The future is uncertain... or is it? What if we could know what the future holds?
The trope of time travel in science fiction has at least two well-known themes. One is that of the narrator who actually does the time traveling himself and relates his or her experiences for the audience. Think The Time Machine in which the protagonist has journeyed (in this case the future) and returned to let his friends (and us) know what the future holds.
Another is that in which a mysterious stranger appears on the scene and claims to be from some distant future. In this case, most often anyway, this stranger is considered to be crazy, because, after all, time travel is not really possible, therefore the stranger must be delusional. Think 12 Monkeys as a good example of this theme.
Of course, as we know it now, time travel, at least in terms of the way it is accomplished in the science fiction trope, is impossible. We have the story of John Titor, a man who appeared on the scene in the late 90's, who claimed to be from the future, but whether or not he really was is debatable. Reading the link above will be more instructive, but in essence, his pronunciations of future events were not entirely accurate. He claimed that there would be a civil war in the U.S. in 2015, for example.
Of course, even he himself gave himself an out in case his predictions were proved untrue. He said that we could change the future by changing whatever actions we took to another track. But did he really come from the future and we created an alternate timeline by our actions or was he just full of so much malarkey?
Time travel theory has so many rabbit holes one could go down. The classic grandfather paradox, for example. If you could go back in time and somehow accidentally kill your own grandfather before he ever met your grandmother, you obviously would not have been born. Therefore how could you have gone back in time to commit the act? Theoretically any action you took on your travel back in time could seriously affect your present.
But time travel theorists get around that by claiming your actions created an alternate timeline. One in which you actually did commit the act. But the world you came back to would be altered, maybe for the better, but also maybe for he worst. Ray Bradbury once wrote an excellent short story in which a character went back to the prehistoric era and accidentally killed a butterfly. The world he came back to in the present was so seriously altered that it was unrecognizable.
I don't really want to get in to the possibilities of time travel here. I just wanted to prepare you for some musings that will happen in this blog entry as I discuss the story lines of the entries.
To get down to the meat of this entry, in 1984 we were treated to one of the best time travel movies ever made, The Terminator.. The story arc involves more than just the first movie (there have been as of this date 5 movies involving the story arc, of varying degrees of quality). But the first one, which I saw in the theater, was my favorite. Note: Many lists say Terminator 2 is a better movie. But this is my blog, and therefore my opinion...
After it came out, an author named Harlan Ellison claimed that the movie was WAY similar to two stories he had written, both of which became episodes of the classic TV series from the 60's, The Outer Limits. He sued. (He was a very litigious man., by all accounts. He would apparently sue people at the drop of a hat).
The ultimate outcome was that James Cameron had to add a reference to Ellison in the credits when it was released on video. But was his claim valid? I wondered. So I found both episodes and watched them to see how much similarity there was in the movie to his original stories. Below are the two episodes, followed by a detailed review of the movie. You can decide for yourself.
The Outer Limits "Soldier" (Broadcast date: Sept. 19, 1964):
In the far distant future two soldiers battle. They are given instructions through their headsets to kill "The Enemy". They come to a final clash on a barren landscape.
During the battle they are hit with what appears to be bolts of lightning and sent into a vortex. One of the soldiers, Qarlo (Michael Ansara) ends up in modern day (1964) United States.
Because he is dressed oddly and because he seems to have a violent demeanor, he is immediately captured and confined to a prison / mental institution. Since his language is unfamiliar, an expert in languages is brought in to try to figure out who he is and what he is saying. Eventually the expert (Lloyd Nolan) figures out that what he is speaking is a form of English, and that he is from the future. He tries his best to "civilize" the man, since basically all he knows is his mission: to kill the Enemy.
In the end the expert removes Qarlo from his captivity and brings him into the normal world.
Meanwhile, Qarlo's "Enemy" finally escapes the vortex and finds his own way into the present, and he, too, is programmed to kill the Enemy, in this case Qarlo. The ultimate end is the two battle. And destroy each other.
The only real connection between this episode and The Terminator, as far as I can tell, is that the soldiers are from the future. If that is the only connection, Ellison was full of shit. I mean there must be dozens of stories about soldiers from the future traveling back in time, some that even predate his story.
