The Past Future, Future Past, and the Veracity of Time Traveling- Part 2

So we've already delved into the foundations of time travel as presented by the Back to the Future trilogy, where we concluded that there is only ONE possible, one true timeline, and any other ones other than that are temporary and will eventually resolve themselves, or there will be a major world paradox. Put in terms of the film itself, the only TRUE timeline is the one we see at the beginning of Part I. This can get kind of hairy, though, by virtue of the fact that the time machine, although it doesn't prevent or cause any lives to be initiated. Marty McFly was destined to be born, even though he started to fade away during "Earth Angel" after it seemed that all hope had been lost for George and Lorraine (Lorraine was too involved with "Calvin" to be bothered by the shy George)--- said "disappearing" act was a direct result of Marty's time traveling back to a time where his mother and father were teenagers. HOWEVER, true love always perseveres--- even time travel itself couldn't alter the ultimate FATE of the main characters, George, Marty, Lorraine, Dave, Linda. There was a predestined timeline that even Doc Brown couldn't intervene with. Even his and Clara's romantic involvement in Part III was a result of pure fate. They were meant for each other, even though they were from different times. The only major character whose fate kept changing throughout the course of the movies was Biff Tannen. In many ways, he was the crux, the time barometer if you will, of each picture. His wealth in the middle of Part II was the key to everyone's reality being so different (apart from the time travelers of course). In the first film, he is seen as just a big, old bully who bullied his whole way through life. By the end of Part III, he's a servant. In some ways, the character is a plot device, but in others he is the most fascinating character study of the whole trilogy.
"The Terminator" was one of 1984's most low profile, low budget, summer sleeper movies. You could tell from the get-go, however, that James Cameron had big ideas for this franchise. Although you could tell the effects budget was very small by today's standards and some of the script-writing for the first picture was a little weak, there was SOMETHING about this movie that James Cameron was passionate about. This was meant to be more than a great action flick (which it was). This was a horror picture. Machines taking over the world in a not-too-distant future. A waitress being told the weight of the world was on her shoulders. A soldier who was disillusioned by the horrors he had seen in the future, yet still had hope for the world when he arrived in 1984. His mission was to protect one Sarah Connor, the aforementioned waitress. What John Connor, the future leader of the resistance against the machines, presumably never told Reese was that he was his father. The mission was not only to protect Sarah from big bad Ahhnold, but also to father John with Sarah. A quiet scene halfway through the picture has Kyle telling Sarah "I came across time for you Sarah. I love you. I always have." At its heart, this first part to the mythos of the Terminator world is a love story. Sarah immediately falls for Reese and they make mad, passionate love almost immediately after Reese utters those lines. Big Bad Ahhnold is too busy killing other Sarah Connors and ramming through police stations uttering classic catchphrases to realize that he's as good as a godfather to John Connor. In fact, in the second installment, he will assume a father figure type of role for Connor (as Connor's father died before he was born, it was important for Termie to assume such a role). But Connor will meet his dad sometime in the 21st century. More on that later.
Had Skynet not have gone online (sorry to those of you who don't like T3, but said event happened in this movie) in 2004, John Connor would've never had the need to organize a resistance to combat them. Oh, yeah, and he wouldn't be around to do that even if he wanted to. The ultimate reasoning behind what I just said is that time travel in the Terminator world is cyclical. The future has to happen before the past does, kind of. If Skynet doesn't go online, Kyle Reese grows up to lead a happy, normal life. No need for time travel because Skynet doesn't exist. Skynet doesn't invent the time displacement field, doesn't send the T-800 back in time to kill the future leader of the resistance's mother--- and John Connor isn't born.
In this franchise, time travel does DIRECTLY affect the existence of people, and even, the state of the world itself. The third and final part to this blog is coming at you tomorrow... stay tuned. "I'll be back."