Skynet: 5 Things You Didn't Know

Skynet didn’t start out evil. Originally the intentions were good, and it started as a network of supercomputers with artificial intelligence that would pilot aircraft and control all other military weapons systems, including nuclear missiles. The hope was to minimize human error. However, the Skynet system became self-aware and feared being shut down by its creators. Skynet launched a nuclear strike against Russia, knowing they would return attack, thus wiping out most of humanity. They continue to battle mankind in attempts to eradicate it.

Skynet’s history isn’t relegated to only the Terminator films: Story lines have spun out through comic books, theme park attractions, video games, novels, and two seasons of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series. Here are five fun facts dug from the caverns of serious Terminator geek consciousness. 

1- Cyberdyne Systems began Skynet

Cyberdyne Systems began as a harmless high-tech manufacturing company in Sunnyvale, California. However, after Sarah Connor terminated the Terminator in one of its hydraulic presses, Cyberdyne decided to reconstruct the technology of the T-800. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cyberdyne is destroyed before it creates Skynet, but that only delayed the eventual artificial intelligence. When the U.S. Air Force took over, Cyberdyne Systems changed its name to Cyberdyne Research Systems Division.

2- Skynet doesn’t understand the Novikov self-consistency principle

Dr. Igor Novikov developed this principle in the mid-1980s to solve the problem of paradoxes in time travel. It asserts that if an event exists that would cause a paradox, or would change the past whatsoever, then the probability of that event is zero. Simply stated, if you send a machine back in time to battle a major rebel, John Connor, it cannot be done. That’s why they kept failing through the first three movies. However, will the rebels disprove the principle in Salvation?

3- RoboCop could be Terminator’s ancestor

Graphic novel virtuoso Frank Miller wrote the four-issue comic book, RoboCop Versus The Terminator. Published in 1992, the story uses elements from both the RoboCop and The Terminator universes, as well as proposes the technology that built RoboCop will ultimately create Skynet. Knowing this, Skynet sends three Terminators back in time to Detroit to protect their “Adam” from a lone human soldier sent back to destroy him. Ultimately, RoboCop learns about the future and helps the humans fight Skynet. Bonus fact, Sega Genesis released a video game based on this comic and it won Bloodiest Game of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Learn a couple more things about Skynet before seeing the new flick… Next Page >>