The Outer Limits "Demon with a Glass Hand" (Broadcast date: Oct. 17, 1964):
In this episode we have yet another soldier. This one, Tent (played by Robert Culp), is one who awakes with no memory of who he was past "10 days ago". He only knows that someone (or some people are trying to kill him, and his only "friend" is a glass hand. His hand, which has apparently replaced his real hand is only a partial one. It is missing fingers. He can communicate with the hand and asks it questions constantly.
When he asks it, at the beginning, who these people are and what to do, the hand tells him that the only way to defeat his pursuers is to remove a gold medallion that each carries. And that, to stay alive, his destiny is in his "whole hand". Cryptic to say the least at this point. And staying alive is :easier said than done."
Immediately Trent captures one of the people and interrogates him. Thus he discovers that his potential assassins are the Kyba and they come from the future. They are after him to get his hand, which supposedly holds all knowledge. And that he, Trent, is the last man on Earth. Well, obviously he is not the "last man" since this is taking place in the present. So maybe Trent isn't actually from the present time.
The captive reveals that the gold medallion is a device that keeps each assassin in the present, and when it is removed, that person actually doesn't die; he just returns to the future. And Trent also wears a medallion, so Trent also comes from the future. As the hand explains this to him, it reveals that the Kyba invaded Earth and had plans to annihilate the human race, but inexplicably, the entire human race vanished.
The secret is that the hand does have all the answers, but it can only function when it is entirely complete. And the Kyben have the three missing appendages. They in turn want the rest of his hand because, after all, it holds the key to finding those millions of future humans that disappeared. And to help them get to Trent they have put up a force field around the building from which there is no escape. So he is all alone.
Well, not quite. He finds a woman, Consuelo (Arlene Martel), a human from the present in one of the offices. So now he has an ally (or at the very least a hostage) to help him defeat the Kyba in the building.
But he has to find and destroy the machine, called a "time mirror" that is a gateway for the Kyba to send back more assassins from the future. (Just a thought, though. If these Kyba can send back soldiers to hunt Trent, and they have sealed off that one building so there is no escape, why couldn't they just send back 100, or even 1000 soldiers and just have done with it?)
The aliens kill Trent and capture him and Consuelo, and attach one of the fingers. Thinking there is no threat they leave him and Consuelo alone, and go to await aliens who are coming through the time machine with the other two fingers. Meanwhile the computer in Trent's hand tells Consuelo how to revive him. You just THOUGHT he was dead. As he gradually gets more of the missing appendages the computer in his hand becomes more able to help him find out exactly what he is doing here. Which turns out to be finding a cure for a plague, one of the reasons the aliens need his hand.
You see, the humans had created a plague that would destroy all life. Then they transcribed the human race into electronic circuits and put themselves on a thin wire. Which is how they escaped the plague that is killing off the Kyba in the future. And ultimately, Trent finds out that he is not a man, but a robot, with that wire imbedded in his body.
OK, at least this episode has some elements that are somewhat similar to the film. But instead of a robot sent back to eliminate the leader of the rebellion, this robot was sent back to keep the strand of human life alive until that future date when the plague will have dissipated. The only question not really answered is why 1000 years in the past. Why not just a 100 or so. Trent will have to live through not only the 1000 years, but another 200 beyond that before the Earth will be safe for the return of the humans.
And now we have the plagiarizing culprit...
The Terminator (1984):
The story begins in the future. A vast landscape in the middle of an ongoing battle. In a brief prologue, before the title and credits run, we find out that, circa 2029 (that's only 4 years from this writing...), "the machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind has raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight..." With just that brief synopsis to introduce to the concept, and the credits and title we segue to present day.
You probably know the drill already. A terminator, an indestructible android (played by the indestructible Arnold Schwarzenegger), appears in a flash of lightning. Nude.
| If you thought I was going to post the nude Arnie, sorry... |
Apparently even androids can't use the time machine with clothes, since a little later a human comes through the same type of time transport and he too is nude.
The human is on the run from the cops from the get go. He and the terminator are both seeking one Sarah Connor. The terminator is systematically looking for Sarah, but apparently does not know the exact Sarah it is seeking, since it dispatches two of the three listed in the phone book. Luckily for her, (and us as the viewers of the film), the Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) whom it is seeking are listed third of the three people named "Sarah Connor" in the phone book.
