Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryScience Fiction

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Glowing human heart in hands, Generative AI illustration

Terminator Salvation Review, Part 5: A Clever Plot Rescue

Having Marcus unexpectedly sacrifice his life for John got around the problem created when the audience "knows" that the hero is doomed
Science fiction is closer to comedy than tragedy so a device like this — technically, a retcon — is handy and the writers were smart to use it. Read More ›
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Close-up of a robotic head with red eyes, showcasing advanced technology.

Terminator Salvation (2009) Part 4: Marcus, Unwitting Terminator

Marcus learns the horrible truth from Skynet that his mission was to terminate John Connor
Although the Resistance blows up Skynet's headquarters, the success of their mission turns on saving badly wounded John. Read More ›
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Metal terminator robots in destroyed town, apocalyptic scene

Terminator Salvation Part 3: A Return to Roots

This movie remembers what the second Terminator film forgot: the true nature of the machines
This film makes clear that the machines are the enemy because they are cold, and there is something special about being human. Read More ›
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male robot face, Artificial intelligence concept.

Terminator Salvation (2009), Part II: Is Marcus Really Human?

Or has he really been discovered to be a Terminator, bent on killing the human resistance?
The dilemma is well handled because John Connor is genuinely confused and trying to understand the situation. Read More ›
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army of humanoid robots marching across a war-torn landscape

Terminator Salvation (2009): A better film than Terminator 3

With three Terminator movies talking about the future, it was about time for the future to finally show up
By the end of the movie the viewer briefly sees John become something of a mentor, if not an outright father figure, for his father Kyle. Read More ›
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Futuristic cityscape at night, dominated by a massive, glowing hologram of an AI brain

Terminator 3, Parting Thoughts: A Father’s Lie Dooms the World

When John and Kate get to Crystal Peak, they find that it is really a fallout shelter for the country’s leaders, but the leaders never made it. And yet...
It’s fine to play with the idea of fate in a time travel tale, but the writer must work within the set-up given by the prior stories. Read More ›
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A black hearse driving down a freeway

Terminator 3 Review Part 3: Are We Looking At a New Sarah Connor?

What made Sarah’s character work was her start as a simple waitress who turns into a strong, resourceful warrior. Can John pick up where she left off?
The problem with time travel stories is that dropped plot points and forgotten predictions add up and new additions to the story forget the older ones. Read More ›
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A scene of a roadway littered with debris from a vehicle wreck, with visible damage to multiple trucks, emphasizing the severity of a multi-vehicle accident on an icy road.

Terminator 3: Was It Fate or Contrivance?

It turns out that the T-X isn’t looking for John, as we might expect, but for Kate
Despite puzzling sequences, there is a thread of logic that keeps the franchise from becoming too complicated as the story continues. Read More ›
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_ - . A city shrouded in fog, lights from buildings creating a m

Terminator 3: A Troubled Movie That’s Hard to Find

Here’s an odd little problem I encountered while preparing for this review: Difficulty even finding the movie in order to review it
Portraying John as a sort of nomad was overall a good plot device because the T-X can’t find him. So, she begins killing apparently random people. Read More ›
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3D illustration of Plutonium as Element 94 of the Periodic Table. Blue illuminated atom design background with orbiting electrons. Design shows name, atomic weight and element number

The Surprising Connection Between Oppenheimer and Interstellar

The connection hinges on plutonium, a source of power for spacecraft. It shows how much detail goes into well-done sci-fi films
The plutonium used for nuclear weapons is plutonium-239 and the plutonium that powers current space exploration hopes is plutonium-238. Read More ›
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Fire in a storage warehouse. Spreading fire in a warehouse full of boxes

Terminator 2 Review Part 5: The Writers Won’t Wrap Up the Movie

I’m never a fan of the whole “the robots can become like us” trope, but Schwarzenegger's facial expressions and timing in this movie are spot on
It’s a science fiction classic for a reason. Save for the bar scene and the ending, the writing is pretty tight when the writers aren’t preaching. Read More ›
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Glowing WiFi signals in digital landscape

