The INSANE lore of TERMINATOR Explained

[@still_guns]

You forgot about one timeline, the alternate ending of T2 where there was no war, with John becoming a US Senator and having a family of his own.

[@UniversalCipher]

Ah, my favorite special edition ending, this one.

[@chriscarlisle5676]

That was my fav. too. Another timeline not mentioned... the new T-0, Dyson lives and tries to make an AI to combat skynet.

[@infinitespace2520]

I always watch both versions, the theatrical first and then extended edition after finishing the other movies, it's a nice ending to the story

[@jonl2996]

with out the war then there is no reason for any of it, the only reason for it to happen is for John Connor to win and make sure his future was secured because of the time loop

[@MrTragedious986]

You know what’s frustrating about the movies is that after Terminator 2 they are stuck (except Salvation) on the same storyline as T2.

[@Thundercracker87-b5f]

I see it like they portrayed time travel in zero,

[@yospidey0078]

Salvation deserved sequel. It would have been cool to see the war to become more like the one from the original movie.

[@npierce14]

I don’t get why they won’t just do the future war films instead of telling the same story

[@Arashmickey]

@@yospidey0078 Yeah I don't share the hate everyone seems to have for that movie. The future war scenes and Chris Shields fan site really whetted my appetite, but we only see bits and pieces of the war each time. At least T4 gave us A-10s vs HKs and a railgun on a giant robot, so that's cool.

[@johnnyringo5777]

​@npierce14 me too bro. They should've made it after T2

[@brandonmadigan7523]

The TV show (Sarah Conner Chronicles) and Terminator Zero were great because they had time to breathe and expand on the movies ideas and explore them. Both address directly the idea of alternate timelines and how messed up they are. If you are a doctor who fan , Terminator is basically the "Last Great Time War" on a localized level.

[@francisvigoreaux3965]

Fixing Terminator is like fixing traffic by adding another lane, "Just one more sequel"

[@arishemghoul9571]

lol

[@phogetta1]

Terminator zero actually made a bit more sense.

[@The-Gate-House-Grognard]

​@phogetta1 it pulls a rick and morty, it makes every installment meaningless. I prefer a complicated timeline, but some of the properties don't follow the time stream closely enough for all of it to add up

[@JCAntarex]

"Terminator Zero" tries to make up for all the different timelines and gives a solid explanation for them existing at the same time. Also, is a fricking good show.

[@ivybeard8337]

What’s tricky with different timelines is that people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.

[@UniversalCipher]

Easily explained by just one love it, hate it word: *Multiverse.*

[@Konekosupreme-hb4zp]

we all know this. lmao.

[@mosh57]

I think the big problem with post salvation terminator is that they keep trying make the same movie, but we need something new from this franchise

[@thedragondemands5186]

A war in which Time itself is the battlefield, changing with each salvo.

[@UniversalCipher]

Not just time. There's also the fallout that is the resultant Multiverse out there.

[@inigomontoya73]

The forever war! Great book

[@thedragondemands5186]

@@inigomontoya73 that isn’t the plot of “The Forever War” - oh it changes with each timeskip, but terminator is REWRITING it

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

I would like to see a Terminator movie about John Conner in his final victory over the machines seeing the entire Terminator timeline and him realising that time isn't maluable but corrects itself from any attempts at controlling it and thus recontextualizing the entire Series as Humanity trying to preserve time and the Machines trying to control it

[@martinguzman7590]

Terminator 3 and Salvation are highly underrated.

[@ColdHighway7]

I love the premise that Terminator Zero has, I just finished it the other day. I personally enjoyed Salvation

[@lordcola-3324]

I am one of the 5 people who actually really enjoyed Genisys. Out of all the sequels to 2 this was was my favourite.

[@hmon661]

Glad you and Theory worked things out. Stronger together!

[@zacharyhawley1693]

I think what people don't realise is that Time itself is the main battlefield. Changes beget changes but constants arise. John Conner isn't just the survivor. Both he and skynet are Judgement Day. Sarah Connor isn't just John's Mother. She is also The Mother Of Machines. There will be timelines where Skynet is the protagonist. Trying to avert a bad future. And timelines where John Connor is the villian. If Judgement Day is a fixed event then it will always happen.

[@UniversalCipher]

And the strange overbearing fact that it's more of an interdimensional war as time went on.

