"Have clothes, will travel"
by Abdul Ketot
I was watching The Terminator (yes, the Ah-nold vehicle) on cable the other day and something struck me as decidedly odd. Apparently, in that movie, when people time travel back in time, they are usually transported naked. I find it hard to believe that people in the future, who are capable of time-travelling, cannot keep their travelers decent and modest. Imagine the difficulty and awkwardness that the traveler would experience once he reaches his destination/time – he has to first find some clothes before executing his mission. This absence of proper clothes dilemma applies to both man and machine when they travel. Even after two sequels, Terminators still cannot travel decently. Yet, as machines, they have evolved into sophisticated robots, but still sans clothes when they are sent back in time.
I began to watch a few other movies with a time-traveling theme. So far, travelers in The Time Machine, Bill & Ted, Back to the Future (all 3 of ‘em) Austin Powers and Star Trek all manage to arrive fully clothed. So, really, there is no excuse for characters in the Terminator movies to arrive buck-naked and demand clothes and vehicles from present-time citizens.
Why should I find this naked time traveling disturbing? Well, if other movies can properly clothe their characters during travel, I fail to see why Terminator cannot do the same. Imagine how the lack of clothes can affect the entire story line.
Think about it. In Star Trek : First Contact, the Enterprise travels back in time to stop the Borgs from rewriting history. Imagine this : The Enterprise crew arrives naked on Earth and they scurry to find clothes. In their midst of finding clothes (because there are over 1000 crew members on board the Enterprise), the Vulcans land on Earth for the first time. Disgusted by the naked humans, the Vulcans snub them and fly to another planet. Humans never learn space travel technology and remain convinced that they are alone in the universe. Worse yet, the Borgs invade. End of story.
Still think I have nothing better to do than writing inane pieces about time traveling and nudity? Let me put it in another way - ever had one of those dreams where you have to be somewhere to do something important but find yourself naked? The first thing you do is to find clothes but you never seem to able to because there are always simple obstacles along the way, like avoiding from being seen. You fail in completing your task or can’t seem to get to your final destination. Which is why time traveling would so much the better and convenient if everyone arrives fully clothed.
I was watching The Terminator (yes, the Ah-nold vehicle) on cable the other day and something struck me as decidedly odd. Apparently, in that movie, when people time travel back in time, they are usually transported naked. I find it hard to believe that people in the future, who are capable of time-travelling, cannot keep their travelers decent and modest. Imagine the difficulty and awkwardness that the traveler would experience once he reaches his destination/time – he has to first find some clothes before executing his mission. This absence of proper clothes dilemma applies to both man and machine when they travel. Even after two sequels, Terminators still cannot travel decently. Yet, as machines, they have evolved into sophisticated robots, but still sans clothes when they are sent back in time.
I began to watch a few other movies with a time-traveling theme. So far, travelers in The Time Machine, Bill & Ted, Back to the Future (all 3 of ‘em) Austin Powers and Star Trek all manage to arrive fully clothed. So, really, there is no excuse for characters in the Terminator movies to arrive buck-naked and demand clothes and vehicles from present-time citizens.
Why should I find this naked time traveling disturbing? Well, if other movies can properly clothe their characters during travel, I fail to see why Terminator cannot do the same. Imagine how the lack of clothes can affect the entire story line.
Think about it. In Star Trek : First Contact, the Enterprise travels back in time to stop the Borgs from rewriting history. Imagine this : The Enterprise crew arrives naked on Earth and they scurry to find clothes. In their midst of finding clothes (because there are over 1000 crew members on board the Enterprise), the Vulcans land on Earth for the first time. Disgusted by the naked humans, the Vulcans snub them and fly to another planet. Humans never learn space travel technology and remain convinced that they are alone in the universe. Worse yet, the Borgs invade. End of story.
Still think I have nothing better to do than writing inane pieces about time traveling and nudity? Let me put it in another way - ever had one of those dreams where you have to be somewhere to do something important but find yourself naked? The first thing you do is to find clothes but you never seem to able to because there are always simple obstacles along the way, like avoiding from being seen. You fail in completing your task or can’t seem to get to your final destination. Which is why time traveling would so much the better and convenient if everyone arrives fully clothed.
posted by Anonymous at 3:45 pm
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