Back to the Future (1985)

[Cobb Salad]

Damn that Sports Almanac! :-)

[AimingforYoko]

Some pundit theorized that the missing '94 WS threw everything off.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Growing up I always thought 2nd movie, 1st movie, then 3rd movie in that order.  To be honest I never liked the third and never watched it. My brother enjoys it though.  Now that I'm older (and it's actually 2016) I guess I should try watching it again with an open heart.

About 5 or so years ago, I took my brother to a big theatre in Toronto see BTTF 1 on the big screen.  It was SUCH a treat.  The people who attended were all true BTTF nerds who were extremely well behaved and laughed at all the great jokes.  And everyone cheered and clapped when George punched Biff.  What stood out the most to me, I think, was that Crispin was so genius as George and pretty much everything George and Biff did made me laugh.

I realized how amazing and wonderful BTTF 1 is.  On a television screen, you really don't notice as much.  Blowing the movie back up to that size made me notice all the fine detail and made me really appreciate the film for what a great classic it is.  I wonder how I'd feel with BTTF 2 also shown on the big screen, but now I realize that BTTF 1 might be better.  Oh , if only there wasn't that conflict and they kept Crispin for the second movie I think it'd be a vast improvement.

[Traveller519]

On 11/8/2015 at 11:13 AM, Stacey1014 said:

I'm wondering what happened with Biff between 1985 and 2015. He seemed to have a bit of his 1955 personality in 2015 that was missing in the new 1985.

Got old and cantankerous. Happens to the best of 'em!

[stonehaven]

Netflix has all three movies now so I watched the First one last night. Still makes me laugh and provides great escape...and MJF had great physical comedy chops.

I do think the one line that I quote the most is "Is there something wrong with the Earth's gravitational pull?"

 

[scarynikki12]

I get way too much enjoyment out of everyone assuming Marty's wearing a life preserver.

[supposebly]

I will always crack up at: I am your density.

[Shannon L.]

1 hour ago, supposebly said:

I will always crack up at: I am your density.

That's the line my husband and I keep quoting.

There's a thing going around on  FB where you post 10 pictures over 10 days of a movie that was really meaningful to you in your lifetime so far. Most of them I've seen are really serious films, but, I'd I did it, I would include this one on my list.

[supposebly]

I just re-watched and I noticed something I've never noticed before. At the very beginning when the camera moves around Doc's house, one of the clocks has a guy hanging from the hands.

And I've seen the movie many times.

I don't know if it's particularly meaningful but it has great re-watch value and it's probably one of the very few movies I don't get tired of.

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, supposebly said:

I just re-watched and I noticed something I've never noticed before. At the very beginning when the camera moves around Doc's house, one of the clocks has a guy hanging from the hands.

And I've seen the movie many times.

I don't know if it's particularly meaningful but it has great re-watch value and it's probably one of the very few movies I don't get tired of.

It's based on the famous 1923 silent comedy SAFETY LAST starring comedian Harold Lloyd which also inspired the climax with Doc hanging off the clock tower:

[Giuseppe]

I love this trilogy (part 3 not as much as 1 and 2, but I still enjoy it). I remember loving and being slightly obsessed with all the "future" stuff and inventions in Part 2 when I first saw it. I must have been 10 or 11 at the time, and can't remember if I had even seen Part 1 yet. But one thing has always bugged me about Part 2, and I bring it up anytime I'm discussing it: I feel like Marty and Jennifer could never have encountered their future selves, because if they'd left 1985 and instantly appeared in 2015, people in 2015 would have thought Marty and Jennifer disappeared 30 years ago, as they would no longer be in the timeline that they traveled to! The argument I always get back is, well it's because they eventually came back to 1985, so they would have been there in 2015 to meet their future selves, but I still say that doesn't make sense because no way future Marty and Jennifer would've forgotten that their younger selves were arriving that day.  I know that seems like a trivial hill to die on, but die on it I will!

In any case, I still love Part 2, though I usually skip the alterna-1985 part and pick up again once they get back to 1955.

[Luckylyn]

Eric Stoltz vs Michael J Fox Footage

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Luckylyn

[Cobb Salad]

@Giuseppe

My first time watching Part II in the theatre my thought was when Marty was watching his future self was “I guess he made it back to 1985 ok” then took the rest of the movie as entertainment, but yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing as you describe.  I like Part II for the fun look at what “2015” looks like from the late 80s and that’s it.  Part III is a better movie IMO.  Realistically if time travel was possible, at the end of the original when Doc returns to 1985 and tells Marty while in a tizzy how his kids must be saved, the real solution is for Doc either solve the problem while initially in 2015 or find someone else to help him.  If he brings Marty and Jennifer with him to 2015 then the theme becomes where have they been for 30 years and how have they not aged.   I forget where I read it but some scientist also mentioned how what was depicted in Part II was impossible if someone travelled through time.  The filmmakers didn’t plan this as a trilogy initially but the success of the original forced a sequel so that last scene shoehorned them into the start of the next movie.  I suspect there may have been a different closing/opening scene if a trilogy was in the works from the start.  

[Guest]

On 6/15/2020 at 8:55 PM, Giuseppe said:

I love this trilogy (part 3 not as much as 1 and 2, but I still enjoy it). I remember loving and being slightly obsessed with all the "future" stuff and inventions in Part 2 when I first saw it. I must have been 10 or 11 at the time, and can't remember if I had even seen Part 1 yet. But one thing has always bugged me about Part 2, and I bring it up anytime I'm discussing it: I feel like Marty and Jennifer could never have encountered their future selves, because if they'd left 1985 and instantly appeared in 2015, people in 2015 would have thought Marty and Jennifer disappeared 30 years ago, as they would no longer be in the timeline that they traveled to! The argument I always get back is, well it's because they eventually came back to 1985, so they would have been there in 2015 to meet their future selves, but I still say that doesn't make sense because no way future Marty and Jennifer would've forgotten that their younger selves were arriving that day.  I know that seems like a trivial hill to die on, but die on it I will!

