You could argue that as Skynet's intelligence & self-awareness increased, that it started to develop human-like emotions, such as hatred, resentment, & a desire for revenge. It always seemed to me that the machines in The Matrix were motivated by some complex sense of hatred of humans in addition to their logical goals of survival. The machines created the Matrix as a replica of Earth during the pinnacle of human civilization to mock us. As for the Terminator timeline being a closed loop, I infinitely prefer that version. And if it hadn't been for James Cameron pinning a date on Judgment Day in T2, the movies could still exist as one closed loop.
Good point. And, it wasn't very long ago either. To try rebooting the franchise yet again, more time will have to pass. Just my $0.02.
I'm fine with a continuation rather than a reboot. Well I'm fine with it so long as McG's stupid idea for T5 never comes to fruition. It was just a dumb excuse to bring back Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.
The whole thing of the scrawny, emotional Terminator is logical, but I dont think it would work. It was the inhuman qualities of Arnold's Terminator that made the character, as it was with Garrett Dillahunt's Cromartie/John Henry. Terminators are unnatural and I think are best portrayed as such.
Doesn't Kyle Reese describe these camps in the original movie? Skynet must have had some kind of reason for keeping people around. Or were they just 'extermination camps'? Rounding people up to eliminate them efficiently?