Which is why I think James Cameron essentially wanted it both ways.
I'm sure he does but that doesn't mean multiple timelines. A paradox is merely a series of statements that lead to a contradiction; Kyle Reese was always John Connor's father; there is not fate but what you make.
Just because the one is true doesn't mean that the other is false - that, in fact, is why Sarah's strength of character matters: because it is only through her heroism that John becomes the leader of the resistance. In a multi-verse, it is fate, or rather chance, that determines whether in this timeline Sarah is a fighter or in this timeline does she get an abortion or continuing waiting tables.
The Terminator universe steals a page from Thomistic theology by arguing foreknowledge of the future doesn't preclude being able to change it just like God's omniscience doesn't preclude human free will. The timeline in TSCC is being repeatedly overwritten but it's not a branching tree, it's a sketch on a sheet of paper - you can only erase the lines so many times before you begin to wear through the page itself.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2009-03-11 02:46 am (UTC)I'm sure he does but that doesn't mean multiple timelines. A paradox is merely a series of statements that lead to a contradiction; Kyle Reese was always John Connor's father; there is not fate but what you make.
Just because the one is true doesn't mean that the other is false - that, in fact, is why Sarah's strength of character matters: because it is only through her heroism that John becomes the leader of the resistance. In a multi-verse, it is fate, or rather chance, that determines whether in this timeline Sarah is a fighter or in this timeline does she get an abortion or continuing waiting tables.
The Terminator universe steals a page from Thomistic theology by arguing foreknowledge of the future doesn't preclude being able to change it just like God's omniscience doesn't preclude human free will. The timeline in TSCC is being repeatedly overwritten but it's not a branching tree, it's a sketch on a sheet of paper - you can only erase the lines so many times before you begin to wear through the page itself.