Movie plotholes/ The only thing that doesn't add up

[Tyrfing42]

Originally Posted by Xorcyst

(how ELSE could he have made one in 1885 when he couldnt replace a micro chip or rebuild a fuel pump easily, and it took him 30 years in modern time as it was)

Yeah that was pretty crazy, though this time he does have the hoverboard's components to use too.

Originally Posted by Xorcyst

seeing as buying a whole train would be VERY expensive back then, unless he just "borrowed" another.

I always thought he built it mostly from all that wreckage in the nearby ravine.


Also, this reminds me. How do you think they're going to handle the re-appearance of the Delorean in the game?

Edit: I'd like to add that BttF has never shown the kind of "Bill and Ted" style time travel where someone would have the money to buy the something because they say after they buy it they'll go back in time and leave the money for themselves. And that I think he got the Mr. Fusion from even further than 2015.

[Masta23]

When Biff steals the Delorean in 2015 to give the Alamaniac to his younger self, therefore altering the timeline, why is it that Biff returned to Doc and Marty in 2015? If he had altered the timeline, then surely he should have returned to the alternate 2015? Is it just me or is this a massive plot hole?
Also how did Biff figure out how to use the Delorean in the first place?

[Falanca]

It's more of a time theory than a plothole, I think. A deleted scene shows us that Biff slowly gets erased after leaving Delorian back, because he's supposed to die earlier in this new timeline. If you change historic events and cause a paradox you let the changes happen to you, well, slowly I guess :I You can call it movie logic too.

[Masta23]

Originally Posted by Falanca

It's more of a time theory than a plothole, I think. A deleted scene shows us that Biff slowly gets erased after leaving Delorian back, because he's supposed to die earlier in this new timeline. If you change historic events and cause a paradox you let the changes happen to you, well, slowly I guess :I You can call it movie logic too.

ah right.. well it's a shame that this scene was deleted because it would certainly clear things up.
Time travel can get very confusing lol.

[RAnthonyMahan]

In BttF, timelines don't alter instantly. Remember how in BttF1, Marty and his siblings were slowly disappearing from the picture?

2015 hadn't been fully altered yet. However, in the Biffworld timeline Lorraine killed Biff in 1996, which is why Biff is in such bad shape when he returns (and, in a deleted scene, disappears). He shouldn't exist at that point, and is being erased.

[Falanca]

Not to mention if old Biff Tannen does not exist he can't give his young self the Almanac...

[FaMzNeSS]

One of the Bob's actually explain this in the DVD Commentary for the 25th Anniversary Release...

It's in the FAQ Section and I found a link to it HERE

1.9: When Doc and Marty are in 1955-A, Doc says they can't return to the future to stop Biff from stealing the DeLorean, because it would be the wrong future. But if that's true, how did Old Biff manage to get back to the same future that he left? Shouldn't he have come back to a different future?

A: As should be clear from the answer to the previous question, we believe Old Biff DID indeed return to a different future — a "2015-A," which would have transformed around Marty, Doc, Jennifer and Einstein (just as Doc explains how 1985-A would change into 1985 and instantly transform around Jennifer and Einstein). This would happen AFTER Old Biff returned with the DeLorean. For this reason, we made sure that Doc had caught Jennifer and exited the McFly Townhouse before Old Biff returned. Thus, by the time Marty and Doc are carrying Jennifer back to the DeLorean, there COULD be other residents in that townhouse — or perhaps the McFlys still live there. It is just as believable that the physicality of the neighborhood did NOT change as it is to believe that it did — so we didn't change it. We decided not to make anything of this idea because this is one of those difficult time travel concepts that general audiences have a real hard time understanding. (Try explaining this stuff to your mother and you'll see what we mean.) A detailed explanation of it would have slowed down the story, and most of the audience doesn't ever think about it. That's why we made certain things ambiguous and left various things open for interpretation in hopes that the possibility of at least one or two explanations would be better than a "definitive" explanation that you could find holes in. Let's face it, time travel is fantasy, so there's no way to "prove" anything. As filmmakers, we try to create a set of rule for our stories and stick by them, and stay consistent within the little "universe" that we've created.

[Shadowknight1]

Originally Posted by Falanca

Not to mention if old Biff Tannen does not exist he can't give his young self the Almanac...

See, but going by that, then Doc would've known to avoid the lightning strike that catapulted the time machine back to 1885 in the first place.

[Masta23]

Just saw the deleted scene on youtube of Biff disappearing.. it is kinda creepy lol. Anywho it all makes sense now.

[Falanca]

Yeah the scene does make me sad.

[Origami]

As I was sitting on the toilet just now I found something weird.

Marty has the flyer with Jennifer's number in his pocket. Now she told him that she was staying at her grandmom's.....but why did he never call her?
She even called him a couple of times but he never returned the call. Shouldn't he at least have her known that she doesn't need to come over the next day since the car crashed?

