Question: When Old Biff arrives back in 2015, after going to 1955 to give his younger self the almanac, he is in pain due to being shot by Lorraine in the alternate past he created, which causes him in turn to fade from existence in 2015. But once Doc and Marty have changed the timeline back to the original 1985 etc, would Old Biff still exist in 2015, or was his fading from existence permanent when it happened?
Answer: He'd have come back into existance. The only reason Marty's fading in the first movie was so critical was because Marty himself was the only one who could fix the timeline. So if he faded before he fixed it he'd have stayed faded because there was no one else who would have been "in the know" to bring him back.
Question: Can anyone explain why Crispin Glover was almost completely edited out of this film? True, his character wasn't that important, but even in 2015 (when he was hanging upside down after throwing out his back), his character was played by another actor.
Answer: Crispin Glover is not in the BTTF sequels (except where footage from the first film was recycled). There are some contradictions as to the whys depending on who you talk to (salary dispute, Glover uninterested in reprising the role, Zemeckis uninterested in working with Glover again, etc.).
Answer: To be honest Glover didn't like the end of part I because the McFlys were rich and love was a better reward, however he complained about not getting as much money as Christopher Lloyd and the others, even Fox. He then sued Universal for using unlicensed footage of him.
His lawsuit was for violating his right of publicity, not for using footage of him. Prosthetics were applied to Jeffery Weissman using an old mold of Crispin Glover to make Weissman look like Glover.
Question: In 1955, after Biff gets knocked out by George, there is one man who repeatedly mentions that Biff might have had his wallet stolen. In this movie, we have seen many past, present, and future versions of people. I was just wondering if this man is also seen in 1985 or 2015?
Answer: According to the actor's page on imdb.com, Wesley Mann's appearance as the "CPR kid" is his only role in the entire trilogy. He could be in another time period in an uncredited role, but it's more likely than not that his only appearance is in 1955.
Question: One thing I never got is why Marty is so shocked that the Cubs won the World Series in 2015. He was then going to say something like "It's just that Miami..." but stops and asks another question. Was it ever said anywhere what he was going to say about Miami? That always perplexed me.
Chosen answer: The Cubs aren't exactly known as World Series contenders. Put it down to bad luck, but over 100 years, they only have one World Series championship. The last time they won the Series was in 1908, and the last time they were even IN the Series was in 1945. Being a Cubs fan myself, Marty's reaction isn't that much of a stretch. The Miami reference is because they didn't have a baseball team in 1985, which is all Marty knows of course. Since the movie was made, however, Miami has acquired an MLB team called the Miami Marlins (formerly the Florida Marlins).
Question: In BTTF III, the 1955 Doc is worried about sending Marty back to a "populated area" in 1885, 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?
Answer: 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.
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: Can anyone tell me why the role of Jennifer was recast?
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.
Question: When Marty came back to 1985 in the first movie, some things had changed. The name of the mall for example went from Twin 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?
Answer: 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.
Question: How does old Biff know how to operate the time machine?
Answer: Old-Biff first comments on the flying DeLorean "I have not seen one of those in 30 years", then he sees what he believes to be two McFly Jr.'s and gets even more suspicious, next he spies on Doc and Marty having an argument about the almanach and how Doc is opposed to time travelling for personal gain! What else does he need to know? And lastly: We're talking about a time machine here! Old-Biff could have stolen it, kept it for how ever long it took him to figure out how it works and returned it at leisure. We don't even have any proof for the days he picked to departed from 2015 or to arrive in 1955. The only verified date is his return from Nov 12 1955 06:38 pm.
Chosen answer: 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.
Answer: It's a plot hole. Biff couldn't have known or suspected the DeLorean's time-travel procedure, which necessarily included Biff setting the precise 1955 destination with no previous instruction. Biff just suddenly "knew" how to operate a time machine. He also changed the timeline by going back to 1955, so there's no way he could have returned to the "normal" 2015. But he does.
It's not totally impossible that Biff knew how to the time dial worked. He wasn't suspecting what it was, he knew it was a time travel machine and thus knew what the dial was for and possibly being technically educated knew how to use the time dial.
We know from the first movie that Biff, by age 48, was waxing cars for a living in 1985. He hardly had a "technical education" and it's doubtful he acquired a technical education by age 78 in the year 2015. It was established in the first movie that he had become a timid underachiever.
Alright I agree, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But he has lived for 78 years by then, till 2015. Even though he has no clue on how the flux capacitor works, he doesn't need to, all he needs to do is work the time circuits, a simple keypad system which even shows which display shows which time. For someone from 2015, it's not so hard to figure out.
