calidude

Corrected entry: When Marty buys the sports almanac, how does he get the money to do it? Considering a Pepsi costs 50 bucks, the almanac probably costs several hundred dollars. How many teens from the 1980's just happened to have that amount of money in their wallet at any given moment? He didn't get the money from Doc since Doc didn't even know he bought it until after the fact.

calidude

Correction: He used his thumb. We see Future Biff use his thumb to pay for the taxi.

People who use their thumbs have a recognised fingerprint with an account in which you add money onto. I use my own at school. Since Marty isn't from 2015, he doesn't have one.

But there is a Marty in 2015 with the same thumbprint that would be recognized by the reader, so yes, 1985 Marty could use it.

jimba

Correction: The Store also buys money, so he pays with money from his pocket the novel states this exact thing.

Kevin l Habershaw

Corrected entry: Early in the film, Mr. Strickland tells Marty that he is a slacker and that he reminds him of his father because he was a slacker too. However, it is extremely unlikely that Mr. Stickland should even remember who George McFly is. How many school administrators can remember some random student from 30 years prior? It would make more sense if he was George's teacher because teachers can have a close relationship with their students, but as a school administrator, there have literally been tens of thousands of students under his watch during his 30 year tenure at Hill Valley High School. It's not as if George ever did anything to stand out. He was not a star athlete or a valedictorian and never did anything noteworthy in his life in the original timeline. He was not a troublemaker either, so it's not as if he would have spent a lot of time in Strickland's office. He should have been a nameless face in the crowd as far as Strickland was concerned, so hard to believe he would still remember such a random person after 30 years. I have only been out of high school for 13 years myself and if I ran into my old principal in the street tomorrow, I can guarantee that he wouldn't be able to remember me to save his life.

calidude

Correction: George did do something to stand out. He did nothing! Strickland hates slackers and clearly remembers them. One of my guidance counselors in jr. high was my father's guidance counselor and knew exactly who my father was based on my last name alone 21 years later. Some people just have very good memories for names and faces.

Grumpy Scot

My Elementary School Principal still remembers me by full name and I it's been 30 years since I was his student so yes, it's possible.

Corrected entry: Considering the sports almanac contains 50 years of statistics in all major sports, it is very small and thin, about the size of a magazine. This would work if it only contained major sporting event results (super bowl, world series) but obviously it doesn't. It has results from horse races in small towns like Hill Valley listed and regular season college football scores. The font size of the printing in the book would literally have to be microscopic in order to contain all the info it does. Even college football alone, listing just Division 1 teams, would require several hundred pages.

calidude

Correction: Based on the information in the film, we actually know very little about the almanac itself. It could just be a local or regional publication, and therefore focus on a limited range of scores/results. Granted, the font would have to be quite small, but not unmanageable (especially if there were no graphics).

Xofer

1st Dec 2010

The Terminator (1984)

Corrected entry: Early in the film, when Kyle first arrives in 1984, he steals a homeless man's pants and cops chase after him for it. It is very unlikely that police would chase after a man with that kind of intensity simply for taking a homeless man's pants. The cops would have bigger priorities than that.

calidude

Correction: The cops are chasing Reese before they encounter the homeless (and pantless) man. Maybe to question him about the immense lightning and wanton destruction that had gone on in the alley just moments prior?

Twotall

Corrected entry: When Marty's son walks by young Jennifer in the hallway of his home, he thinks is the older Jennifer and says "Hi mom, nice pants". Later at dinner, Marty Sr. and Lorraine are talking about how Jennifer is late coming home. Marty Jr. is sitting right there and doesn't even mention how he just saw his mom in the hallway.

calidude

Correction: He is occupied with the retractable fruit plate and glasses phone.

Correction: He's a teenage boy. Not always the most observant or helpful.

shortdanzr

Corrected entry: In the year 2015, Marty's daughter Marlene is telling Lorraine that the reason the scenery channel isn't working is because the scene screen repairman called Marty a chicken and Marty threw him out of the house. Why would the repairman call Marty a chicken? Nothing at all makes sense about this, what could possibly provoke a repairman to call the owner of the home he was working in a chicken ? Even if Marty was rude to him, it would make more sense to just call him a jerk, not a chicken. Calling him a chicken likely means he was goading him into a fight and there is no logical reason for some repairman to want to pick a fight with someone he is servicing.

calidude

Correction: As we have no information regarding what happened, it is somewhat absurd to attempt to base a mistake on personal speculation regarding a trivial conversation that took place off-screen. It is unlikely, yes, that a repairman would call a client a chicken, however, as we are not made aware of any other details of the incident, it certainly cannot be said that it could not have happened.

