Question: In the alternate 1985, there is an alternate Biff, Lorraine etc. Shouldn't there also be an alternate Marty and Doc?
Answer: Doc would most likely not have been seen by anyone, as the time he spent in the alternate 1985 was primarily inside the DeLorean, at a boarded-up library, graveyard, and his lab (and all at night too) so most likely not spotted by the public.
Even if someone had seen Doc, it could've been dismissed as someone who looks like him. Even if they did report his escape, someone would either call or go to the asylum and verify Doc was still there.
Question: What song does Marty play on his guitar in 2015 after he gets fired?
Answer: He is attempting to play the song "The Power Of Love" by Huey Lewis and The News. He was first seen playing it very well in the first Back To The Future movie when he was trying out for the school dance. Jennifer recognizes the song and is shocked that Marty who was so good at guitar was suddenly able to hardly play it.
Question: Doc Brown strongly believes that nobody should ever find out about their own future. With such a strong conviction, why would Doc tell Marty that his children going to prison is the one event that would ruin the whole McFly family?
Question: Has anyone an idea about what kind of car is this one which almost hits Marty McFly Jr. as he runs out from Cafe 80's? For me it looks like Renault or Mazda, but I'm not sure, though I I can swear it must be some future descendant of the really existing nowadays car. Does anyone recognize any other familiar car in future vehicles? :).
Question: Two questions: something I have never understood about Marty traveling into the future to stop his kid from going to jail. In the first movie when Doc. puts his dog into the time machine and sends him 1 min into the future the car disappears for 1 min and arrives back with the dog in the car. Doc explains that as far as the dog is concerned the trip was instantaneous but to Marty and Doc the dog disappears for 1 min. The question is when Marty travels into the future shouldn't he have "disappeared" for 30 years and not had an older self. The second question is, why is it so important for them to travel 30 years into the future to stop his kid from getting arrested, couldn't he have just as easily told Marty "hey on this day and year, don't let your kid leave the house. You have 30 years to figure out a reason or break his leg."
Answer: In the film, that one event sets off a chain reaction that destroys Marty's family, so it's paramount that they stop it from ever happening. Too many things could go wrong just trying to prevent it. Since Marty Jr. looks like 1985 Marty, the plan is to have Marty Sr. Take his place, rather than try to get 2015 Marty Sr. To ground his son or something. Plus, Doc says it's important they don't know too much about their future, so that's why he can't just tell them what to do in 30 years because he could reveal too much. Of course, if you overthink it too much, you can make it all fall apart, or come up with different ways to accomplish the same thing.
Chosen answer: To answer the first question, it's because Marty ultimately returns to the past and therefore does live his normal life for the next 30 years. Had Einstein traveled back that one minute, he would be there as well. As to the second question, Doc needs to be sure Marty's son doesn't go and can't leave it to chance that Marty will take take care of it after 30 years.
Question: When the DeLorean travels through time, it arrives in the same place it leaves from, only in a different time (eg. In BTTF, Marty leaves Twin pines mall in 1985 to arrive on the farmland it was built on in 1955. In BTTF3, Marty leaves 1885 on the train tracks above the ravine and arrives on the completed bridge in 1985) So, at the end of BTTF2 where Doc and the DeLorean are struck by lightning and sent back to the past, the DeLorean would be arriving mid-air. The problem is, Doc states in the letter that the lightning destroyed the flying circuits. So, the DeLorean would have plummeted 50 feet to the ground when it arrived in 1885? Why was it not damaged when Marty found it in mines 70 years later?
Answer: With cars being known to break down, the company that fitted hover conversions probably knew a breakdown would happen at some point. Rather than just letting the car fall out there air, there is probably some sort of emergency backup that will let the car land safely and then shut the entire system down.
Chosen answer: Doc had spent several months in 1885 before Marty came to rescue him, which would have given him quite some time to fix the damage the DeLorean received from the assumed fall and repair it before he went to place the DeLorean in the mines. It could have been a controlled descent rather than a catastrophic plummet.
Answer: To be fair, we don't know if the DeLorean quit working altogether. We just know the time circuits were fried. I would assume he could still at least land it as the hover tech was unaffected.
Question: OK, hope I'm articulating this properly: when Marty returns to 1985 from 2015 with Jen and the Doc, he places Jen at the porch of her own home. At this point, he hasn't realised yet that he's actually in an alternate 1985, because old Biff has discovered the time machine, and taken the Sports Almanac to the Biff of 1955. We all know what happens from there: Marty and the Doc now have to go back to 1955 (again) to stop Biff from getting the almanac, thus making the upcoming 1985 timeline "correct." Well, as they are successful...how come Jen is OK? Surely, as she was left in the alternate 1985 and isn't really in the "correct" 1985, she now fails to exist when Marty comes back to the "correct" 1985 to collect her at the porch? She must disappear with the alternate 1985? Or am I over thinking this?
Answer: According to Doc, the timeline fixed itself around her. The best explanation I found online was since she was from the original 1985, when everything reset, it was as if she was still in the original timeline.
