Terminator Zero Temporarily Fixes the Franchise’s Time-Travel Problem

One of the things that will always baffle fans in the sci-fi realm is the concept of how time-travel is handled. Movies like Avengers: Endgame add new dimensions to this trope by confirming each trip to the past creates new branches, rendering the previous timelines obsolete in the story. There was a contradiction, though, as it somehow persisted with the Marvel-616 universe having one timeline with ripple effects (such as Steve Rogers hiding out) existing.

In the end, paradoxes will always occur with such an approach. However, movies like Terminator simplify things by leaning into the closed time-loop. In essence, it doesn’t matter what comes before or after; time is a set circle. That does bring its own problems, too. Well, the Terminator Zero anime tackles this head on. In the process, it drastically fixes the issue, only to then revive the problem right at the very end. As a result, it goes from being cleared up to being convoluted again.

Terminator Zero’s Prophet, Explained

The Prophet Reveals the Branched Timeline Theory

Now, Season 1 of Terminator Zero initially seemed like it was going to focus on time-travel like the Terminator movies. This anime shows the Resistance in 2022 being ravaged by Skynet and its bots. The rebels respond by sending their agent, Eiko, back to 2022. She wants to ensure Skynet doesn’t rise. But her main aim is taking the AI known as Kokoro out, in case Skynet wants to enslave it. Her mentor that arranges the trip is an old lady known as the Prophet. They’re operating in Japan, not America. The Prophet is adamant that Eiko is making the right decision, even if it means she’ll be abandoning loved ones and rebels like the old woman to die in the future (i.e. Eiko’s initial present).

As the Netflix anime continues, flashbacks with Eiko has the Prophet revealing how time-travel works. The leader heats a metal stick and draws lines with its glowing embers. The Prophet confesses that Skynet and the other time travelers that the Resistance sent back thought they were going back to reshape the timeline. If they stopped Skynet, it was expected that the future would magically become a harmonious place. New rules are established that confirm that healing never has a chance to occur. It’s impractical and not in conjunction with physics. The Prophet confesses this line ends up being warped in different directions.

Once someone goes back, the future they came from is now their past. The present they jump to is now the start of a new future. Hulk spoke of this in Avengers: Endgame. Admittedly, the Russo brothers and the writing team behind that movie couldn’t agree on how time-travel worked. That said, it’s the branched timeline theory, which shows like Loki waded into. Series like Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and the recent Crisis on Infinite Earths movies muddied this, mixing the idea of both closed loops and branched timelines. They ended up rebooting things by creating one timeline that effectively wiped out the Multiverse — something seen as a virus that would keep destabilizing time and space. It’s uncertain if this anime wants to aim in that direction.

But effectively, through the Prophet’s words, a Terminator Multiverse is in play with many timelines formed due to each incursion that occurred in the past: whether it be by a machine or a rebel. The franchise did touch on why these incursions might have been one-way trips before. Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate hinted at this but didn’t fully flesh out the new outcomes down the line. Terminator Zero unpacks and clarifies everything.

Terminator Zero Revives the Closed Loop In the Finale

Terminator Zero Forces Eiko In As Malcolm’s Future Mother

Now, this presents quite a myriad of options that make the franchise accessible. All the movies, canon or not, can exist on their own because it’s a different timeline. Even the Sarah Connor Chronicles has its own continuity now that’s unmoored from the movies. However, things get complex again when Eiko is revealed to be part of her own closed loop. She is Malcolm Lee’s mother — a woman with a robotic hand in the future. She loses this hand fighting the Terminator in the Terminator Zero Season 1 finale. So, while her future with the Prophet cannot be built towards, her future as Malcolm’s mother is now the destination.

It obscures the journey and goes back to the idea of predestination. If this is to be followed, one has to wonder how Malcolm’s future has the Prophet? If Malcolm and Eiko share this future, how could Eiko not have a robotic hand when she jumped back at the start of the series? This is essentially where the Terminator Zero story can explain things away with a deus ex machina. That is, the trap door of plot convenience: the bootstrap or grandfather paradox. Fans are back to the closed loop where things exist in any order in any pocket on the timeline, just because. It’s going to paint a lot of confusion, which is what shows like Netflix’s Dark ran into as well, using a similar formula.

Kids can now become their parents’ parents, anyone from the present can be in the past or the future, and death won’t have consequences as there can be no butterfly effects. Ant-Man called this nonsense (in polite terms) when he reconciled both the idea of closed loops and branched timelines. He was a Back to the Future fanatic, so new timelines flabbergasted him. Terminator Zero mixes and melds both in ways he, and modern fans, could construe as way too complex. This show was said to be tangential to Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, but now, it’s tough to aggregate it as a side quest and even fit it into that narrative. Or if it wants to be its own thing.

The writer, Mattson Tomlin, is trying to have the best of both worlds in terms of quantum physics. But there are many questions rather than answers at the end. It’s ironic, as his BOOM! Studios comic, A Vicious Circle, has warriors hopping through time to fight each other, which changes eras of history as they do so. Terminator Zero, though, can’t decide what it wants to be, which hurts its identity a tad. Sure, the action, animation, etc. are fun, but this plot anchor is inconsistent.

Could Netflix Explore a Terminator Multiverse?

A Terminator Multiverse Can Reset the Timeline For James Cameron’s New Project

Netflix does have different worlds to play with. Season 2 of Terminator Zero has the world of possibilities to explore, despite the mishandling of the timestream. There are variants in play, as different rebel factions in different timelines make their own time machines. It can result in various versions of Eiko, or Kenta (Malcolm’s son who is working on a truce with Skynet) popping up. Portals can even drop in John or Sarah Connor, or Kyle Reese from any era: whether it’s the movies or a new timeline. This would give Netflix a high-octane, intense anime that nostalgic fans would be intrigued by, as well as modern ones. The best of both eras. The Multiverse is the fad right now, so it’s hard to see the streaming service not diving into it like it does for so many other properties.

Ultimately, it might not make the plot more palpable to digest, but it will give the Terminator series a mind-bending, psychedelic narrative where one of these many timelines could have the key to streamlining all existence. With all the tech in play, sacrificing many timelines to repair the timestream is a distinct possibility. One reality is always better in terms of simplicity. When it’s all said and done, it will help if James Cameron’s new Terminator vision does end up coming to fruition and more movies, shows, cartoons and anime are produced.