Tailkinker

Correction: It is a play on Marty's peculiar personality trait of being easily provoked to take unreasonable action when being called a chicken. A habit he cannot kick and probably has become known for ever since breaking his wrist in 1985. We even see Needles push his buttons with it. Apparently, the repair man tried the same.

Corrected entry: After Marty changes things and returns to 1985, he finds his brother Dave is more successful and now has an office job. So why is Dave still living at home with his parents?

calidude

Correction: This has already been asked. He never says he lives there. He may be just having breakfast with his sister and parents on his way to the office. Also, if he's living with his parents, it wouldn't be a mistake. Many young adults continue to live with their parents, just because they don't have to spend extra money.

Corrected entry: When Marty first enters Lou's cafe in 1955, Lou is visibly angry at Marty just because he won't order something right away. However, he doesn't seem to care that one of his paying customers, George McFly, is being harassed by Biff and his gang and told never to come in there again. You would think Lou would tell Biff and Co. to knock it off or else be asked to leave.

calidude

Correction: George had already paid for his cereal, what does Lou care? Biff and Co. are paying customers on occasion too, he wouldn't want to alienate them either. Especially considering they're likely to vandalize his restaraunt in retaliation.

Phixius

Corrected entry: Lorraine thinks Marty's name is Calvin Klein because she said it was written on his underwear. Actually, it's stitched on, which should tip her off that the underwear was made that way when it was manufactured, not written on.

calidude

Correction: Ever heard of embroidery? It's the process of using a needle and thread to put images or letters on cloth by hand. Lorraine undoubtedly assumed "Calvin's" mother had embroidered his underwear.

Phixius

Corrected entry: After Marty returns to 1985, he discovers that he now has the new Toyota truck he wanted, while the rest of his family is forced to share one car. Why would Marty, the youngest of the siblings, who is still in high school, have his own brand new truck while his older siblings and both parents have to share one other vehicle?

calidude

Correction: We only see one vehicle other than the truck, this does not mean it is the only other vehicle. We only know that Marty's older brother uses the car to go to work.

Phixius

Corrected entry: Marty gives Goldie Wilson the idea to run for mayor before Goldie thought of it himself. Suppose now that Goldie runs for mayor before he is supposed to and loses the election and it ends his political career, thereby disrupting history.

calidude

Correction: So what? Marty changes lots of things during his time in the past, ranging from the very minor - Twin Pines Mall becoming Lone Pine Mall - to the really quite major - his parents' entire personalities and futures. History's already disrupted to a significant degree, one more thing, particularly one that, as far as we know, didn't happen, is hardly mistake-worthy.

Tailkinker

"You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!" We know for a fact that Goldie still becomes Mayor as when Doc and Marty travel to 2015, Goldie Wilson III does an ad for Wilson hover conversion systems and states "When my Grandpa was Mayor of Hill Valley..." So whether or not he won or lost the first time is irrelevant, he eventually becomes Mayor as does his son.

Corrected entry: The lightning bolt hitting the clock tower should not have stopped the clock because the clock is not electrical, it's mechanical.

calidude

Correction: Electricity arcing between metal parts can melt them.

Grumpy Scot

Corrected entry: When Marty is hit by Lorraine's dad, it is right in front of the Baines house. If he was right in front of his house, then why was he driving so fast? He should have been slowing down to pull into the driveway or park, but he appears to still be going at a pretty good speed.

calidude

Correction: There's any number of reasons. Maybe he's just a reckless driver, maybe he was headed to the store after work to pick something up and his house happened to be between the store and his job. Just because you don't know why something happened does not make it a mistake.

Phixius

Corrected entry: After Marty reunites his parents, he and his siblings all reappear in the photo and all is well. However, in order for Marty and his brother and sister to exist again, it would mean that Marty's parents would have to have sex at the exact same moment all three times to conceive them. Even if they were a few seconds off, it wouldn't be the exact same three kids. Similar maybe, but not exact. Now that George is more successful, he will be doing many things differently in his life so the chances of him and Lorraine having sex at the exact same millisecond all three times to have those exact three kids is beyond astronomical.

calidude

Correction: This is purely speculative. There is no way anyone (other than the filmmakers) can say what "should" have happened in the altered timeline. The odds may be astronomical, but the odds are certainly better than the odds of a plutonium-powered, time-travelling Delorean being invented.