Answer: Because when Marty arrived in 1885 and reunited with Doc, he told him "God, Jennifer I hope she is all right Doc, I can't believe we just left her there" to which Doc replies that when Marty burned the Almanac in 1955 the timeline was restored. This is proven when the newspaper reveals that George McFly honored and Doc Brown commended.
Question: Can someone explain me what's the problem when Doc went to 1885? He's got the time machine with him, so why didn't he just come back?
Chosen answer: The unexpected jump brought on by lightning striking the DeLorean caused the circuits to fry. Since Doc didn't have the equipment to make new ones in 1885, he decided to hide the car and resigned himself to life in 1885.
Question: When the old Biff gives the Sports Almanac to his younger self, he cautions him that in the future, a teenage kid and an old man claiming to be a scientist will ask him about that book. The old Biff surely knew who they were; why didn't he give his younger self their names, Marty McFly and Doctor Emmet Brown?
Question: Why does Biff travel through the outskirts of Hill Valley to get from his home to Hill Valley High school? Biff travels through what looks to be the countryside through the River Road tunnel to the school and he is travelling through the countryside when he heads home from the dance as well. It almost suggests that Hill Valley High is in another town. One could say the road Biff took in 1955 may be a populated area in 1985 but it doesn't really make sense to have the school so far away from the town center, the movie gives the illusion Hill Valley high school is in another town. The only logical answer I could think would be that Biff actually lived in another unnamed town in 1955 and drove into Hill Valley to attend high school, perhaps he was kicked out of the neighbouring town high school. Although that doesn't work that well, as we watch Marty follow Biff from his home to the town square.
Chosen answer: Hill Valley is in a valley with hills to the west and east. The main street/Courthouse Square are against the western hill, the school is to the north of the square, Biff's and most of the other houses are on the eastern hill or to the south. To get to the school Biff drives through the tunnel (presumably under the railway line through the valley). Note the town square seems to be closer to Biff's house than the school as Doc leaves the house on his bike after Biff and Marty drive away, yet he reaches the courthouse while they are still in the tunnel. Biff only drives for a few minutes so it's not too far, and there are likely to be trees by the side of the road near the tunnel.
Question: After old Biff returns to 2015 he appears in pain. I've seen several submissions on this site saying it's because Lorraine shot him in 1995. My question is where do they get that information from? I've seen these movies numerous times and have never seen anything to suggest that.
Answer: But in 2015 George is fine. He brings pizza with Lorrain, when they come and visit. Biff doesn't shoot George until the alternate timeline he creates when he goes back to 1955 with the sports almanac? In 2015, he is still the loser George made him in the first movie.
Question: In 1985-A, when Biff threatens to shoot Marty, Marty says that the police would match up the bullet with the gun. Biff mentions that he owns the police and that they couldn't match the bullet with Biff's gun. How could the police be unable to match the bullet that murdered George with Biff's gun?
Answer: Because he owns the police, and ensured the forensics were rigged.
Question: I LOVE these movies and have seen them over 100 times. But one thing I never understood was when Doc was struck by lightening in 1955 and got sent back 1885 wouldn't the Delorean be there with him?
Chosen answer: Of course it did. You're not thinking fourth dimensionally :-) Doc and the DeLorean were sent back to 1885. Doc then placed the DeLorean in the abandoned mine for Marty to retrieve in 1955. Marty then used the repaired DeLorean to travel back to 1885. So technically, during Marty's time in 1885, there are TWO DeLoreans, the one in the abandoned mine (that Doc brought back with him) and the one in Doc's workshop (the same Delorean, just older, which Marty travelled in).
Question: At the beginning of the movie, as Doc, Marty and Jennifer are leaving in the time machine to go to 2015, Biff sees the DeLorean fly and then disappear. It perplexes him greatly and he even states, "What the hell is going on here?" 1) Why wouldn't Doc have been more careful when he knew that anyone could've walked out of the McFly house and seen the DeLorean? 2) Why didn't it alter things in the future? Sure, Biff may not have told anyone about what he saw, but it's unlikely since he witnessed such a strange event.
Chosen answer: There's no real explanation about why Doc wasn't more careful, but he is an eccentric person who often acts on impulse rather than logic. It also serves the movie's plot for Biff to be there when he was. Biff in 2015 is an old man, and he is obviously somewhat confused about what he saw. He may well have thought it better to say nothing about it for fear he wouldn't be believed and could be accused of hallucinating the event.
Question: I never really understood at the end of this film why exactly Doc Brown goes back to 1885. Doesn't the DeLorean have to be going 88 mph for it to activate the system? The Doc was just hovering over Marty, so why did the time circuits automatically kick in?
Answer: If you look carefully, Doc accidentally knocks the time circuits on when trying to keep the DeLorean stable. When Doc and Marty were leaving the alternate 1985, we see that the time circuits were failing/faulty. So when the lightning struck the DeLorean, the time circuits were already on and with the equipment faulty, Doc was sent back in time. The DeLorean flips (possibly due to the flight circuits being hit by lightning) and the car accelerates to 88 MPH.
