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[xabre]

I hadn't seen these movies in as long as I can remember so I watched all three back-to-back the other day and have reconfirmed my long held suspicion that the second one is my favourite in the series. Oh and the third one wasn't as bad as I thought either, but not in the class of the other two. So it sort of goes like this -

Part 2 >> Part 1 >>> Part 3

I like the continuity between the movies, the clock tower for example which plays an important role in the trilogy, from protesters trying to preserve it in 1985, to it being hit by lightning in 1955, Biff's grandson going through it in 2015 and its construction in 1885. Then you have the various family lines like Marty's, Biff's or Strickland's.

There is a potential plothole (or paradox) in the third movie however which everyone probably knows about already. Marty stumbles on Doc's grave in the 50's which says he was shot in the back and killed by Mad Dog Tannon, problem is that it is Marty that triggers the initial confrontation between them when he goes back to 1885, yet when he looked at the gravestone he obviously hadn't went back in time yet. Furthermore, the gravestone also notes Doc's mistress Clara which the Doc only met through working with Marty.

 

[belgurdo]

Man, I wished they'd had made a fourth movie instead of the cartoon

I also wish they made hoverboards

 

[Hournda]

I think the assumption is that Doc would've had a confrontation with Biff and met Clara anyway regardless of whether Marty showed up or not. When he showed up he just helped Doc do those things in a different way, but with the same result (until the grave was starting to change to have Marty's name on it until he won the fight).

 

[aparisi2274]

I have seen these movies so many times I should teach a college course of them. There are many instances in the movie where the future would get messed up.

Marty spends a week in 1955, in BTTF1, has his mom fall in love with him, she kisses him at the dance, see's him in his underwear, and yet when he goes back to 1985, neither Lorraine or George recognize him. I mean fine, ok, a week in a life over 30 years ago is a good scapegoat as to why they dont recognize him, but still, at least say "you look familiar" I mean he had a big impact in getting them together in 1955. He told them that if they have kids and one of them accidently sets fire to living room rug, go easy on him, and then they say "Marty, such a nice name" Now dont u think that when he did set fire to the living room rug, they would have looked at each other, and said "Hey how did he know that"

I am sure there are more, but that is the biggest I can think of.

Also if you want a really good back to the future site, check out

www.bttf.com

 

[xabre]

I also wish they made hoverboards

You know I've wondered how to make one of these things for a while. Maybe you could stick some small high powered jets in the bottom of the thing and internal electronics to keep the thing nice and balanced but then propulsion and especially energy source is a bit of a problem. Somehow I don't think treating it like a skateboard (and pushing air with your foot) would work too well.

I think the assumption is that Doc would've had a confrontation with Biff and met Clara anyway regardless of whether Marty showed up or not.

Yeah, I suppose you have no choice but to assume this would've been the case. Doc did owe Biff the 80 dollars after all.

Now dont u think that when he did set fire to the living room rug, they would have looked at each other, and said "Hey how did he know that"

You just have to take the assumption that significant time is passed (i.e. 20-30 years) and that all the characters in the movie suffer from some form on amnesia.

 

[Guzim]

Furthermore, the gravestone also notes Doc's mistress Clara which the Doc only met through working with Marty.

1885 without Marty = Doc picks Clara up at train station, falls in love right there.
1885 with Marty = Doc and Marty rescue Clara, Doc falls in love. Since Marty was in 1885 Doc forgot to pick up Clara at the train station.

 

[belgurdo]

Something else to ponder: How come Doc's staying in 1885 (and having kids, no doubt) not mess up anything or create a parallel world afterwards? I'd imagine that creating a whole new bloodline would change a shitload of things...

 

[NotMSRP]

Maybe use strong electro-magnetic forces on hoverboards to make a real one because it's stronger than gravity?

 

[xabre]

What about this - When old man Biff steals the Almanac and goes back to 1955, why is the future Hill Valley he comes back to in 2015 the same as the one he left in 2015? Shouldn't an alternate 2015 have been created like an alternate 1985 was created?

 

[AniHawk]

I also liked the second movie best (like the Star Wars Original Trilogy). The first movie was also great though (like the Star Wars Original Trilogy). Didn't like the third as much, but it was still enjoyable.

I also wondered why the hell they didn't recognize Marty in the future. Or notice anything weird about "Darth Vader," "Vulcan," or Johnny B. Goode.

 

[aparisi2274]

What about this - When old man Biff steals the Almanac and goes back to 1955, why is the future Hill Valley he comes back to in 2015 the same as the one he left in 2015? Shouldn't an alternate 2015 have been created like an alternate 1985 was created?

