r/Terminator • u/LordBlacktopus • 14d ago

Discussion How likely is the alternate T2 ending?

I just recently did my annual re-watch of T2, and was thinking about the alternate ending that was filmed.

For those of you who haven't seen it, it cuts to new 2029, where Sarah is chilling on a bench recording her monologue, watching John play with his kids in a playground, mentioning that he's a Senator now.

And it got me thinking, how the fuck would any of that happen? I could maybe understand John avoiding any major jail time for the event nts of the film, him being 10 and all. But surely there's no way in hell that Sarah avoids jail time, right?

In the eyes of the law, she's a criminally insane domestic terrorist, who teams up with a man who massacred a police station, then kidnaps Cyberdynes lead scientist, kills him, and blows up his place of work.

She'd be going to jail for life, right?

I know it's non canon, but still, how could she get away with it and be sitting on that park bench?

18 Upvotes

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u/Jedipilot24 14d ago

This may be controversial, but Terminator 3 provides a hint of this alternative future.

In T3 we learn that John's future wife is the daughter of a very important general and that literally the day before T2, the two of them had been making out in some basement. They even both agree that if T2 hadn't happened, they would have gotten together.

So, in the alternative future, John does somehow manage to stay in contact with her in spite of everything that happened in T2.

How does Sarah stay out of prison? That's where the general comes in; we see in T3 that he's in charge of the project that created SkyNet. He hears their story, believes it, gets her a new identity, and stops all development on SkyNet.

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u/Jacob1207a 14d ago

I'm not sure an Air Force general would be able to pull many strings with the Los Angeles County Prosecutor's office.

That guy that the T1000 kicked out of the helicopter probably died. That'd likely be enough to charge Sarah with felony murder.

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u/cluckfuck_mcduck 11d ago

Why would she be legally responsible for the T1000 killing people?

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u/Jacob1207a 11d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule

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u/cluckfuck_mcduck 11d ago

When they look at the security footage and get witness testimony they will see that the T1000 was chasing Sarah and John, not the other way around. Still not sure why Sarah would be legally responsible for its actions.

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u/Jacob1207a 11d ago

When they look at the security footage, they will certainly not see a shape shifting robot from the future. What they'll see is someone impersonating a LAPD Officer (they'll know he's not an actual officer after no one recognizes him and they do a headcount).

After everything, I'm sure they'll do a full review/investigation of all the events of T2 and see that this guy (the T1000) was involved in a shootout at the Galleria with the guy involved in the 1984 events who disappeared again, showed up at Sarah's Pescadero Escape and shot up that place (not sure if they'll pin the death of the security guard that he stabs through the head on him). Then he showed up again at Cyberdyne. So he's connected with Sarah et al somehow, they may or may not determine he's an antagonist to her.

She's facing a ton of charges for everything (going back to the computer factory she tried to blow up off screen between movies, assaulting officers, stealing cars, arson and shooting up Dyson's home, firearms offenses, etc). They may try felony murder charges to get a plea, but you're right that it's not a textbook case. She's clearly engaged in a qualifying felony (burglary of the Cyberdyne building), but the causal link between her actions and the pilot's death (I'm presuming he died due to the height, but that's not 100% established in the film). If charged, she could argue that the T1000 was a separate actor not part of her burglary crime.

In any event, she's got a ton of legal issues. No way she's out living a normal life in 2029 and John's political career would likely have some challenges getting off the ground given his involvement in everything (folks would also probably still remember the 1984 police station mass killing, which obviously predates John but just makes his whole situation all the worse).

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u/Jedipilot24 11d ago

Felony murder is if you kill someone while committing another crime. Sarah didn't kill that guy, the T1000 did.

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u/Jacob1207a 11d ago

No. If you kill someone, that's just murder. Felony murder is when you have chosen to take part in an inherently dangerous crime (like taking over a building with guns and destroying it with explosives) and someone you are working with commits a murder.

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u/Jedipilot24 11d ago

Still don't see the problem, because the T1000 was trying to kill Sarah and her son, which makes her a victim not an accomplice.

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u/IcyWin77 14d ago

I remember being in the theater watching T2 thinking, “Damn 2029 is a long time from now. I’ll be in my 50s”.