Apparently the human, whose name is Reese (Michael Biehn), knows which one is the real target since he tracks her down without bothering to look for the other two. Meanwhile, back at Sarah's apartment, the terminator busts in and wastes Sarah's roommate and her boyfriend. Mission accomplished as far as the terminator is concerned... right?
Wrong. At that moment Sarah, panicked because of the two dead Sarah Connors and believing some nutcase is whacking off anyone named Sarah Connor, calls her roommate and leaves a message on the answering machine. Now the terminator is not only aware that there is still one Sarah to deal with, and by virtue of Sarah telling the roommate where she is, it has it's next destination. Meanwhile, at the club where Sarah is hiding, she is staying because a Lt. Traxler (Paul Winfield) has told her to stay put, because after all, she is in a public place and no one is going to try anything in a public place. (Yeah, right.)
Both of the future boys end up at the club where Sarah Connor is and Reese blows away the terminator and tells her "come with me if you want to live".
While on the run Reese tells Sarah what the situation is. Both he and the terminator are from the future. He was sent back to protect her from the terminator, which is a cybernetic organism (cyborg) which had been sent back to kill her. Eventually Reese will tell her why. Her unborn son, John Connor, is the leader of the resistance movement against the machines that are trying to take over in the future. The machines figure if they can eliminate her before she has the son the resistance will be eliminated.
But not only does Reese have to deal with the terminator, he also has to deal with the present day cops, who eventually capture him and Sarah. Of course, no one ca really be from the future so Kyle must be mentally deranged. But the terminator (who probably would be also considered mentally deranged, if they could talk to him) stages a raid on the police headquarters, still trying to complete his mission. Reese manages to use the chaotic distraction to free himself from his handcuffs and escape with Sarah.
While in hiding Reese tells Sarah a little about the future. Although it is pretty bleak, there is still some hope, and most of it relies on the tenacity of their leader, her as yet unborn son. (I should point out that at this point she isn't even pregnant. Remember that...) The two hide out a a motel, and Reese leaves, instructing Sarah to let "no one know" where she is. But she calls her mom and tells her. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, her mom is no longer in the picture. She just told the terminator who, since he is all machine, has the ability to mimic her voice.
Meanwhile things develop back at the motel and Sarah and Reese develop a relationship that gets a bit intimate. And thus, guess who the father of John is. You get three guesses, but the first two don't count... So, ultimately we find out why John picked Reese as the man to go back in time to protect her. (Ignore that time paradox that just came in to your head or the rest of the movie and the rest of the franchise will have no point.
| No nude pictures here, either... |
The terminator shows up at the motel and. of course, there is an obligatory car chase. The explosives that Reese rigged up have no affect on the pursuing terminator. But just when things start to look bleak, Reese sets off a bomb that explodes the gas truck that the terminator was using to chase them and he and it go up in flames.
Movie over? Yeah, right. Keep thinking optimistically...
The terminator rises from the ashes. (And this being before CGI, that skeleton of it's makeup is pretty impressive...)
The terminator follows Reese and Sarah into an automated factory where all that machinery is somewhat distracting to the terminator, but it is relentless. And once again Reese is able to seemingly defeat it. But that's just an illusion... Reese unfortunately dies, but not that relentless S.O.B.
Of course, Sarah finally finds that drive she needs and lures the terminator into a hydraulic press. And finally! Success!
OK, so the verdict is... The Terminator does have some parts of it that could be construed as somewhat inspiring of the story, but not much. And yet, the director, rather than have a long drawn out legal battle, chose to capitulate. I must admit it hurts some to watch this film and see that tag at the end "Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison". If it had been me, being the combative personality that I am, I would have told Ellison "Go ahead. Make my day." (Another movie that has no relationship to Ellison's work, but I bet if he could have found a sliver of opportunity, he wouldn't have hesitated...).
Note: I like Ellison as an author. He wrote some fantastic stories. But if he was as much an a-hole as history has made him out to be, I wouldn't have sat down and had a drink with him.
Well, time to fire up the old Plymouth and see if I can dodge those AI robots and make it home. Drive safely.
Quiggy