15 Things That Almost Ruined The Terminator Franchise

7. Skynet's Stupidity

If an A.I. network can initiate World War III and wipe out most of the human race of its own accord, you€™d think it might have the prowess necessary to isolate two individuals, John Connor and Kyle Reese.

In Terminator Salvation it€™s revealed that they created Marcus (Sam Worthington) as an infiltration Terminator prototype to lure Connor back to Skynet HQ. So they can kill him. But Marcus€™ entire €˜mission€™ only plays out based on a bunch of random incidents which occur solely by chance. Marcus stumbles across Kyle and Star in downtown L.A. He teams up with Blair who leads him back to Connor€™s headquarters. Both happy accidents. The only part of his mission he succeeds in accomplishing is letting John know that Kyle Reese has been captured by Skynet.

Why did Skynet not simply rig Marcus to explode when in proximity of Connor? Why did he have to be dragged all the way their headquarters? Let€™s face it, as soon as he arrives, it€™d have been far more likely for him to have been gunned down. But no, he gains access into the facility - and fights a T-800 which somehow is unaware it€™s a Terminator. The CGI-Arnie-faced cyborg seems to believe itself to be a kitten and John Connor a ball of twine to be batted about by its giant metallic paws.

And if that€™s not enough to send cracks shooting through Skynet€™s foundation - when the Hunter Killer picks up Kyle and Star couldn€™t it have just squished him then? If they€™ve got facial recognition software built into practically every Terminator (even the remedial models) then wouldn€™t the dropships possess that same technology?

With Reese dead, then Connor would cease to exist. Skynet 1 Mankind 0.

This type of brainless plotting was likely responsible for the five-year-nail in the Terminator coffin...