The Many Worlds

Of Back To The Future

By Jeffrey D. Dean Sr.
Copyright (c) 2015 Jeffrey D. Dean Sr.
All Rights Reserved
First Revision (c) 2020 Dean
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Quick Jump
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION:

CHAPTER ONE—The Four Laws of Timeline Mechanics

CHAPTER TWO-- Paradoxes Galore

CHAPTER THREE—The Ripple Effect

CHAPTER FOUR—Time Continuum Lag

CHAPTER FIVE—Time Continuum Lag AND Instant Ripple Effect?

CHAPTER SIX-- Many Worlds

CHAPTER SEVEN-- Paradox OR “Mistake?”

CHAPTER EIGHT—It's A Mistake!

CHAPTER NINE-- Many Worlds of Back to the Future (In

Chronological Order)

CHAPTER TEN-- How It All Comes Together

CHAPTER ELEVEN--The Science of Back to the Future

CHAPTER TWELVE --The Future of Back to the Future

 PRINCIPAL GERALD STRICKLAND
(Getting all in Marty's face and poking an accusatory
finger). "No McFly has ever amounted to anything in the
history of Hill Valley!"
MARTY McFly
(Putting his hands in his pockets he gives a surly reply)
"Ya, well history... is gonna change!"
 AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION:

Wednesday

July 03, 1985

In 1985, in a completely unexpected upset, John McEnroe lost at

Wimbledon. If you could go back in time, like Biff did in Back to the
Future 2, you could make a fortune betting against him. Back home
in the United States it was a slow news day. Terrorism was on the
rise. The hijacking of TWA flight 847 was still in the news. It had
been carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome when it was
hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy
Petty Officer Robert Stethem, was killed. Also, still in the news was
the recent terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747,
killing all 329 aboard.
Even though terrorism wasn't necessarily exclusive to a single
group of people in 1985, when America thought of terrorism they
thought the middle east. The events that led to the war on terror in
2001 were still just a glimmer in Osama Bin Laden's eye. For those
in this era, a few incidents in the recent past involving Libyan
terrorists had made Libya a household name. This is the date and
this is the world into which Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and Stephen
Spielberg brought us "Back to the Future."
In retrospect, many now wonder if Doc Brown was a sociopath, or
even a psychopath. In the opening scene of the movie, he crazily
eyed recounts to Marty, with glee, how he tricked Libyan "terrorists"
into giving him their stolen plutonium, by promising to build them a
nuclear bomb. He laughs proudly as he brags that these cut throat
killers who, apparently wanted to do something horrible to an entire
city or region of the world with nukes, fell for the ruse and jokes how
he gave them a shoddy casing full of used pinball machine parts.
(Ironically, there is a sticker on Doc Brown’s truck that says, “One
nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day"). Today, knowing what we
know about the dangers of playing with terrorists, we think “Doc
Brown is a fruit cake.” But in 1985, as the movie opened, no one
blinked, we all just laughed. It was all in good fun. Stick it to those
Libyans, Doc. Yet, as we learn moments later, the terrorists get the
last laugh.
For me, one of the most surreal moments in the opening of this
movie, is when the terrorists approach and Doc spots them. He says,
“they found me, I don't know how but they found me.” You don't know
how Doc? Really? You're standing in the middle of a well lit empty
Mall parking lot, with a large transport van, a bus, and a DeLorean.
You've got the case of plutonium out on the pavement in plain sight
and you and Marty are standing there in radiation suits. Ya, Doc, we
all wonder how they found you.
Over the years I've had many a bar side, pool side, barbecue
side, aircraft maintenance break time, and coffee house discussion
about all three movies in that iconic franchise. People have proposed
so many theories to me about the ramifications of Doc and Marty's
medling in all things space and time that I could probably fill a book
with them. Needles to say (but I say it anyway, which, I know, is a bit
annoying), I've given the time travel aspects of this movie a great
deal of thought. With the recent advent of the internet, (yes, I'm old
and to me the internet is new, sorry kids), you can find these same
pool side debates all over again. There are blogs, Youtube videos (I
saw one with over 1 million views, to which my son replied, “a million
views, is that all?”), forums, fan sites, all dedicated to asking the
notorious questions posed by the movie, such as:
"If, in 1955, Doc Brown helped Marty get back to
1885, why doesn't Doc Brown in 1885 not remember
helping him? Isn't the Doc trapped in 1885 30 years
 older than he was when he helped Marty go back to
1885?"
I love these sort of juicy discussions. Back to the Future has
probably inspired more of them than all of the other time travel
movies combined! I've been in some very heated debates (I once
saw a debate devolve into a full blown fist fight). People are truly
passionate about their time travel theories, and they are especially
passionate about Back to the Future. Who can blame them really?
Back to the Future has a way of turning even the lamest of laymen
into an expert on quantum theory.
On the internet the term "space time continuum" nets over 7
million results on most search engines. People throw that phrase
around like, "the power of love." They know how to use the phrase
but they aren't always clear on what it actually means.
Another time travel word people hate to love is "paradox." When
discussing these movies, that word is horribly overused. People wipe
their intellectual back sides with it and then flush the residue.
Some are under the misguided notion that a paradox is a "movie
mistake" and use the word accordingly. Some think that if you allow
a paradox you cause a "rift in the space time continuum" and the
universe comes to an explosive end. Dialogue from the movie
contributes to this confusion; For example, when discussing what
would happen should the future Jennifer meet the past Jennifer Doc
says the following:
" I foresee two possibilities. One: coming face to face with
herself thirty years older would put her into shock and she'd
simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time
paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that
would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and
destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's worst-case
scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized,
limited to merely our own galaxy." (Doctor Emmett Brown -
Played by Christopher Lloyd)
In this book we're going to thoroughly autopsy the Back to the
Future movies. Yep, we're going to mercilessly cut them open and
expose all their innards. We're going to get to the bottom of these
questions because inquiring minds want to know and probably just
ostensibly because I can't help myself. At times this is going to get
scary. We're going to find ourselves doing what my mother taught
me to do when watching a scary movie. Mutter to ourselves, "it's only
a movie, it's only a movie." Just remember, time travel is not even
possible, at least not at our current level of technology.
It's not reality.
Marty McFly is, sadly, not a real kid and Doc Brown is just an
actor named Christopher Lloyd who, whenever he comes on screen
you can't help but chuckle thinking about "Jim Ignatowski" from the
television show "Taxi."
If you haven't seen the Back to the Future movies yet, then all I
can say is (in my best Doc Brown voice)... GREAT SCOTT!
I recommend picking them up online or at least reading up on
them before you read this book. References are made to specific
scenes within these movies. Just in case you can't get the movies,
there's some good synopses available online.
Reading about them won't be the same though. You won't
experience the splendid comical moments in the same way as you
would when you watch the flicks, such as when Marty looks up at his
father's 1955 counterpart, hanging from a tree branch with
binoculars and in a voice and expression reminiscent of Jackie
Gleason in “Smokey and the Bandit,” he mumbles out of the corner
of his mouth... "he's a peeping tom!"

