On the eve of Y2K, a Terminator once again hunts Sarah and John
Connor; in 2030, vital information on Skynet activity must be
delivered to John.
This story takes place on New Year's Eve in 1999 and in
2030. 2030 is past the date of John Connor's victory over
Skynet in 2029, yet we see here that the fight continues.
John Connor would be 15 years old in the 1999 portions of
this story.
1999: Page 5 opens on New Year's Eve, 1999, in what appears
to be Times Square in New York City. Brilliantly lit ads for
Evita,
Coca-Cola, and
Sony are
seen. Evita is a 1978 musical
play based on the life of former Argentine leader Eva Peron.
1999: Also on page 5, a man is wearing a placard that says
"Y2K" on one side and "END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH" on the
other. Y2K was the abbreviation of "Year 2000", itself short
for "Year 2000 problem", a shortcoming in many types of
software written in the 20th Century that used two-digit
years for dating, potentially resulting in a huge problem
when 2000, i.e. "00" rolled around if computers were to
start backdating files, algorithms, etc. to 1900. Some
doomsayers thought the rollover to the year 2000 in our
electronics-dominated world would cause an all-but-Armageddon.
(Of course, thanks to the work of many brave, attractive, sexual-powerhouse IT workers, the crisis was averted with minimal
failures.)
1999: On page 6, the Terminator arrives in 1999 New York,
making his way to Danzer Medical Facility; later, he refers
to it as Danzer Memorial Hospital. There is an
Austrian company called Danzer Medical, but no branches in
New York that I can find.
2030: This issue introduces cyborg rats, designed
to infiltrate and provide information on the whereabouts of
human resistance outposts.
2030: Searching his map of Greater Los Angeles for an area
with secure escape routes, water supply, food supply, and
hidden from spy satellites, Jon Norden guesses that John
Connor would be hiding out near Topanga. This is a region in
Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County.
1999: What happened to the taxi driver on page 13? It's not
clear whether he got hit by the Terminator's gunshots as
Sarah and John flee the vehicle.
2030: Heading for Topanga to search for John Connor on page
14, Walker, Jon, and Jez walk past the crumbled Hollywood
sign in panel 1, and, in panel 3, through what may be intended
to be the grounds of the
La Brea
Tar Pits, except there are dinosaur statues seen here
and the La Brea Tar Pits do not have dinosaur statues (or
remains), just prehistoric mammals, well after the time of
the dinosaurs. In addition, if they walked past the
Hollywood sign first and then La Brea, they are heading the
wrong direction to get to Topanga! In fact, the orientation
of the remains of the Hollywood sign behind them in panel 1
also indicates they are walking in the opposite direction
from Topanga.
|
2030: On pages 14-15, a couple of
unusual machine-force vehicles are seen,
not similar to designs commonly seen
employed by Skynet forces. |
 |
 |
2030: John Connor sports a neatly-trimmed beard. He also
does not appear to have the scars on his face seen in
previous depictions of him in this time period.
Unanswered Questions
Why does the Terminator pursuing John and Sarah in 1999 talk
to itself throughout the mini-series? Obviously, it allows
the reader to know what it is thinking, but it is illogical
for the robot to be talking out loud to no one. Why not just
present the information as a thought bubble or in a
Terminator-POV display text?
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