So I rewatched "The Balance of Terror." (My fave ST:TOS EP when I was a kid.) Stiles was the guy who suspected Spock of being a Romulan spy. He told Kirk there was a "Captain Stiles" killed in the Romulan war, as well as three other Stileses.

And in ST3:TSFS, "Styles" was the name of the captain of the Excelsior, whose pursuit of Kirk and the Enterprise was foiled by Scotty's sabotage. (I kept expecting them to make jokes about packing materials and wood slivers, but that shoe never dropped.)

Jessica,

Skynet found out that Kyle Reese is John Connor's father from John Connor. He shouted all of that information to Marcus when they captured him. However, Kyle was on a "kill" list with John earlier in the movie, wasn't he?

LeN, exactly - the reason for Marcus' whole existance was to get him to bring Kyle and John to Skynet so they could be killed. But at this point in the timeline, there's no reason for Skynet to know who Kyle is OR why killing John Connor should be a priority.

Okay, it may be that I'm giving the movie too much credit, but I thought that there were others like Marcus (or they were working on others like him) so if he failed, they would try a different kind of hybrid to get John Connor. It isn't clear to me if he got the instruction to get Kyle as part of battlefield instructions (they were clearly sending signals to him throughout his awakening)

what get me is why they decided to go after John Connor and not take out the second tier of leadership (they already took out the first through the sub of course). Skynet is still thinking too small it seems to me - and yet they are still winning so what do I know?

what do you think of this Esquire list of 75 movies "every man should see."

[link]

what do you think of this Esquire list of 75 movies "every man should see."

1) That's a pretty solid list of good-to-great movies.

2) This is one of the few lists like this I've seen where I've seen 90% of the movies listed.

Not sure what that second point says about me.

Of the ones of seen (about 2/3), I agree they are pretty good. Of the ones I haven't, there are very few that make me think "I should see that".

I'm not sure which commentary is my favorite:
Stalag 17
Because it inspired a sitcom. With Nazis.

Slap Shot
Mr. Paul Newman. On skates. On ice. Covered in blood.

But again, at this point in the timeline, John Connor is nobody. He's not leading the resistance, or even in the upper levels of leadership. He's some guy with a radio. So "you will do what none of us have been able to....kill John Connor!" makes zero sense. Marcus is the first one to even try.

When Marcus gets to Skynet, HBC tells him that his programming was to bring Kyle Reese there as a lure for John Connor. (Which is why when John unlocks the jail cells, Kyle's is the only one that stays locked.) But Skynet shouldn't have known who Kyle was. Arguably, Skynet should never have found out who Kyle was, or they would have sent a Terminator back in time to prevent his birth and not had to bother with John or Sarah at all.

Jessica,

but see: I can buy Skynet giving him these orders because John Connor shouted the name of his father at Marcus. That was transmitted to Skynet - we saw that.

I don't understand why Kyle's name was on the kill list and why the sub tank leadership didn't wonder about this also.

here's an article that makes me want to smack Christian Bale, and then kiss him (if he's not lying): [link]

I really really wish that this had been a movie about Marcus and Kyle, and Marcus v Skynet at the end. Take John Connor out of this movie and you've actually got a shot at an interesting story.

Jessica, so much world of wrod. And according to that article I linked, was the original intention. How cool would it have been if John Connor had just been this voice on the radio, some mysterious man giving hope and unifying people, but always in the background while the A plot with Marcus went about it's business? And then, maybe at the end, we'd finally get to meet JC.