MovieChat Forums > The Terminator (1984) Discussion > Driving cars in the future makes no sens...

Driving cars in the future makes no sense


Yeah, it's a 'cool apocalyptic scene', machines chasing a car that's driving very fast, trying to avoid being shot.

When the car arrives to rescue Kyle, it looks pretty cool, but there are a few problems, when you think about it.

1) There are multiple lights instead of normal car lights - why? Aren't the humans trying to HIDE, instead of showing the machines exactly where they are? Wouldn't dim headlights be a better choice?

Also, people have so little food, they are forced to eat rats they catch. This in itself is a problem, because what do the rats eat, when there is no 'human food' to munch, there's no grain, there are no fields.. how do the rats survive in THAT world?

It also means that everything must be scarce, if food is that limited. Somehow they can afford to equip cars with these 'cool multi-light' systems and waste energy that way. Wouldn't those batteries be better served elsewhere?

2) Gasoline. Those cars are clearly not electric, which SHOULD be a big thing in the future - if they can waste electricity like that, then there must be an excess of it, so they could at least use electric cars.

Now, gasoline, petrol, gas.. it spoils pretty quickly. It doesn't last for decades. How is there gas in the future? Do humans have oil refineries and oil-drilling infrastructure intact, that the machines are too stupid to sabotage or destroy? Does that seem likely?

They don't have food, but somehow they have fresh gas?

Perhaps the machines use gas, too, and they have functional infrastructure, but this presents so many problems as well - wouldn't humans destroy THAT instead of allowing it to exist so the machines can power their human-killing machines in the battlefield?

Just to allow machines to drill oil and then refine it into petrol just so they can power their cars to run away from the machines that couldn't chase them if they had destroyed that infrastructure is SILLY! Don't you think?

No matter how you slice it, having a gas-powered car pick up Kyle just makes NO sense whatsoever!

Neither side should have gas, because those supply lines would definitely be the first target in any war like that. Remember, humans are fighting back very effectively, so they could definitely crush the machines' oil/gas supply lines and thus cripple their machine production and usage heavily.

It's not just about smashing the machines to junk, there are also this kind of practical tactic considerations to take into account.

In any case, most of this movie just doesn't make any sense.

reply