THERE AREN'T “MANY WORLDS” IN BACK TO THE

FUTURE

Yes, tis true. At least, according to the predominant theory of time

put forth in the movies, we only really see two worlds. We see the
original 1985, where George is a pushover, bullied by his supervisor
Biff Tannen, then this “world” gets transformed by Marty when he
goes back in time and inadvertently goads his father into decking Biff
Tannen, that is technically the same world, only “overwritten” by the
new history. In Back to the Future Part 2 we pick up in this same
“world” and see it's progression 30 years later. Then, Marty interferes
there as well and “overwrites” the same world into something new,
where Griff and his gang are arrested.
The second “world” we see is the Biff Alternate “Hell Valley”
timeline. This is not the same “world” anymore according to Doc. Biff
has “somehow” created an “alternate tangent” that was only
alternate to Doc, Marty, Jennifer, and Einstein, but was reality to
everyone else. In fact there was a new Doc Brown in that world, who
never built a time machine, but instead was committed to a mental
institution. There's a new Marty McFly as well, who was sent to a
boarding school in Switzerland. Thus, the writers introduce the
“multiverse” or “many worlds” theory into the movies, but only for the
Biff Pleasure Palace timeline.
Doc explains that once they go back to 1955 and get the book
back from young Biff the timeline will switch back to the “real” 1985.
Thus, the authors stick, for the most part to a single time theory for
most of the movie, with this one exception of the Biff altered 1985.
How is this possible you might ask.
Well, I'm glad you asked, and if Marty had asked Doc Brown how
this alternate tangent were made possible he probably would have
pointed out that Old Biff goes back to 1955 and interacts with himself
in 1955. Doc would probably warn Marty that this is one of those
“unforseen consequences” of interacting with yourself in the past or
in the future. I know, it's not scientific, but I'm betting the authors are
green with envy right now that they never offered such an
explanation for this clear violation of their own time theory.
So, if there is only two worlds in Back to the Future, why do I call
my book “The Many Worlds of Back to the Future?”
I'm glad you asked that as well. I intend to show how the writers
botched “the river of time,” the time theory the authors used in the
movie for the predominant plot lines and if time were to work the way
they depict in these movies, it would only result in paradoxes and
perpetual causality loops.
What is “the river of time theory?”
The writers of back to the future use a time honored conception of
time as a “stream” or river (also known as timestream or timeline).
Time is like a a flowing body of water. Brave New Words: The Oxford
Dictionary of Science Fiction, defines the term as: "the series of all
events from past to future, especially when conceived of as one of
many such series". A timestream is the normal passage or flow of
time with all of its historical developments, within a single dimension,
or reality.

Using this analogy we are left with inescapable conclusions:

1. Just as the water in a stream cannot flow against its own

current, time flows only one way, to the future, therefore
ripples in time cannot go backward into the past.
2. Just like a river never stops flowing, neither does time.
3. You can try to stand still in a stream but eventually the
current will pull you along. People who exist within that
timestream will move with it wherever it is taking them.
4. More and more physicists believe that time branches into
alternate universes (multiverse or many-worlds theory).
They also believe that separate streams can converge and
diverge.

So, where did the writers botch things? At first glance it appears
like they got everything exactly right. Right? Even down to having
time diverge into a separate reality in Back to the Future 2.
Not so fast!
The writers failed to see one important scientific truth. If one could
time travel, every time you moved backward in the timestream, you
will create a divergence, another branch of time. There's no way
around this. Furthermore, there's no way to go backward against the
current. If you travel back in time, you would have to cut a new
divergent branch from the timestream that flows independently of the
timestream you just left and goes in the opposite direction, then
converge that branch with the time stream somewhere down river in
the past.
So, time travel into the past of your present timestream would
create a branch off of the moment you leave your present and flow
backward to converge with the past of your own reality; But guess
what, now that you are in the past of your current reality, it's no
longer your reality, for, in the past from which you came, there was
no you there, and now there is. You've created a separate branch, a
new reality.
For example. Marty leaves 1985 from the Twin Pines Mall Parking
lot. He goes to 1955 of his current reality, where his father is being
bullied by Biff and where he is about to be hit by a car and meet his
future wife. However, in the reality of 1985 that Marty left, there was
no Calvin Klein kid who gets hit by the car instead. In fact, in the
1955 reality that resulted in Marty's time travel to 1985, there was no
Marty in a DeLorean to run over Peabody's pine. The minute Marty
pops into that 1955, it's no longer HIS 1955. It's no longer the 1955
that led to his existence. He's created another 1955, where there is a
Marty McFly in a DeLorean. It's a completely new branch that
diverges off of the time stream that Marty came from.
This is not just speculative friends, this is hard cold science. The
1955 that led to the life Marty knew at the beginning of the movie
had no time traveling Marty in it and no DeLorean. The 1955 Marty
arrives in has both. They simply CANNOT be the same reality. The
only thing that is debated by scientists is what happens to the
original time stream you came from when you go back in time. Not
all scientists believe in the “branch” or “convergence/divergence”
idea. Some just believe all that happens is you overwrite your own
time stream that you came from. You change the future from whence
you came. Others believe that there can only be one time stream,
therefore, when you go back and create a divergent stream, they
believe you destroy the stream you came from.
This is the way the authors of Back to the Future approached time
travel in the first movie. Marty either overwrote the existing time
stream, resulting in his no longer existing, or he created a divergent
branch of the time stream, which had the same result, his original
time stream began to vanish. We know this is their approach
because Marty and his siblings were vanishing. This is classic “time
stream overwrite.” It's based on the “grandfather paradox” (which we
will explore later). The paradoxes and time loops this approach
creates are, as you will learn from reading this book, staggering to
the imagination.
If Marty no longer exists and has overwritten his own time stream,
then how is he there in 1955 to get in the way of his parents'
meeting? The minute he vanished completely, there would be no
Marty to interfere with his parents, and his parents would meet as
they did before and fall in love and give birth to Marty, who would
then go back in time and interfere with his parents. Perpetual
causality loop!
Scientifically speaking, because Marty has altered the time reality
just by being there in 1955, then when Marty takes his father's place
in the car accident and prevents his parents' meeting, he would not
begin to vanish. This unfortunate series of events which leads to
Marty never being born would not flow forward into the reality he just
came from, he's in another branch of reality, he's in another 1955.
His siblings would not vanish either. This, again, is not theory, it is
irrefutable fact. The past that results in no McFly children flows from
a completely different reality in which there is a Calvin/Marty present
in 1955 with a time traveling DeLorean.
He would not vanish at all. He would merely create an alternate
time stream in which he never exists and when he proceeded back
to the future he would discover a world where he never was, just like
George Bailey in “It's A Wonderful Life.”
How could the writers make such a mistake? Because in the first
movie they ignored the possibility of “branches” in the stream and
didn't realize that the 1955 Marty makes all his changes to is not the
same reality as the one that led to Marty's existence to begin with!
Again, this is not opinion, it's fact, it's irrefutable. How could it be
the same reality that led to Marty's birth? In the reality that led to
Marty's existence, there was no Marty McFly in 1955, driving around
in a DeLorean and being mistaken for Calvin Klein.
For this reason alone, if time is a river, and if we could go back in
time, we could never go back to the past that led to our current
reality. Our very presence in that past would create a new reality,
with a completely different future. Therefore, in the possibility of time
travel scenario, traveling into the past, the “many worlds” is not a
theory, it is a scientific irrefutable fact!
The writers didn't realize this fact and made a huge mess of
things. Starting with Marty and his siblings fading slowly out of the
family snapshot he kept in his wallet. Logically and scientifically
speaking there would only be two possibilities once Marty stopped
his parents from meeting.

