8 Sci-Fi Movies Built On A Lie

2. The Terminator Franchise, Period

Terminator 2 Edward Furlong
TriStar Pictures

The Terminator introduced the plot point that the then-unborn John Connor would grow up to become the saviour of mankind in our battle against the machines. By the time of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, not only do we now have a ten-year-old John, but we have the looming prospect of Judgment Day on the horizon - a Judgment Day which will see the artificial intelligence of Skynet granted control of the United States' nuclear weapons and instigate a nuclear holocaust.

After convincing Miles Bennett Dyson from putting into place his work that would eventually lead to the creation of Skynet, T2 ended with a landscape where Judgment Day had seemingly been prevented and John Connor was still alive and well.

*Sigh*

Where to begin with this one?

11 years after T2's release, we'd get Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003 and find out that Judgment Day wasn't actually stopped - more just delayed. As Rise of the Machines come to a close, we see millions of people killed as the full destruction of Judgment Day begins.

Terminator Salvation would again mess with the narrative of T2 by delaying Judgment Day, before Terminator Genisys rebooted the franchise and put its own spin on the lore of Judgment Day.

Even then, last year's Terminator: Dark Fate picked up directly after T2 and muddied the landscape even more by killing the teenage John Connor in its opening moments - which made the very foundations of the Terminator franchise look like total bullsh*t.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.