Back to the Future Part II (1989) - 17 questions

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Christopher Lloyd, Elizabeth Shue, Lea Thompson, Michael J. Fox, Thomas F. Wilson (add more)

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

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Entry When Marty is playing the guitar after he get fired in the future, Jennifer is trying to sneak out and while he's playing, she stops and turns around to look at Marty. Why does she do this? It made no sense, she could have been caught. Was he playing their "special" song or something? [It is because Marty used to be a very good guitar player. After his accident something happened to where he couldn't play very well anymore. Jennifer stops in shock that he is playing so horribly now. She is used to him playing the guitar greatly.]
Answered by SAZOO1975 Time
Entry In BTTF III, the 1955 Doc is worried about sending Marty back to a "populated area" in 1855, so he insists on using the drive-in, which is way out of town. However, in BTTF II Doc repeatedly travels back and forth from 1985 to 2015 to 1985 in plain view of any number of onlookers. What could've caused Doc to stop caring if people saw his time machine appear and disappear into and out of thin air? [In 1985 and 2015 people would not have noticed a DeLorean on the streets, as they are used to seeing cars. By going to 1885, there was the added risk of people seeing a car decades before it was common, which would attract a great deal of attention and jeopardy to the time line.]
Answered by Twotall Time
Entry Just before eating the hydrated pizza, Marty says, "I missed that completely," and then nobody seems to want to take a bite. What did he mean by that, and why did nobody want to eat the pizza? [Bits and pieces were cut out of the dinner scene. When Marty says that, he's referring to a cut scene where Lorraine mentions that Uncle Joey was turned down for parole again. As for the pizza, no one does take a bite but it seems for reasonable enough reasons. Marty Sr appeared as if he was letting the pizza cool off, Marty Jr was trying to get fruit from the overhead fruit holder, and the daughter was answering the phone.]
Time
Entry Can anyone tell me why the role of Jennifer was recast? [Claudia Wells, the actress who played Jennifer in the first film, dropped out of acting shortly after the film was made, apparently for unspecified medical reasons, only returning to acting in 1996. As such, she was simply not available to play the part.]
Answered by Tailkinker Time
Entry How did Marty get by Biff's security downstairs when he confronts him in the hot-tub? [Marty lives there, so security just let him in. The reason they captured him and devlivered him to Biff the first time they saw him was that he was supposed to be in a boarding school overseas. The security guys knew Biff would want an explanation about why he came back home. Alternatively he was dropped off on the roof by Doc.]
Answered by Matty Blast Time
Entry In the scene where Marty's recently purchased sports almanac drops out of its plastic bag, Doc says that he did not invent the time machine for financial gain. In Back to the Future's first Twin Pines Mall scene, Doc says that he'll get to see who wins the next 25 World Series. Can we assume Doc would not have tried to profit from knowing those results in advance? [It seems that, yes, we can assume that. Doc's very clear on the dangers of meddling with the timeline - it's fair to say that he's intelligent enough not to risk it.]
Answered by Tailkinker Time
Entry When Marty came back to 1985 in the first movie, some things had changed. The name of the mall for example went from two Pines Mall to Lone Pine Mall. How come then when Biff comes back to 2015 after stealing the DeLorean, everything seems the same? Wouldn't they notice everything was different when they were flying over Hill Valley to go back, like Biff's casino perhaps? [When Marty returns to 1985, he leaves 1955 after those changes have been made, so he's now in a timeline where the effects of those changes exist. When old Biff went back, he simply gave his younger self the almanac, then returned to 2015 before the younger Biff did anything with it, i.e. before any changes had been made. Old Biff therefore returned to his original unchanged timeline - the timeline split caused by young Biff using the almanac came after his departure, so he didn't enter the altered timestream.]
Answered by Tailkinker Time
Entry Doc knows all the timeline details of Marty Jr's movements on the 2015 day. So I assume to get this detailed of information, he had to have watched/followed him on that day. How come you never see the "other" Doc and time machine anywhere from Docs previous 2015 visit? [Because the Doc we're following would be careful to stay away from the path of the other Doc.]
Time
Entry 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? [If you look carefully, Doc accidently 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.]
Time
Entry How does old Biff know how to operate the time machine? [He doesn't, but it's hardly difficult to work out - the date setting readout is pretty obvious. Biff presumably set the date, then just accelerated the car until the time circuits kicked in.]
Answered by Tailkinker Time
Entry Why was old Biff seemingly in agony when he returned to 2015 after stealing the almanac? Did this have to do with this not being his future anymore? [I saw a behind-the-scenes special about this, and it said the intention was that after giving the book to himself (thereby changing his future) something then happened to Biff after 1985 but before 2015- possibly being killed by Lorraine while they were married. This is why, after changing his past, Biff shouldn't exist in 2015. This incident was never scripted or shot, but that was the idea.]
Time
Entry In the alternative 1985, there is an alternative Biff, Lorraine etc. Shouldn't there also be an alternative Marty and Doc? [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.]
Answered by Tailkinker Time
Entry 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? :). [I was able to recognize the red one that almost hit him. It is a late 1980's Ford Probe. There is also a jeep that flies down that Marty grabs a hold of.]
Time
Entry What is the brand and make of truck which Marty gets at the end of the film? [It appears to be the same truck as the first movie. If so, it would be a mid 1980's model Toytota 4-wheel-drive enhanced with a "lift kit".]
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Entry What is the proposition that Needles offers Marty, which gets him into trouble with the boss? [The movie never states the details of the proposition. The audience is supposed to assume that Needles and Marty had previously talked about it off screen.]
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Entry In the scene where old Marty enters his house and pushes a button, a computer voice says, 'lithium mode on'. What does that mean? [Lithium is used to treat bipolar disease and other mental problems. So 'lithium mode' probably has a calming effect when you're depressed or stressed or whatever.]
Time
Entry In the shot when Doc is in the time machine and it is hit by lightning, it apparently explodes. After the initial explosion you can see what appears to be two backward nines. Does anyone know what this means? [Whenever the Delorean travelled backwards or forwards in time, it would leave tire tracks of flames. There was no reason given, but it was a neat effect. When it was struck, the lightning activated the flux capacitor, etc. and sent Doc and the car back to 1885. The "nines" you saw were just the tire "tracks" in the air, indicating that the Delorean had, in fact, actually gone back in time, and was not destroyed.]
Time

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