No. U see when he came back to 2015, and he was clutching his chest and then fell over, what u didnt see was that he dissapeared because in the alt. 2015 or sometime before then in the Alt. universe Lorraine shot him, so he didnt exist in that time.

 

[aparisi2274]

Maybe use strong electro-magnetic forces on hoverboards to make a real one because it's stronger than gravity?

I remember when BTTF2 came out, and they were asking Zemeckis if the hoverboards are real and he said yes, and that they would be out soon. Someone asked how they would work, and he said that their were magnets on the bottom that reacted with the natural magnetic fields on earth, and made the board hover. Man did he get me good. I really thought it was true.

 

[DJ_Tet]

I remember when BTTF2 came out, and they were asking Zemeckis if the hoverboards are real and he said yes, and that they would be out soon. Someone asked how they would work, and he said that their were magnets on the bottom that reacted with the natural magnetic fields on earth, and made the board hover. Man did he get me good. I really thought it was true.

You and me both I'd still kill for a hoverboard.

Count me down as another Future fan who loved part 2, dispite it's commercialism.

Part 1 is a classic, but Part 2 had more personality for me. Part 3 was ok, but I HATE western settings, they're just so bland and cliched.

 

[ckohler]

mean fine, ok, a week in a life over 30 years ago is a good scapegoat as to why they dont recognize him, but still, at least say "you look familiar" I mean he had a big impact in getting them together in 1955.

Long term memory is usually bad, even in real life. I think it's safe to assume the movie uses this as a device to explain away these things.

For example, as the viewers we know Marty looked exactly like "Calvin Kline" but what we didn't see was his parents watching Marty grow up for over 16 years from an infant. They've seen Marty's face much, much more than they ever saw Calvin's. So, it's reasonable to assume that if they ever thought that Marty and "Calvin" look the same, they're memory was probably off or that they can't remember what Calvin looked like.

Same goes for the the whole "Darth Vader from Planet Vulcan" bit. Even if his dad remembers those names (unlikely) he might have just assumed it was a coincidence since he heard them uttered over 20 years ago. In fact, the movie ends with his dad writing a sci-fi novel based on the encounter which, judging from the cover, has no connection to Star Trek or Star Wars. He probably didn't even make the connection.

Just my thoughts.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'm another guy who likes Part II the best. So many different things happen to appeal to the time travel whore in me. Four distinctly different settings, a skewed timeline, and actually doubling back into the same period of time as the first movie has to be one of the coolest things I'll ever see in a movie. Also Wallet Guy.

I think the assumption is that Doc would've had a confrontation with Biff and met Clara anyway regardless of whether Marty showed up or not. When he showed up he just helped Doc do those things in a different way, but with the same result (until the grave was starting to change to have Marty's name on it until he won the fight).

Exactly. Doc had been asked to pick up Clara at the train station, which is presumably where they did meet the first time around. That didn't happen due to Doc's decision to avoid meeting her, but then her horses got spooked by a snake and they met in a more dramatic fashion. Similarly, Tannen and Doc would still have been arguing over the matter of the 80 dollars, and he likely was shot at the dance.

Marty spends a week in 1955, in BTTF1, has his mom fall in love with him, she kisses him at the dance, see's him in his underwear, and yet when he goes back to 1985, neither Lorraine or George recognize him. I mean fine, ok, a week in a life over 30 years ago is a good scapegoat as to why they dont recognize him, but still, at least say "you look familiar" I mean he had a big impact in getting them together in 1955. He told them that if they have kids and one of them accidently sets fire to living room rug, go easy on him, and then they say "Marty, such a nice name" Now dont u think that when he did set fire to the living room rug, they would have looked at each other, and said "Hey how did he know that"

Hell, I was in high school 5 years ago and many people seem hazy enough in memory. Let alone someone I only spent a few (albeit significant) hours with. And of course, it's possible George and Lorraine do think he looks somewhat similar, but it's not considered a big enough deal to be brought up in the small part of their improved life we see. As for the rug fire... it's entirely possible this didn't even happen in the new timeline.

OOOR the "time travel amnesia" sort of effect has to be considered, too. After all, we HAVE to accept this for Back to the Future III to not seem like a mess; the older Doc obviously doesn't remember the most recent activities we've seen the younger Doc doing earlier in the film, needing to be informed of them by Marty.

Something else to ponder: How come Doc's staying in 1885 (and having kids, no doubt) not mess up anything or create a parallel world afterwards? I'd imagine that creating a whole new bloodline would change a shitload of things...