Marty himself would be uneffected by the changes,

being that he created a new 1955 reality that leads to a
new 1985 reality where he and his siblings never
existed, and he would not realize what he had done
until he got in the DeLorean, headed into the future and
wound up in a world where he never existed.
Marty would have instantly vanished because,
according to the writers, the original timestream in
which Marty existed is now destroyed, he altered the
very reality that led to his own existence. In which case
we have a major paradox, for if he never existed how
did he stop his parents from meeting?
 The idea that he would slowly fade out of existence would mean
that he does exist in the future but he doesn't exist. That's impossible
(and frankly a little ridiculous). You cannot partially exist.
So, while the writers never envisioned “many worlds” in Back to
the Future (other than the strange and completely contradictory
alternative Hell Valley world Biff created), the simple fact remains
that Marty and Doc were creating many alternate worlds in their time
travels. The only question that remains is what would these movies
have been like had the writers realized this?
That's a subject of this book and why I wrote it.
Many have said to me over the years that if the writers had used
the “many-worlds” approach there would not have been a story, or
the story would have been so different as to be unrecognizable. I
have always vehemently disagreed and I am now setting out to
prove it. First we will look at all the reasons I believe the “many-
worlds” approach should have been their only option. Then, in
chapter 9 I outline how the story would have gone using the
multiverses rather than the single reality overwrite.
So, enough chit chat, let's get into the meat of this thing!
If my calculations are correct, when this thing hits 88, we're going
to see some serious...
 CHAPTER ONE—THE FOUR LAWS OF TIME
TRAVEL

Quick Jump
LAW NUMBER ONE:

THE FUTURE IS NOT WRITTEN

No one's future is. Your future is what you make it.

LAW NUMBER TWO:

THE PAST IS WRITTEN

The Past Is Immutable

LAW NUMBER THREE:

THE PAST IS NOT WRITTEN

If It Becomes The Present

LAW NUMBER FOUR:

THE FUTURE IS WRITTEN

When It Becomes The Past

When discussing Back to the Future the real issues have to do

with "how time travel works." Which, actually, is kind of silly when
you think about it. Realistically, because of our limited technology,
time travel doesn't work at all. It's pure fantasy, especially time travel
to the past. When people start going on and on about what would or
should have happened when Marty traveled to the past, or to the
future, it's kind of crazy. Hello! McFly! Time travel isn't real and no
one knows how it would all work if it were possible! Yet, there are
some logical imperatives. Such as what has already been pointed
out in the introduction to this book.
Despite their fantastic underpinnings, there are a few simple
applications of logic that cannot be ignored when discussing the sort
of time travel depicted in Back to the Future.
Isaac Asimov had his "three laws of robotics," a set of rules he
used almost from the beginning but that were officially introduced in
his 1942 short story "Runaround." These rules were plainly stated
and applied in all of his "I Robot" series of books. The same thing
can be done for time travel.
When we examine these movies there are four general rules of
logic we must remember! "The four laws of time travel. " We will,
from this point, refer to them as the "four laws," or "the four rules" or
we'll make reference to a specific law, such as, "law number one," or
"rule number one."
LAW NUMBER ONE:

THE FUTURE IS NOT WRITTEN

“...no one's future is. Your future is what you make it...” Doc
Brown
At the end of the third movie Jennifer shows Doc a piece of paper
that she had brought back from the future which had had writing on it
at one time but now was blank. He responds, "of course it is!" She
asks, "but what does it mean?" Doc Brown tells Jennifer and Marty,
"It means your future is not written yet, no one's is, your future is
whatever you make it, so make it a good one, both of you!"
Back to the Future rejects the concepts of predestination or fate
while at the same time referring to fate and destiny over and over
again.
By the end of the movie, however, the authors reject "fate" and
take a scientific approach that, for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction. In the Back to the Future world you cannot defy
the law of physics and Newton's third law governs even your destiny
(even though Doc says there's no such thing as destiny at the end of
BTTF 3).

LAW NUMBER TWO:

THE PAST IS WRITTEN

The Past Is Immutable

Just as surely as no one's future is written yet, everyone's past is.
That past is, well, the past. It's over. What occured is literally
"history." It's written in stone. You cannot change the past from a
vantage point of the present. In the BTTF movies the past has a
"ripple effect" causality that proceeds into the future, but you must
make the past your present (by going back in time) before you can
change the past. (More on this later). This ripple effect is nothing but
Newton's third law applying itself again.

LAW NUMBER THREE:

THE PAST IS NOT WRITTEN

If It Becomes The Present

If you are a time traveler intending upon going back into the past,
the past you intend to go to is now your future. When you arrive
there, while it is technically in the past, you have just made it a part
of the present. Being this past you went to is now the present, is no
longer “written” and can be changed just as easily as you can, at any
time in your life, change your future by taking a different path.
As you can now see, time travel effects the laws of physics in
strange and marvelous ways. Most scientists believe time travel to
the past is a complete violation of the laws of physics itself. In the
BTTF movies it is proposed that perhaps travel to the past is not so
much breaking the laws of physics as much as it is bending them to
your will. When you go back to the past then the moments that led
up to the moment in time when you departed for the past now
becomes future to you (while technically remaining the past).
For example, in Marty's case in the first movie, when Marty goes
back to 1955, the moments leading up to his own birth (which were
past to him) are now future. His own past, though it was written, (as
evidenced by his continued existence) is no longer immutable. It can
be altered or even erased. Which is precisely what happens to poor
Marty. He went to the past, to a time before he was even born and
though his birth and his childhood clearly happened and are in the
past, they are now future and therefore no longer "written" in stone.
That past that Marty is clearly a part of begins to slowly fade away in
the first movie. So, while his future past is written (or he couldn't be
there at all to change anything) at the same time his past is not
written (being the future).
This is the first Paradox.
The past is now the future and the future is the past. The events
of his childhood and the ripples leading up to it can now be rewritten,
jeopardizing his own existence. So, once he was in 1955, the future
that Marty came from, the future of the McFly family, (which is also
his past) is no longer written. His past is now become “future.”
Under normal circumstances nothing can change the past. Time
travel to the past represents a unique “exception” to the rule. The
past that led up to the present (that which occured between the time
you left to go to the past and the time you are now occupying),
those events are now future. They can be re-written, they are no
longer immutable.
 LAW NUMBER FOUR:

