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"Fragmented" Part 1
Terminator 3 #5 (Beckett Comics)
Story: Jeff Amano
Writer: Miles Gunter
Artist: Kieron Dwyer
Cover: Jeff Amano
2003 |
Skynet continues to disrupt the timeline in its quest to destroy
John Connor.
Story Summary
A damaged T-950 Terminator of unspecified male model comes to
awareness in a burning cabin. A human body holding a gun is burning
nearby. Suddenly a SWAT tank crashes through a wall and a squad of
SWAT members follows, firing guns at the Terminator. He takes down
several of the SWAT team and as he prepares to flee the burning
cabin, he spots a note pinned to the wall,
"Gone to shoot some stick. See you manana--John." The Terminator
escapes and finds a nearby bar advertising pool. He goes in, looking
for his programmed target, John Connor. After an altercation
involving the destruction of the bar's mechanical bull, the
Terminator spots his quarry and catches up to him. The Terminator's
damaged memory can't decide if it's programmed for assassination or
protection of the target, but decides on protection. John and the
Terminator talk over food at a bowling alley. Then a female T-950
shows up and the two Terminators begin battling. The female
temporarily halts the male and grabs up John, but doesn't kill him,
taking him with her in a truck instead.
CONCLUDED IN TERMINATOR 3 #6
Notes from the Terminator chronology
This story must take place in an alternate timeline than
that of Rise of the
Machines since it depicts John
Connor meeting an assassin Terminator and a protector Terminator T-950
while human civilization still flourishes. Yet, the inside front cover of this issue features an excerpt
from the diary of John Connor in which he states that even
after the rise of the machines, Skynet continued to disrupt
the timeline with its attempts to kill him, implying the two-part
story of Fragmented tells of one of these attempts.
And he also states in the diary entry that, meeting these
Terminators, he was "without the relative comfort of the
familiar robots that had become my friend..." implying that
he had met at least two of the "friend" model (the 101
Model, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger as the protector
Terminators in Judgment Day
and Rise of the
Machines). This makes figuring where this story
takes place difficult; it has to be before
Rise of the Machines,
yet he seems to have met the second protector Terminator
from the movie already! We can only assume that this story
is part of a timeline in which the events of
Terminator 2: Judgment Day took place as depicted
in that film, but an alternate version of
Rise of the Machines
followed, one in which Skynet attempted to rise, but was
thwarted by our heroes...possibly based on the alleged
alternate ending of the film that was shot, one in which
another T-850 arrives at Crystal Peak and destroys the
Skynet core (instead of the nuclear holocaust seen in the
released version).
Didja Know?
Terminator 3 was a 6-part mini-series published by
Beckett Comics in 2003, coinciding with the release of the
theatrical film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Due to the events of
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Judgment Day itself has
been delayed from its "original" date in 1997. The first two
issues of this mini-series are titled
"Before the Rise" and
cover the events in 2032 leading up to Skynet sending the
T-X series Terminator back in time to 2004 to kill John
Connor's future officers before Judgment Day. Issues 3 and 4 are titled "Eyes
of the Rise" and tell the
Rise of the Machines
story from the perspective of the T-X. Issues 5 and 6 are
titled "Fragmented" and tell of events taking place some
time after an alternate version of
Rise of the Machines in which Judgment Day did not
occur.
No date or locale is given for the events of this 2-part
story.
The two Terminators in this story are both T-950 Series.
They seem to be a cross between the T-900 endoskeletons seen
in Before the Rise
and "Heralds of the Rise"
and the T-X seen in
Rise of the Machines. The two T-950 Terminators
seen here seem to have flesh-covered bodies like a standard
Terminator, but also have liquid metal forearms that can
allow the emergence of various sophisticated weapons, just like
the T-X. The T-950s are unable to alter their facial, or
general physical, appearance. (Although the bullet hits on
each T-950 often seem to have the liquid metal impact effect
on their bodies!). The story, action, and art here are
actually pretty interesting, but very jumbled in terms of
anything resembling the Terminator 3 continuity it
allegedly follows.
