Comments on: Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter

By: Greater Czarina

Greater Czarina — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:32:56 +0000

GB, I got the same sense that the box being opened and the T-1000 observing the crew’s behavior – including Jessie’s execution of Queeg — was probably its deciding factor in turning down Future John’s offer.

By: GeekBoy

GeekBoy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:53:06 +0000

I have to say, right up till the point when the T-1000 flowed out of the box, I half-suspected there would be a “Cameron” model terminator in the box. Not for any logical reason, but because I kept picturing River being in that box on Firefly.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:29:21 +0000

I agree that this was a very, very good episode. The season got off to a meandering start, but seems to be focusing quite nicely now. I’m hoping the ending is strong enough to get the ratings for another season (I promised myself to never get attached to another FOX program….)

Future John must have had a good reason to risk bringing a T-1000 (I’m assuming it’s Weaver) into his camp. After all, he knows full well what a liquid metal terminator is capable of, having seen one in action when he was 12-ish. Of course, the first thing this T-1000 did was stab a crew member through the chest, so it wasn’t “domesticated”. Since the crew got the box from other Terminators, who didn’t kill all humans, is there another machine faction? Is that too BSG? How did the T-1000 wind up in the box, anyway?

The question of Cam’s “humanity” is very intriguing. Does she rise above her programming when she shows emotion, or is she just running a simulation of emotion? John Henry seems to be developing signs of emotion, but I agree with the quesiton of why Weaver is interested in teaching him human ethics when (presumably) he’ll be SkyNet, or an ancestor of SkyNet.

By: GeekBoy

GeekBoy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:26:15 +0000

I thought this episode was awesome, from the reveal of the T-1000, to Jessie dropping Queeg, to John dressing down Jessie, to John finally breaking down on his mom’s lap while Cameron confirms for us that she is, in the end, just a machine … which really begins to make you see Jessie’s point of view about how integral Cameron is to John’s leadership in the future. Cam’s eyes are dead in that final scene, and we’re reminded of Cromartie’s dilemma with his painted figurines — how you can cover over the metal with colorful paint, but you can never get the eyes quite right.

So … is it possible that the T-1000 in the flashback is Weaver-1000? I mean, I know it’s perfectly possible that there’s more than one liquid-T out there, and I don’t mean to oversimplify things. But I’m just wondering if, from a plotting perspective, there might actually be a reason why that particular liquid would go back in time. By the way, my impression — based on not much — is that if the crew hadn’t opened the box prematurely, and if John/Cam had opened it instead, the liquid might actually have joined them. That she/it was dissuaded from switching sides by the irrational behavior of the humans? Just a thought. Although it is interesting to learn that a non-modified Terminator would considering switching sides in the first place.