Corrected entry: When Marty and Doc successfully save Marty's son from going to prison in 2015, the USA Today headline spontaneously changes while Marty holds it. If this is possible, then, when Biff steals the DeLorean to deliver the almanac to his younger self, Marty and Doc's memories would be instantly replaced by those of the alternate 1985 - which would mean that Marty would not be baffled by bars on his windows or locks on his gate when he arrives back home there. In fact, they wouldn't have returned to that house at all.
Correction: Throughout the course of the three films physical objects change but Doc and Marty retain the bulk of their memories from alternate time lines, apparently protected from time line changes. Since it's all science fiction we'll have to assume it works the way it is shown in the film.
I would add that there seems to be a proportional relation between the historical event being altered and when the change takes root. Thirty years between alteration and changed result seems to take nearly a week. The event of the arrest and trial is only a day (two at most) in the future. Thus, presto-changeo.
The newspaper regarding George McFly changes after less than a minute as well, and that paper was published in 1973, so some doubt about the proportionality idea there.
Question: During the chase scene, Marty jumps into the water at one end to avoid getting hit by Griff. A few seconds later Marty is out of the water at the other end and climbing up stairs. How did he get to the other end so quickly? Why is he climbing up the stairs after being in the water at the other end of the pond?
Answer: While a few seconds of screen time passed, it was just a cut so we don't know how much time actually passed, but enough time for a crowd to gather and the police to show up. Some of the mall shops were located underground and there may have been an entrance/exit tunnel near the courthouse that Marty ran down after getting out of the pond. The movie doesn't explain it though. If there were stairs going underground near the courthouse, it would make sense Marty runs down them to avoid the crowd coming towards him and the courthouse.
No, that would mean we have to assume certain things. And the fact that Marty appeared coming up the steps, well, it just doesn't make sense because A) we did not see him go to the steps and B) there could NOT be any way to get to the steps from the water.
We didn't see him go to the steps because the scene wasn't continuous, but to say he couldn't get to the steps from the water also means you have to assume certain things. My statement that there would be two sets of steps leading underground on either side of the shops isn't an illogical assumption like your assumption.
Answer: After Griff and gang crashed into the courthouse, Marty grabbed the hoverboard and swam to the other side of the pond so he could get out faster.
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? :).
Corrected entry: At the end of BTTF, Doc, Marty and Jennifer take off for the future. In BTTF2, they arrive 30 years later and see themselves. Impossible! They would have been inside the time machine (as far as those left behind are concerned) for 30 years. Marty and Jennifer were gone from 1985 to 2015 as far as he and everyone else knows. I can prove this by using the first movie. When Einstein goes into the future one minute, he was gone for a minute as far as Doc and Marty were concerned, even though the trip was instantaneous to Einstein.
Correction: Wrong - the reason Einstein is completely gone for that minute is because he never goes back to the time he left. While Marty, etc. go 30 years into the future, they will eventually go back to 1985 and live the rest of their lives, therefore he can exist in the future.
The whole point and premise of BTTF is that Time is very surely linear, such that altering the past changes the future in such a way that time travellers can even erase themselves from existence. The BTTF story is not about alternate timelines, it's about the pitfalls of travelling in linear Time.
The way time travel works in the BTTF trilogy is that time jumps don't happen until we actually see them happen. Marty and Jennifer have not yet returned to 1985, so they obviously could not yet have lived out their lives to 2015. Also, the Marty we see in 2015 had his accident with the Rolls Royce, and when Marty finally does return to 1985 he avoids that accident, meaning that the Marty we see in 2015 can't possibly be from the timeline where Marty returned to 1985.
The original correction is correct. Everything happens simultaneously, for the time machine time doesn't matter whether it's the past of future. So the fact that Marty and Jen go back is important. Because going back makes it likes the travel to the future never happened. Because, and I want to make this absolutely clear, them returning means they travelled back in time again and that has more impact than only going to the future (which is what we are all doing all the time).
Plot hole: If Old Biff changed his past and went back to 2015, he goes back to HIS future, not the bad future, but Doc later tells Marty that if he were to go to the future to stop Biff from taking the almanac, he'd go to the bad future, so Old Biff technically shouldn't have been able to return to "his" future at all.
