Let's talk about Terminator... For a second.

So I saw Terminator: Salvation a couple days ago, unfortunately I was really drunk and don't remember much of it, specifically the ending. I wish I hadn't been so drunk, but that's what Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale will do to you, it's 10% alcohol and chugging 3.5 of them in a half hour or so is a sure way to get you wasted.

But away from that.

Spoiler warning ahead.

Then I watched Terminator 1 on Netflix and realized something. There's a huge "chicken or egg" argument within the film. John Conner's dad is Kyle Reese, who is from the future, who is sent back to the 80's by John Conner to save Sarah Conner, his mother, from the Terminator. In doing so, they fall in love and Kyle impregnates Sarah, thus giving life to John Conner. But how could Kyle Reese ever have gone back in time without being sent by John Conner, and without Kyle Reese going back in time, John Conner would never have been concieved.

I came up with a solution, although Terminator: Salvation ruined the theory. But here it is:

Kyle Reese was always fighting for the resistance. Eventually Skynet would have sent a Terminator back to kill John Conner, right? At least we assume so. And maybe, fate brought Kyle Reese to be the one that goes back in time to stop the terminator, thus procreating and concieving John Conner the first time around, and this information would be told to John by his mother and so he would seek out Kyle Reese in the future to make sure that he goes back in time thus saving his own existence. Thus the time traveling cycle has been started. I know it's a mouthful, but bear with me.

Here's the problem:

Like I said, it's a classic chicken vs. egg argument. Which came first? Assuming my theory is correct, then Kyle Reese always came first. But the story goes that John Conner leads the resistance, and without him they would fall. After seeing Terminator: Salvation, James Cameron manages to fuck up the story even more. Kyle Reese is a resistance fighter like I said, but he is nowhere near John Conner, and it is only after hearing that Kyle Reese has become the primary target for termination by Skynet that he attempts to contact him through a seemingly worldwide message to all resistance members, with the specific intention of rallying Kyle Reese to San Francisco. Kyle hears the message and decides he has to go. Without hearing the message, it's arguable that he may never have wanted to go to San Francisco, and never would have met John Conner, who would never have existed if Kyle Reese had never had motive to go to San Francisco in the first place.

Was it an interesting twist for Kyle to be John's father? Sure. But it makes little sense when you think about. In fact, John's birth and very existence seems like much more of a confusing paradox than a simple plot element. And so I thought to myself, well, it's a paradox, but through last minute storytelling you could come up with some weird reason why it all makes sense.

And that's when I noticed something else. Towards the end of Salvation, John Conner leads the resistance to Skynet, where a huge battle ensues, and they destory a pretty good portion of it, without destroying all of it, obviously. Anyway it's ten years from then before Kyle Reese is sent back, before Skynet sends the Terminator back to kill Sarah Conner, and I assume that this specific attack on Skynet is what really prompted them to find the ability to send a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Conner, and to also have Kyle Reese on their list as the number one priority for termination, because he goes back in time as well to protect Sarah. But Skynet isn't omniscient, it may be able to see the past and some present, but it definitely can't see the future. So the whole point of Kyle Reese going back in time is because Skynet wants to destroy Kyle and Sarah, and Kyle only goes back because John Conner specifically asks him too, but without John, Kyle would never have been saved when he was a prisoner in Skynet in the first place and probably would have just been killed! SO HOW DOES THE CYCLE EVER EVEN START!?

The only clear explanation I can figure out is that at some point in time John Conner just popped into existence because that's the way fate needed it to be. And that would just be stupid.

Alright, I'm done. Oh, well, also to add to this, as my friend Iain pointed out, why didn't they just send the Terminator to kill Sarah when she was a baby? She would have been a lot more vulnerable.

Keep in mind, I've thought of all of this without even having seen Terminator 2, so I'm sure i'll have even more that doesn't make sense after I see that. But I love the movies anyway, and I know Terminator: Salvation has been getting bad reviews, but from what I remember, I really enjoyed it.

-Adam