The Top 5 Plot Holes in Terminator Genisys

by Richard L. Woodard

What was once great love I felt for the Terminator franchise has turned into hate, most especially after seeing Terminator Genisys. Prior to seeing the film, I wrote an article attempting to explain the increasingly convoluted chronology, as well as an article detailing the plot holes in the franchise thus far. Then after watching the film, which was horrible, I realize both that the chronology is completely destroyed and I have to write this article just to focus on the plot holes in this one film! Arnold Schwarzenegger, if you ever make another Terminator film, a pox on your house...

Time Travel HQ

The Terminator films always show us the "down side" of the action, back in time, the heroes and the Terminators battling it out. I've always wondered about what it was like in the time travel room back in the future. A single Terminator is sent back for the first film and then Kyle Reese is sent after him by the humans. Does this mean the humans seized the time machine from Skynet? But then in T2, a T-1000 is sent back. Did Skynet re-seize the time machine back from the humans, or did they send the T-1000 back at the same time as the T-800 as a backup? To which, did the humans then re-seize the re-seized time machine to send back a re-programmed T-800 for the second film? And on and on it goes, into the third film. And into the fifth film, where Terminators are being sent back left and right: There's a T-1000, an unspecified model that kills Sarah Connor's parents when she's a child, and John Connor, the new nano-technology Terminator.

Except the only Terminator we're shown going back in time is the T-800 of the first film, followed by Kyle Reese after the humans capture the time traveling facility. Remember, this is Skynet's Hail Mary pass, it's all but destroyed at this point.

So when did it manage to send back the T-1000 from the second film, the TX from the third film, and the three Terminators from the fifth film? (We can assume John Connor went back in time after he sent back Kyle Reese, but that still doesn't explain the other Terminators.) And arguments that the old film mythology no matter longer after the most recent film, nonetheless the argument still stands, at the point in time that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was part of Terminator lore, and a TX was sent into the past, how did the TX get sent into the past since the humans captured the time machine after the T-800 was sent back?

John Connor... What the Hell Just Happened?!

Okay, so as Kyle Reese is being sent back in time, he witnesses John Connor get attacked by a hidden Terminator unit. Fair enough, John Connor is transformed into a bad guy and is now a Terminator. Got it. But when John Connor goes back in time and tries to kill his own parents, they properly retort that if he kills them, he will no longer exist. To which John Connor basically shrugs and says it doesn't work like that anymore. WHAT?! That was the whole point of all the films, that time could be changed, that by going back in time and killing John's parents, or John as a child, they could prevent the future John from existing. This was the concept for four films. It was even the concept at the start of this film, as supported by the idea that a T-1000 has been sent back in time by Skynet to kill Sarah Connor. Then mid-way through the fifth film, this central conceit suddenly changes. No explanation. No logic. Just doesn't exist anymore. Now you can kill Sarah Connor and John Connor will still exist.

Why are They Still Trying to Kill Sarah Connor?

Given what we know about John Connor (see previous entry), it begs the question, why is Skynet of the future still trying to kill Sarah Connor? In the 1984 of the film, a T-1000 has been sent back to kill Sarah Connor. We also learn that a Terminator was sent back to her childhood when she was rescued by the old T-800. Where did these Terminators come from and who sent them? We have to assume Skynet sent them after the evil Terminator John Connor regained control of the time portal. But why would John send Terminators back to try and kill his own parents? Why would Skynet send Terminators back? It has John Connor, the Holy Grail. There's no effective purpose at that point for bothering with Terminators anymore. Why are they still being sent? And by who and from where? None of this is explained.

Terminator: Salvation No Longer Occurred

In Terminator Genisys, we're shown the first meeting between John Connor and Kyle Reese, and it's nothing like it was shown to have existed in Terminator Salvation. Apparently, Terminator Genisys is completely disavowing both the third and fourth films of the franchise, pretending that they never existed. Of course, we're never explicitly told this, it's left to be inferred through questions like how come their first meeting is shown to be different.

The Death of John Connor

At the end of the film, John Connor is killed in the energy field created by a time machine. Time machines can't send back metal you see, and the John Connor Terminator is metal. But how did John Connor arrive back in time if he can't enter a time machine's energy field without being torn apart?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard L. Woodard works as a writer for write my essay service. He is fond of taking photos. In this case, Richard dreams of visiting as many countries as possible in order to take a lot of photos and take part in the exhibition to present his works to others.