JC Fernandez

Corrected entry: When doc picks out clothes for Marty to wear to the old west, Marty asks if they are authentic, so Doc says "sure, haven't you ever seen a western?" Considering Doc is supposedly a genius and the old west is his favorite historical era (he himself said it was his favorite era in part 2) he should know that Hollywood's version of old west clothing and the reality of it are two different things. Doc should know better than to base his knowledge on Hollywood films.

calidude

Correction: This is 50's Doc Brown talking, not 80's Doc Brown. It is 80's Doc Brown who tells Marty that the "Old West" is his favorite era. It's entirely possible that 50's Doc Brown hadn't yet done the research 80's Doc Brown had no doubt made.

Phixius

Corrected entry: When Marty is trying to prove to Doc that he is from the future, he shows him his driver's license and the photo of himself and his siblings. Doc immediately dismisses them both. Doesn't Doc notice that the quality of the color in the photos is much better than any color film that existed in the 1950's? Wouldn't that grab his attention?

calidude

Correction: If he actually took the time to examine it, maybe. Think about it, if someone walked up and told you he was from the future and showed you a document to prove it, would you believe him and examine it or humor the weirdo and get away as quick as you could?

Grumpy Scot

This is taken out of context. Doc didn't really want to see it, Marty was pushing it in his face to prove he is from 1985. He was humouring him but as a scientist, he was struck by curiosity. He would have at least looked.

He wasn't curious at all.

lionhead

Corrected entry: After Marty burns the sports almanac, it is only burning for a few moments before it begins to pour rain. There was not enough time to burn the whole book, considering he started the fire with some cheap matches and no gas or lighter fluid to make it burn faster. Some of the pages may have survived. There would have been water damage from the rain on the remaining pages for sure, but a few pages may have still survived and have been legible enough for a passerby (or maybe even the western union guy) to be able to read and use to make bets.

calidude

Correction: Yes, but since Marty and Doc see the timeline change in response, it was enough to do the job.

Grumpy Scot

Corrected entry: Doc begins telling Marty about his accident with Rolls-Royce, before stopping himself and telling Marty it's better that he doesn't know. How exactly did Doc find out about the Rolls-Royce incident in the first place? When Doc was in the year 2015, he didn't actually talk to Marty or any of his family or Needles, so who told him about the Rolls-Royce incident? At that point, it had happened 30 years prior, so it's doubtful that a minor car crash from 1985 would still be the talk of the town in 2015.

calidude

Correction: In BTTF Part 2, they are there to rescue Marty's son going to jail, which in turn puts his daughter in jail. Doc said he did some research and found that the McFly family gets destroyed, that he traced the fall of the McFlys to that incident of Marty Jr committing the crime with Griff. He obviously found out about the accident while doing the research. Even Jennifer found out about the accident by overhearing family chatter, so it was no secret amongst the McFlys. Also keep in mind, in part one Doc does go to the future, but he is back before we see what he was up to. Marty did tell Doc to look him up when he gets there, so maybe he did speak to Marty.

jshy7979

Correction: A Rolls Royce is hardly a minor car to have an accident with. They are such a rare car, one being in an accident in Hill Valley would be unusual enough to be news.

rswarrior

Corrected entry: When Seamus McFly goes to comfort his crying baby son William, we can see that he is a very affectionate father. This was practically unheard of in the 19th century. Children were routinely beaten for even the smallest infractions at the time, it was the norm. Since William was only an infant, I doubt he would be beaten, but his father would not be so kind towards him either. His attitude would be more like "shut up kid, what are you crying about now?". The whole concept of being affectionate towards one's children is more of a 20th century idea.

calidude

Correction: And yet people are different, no matter the age or cultural norms. Some people are just nicer than others, it has nothing to do with some preconceived notion of how societal norms were for any given time. When my father was a child, it was acceptable to give a wife a backhand if she "got out of line", but he never did.

rswarrior

Correction: It was not unheard of in 1885. Showing affection to children became a trend as early as the 1850s.

Corrected entry: At one point in the film, Benjamin de-ages too quickly. In 1941, in a scene taking place just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he is shown as having a head of severely thinning white hair (long white hair, but thin on top). Four years later, in 1945, he has a full head of thick blonde hair, without so much as a receding hairline. If you reverse it in terms of a normal aging person, this means in only 4 years his hair very noticeably thinned out and turned from completely blonde to completely white. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the film, in which he seems to de-age at a more normal rate.

calidude

Correction: I know several people who went bald before they were out of high school. That's only four years.

Phixius

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