Yeah, that is true. However, we really don't know what becomes of them once Doc creates the train time machine; perhaps they do move to the future (as happened in the cartoon and many fanfics) for these reasons.

What about this - When old man Biff steals the Almanac and goes back to 1955, why is the future Hill Valley he comes back to in 2015 the same as the one he left in 2015? Shouldn't an alternate 2015 have been created like an alternate 1985 was created?

I've heard it suggested that since they're supposed to be in a pretty skanky part of town anyway, that things in fact COULD have changed without notice. And though it's not mentioned in the movies themselves, either Zemeckis or Gale said they figured that in the "rich Biff" timeline Lorraine probably ended up shooting him in 1996 or so; which might help explain why there didn't appear to be the most obvious signs of the alternate 1985 (demolished cars, chalk outlines, roaming packs of dogs).

 

[ckohler]

And though it's not mentioned in the movies themselves, either Zemeckis or Gale said they figured that in the "rich Biff" timeline Lorraine probably ended up shooting him in 1996 or so; which might help explain why there didn't appear to be the most obvious signs of the alternate 1985 (demolished cars, chalk outlines, roaming packs of dogs).

Like aparisi2274 said, in the "extended/deteted" version of that scene on the DVD, Biff not only falls over beside a dumpster he actually fades away as if being erased from the timeline.

In the original theatrical version he just appears to be wheezing and out of breath and then the scene changes. They didn't show him disappearing. I always just assumed he was having a heart attack because he was old and just went on his little adventure thru time. It turns out he was actually falling over because he was being erased.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

John Titor, Worldlines.

'Nuff Said.

 

[FortNinety]

The more I see part 2, the more painful it is. I highly doubt we will get our hoverboards, flying cars, or Mr. Fusions in the next 11 years

 

[DyersEve]

Though i havent seen the 3rd film in a while, wasnt Clara supposed to have died when her horses got spooked. I think she was supposed to have fallen in the ravine, I think it was even named after her in original timeline.

 

[MrPing1000]

This thread is proof to why Back to the Future rocks so much

 

[Joe]

Lorraine...you're my density.

 

[aparisi2274]

You know I still have the DVD set where they framed the WS version wrong on BTT2 and 3. I wonder if Universal will still fix it

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Though i havent seen the 3rd film in a while, wasnt Clara supposed to have died when her horses got spooked. I think she was supposed to have fallen in the ravine, I think it was even named after her in original timeline.

Originally: There's noone to meet Clara, so she goes off on her own, and presumably the horse thing happens because she ends up dying in the ravine.

Then: Doc is in 1885, so he picks her up at the station and she doesn't die. Even though Marty wasn't present for this he still remembers the original version; it's not made clear-cut why that is, other than that it works well for the fiction.

Finally: Doc and Marty are in 1885, so Doc doesn't pick her up. Horses go nuts, but she is saved.

 

[Guzim]

The more I see part 2, the more painful it is. I highly doubt we will get our hoverboards, flying cars, or Mr. Fusions in the next 11 years

Or pizza hydrators

 

[aparisi2274]

Originally: There's noone to meet Clara, so she goes off on her own, and presumably the horse thing happens because she ends up dying in the ravine.

Then: Doc is in 1885, so he picks her up at the station and she doesn't die. Even though Marty wasn't present for this he still remembers the original version; it's not made clear-cut why that is, other than that it works well for the fiction.

Finally: Doc and Marty are in 1885, so Doc doesn't pick her up. Horses go nuts, but she is saved.

When they are both in 1885 and they are looking at the map, Doc says this rail line goes all the way out to Clayton ravine, but on this map it says Shonash. Then they remember what the mayor said about picking up Clara and then they save her, and Marty was like "Oh Shit. Clayton ravine. It was named that because a teacher fell in over 100 yrs ago, and we all have teachers we want to see in their" So they remember because if they dont eventually save her she will fall into the ravine and they keep their memory of that timeline and if they would have went back to 1985 right then, it would still be called Clayton ravine, because they never saved her. Since they saved her, but they were still from the old time line they keep their memories of it. Its just like in BTTF2, when they go back to 1985A, they still have memories of 1985 because that is where they came from. Usually the timeline changes only affects the people that were around when biff started winning and changing the future.

All though I could be wrong. Thats just my theory.

 

[Guzim]

Another detail I love about BTTF3 is after the train sequence and when Marty returns to 1985, the ravine is now named Eastwood Ravine.