Terminator timeline?

Just got done seeing T3 after watching the "Terminator" last night and Terminator 2 earlier today just to refresh my memory. I like the fact that T3 was a tighter film that didn't take seemingly forever like T2 did, but all that aside, I am going bonkers because....

I AM TOO STUPID TO FIGURE OUT THE TIMELINE! T2 was made in 1991, but in the opening of T2, they don't list a specific date in L.A. like they did in the original "Terminator." Here are the problems with each of the three years I thought of.

a) 1991. If that was true, John would be only 7, and he clearly was older than that in the film.

b) 1994. This one seems to make the most sense. But John would still be only 10, and he seems about 13 in the film.

c) 1997. John's age and other factors seem to point to the film being set in 1997. In fact, the protective Terminator tells John Connor that John sent him back in time to protect him 35 years from now. 1997 + 35 years = that infamous 2029, but the 2029 date is only a presumption...

Problem is, if the movie was set in 1997 and the Judgment Day was supposed to be in 1997, then things weren't set yet. While the protective Terminator drives south in the desert, he tells Sarah Connor that it takes Skynet three years to perfect the defense system. And Sarah tells the psychiatrist the date of Judgment Day is August 29, 1997, not August 29 of this year.

Now T3 has me baffled even more. Sarah Connor dies in 1997, the same year as Judgment Day? How is that possible? And the whole time in T2, she had leukemia?

So what year was T2 set? 1991? 1994? 1997? I am confused.

I think it depends more on the time of T1. It was released in 1984 the second one was 1991 so if the first one was set in 1984(Jon was born then) which would make him 6 in T2. This cant be.

In T2 the terminator does say it takes 3 years for skynet to become self aware (on August 29 1997.) This means the first one must have taken place in 1981, which would make Jon 13 by 1994 that gives skynet 3 years to take control and nuke the world.

I THINK THIS IS RIGHT BUT I COULD BE WRONG

OK if this it true then Sarah Connor dies shortly after August 29 1997 (they tell us she lived just after Judgment day in T3) but when she was diagnosed they said she had 6 months to live. So if she was diagnosed shortly after T2 this gives her 3 years to live until her death after Judgment day.

I think I am right about this but I have a hard time explaining things throw typing hop it helped

Good question. As far as we could tell, T3 takes place now. Remember, judgement day was postponed. The Skynet research was only pushed back because of their raid on Cyberdine in T2.

That's all poetic license so to speak. The only thing I didn't like was the obvious setup for a sequel. I mean, we still have to see Humans win the final war don't we? I just hope if they are planning on one last movie, it takes place in the future after the war.

No, the original Terminator movie was set in 1984 -- that's when it was made and that was the specific date listed very early on in the original Terminator. Frankly, I think all three Terminator movies were set in the year they were made, but that Cameron significantly screwed up with T2 by making John as old as he was.

John in T2 was an annoying, whiny adolescent anyway -- Cameron should've stuck with portraying John as a child to keep the timeline correct and to trim the long movie by keeping the 13-year-old off the screen. Of course, John does provide the valuable part of giving one-lines to the protective Terminator and of enlightening the Terminator by making him maim instead of kill. But I don't think that's enough to offset the timeline screwup, the interminable length of the film and John's obvious shortcomings.

They did indeed diagnose Sarah shortly after T2 and said she had 6 months to live. John Connor states that she dragged it out the three years it took to get over the hump of JD.

To me that suggests JD was 2000/2001 which is inline with traditional assumptions of Armageddon/Apocalypse 'visionaries' et al. Given you ARE working with a human factored element here and that research could surge and lag on the chief programmer's (sorry, I don't remember his name only his "I'm not pant, sure, pant, how much longer, pant-pant I can hold this..." line) ability to recover and reverse engineer bits of the broken chip.

It also makes sense given that John Connor doesn't really look like a teenager but nor is he really over the hump into young adulthood which would make the 1997-2003 stretch somewhat more believeable (19-20 years old).

AIM-120 AMRAAM was promised in 1984, pushed back to 1986 and didn't arrive, in a faulted form, until 1991. Basic engineering 'shove right, promise left' logic.

On a side note, I found the notion of nannites (sp.) controlling civillian automobiles (gear shifter/stick, wheel and pedals) to be non sensical, even assuming that they are a 'part' of the intelligent mimetic derivative T-1000 alloy that T-X uses for primary replicant sheathing. How do they see? How do they transmit back to the T-X? How do they integrate what must be continually varying quantities of foot-pound level pressures upon such spatially separated controls?

From that early in the film it was a long struggle to stay the course as much was downhill.

The T-X simply doesn't cut it using Arnolds mini-mountain-moves slowmo dynamic and thus her 'fixated stalk' seems lacking in the dynamic energy one would expect from a smaller, more advanced, Terminator.

Too many times victims got away, too many times, when she didn't burst-transfer that focus to _cross the gap_ of engagement battlespace. And even when she did run, she lacked the bounding-lope of ungulancy (sp.) that I would expect of a large hunting cat. Instead, they simply closed in on her running frame in normal camera view which of course made the background blur.

While some may argue that this is all relative to '1-2 tonne fighting machines' weight categories, I myself have large problems with that statement as well.

