The DeLorean explanation (merged threads)

[McSuperfly101]

if the DeLorean was duplicated, then wouldn't Doc have been duplicated too?

I'd love it if it turned out that Doc was duplicated too, it would make for a great episode and maybe it's even the plot of Citizen Brown? Doc's clone being some kind of evil dictator in the future?

[Guy..]

I thought the DeLorean explanation was probably the worst part on an otherwise flawless game.

They've respected the mythology perfectly in every other aspect and replicated scenes brilliantly, however I cannot believe that with the wealth of options available to them (in a time traveling movie series no less) the best they came up with was a sudden duplication of vehicles.

I mean for those who say that it would've been a cop out for Doc to have just built a new one in his future, I disagree. Although it would've been out of character for a guy so intent on destroying it in the first place...he did build a TIME TRAVELLING TRAIN...so he clearly has changed his opinions since becoming a family man. In my eyes I can't see anything more of a cop out than simply saying "uh...there's two of them?"

I would've simply gone with the idea that maybe Doc built a new one so he could show mankind his world changing invention the way he originally meant to. Or maybe he wanted to build one for his sons who were going to college in a different time period, so they didn't have to take the train everytime they go time traveling to meet their parents at the weekend in the future (apparently they do a crapload of time hoping now according to Doc in jail).

Or even go as far as to say that Doc wanted to show the kids his first time traveling invention, and so took them to 1885 after the original Time Machine was buried, took it out of the cave and repaired it with every intention of putting it back there in the 70 years it took for Marty to find it in 1955. This would've lead to a great "race against the clock" paradox, because if Doc suddenly lost the car, him and Marty would cease to exist because it needs to go back in that cave for Marty to find and for everything to play out.

The sudden appearance of a second time machine just doesn't work right in my head.

(a lot of rambling there, but still, the rest of the game is flawlessly executed)

[Shadowknight1]

Actually, this works out better than a new DeLorean. As someone did point out, DeLoreans aren't cheap, even in 2010 although they are being "newly built". And Doc would've had to return to 1985-86 to get one and utilize his primary lab. And he would've needed his notebook. As for taking the DeLorean from the mine, that would've caused a paradox. Even with the intention of returning it, he would've had to intentionally destroy the time circuits.

[Guy..]

I don't see the issue in intentionally breaking the circuits again when he puts it back. Afterward he can then just hop back in his train and head to whatever time period he wanted. Bear in mind he built that train in the 1880's with Clara.

And DeLoreans might not be cheap, but if your son is going to college in the 1960's, you're probably going to want to give him a time traveling car so he can get back to you. And the DeLorean had it's reasons to be THE car to time travel in (other than just "doing it in style")

[Farlander]

And the DeLorean had it's reasons to be THE car to time travel in (other than just "doing it in style")

According to Doc, DeLorean's stainless steel construction makes something very good with/for the flux dispersal. He didn't specify what good in particular, he kinda was interrupted

[Irishmile]

On one hand its kind of a cheap weak explanation... On the other... with all that time travel gear in a car made of exposed steal who knows how it would react getting zapped directly with that much electricity....

But arguing this sort of stuff in a SCIFI movie/game makes us a special kind of NERDY!

[GoodGuyA]

You know, a lot of people will call BS on it, but I think it's perfectly acceptable. It's time travel after all, and having such a one in a million circumstance overloading the circuits could of easily just completely destroyed the DeLorean in all times as it could of created a second one. I'd like to know though, is it at all possible that the DeLorean in the first film could of been sent back to 1925? A sctretch, I know, but how much power DOES lightning generate? We know it's over 1.21 Gigawatts, but how much would it take to overload the circuits?

[Shadowknight1]

Originally Posted by Guy..

I don't see the issue in intentionally breaking the circuits again when he puts it back. Afterward he can then just hop back in his train and head to whatever time period he wanted. Bear in mind he built that train in the 1880's with Clara.

There's also the fact that the car would need to be in the exact condition it was in when Doc put it in the mine in the first place. That means intentionally shorting out the time circuits with lightning.