THE FUTURE IS WRITTEN

WHEN IT BECOMES THE PAST

Just as the past, when it becomes the present, is no longer written
in stone, when the future becomes the past, it is written in stone.
That is a mind bender to be sure but it's quite logical. Take for
example Marty's existence in 1955. That is 13 years before Marty
was even born! Marty should not exist in 1955 because of rule
number one. Marty's continued existence in 1955 suggests a
violation to that rule. It's not a violation as much as it is an exception
to the rule. The future, being now the past, has already occurred.
Nothing can change the fact that it did happen. We can't change the
past unless we make it the present by going back in time.
Therefore, your future, the future you came from, is now default
until something happens to alter or prevent it. Marty continued to
exist when he was in 1955 even after he interfered with his parents'
meeting. Granted, he began to fade out of existence, but
nevertheless his existence there at all in 1955 is proof enough that
his future birth is "in the past," and has been written. If, after arriving
in 1955, Marty had been able to immediately go back to 1985 without
interacting with his parents, he, according to the movie at least,
would have automatically gone back to the future he came from
(even though technically that future isn't written according to rule
number 1). As you can see rule number 2 effects rule number 1 in
this case.
By remembering these four rules we can sift through many of the
"confusing problems" we may encounter in the movies. Let's look at
one glaring example of a mistake the authors of the script made
because they didn't understand the four rules.
 At the beginning of the first movie Einstein jumps one minute into
the future. Einstein gets into the DeLorean, goes forward one
minute, and during that minute there is no Einstein. He's gone. When
he arrives he does not encounter another "future" Einstein (who is 1
minute older).
Yet, in the second movie Jennifer and Marty jump 30 years into
the future and encounter their 30 year older counterparts. Shouldn't
Jennifer and Marty have arrived in a future where they disappeared
in 1985 just as Einstein arrived 1 minute into the future and found a
future where he was missing from the timeline for 1 full minute? Do
the writers explain this? They try. According to Wikidot they state the
following (referring to their time jump from 1985 to 2015 in the
second movie):
FROM WIKIDOT: (Author's Explanation)
To be honest, yes, it very well should erase their existence
from the future...

This is, in fact, the ultimate paradox of Back to the Future Part
II. We really thought about this one for a long time, but we
finally decided that after the set-up of Doc saying
"Something's got to be done about your kids," the audience
would feel cheated if we went to the future and found out they
didn't exist. You could, however, argue that existence of Old
Marty, Old Jennifer and their kids in the future automatically
proves that young Marty and Jennifer will eventually get back
to 1985. The flaw in this reasoning is that Doc repeatedly tells
us that the future isn't written, so why would this part of the
future be "written?" Ah, but Back to the Future Part III may
contain the answer to this question after all. When Doc spots
the tombstone in 1885 and sees that the name on the
photograph of the tombstone has vanished but the date
remains, he says "We know this photograph represents what
will happen if the events of today continue to run their course
into tomorrow." That's a pretty big "if." And it suggests that
time travel to the future always takes you to a future based on
 the events of the time you left a logical extrapolation of what
the future of that moment holds. Of course, the existence of
free will allows for the possibility of infinite futures, which is
what Doc says at the end of Back to the Future Part III: "Your
future is whatever you make it." But time travel into the future
takes you to the most likely future of the moment you left.
This explanation is a bit frustrating. The authors seem to want to
blame every inconsistency in their plot lines on “paradox.” That's
hard to live with. A time paradox is unavoidable. This incongruity was
avoidable. In this case the authors decided it was more interesting of
a story to do it a certain way and then they want to call it a “paradox”
when it doesn't make any sense; However, what we are describing is
not a paradox at all, by his explanation, the author has turned what
could easily be explained by the four laws of time travel into a glaring
plot hole! He's made matters worse. We find several errors in the
above explanation that do not hold up to further scrutiny.
First, and foremost, is the conclusion that Marty and Jennifer's
eventual return to 1985 is any sort of explanation at all. It creates
even more questions than it answers. How so? If the old Jennifer
and Marty that we see in 2015 are in fact the Jennifer and Marty who
time traveled and then returned to 1985 to live out their lives, the
older couple would have been quite aware of the arrival of their
younger counterparts when it occurs. They would know the exact
moment in time they themselves had traveled to the future and
encountered their older selves.. Marty would have been aware of
Jennifer hiding in his closet that day and Jennifer certainly would not
have fainted when she saw her younger self. She would have full
memories of having traveled to 2015 and seeing herself as an old
woman. To suggest that they would experience a future where they
are married with kids, simply because they are going to make it back
to 1985 some day, this is nothing short of “predestination.” It violates
Rule Number One: Doc's rule that “the future is not written, no one's
is.”
The authors are literally trying to say that the young Marty and
Jennifer have a future in which some day they return to 1985 and
that future is “written.”
The second glaring error they made is in the following question
posed by the authors above:
Author's Quote:
"The flaw in this reasoning is that Doc repeatedly tells us that
the future isn't written, so why would this part of the future be
"written?"
Why? Indeed. Why would the future where they make it back to
1985 be written?

The fourth law!

The future is written when it's the past.

For, you see, the writers (and most fans who point to the presence
of old Jennifer and Marty in 2015 as a plot hole) forget that the 2015
Doc brings them to is not just the future, it's also the past (in more
ways than one). Doc has been there, so it's part of the past. Not only
that but Doc explains he found out about Marty Junior's arrest even
further into the future and then “backtracks” to the moment in time in
2015, then he goes to 1985 to get the kids. This means that the 2015
they experience, complete with an older Jennifer and Marty, is not
just the future, it's also the past and the past... you guessed it... is
written. Doc remembers this “future” to which he brings teenage
Jennifer and Marty. That's all the evidence that we need that it is now
“past.”
This is how rule number 4 explains this paradox completely.
Yet, the authors further compound the plot hole with yet another
ad hoc explanation that makes no sense.

(Author's Explanation)
 “Then Doc spots the tombstone in 1885 and sees that the
name on the

