rules of time travel established throughout the Terminator franchise.

While James Cameron's decision to have the T-1000 constructed entirely of a "mimetic polyalloy" helped differentiate it from the T-800 (and create one of sci-fi's coolest scenes after it's frozen in liquid nitrogen), the choice fundamentally undermines the near-airtight logic of the original film. Some theories exist about how Skynet might've bent the rules of time travel, but T2 offers no concrete explanation, leaving eagle-eyed viewers scratching their heads 30 years later as to how the T-1000 traveled back to kill John Conner (Edward Furlong) in the first place.

The T-1000 Was Not Covered In Living Tissue (Yet Was Sent Back Through Time)

Unlike The T-800, The T-1000 Is Made Entirely Of Liquid Metal

The central plot of the Terminator franchise is the stuff of Hollywood legend: an eternal war between machines and humans (whose "Judgment Day" changes in nearly every film) that sees Skynet send the T-800 back in time to kill the mother of humanity's greatest leader, John Connor. In the first Terminator film, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) explains that living tissue is the only substance that can survive time travel, which is why the T-800 wears real skin over a hyperalloy endoskeleton.

However, this didn't stop James Cameron and co. from making an exception with the introduction of the shapeshifting T-1000 in T2. Despite lacking any live tissue, the liquid metal assassin is still able to travel back to the year 1991 to kill young John Conner. T2 makes no attempt to explain this contradiction, glossing over the matter at a breakneck pace to make room for the film's explosive action set pieces.

The Terminator Franchise Never Bothered Explaining How The Time Machine Works

Kyle Reese Never Explained The Technology Behind Time Travel

Though the original Terminator film offers audiences a summary of the rules of time travel, it never really explains the technology that made it possible. The best we get from Kyle is that he stole "time displacement equipment" from Skynet's lab complex and then traveled to the past after the T-800 had already gone through.

There are a few possible explanations for how the T-1000 was able to travel back in time. One is that Skynet's time displacement equipment (TDE) also transports mimetic polyalloy. Alternatively, the T-1000 could've tricked the TDE into thinking it's composed of living tissue, circumventing the need for organic material. However, these are only theories; until James Cameron comes out with an explanation, it's anyone's best guess as to how the T-1000 went back in time in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.