Why is the given explanation so hard to swallow? If you listen to the letter, Doc refers to a "gigawatt overload" that was what activated the flux capacitor. If you think about it, the raw lightning probably sent way more than 1.21 gigawatts into the car, and might even have hit double that. That, I think, would be enough to make the flux capacitor double the DeLorean. And since it was sent 70 years forward and back through time, there's a nice symmetry. And Doc was probably glad to find the second DeLorean, the train can't be a great way to time travel. It's not exactly quiet.

[Origami]

@GooGuy
As I pointed out earlier, the main difference between the lightning hitting the DeLorean in part I and part II is that in the first film the DeLorean actually doesn't get hit by lightning.
The lightning rod directly 'channeled and harnessed' the lightning into the flux capacitor.


@Shadowknight

Yes, I agree. As the flux capacitor is directly responsible for displacing a molecular structure through time, it could easily be accepted that doubling the energy needed for the Flux Capacitor to do this could result in sending the same molecular structure into two times at the same time.

[BrendanK]

I don't really mind the explanation given, it's not really essential for it to make sense, it is science fiction remember.
There's no way you can tell a BTTF story without the DeLorean, so in my book any explanation is a good explanation.

But..... since we know that the DeLorean was flying at the time of the lightning strike we can only assume that the DeLorean+Doc that went back 70yrs had a rough/controlled crash landing when it arrived in 1885 (Doc mentions in his letter in Part 3 that the flying circuits were damaged).

So taking into account the "duplication" we can consider the following possibilities:
A) Both Doc and the DeLorean were duplicated, one sent to 1885 and one sent to 2025, which means we have a second Doc somewhere in 2025.

B) Only the DeLorean was duplicated and sent to 2025, and since it was flying at the time, with damaged flying circuits, must have somehow survived a crash landing with no driver/pilot!

Wow, time travel really is a subject that never ends!

[GoodGuyA]

Originally Posted by Origami

@GooGuy
As I pointed out earlier, the main difference between the lightning hitting the DeLorean in part I and part II is that in the first film the DeLorean actually doesn't get hit by lightning.
The lightning rod directly 'channeled and harnessed' the lightning into the flux capacitor.

How do we know that that energy wasn't funneled into the flux capacitor directly? 1955 Doc merely said it will give the DeLorean power, never saying exactly to where the power would be directly, merely that it would power the time circuits. And how could the steel coating of the vehicle be connected to the flux capacitor anyways?

EDIT: I just remembered for Part III, where Doc says that he put gas in the tank of the DeLorean, and that becoming the obstacle in that movie. There are two sources of power on the DeLorean, the gas and the time circuit power. Why would the flux capacitor be powered separately?

[Shadowknight1]

Originally Posted by BrendanK

I don't really mind the explanation given, it's not really essential for it to make sense, it is science fiction remember.
There's no way you can tell a BTTF story without the DeLorean, so in my book any explanation is a good explanation.

But..... since we know that the DeLorean was flying at the time of the lightning strike we can only assume that the DeLorean+Doc that went back 70yrs had a rough/controlled crash landing when it arrived in 1885 (Doc mentions in his letter in Part 3 that the flying circuits were damaged).

So taking into account the "duplication" we can consider the following possibilities:
A) Both Doc and the DeLorean were duplicated, one sent to 1885 and one sent to 2025, which means we have a second Doc somewhere in 2025.

B) Only the DeLorean was duplicated and sent to 2025, and since it was flying at the time, with damaged flying circuits, must have somehow survived a crash landing with no driver/pilot!

Wow, time travel really is a subject that never ends!

Well, I'd assume that the flying circuits have a safety feature that automatically puts the wheels back down in case of a failure. And the car wasn't too high up, so if the wheels were down, then yes, heck yes it could have survived. Though part of me thinks it'd be awesome for there to be another Doc running around.

Originally Posted by GoodGuyA

How do we know that that energy wasn't funneled into the flux capacitor directly? 1955 Doc merely said it will give the DeLorean power, never saying exactly to where the power would be directly, merely that it would power the time circuits. And how could the steel coating of the vehicle be connected to the flux capacitor anyways?

EDIT: I just remembered for Part III, where Doc says that he put gas in the tank of the DeLorean, and that becoming the obstacle in that movie. There are two sources of power on the DeLorean, the gas and the time circuit power. Why would the flux capacitor be powered separately?