photograph of the tombstone has vanished but the date

remains, he says "We know this photograph represents what
will happen if the events of today continue to run their course
into tomorrow." That's a pretty big "if." And it suggests that
time travel to the future always takes you to a future based on
the events of the time you left ― a logical extrapolation of
what the future of that moment holds.”
The writers are forgetting one thing. When Jennifer and Marty get
into the DeLorean and head to 2015, a logical extrapolation of what
the future of that moment holds would be that there is no Jennifer
and Marty for the next 30 years! Just as when Einstein got in the
DeLorean and went 1 minute in the future and during that minute
there was no Einstein. What if Einstein had gone 10 years into the
future. Could Einstein have arrived in a world where he met a
beautiful golden retriever back in 1986 and they had puppies? Of
course not, there was no Einstein during that 10 years (just as there
was no Einstein for that one minute). It cannot be ignored that
Jennifer and Marty skipped over those 30 years. They could not
have children together during that same 30 years. This is not just a
"paradox" ladies and gentlemen, this is a clear plot hole, yet still the
authors maintain that:
"... time travel into the future takes you to the most
likely future of the moment you left."
By itself the explanation doesn't hold water. Not without also
explaining that Doc had already been to this future, and therefore,
being part of the past would be “the most likely” future they would go
to from 1985, all they've done is create another plot hole. This is one
of the worst possible explanations they could give. What are they
really trying to say? That at the moment Jennifer and Marty left 1985
they were still present in 1985 and now existed both in the time
machine, hurtling towards 2015 and on the earth living out their
lives? Say what?
 Their explanation is, if Jennifer and Marty return to1985 someday,
at or before the exact moment they left, there would be no future in
which they didn't exist. They stick to this explanation like glue, even
using it to explain the Einstein question:
From the Wikidot:
"Einstein never returned to the moment he left, he would
have no reason to, therefore, there was no second
Einstein 1 minute into the future."
This explanation only creates more problems. If they go to the
"most probable future of the moment they left," and in that most
probable future they stayed in 1985 and had kids , that means
Einstein, being a part of the time stream would be the most probable
future (in the same way Jennifer and Marty were the most probable
future because they were a part of the time stream). It's
predestination and violates the first rule. They suggest that the future
is written because of probabilities. Therefore, before Einstein gets
into the DeLorean, his existence in that parking lot is the “most
probable future.”
The authors claim that Jennifer and Marty returning to 1985 from
2015 is “the most probable future.” That is the real problem with their
explanation. How is the most “probable” outcome of their time travel
to 2015 that they eventually return to 1985? Their return to 1985
from 2015 is a future that is as yet unwritten. Anything could happen
(and does happen). Marty barely makes it back to 1985 himself!
They could have failed to get the book back from Biff and Jennifer
would have been trapped in the alternate reality!
It's just preposterous that their returning to 1985 to live out their
lives and have children was “the most probable future” when they got
into the DeLorean to proceed into 2015.
There is no clear solution for this unless you know rule number 4
of time travel and unless you remember that Doc has been even
further to the future and therefore the 2015 he takes them to is also
the past. Because the authors never suggest such a thing, it remains
a definite plot hole.
 If Jennifer and Marty disappeared in 1985 at the exact moment
they are taken to 2015, and as a result they never marry nor have
children, this would result in Doc Brown never going back to 1985 to
enlist their help to "do something" about their kids. In which case,
since Doc Brown would have never went back to 1985 to get them,
they would not have disappeared from 1985, which means they
would be there in 2015 with their kids when they arrive. Temporal
causality time loop. No matter how you look at it, nothing makes
sense.
It's any guess what the writers were thinking with this explanation
of theirs. We can only speculate. Apparently, there's a future where
Jennifer and Marty have kids just because, at the moment Doc
returns to get them they were in love and kissing in the driveway.
This, ladies and gentlemen is fate. The authors are suggesting some
sort of predestination and comparing the kiss of Jennifer and Marty
in the driveway with George and Lorraine's kiss on the dance floor.
They are “destined” to have kids, because they are in love and
kissed in the driveway. So they go into the future (and even though
they are not there to get married and have kids for the next 30 years)
they somehow find a future where they are married and have kids.
Apparently, when they kissed, just before Doc shows up in the
driveway, they wrote a future where they have children in 2015!
Problem after problem, unless you know and apply the four laws
of time travel (which are really pure logic).
The writers attempt to claim that when you jump to the future you
go to a future that is extrapolated from the very moment in time you
jump and is not a future based on what takes place after the time
jump.
If this were so, and if what happens after they jump has no effect
on the future to which they arrive later, what creates the future to
which they travel? This could only be explained by the notion that the
time machine takes all the events going on in the world, extrapolates
the most logical outcome then creates that future so you can jump to
it? Of course, that is ludicrous. The time circuit would have to be a
godlike machine and completely omniscient. It would have to know
everything that is going on in the entire world at that given moment
and create a future universe extrapolated from that information. It's
unlikely that is what they meant , though it certainly could be
construed that way.
Yet, we have an even bigger problem, overlooked by the writers
completely, based on the irrefutable logic of “many worlds” theory.
When Doc leaves 2015, after discovering the destruction of the
McFly family, and goes back to 1985, he creates a new 1985 that
didn't exist when the future he'd just seen was created. A 1985
where Marty and Jennifer are kissing in the driveway and Doc pops
in from 2015 to warn them about their kids! In the timeline that led to
the future Doc read about in the newspaper, he never popped in on
them. They kissed in the driveway, then took a spin in the truck, and
got into a car accident.
The 1985 they are now in, when Doc pops into the driveway is a
completely different reality, just by his being there in the driveway.
According to the way changes to the past effect the future that
proceeds from those changes, Doc's presence there in the driveway
that day would overwrite the past/future he has just seen, where
Marty and Jennifer are married with kids. Especially when he puts
the kids in the DeLorean and leaves for the future!
In the same way Marty overwrote the past/future he came from
when he interfered with his parents and erased his own existence,
wouldn't Doc taking those kids into 2015 erase their marriage and
erase their kids? If they proceed into the future from the moment Doc
puts them in the DeLorean and they leave that timeline, won't they
proceed into the new alternate future Doc created by putting them in
the DeLorean and having them skip their marriage and having kids?
In discussing the alternate reality Biff creates in BTTF 2, Doc
explains that they cannot go to the future and stop Biff from stealing
the time machine because if they proceed to the future from that
point they will proceed to the future of that timeline.
Amazingly, to pure logic, the authors, by having Doc say this,
were scientifically balls on accurate. However; Yet again, according
to the beginning of the movie, and how Doc took the kids into the
2015 future he'd just experienced, after returning to 1985 and
creating a whole new timeline, Doc's statement contradicts how we
have already seen things work in the movie.
Let me explain. When Doc goes to 2015, sees the disaster that
happens to the McFly family, then returns to 1985 and lands in the
driveway, he's now created a brand new timeline. In the 1985
timeline of the future he's just witnessed, he never lands in the
driveway of the McFly home and never grabs the kids and flies them
off into the future. In the new timeline Doc has now created by going
back for the kids, he flies them off to the future from that reality which
should be the future where the kids disappear in 1985 and “skip
over” 30 years, never having children, at least according to what Doc
demonstrates on the chalk board later in the alternate Biff, “Hell
Valley” future.
So, when Doc (being scientifically correct accurate) tells Marty
that they can't go from the alternate Biff 1985 back to the 2015 they
just came from by proceeding into the future from that point, he's
contradicting what we know clearly happens earlier in the movie.
Since Doc was able to take the kids to the 2015 future he'd just been
to, instead of taking them to the future that would unfold from that
point in time in 1985 when he grabs them and takes them into the
future, we know that, according to how time travel works in the
movie, Doc Brown is wrong.
Furthermore, when Doc and Marty leave the 2015 of their reality
(the brand new timeline Marty just created by having Griff and his
gang arrested) there is no way they should have gone back to the
Biff alternate 1985 Hell Valley past because that was not the past of
their timeline. Even according to Doc's chalk board example, Biff
created a new timeline, with a completely new tangent, one of which
our Doc and Marty we've been following in the movie are not a part.
Doc and Marty should never have landed in the alternate 1985
created by Biff.
Nevertheless, let's roll with it.
Let's say they do somehow end up there. According to how it
worked at the beginning of the second movie, Doc should be able to
take them back to the 2015 they just left, just like he was able to take
the kids from 1985 to the future he had just left (even though they
were now in a brand new timeline created by his return to 1985).
This is because in the altered 1985 timeline the future is not written,
but the future they just came from where Biff steals a time machine
is still in the past. It would be the most “probable future.”
In the same way that Doc and Marty of the original timeline still
exist in the Biff Alternate 1985 (even though Doc's counterpart in that
