It’s a big week for time travel; July 3 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Back To The Future and tomorrow, July 1, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back on the big screen in Terminator: Genisys.
When dealing with time travel in film, things can get a little wonky. Everyone has their own theories on how traveling to the future or the past should work and usually if you think about it too much, you come to the conclusion that time travel just can’t happen. Luckily, DirectTV has put together an interactive timeline of events that encompasses the events of The Terminator, T2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, and Terminator: Salvation. Users are able to view the whole history in one timeline or can jump from film to film. The latest film is not included on the timeline (nor is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as the new film apparently retcons the entire Terminator saga as we know it.
The site also addresses the alternate timelines that exist due to tampering with the past to save the future. In the original, unaltered timeline, Cyberdyne develops Skynet through research and development while in “Altered Timeline 1,” the big, bad, super-computer is created utilizing the remains of the T-800 featured in the original 1984 film. (The factory where Sarah Connor crushed the killer robot? Cyberdyne Systems.) There are also helpful graphs used to display both Skynet and Resistance time travel.)
Time travel can be confusing, but remember, “The future has not been written. There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.” (Which pretty much means it’s impossible to travel to the future.)