REVIEW // The Terminator 2029 – 1984 // Zack Whedon // Dark Horse

While I admit that this is basically what you would expect from a Terminator story, I must admit that it really did make me think about the entire Terminator universe.   This specific timeline takes you the first movie, where Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor meet and John Connor is born.   Interestingly enough, an older version of Kyle Reese tells one of his friends to follow him back in time and find out why he was held hostage- and by whom- for such a long time.  In the end, this all makes you feel about the same way as you felt going into it in terms of whether or not we all will really be destroyed by machines one day.

            I often wonder why certain measures aren’t taken to seemingly end this problem.   On one hand, perhaps killing Sarah Connor, John Connor or anyone named Connor would perhaps prevent this entire story from ever occurring (Even Sinead.  Sorry, we can’t take any unnecessary risks here).   Maybe they are the link that keeps this endless cycle persisting. 

           

            But then you have to wonder and ask yourself whether or not this story will actually ever end.  From the standpoint of an outsider (i.e. someone not in this mythos but rather a writer or publishing company) it makes no sense for this to have a conclusion because then it would simply be over.   I’ve often wondered why a character like the Coyote doesn’t just get a gun and blow off the Roadrunner’s head instead of using all those Acme gadgets that always fail.   The simple answer to that, of course, is that the show must go on.  

           

            However, if we had a conclusion of some kind to this whole Terminator story, such as say eliminating the Connors, wouldn’t this just manifest itself somewhere else instead?   The way society is head, aside from maybe going back in time and undoing the whole creation of the internet, I’d say we’re pretty much headed down this road (or a similar one) regardless of the outcomes of any of these stories. 

           

            In the end, it just leaves me to believe this will be an infinite loop with no real end until the world ends.   Though this particular story (and an episode of American Dad I accidentally watched once) makes me wish that someone would send a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Connor’s parents, hence stopping the whole thing before it starts.   At least in theory, anyway.    So who wants to illustrate it?