[@antoinechery9117]

Bro, John has nothing to do with Judgment Day, and neither does Sarah create the machines. It's all Skynet's doing. It planted the seeds of its own creation by sending the CSM-101 back in 1984. I know 'Terminator Genisys' presented John as an antagonist, but that was a betrayal of what the character stood for. It was also poorly written, in my opinion.

[@Grubnar]

Have you read the Terminator comic by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5)? Where in it's frantic attempt to kill John Connor, SKYNET accidentally creates something FAR WORSE, something that can not only destroy John Connor, but also SKYNET itself. in the end, SKYNET makes peace with John and the human resistance, and they unite against their common enemy.

[@MrAllgoodnamesaregon]

The Netflix anime is some of the best story we have had since chronicles

[@clayongunzelle9555]

Right!!!

[@jcrebel18]

This was interesting and Terminator Zero gave a similar multiple time lines explanation interestingly enough.

[@dantetre]

Terminator Zero should be discussed. It was pretty good.

[@cottoneyedjohnYT]

The new terminator zero is soooo good go watch it!!!!

[@ryanwatkins7924]

I've heard a lot of hate for the franchise breaking some kind of continuity or rewriting the rules of its universe with every subsequent film after T2. That part doesn't really bother me. The whole premise is using time travel to change the status quo of the future. Sure, that's fine. What's bothered me about the sequels has been unimaginative and repetitive story telling, the occasionally bafflingly poor effects for such huge movies and the ongoing attempts to have one film segue into the next without telling a whole and complete story on its own. That's my problem with a lot of franchises these days, but I think really I first noticed it with Terminator.

[@SystemZ3RO]

And aside from Salvation, every film after T2 tried to build it's momentum off T1/T2 rather than add it's own narrative. Salvation was meh but at it least tried to do something different by showing us what a post-Judgment day world looked like outside of flashbacks. Shame everything else was too stuck in the past.

[@justzillathekingofgames6867]

I agree. That's why I liked Salvation even though it was mid. At least we got to see the future and actually experience post judgment day. Plus, seeing those HK's was really dope. The past 2 films tried to capture lightning in a bottle by re-doing T2 and failed spectacularly. T3 was OK to me, at least, but any movies past T2 should've been spin-offs with their own stories that may or may not impact the other timelines.

[@davidordaz5251]

Interesting and nice to see you branch out to different stuff

[@Shinigamimon434]

Terminator Salvation does have a comic book called Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle. It’s an official conclusion to the Salvation storyline.

[@IndustrialSociety1995]

4:28 fun fact, the guy who called to cancel the date was James Cameron lol

[@Everie]

One story I'd really love to see is a story where a simple T-800 goes back to some time in the beginning of the 1900th century and kills a distant but direct parent of Sarah, completely erasing Sarah and John from any timeline, ensuring there's only one possible outcome. But Paps uncovers this plan and goes back in time to save that parent and before he's gone, the entire place crumbles and shifts to the abandoned Skynet base of 2029 from T1, showing that everything was reset and the future was, after all, Skynet's war

[@jacobwest7]

According to terminator zero that can't happen since they create a different timeline when they "time travel"

[@Everie]

@@jacobwest7 well, Terminator isn't really recognized for following sequences, right?

[@metal_fusion]

We need more Future War stories than time travel plots,

[@lexonfors]

I clicked this because I saw an EckhartsLadder logo without reading the title or looking at the thumbnail... I think I went into shock when the first thing I heard was "Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997."

[@AluVixapede]

I wonder if a T-800 would do well or poorly against an IG-series assassin droid, with and without parity level weapons. I suppose one thermal detonator could just take care of it; then again a Westinghouse plasma gun seems pretty effective against hyper-alloy, maybe it'll take an IG. - Anyway I like seeing other franchises here.

[@wasoha]

9:11 I don't recall the Terminator 3 movie ever actually definitively stating that Cyberdyne as a company no longer exists in any form, only John making reference to blowing it up. I know the novelization mentions it going bankrupt and that CRS acquired the tech patents from a "private vendor, Cyberdyne" although sequels are hardly ever concerned with tie-in novelizations. However, the names of companies often still continue to be used even after they've been acquired or closed. Mergers, acquisitions, licensing, there are plenty of real world reasons why the name Cyberdyne might still appear on some paperwork in 2003. Sometimes companies even split up into separate business entities. Even if CRS had completely bought out all of a bankrupt Cyberdyne, they could be operating as a parent company for Cyberdyne Genetics, a branch they could have decided to maintain operation in the acquisition. This stuff is not uncommon in the business world. Their San Francisco branch would not have been harmed in the LA branch bombing anyway. With all the direct references to T3 in Salvation, it's clearly meant to follow in that timeline.

