MovieChat Forums > The Terminator (1984) Discussion > Why Sarah instead of..

Why Sarah instead of..

posted 3 years ago by avortac4 (3443)
7 replies | jump to latest

Look, I like this movie and I think it's really well made, has great 1980s feel and atmosphere to it, etc.

However, when you think about the motivations and behaviour of people, not much makes sense.

Why did Kyle Reese only protect Sarah?

What I mean is, why is Sarah's son so important, but no one else's is? Couldn't Kyle have changed this? It's not Sarah-SPECIFIC stuff that's important, it's a very 'anyone can know this' stuff. What Sarah teaches her son, could've been taught by Kyle to 100 or 200 people, easily.

Heck, instead of tough warrior, they probably should've sent some writer nerd to the past, to craft manuals, schematics, plans, maps and all the other information they know about Skynet, the machines, factories, areas of importance, and so on.

Then teach this information to 100 or 200 people and teach them to prepare, so when Skynet happens, they can immediately nullify it or at least instead of "one man, who taught us to fight", there will be 2000 people that can immediately react to the situation and 'smash the mfkrs' and whatnot.

I mean, why leave it to such a late time anyway, and just passively wait for 'future to happen' and then ONE MAN can teach how to 'turn it around and bring us back from the brink' AFTER being almost annihilated completely?

There's _SO_ much Kyle could've done to protect the future, instead of the narrow-minded goal of preserving things that already happened. He could've created an enhanced future, where everyone immediately knows exactly how to defeat Skynet before it escalates to a full war.

Heck, they could've eliminated Skynet in the first place, before it's even conceived, which was touched a bit in the deleted scenes and the childish 'sequel' (that should never have happened).

What I mean is, when you go down the logical path, you have to realize there are better things to do than 'protect Sarah'. What's one dead Sarah compared to the future being not only saved, but improved upon? She would die anyway at some point, better to die in a glorious fight against a terminator.

The logical path I mean..

1) The reason Kyle protects Sarah, is that Sarah will give information to her son, who will give information to a lot of people, which will end up saving the future.

2) Since INFORMATION is what's the important thing here - to ENSURE the information will be given (by Sarah to John, then by John to others), why not just expand upon that, and ALREADY give the information to as many people as possible, not just 'make sure Sarah gives it to John'?

3) This would mean holding seminars and lectures, writing books, drawing schematics and such, so when the whole Skynet thing happens, a big group of people (and future people know who the survivors are, so the right people will get the info - also, it doesn't even matter if wrong people get the info, too, everyone should have it) is just as prepared as John or Sarah would be.

4) Why would Sarah even HAVE the information to give? Because of Kyle. Without Kyle, Sarah couldn't prepare, hide, or know about the war, or know anything to tell John, etc. So if Kyle can ensure ONE MAN can have that much that useful information, wouldn't it be more logical to expand upon this and have AS MANY PEOPLE know this as possible?

I realize there's the whole 'credibility problem', and the only reason Sarah was convinced, because of what she saw with her own eyes and all (although at one point, Kyle seems to have convinced her without further evidence).

That's easily solved by just taking all those 100 or 200 people to witness the terminator machine - it's not going to disappear anywhere, and it will go wherever Sarah goes, so it can be easily always found.

Wherever things would go from there, is up to anyone's imagination, but my point is, Kyle is being VERY inefficient and illogical, and so is John - instead of just saving 1 woman so 1 man can teach something in the already-bleak future (which is, for some reason, acceptable to everyone?? why?), they should try to optimize and expand this mission as much as possible. Why let something awful happen in an awful way (the brink), when you have the power to prevent it? Just so you, as Kyle, can get laid?

[–] atomicx (234) 3 years ago

Well if you listen to the cassette tape that Sarah is recording for John at the end of the movie, you clearly hear her more or less tell John that he has to send Kyle if he wants to protect his own possible existence in the future. So, most likely, John sent Kyle due to the suggestion of his mother and to attempt to save his own existence.

It's one never ending loop, as is the case with most time travel movies.

Also, don't forget, it was the recovery of the T800 arm and damaged chip that help progress Cyberdyne System's technology that eventually causes everything in the first place. Like I said, time travelling loops.

[–] aavfreak (2859) 3 years ago

What I mean is, why is Sarah's son so important, but no one else's is?

The same reason the machines sent the terminator back in the first place, instead of killing John there in the future.

Reese laid it out clearly in the interview in the police station:
Dr. Silberman: Why this elaborate scheme with the Terminator?

Kyle: It had no choice. Their defense grid was smashed. We’d won. Taking out Connor then would make no difference. Skynet had to wipe out his entire existence!

John Connor was the reason the humans won against Skynet.

It's important to remember that by the time the machines sent the terminator, they had already lost. And that they lost due to the leadership of John Connor. I get what you're saying, but it really is as simple as that.

edit:
Another thing to keep in mind is that it's not like the humans created a plan to travel back in time and stop or prevent Skynet. The humans already won. It was the machines that implemented the plan to remove John's existence from the time line. The humans sent Reese to stop the terminator from doing that. I'm not sure they would have had the opportunity for the elaborate plans you suggest.

[–] Sandman81 (1501) 3 years ago

So you want Kyle in 1984 to write a book and do lectures and seminars about how he is from a future where the machines have wiped out most of humanity, and he was sent back in time to warn everyone???

Best case scenario for that would be him being looked at like how most reasonable people look at Alex Jones. Just another crazy conspiracy theorist, who is trying to profit off peoples paranoia. He would have a small cult like following, but ultimately be written off as crazy or a con man. Even if the things he were saying did come true. And he wouldn't have all the knowledge of the chain of events that lead to judgement day anyways. We only learn about Cyberdine and Dyson from Arnold, who was probably programmed by Skynet with that info. Most records that humans could access were lost in the war.

But most likely he would try to stop it and just be locked up like Sarah was.

[–] moviechatterer (13226) 3 years ago

is John Connor really that important anyway?
sure , Sarah prepared him a little.
and Kyle said "One man stood up and refused to take this shit - and we all got behind him" or something like that,
But if John Connor hadnt risen to the occasion , presumably the next guy would.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7395) 3 years ago

And now I am thinking of Terminator 3 where that John probably would not have ended up being a great leader.

[–] avortac4 (3443) 2 years ago

To add, a logical path would be having these 100 or 200 people easily overpower 'The Terminator' robot, then chain it to a wall for studying, dissecting, etc., and cut off its legs and maybe hands as well so it can't do any harm, and even if it can, it'd be so slow and ineffective, it can always be overpowered by almost anyone (handless, legless robot would have hard time catching anyone, but of course the other arm can be removed, so it can't even 'walk' with one arm and torso, etc..)

Can you imagine those 200 people casually drinking coffee and talking about some soap opera while a helpless Arnoldinator constantly scans them and watches them helplessly from the wall, and can do nothing but move its head back and forth. I would pay to see THAT situation in a movie..

[–] millsey72 (9530) 2 years ago

Lets just agree its a plot hole and move on