reality never built a time machine and Marty's counterpart in that
timeline never traveled to 2015 to buy an Almanac), nevertheless,
their continued existence and presence in the Biff altered timeline is
proof positive that when you create an alternate tangent it does not
keep you from proceeding to the future that you remember (the
future that is past).
So, by having Doc, Jennifer, and Marty leave 1985 and go to a
2015 where Jennifer and Marty are married, we know that (at least
according to the authors of the movie and how time travel works in
the movie) Doc was wrong in his assertion that they cannot go back
to the future and stop Biff from stealing the time machine. That future
is now past and for them would be the most likely future they would
go to, just as when they all jumped in the DeLorean and went to
2015, the most likely future they went to was a future where Jennifer
and Marty were married with children!
Yet, the authors offer yet another ad hoc explanation that doesn't
make sense. They claim that after old Biff gives himself the Almanac
in 1955 then proceeds into the future of the new timeline he's
created, he somehow finds Doc and Marty from the original timeline
carrying Jennifer from the McFly home toward the DeLorean. They
claim that old Biff returned to the 2015 of the altered timeline he
created, but it's just that the neighborhood looked the same. This
was an incredible blunder on their part. For, you see, in the altered
timeline Biff created, Doc never created a time machine, he was
committed to an insane asylum instead, and Marty never time
traveled. He was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland!
 If old Biff proceeded from 1985 into the altered Hell Valley future
of 2015, there would be no Doc, no Marty, no Jennifer, no Einstein
there. Biff could have just kept the time machine in that new reality.
In the deleted scene Biff vanishes, having been murdered in 1986 by
Lorraine in revenge for George's murder (according to yet another
ad hoc explanation from the authors). Fair enough, so Biff would
leave the DeLorean time machine sitting in that neighborhood in the
altered future for someone to find and possibly figure out how to use
it!
Hold on to your hats folks, because this roller coaster ride is about
to get crazy!
Yes, when Doc puts them in the DeLorean and takes them to
2015, he does create a new “tangent” timeline future where Jennifer
and Marty disappeared in a flying DeLorean, never got married and
never had kids, but, in the movie and according to the authors, the
future Doc has already experienced (the future that is now in the
past) would be the overriding future.
When the future is already the past, it is written. Doc has created
a “missing Jennifer and Marty” future timeline but we never see it in
the movie!
Now you have a basic understanding of “many worlds” and what
this book is about! Ironically, the authors have added the “branch”
theory to the river of time overwrite theory mid stream in the second
movie and gone to the “multiverse” theory without explanation
probably because they don't understand the theory.
The future we see when Doc Brown takes them to 2015 has to
exist, Doc Brown is a part of this universe and anything that is past
to him is past to the universe. Doc, by experiencing that future first
hand (the future where Jennifer and Marty don't time jump and
instead get married and have kids) has made that future a
permanent part of the universe's past. It cannot be unwritten no
matter what happens after he goes back to 1985 and does
something to change it. The fact Doc remembers those events at all
is the only evidence we need of this.
 The argument that when Doc goes back to 1985 and takes them
into 2015 he "changes" that future he experienced doesn't hold
(according to the movie). He creates a new future but not a new
past. The ripples in time that result from Doc taking Jennifer and
Marty into the future do not go into the past, only the future. Time
ripples only go forward into the future (cause and effect) not back.
Since the future where Marty and Jennifer stay and have kids is the
past (being that Doc has already been there), those events are
untouchable by Doc's actions, but they are still future once he gets
back to 1985, so that's the timeline they would go to.
The future to which they are jumping is also the past and
therefore the ripples of their jump do not extend there! It's a double
whammy of probabilities that would not effect Doc, Jennifer and
Marty as the jump to the future from 1985. A future that exists
because it is past would completely override any unwritten future
that could result from their time jump. This is irrefutable my friends
and once you get a grasp of it you can now understand these movies
completely (and how the writers themselves didn't even understand
the implications of what they wrote fully).
In the real world, scientifically speaking, according to Doc's own
explanation on the chalk board, When Doc gets the kids in 1985 and
tries to proceed to the future of 2015 that he had just seen, they
couldn't go to that future. They could only go to the future of the
reality Doc has just created in 1985, when he puts the kids into a
DeLorean and they skip 30 years into the future! So, the writers are
confused how it all works and when they do manage to get it right
they only get it right by accident.
Since Doc, Marty and Jennifer left 1985 and skipped 30 years and
wound up in the future Doc had just left where they are married and
have children, then Doc is wrong when he says they can't get in the
time machine from the alternate Biff reality and go back to the future
they just came from and stop Biff from stealing the time machine.
By the way things worked at the beginning of the movie, the future
that Doc experienced on his first jump to 2015 is indelibly written in
the sands of time, leaving it's footprints there forever. The bell cannot
be unwrung. The lightning cannot be unstruck so the same thing
would be true for their attempt to stop Biff from stealing the time
machine.
Even though, going by what the author's had already done, the
explanation Doc Brown gave of their predicament in the altered Biff
timeline, based on the chalk board example, is wrong, technically
and scientifically it is correct. Scientifically and logically they couldn't
go to the future of that reality and stop Biff from stealing the time
machine. It's just too bad they didn't realize this when they were
writing the beginning of the movie.
Logically, the future where they came from, where Biff steals a
time machine must still exist somewhere or they wouldn't exist, but
scientifically they couldn't go there by going into the future because
they would merely ride that time stream into the future that results
from that moment.
They might be able to go back in time, theoretically, since the
future they just came from is also the past, but how this would be
accomplished is a mystery.
If they had been in this alternate reality for say 8 hours and 20
minutes, and they tried to go back to the future they left in the past
by 8 hours and 21 minutes, would the time machine merely go back
8 hours and 21 minutes in the Biff altered timeline or would it know to
take branch of time that converged from the future that brought them
there? It's fun do theorize but there's just no way of knowing for sure.
If I were Doc, I would have at least given it a try before I decide to go
to 1955 and start messing around further with the time stream!
Let's look at this another way. What if the time circuits worked
differently?
What if, instead of typing in a destination date and time you had
two displays, one in which you typed how far you wanted to go into
the future and one in which you typed how far you wanted to go into
the past. For example, Marty went from 1985 and spent a week in
1955. That 7 day "patch" of time now exists in two places in the
continuum. It exists in it's original spot in the continuum but it now
also exists as "future" in 1985. There is literally a 7 day patch of time
(from November 5, 1955 to November 12, 1955) that is now in a
place in the continuum existing on the date, October 26, 1985 and
that patch of 1955 would be future to anyone prior to that date. When
Marty arrives back in 1985, if he were to want to go back to that 7
days he spent in 1955 he would not have to go very far into the past.
If a minute had past since he arrived in 1985 he would only have to
go back 1 minute in time to arrive back in 1955. Common sense
dictates that even though the patch of time is from 30 years earlier,
Marty was only there a minute ago. He would only have to go back in
time 1 minute to get there.
If we could build a time circuit where you simply dial in how many
days, minutes, seconds you wish to go into the past (or future) then
you could possibley navigate the various "timelines" that have been
created by your time travel. Lets say you jump to 2015, see
something you don't like, figure out you can change it by going to
1985. You go there and remain there for 10 minutes in order to make
the change. You then have two choices, you can go 30 years into the
future to observe the changes that you made, or you could go 10
minutes and a few seconds into the past and you would be back to
the future from which you came and that future, being the past,
would remain unaffected by the changes you just made. So, if the
time circuit worked in this way, when Doc got the kids in the
DeLorean he didn't need to take them 30 years into the future, he
only needed take them about 10 minutes or so into the past
(however many minutes it took him to get them in the DeLorean
once arriving there). He then would most assuredly go right back to
where he had come from, and would be in the future that he already
experienced, a future where Marty and Jennifer never time jumped
with him to 2015. The ripple effect of him leaving 1985 with them in
the DeLorean would have no effect on that “past” future. The ripples
only go forward into the future.
Yet, that is not how they chose to make the time machine work.
Instead they have him type in a date and time destination.
The ripples in time caused by changes made in the past only
extend to the future. Even using the type of time circuit Doc used, we
see from his taking them from 1985 right back to the future 2015
he'd just came from, by jumping to the future, therefore, if you jump
to the future you would always go to the default time period. If you've
already been to that future it is now the past and becomes the "most
probable" future. It supercedes any theoretical futures that could
possibly be created , because of Rule Number One, the future is not
written.
Doc Brown went to 2015 and saw some events, he then went
back to 1985. Those future events which he has already seen are
now written history, a part of the past. The writers understood at
least this much and even turned it into a punchline in the middle of
the second movie. When Doc and Marty discuss the Hell Valley
alternate reality:

