Prequel? This movie is not a prequel. It's set AFTER the nuclear war. All the other movies were set before.
*Sigh*

Its because its set before the events that kick off the first movie. There for its a Prequel.

It's set after Judgment Day but before Kyle Reese has been sent back in time. It's a sequel to Terminator 3 but a prequel to The Terminator and T2. Either way the machines at least look good.

it both a prequel and a installment, in fact it should really be called a time paradox, but we will leave science out of it, yet i agree with Sean B, this movie makes the other ones into prequels by officially making them what leads to the war and the rebellion, so in common sense, you have it Sean!, one thing tho, i see all this previews, and i ask myself, where are all the ninjas? in a catastrophe like this, only the ninjas would be like, hmm its autumn...! another thing a ninja army would so totally be the achiles heel to the robots, because we'r all about stealth killing, we would plant C4 in their brains and watch them go like popcorn machines before they would know what hit them. im telling you ASK A NINJA.COM you will see the shadow(from the shadows) lol

When are motorcycles not "self propelled"? I think you mean "driverless" or "riderless"

Andreas: Doesn't the driver or rider impel the propulsion? Without the driver, the motorcycle just sits.

This movie is not a prequel, don't know why scifiwire calls it that I believe they are the only ones that does so. Not only does the timeline say it takes place after the 3 other movies, but the future never happens before the past. Although I do appreciate scifi taking the time out to post this stuff about this movie I just ignore that little word they always seem to throw in there.

And as for that little scene of the future we see before T1 and T2. All that does is show what the movies are based on. Doesn't mean it happened yet cause in 1984 it didn't.

Therefore Terminator Salvation is a sequel there's no question about it. I mean it's not hard to understand. When Reese is sent back into the past, the past becomes Reese's future his fate. While the timeline and everything else John, Kate, the resistance everything continues to move forward. Of course everyone knows that considering we got T3, the TX and all coming into present day way.... beyond Reese's time period of existence.

I am surprised that Wired gave away a major plot point with their
posting of the TS images. I don't think it was intentional and I'm not gonna add to the spoiler but it was WAY UNCOOL in any event!

Funny how the perpetual fault-finding front of Sci-Fi Wire's readership have to resort to a simplistic, Newtonian naively linear sense of space-time in order to criticize the notion that Terminator: Salvation is a prequel. When not mocking this blog's editorial decisions, you guys are _science fiction_ fans, and can grok how a movie set "in the future" can be considered a prequel by setting paradoxical _precedent_ for villainous and virtuous machines who travel back in time as both nemesis and heroes. Maybe SciFi wire's style manual, or the PR folks involved in Salvation's production should use the term "paradoxical prequel" or what have you, but really the tenor of attack here is like a bunch of dudes who aced their multiplication tables pretending they can fault find a differential equation. Seriously folks. Think a bit before you take part in the riot.

Is the water bot or whatever it's called putting an Alien facehugger move on the helicopter crewman?

Marty B.'s got it - stop bitchin', people! If you're reading the article then you're fans or closet fans of science fiction. If you just enjoy watching the Terminator movies, then you wouldn't be reading this article, so it's more than casual enjoyment, it's involvment. Involvment + fandom, about a movie involving time travel and paradoxes, implies none of you should have difficulty understanding the concept that this movie is a prequel...

I don't understand why people in your case has to throw out insults when all a person is doing is explaining their concept on how this movie is a sequel not a prequel. If people want to believe this is a prequel that's fine, but to advertise such deal in an article review is missleading. I can understand how people think this is a prequel only because Mr. Reese hasn't gone back in time, but that's looking at it from the smaller picture. Open your eyes and read everything about how this future war is lead up to. This film is a sequel to T3 therefore is a sequel to the whole terminator saga. Drop that time-traveling paradoxes nonsence and stop trying to compare this to starwars whos big mistake was trying to make the prequel trilogy last. Terminator Salvation is a sequel to Terminator cause all the events in T1 had already happened.

Or to make things simple lets say in T1 Reese didn't save sarah like he should have. With Sarah terminated well John wouldn't exist therefore Reese wouldn't have traveled back in time. The future would be rewritten and possibly with some other dude being leader of the resistance. Now how could that even be possible if TS takes place before T1.

TS is a sequel because it takes place in the future. And Marty B. please save the insults let comments remain adult-like.

Terminator: Salvation is not a prequel it is a sequel period. If it were a prequel, the storyline would be set before the events, before T1 where there are no terminators at all, the future hasn't happened yet, Cyberdyne is a small electronics/computer factory (where Sarah destroyed the Terminator, & Kyle Reese died), & NO TERMINATORS WHATSOEVER!!! As bad guys or good guys!!! Everything that we learned over the years about "Terminator", would be thrown out the window & be rewritten in a prequel set of films.

jolinar + squirrel, you're still using the simple Newtonian notion of chronology for your sequel/prequel criteria ... that standard just goes out the window in a franchise where time travel is a key conceit. T2 derailed any notion of T1/T2 prefiguring what happens in Salvation. T3 (did Cyberdyne even have a role in creating Skynet in that one?) arguably does set up the future of Salvation, _but_ from what I understand, liberties have been taken ... there's even a Connor line in the trailer where he says something to the effect of "Things weren't supposed to happen this way."

