Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines story
After Skynet fails to kill Sarah Connor before her son John Connor was born, and also failed to kill John as a child, Skynet now sends another Terminator back in time known as the T-X in an attempt to wipe out as many human resistance officers as possible, including John's future wife Kate Brewster, but not John himself, as his whereabouts are unknown to Skynet. John's life is placed in danger when the T-X finds him while pursuing Kate. The Resistance has also sent their own Terminator back to protect the T-X's targets. It is the third installment in the Terminator film series, following 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and does not involve James Cameron, who directed and wrote the first two films.
19 total · 12 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| AI risk to civilization | major | The film was premised on an autonomous weapons system becoming sentient and leading a take over of Earth by robots. |
| autonomous weapons system | major | The Skynet autonomous computer defense system. |
| autonomous weapons system killing everyone | major | The Skynet automated defence system was going to initiate a nuclear war. |
| cyborg | major | The good terminator was a built with living tissue over a robotic skeleton. |
| from zero to hero | major | John Connor was a drug addict living on the streets, and a reluctant hero, but he eventually came around to accepting his role as the savior of humanity. |
| human vs. sentient machine | major | John and Kate versus the female terminator. Later the male terminator also turned against them. |
| nuclear holocaust | major | John, Kate, and good terminator had less than two hours to stop a nuclear war, but they failed in the attempt. |
| resistance movement | major | John was destined to lead a revolutionary movement against the conquerers of Earth. |
| shapeshifter | major | The bad terminator could take the form of mostly anything it touched. |
| time travel | major | A female terminator was sent back in time to kill members of a future human resistance movement. A reprogrammed male terminator was sent back in time to protect them. |