MARTY
"It's all my fault, none of this would have
happened if I hadn't bought that damned
book!"
DOC BROWN
"Never mind, that's all in the past."
MARTY
"You mean the future."
DOC BROWN
"Whatever!"

In point of fact, the future where Marty buys an Almanac was in

the past! Even though in the reality they now lived Marty never time
traveled, was sent to Switzerland to a boarding school instead. None
of that matters. They found the receipt for the Almanac in the
DeLorean. The future from which they just came is part of the past, it
still exists even though, way back in the 1955 of this new reality, Biff
changed everything and created a new future way back in 1955!
Their very existence there is all the proof we need that the timeline
from which they came is still in tact.
Now, while it is absolutely true scientifically that once they were in
the alternate Hell Valley timeline (there's no explanation why they
would even be there but whatever), once they were there,
scientifically they cannot go back to the future they came from by
proceeding into the future from there, (the author's were correct
about this); However, they'd already violated this scientific principle
at the beginning of the movie and set the precedent that you could,
indeed, go back to the future you just came from by going forward
from a new timeline! They've also defended this numerous times
since, so, when it comes to the movie, it's written in stone... if I go 30
years into the future, see something I don't like, then go back to
1985, (and by so doing change the circumstances of that future),
then proceed back to the future I wanted to change, I arrive back at
the future I had just experienced before. This is their rules,
remember, not mine, and not based on any logical science.
Sure, the writers claim they “thought about this for a long time.”
Yet, when it came time to write the rest of the movie, Doc makes
contradictory statements regarding how they can't leave the
alternate timeline and go back to the future they'd just came from
(even though in the beginning of the movie they did just that). The
writers just forgot that, just by being back in 1985 in the driveway,
Doc had created a completely new timeline (the way Biff did by going
to 1955 and giving himself the Almanac) and thus, by grabbing the
kids in 1985 and jumping them into the future Doc changed the past
that had resulted in the future he was trying to prevent. You have to
kind of laugh at that one really. I love these movies but you have to
shut your brain off completely to enjoy them.
 CHAPTER TWO-- PARADOXES GALORE
The Back to the Future franchise seems riddled with paradoxes
and it comes with the territory. As we've discussed already, using the
river of time analogy used by the writers of BTTF (and indeed most
science fiction time travel authors) time travel to the past itself is a
paradox (especially if you ignore the many-worlds theory).
Case in point, Marty McFly. Here is a 17 year old kid from 1985
who, through a twist of fate, accidentally goes back in time 30 years
to the 1955 of his own past (the time of his parents' past). He's in
1955 and he still exists, 13 years before he's even born. Scientifically
this is impossible and makes no sense. How can you exist before
you exist? Thus, by the way the time continuum works in the movie,
time travel to the past, especially travel to a time before you were
born, is indeed a paradox. “The future is not written yet, no one's is.”
Technically speaking, then, when Marty goes back to 1955, he
should vanish instantly. He is part of the future and it's not written
(and he's in his own timeline where, should he make changes, could
effect him directly).
Furthermore, the time machine would vanish the instant you took
it only 1 minute into a past before it was created. The time machine
can't exist before it existed. Yet, most argue this paradox was
necessary or there would have been no movie. In short, using the
river of time you cannot have a movie where you are jumping back
and forth into the past without paradoxes because the very plot of
the movie itself is a paradox.
Paradox is classically defined this way:
"A statement or proposition that, despite sound (or
apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable
premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless,
logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory."
It's hard for some to understand the following concepts: In the
present, the past does not exist anymore. The past is what already
happened. The past is the present that has lapsed and expired, it is
what once was but now is no more. This truth gave inspiration for
Stephen King's “The Langoliers” where they are trapped in the past
and the Langoliers are eating everything. The past exists only within
memories and in the "footprints" it leaves behind. The future doesn't
really exist either, it's only theoretical. The future doesn't exist until it
becomes the present (at which point it's no longer the future but is
the present). All that really exists tangibly in time is the here and
now, the present is all we can feel and touch. Following the laws of
logic and of the universe, we can remember the past and we can
dream of the future but we can't go back to the past and we can't
jump forward to the future. We have to let the future unfold.
Time travel is presented in a specific way in Back to the Future
and yet in another way in Back to the Future 2 and 3 while still trying
to present time in the same way they did in the first movie. Crazy,
right?
At first, the writers choose the “overwrite” ripple effect to describe
the space time continuum. Time is like a river and Marty, going back
and interfering with his parents causes a ripple in the river that is
carried down stream of the timeline erasing and rewriting everything
in this one, single timeline. Then at the end of the movie Doc
concludes that the future is “not yet written” at all, which negates the
ripple effect. You cannot “overwrite” that which has not been written,
you cannot erase from existence that which does not yet exist.
If you think about it, using the “overwrite” ripple effect, at the
moment Marty stopped his parents from meeting he should have
instantly vanished. According to this “ripple effect” overwrite
presented in Back to the Future, should anyone actually plan to go
back in time, that past they plan to go to is future. Then, when they
arrive there, the past would become the present and the future they
just came from would become the past and neither the past nor the
future exist except in memory or in theory.
The time traveler, being a part of the future, which hasn't been
written yet would have not as yet been created. (They are the future
and the future isn't written so they aren't written.) Their very
existence would only be theoretical.
 Yet, in reality it could be argued successfully that, since the future
is also the time traveler's past he may remain in existence in the past
(but only if his changing his own past timeline has no effect
whatsoever on his own timeline). In this case, that future is part of
the past and you can't change the past. He exists, therefore he does
not cease to exist merely because he goes further back in time than
his birth and changes the circumstances of his existence. It's
theoretically possible that the time traveler to the past might find that
his or her very existence in the past actually ensures the continued
existence of the future from which the traveler came. Their life
history would be an anchor to keep them firmly anchored to
existence. While there, in the past, the original future from whence
he or she came is now their past and therefore is indeed written.
In the movies the ripples of what Marty did extend to his own past