Answer: He could have taken however long he wanted to figure it out, as long as he returned it to the exact time he took it from. We don't actually see him time travel with it when he takes it, so, for all we know, he could have taken it to his house and taken the few hours/days he needed to figure out how to use it.
Question: How is Biff from the future able to use the time-machine? He has to: 1) Turn on the time circuits, 2) Set the time destination, 3) Accelerate to 88 MPH, 4) Know to add matter to Mr. Fusion.
Answer: It isn't overly complicated. Once the time circuits are switched on (something you can probably figure out by fiddling with buttons) there is a big section labelled "destination". Logically you would input the day you want to go to. He could then take off and just start driving fast - he wouldn't need to know it has to be 88mph, but the fact that it's built into a car definitely implies speed is necessary. He lives in the future where Mr Fusion exists, so adding stuff to it would just be logical to him.
Question: Marty prevents the bad 1985 by burning the sports almanac in 1955. However this alone won't prevent Old Biff from taking the almanac from 2015 to 1955. Indeed it raises the possibility that OB will remember having lost the almanac as a young man and choose to travel back to a date other than 12.11.55 to hand it over. I can think of three possible resolutions to this problem: (1) Marty makes a note of the date and time, then burns the almanac as a 47-year-old before Old Biff gets it; (2) Marty informs the 1950s Doc of what is to happen and he resolves to make the DeLorean more secure and/or not to throw the almanac in the bin; (3) Doc travels to 2015 in the steam locomotive and burns the almanac. Any other ideas?
Answer: I don't think it works like that. Old Biff came from a timeline that no longer exists, wiped out in favour of a timeline where his younger self becomes hugely rich because of the almanac, which is then ultimately replaced with a timeline where Marty wasn't involved in the car crash and he, and his children, are presumably more successful. In this new timeline, Marty and Doc would never have been to 2015 to try to sort out Marty's wayward children, Marty would never have bought the almanac, the old Biff of that timeline would never have learned about the time machine, and so would never have the idea of taking the discarded almanac back to his younger self, much less changing his date of arrival to try to prevent the theft. Doc and Marty have nothing to worry about.
Question: Does the trilogy stick to a coherent time-travel-logic or is it "mix-and-match"? While it purports to adhere to the "one universe, many detours" theory (which is why Jennifer is save in bad 1985), it also delivers proof for the multiverse theory, unless it's "explained away" such as: Doc was never killed. He already wore a vest (and brought a gun to the meeting with a teenager) because he was a bit paranoid. Since he never really died, there's no parallel timeline required for him to stay dead.
Answer: It's fairly consistent. Changes to the past affect the future, although the time travellers themselves are afforded a bit of convenient wriggle room, like time changing around them, changes not immediately taking effect, etc, so as ever some suspension of disbelief is needed. The timeline changes - originally Doc was killed, Marty went back, gave him a letter, Doc took precautions. That's not the multiverse, that's just the future being changed by actions in the past.
Answer: Why wouldn't they exist? This is a serious question (maybe I am missing something). In BttF, Marty was disappearing because his parents weren't going to get together for him to even exist. In BttF II, his parents got together (Biff says so - he calls George Marty's father) and he was born, so it is very consistent between both movies. So even with an erased timeline, Biff did not erase Marty and his siblings being born. As for the linear time or multi universal, I think the movie is consistent - only the time traveler remembers things that happened before the time traveling began.
Answer: It's completely mix-and-match IMHO. The movies constantly switch between linear and parallel timelines, either making changes affect the time traveller or not, depending on plot convenience. For example, in the first movie Marty is in danger of disappearing unless he gets his parents back together, and fixes it before undoing all he had done himself, which causes a paradox. But then, when he gets back, his parents and siblings are completely different, but Marty is the same person that supposed lived that new life, unreplaced. That simply doesn't make sense in a linear timeline. In the second movie it is even worse, with Marty and Doc still existing in a timeline erased by Old Biff with the sports almanac, for plot convenience.
Question: The mechanic tells Biff the price of Biff's car is $300. Does that include the damage Biff caused to the truck he hit if the first film and also the price of the horse manure that had to be hauled away? I know Biff goes into a store across the street for a few seconds so we don't hear part of the argument. Wouldn't Biff have to pay more than $300, or was the $300 just for the car itself?
Answer: Remember that Biff's car was going very slowly and hit side on to the back of a much larger truck. It didn't damage the truck, it only caused the manure to come out.
Answer: The mechanic does mention the horse manure in the dialog of the $300 but truck is not mentioned so it's unknown.
Chosen answer: It was never really mentioned in any of the movies whether he is in a relationship with someone. Biff could have very well been, it's just never shown because he is at the McFly house in most of his on-screen time.
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