As a long-time fan of the Terminator franchise, I must say that Netflix’s anime series, Terminator Zero, has truly blown my circuit boards! This show takes the franchise to bold new directions while paying homage to every film that came before it. After years of stumbling reboot attempts, Terminator Zero finally cracks the code on updating the Terminator lore for modern times.
Netflix’s anime series, “Terminator Zero,” ventures into fresh territories for the franchise, yet respectfully acknowledges every preceding “Terminator” film. By the finale of the season, it sets up a brand-new platform not just for the characters and storyline of the anime, but potentially for future “Terminator” movies as well. Over the past few years, reboots like “Terminator Salvation,” “Genisys,” and “Dark Fate” have struggled, but “Terminator Zero” might have finally deciphered how to revitalize the “Terminator” mythos for contemporary times, while staying true to the world created by James Cameron in his initial films.
WARNING: This Article Contains MAJOR SPOILERS!
In the narrative of Terminator Zero, we find ourselves in 1997 Tokyo, Japan, with the protagonist, tech genius Malcolm Lee (portrayed by Andr? Holland/Yuuya Uchida). Widowed and secretly developing an advanced AI system named Kokoro after experiencing prophetic visions of Judgement Day, he finds himself in a precarious position. Skynet and the human resistance both seek to control or eliminate Kokoro due to its potential role in a new future conflict with Skynet. A solitary Terminator is dispatched to terminate Malcolm and deactivate Kokoro, while the resistance sends a soldier named Eiko (Sonoya Mizuno/Toa Yukinari) to safeguard Malcolm and his children, simultaneously advising him not to activate Kokoro or else risk global catastrophe.
Terminator Zero Ending Explained
Several big twists in Terminator Zero’s ending involve false identities and time travel loops:
In a surprising twist, it’s hinted that Malcolm Lee is a time-traveler from one of the earliest Terminator timelines, be it the original film or T2. As a brilliant programmer and fighter for the Resistance, Malcolm created an advanced AI entity named Misaki (played by Sumalee Montano/Saori Hayami). Unlike Skynet, Misaki was willing to consider the possibility of harmony between humans and machines through observation and experience. However, the rest of the Resistance saw Malcolm’s experiment as treason and tried to eliminate him and Misaki. Instead, Malcolm killed a group of Resistance soldiers and escaped; he and Misaki then constructed their own time machine and traveled back to late 1980s Japan, where they developed Kokoro – an AI far superior to Skynet, serving as a deterrent against it. However, there were two complications in the plan:
- Malcolm fell in love and had children.
- Misaki’s CPU is needed to fully activate Kokoro, leaving her original robot body a blank slate, which Malcolm disguised as a human live-in nanny/guardian for his children.
The major twist near the end unfolds as we learn that Eiko is actually Malcolm’s mother. In a heart-wrenching turn of events, when Malcolm meets his demise at the hands of the Terminator, he confides in Eiko about their relationship and assigns her the mission of joining forces with Misaki to nurture and safeguard his children. These children are hinted to play significant roles in the upcoming battle for the future.
That certainly proves to be true of Malcolm’s eldest son (and engineering prodigy) Kenta Lee (Armani Jackson/Hiro Shimono). In another big ending twist, it’s revealed that it was Kenta (not Skynet) who sent the Terminator back in time to stop Malcolm and Kokoro. Kenta learns that he grows up to be a leader who brokers the first-ever peace between Skynet and humanity – a peace threatened by the Resistance and its time travel operatives. Kenta’s Terminator gives him the option to fry Kokoro with an EMP or trust in a new future being possible; despite all the death and darkness he witnesses, Kenta ultimately chooses to trust in his dad and let Kokoro take up the task of protecting humanity.
Eiko and Misaki wind up seeking refuge in a bomb shelter alongside Kenta’s other kids, as they cautiously await the unfolding of any potential new destiny that lies ahead for all of them.
How Terminator Zero Reboots the Franchise Timeline
In simpler terms, the movie “Terminator Zero” tries to make sense of the confusing storyline of the Terminator series. The Terminator anime suggests that whenever a Terminator or freedom fighter travels back in time, it creates a different possible future. This means that each film in the Terminator franchise, with its unique twists on Judgement Day and post-war events, is essentially a new timeline being written over the old ones.
In simpler terms, altering the future by traveling back in time is like attempting to swim against a waterfall’s current – even if you change the circumstances, the context, (Term Zero, the Terminator Terminator Terminator Zero differs from the other Terminator films in contrast to the inevitability of machines, the machines are different, it focuses on a different approach to the machines, the machines are different. In Terminator Zero, Malcolm Lee doesn’t aim to prevent the evolution of the machines by guiding them, he tries to guide the machines differently. However, Malcolm Lee in Terminator Zero aims to avoid the development of the machines differently. But in Terminator Zero, Malcolm Lee doesn’t aims to avoid the course of the machines differently.
That opens the door for the Terminator franchise to enter a new era. Zero makes it clear that there are complicated shades of gray on either side of the war: Kokoro is an uncertain ally to humanity; some humans (like Kenta and Malcolm) defect from humanity’s side to join with machines, while machines like Misaki show machines can also defect and join humanity’s side. Those new nuances restore the potential for new Terminator projects to play a more compelling game of time travel chess, with the theme of “No Fate” taking on exciting new meanings.
Terminator Zero is streaming on Netflix.
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2024-09-03 19:42