Question: In the first scene, Marty and Jennifer leave 1985 with Doc and arrive in 2015. How is it possible for their older selves to be present in the future when they left in 1985?
Answer: Relates to the "branching timeline" interpretation of time travel. Basically they jump forwards to a future version of the timeline where they never left. When they return they make different choices and that branch doesn't happen any more, taking them on a new path. Alternatively (additionally), given that they do eventually return, that's all that matters. If they left somewhere at 10:00am, had time travelling adventures, but then returned at precisely the moment they left, at any point later they're still there like they never went anywhere.
Question: What was so wrong with Marty and Doc returning to the future and stopping Old Biff from stealing the DeLorean? If they stopped Old Biff from stealing it, he wouldn't be able to go back in time to give his younger self the almanac.
Answer: As Doc explained, they'd be traveling to an alternate future. A future where old Biff already has the almanac, and thus, the alternate old Biff wouldn't have a need to steal the DeLorean to give his younger self the almanac. (I believe there've been discussions on here about why did old Biff then return to the same future Doc and Marty were in instead of the alternate future, and it's implied he basically fades out of existence.)
Answer: To use Doc's example in the film, think of time as a linear straight line. Beginning at the point where the past was changed (i.e. Old Biff giving the almanac to his younger self in 1955), time would then continue linearly; therefore, traveling to the future from 1985-A would result in visiting the future of 1985-A. That's why Doc and Marty had to go back to 1955 to get the almanac back; once the anomaly was corrected (i.e. the almanac removed from where it didn't belong), the 1985-A timeline would vanish and time would resume its course the way it should in the original 1985 timeline.
Question: How does Biff know how to work the time machine? Why doesn't Doc notice the date on the machine where it shows you where you have been and where you are going to travel to? Why didn't Doc notice the top of old Biff's cane when he first got into the car?
Answer: He would have noticed the huge display in the middle as well as the numbered buttons, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out how to use it. It seems that Doc also labelled everything which would make Biff's job a little easier. When he witnessed the DeLorean flying in 1985, he would have seen Doc accelerate up to a high speed before disappearing (plus, Biff being Biff he'd probably wanna thrash the **** out of it anyway). In regards to the time readouts, they keep flashing and Doc has to hit them to get them to start working right. He says "Damn, gotta fix that thing" so even if he did notice it, he would mostly likely assume it is part of the same fault. In regards to the top of Biff's cane, they were in a really big hurry to get Jennifer back to 1985 before she woke up. We all forget to do things or miss things when we are in a hurry so he probably just didn't see it. You could also argue that he did see it but just thought it was some sort of souvenir that Marty had brought back. Plus: As long as Biff returns the time machine to the right spot in time and space, he can take all the time he needs to figure out how it works.
Question: When Marty suggests (in 1985A) that they go back to 2015 to stop Old Biff from taking the almanac in the first place, Doc says no because it'll be 2015A instead. When Old Biff went from 2015 to 1955 to give himself the almanac, when he came back to 2015 again, it was still the same one he left because Marty and Doc are just getting Jennifer out of the new McFly house when he returns. So what's the difference? If Biff can go from 1955 to 2015, without it becoming 2015A, then why can't Marty and Doc do it from 1985A?
Answer: There is a deleted scene on the DVD that answers this. You will notice that when Biff returns to 2015 it appears as if he is dying, on the deleted scene when Marty and Doc leave 2015 you see Biff vanish which suggests the "ripple effect" of Biff giving the Almanac to his younger self places everyone in an Alternate 2015 which Biff is no alive to see so is erased from existence. I have seen somewhere a suggestion Biff was shot in 1996, chances are with Biff gone by 2015 Hill Valley may have been a more peaceful city again. Hilldale was a run down suburb in the original 2015 and could have been the same in an Alternate 2015, we never saw inside any houses at that point to answer where Marty may have lived in an Alternative 2015 but perhaps in Switzerland.
Answer: The implication is that Biff returned to 2015 before the consequences of his younger self's actions took effect. Biff would have returned to 2015 immediately, as he wouldn't want to risk Marty and Doc discovering that he had stolen the DeLorean. By the time Marty and Doc travel back to 1985, the consequences of Biff's actions have solidified.
Answer: The reason Biff arrives like that is because Lorraine found out that he murdered George and shot him.
Where did you get that from please?
That info is reported to be from the audio commentary to a deleted scene, published on the official DVD. Since the scene has been filmed, it might even be considered canonical (as opposed to ideas from the drafting stage of the script which, ultimately, were abandoned).
Are those tidbits of information, such as this DVD commentary track, considered canonical?
Answer: Yep, and there is, but they're both elsewhere. Doc's been committed to an asylum somewhere. When Marty first meets the alternate Biff, Biff tells him that he's supposed to be in Switzerland at boarding school - that's where the alternate Marty is.
Tailkinker ★
Wouldn't someone probably see Doc and report that he escaped from the asylum?
Maybe, but no way to be sure, and they're not around long enough for that to be an issue anyway.
Jon Sandys ★