Questions tagged [back-to-the-future]
Directed in 1985 by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the first of a trilogy of comedy adventure movies involving time-travel to different periods of a fictional Californian town.
48
questions
7
votes
1
answer
327
views
Did Doc Brown send his clocks 25 minutes into the future?
In the opening scene of Back to the Future, Marty arrives at Doc's place to play guitar. After blowing himself across the room 🤣, Doc calls Marty on the phone. In the middle of the conversation, ...
- 193
46
votes
1
answer
18k
views
Why was Pepsi free in 1985?
In Back to the Future, when Marty is stuck in the past, he visits a known diner from his timeline and asks the server about the phone booth and the address of Doc Brown. The server angrily asks him &...
- 12k
3
votes
1
answer
319
views
Why does Marty give the colt peacemaker to Seamus at the end of Back to the Future Part 3?
Everything seems to have some sort of meaning, but the peacemaker just feels random.
- 41
-4
votes
4
answers
484
views
Loop of Marties in Back to the Future 1
First of all, this is just a question based on my curiosity. It can seem pointless and illogical because of some missing piece of information, but I am asking it anyway based on my understanding of ...
- 101
-4
votes
1
answer
145
views
What do the red fox and scorpion tail represent in these movies? [closed]
The same red fox and scorpion tail logos appear in Back to the Future and The Monster Squad:
Has anyone noticed this same image before? Is this just an image directors throw in their movies as an ...
- 7
56
votes
1
answer
8k
views
How was the DeLorean perceived in 1985?
The DMC DeLorean is now seen as an iconic car. Everyone knows it today because of Back to the Future, but back in 1985, how was it seen?
In 1984, when Back to the Future was filmed, the DMC DeLorean ...
- 2,656
32
votes
3
answers
10k
views
Why did Marty McFly need to look up Doc Brown's address in 1955?
At the beginning of Back to the Future, it is clear that in 1985 Marty McFly knows where Doc Brown lives.
Why then did he look up Doc Brown's address in a 1955 phone book? Doesn't he already know ...
- 1,349
-4
votes
2
answers
373
views
Shouldn’t they end up in space (because the earth moves over time)?
The earth is moving and so is the solar system, so shouldn’t they end up in space every time they travel through time?
- 13
0
votes
1
answer
224
views
How is past Marty paradox explained in the Back to the Future series?
So Marty's parents are supposed to meet after his dad gets hit by his grandpa's car. The mom and dad relive the stories about it.
After Marty time travels he is basically in their faces for a week ...
- 1,127
5
votes
2
answers
58k
views
Did Doc Brown warn Marty to never travel to 2020 or what year did he warn about?
The premise of this question is that I remember Doc Brown warning Marty to never travel to a particular year but I do not remember which year it was.
There is this meme (shown below) that makes it ...
- 287
4
votes
1
answer
293
views
In BTTF, Did Marty make his first jump in the Twin Pines car park on purpose?
When Marty goes for 2nd gear at the beginning of Back to the Future, he accidentally turns on the time circuits in the DeLorean for the first time, then switches it off again when he goes into 3rd.
...
- 41
8
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Why was the DeLorean covered by ice?
In the first time-jump, where Einstein moves 1 minute into the future on the parking lot, the DeLorean arrives covered by ice. It never happens again for the remainder of the series, if I'm not ...
- 27.7k
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Bottle cap in Back to the Future
In Back to the Future Marty has trouble opening a glass bottle, because he assumes that the bottle can be opened by twisting off the cap, which implies to me, that he has no idea, that he has to use a ...
- 203
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Would the Post Office really deliver a letter decades after postage like in Back To The Future?
Not that it ruins my enjoyment of the movie, but I'm curious about the scene in BTTF2, where a postman shows up in 1955 where the Doc had been blasted back to 1885 and gives Marty a letter that the ...
- 4,024
22
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why wasn't Van Halen's music in Back to the Future?
Why did the band Van Halen deny the request to use their music in Back to the Future while Edward Van Halen secretly recorded music for the movie?
From USA Today (emphasis mine):
...the cassette ...
- 1,044
8
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Where does Doc get all of his money
In the first Back to the Future movie, Doc Brown seems to have a fairly large amount of money. He has his own house, a camper, a Delorean (which was a fairly expensive car), which he didn't seem to be ...
