chunkz87

Question: When the 1985 Doc is suddenly transported back to 1885 at the end of BTTF 2 and Marty discovers that he has been murdered, because there is a Doc in 1955 that has already been born after the 1985 Doc has died in the West, why did he go to the trouble of going all the way back to 1885 when Doc was still alive? Is there any actual legitimate time travel reason for this, or did he just do it out of instinct to help his close friend?

chunkz87

Chosen answer: According to the letter, Doc plans to live out his life in 1885. But as it turns out, Doc gets murdered a week after sending the letter. Knowing that Doc's plan to live out his life don't come to fruition, and because he's a good friend, Marty travels to 1885 to save him.

JC Fernandez

Answer: Technically when Doc got transported to 1885, he should not have existed in 1955 because he died. This is the problem I'm having with part 3. The movie should not have happened this way. It should have been where doc did not exist nor the time machine. Part 3 should've never happened.

That's not how most time travel (if any) stories work. Just because someone dies in the past doesn't prevent them from being born since they were already born and alive before going to the past. Think of it this way, if instead of 1885 he travelled to 2085 and died, would that prevent him from being born? The only reason Marty was in danger of disappearing and not existing (i.e. being born) was because his parents were in danger of never getting together.

Bishop73

It was the 1985 Doc that went back to 1885 so he would still be alive in 1955.

The Doc that got sent to 1885 was the Doc from 1985 so therefore it wouldn't have affected 1955 Doc at all.

The one in 1955 hasn't done anything 1985 Doc did.

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