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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
« on: 08 November, 2019, 04:58:16 pm »I'm not sure I buy what happened to 'Carl' but I suppose there was some pointers to that in T2 when 'Uncle Bob' explains about emulating humans more when around them. He was a good source of comedy, at least.That whole subplot just wrecked it for me, despite the film's other qualities, of which there were many. It's the terminator, ffs. I'd rather Sarah had tracked it after John's death, decommissioned it, and pulled it out of mothballs when they needed some help. No character arc, sure, but better than taking the T-800 less seriously even than comic relief.
I understand where you’re coming from. It does kind of mess with Arnold’s depiction in T1, as described by Kyle Reese as a “relentless machine that can’t be reasoned with, and won’t stop until you’re dead”. (Not an exact quote.)
You get the impression that Carl can totally be reasoned with.
That being said, I do think this is explainable. I think a terminator’s programmed mission takes precedent, and until it is fulfilled, they won’t stop, and absolutely can’t be reasoned with aside from being captured and reprogrammed. Up until John Connor’s assassination, I think this was true for the T800 who became Carl too.
After that, he’d fulfilled his mission, his very reason for being. The T800* in T2 stated “I can’t self terminate”, so he has to find some new purpose. I guess he could have gone on a human killing spree but he and other such infiltrators aren’t programmed for that. They kill their target, and anyone who gets in their way without remorse, but they don’t just kill everyone for the sake of it. He didn’t even kill Sarah directly after shooting her son. You even see the Rev-9 endoskeleton walk past a shocked guy and glance at him, but it doesn’t harm him in any way as it sees no need, even despite it’s robot nature being exposed.
And so Carl finds another purpose. The learning computer reaches its full potential and he changes.
I totally get why this depiction of him could be annoying and feel at odds with past characterisations though. And it does seem somewhat of a stretch, although it didn’t bother me that much.
I confess the drapes thing amused me.