- 1,212
40
votes
2
answers
11k
views
What is the story with the fire in Doc Brown's house?
In the opening scene of Back to the Future, a clipping from 1962 is hanging on the wall of Doc Brown's garage lab, with the headline “Brown Mansion Destroyed”.
Despite the producers believing that ...
- 6,970
6
votes
2
answers
616
views
Why doesn't Doc use the DeLorean in order to escape from the Libyans?
In Back to the Future, by the time Doc notices them, he's right next to the DeLorean, which even has one of the doors wide open.
Couldn't he have just jumped into the car with Marty and time ...
- 71
11
votes
0
answers
131
views
Were Doc's calculations incorrect as to when Marty should drive the DeLorean? [duplicate]
In the original Back to the Future when Marty is trying to get back to 1985, Doc puts an alarm clock on the dashboard of the DeLorean and tells Marty:
"I've calculated the distance and wind ...
- 601
8
votes
1
answer
394
views
How many times did Emmett Brown travel through time?
There are many clues suggesting that Emmett Brown traveled through time on multiple occasions.
I was thinking about the case full of dollars from different periods:
Is it possible to get them at ...
- 356
9
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Where did the second Marty go?
At the end of Back to the Future (1985), Marty1 comes back to 1985 from 1955 to save Doc, and seems to get there too late. He sees Marty2 disappear into the past in the Delorean right upon his arrival....
- 3,701
23
votes
1
answer
12k
views
Is Rick and Morty satire/parody of Doc Brown and Marty McFly?
As the title asks, is Rick and Morty satire/parody of Doc Brown and Marty McFly of the Back to the Future franchise? Or is it a generic play on the Mad Scientist and fish out of water cliché?
- 67.7k
6
votes
5
answers
12k
views
How did Marty meet Doc in 1955 after Doc has travelled to 1885?
In Back to the future II, Marty burns the almanac in the bucket and Doc's DeLorean was struck by lightning, causing doc to travel to 1885 accidentally. Then Marty receives a letter from Doc which was ...
- 267
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How does Clara's name get on Doc's tombstone in 1885?
I've been thinking about something. At the beginning of BTTF 3, when they find Doc's tombstone, it says something about Clara's love... BUT... Clara and Doc would not have met at the time the ...
- 81
5
votes
2
answers
458
views
Why do the DeLorean's effects not always start at 88 mph?
How come, the DeLorean's effects don't always start at 88 mph. For example, in Back to the Future 3 the effects started at 65 mph. Also, when Marty escaped the Libyans by going to 1955 the effects ...
- 51
21
votes
5
answers
9k
views
Did Doc Brown always know that Marty would end up travelling back to 1955?
Did Doc Brown always have the letter that Marty left him in 1955, and was that the reason why he was so insistent that Marty meet him at the mall?
In other words, he knew he had to make sure Marty ...
- 641
11
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How did Doc Brown know to drop the rope in BTTF II?
In this scene from Back to the Future Part II Marty is about to be run over, but Doc saves him.
How did Doc Brown know to drop the rope? (I read a fan hypothesis ...
- 1,509
6
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Why does Marty see another duplicate of himself when he returns?
When Marty decides to go back from 1958 to 1988 in Back to the Future, he decides to go back several minutes before the doctor is killed by the terrorists, to warn him.
But when he arrives late, he ...
- 6,366
55
votes
10
answers
16k
views
In Back to the Future, how did Marty get the timing right with the lightning strike?
So, in the first movie, presumably the Doc and Marty know exactly when the lightning will strike the clock tower. This is because Marty has the flyer with the picture of the stopped clock on it. In ...
- 652
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Changes in the Back To The Future screenplay?
When I first saw Back To The Future II, as a kid of 15, I didn't realise that Crispin Glover (Michael J. Fox's father George McFly) was not present in the movie but had been replaced by a "double" ...
- 2,762
2
votes
1
answer
804
views
Year on Linda McFly's sweatshirt
I seem to remember that Linda McFly's sweatshirt (in the vacation photo) sometimes says 1984 and sometimes another year (1991?). I don't have a screencap and I can't find anything about it online. Is ...