In any case, I still love Part 2, though I usually skip the alterna-1985 part and pick up again once they get back to 1955.

I can’t spend too much time thinking about how time travel works in the movies because it’s pretty inconsistent. Every solution I come up with is contradicted by another part of the movie.

Your post reminded me of the Big Bang Theory episode debate about it.

 

[Giuseppe]

22 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

If he brings Marty and Jennifer with him to 2015 then the theme becomes where have they been for 30 years and how have they not aged.

Exactly. I always thought a better plot for the first half of part 2 would have been for Doc to get Marty and Jennifer to go to the future with him for some other reason not related to their family, then when they get there they realize that they've been "missing" for the past 30 years. Like, Doc could have come back and told Marty that the Cubs finally won the series, but 2015 Marty couldn't go to the game because he was sick or injured or something. 1985 Marty could've convinced Doc to take them to the future now so that Marty could be at the game, They still could've run afoul of Griff and done the whole courthouse hoverboard chase thing, which old Biff sees and starts wondering why the guy looks so much like Marty. Marty could still get the idea to buy the almanac. Jennifer could still have been put to sleep, but she's found by old Lorraine and old George instead of the police, and they freak out and take her home. Marty and Doc still witness this and realize their mistake, so they have to miss the game to rush to George and Lorraine's to rescue Jennifer while old Biff still overhears all this and puts it together, follows Marty and Doc, steals the time machine, and then the rest of the movie is set up the same way but the future part makes a bit more sense. I guess I put way too much thought into that, lol.

9 hours ago, Dani said:

Your post reminded me of the Big Bang Theory episode debate about it.

Ha, I've never watched Big Bang Theory, but I've wondered about that scenario too. I just fanwanked that as when old Biff got back to 2015, the world spontaneously DID change around them to match the new corrupt Biff timeline, but at that moment, Marty, Doc, and Jennifer were already outside the house running back to the car, so they didn't have time to notice anything changed. Big fanwank for sure, but it's all I got, lol.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

Ha, I've never watched Big Bang Theory, but I've wondered about that scenario too. I just fanwanked that as when old Biff got back to 2015, the world spontaneously DID change around them to match the new corrupt Biff timeline, but at that moment, Marty, Doc, and Jennifer were already outside the house running back to the car, so they didn't have time to notice anything changed. Big fanwank for sure, but it's all I got, lol.

After thinking about it for way too long I think that with future time travel in the movie the time traveler sees a world unaffected by their own time travel. Anything else would create a paradox. So once Marty and Jennifer leave 1985 their future becomes in flux and they can’t see a future that is the result of choices they haven’t made yet. So instead they travel to a future that would exist if nothing changes. 
 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Guest

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

After thinking about it for way too long I think that with future time travel in the movie the time traveler sees a world unaffected by their own time travel anything else would create a paradox. So once Marty and Jennifer leave 1985 their future becomes in flux and they can’t see a future that is the result of choices they haven’t made yet. So instead they travel to a future that would exist if nothing changes. 
 

Exactly.  The only way that 1985 Jennifer would be able to learn she married Marty at the Chapel of Love is if someone else (like Doc Brown for example) brought back proof of that happening and she never travelled through time.   She can’t see it happening while in the future because she didn’t do it before she made the trip.  
The best movie IMO that I’ve seen future time travel illustrated well is The Time Machine (the 1960 version) - when George stops for a visit in the future he comes across the son of his friend that we met at the start of the movie.  The son mentions how his father looked after his friends property for years after the friend (George) disappeared, the son never knows he is talking to that person. 

[txhorns79]

On 6/18/2020 at 8:42 AM, Giuseppe said:

I just fanwanked that as when old Biff got back to 2015, the world spontaneously DID change around them to match the new corrupt Biff timeline, but at that moment, Marty, Doc, and Jennifer were already outside the house running back to the car, so they didn't have time to notice anything changed. Big fanwank for sure, but it's all I got, lol.

I think that's a decent theory.  You can say that old Biff returning to 2015 completed the circle, so that was what caused things to change instantaneously. 

The thing that always got me was how wildly unobservant Marty and Doc were upon returning to the alternate 1985.  I mean, Marty notices that there are now bars on the windows at Jennifer's house, but he doesn't question the junker smashed up car right next to the porch, or how his street at Lyon Estates suddenly has about a gazillion For Sale signs all over the place?   

[blueray]

My take on the time travel in the 2nd one is:

Marty, Jennifer and Doc travel to a future where they didn't leave or change any decisions. Let's call them group B, Group A being the timeline they didn't go to the future. Group B, goes to Group A's future, not their own. By doing this they created a new timeline for themselves one where they went to the future. This also applies to Group A Biff who went back to 1955 and created a C timeline. When Group B goes "back" to 1985, they are in C's timeline. The future would be of C's time not theirs or A's so they have to go back to 1955 to stop this timeline from existing. 

It's confusing but an enjoyable movie. As for them not noticing alternate 1985 they are pretty obvious. And than just leave Jennifer (and Einstein) there.

[VCRTracking]

Okay I get what everybody is talking about now. It's like in the Star Trek TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" where they come on the time warp and the previous Enterprise (NCC 1701 C) comes through from 20 years in the past and that causes the whole present timeline to change where the Federation has been at war with the Klingons for years. The only way to turn things back to normal is to send the old Enterprise back through the timewarp to immediately  die in battle with the Romulans like they were supposed to.