Terminator 2 Review, Part 4: Anti-Male Spiel Detracts From Show

The line that hung me up was the phrase, “I can take care of myself.” That’s a very odd thing for a mother to say to her child

Last Saturday, young John Connor met the original Terminator and realized it was here to protect him. He then rescued his mother Sarah from a mental institution. I have mixed emotions about the scene that follows. After she is saved from her predicament, Sarah, rather than being grateful, shows anger at John for putting himself at risk. She even tells him that she didn’t need his help. Why is Sarah angry? This scene both does and doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, Sarah wouldn’t want him putting himself at risk for her because he is the future hope for humanity. But on the other hand, she seems more angry about the fact that he saved her than about the Read More ›

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scary corridor of an old mental hospital

Terminator 2, Part 3: John Meets the Robots

At this point, John is on his own because his mother has been placed in a mental institution
The film shows John teaching the Terminator to become more human via the tactic of mimicry, which works as long as it doesn't go too far. Read More ›
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A dumpster is sitting on the sidewalk in front of a building

Terminator 2: The Terminator Becomes the Protector

The transition is uneven and there are hints that James Cameron was subtly mocking his 1984 film
Some plot development choices may have been driven by a sense of the need to tone down the violence a bit. Read More ›
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military robot and skulls of people. Dramatic apocalypse super realistic concept. Rise of the Machines. Dark future. 3d rendering.

Terminator 2: A Good Movie That Hates Itself

Why do the screenwriters appear to want to avoid creating fear of the mechanical monster?
The film seems to want to parody its predecessor while also appealing to kids. That’s why John Connor is an inventive young teenager during the story. Read More ›
terminator

The Terminator: In a Crushing Development, He Is Terminated

The movie makes time paradoxes work well enough by keeping things ambiguous

Last Saturday, we saw that Sarah and Kyle were spending the night under a bridge. They’d lost the Terminator for a while, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds them again. They make their way to a hotel and grab a room with a kitchen. Kyle then leaves to buy some supplies. Sarah calls her mother, who is worried, of course, so Sarah gives her the number of the hotel. However, the Terminator has broken into her mother’s home and is impersonating her over the phone. He uses the number to locate the hotel. How did the Terminator find Sarah’s mom? He’d picked up an address book while at Sarah’s apartment. Now, one would think that the Read More ›

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Dark alley with a single street light at night

The Terminator: Sarah’s Son Will Save the World

A couple of moments in the film reveal waitress Sarah as the decisive military leader she will later become
The hero’s journey is, at its core, an underdog story. This fact makes female action stars ideal, provided the transition to hero is realistic. Read More ›
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War-torn, post-apocalyptic cityscape with dilapidated buildings and desolate atmosphere under ominous skies.

Terminator: The Sci-Fi Classic Forty Years On

The best thing about this first movie is that it adheres to the classic view of futuristic robots, cold, callous machines that are bent on one objective
The film doesn’t explain the backstory all in one dump but breaks it up between two scenes and multiple action sequences. Read More ›
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Extraterrestrial landscape, alien planet in deep space, generative AI

Alien: Romulus (2024): Parting Thoughts on the Movie, Franchise

The Alien franchise can still be saved if future writers will at least maintain this latest addition’s quality
In terms of quality, I would rank the series like this: Aliens, Alien, Romulus, Resurrection, Prometheus, Covenant, ice melting, grass growing, and Alien 3. Read More ›
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3D rendered fantasy alien planet. Rocks and  moon

Alien: Romulus News Flash: Ripley Didn’t Kill Her First Alien

We learn that the aliens usually don’t intend to eat their prey but to use them to incubate facehugger embryos.
This film makes a serious effort to tie the alien anthology together. Continuity is too often seriously neglected in this modern age of “cinema” Read More ›