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The Terminator mythos begins in 1984, in a movie called “The Terminator”, which was written and directed by a young James Cameron. The movie starred Michael Biehn, a familiar Cameron muse, as Kyle Reese, a member of The Resistance in the future, who is sent back in time by John Connor to defend John’s mother, Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton). In an effort to curtail its future battles with the hard-to-kill humans, Skynet has sent back a Terminator, the T-800 (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to 1984, before John Connor was born; so in killing Sarah, the mother of John, the futuristic leader of the human Resistance would never have been born, thus rendering the future Resistance against its reign obsolete.

Kyle Reese managed to save Sarah Connor from the Terminator, but is killed doing so. But before his death, Kyle and Sarah had fallen in love, and Sarah is seen very much pregnant at the end of “The Terminator”. It is revealed that Kyle Reese was in fact the father of John Connor, and that son had sent father back into the past (without telling him) in order to ensure his own birth. In doing so, John knew that his he was sending his father to his death.

The franchise continued in 1991 with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (more often known as “T2″). James Cameron once again writes and directs. “T2″ finds a teen John Connor (played by Edward Furlong) a teenage delinquent living with foster parents. It is revealed that in the years between the first movie and the beginning of “T2″, Sarah Connor (once again played by Linda Hamilton) had become something of a survivalist, having realized the horrible future that awaits her, her son, and all of mankind. We first meet “T2’s” Sarah while she is locked in a mental institution, where her dire warnings about Skynet and the future have gotten her pegged as a delusional kook. But Sarah is also a very dangerous kook, having developed military skills over the years in preparation for the battle with Skynet that she knew would soon come.

Once more, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill John Connor, and once more, the Resistance (and future John) sends someone else to assist his past self — this time, the assistance comes in the form of a T-800 model Terminator (once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). For its part, Skynet has sent back a far superior T-1000 Terminator model, a machine that can literally form any shape, and take on any disguises, that it touches. Composed entirely of a futuristic “liquid metal” alloy, the T-1000 (played by Robert Patrick) is almost impossible to kill.

The T-800 (who has been programmed to not only ensure John’s protection, but to serve him as well) saves John Connor’s life from an initial assassination attempt by the T-1000, much to John’s shock, as this T-800 looks exactly like the T-800 that had been sent to kill his mother. Realizing that the Terminator is in fact programmed to obey his commands, John uses the T-800 to free Sarah Connor from her mental institution, and the three go on the run. Sarah comes to the realization that she can no longer run, and decides to fight back. Her plan: Kill Miles Dyson (played by Joe Morton), the scientist whose research into cybernetics led to the creation of Skynet in the first place. In doing so, she hopes to doom Skynet’s very existence.

At the end of “T2″, it is unclear if Sarah’s plan (which resulted in the death of Miles Dyson, though not by Sarah’s hands, as well as the “death” of the T-1000 and T-800) has worked.

Eleven years later, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” became the third installment in the Terminator franchise. We meet up with a 20-something John Connor (played by Nick Stahl), who is alone in the world, with Sarah Connor having died of cancer years ago. John is a loner, a fugitive and paranoid about the coming war between humans and machines. He has, for all intents and purposes, given up trying to save the world, and now is just trying to stay alive. He does this by “living off the grid”, with no name, no address, and no way for anyone to find him — including Skynet.

But find him Skynet does. Or actually, stumbles across him would be the better description. Unable to locate John Connor’s whereabouts in the past, Skynet instead sends another Terminator, this time the T-X model (played by Kristanna Loken), an even sleeker and tougher to kill Terminator than the previous T-1000 model. The T-X’s mission is to find and kill the lieutenants of John Connor’s future Resistance, which it does when an attempt on the life of Kate Brewster (played by Claire Danes), John Connor’s future wife, instead puts the T-X on John’s trail. Soon, Kate and John are on the run, and their only chance is another T-800 model (once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), sent to save Kate.

Although it follows much of the formula of the previous two movies, “Rise of the Machines” has a very different outcome. Gone are the belief that the future can be averted, and instead the War must take place, and John must live to lead the human resistance against Skynet in the future. Which is what happens at the end of “Rise of the Machines”, as John finally comes to accept his fate, even as the missiles are launched around them.

As of this writing, a “Terminator 4″ is currently in development, and signs are very good that it is forthcoming…

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