Suggested correction: The effects of the past being altered may not have happened immediately. It is possible that it took time for the timelines to adjust to the changes of events, meaning enough time would have passed to change 1985 when they return, but not enough time could have passed to change 2015. By the time Doc says if they went back to 2015 they would be going to an alternate future, some time has passed, so the effects of the past being altered and taking ahold in 2015 and altering it are more likely to have occurred by then.
Here is what you say: "perhaps it took time for the time lines to adjust." What kind of time would timelines take? Time is time, it doesn't take time to change the timeline. That doesn't make any sense. Some people claim it was the DeLorean itself that came back to its own original timeline and only then reset itself in the new one, but then the new timelines being erased later on wouldn't have happened either. So its a genuine plot hole.
It's established in the first film that it takes time for the changes to take effect. Marty and his siblings slowly disappear from the photo, rather than instantly. Although the scene in BTTF2 was deleted, it was filmed showing Biff dying and slowly fading away after his return to his present.
Yet they were restored instantly without any outside influence at the end of the movie. There are a lot of things wrong with this movie and the first one. Old Biff disappearing should mean that Marty and Doc should slowely disappear as well, even the DeLorean. But they didn't, that doesn't make any sense. The point is there is a plot hole, somewhere. To know where all you can do is look at it logically and then you automatically come up with Old Biff going back to the future but not the alternate future. If he did there wouldn't have been a movie, but that's the plot hole.
The timeline didn't change until he made his first bet which was some years I think after receiving it. He immediately travelled forward after giving the act, meaning he will still jump forward to the original future.
The timelines would instantly change, and Old Biff couldn't possibly have returned to "normal" 2015. It's just a poorly-thought-out time travel plot hole (or a deliberate error to expedite the storyline).
Suggested correction: In context, Doc was saying that they couldn't return to 2015 to stop Biff from stealing the time machine, because Biff didn't steal the time machine in the alternate 2015, he only stole it in the original 2015. Marty and Doc didn't stay long enough in 2015 after Biff returned, and that's why they didn't see any differences. Also, though they were unaware of it, Biff was dead in the alternate 2015, so the disasters he caused might have reverted back after his death.
Question: 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?
Chosen answer: 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.
Plus: The pizza looks like a completely inedible prop.
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?
Question: At one point in the film Doc pulls out a case of "emergency money" he's collected from different time periods. When did he have the time to go to all those time periods? Marty went to 1955 and after getting back Doc went to 2015 before coming straight back again to get Marty to go to the future, so when did Doc have the time to go collecting all that money?
Answer: He wouldn't have to travel to the specific time periods to get past money; he could have found ways to procure it in the present (from collectors, museums, banks, etc.) before ever time traveling in the first place.
Answer: He didn't just visit 2015 and came straight back. He had visited more places and spend some time travelling before returning to Marty. He collected all the money in those visits.
Answer: Doc Brown is a resourceful man. Seeing how the bills in his emergency case are pretty crisp and not knowing how many travels he really made, it is only safe to say that he must have found a way to get his hands on those bills. Though his masquerade and "adding of 30 or 40 years to his life" by way of treatment in a rejuvenation clinic may not have been born out of vanity.
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.
Trivia: The voice of Biff's grandmother was provided by Thomas F. Wilson.
Suggested correction: According to The IMDB website, Charles Fleischer who played Terry the Tow Truck Driver and the old man taking donations in 2015, provided the voice of Gertrude Tannen.
And other sites list Wilson as the voice of Gertrude. Neither men are credited for the role and I have yet to see any site list a source for the information.
Https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281486/otherworks.
IMDB is not considered a good source. Plus, on that site the information is given as trivia without a source, any crackpot could have claimed that.
Well until you can show me a confirmed source stating it was anyone else, my correction stands.
But IMDB isn't a confirmed source. Here's a site that lists Wilson as the voice actor, so by your logic the trivia entry stands. https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/Gertrude_Tannen.
On the audio commentary it is stated that the voice of Grandma Tannen is Fleischer. This is stated right after we hear "her" voice when the outside of her house is being shown.
Question: In the alternate 1985, there is an alternate Biff, Lorraine etc. Shouldn't there also be an alternate Marty and Doc?
