Terminator Space/Time question... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

bparker805 · 07-17-2005, 06:32 PM

Milkdudz and I were talking about Terminator and couldn't figure out the space time continuim thing....

Kyle is the sperm donor for John Conner.
John Conner sends Kyle back in time to save Sarah Conner before John is conceived.
How can Kyle have met John (in the future) if Kyle hasn't gone back in time to donate his DNA?
How can John exist in the future if he must send his own father back in time to save Sarah?
How can the Terminator 101's exist unless one was sent back? If one wasn't sent back in time originally, how did the machines take over. The scientific knowledge was built on the processor that was left behind by the OG Terminator...
Somebody help before my brain explodes!

GreenHell · 07-17-2005, 06:33 PM

alright ill explain everything right now

its a fictional movie

bparker805 · 07-17-2005, 06:37 PM

Thanks...I think I figured that one out

GreenHell · 07-17-2005, 07:00 PM

Sorry, I know it was rude, but Im just trying to get the point across that in movies that carry a story over to sequals some little things just wont make sense, unless the movies are intended to be a trilogy or have a sequal. You just cant sweat the small things that dont fit, because the writors came up with a good idea for a second, or third movie, but couldnt go back and remake the last one because something didnt make a lot of sense.

Hardknock · 07-17-2005, 07:30 PM

Cut the guy a break. The forum is called "entertainment."

djflish · 07-18-2005, 04:47 AM

I've had the same sort of discussion about Terminator 2.
When they blow up Cyberdyne Systems, everything should change instantly. Arnie wouldn't have been built, so they wouldn't have gone there to blow it up. But then, with no one to stop Cyberdyne Arnie would get built, then he'd get sent back in time...

It's a paradox, a loop in time, they can only exist together, you can't have one without the other, you cannot change the future.

For example,
I go back in time
I kill my Grandad when he's young
I'm never born and don't exist in the future
So I can't go back in time to kill my Grandad
He isn't killed, so I am born...

ratbastid · 07-18-2005, 05:02 AM

Not if you subscribe to the parallel-universe theory of time. Arnie 2 comes from a future in which Cyberdyne survives un-blown-up and SkyNet takes over. He comes back to the past and alters something pretty major, which immediately creates a branch in the timeline. Different circumstances cause different results, but it doesn't alter the reality from which the time traveller draws his existence.

Johnny Pyro · 07-18-2005, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenHell

alright ill explain everything right now

its a fictional movie

Ya, that sums it up for me too.

feelgood · 07-18-2005, 11:42 AM

Like every single charactors on TV shows or Movies said about trying to figure out space time thingy...

Don't try. Movie makers, theories, etc have never been able to figure out how the whole shit works out and often tried to come up with their own version of how the whole time travel works.

Like I said, don't try figuring it out, you're just gonna hurt yourself thinking about it

Mondak · 07-18-2005, 11:49 AM

Well building on the time branch thing, I believe that movies, books, TV or "Actual" Time travel has to subscribe to one of two theories, but you can't have elements of both - they are contradictory.

Lets say that you just invested a time machine 5 minutes ago and you go on your first trip. You go to visit yourself when you were 2 years old and kill your 2 year old self. One of two things happen:

You immediatly die (making a pretty tough to explain loop)

or

You return to your original time and no one knows who you are.

The second one seems to be the thing that happens in Terminator the most, but like most time travel things, they tend to cheat. Like when Marty had the picture of his family in his pocket and it would change. If the picture that he had with him in the past would be capable of changing, then so would his very memories.

Always interesting to talk about, but unfortunitly the movies think they are more interesting if they cheat on their own premises.

07-17-2005, 06:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
bparker805 is KING! Location: On the path to Valhalla.	Terminator Space/Time question... Milkdudz and I were talking about Terminator and couldn't figure out the space time continuim thing.... Kyle is the sperm donor for John Conner. John Conner sends Kyle back in time to save Sarah Conner before John is conceived. How can Kyle have met John (in the future) if Kyle hasn't gone back in time to donate his DNA? How can John exist in the future if he must send his own father back in time to save Sarah? How can the Terminator 101's exist unless one was sent back? If one wasn't sent back in time originally, how did the machines take over. The scientific knowledge was built on the processor that was left behind by the OG Terminator... Somebody help before my brain explodes!

07-18-2005, 04:47 AM	#6 (permalink)
djflish The Mighty Boosh Location: I mostly come out at night, mostly...	I've had the same sort of discussion about Terminator 2. When they blow up Cyberdyne Systems, everything should change instantly. Arnie wouldn't have been built, so they wouldn't have gone there to blow it up. But then, with no one to stop Cyberdyne Arnie would get built, then he'd get sent back in time... It's a paradox, a loop in time, they can only exist together, you can't have one without the other, you cannot change the future. For example, I go back in time I kill my Grandad when he's young I'm never born and don't exist in the future So I can't go back in time to kill my Grandad He isn't killed, so I am born... __________________ Europes two great narcotics, Alcohol and Christianity. I know which one I prefer.

07-18-2005, 11:42 AM	#9 (permalink)
feelgood Free Mars! Location: I dunno, there's white people around me saying "eh" all the time	Like every single charactors on TV shows or Movies said about trying to figure out space time thingy... Don't try. Movie makers, theories, etc have never been able to figure out how the whole shit works out and often tried to come up with their own version of how the whole time travel works. Like I said, don't try figuring it out, you're just gonna hurt yourself thinking about it __________________ Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

07-18-2005, 11:49 AM	#10 (permalink)
Mondak Industrialist Location: Southern California	Well building on the time branch thing, I believe that movies, books, TV or "Actual" Time travel has to subscribe to one of two theories, but you can't have elements of both - they are contradictory. Lets say that you just invested a time machine 5 minutes ago and you go on your first trip. You go to visit yourself when you were 2 years old and kill your 2 year old self. One of two things happen: You immediatly die (making a pretty tough to explain loop) or You return to your original time and no one knows who you are. The second one seems to be the thing that happens in Terminator the most, but like most time travel things, they tend to cheat. Like when Marty had the picture of his family in his pocket and it would change. If the picture that he had with him in the past would be capable of changing, then so would his very memories. Always interesting to talk about, but unfortunitly the movies think they are more interesting if they cheat on their own premises. __________________ All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed Second, it is violently opposed and Third, it is accepted as self-evident. ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860)

07-17-2005, 06:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
GreenHell Banned	alright ill explain everything right now its a fictional movie

07-17-2005, 06:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
bparker805 is KING! Location: On the path to Valhalla.	Thanks...I think I figured that one out

07-17-2005, 07:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
GreenHell Banned	Sorry, I know it was rude, but Im just trying to get the point across that in movies that carry a story over to sequals some little things just wont make sense, unless the movies are intended to be a trilogy or have a sequal. You just cant sweat the small things that dont fit, because the writors came up with a good idea for a second, or third movie, but couldnt go back and remake the last one because something didnt make a lot of sense.

07-17-2005, 07:30 PM	#5 (permalink)
Hardknock Republican slayer Location: WA	Cut the guy a break. The forum is called "entertainment."

07-18-2005, 05:02 AM	#7 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	Not if you subscribe to the parallel-universe theory of time. Arnie 2 comes from a future in which Cyberdyne survives un-blown-up and SkyNet takes over. He comes back to the past and alters something pretty major, which immediately creates a branch in the timeline. Different circumstances cause different results, but it doesn't alter the reality from which the time traveller draws his existence.