- 491
11
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Is there any evidence that Doc Brown in Back To the Future has a degree?
Is Emmett Brown an actual doctor? It doesn't look like it's shown in the film and 'Doc' or Marty is an unreliable source himself.
- 113
8
votes
1
answer
433
views
Ripple effect in Back to the Future saga
The ripple effect caused by Marty in 1955, takes a week to reach 1968 in which he was born and begin to make him disappear.
Why the ripple effect caused by Doc in 1885 only takes a few seconds to ...
- 117
2
votes
1
answer
876
views
Paradox in Back to the future II?
When Biff returns to 2015A, he disappears probably because Lorraine shot him in the 1996A or because in fact, he doesn't match with the Biff-A of 2015A so the original old Biff no longer exists and ...
- 117
14
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Why don't Marty's memories change?
I've looked and I don't think this has been asked before. In Back to the Future 1, after Marty changes his parent's future, its obvious that he changes his own life and the life of his siblings ...
- 30.6k
12
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Did the same dog play Einstein in Back to the Future I and II?
The question is self explanatory: did the same dog play Einstein in the first two Back to the Future movies?
- 11.7k
17
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why is Doc Brown in a hurry in the end of Back to the Future part 1?
Doc Brown has got a time machine, why is he in a hurry in the end of Back to the Future part 1? Why doesn't he just give a parenting lesson to Marty?
A little more context:
At the very end of part ...
- 287
1
vote
2
answers
827
views
What's the connection with Back to the Future movie?
In the movie 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown from 'Back to the Future' appears in one of the scene with his time machine.
What is the connection with that old movie?
- 931
8
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Crossing your own timeline, changing the future - how does that work?
There are many movies and TV episodes in which a character "crosses his own timeline", sometimes even meeting his past or future self (e.g. The Day of the Doctor). Technically, I should say meeting ...
- 209
28
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Why didn't Doc and Marty buy "petrol" in 1885?
There was a refined petroleum product called "petrol" available as far back as 1870 which was used (among other things) to kill lice nits and as a solvent. When internal combustion engines were being ...
- 491
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Was the Johnny B. Goode scene from Back to The Future inspired from Top Secret?
Maybe it's just me, but I was watching Top Secret for the first time today, and I realized that the scene where Nick (Val Kilmer) sings Tutti Frutti by Little Richard felt a lot similar to the scene ...
- 3,183
10
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why doesn't the Clock in Hill Valley work in BTTF2?
I just watched the first movie of the trilogy (Back to the Future), and now I wondered, why does the Clock Tower still not work in 2015? From what I understand, in 1955 Doc and Marty pretty much built ...
- 203
128
votes
3
answers
28k
views
How did Marty McFly and “Doc” Brown first meet?
They’re not related, they’re not neighbors, and they’re separated in age by at least five decades: So how did Marty McFly and “Doc” Brown first meet?
This question has been bugging me from the moment ...
- 2,209
15
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Doc knows he will invent a time machine 30 years ahead and it doesn't change the future
In Back to the Future, Doc invented a time machine in 1985 and he was really excited and a little surprised that it worked. But later in the movie, Marty goes back and tells young Doc about it.
Why ...
- 253
46
votes
8
answers
41k
views
Why doesn't Marty use the other DeLorean?
In Back to the Future Part 3 Marty follows Doc back to 1885 to rescue him from being shot at the hands of Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen.
He arrives in 1885 some time after Doc has written the letter that ...
- 646
16
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why didn't they keep the brakes on when revving the Delorean to 88mph?
In the first movie, they had the Delorean rev up with the emergency brake turned on and the speedometer revved up close to the magical 88mph. What I'm wondering is why they didn't just have the car do ...
- 903
82
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Why does George Mcfly employ Biff to wax his car after he had previously tried to rape his wife?
In Back to the Future, Marty goes back to 1955 and devises a plan for his father George McFly to win over Lorraine in order to ensure Marty's survival.
The plan involved Marty pretending to sexually ...
- 923
106
votes
7
answers
9k
views
Why don't Marty's parents ever mention how similar he looks to the Marty of 1955?
Although Marty is only in 1955 for one week, he plays a pivotal role in getting his parents together. He even briefly dates his mother. So, considering he plays such a pivotal role, does it make sense ...
- 3,198