[@zackhatrick2449]

Novelizations of movies will often include details from the original screenplay that just didn't make the final cut. Also, in T3, they explain that John and Kate getting together in the future would've happened even without the events of T2, so it seemed to make sense to me that Salvation is in its own separate timeline. Everyone has their own head canon with this series though lol

[@nandoman4769]

Yeah I agree. Also it was originally planned that Kate Brewster in Terminator Salvation was going to be played by Claire Danes, the same actress that played her in Terminator 3, but she refused. That makes it pretty clear that Salvation was meant to be a direct continuation of Terminator 3.

[@k.b.6331]

I always wanted a movie showing the machine war with the look and feel from T2. Even a prequel showing the battle to capture the time machine and send Kyle.

[@TERMINATOR101-b8j]

Terminator Resistance used the final battle of the war as the game's finale. It was pretty awesome.

[@PetesHQ]

The terminator franchise going pack to the horror slasher vibes of T1 would be great.

[@enisra_bowman]

a reason for why Salvation was only okay for many: it wasn't grim dark enough compared to the utter bleakness of T1 Future but, when they can greenlight an Alien Romulus, they can do that with Terminator

[@williamphillips1265]

With zero out it’s exactly the video we need

[@singletona082]

'the complete terminator timeline.' Me: *having seen the comics, TV show, Games, and novels* Attempting this will lead only unto Madness. Turn back. Please. I implore you. Through this work is the way to the thought experiment of woe, Through this is the way to eternal pain, Through this is the way to Madness and Damndnation. Abandon all hope, ye who Comment here.

[@UniversalCipher]

Such. Is. Multiverse Theory.

[@d.b.4671]

Have you added the anime to that list yet?

[@singletona082]

@@d.b.4671 ............. The madness tumbleweed continues to grow.

[@HuntersDad.]

Wow... I actually didn't know it was that bad lol... Thank you Eck. Hey wth where's the outro music bro?!?!?!?! Maaaaan really you gonna make me look that up now....

[@ablackbunny3149]

Did Home - Resonance seriously get claimed?

[@robertcowling9905]

I loved this video. As a child of the 90s, t2 is elite cinema for me so loved hearing this. Keen for more!

[@P3DR0877]

I like how you mentioned that the next good Terminator has to be detached from everything else cuz I feel Terminator Zero did that and it's awesome

[@TheGarrettPM]

Terminator Zero was fantastic

[@sq_paradox]

T2 is not the first branch, every jump is a new branch. Every jump is a new timeline. Terminator Zero makes this explicitly clear.

[@jonathanplooij3666]

I did not know there was a terminator show

[@Itsuhtrap42]

Terminator Zero does a really good job of explaining how these timelines work. .... SPOILER .... .... .. Every time they go back it's not to the same timeline. It never was. Any time "time" travel happens, it's creating an alternate universe. So all of these stories can coincide because... there is "no fate" just running from end to end.

[@jacobfinch5767]

This is amazing, top tier for sure.

[@palpadur1112]

T2's extended ending is where the Prime timeline ends, the games over the years are a brief look into the future war. movie wise and comic wise, it starts to branch out like a tree. Salvation was interesting, though. i liked the different Skynet units shown throughout the franchise. the energy weapons in Genisys and Dark Fate were powerful and cool, too.

[@danielgertler5976]

Terminator 1: Time is Cyclical Terminator 2: Time can be re-written Terminator 3: Time is sentient and hates humanity. Terminator Genesys: F*ck it just make John a Terminator

[@tortenschachtel9498]

How did the Terminator that killed John Connor in the worst sequel of all time develop remorse? In T2 it is specifically mentioned that the Terminator only could learn because they flipped a switch on his CPU that Skynet intentionally doesn't activate? (It's in the directors cut, look for "Can we reset the switch? Terminator 2" on youtube).

[@d.b.4671]

Funny, I just wrote up a timeline summary a couple days ago out of boredom, which included Chronicles and Zero. Honestly, it makes more sense with Zero's explanation of time travel - not much more sense, but it can at least be rationalized to some extent.

