What If Sarah and Kyle Had Just Skipped the State or Country? - The Terminator (1984) Discussion

[–] wearsalan (5554) 7 years ago

Maybe it would have just handed itself over to cyberdine

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[–] wearsalan (5554) 7 years ago

Maybe it would have just handed itself over to cyberdine

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 7 years ago

True. It could have just calculated that Skynet will live on if they knew of its existence - which happened anyway.

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[–] PaladinNJ (21772) 7 years ago

As Kyle said: It will just keep coming for her.

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[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

No matter where they went, they'd never be safe. Every minute they spent hiding would be a minute spent living in fear, never sure they're well-hidden enough, because who knows what kind of tech that thing has at its disposal.

And even if it doesn't have future locator tech, it has the patience to search every fucking house in the world. You want it after you?

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 7 years ago

Now that's some prospect: a Terminator spending an eternity searching every area in every corner of the world. I think maybe though he would eventually attract attention and eventually be destroyed by the military.

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[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

I just can't help thinking of a big guy systematically knocking on every single door in the LA Basin, California, and the entire world, asking every human being on Earth "Is Sarah Connor here?"...

The LAPD wouldn't stop him, that's for damn sure!

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 7 years ago

That's exactly the image that comes to my mind haha, and it's somewhat disturbing.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I think the police or military would stop him/it, he's not superman invulnerable, and not very subtle. After a few massacres theyd realise he's bulletproof and up the weaponry - probably thinking he's got "special armour" or something.

Also in T2 its revealed his battery is only 100 years or so - so he cant just start at house #1 and go through them all.

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[–] SpaceAce2001 (387) 7 years ago

The Terminator would just continue following whatever leads it could and it would never stop. Sarah would always have to live in fear that the Terminator would find her again.

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[–] BlackMass (1203) 6 years ago

The Terminator had superhuman intelligence, and dedicated every second of every day to finding Sarah. It was a supremely efficient stalker, unsusceptible to fatigue, hunger or procrastination. I have to believe it had a good chance of finding Sarah, wherever she went.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

"..it would be spending an eternity literally searching every corner of the globe"

Usually, when people mis-use the word "literally", it's only for one thing.

You are a master of mis-use, you actually made multiple mistakes simultaneously.

First of all, literally OR figuratively speaking, globes do not have 'corners'.

Second of all, do you know how long 'eternity' is? If not, ask me about it in 50 googolplex years.

Sarah and Kyle wouldn't have lived more than 100 years, probably much less than that (stress, pollution, bad diet, etc).

100 years is a very tiny amount of years compared to 'eternity'. The Terminator also can't function for an eternity, regardless of what Kyle says in the movie. Of course a planet and a solar system both have an extremely limited life expectancy, compared to what 'eternity' means.

Changing identity is not that easy, how would you do it?

But even if they could do that, the terminator could probably track them by carrying their photos and asking around in a systematic way, utilizing the 'official' methods, perhaps creating a criminal record and some kind of 'global manhunt' with FBI, CIA, Interpol, and so on - it could probably find a way to manipulate their databases and such.

They could of course wear disguises and wigs, but they would need to find jobs or some way to get food - they could of course steal, but that would lead to police being interested in finding them, and they can't afford that (although Kyle is already in that situation, and after that police station massacre, Sarah is probably on 'missing persons' list as well).

They can't exactly rely on welfare or any government help, because the terminator basically IS the government with its imitation skills and accumulating knowledge of government information, structures, infrastructures, databases, bugging equipment and control, and so on.

It would soon become a mini-Skynet dedicated to finding them..

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Heck, nothing would stop it from acquiring a factory that it could manipulate to its liking, which means he could start making at least -some- kind of robots to help it, and sooner or later, it would find its way to early Arpanet and BBSes and ..

Well, Kyle and Sarah could hide, if they had enough resources and wealth and kept moving around and changing wigs and disguises and moving to very remote locations. But they would always leave -some- kind of trace behind them, and someone might always see them and report to someone, etc.

Still, in the eighties, it would still probably have been possible to just 'disappear into the wild', if they're lucky and have a network of friends and enough resources. If they go to Europe, for example, the terminator wouldn't easily find out which country they went to, and even if it did, it might be difficult to arrange for it to be transported to Europe (though it could stow away on a ship, it's hard to believe it would be let on an airplane, couldn't get through the metal detector..)

Also, the skin and flesh would start to smell and rot too much pretty quickly, so it would have to find ways to either keep it fresh, create more of it, or get some kind of other 'human disguise', or only move at night etc.

So basically terminator would be more limited in movement, but informationally, it would be wealthier. I think Kyle and Sarah could have escaped, in the end.

HOWEVER! If they couldn't return to USA, Skynet would win, because there wouldn't be John Connor in the USA to stop it. Unless they let John travel there by himself when he's old enough, but .. yeah, it's becoming fan-fiction (though I am not a fan), if I continue on this path.

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 6 years ago

"You are a master of mis-use..."

