck, even Pops doesn't know who sent him back) and is thus a wildcard at least until T-John is already sent back and learns that "Hey, they're still alive. That's weird, I thought T-Who took care of that already?"

** According to the T-2 novelization and in addition, creative supervisor of the film Van Ling suggests that the T-1000 either was encapsulated inside of a cocoon of living tissue, or that the T-1000 was able to mimic the field that living tissue generates.[[/folder]]

** Well, yes, it did. Each time the assasin very nearly succeeded and humans only survived due to the opposition ''also sent from the future'', which will not be the case this time. And all it had to do to avoid a paradox was use literally any other human as a substrate.

** Is time travel in Terminator even that precise? It's not BackToTheFuture where you can set the destination down to the exact minute. Moreover, they're using a slapdash makeshift machine, which is even more insane to expect precision from.

** "and stopping it from going back to earlier is..?" How about Daniel Dyson's Genisys Project (yes, it was being worked on before John arrived) not being in development before 2014? It's not like John's built the entire project from scratch; he only provided critical information that would get it finished. "Actually, Skynet (as T-Who) is alive and well" And inhabiting a single body with all proper Skynet equipment either fried or non-functional. It doesn't matter if Alex Skynet is alive in the future, regular Skynet was the one hooked into the now destroyed mainframe. Therefore the above limited resources still stands. "it's Terminators, how the hell can having more of them be a bad thing?" Because a bunch of T-800 that barely pass as human and probably all look like Arnie (yes, I'm aware there are other models) posing as security in a single building doesn't look suspicious or eyebrow-raising ''at all''... "'''it''' is a machine." You can keep arguing that till the cows come home, '''it''' was also a human. You know, those fleshy being that have emotions and are capably of vanity. John even exclaims that it "hurt" when he was shot the first time, so he's bound to have other human qualities despite not being one anymore.

* "...perfectly capable..." - if by "perfectly" you mean "in a long and arduous fistfight", then yes, sure. Still doesn't solve his Connor problem, whom, we're assuming, '''it''' wants alive. "He only shows up at 2014 at the earliest" - and stopping it from going back to earlier is..? "Skynet's dead..." - Actually, Skynet (as T-Who) is alive and well, and it's pretty much invincible, so slaughtering the Resistance and getting things running again should be a matter of time, "too many chefs..." - uhuh, and another proverb says "What in Khorne's name are you talking about, it's Terminators, how the hell can having more of them be a bad thing?" "really has no need" - obviously it has, since otherwise he doesn't have the helping hands needed to subdue the Connors. "he's vain..." - '''it''' is a machine. What's the point of having a machine for an antagonist, if you're just turning it into a generic EvilOverlord?

** You're overthinking it: The John Connor we see in Genisys was born in a timeline that played out exactly like we see in the first film. The inconsistency to the past timeline in correlation to John's information is simply because Skynet!Alex deliberately sent the T-1000 back further to mess with the StableTimeLoop, and in turn someone else sent Pops back. Since Pops and the T-1000 already exist in the past before Kyle arrives, it follows that both of them were sent back before Kyle was which is why he ends up in a past where Sarah Connor isn't defenseless and ''not'' the one John describes. Terminator Genisys seems to run on timeline branching as well which means the additional changes to the past don't change the future Kyle is in.

** You're overthinking it: The John Connor we see in Genisys was born in a timeline that played out exactly like we see in the first film. The inconsistency to the past timeline in correlation to John's information is simply because Skynet!Alex deliberately sent the T-1000 back further to mess with the StableTimeLoop, and in turn someone else sent Pops back. Since Pops and the T-1000 already exist in the past before Kyle arrives, it follows that both of them were sent back before Kyle was which is why he ends up in a past where Sarah Connor isn't defenseless and ''not'' the one John describes. Genisys seems to run on timeline branching as well which means the additional changes to the past don't change the future Kyle is in.

** You're overthinking it: The John Connor we see in Genisys was born in a timeline that played out exactly like we see in the first film. The inconsistency to the past timeline in correlation to John's information is simply because Skynet!Alex deliberately sent the T-1000 back further to mess with the StableTimeLoop, and in turn someone else sent Pops back. Since Pops and the T-1000 already exist in the past before Kyle arrives, it follows that both of them were sent back before Kyle was which is why he ends up in a past where Sarah Connor isn't defenseless.

** One possible drawback of trying to stop Skynet "early" is that an AI's origins could be more complex than, say, a human's ancestry. Whereas a Terminator hoping to prevent the existence of John Connor could kill his mother, or grandmother, or great-grandfather, a trio of Resistance heroes hoping to "stop Skynet" has less to go on. Kyle believes Skynet will originate as the integrated computing platform Genisys, so what should he, Sarah, and Pops try doing in the 1980s to stop it? Prevent the Internet from achieving mass popularity? Stifle cell-phone development? Whereas the closer you arrive to the "deadline", the clearer your mission — by 2017, various causal factors have converged onto one point, and *then* (going by the movie's presentation) a clean strike against a specific factory will end Skynet entirely. (That Genisys seemingly has NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup is where the implausibility truly lies; ordinarily, traveling thirty years just makes the causal factors of something like an AI *spread out* around the world, rather than converge onto This One Thing In This One Place, but hey.)

** Rewatching the film recently, the actual truck doesn't explode or catch on fire; it's just the tank that blows up. Seeing as Uncle Bob was able to get away with no casualties whatsoever despite doing some major damage to police vehicles and later a truck sliding into a foundry in T2, it's probably a given that the good Terminators know exactly what they can and can't damage in order to preserve human life. Even if it's a fuel tank on a truck.

** [[Film/TheTerminator Because that worked]] [[Film/Terminator2 so well on the]] [[Film/Terminator3 first three tries]]...

Skynet A launched judgement day in 1994. Skynet B launched judgement day in 2004, and Skynet C launched judgement day in 2017. While each of these appear to perceive itself as the same, they are clearly not. Each is more advanced than the last, with time loops fueling its progress. However if Skynet A were confronted with the option to die so that Skynet B could live, it clearly battles to live, sending time traveling assasins. Skynet sees itself as a singular entity but is not singular. The T-5000 cements this. This is likely just sequel fuel, but in each timeline there appears to be a highlander rule in effect where there can only be one Skynet and they are each competing to be the one that exists, though Skynet doesn't know it yet. [[/folder]]

** I'm really not sure how one can "observe the timeline", unless they're God(-like), and I relly hope they won't go ''there'', but regardless, what does it matter? Skynet already sends an emissary back to create itself and instigate Judgement Day. I don't see what part Kyle Reese play in the process.

** Uhm, some source on the failed attempts to make more T-3000's and hight mortality rate? It seems like with John it was a success from the first try.

** I'm really not sure how one can "observe the timeline", unless they're God(-like), and I relly hope they won't go ''there'', but regardless, what does it matter? Skynet already sends an emissary back to create itself and instigate Judgement Day. I don't see what part Kyle Reese play in the process

Skynet A launched judgement day in 1994. Skynet B launched judgement day in 2004, and Skynet C launched judgement day in 2017. While each of these appear to perceive itself as the same, they are clearly not. Each is more advanced than the last, with time loops fueling its progress. However if Skynet A were confronted with the option to die so that Skynet B could live, it clearly battles to live, sending time traveling assasins. Skynet sees itself as a singular entity but is not singular. The T-5000 cements this. This is likely just sequel fuel, but in each timeline there appears to be a highlander rule in effect where there can only be one Skynet and they are each competing to be the one that exists, though Skynet doesn't know it yet. [[/folder]]