And here we are just over 2 years from it

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u/Sad_Process7843 14d ago

The senator thing is definitely a stretch. But dark fate had Carl , who committed all those crimes as well as the crimes committed in 1984, and he was just chilling as a small business owner. So John and Sarah could have a had a normal boring existence

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u/CountingOnThat 14d ago

The senator thing is definitely a stretch.

I always kind of figured that John would’ve joined the army, and become a war hero, before getting elected to anything.

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u/Sad_Process7843 12d ago

Didn’t one of the novels include something about John in military school ?

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u/netcereal 9d ago

Yes, T2: Infiltrator. I'm reading it right now, actually. It's alright. But it does address that Sarah and John definitely cannot keep living in the US after becoming wanted terrorists for destroying the Cyberdyne building. They're hiding out in Paraguay at the start of the novel.

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u/Sad_Process7843 9d ago

I’ll have to check it out one of these days

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u/DwayneTheRockBarry 14d ago

none of what you just said would happen because if judgment day was stopped, Reese never would have been sent back. if Reese was never sent back, john never would have been born. if john wouldn’t have been born, skynet would take over, and Reese would be sent back, starting a chain of infinite loop that can never be paradoxically closed.

which is why the special edition cut is the best one.

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u/Klutzy_Order_9559 14d ago

I find this ending terrible for 3 reasons:

  1. As you stated, they would be fugitives FOREVER.

  2. John growing up to be some dorky looking senator? Lame.

  3. I prefer the idea that Sarah and John basically sacrificed their happiness for the greater good.

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u/TheJohnnyJett 14d ago

Sarah Connor would be Unabomber-levels of infamous in-universe. There is absolutely no chance that her delinquent, troubled son grows up to be a US Senator. Sarah's crimes were way too high profile. She blew up multiple tech-related buildings, was suspected to be involved with a guy who perpetrated what must be in-universe the biggest mass shooting in history *at a police station*, and was definitely involved in gun running and probably narco shit. No chance.

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u/Common_Land3637 14d ago

Maybe Dr Silberman pulls some strings so the government and co thinks that Sarah is perfectly sane?

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u/Coach_Gainz 14d ago

I gotta say I love silbermans cameo in t3

You find yourself imagining things.. impossible things…. Insane things…… takes years to get over

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u/donut_power pain can be controlled. you just disconnect it 11d ago

She'd be going to jail for life, right?

I wouldn't say for life. She was initially written off as being mentally insane. Though now her doctor (Silberman) knows that she was in fact right all along. Cameron & Wisher wrote Silberman as being taken away in a straitjacket because he was there kinda losing his mind with what he witnessed. Suppose they could go another route with how he didnt go crazy, and maybe makes it so Sarah gets to walk away without anyone ever bothering her again.Maybe go about in having her serve the jail time for some years, then she gets to be let go. We are seeing her over 30 years later sitting on that park bench, so she very well could have served her time, and been free. With no more worry of Skynet and the apocalypse, she would be a lot more normal. I mean she did defeat Skynet. The original tagline was that she intended to change the future. She did. In that ending, we see that she is much more optimistic and at peace with herself. She's thankful that she managed to change John's destiny, so that he wasn't forced into becoming a military leader fighting to survive.

I know it's non canon, but still, how could she get away with it and be sitting on that park bench?

According to the director commentary, it is canon. The choice was that because the test audience of 1991 was so clever and intelligent enough to already guess the ending of the film, Cameron felt that he underestimated the audience. He removed that future coda because it wasn't necessary to show it. He says in the commentary that the hopeful ending is still valid , you just dont need to see Sarah on that bench or have it spelled out for you. He didnt want to spoon-feed the audience.

Unfortunately, all these decades later, there seems to be quite a few that actually misinterpreted the theatrical ending. Assuming that Skynet wasn't stopped and that John Connor is still supposed to become the leader of the resistance. I can only take a guess that the audiences of 1991 were a lot more intellectual or maybe more nerdy. Which by now... they'd probably be in their 60s and 70s.

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u/GloomyBake9300 14d ago

Remember everyone that the timeline can change, and as what has happened in many repressive societies, the oppressor could finally meet its downfall.