Here's the kicker though: Depending how far into Connor's war against the machines Salvation goes: with Kyle Reese and the existence and hinted evolution of Terminators in Salvation (remember human-like Terminators were something sort of late in the game as far as the machine/human war went), Salvation at least starts to lay the ground work for Reese's and the T-800's terminators T1 motivation. While, yes, not chronologically in a linear time line, _narratively_ events in Salvation _prefigure_ the events of T1. Thus, to reasonable people able to grok what Squirrel calls a "smaller picture" (though his insistence on Newtonian space/time mechanics is the perspective that is actually missing the "big picture") can call Salvation a prequel. Humanity needs to be "saved" (salvation) in the future before it can fight the last battles of the war in the past, so to speak.

Regarding "insulting tone," squirrel. I think any "adult" could recognize passive aggressive "sighing" in the original comment as another attempt by the anti "new look" Scifi wire audience trying to paint SciFi wire as editorially incompetent. Disagreeing on terminology is fair play, because science fiction, particularly in a storyline where time travel is a key component, invites debate. But the belittling tone of the first post? That, my dear rodent, is childish and should be called out.

Marty B. I'm done with you obviously you're mind is just too fragile to understand the difference between a prequel and a sequel. I cannot help you there except define the terms for you. It seems you just don't understand the logic behind the events of T1 where everything Reese explains to Sarah connor about the future hasen't even happened yet. If they did you really think John would have wasted his time sending Reese back into time? You really think Reese would have risked his own life going back to save Sarah if it would not effect anything at all in the future? And indeed your aggression in your previous post was clearly insulting to anyone who says this movie is a sequel. Im not trying to be childish in my posts, but it gets difficult trying to argue a point to someone that is. And again your insults again fly when I try to explain the concept again your post was childish. And why do I got to be a rodent? Just because I use the same handle as my email address? I'm tired of people like you who gets insulting cause they don't agree with your every word. So please marty B. step out if you can't hold an adult conversation without getting agressively insulting perhaps holding a conversation isn't your talent at all.

"Terminator Salvation" is a prequel in the sense that it sets up events and situations that will pay off in the 1984 of James Cameron's "Terminator": How Kyle Reese becomes the man Michael Biehn plays; how the T-800 played by Arnold comes into being; how Skynet comes up with the plan to send a cyborg back in time to defeat the human resistance.

whysoserious I completely understand your point. I'm looking at both sides of the fence here i do understand how you can see this as a prequel. What I understand from your point is that TS feels like a prequel to T1 because the events that already taken place in the future causing the events to take place in T1 as the effect. The reasoning why would Reese be in 1984, why would the terminator be hunting Sarah. Why would anything in T1 be happening unless there was a cause and that cause would be the future. But look at it from my point. Cause and effect would still apply from my point of view. What ever happens in 1984 affects the future, but you can't say whatever happens in the future affects 1984 only because the events that would happen already has taken affect. The terminator has already went to 1984 to terminate Sarah, Reese has already went to 1984 to protect Sarah those events will not repeat themselves. But you'd say well Reese hasen't yet gone back yet cause he still exists in the future. But thats where we come to the part where the future has already been wriiten exactely what John said at the end of T3 he tried his best to stop Judgement day but the Terminator said Judgement was inevitable basically what the Terminator is saying to John, is the future is already set nothing will ever change it. No matter what happens John will still be leader of the resistance, Reese will still go back in time as an adult and repeat the events that already taken place in T1. But the story will continue on We'll probably see Reese travel back in time through the machine, but well never see what happens when he gets there because we already seen those events in T1. Instead the future will continue to drive forward. Now I don't know if McG will show us anything that happens after Reese time travels or just simply stop there. If he continues the saga he'll most likely show the resistance winning the war. Thats what this new saga is all about the future war not the past. I can see how one may get confused from this, but the story is not following Reese it's following the war. Now if they ever did make a pequel to T1 it would be in a time period before 1984. Like if skynet sent a Terminator after a younger version of Sarah or Sarah's mother, but that idea wouldn't work cause that would be endless and would always take place in the past. Why not send a terminator to take out Sarah's grandmother.... Great Grandmother. That's how a prequel would play off. But you got to look at the future as it hasn't happened yet. Yes I said the future has already been written, but that means the war is going to happen no matter what, but it in 1984 it has yet to happen. TS is a sequel because T1 T2 T3 leads straight to it.

This looks cool, now if only they keep the entire movie in the PA future then it will finally be what I wanted it to be in the 1st place.

All Post Apocalypse, no time travel to the boring streets of the non PA past.

& it’s a prequel because the movies take place in the future and just have some go back in the past and this movie is before those movies.

FarSpace This movie will definetly be nothing but Post- Apocalypse that's what it's all about is the war.

It's a sequel end of story.