A fourth Sarah Connor in Los Angeles is tracked by a second
Terminator.
This story takes place over roughly the same time period as the
events of
The Terminator.
The title of this story, "One Shot", refers to the one shot
Ruggles' Electro Mech-Fazer has per electric charge.
It is also a play on the term one-shot, sometimes used in
the comic book industry to describe a periodical that tells its
entire story in just one issue, with no further issues
published, as is the case here.
This story also appears under the title "The Other Sarah Connor"
in the Terminator: Hunters and Killers digital comic
DVD.
Page 2 implies that at least one human life was lost by the
resistance as John Connor's computer technicians attempted
to decipher the workings of the time displacement device.
Articles of clothing are seen flying in the midst of an
electrical explosion, possibly explaining how they knew that
only living tissue could make the journey into the past
through the device.
The time displacement platform looks
a bit different here (left) than as
presented in
"All My Futures Past" Part 2
(right).
On page 2, we witness the
T-800 being sent back in time to
1984, as revealed in
The Terminator.
The three triangles in the center of the platform are reminiscent of the symbol for
a fallout shelter, introduced in 1961 by the U.S. Defense
Department. |
 |
 |
This story reveals that the T-800 that Connor and his men
witnessed going back in time was actually the second of two
to be sent back to 1984 on this offensive. In this story, we
follow the first cyborg to go through, a female model Terminator who
seeks out the recently married Sarah Lang and Michael Connor on
a honeymoon in San Francisco. (On page 4, Michael Connor is
mistakenly referred to as John Connor.)
On page 8, Ruggles' police buddy Dan refers to the Rampart
police station that was assaulted by the T-800 (in
The Terminator) as the 53rd precinct;
as L.A. does not use the term "precinct" to describe its
police stations, this may be a
reference by writer James Robinson to the fictional 53rd
precinct of Tony Baretta in the 1975-1978 police detective
TV series, Baretta (though the series takes place
in New York, not Los Angeles). A 53rd precinct station house
also appeared in the 1961-1963 TV series Car 54, Where
Are You? and the 1984 film Ghostbusters.
Dan tells Ruggles that all the cops in the 53rd precinct
were killed in an assault that day. It seems unlikely that
every cop in the "precinct" was at the station at the same
time to be killed. Also, in
The Terminator Lt. Traxler tells Sarah there are
30 cops in the station to protect her, but
Judgment Day
states that just 17 were killed there that day, so almost
half of those present escaped the massacre. Of course, Dan is telling Ruggles
an early accounting of what has happened that same day, so
reports are likely exaggerated and full of misinformation at
this point.
The bridge seen on page 10 is the
Golden Gate Bridge.
On page 12, neon signs in a bar advertise Lite, Rolling
Rock, Bass, and Bud Light. These are all real world beer
brands.
On page 14, a tourist in the hotel elevator mentions
Fisherman's Wharf. This is a famous neighborhood and tourist
draw on the San Francisco waterfront.
On page 15, the female Terminator apparently rips the flesh
off her hand sliding down the elevator cable!
Page 18 reveals the honeymoon hotel at which Sarah and
Michael are staying is the Beaumont. This appears to be a
fictional hotel in San Francisco.
Page 19 mentions Haight Street and the Summer of Love. This
is a reference to the Summer of Love cultural movement of
1967, largely considered to have been centered in the
Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, which encompassed
an open-mindedness towards generally left-leaning politics,
music, drugs, creativity, sex, and social mores.
In panel 1 of page 19, a
Wasteland store is seen. This is a small chain of
clothing stores in California. The one seen here is located
at 1660 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA.
Also on
panel 1 of page 19, a man is carrying an iguana on his
shoulder. This may be a callback to the "real" Sarah
Connor's pet iguana, Pugsley, in
The Terminator.
On page 27, panel 1, a man is wearing a
Zippy the Pinhead t-shirt. Zippy is a newspaper
comic strip by Bill Griffith. The character of Zippy
originally appeared in underground comics of the '70s,
originating in San Francisco.
On page 30, a police officer reports the female Terminator
heading west towards Geary Street and a blurry Geary street
sign is seen on page 32. Geary is an actual street
in San Francisco.
Ruggles implies that the female Terminator is a T-800
series, despite the female outer form. A model number is not
provided (the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator is a Model
101).
Ex-cop Ellis Ruggles reveals that he was sent back to 1955
by John Connor to blend in, learn, and become part of the
world so he could watch over the "real" Sarah Connor
throughout her life in case Skynet ever sent Terminators
back in time to kill her before the acknowledged events of
1984. Now that Reese has arrived and is fulfilling their
destinies, Ruggles has no need to be part of it, per John
Connor's orders. But, as a former cop, he does feel an
obligation to protect this fourth Sarah Connor. Ruggles is
from the same time as Reese, of course, and implies that he
knew Reese.
The Electro Mech-Fazer used by Ruggles to stop the female
Terminator was not a standard resistance weapon, but built
by him for such a contingency with both current day parts
and a few future parts he carried into the past within his
own body in an "uncomfortable" manner. Ruggles is heard to
refer to the Terminator as a "mech", hence the name of his
weapon, a "mech-fazer". Ruggles does seem to hint that the
resistance uses something similar to his fazer in the
future. The fazer fires an electrical bolt that is capable
of fusing a Terminator's circuits in a direct hit.
Ruggles explains that Reese did not bring back parts from
the future with him because he "isn't supposed to" according
to John. This would suggest that John has been attempting to
keep the timeline the same as he knows it to have existed
from his own knowledge and experiences. This may suggest
that John knows already that the timeline can be altered,
possibly not for the better.
Ruggles tells that he arrived in 1955 in a field in
Glendale. Another volunteer was sent to the same spot in
1965, but a freeway had been built through there by then and
the man, Corporal Graves, was killed five seconds after
arrival, hit by a produce truck.
Glendale
is a city in Los
Angeles County. The freeway referred to is probably the
Ventura Freeway, also known as State Route 134, which passes
through Glendale.
The artist's depiction of the Port
of San Francisco on page 39 is
fairly accurate. |
 |
 |
Ruggles reveals that other animals besides dogs also often
have the ability to sense Terminators. He's had two dogs and
a tame fox in the past and currently has his pet monkey,
Peanut. (This concept is later reinforced in
Times of Trouble.)
The rifle carried by the Terminator on the boat looks like
it is probably an M-16,
the most widely distributed U.S. military semi- and
full-automatic rifle from 1962 to present day.
Back to Terminator Episode
Studies