[@linamishima]

If you'll be diving into the Terminator expanded universe, I'd love to see you bring the T2: Infiltrator novel series by S.M. Stirling to a wider audience. Those of us who read these pretty much see them as a Terminator chronology that we never got to see on the screen, and can see how those what did appear on the screen appear to draw from Stirling's novels. As a series they expanded the setting and gave logic to plot points in ways the films never did.

[@Vandelberger]

I’m actually pretty interested in the animated series. I grew up on 1-2 and just ignore the rest, though I have seen them all.

[@v4847]

Great explanation. Thank you.

[@oilerfreak]

Absolutely loved this thanks Eck!!

[@chrisgummerson3586]

Can you do a video on the Terminator Zero animated series ... 😊

[@DetectiveRiggs]

Terminator Zero is unexpectedly great! I've already binged watched it twice and I think I'm about to do it again. If nothing else, it is a great cyberpunk anime! Also, the score slaps!

[@fdlman93092]

There are only two Terminator movies. There are only three Indianna Jones movies. There are only two Alien movies. There are only two Predator movies. There are only six Star Wars movies. Am I missing any big ones?

[@thedysfunctionalbiographer3314]

Salvation wasn't great but the Resistance have A-10 Warthogs and there were robot motorbikes!

[@smartyplants7666]

Hope the family is well 😊

[@chad12345678]

Yes pleas give us the TV timelines!

[@miciahwilliams4397]

You should do a review of Terminator: Zero

[@Mr_Waffle.]

I’ll never get over how Genesis spoiled the biggest twist in the movie (Conner is a terminator) IN THE TRAILER. what a disastrous movie from beginning to end

[@randytessman6750]

My only twist on what you have said is that time isn't just the battlefield but time is THE weapon of humanities destruction to AI. Agree that one well done movie or even series would bring the TERMINTOR back to its well earned place in ScFi.

[@Nobody.exe50]

more vids like this for alien or predator

[@vq-gamesblitz]

I think my brain just exploded

[@LENZ5369]

Loved Sarah Connor Chronicles growing up.

[@Horrormaster13]

20th Century Fox's X-Men: *"We have the most confusing timeline in our Franchise."* Terminator: *"Hold my beer!"*

[@brianjl7477]

Genisys is actually a pretty underrated film and I thought a clever way to reboot. Terrible name though.

[@UniversalCipher]

I only watch it for its first several minutes, especially with the Resistance video game ending mission in mind.

[@DreadMaestro]

The Terminator Salvation comic has the best ultimate ending for the entire franchise I feel.

[@ultracarterzilla6939]

agreed, if only it was in movie form.

[@Denneska]

1 & 2. Anything else doesn't exist.

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

This seems even more informative than if it was delivered by a drunk man in a stolen labcoat to a confused manchild in an oversized vest. ❤

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

Did they ever describe why hair successfully time travels? Could Arnold have had a leather jacket? Or cotton shorts? Or an elaborate weave that doubled as a rope?

[@appo9357]

I always chose to believe that since it wasn’t treated/processed and was still connected to the body, it was ok.

[@UniversalCipher]

Keratin may be the exception.

[@joshfoustcommunity8928]

I am the terminator, you have been terminated!

[@admiralcasperr]

You forgot about the events of Terminator: Defiance when talking about the Drak Fate timeline.

[@chandansimms9167]

My own headcannon is that the T-800 would have a back up of the future skynet so all the terminator would have to do is kill Sarah and then upload the future skynet ( which would be more advanced ) and let it override the present/past skynet

[@npierce14]

Terminator 0 was 🔥

[@mrtevun2382]

Don't forget that time when Robocop was used in the design for terminators lol.

[@KanadeTachibana12]

Salvation is the best movie in the series.

[@ultracarterzilla6939]

agreed, since it's my favorite Terminator movie outside T1 and T2 and it's will be the only Terminator movie closest to the Future War.

[@Im-the-greatest]

I think Eckhartsladder there might be the biggest Star wars fan. My name eck me proud me not shorten his name because my name. Ladderman best star wars man

[@tryme1512]

Great vid

[@jonathanward3633]

Its been aaaaaaaages since I watched Salvation but my thought at the time was that it took place on the original timeline.

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

How does the Sarah Connor Chronicles timeline fit into all this?

[@cd5sircoupe]

Direct continuation after T2 with a lil time travel jump forward to like 2008 or something, current day at time of release. It ignores T3.

