MOVIE NEWS – Time travel in the new Terminator series was inspired by Quantum Leap.

SkyNet isn’t done yet. A monstrous artificial intelligence will terrorise the timeline again in a new Terminator comic. This time, the genocidal robots get a surprising inspiration. In an interview with Dynamite Entertainment, writer Declan Shalvey talked about what inspired his new comic. In a story that spans space and time, a desperate SkyNet sends various Terminators to kill the ancestors of the resistance. In this vein, Shalvey compared the story to the 90s series Quantum Leap starring Scott Bakula:

“Once I was asked if there were a license I’d like to do, what would it be? And my answer was Quantum Leap, because I love that show. And I realised the other day that actually I’m kind of doing that with Terminator, except it’s Quantum Leap from hell. And that’s just interesting, the one thing I’d like to do I’ve kind of made it into something else.”

In Quantum Leap, Bakula plays Sam Beckett, a character who has a habit of “falling through” time and moving into the bodies of different people throughout history.

The series recently had a reboot, also titled Quantum Leap, in which Raymond Lee played Ben Song, who is in a similar situation to Beckett. While the Terminator franchise has always featured time travel, it’s easy to see that Quantum Leap is Shalvey’s inspiration: the comic will feature various one-liners set in the time plane.

The Terminator Time Travel Rules

The Terminator franchise is no stranger to time travel. Except for Salvation, the entire franchise is based on this concept. The set-up is simple: after humanity finally defeats them, the leader of the machines, SkyNet, sends robotic assassins through time to attack the Connor family – a family that ultimately leads to his defeat. Meanwhile, the resistance sends its own agents back in time to stop SkyNet.

The Terminator has approached time travel in several ways throughout its history. The first Terminator is a simple time loop: Sarah Connor is saved by Kyle Reese, a man from the future who impregnates her with John Connor, who later defeats SkyNet. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a bit more optimistic, proclaiming, “There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.” This suggests that a future machine war can be avoided.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines took a different direction. The end of the movie showed that time is predetermined and nothing can be done to prevent the future. The various sequels and spin-offs that followed this film further changed the rules of time travel in the Terminator universe – some preferred to use parallel time planes, while others simply ignored the previous ones and told their own story.

Source: YouTube