And say for instance he DID call her, that would create a plothole. Because it's higly unlikely that Marty would fold the flyer and put it in his pocket again after removing it.


It's funny when you think about it. If Jeniffer didn't write that number on the flyer, Marty would've been stuck in '55.

[Ralidon]

Originally Posted by Origami

It's funny when you think about it. If Jeniffer didn't write that number on the flyer, Marty would've been stuck in '55.

Is very likely that will be used in the game.

[FaMzNeSS]

Originally Posted by Origami

As I was sitting on the toilet just now I found something weird.

Thanks for that.

Originally Posted by Origami

Marty has the flyer with Jennifer's number in his pocket. Now she told him that she was staying at her grandmom's.....but why did he never call her?

I think he was being a "typical teenage guy". When his sister told him that Jennifer called a few times he looked at his watch and then looked confused, more than likely because he completely forgot to call her. He also forgot to meet up with Doc at the mall, either that or he was too lazy and slept through the music on his clock radio.

Originally Posted by Ralidon

Is very likely that will be used in the game.

I don't see why it would be.

[Origami]

^
But shouldn't he have called her? The car was wrecked. Plans cancelled.
But okay, you'e right.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Origami

As I was sitting on the toilet just now I found something weird.

Too much information, man! But now that you mention it, some book (Was it the "Neverending Story"??) mentioned that books leave out a lot, so you never get told how your hero goes to the restroom.

The same is probably true for Marty in the BTTF movies. Naturally, from 7 to 11 p.m. he phoned up Jennifer and whined at length about the wreck... that his father is. But Gale chose not to show that lest we might think of Marty as a sissy.

[Masta23]

There is something that doesn't add up. When Doc stays in 1885, how does me manage to acquire the parts for his new time machine, especially considering which time era he is in?
It wont be possible to rip parts from the Delorrean, as Marty has it.
Surely the delorrean which Doc travelled in to get to 1885 appears in the past, before he was supposed to be shot? Therefore this isn't an option.
I guess a lot of time has passed before he meets Marty in 1985, considering he has kids.
Having said that his new time machine looks very futuiristic. How would Doc get the parts?

[Farlander]

Having said that his new time machine looks very futuiristic. How would Doc get the parts?

It appears that Doc used the Hoverboard technology to create the first version of the Time Machine that would run on steam. After that there's really no ambiguity, he went to the future (hence the 'already been there' phrase and the flying modifications on the train), did some modifications and went to 1985 to catch up with Marty.

[Tyrfing42]

Originally Posted by Masta23

Having said that his new time machine looks very futuiristic. How would Doc get the parts?

Well it's implied that 1985 isn't Doc's first stop, since the time train has a 2015 style hover conversion (would like to see the look on the mechanics face he bought the parts for that from). So any futuristic look it had in the movie could be post 1885 ad-ons. EDIT: Those giant induction coils on the side though? Definitely not futuristic, and they give a small hint at some of things he was working with in 1885.

As for how he built it in 1885 at all, he did have parts from things like the hoverboard and his radio to use, but even so I must say it is kind of an unbelievable feat.

[FaMzNeSS]

Originally Posted by Tyrfing42

As for how he built it in 1885 at all, he did have parts from things like the hoverboard and his radio to use, but even so I must say it is kind of an unbelievable feat.

Time Travel in itself is an unbelievable feat. But I have one of two ideas:

Since Doc returns with Clara and the kids, there has to be roughly ten years that have passed. Since Doc knows how to make a *working* Flux Capacitor, perhaps he had to play around with what was left over from Marty's trip into 1885 (the hoverboard, the radios, whatever was still in that Delorean's trunk!) and it took him 10 years to build it.

The other idea is that he went back to the Delgado Mine Shaft, disassembled the flux capacitor and time circuits, added it to his train, traveled into the future (be it 1985, 2015 or some other time period) and then retrieved the parts he would need to then build a second Flux Capacitor.

He would then have had to return back to the point in which he left and replace the original Flux Capacitor and Time circuits so Marty could use it in 1955, and use the new Flux Capacitor on the Time Train.

[Masta23]

Originally Posted by FaMzNeSS

The other idea is that he went back to the Delgado Mine Shaft, disassembled the flux capacitor and time circuits, added it to his train, traveled into the future (be it 1985, 2015 or some other time period) and then retrieved the parts he would need to then build a second Flux Capacitor.

He would then have had to return back to the point in which he left and replace the original Flux Capacitor and Time circuits so Marty could use it in 1955, and use the new Flux Capacitor on the Time Train.

How would he be able to go back to the time shaft to retrieve Delorrean parts? That could only happen if Doc went back in time to before Marty arrived in 1885.
That would still cause a paradox if Doc travelled further into the future than 1955. Marty would need a working time machine, so it doesn;t make any difference if Doc was going to return later. Things would start to erase (similar to when Biff gave the Alimaniac to his younger self).
I do agree that the hoverboard and radio is the only logical explanation. There is no other way that Doc could obtain parts from the future.