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.
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.
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.
Corrected entry: You have to really listen carefully but when the Doc says "Griff's gonna ask you about tonight" he says "Biff" by accident. (00:08:45)
Corrected entry: According to Emmet brown, if someone meet with his alternate ego, it will faint or create a "time paradox" that will destroy time, however Biff talks and interact with his alternate ego with no problem.
Correction: First, Doc says this as a warning to Marty; that it *may* happen, not that it *must*. Second, Biff *does* create a time paradox that destroys time. That's why there is an alternate 1985 when Doc and Marty go back. Biff has destroyed the original timeline.
Young Biff doesn't realise he's interacting with himself. He says Old Biff "Claimed to be a distant relative, but that he doesn't see any resemblance."
Corrected entry: Doc and Marty learn the date when Biff was given the Almanac. It turns out that this is also the date of the events in the first film. Doc then surmises that they will not only have to avoid detection by Old Biff but also by their 'other' selves. All that considered, does it not seem a little reckless to return to that date? They have a Time Machine, and the book is useless to Biff until he turns 21 which would be 1958 at the latest. That's a whole three years and Doc could have chosen from any day he wanted to retrieve the book but he picks the day where they run the greatest risk of screwing up time even more. Given that he's always lecturing on the consequences of messing with time, and that their entire future depends on him succeeding, it seems a little out of character for Doc to not even consider the possibility that they go back to a different day.
Correction: It's a calculated risk on Doc's part. On that day, they know where Biff is, they know that the almanac will be out in the open and far easier to get. If they leave it until later, Biff will have had a chance to hide the book away somewhere, making it potentially impossible to locate. And while Biff might not yet be twenty-one, it wouldn't preclude him doing an illicit deal with somebody over that age to place bets on his behalf, thus altering the future. If they go back to the day when he gets the book, it avoids any possibility of Biff altering the timeline. It does open up the possibility of them causing problems, but given that they're both aware of the situation, plus know precisely where their prior selves will be on that night, the risk is relatively minor compared to allowing Biff to hold onto the book for any extended period of time. As for considering this, Doc undoubtedly did, but showing a long-winded justification on-screen would have been somewhat dull and would simply have broken up the flow of the film.
Corrected entry: We all know that Old Biff stole the time-machine, went back to 1955 and gave the book to himself. He also returned the time-machine to Marty and Doc. WHY? He actually gave them the ability to restore the past. Why didn't Old Biff just keep the time-machine?
Correction: Biff doesn't know how time travel works. Presumably, he assumed that if he were to go back to the future, he'd end up in the alternate future he had just created (which would make sense) and become the 'rich' Biff.
Correction: Character choices are not mistakes.
Corrected entry: We see that George McFly died in 1973 when Marty checks the newspaper; the article on the front page says he was murdered, with a sub headline that reads "Local Author Dies." However as we saw in the original Back to the Future, George didn't get his first book until 1985 when Marty came back from 1955. Therefore George was not an author in 1973 when he was murdered. Even if in the alternate future George wrote earlier, when Doc and Marty fixed the future the newspaper should not say "Local Author Honored" because in the non-alternate future he was not an author until 1985.
Correction: His first novel was published in 1985. That doesn't mean other writings of his weren't published prior to 1985.
Correction: The timelines started to diverge in 1955 - no reason to assume changes that were made didn't lead to George publishing his first novel earlier.
But the 'first novel' timeline is in the divergent path. George hadn't published ANYTHING in the original timeline.
Biff also wasn't a Billionaire, gambling was illegal in California and Biff was George's Supervisor in the original timeline. By having the Almanac, Biff altered the future. Therefore, anything in the original timeline is out the window once Biff alters the future.
Question: When Marty arrives back in the alternate 1985, he's attacked by a black man when he unknowingly breaks into what he thought to be his home. Could this man be former mayor Goldie Wilson?
Answer: No, it's a different character and a different actor. Goldie Wilson is played by Donald Fullilove. The dad with the bat who chases Marty out of the house is played by Al White.
