The most original timeline that we never saw has two more obvious shapes.
1. No Judgement Day. No Skynet. Humans send a droid back in time to 1984 to investigate the past. Misplaced/lost future tech is then used in the past to invent Skynet, and kick off the war.
2. No John Connor. The machines (who were not built with Future tech) win the war easily. Invent time travel for shits and giggles. They send a slave/biospecimin/test animal called Kyle Reese, as proof of concept, back to 1984 who "somehow" makes a baby with Sarah Connor, who is John Connor, who saves the world.
1. No Judgement Day. No Skynet. Humans send a droid back in time to 1984 to investigate the past. Misplaced/lost future tech is then used in the past to invent Skynet, and kick off the war.
2. No John Connor. The machines (who were not built with Future tech) win the war easily. Invent time travel for shits and giggles. They send a slave/biospecimin/test animal called Kyle Reese, as proof of concept, back to 1984 who "somehow" makes a baby with Sarah Connor, who is John Connor, who saves the world.