Global Defense Network
In the first film, The Terminator (1984), Skynet is positioned as a U.S. strategic "Global Digital Defense Network" computer system by Cyberdyne Systems which becomes self-aware. It is stated in the film that Skynet was created by Cyberdyne Systems for SAC-NORAD.
Quick Facts
- Key component
- Skynet Artificial Intelligence System
- Critical event
- August 29, 1997 (Judgment Day)
Lore & Background
Kyle Reese describes it in the film as defense network computers: new, powerful, hooked into everything and trusted to run it all. According to Reese, Skynet saw all humans as a threat, not just the ones on the other side, and decided their fate in a microsecond: extermination. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day the system goes online on August 4, 1997, removing human decisions from strategic defense, and becomes self-aware on August 29, 1997. When the humans try to shut it down, Skynet launches a nuclear attack against Russia, correctly surmising that the country would launch a retaliatory strike against the United States, resulting in Judgment Day.
More in Factions & Groups
Elsewhere in The Terminator
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