That doesn't necessarily mean that it's two different characters; George McFly, for example, was portrayed by both Crispin Glover using archived footage from the first film and Jeffrey Weissman in newly filmed footage. While the character played by Al White is credited simply as "Dad", there's no confirmation either way whether this was an alternate version of Goldie Wilson.
The answer is correct, the Dad is not meant to be Goldie Wilson. In the novelization of the film, he's given the name "Lewis." And while some characters were recast, Donald Fullilove (the actor that played Goldie) himself already appears in "Back to the Future Part II", so it's not like they recast him.
Unless there's any indication it's the same charector, or at least a clue to point in that direction, then there's no reason at all to assume it "might" be.
While there was no clear-cut answer on whether this was Goldie, I think it is safe to assume it is not him. This franchise has shown to make recurring characters very noticeable, even minor ones, such as the homeless man that Marty recognizes in 2 different timelines. Yes, sometimes actors get recast, as they did with George McFly and Jennifer Parker, but they made it quite clear they were playing the same character. I see absolutely nothing that would even suggest this was Goldie Wilson.
Jeffrey Weissman is credited as "George McFly", Crispin Glover is credited as "George McFly (archive footage) ", Donald Fullilove is uncredited but listed as "Goldie Wilson II" (on imdb). Al White being credited as "Dad" actually confirms to a T that he is not "Goldie Wilson" and nothing in that scene even remotely suggests that the family father portrayed by Al White might be Goldie Wilson from 1985-A (other than a viewer seeing a person of color and drawing conclusions). There also is no cause to question whether or not the "Dad" was supposed to be any other person of color seen in any of the 1985 timelines. (Not that another POC in that timeline would come to mind).
Glover is not credited the same way as Fullilove is since he's credited only as "archive footage" and Fullilove is uncredited. Glover doesn't physically appear in part 2 as Fullilove did.
I stand corrected and have edited my post. Thank you.
Answer: Also, the 1985 Goldie Wilson's picture was shown on a moving vehicle in part 1, and he looked very different from the father with the bat in part 2.
Answer: It could not be Goldie Wilson. In 1955, Goldie Wilson looks to be around in his early 20s in the cafe. This would put him to be early 50s in 1985. The father only looks to be in his 30s.
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: We see Biff groan in pain as he returns to 2015 with the stolen DeLorean. In a deleted scene we actually see Biff fade away as he is erased from existence by his actions. I assume this is because an alternate Biff now exists (or could have been killed) and so he is erased from time. If this happens to Biff, why doesn't this happen to Marty, Doc, and Jennifer? They too are replaced by alternate versions of themselves when they return and even before they return to 1985a. 1985a Biff even says in the film that Marty was in school in Switzerland, and Doc has been committed, so they too should fade away as Biff did, shouldn't they? I would say "time" was giving them time enough to correct things like in the 1st movie, but Biff faded away almost a soon as he arrived back in 2015a.
Answer: I read somewhere the reason Biff faded away was Lorraine shot him in the alternate timeline for murdering her husband, George.
I hadn't heard that one, could be in a novelization or something. This is entirely my own speculation with nothing official to support it; however, it could be that because Doc and Marty are trying to correct the timeline, he and his siblings' removal from history happens gradually, as they get closer or further from the act of their trying to set things right. Biff doesn't know or care and is actively trying to change history, so the moment he returns to 2015, he vanishes all at once.
If you have the DVD or Blu-ray, watch the deleted scene of Biff vanishing and turn on the commentary. It will confirm that Biff was murdered, which is why he was erased from existence.
Chosen answer: Biff faded away because he completely changed his own past. When Marty, Doc, and Jennifer return to 1985, they're returning to the alternate timeline that Biff created. They still exist and remember their own history because without it, Biff's timeline couldn't exist and a paradox would be created.
Answer: The comics answer this question. In 1986 in the alternate timeline, Biff forced the committed Doc Brown to send him forward in time to get more sports results, but Doc tricked him and sent him back to 1884 instead, where he was shot by his own great-grandfather Buford. When he reappeared in his current time (that's how the time machine worked in this timeline), he was dead. Old Biff faded from existence because Biff never grew up to become Old Biff (because he was dead), so Old Biff no longer existed.
Answer: 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.
Tailkinker ★
Claudia Wells was unable to reprise her role because her mother had cancer.