Didja Notice?
The inside front cover of this issue features an excerpt
from the diary of John Connor. In it, he states that even
after the rise of the machines, Skynet continued to disrupt
the timeline with its attempts to kill him, implying the two-part
story of Fragmented tells of one of these attempts.
But it clearly takes place before the "rise of the machines"
since human civilization is till going strong.
On page 5, a SWAT tank smashes through the wall of a house.
SWAT is a police special ops force
(Special Weapons And Tactics).
On page 6, a SWAT member accuses the large man they face
(who turns out to be a Terminator) of being on PCP. PCP is
Phencyclidine, a powerful hallucinogenic, dissociative drug
used by some people illegally for recreational purposes
and which can have an
analgesic effect on the body as well, deadening pain
receptors for a time.
Notice pages 1-12 are cleverly drawn so the reader never
sees the
full left side of the Terminator's head, delaying the
revelation that there is a railroad spike imbedded halfway
in.
The big cat being held in a pen outside the cabin on page 15
appears to be a cheetah, judging by
the simple black spots on its fur, as opposed to the
rosette-type spots on similar big cats such as the leopard
and jaguar.
On page 16, the SWAT sergeant refers to the Terminator,
still thinking it's a man, as a "piece of amphetamine
trash."
Amphetamines are a type of stimulant.
Only part of the word is visible, but the bar the Terminator
enters appears to be called the Longhorn.
On page 19, a member of the bar crowd is saying, "She's a
Capricorn, he's a Libra!" Capricorn and Libra are
astrological signs of the modern zodiac.
On page 23, panel 5, one of the bar patrons is drinking what
appears to be Star Beer. There is a real world beer brand by
that name brewed in Ghana, but this is probably not the
intended brand in the story. Since the scene involves a
mechanical bull, the beer is probably a generic reference
to
Lone Star Beer, which was prominently featured in the
1980 movie Urban Cowboy, which is also known for
some scenes of mechanical bull riding.
On page 26, the Terminator tosses a man into a fenced cactus
patch. Apparently this bar has a cactus patch inside
the bar!
On page 27, panel 1, a neon sign for "Loti on tap" is seen
in the bar. As far as I can tell Loti is a fictional...beer,
I guess.
John Connor is depicted with blond hair throughout this
story. I guess he must have dyed it as part of a disguise to
hide his true identity.
On page 30, we see John is making his escape in a
Chevrolet pick-up.
On page 31, panel 1, a possibly
Ford
pick-up is seen in the background.
On page 34, John is surprised to learn from his "protector"
Terminator that the hunter Terminator sent to kill him is
simply another of the same model instead of a more advanced
version as is usual. He is, of course, referring to the
T-1000 and T-X John had to face in
Judgment Day and
Rise of the Machines.
On page 34, the Terminator helps John get a package of Reo's
cookies out of the vending machine at the bowling alley.
This is a sort of parody of
Oreo
cookies.
Unanswered Questions
The opening scenes of this issue imply that John was staying
in a cabin with a very attractive young woman (we see a
couple of photos of a bikini clad girl pinned to the wall
and a handwritten note pinned next to them, "Gone to shoot
some stick. See you manana--John." "Stick" is a euphemism
for the game of pool. "Manana" (sic) is Spanish for
tomorrow. Is the woman John's girlfriend? Was she the
burning body seen at the beginning of the issue? And why is
the cabin filled with taxidermy animal specimens? Has John
become an avid hunter and displayer of trophies? Do they
belong to the woman? Someone else? A hint as to the concept
behind the cabin may be present in "Fragmented" Part 2, when
the male T-950 regains some of its past programming, telling
it to acquire Connor through known mercenary contacts; the
burning body may also be John's mercenary friend, then.
Why is a cheetah being held in a pen outside the cabin?
Waiting to be killed as another exhibit?
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