"Meanwhile, I've outfitted the time vehicle with this big pole and hook that runs directly into the flux capacitor." The other DeLorean that was flying had so much current flowing through it that it probably activated the flux capacitor easily.

The flux capacitor is powered by the nuclear reactor because, except for lightning, a nuclear reaction is the only thing Doc could find that would generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power needed for temporal displacement.

[Farlander]

Originally Posted by Shadowknight1

Well, I'd assume that the flying circuits have a safety feature that automatically puts the wheels back down in case of a failure. And the car wasn't too high up, so if the wheels were down, then yes, heck yes it could have survived. Though part of me thinks it'd be awesome for there to be another Doc running around.

If there is a second Doc then he is a total scumbag. Second or not, he knew Marty was still trapped in 1955, and it would've been easier for him than ever to fix the Time Machine and come back immediately.

[daeva0123]

Sounded acceptable to me, knowing how picky i am about stuff that fits into a films universe. Not everyones going to be happy with it though, but I can imagine a stream of criticisms on the forum if they'd have went for either of the other explanations.

What made it acceptable to me was the notion that the lightning overloaded the time circuits of what was an already malfunctioning time machine (Doc: "Damn! Gotta fix that thing!" *hits the Date Display"). The fact that the dates glitched in Bttf 2 added more leverage to the possibility of one object being transported to 2 places from one point in time, and since the lightning bolt/glitch was merely a plot device to send Doc to 1885 for the 3rd film I think its cool that there exploring this idea more.

Duplication is silly and a stretch of the imagination but i can see myself clicking through the dialogue of a different game:

Marty - "Doc Where'd the car come from?"

Doc - "Oh I build another one"

Marty - "Ah."

Me: *sigh*

...or...


Marty - "Doc Where'd the car come from?"

Doc - "Well as You and Jennifer walked off into the sunset and the track was clear, me and the boys got a vacuum cleaner, a pan and brush..."

Marty - "Forget I asked Doc."

Me: *sigh*

[Farlander]

Duplication is silly and a stretch of the imagination but i can see myself clicking through the dialogue of a different game:

Or it could've been
Marty - "Doc, where'd the car come from?"
Doc - "Marty, it's not important at the moment!"
Or something like that.
And everybody would've been happy.

That is, if duplication is not used for some kind of a plot device. Because if it's not, I would've been quite happy with actually no real explanation.

[markeres]

Originally Posted by Farlander

Or it could've been
Marty - "Doc, where'd the car come from?"
Doc - "Marty, it's not important at the moment!"
Or something like that.
And everybody would've been happy.

That would have been a cop out. A major, major cop out. No way I would have been happy with that. Just having Doc saying "it's not important" would be terrible writing, and people wanted to know where the new DeLorean came from. Well, most people. I guess you didn't. *shrug*

[Farlander]

Originally Posted by markeres

That would have been a cop out. A major, major cop out. No way I would have been happy with that. Just having Doc saying "it's not important" would be terrible writing, and people wanted to know where the new DeLorean came from. Well, most people. I guess you didn't. *shrug*

I wanted it to be a new one.

[Shadowknight1]

Geez, I think this is why they didn't talk about it until the game came out. It makes nobody happy. Sheesh.

[Bunnyman]

Although I think I get the idea of the duplicate DeLorean, I'm not sure what happened after it went to the future, to 2025. I would be more smiles if someone drew a picture.

[Larn_Connor]

weak, but a writer can pretty much do anything with a story. The difference is doing it believably or doing it not so believably.

Delorian splits in two. Why not two Marties? Why not two Docs? Why only another Delorian? How does Doc know there aren't 100 Delorians scattered in the future... the past...?

Simple solution is best. Either Doc builds another, which he was against in the last movie, but he seemed to reconsider when he built the time-traveling train, or have Doc pick a timeline in which he knows the delorian's whereabouts, it's in working order and he can borrow for the amount of time he needs it, but must return it in order not to create another major time paradox if that timeline's Marty/Doc find the delorian missing.

Great Scott! This is heavy!