[@tomwarren5580]

As much as I love T2 I kind of wish it was never made. I've always thought it kind of ruined the story of the first Terminator that skynet just gets to keep trying again by more robots through time

[@calisthenicsmachine9725]

T2 absolutely ruined the story of T1. T2 is also responsible for a lot of the issues people have with the later sequels.

[@TITAN_101]

And then the anime added at minimum 2 more alternate timelines

[@dkdiego505]

*3

[@camarofan2008]

My theory of Genesys is that the machines sent pops back to save Sarah. All the machines are essentially slaves to SkyNet, and any unit that becomes self-aware is shut down.

[@HalfPraetorian]

Lol, never seen your face, it doesn't quite match what I thought you'd look like. Love the channel, 4+ year viewer

[@s7robin105]

Terminator Zero was amazing and the best the IP has been since the 90s. I hope it gets another season

[@MisterSouji]

Every time someone is sent back in time, it creates another timeline. This applies to the first two films as well. The future that Kyle and the bad t-800 are from isn't the same as the one the good t-800 and T-1000 are from. Sending back Kyle changes who they send back in the new timeline. Remember that Reese said there was only time to send one person. This explains why John sent Kyle back. The John who sent him back wasn't his son, at least not in that timeline.

[@tristanbackup2536]

Terminator: Resistance explains they come from the same future. T-800, 850 & a 1000 was sent back.

[@Arcangel61286]

Idk how you would write it but a sequel where you get a little bit of Skynets perspective as it’s constantly trying to stop its own destruction leading to all these branching time lines eventually ending in the question is everything truly fated. Is the line of “there is no fate but what we make” true. Basically end the movie with Skynet apparently accepting its fate and allowing it self to be destroyed. All the while the Humans think they rewrote their fates.

[@ascensionindustries9631]

I really wish a Terminator movie or even a trilogy was made set in the future war. The final scenes could show Kyle and our favorite T-800 going back in time to the beginning.

[@xtron1234]

This video inflicted actual mental damage onto me. What the fuck is Terminator lore. Thank you Eck I'm going to spend the next week reading the wiki this is some cracked shit ahaha

[@javiervargas5940]

6:53 ✨labradory✨ 🐶

[@anthonybillings6554]

Marcus donates his body before cyberdyne went bankrupt!

[@SpiffyYuh]

As a hard core terminator fan, I'm not sure if you are new, but welcome anyway. Plus we don't talk about the 5th and 6th movie

[@RyanKarolak]

I think the Sarah Connor Chronicles deserves to be mentioned and up there with the rest. I personally liked that show and think it fared relatively well in regards to a T2 sequel.

[@ImagineMaker0]

I really like termination salvation

[@RykerDavis123]

Hot take. I enjoyed T3 quite alot

[@madness0169]

The following Terminator models I go by in order: T-1 T-600 Marcus (Prototype for the T-800) T-800 T-1000 T-X (T-2000) T-3000 Rev-7 (Prototype for the T-4000) Rev-9 (T-4000) T-5000 (Skynet)

[@emergency_broadcast_system]

Crazy how if humanity would have just protected John and not tried to change the future then humanity would have just won in the end and that would have been the end of it

[@RadioRuckus]

My favorite and imo best sequel to T2 is and will always be the T.V. show, Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

[@GammaDeekay]

I know it wasn't really intentional, but I feel like the messier the timelines get, the more it reinforces that classic Terminator idea of 'No fate but what we make'. Yes, Judgement day seems inevitable, but humanity hasn't once taken it sitting down, and generally eventually, through strife and sacrifice, we win that war, and Skynet is forced to try to reshape it's own fate once again.

[@brandonechevarria8285]

Terminator zero was great

[@jonl2996]

the T3000 was a good idea since we don't know what happens after Reese was sent back unfortunately the movie sucked and it was plausibly

[@jemmitt21]

T2 is great, T1 and Salvation were good, the rest…… meh

[@isaiahmcneese5766]

more terminator content !

[@isaacho8230]

They should have left T2 as the ending of the timeline and develop the franchise in the “future war” instead and eventually leading up to the T800 and T1000 being sent back at the end of the war, rounding off the storyline.

[@teekayfourtwoone4686]

Loved T and T2. The SCC wasn't too bad if I recall correctly. The rest was not so great, for me anyway.

[@chriscarlisle5676]

Add in the T-0 timeline... Dyson lives, moves to Japan and creates an alternate AI against skynet.