Variations on a theme by James Cameron

Theme: The Terminator. You've all seen it - computer becomes self-aware, decides that humanity is a threat, tries to wipe us out, sends a robot back in time to kill the mother of the leader of the human resistance. Great film.

Variation 1: The Italian Terminator. This is a short story by Primo Levi, published in "The Sixth Day" and called "For a Good Purpose": once the European telephone network passes a certain level of complexity it becomes self-aware and decides to make Italian men call their mothers more often. Great story.

Variation 2: The John Buchan Terminator. 1917. Locked in a grinding, bloody war on two fronts, the German General Staff hatches a Fiendish Plan: take Russia out of the war by sending Lenin back in time to 1905 (in a sealed train, "like a plague bacillus"), in order to ensure a Bolshevik success in the 1905 revolution, creating anarchy and chaos in Russia and ensuring that, twelve years later, the country will be in no state to participate in the Great War. Naturally, British Intelligence gets wind of the Fiendish Plan and sends Richard Hannay back in time to stop him. This book has yet to be written (by me).

Variation 3: The Japanese Financial Regulatory Reform Terminator. This film really exists. I quote: "When inventor Mariko Tanaka (Hiroko Yakushimaru), who works for Hitachi appliances, accidentally re-engineers a washing machine for time travel, the Japanese government then convinces her to go back in time to prevent the passage of a fictitious law that would prevent the usage of real estate as collateral for loans, which was a major cause of the bursting of the Japanese asset price bubble." Further variation ideas, please.