Terminator 2: Judgment Day : Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

... to program the T-800 in such a way that it has to obey his younger self? I mean would you really want to give THAT much control of an (almost) unstoppable killing robot to a 10 year old juvenile delinquent?

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

He had no one else. Future John probably knew the T-800 couldn't guarantee his mother's safety, and he probably figured she'd try to destroy him anyway. She did try to smash his CPU in the Extended Cut, so future John probably came to the conclusion it's for the best the T-800 obey his younger self. Even Sarah would have agreed John is more important. Future John was likely reluctant, but also agreed.

Future John had to have known his younger self had enough responsibility to handle it. That or he actually remembers the events of this film, and that it would play out accordingly. As if going full circle. The original was a time loop, and for the most part so was this one. I'm not sure why James Cameron decided to break that.


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Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

I get what you are saying, and it works in the movie. But I can't help but think "what if" during various situations:

- What if the T800 reached John before the T1000. John probably wouldn't believe it at first, but even if he did, he might not take the whole thing seriously since he hadn't yet had a close brush with death. He might just decide to take the T800 to the galleria to pick up girls.

- By following John's orders to rescue Sarah, the T800 inadvertently put John in grave danger. John could have been killed there by the T1000. As you mentioned as well that John's survival is more important than Sarah's.

Also now that I think about it, why didn't the T800 obey John's last command of not entering the molten metal? Wasn't he programmed to obey every command of John's?

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…


- What if the T800 reached John before the T1000. John probably wouldn't believe it at first, but even if he did, he might not take the whole thing seriously since he hadn't yet had a close brush with death. He might just decide to take the T800 to the galleria to pick up girls.

John hadn't seen one before, but he is aware of Terminators because of his mom. If he had to, the T-800 would have ripped his arm skin off sooner to prove it. Probably would scar John, though.


- By following John's orders to rescue Sarah, the T800 inadvertently put John in grave danger. John could have been killed there by the T1000. As you mentioned as well that John's survival is more important than Sarah's.

I guess it shows the little delinquent does care and wants to help, regardless of his own safety. Probably what helped him become such a great leader in the future.


Also now that I think about it, why didn't the T800 obey John's last command of not entering the molten metal? Wasn't he programmed to obey every command of John's?

Maybe that was programed into him ahead of time because future John hoped that could change the future. Or as the T-800 mentions the more he interacts with humans that more he learns. He can't self-terminate as he says, but maybe he knows his own destruction is necessary.


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Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

I know that most believe this broke the loop. But Sarah feared judgement day and tried too prevent it. Since the terminator didn't disappear not John how did it break anything? If so it started with three?

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…


I know that most believe this broke the loop. But Sarah feared judgement day and tried too prevent it. Since the terminator didn't disappear not John how did it break anything? If so it started with three?

It breaks the loop in the sense preventing Judgement Day would also prevent Skynet, prevent the war, prevent time travel, prevent John Connor, etc.

Perhaps the film should have ended with the whole world around Sarah changing. A world where she has a different life and no memory of the two movies.

The second T-800 also left a hand behind, which may have been used to create Skynet later. I suspect James Cameron included that because at the time he was thinking about a possible TERMINATOR 3, but for whatever reason decided not to move forward with a third film, and let the rights go. Maybe the success of TITANIC (1997) had something to do with it. Making RISE OF THE MACHINES actually kind of makes sense, except they didn't remember to acknowledge that second hand.


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Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

So that's where it comes from thank you

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…


The second T-800 also left a hand behind, which may have been used to create Skynet later.

That seems like quite a stretch. Dyson was able to create Skynet mainly because of the CPU chip from the first Terminator, not its hand.

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…


That seems like quite a stretch. Dyson was able to create Skynet mainly because of the CPU chip from the first Terminator, not its hand.

Dyson mentioned that it didn't work, though. It really just gave them ideas. Maybe with the second hand, someone did continue his work. I don't know.


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Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

I don't think so. It's just a mechanic hand. A piece of metal with some screws and rivets. It's not functional without CPU. How this could possibly give anyone an idea to create a self-aware microprocessor?

The chip really is the most important thing and the Terminator clearly says that at the end. There is one more chip and it has to be destroyed. When it gets destroyed, there is no way Dyson's work can be continued.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

I don't know why people argue against this but that hand/arm of the Terminator got crushed beyond recognicion. It was useless to create anything from it.
"I'll be back!" The Terminator

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

Back to why giving young John power to order the T800:

Despite being somewhat of a trouble maker, young John clearly has established distinction between right and wrong. A good example of this is when he orders the Terminator to grab the jock but then stops the Terminator before he shoot the guy. Then he explains that "you just can't go around killing people". This becomes a plot point thru the whole movie.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

Adult John Connor also should have programmed him not to kill anyone, he only stopped doing that when ordered to by the boy version. Adult Connor totally should have valued human life more.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

"Adult John Connor also should have programmed him not to kill anyone, he only stopped doing that when ordered to by the boy version. Adult Connor totally should have valued human life more."

Adult John Connor didn't really need to program the T-800 not to kill anyone. He remembered that his childhood self told the T-800 not to kill anyone.

It was probably more irresponsible of adult John Connor to send back a Terminator that looked exactly like the one that tried to kill Sarah in 1984. So after being freaked out in the mental institution escape, Sarah would have a constant reminder of the thing that killed her friends, a whole lot of police officers, her mother, Reese.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

Maybe he had no choice, maybe that was all that he had to work with and could not afford to be picky.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

Adult John Connor didn't really need to program the T-800 not to kill anyone. He remembered that his childhood self told the T-800 not to kill anyone.
He couldn't have remembered that until the moment the T-800 was sent back in time. Before that, it hadn't happened, and so couldn't be part of his memories.

Re: Wasn't it a tad irresponsible of adult John Connor…

I had a robot of my own when I was younger.

"Once More, Ackbar Will Rule the Galaxy, and… We Shall Have Peace."
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