IIRR most online references put Arnie around 400 kilos or approximately 830lbs and even this would _severely_ strain both locomotor servos and suspension (knees etc.) units while flat of crippling the types movement rates and safe navigation in many terrain types (footprint weights and why trucks can't drive on deep sand but tanks can etc.).

Last but not least, both dramatically and for-rating, when T-X blew away that kid in his own foyeur after having shoved him helpless down on the ground, T3 lost a bunch of points and indeed three people (with an youngish adolescent in tow) left from the theater. Comparitively, T-800 was so lacking in lethality that he not only seemed pansy-PC, but outright tactically _stupid_ (the scene at the filling station and the cops outside the mausoleum etc. both were highrisk threat zones that should have been _dealt with_, preemptively).

Other problems abounded (the FX frankly sucked and the absent Termi music leadin was also sorely missed) but in general I had low expectations and so wasn't altogether disappointed. Here's hoping that T4 either won't come or WILL be about a Death Match styled confrontatio between machines and men, to the end.

Saberist.

Terminator 2 takes place in 1994. Arnie was sent back 35 years in time from 2029 which means that it is 1994.

And to think I used to be good at math! Yes, the movie has to be set in 1994. 1994 + 35 years from now = 2029. Also, 1994 + the three years Skynet takes to develop the killer technology = the 1997 Judgment Day. I just got distracted by the fact that he seems older than 10 in the film.

T2 was 1994. Because (along with other good points) when the T1000 first arrives, he looks up John's name in the computer in that cop car. It says Conner was born in 84, and he was ten years old.

Lets go from the start:

The Terminator: all start in 1984 when first terminator arrived to kill Sarah (T-101). She slept with some guy....and then one year later she had a son - John. That year was 1985.

Terminator 2: was in cinemas 1991, but as TOMACCO said was real date 1994 and John was 10 years old. That all make sense. There was another terminator send back T-1000. T-101 was send back to protect John because he (John) send it. That is quite strange....if T-1000 kill John Jugment day will come in 1997, but he failed. T-101 destroyed Cyberdyne and that mean all that (jugment day) is appear to be few years later. Than Sarah died in 1997.

Terminator 3: in cinemas 2003...How old is now John? Which date is?

I think the setting for t3 was 2003, but i could be wrong

Ok I just thought of something, during the movie T3, they were at the animal hosptial. OK the chick (i cant remember her name i know its johns future's wife) goes your john conner, you were at that one dudes (again i cant remember the name) basement. Anyway she goes one day in middle school you just disappeared, and I think she said when they were in 8th grade, if thats true there is no way john can be 10 in t2. Did anyone catch that too? Or did she say 6th grade?

thats a good point if she did say 8th grade then somthing is deffinalty wrong. Agggg i cant remeber i need to go see the the movie for a furth time i guess

Is there again problem with TIMELINE?...god damned...if he is in 8th grade, he is hm...how old he must be in 8th grade? If he was 10yo in 1994 he must be in 2003...19years old.

But if he wish to be a leader of human resistance, he must be NOW IN ARMY!

T1 was stated in the film as taking place in may 1984, nine months later, but perhaps still in 1984 after 7 months.. a premature birth of john, but more likely, john was born january 1985 and should be 10 years old in t2 so t2 should be in 1995. Maybe 3 years before judgement day in 1997 skynet was first developed. It is likely that skynet became aware later in the day that it was activeed. It was activated when it was perfected and maybe since initial research (dyson) it took 3 years until activation (due to virus).So i'm sure camerson left out the date in t2 deliberately, knowing there could be timeline problems.. i mean lets be fair.. in the first film they stated the final battle would be fought in our present..tonight.. well, that didn't happen either. We have to assume that skynet didn't know that the t-101 would not fail and that that the humans would send someone later and they didn't know thwy would be developing a new t-1000 either, so we may have to to some assumptions that this timeline didn't exist until now. It's deep, but whwn i have time i'lll tell why. So i'd say john is 10 but let's face it, being confronted by knwoing he is the future of human kind, it is likely that being but into foster homes after learning survival skillas and weapons use that john had to mature and grow up quickly.....hence more mature(in certain ways) than he should be. Also, look @ the making of t12, you see edward furlong asks like a 10 yaer old in ral life,l but a little more duty driven in the film. also, a chip from the old block, sara, who is destined to be spunky. So in t3 john is 19-22.

Lets start with little school...T2 was in 1994 and John Connor was 10 yo.OK T-101 said in 1997 mascines will become self-aware.OK. But maschine will become self-aware after 3 years of first terminator will be created by Cyberdyne. That mean in 1994 in T2 they must have first terminator or T-101 complete.OK.

But do you know what confused me?

In T2 happening in 1994 when Dyson and John arrived in vault in Cyberdyne where they developed T-101 they had just a chip and arm of first terminator. They should have the whole terminator whaiting for mass production.

Isn't that strange?

OK I JUST READ THAT JOHN CONNOR IS IN MOVIE 22 YEARS OLD!!!...that mean movie is happening in year 2007...

THE SIMPLE WAY 2 PUT IT IS THAT THEY MADE A MISTAKE. that's all there is 2 it. just forget about JOHN CONNER'S age, they screwed it up

OK...no problem...but the terminator is all about him, about his protection...about leader of human resistance.

P.S.: How can I just forget about him?

Hit yourself on the head with something big and heavy.

Like the new harry potter book.