"Globes do not have corners".

Jesus take it easy. Haven't you ever heard of figures of speech? 🤣

Sarah was only caught and locked up in the second film for trying to blow up a computer factory. Despite the radio broadcast about the largest manhunt in the state's history, I don't think it was ever implied she was wanted after the police station siege. After the massacre, their sole purpose was to simply evade the Terminator.

I don't think it would have been impossible for Kyle and Sarah to change their identities espeically back then. They could have made their way across the border; manage to purchase false documentation; move further south, or escape the whole continent altogether. Like you said, with the Terminator's flesh rotting and the presence of metal detectors, his movements would have been limited.

Thanks for your time in sharing your thoughts 😊

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[–] Castortroy82 (70) 5 years ago

The T-800 would have eventually found them at some point, maybe in a few years or a few months, but it sure as hell would have. It would check every hospital in the state, maybe impersonate as a police officer to gain information, it would never have to eat, or sleep. So it has that advantage that every second it can spend to finding her. This was the 80s, and it knew she was still in LA, they had no money for a plane ticket, and it was only the following day it found her again. Now if it didn't encounter them at the motel, I still believe at some point she would have been found. There is always a paper trail if they have to buy food, clothes, etc. The T-800 could check every retail store to see if she was spotted, the only way she could have avoided being found was if she lived in an underground bunker the rest of her life, but again at some point you'd have to gather food, and necessary supplies to survive. At that point you might as well be living in a zombie apocalypse.

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 5 years ago

I could be wrong but it sounds like you're basing your answer on Sarah and Kyle remaining in LA.

Sarah and Kyle could have skipped across the Mexican border, stealing some money along the way with perhaps enough to purchase new documentation. They could have remained throughout the South American continent or left entirely to make somewhere across the globe their new home.
Regardless, the Terminator would have his work cut out for him, and eventually his rotting flesh and inabilty to pass through metal detectors would have brought him to the attention of the authorities and then the military.

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[–] Castortroy82 (70) 5 years ago

Little late to this reply, but we are talking about the 80s here. There's only a certain radius that they could go in such a short time, as mentioned they have to sleep and eat at some point, the Terminator could track all possible family info on Sarah if it had to, but for them to just skip to Mexico wouldn't really be much of a safer choice and even so the T-800 would eventually calculate how far of a distance they could travel by car. Kyle also being wanted now by the police would only make that less plausible that they could keep running. Yeah Sarah allies with some people that live in the desert in LA in T-2 but again it's still LA. I suppose the rotting flesh thing could be it's only downfall if it rotted to the point it had nothing left but it's Endo remains then I could see them getting away but it'd take a long time for that skin to rot completely.

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 5 years ago

By the end of the film the Terminator's flesh was already rotting and attracting flies...

It may have been able to calculate their travel distance by car, but I still think it would have its work cut out without a phone book.

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[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

Just reading through these comments and I agree with you; there was not really enough time for them to just vanish; the entire duration of the film takes place in under a week; the amount of time Sarah and Reese are together is like under 2 days; most of the first day was spend with him trying to convince her what was going on and evade the Terminator that was right on top of them. Then immediately after they 'escape' they are arrested and do not meet again until they bolt out of the police station during the attack; then it is about 1 day (at most 2 nights) before they are found again.

does Not much time to escape; especially in the 80's and especially since they had no resources. It is not like they can just hop on a plane or steal a boat; well maybe the latter they could but that would be risky since neither of them knew boats but the terminator could learn it a lot faster then them. but I digress

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[–] Retromogul (1082) 5 years ago

After they're escape from the police station and sanctuary in a park tunnel, could they have not stolen a car and just drove and drove across state lines or across the border, and then eventually scrap or steal enough to forge new identities and/or skip the entire continent on a ship?

A previous poster said that the Terminator would be able to calculate their route and travel distance. But that's not really the case when the Terminator had to rely on address books and impersonating Sarah's mother to find out she was lodged in a motel.

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[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

There is a deleted scene (I know it doesn't really count) but in it this scene shows Kyle trying to steal a car and disappear; he is unable to get it started and Sarah convinces him to try to blow up Cyberdine systems (thus preventing judgment day). He reluctantly agrees.

I think this deleted scene helps to make sense of why they went back into the LA area instead of away from it. But either way it can be assumed that they decided to try to build new weapons to try to stop the thing and they were not confident they would be able to just keep running.

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[–] peter_t_2k3 (1053) 5 years ago

The thing is if they went on the wrong people would be looking for them certainly after the police shootout - While Sarah might be originally seen as innocent until stuff she did in between this and the sequel, they think Kyle is crazy and probably involved with the terminator (although they don't believe the terminator stuff obviously).

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[–] degree7 (821) 5 years ago

Kyle and Sarah would never leave the country. They would ultimately decide their best option to prevent Judgement Day would be to destroy Cyberdyne, which was also located in the LA area. This mission would eventually lead the Terminator back onto their trail regardless.

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