and he begins to be erased. In reality, however, the ripples of what
we do in the past would only extend to the future and the future is
not written, those ripples couldn't arrive in 1985 until 30 years after
Marty created them. Therefore anything we did in the past could not
jeopardize our own future because ripples in time don't go
backwards into the past. We could not cause a conundrum to our
own past.
If Marty cancels his own existence in 1955 by interfering with his
parents, and if there is a “delay” in his vanishing away as a result of
this interference, that delay would take until the day he is supposed
to be born to cause him to fully vanish. He wouldn't fade out for a
week and then suddenly vanish. This is because it would take all
those years for the ripple effect to have its effect on the time stream.
The consequences of something I do in 1955 cannot rush forward,
faster than time itself.
In Space Balls, Da Movie, they make fun of Star Wars' “jump to
light speed.” They say, “prepare to go to ludicrous speed.” If we think
that going faster than light is “ludicrous” going faster than time itself
is “moronic speed.”
If Marty is going to fade slowly out of existence after interfering
with his parents, he would have far longer than a week to stop this.
He would have until the moment his is born. Yet, would he be the
same Marty at that point? Let's say Marty has until the day he's
supposed to be born to get his parents back together and it takes
him 10 years to do it. When they finally have their third child, (Marty)
he would be conceived on a completely different day, with
completely different sperm and ovum.
In fact, when Marty interferes with his own existence by changing
the circumstances of his parents' meeting, it can be argued, that
after they kiss on the dance floor, under a completely new
relationship, based on George as hero rather than George as victim
of a car accident that Lorraine feels sorry for, this would have to
result in a completely different Marty McFly! The Marty McFly who is
born to George who decked Biff at the dance could simply not be the
same Marty who we meet at the beginning of the movie. That Marty,
if he was disappearing as a result of interfering with his parents,
would continue to disappear, even after his parents kissed on the
dance floor. He would be replaced in the time stream by a
completely different Marty.
No matter how you slice it, according to the river of time theory
our continued existence in the past, especially before we were born,
would remain a paradox by the strictest definition of the word.
Yet, if we apply logic and rule number three, it's not really a
paradox.
When we travel to 30 years into the past of our own time stream,
we do not go to our own timestream, we create a new branch, a new
timestream. This is irrefutable because, 30 years in the past of our
own timestream there was no us present. We would only create a
new past which starts a new timestream that results in a completely
different future that, 30 years into the past, would be unwritten and
purely theoretical.
Marty leaves 1985 and goes to 1955 in a few seconds flat. Now,
the 1955 Marty is not in the timeline that led to his creation (the one
that originally led to the future he came from). He is in a new 1955,
one that has a time traveling Marty and a DeLorean in it. His
presence there creates a “new reality” an “alternate past.” So, he is
not in his own past and therefore it's not really a paradox at all.
Back to the Future attempts to use the “grandfather paradox” as a
major plot twist. This is a term made popular by science fiction writer
Nathaniel Schachner, in his short story Ancestral Voices and by
René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent, 'Future
Times Three'. Basically, the grandfather paradox is described as
follows:
" Someone goes back in time and kills his grandfather
before his grandfather meets his grandmother, thus,
they are never born. However; if he was never born, then
HOW was he able to travel through time and kill his
grandfather? Since he doesn't exist to go back in time to
kill his grandfather he is then BORN after all."
Marty goes back in time and stops his parents from getting
married and having children. This means he was never born. So how
did he go back in time and stop his parents from meeting? Paradox.
Except, the problem here is as I have outlined. The third law of
time travel dictates that you cannot go to your own past. It's
impossible. The minute you step foot into your own past, it's no
longer your past, a new present that results in a new future. It's a
completely new timestream. Just as Biff created an alternate timeline
when he went back and gave himself an Almanac, Marty created an
alternate timeline when he merely stepped foot into 1955. The
minute he was there, he struck a scarecrow. In his original past
timeline, no one ever struck a scarecrow at the Peabody farm in
1955 with a 1985 DeLorean. Therefore, the past he has arrived in is
a new past and thus a new timestream. He's created a new reality.
You can never go 30 years into the past of your own reality! When
you get there you create a new reality!
This is exactly why the “overwrite” river of time theory doesn't
work and only creates paradoxes galore. Those who conclude that
time travel is impossible based on this problem are employing
circular logic. They create a vision of how time works in their heads
(river of time) in which a person goes back in time to their own past.
This, for very logical and scientific reasons can never happen. The
conclusion that time travel to the past must be impossible based on
the very logical reason that you cannot go to your own past, ignores
the possibility, the very real possibility, that you can go back in time
and create an alternate branch, another timestream off of the one
that you were formerly riding, and take that timestream off in a
different reality and a different direction.
What rule number 3 of time travel proves with pure logic is that
those who point to the paradoxes of traveling to our own past are
merely looking at it all wrong. Should a time traveler exist, and
should he or she go back to the past, this past they're in is not the
past in which led to their own existence, because in the past in which
they now reside, they are there and in the past that led to their own
existence they were never there..
If you're getting a headache I'm sorry, but it's actually quite simple.
If Marty goes to 1955, he's not in the 1955 that eventually led to the
1985 that he came from, because in that timeline there never was a
time traveling Marty in a DeLorean in 1955, and in this new past
there is!
This is why most think of the river of time in a flawed and illogical
manner when they discount the notion of branches and diverging/
converging time streams. It's illogical. The river of time has many
branches. There are millions, or even billions of tributaries and forks
in the river of time. (Or, at least there could be if one were to master
navigating the time stream).
Think of Marty, George, and Lorraine as floating down the river of
time in a raft. Behind him is the 1955 where George is a
marshmallow and Lorraine marries him out of pity because her dad
hit him with the car. Marty leaves his family's raft for a DeLorean time
machine and tries to go back down the river to where his parents
met because of the car accident. He goes there, but now, there is a
problem, Marty has just diverted the flow of the river that carried his
family raft to 1985. Just being there has created a new branch that
proceeds in the opposite direction of the time stream he came from,
then reconnects to it (converges) further up stream in 1955. Then, he
interferes with the traffic accident that led to his parents falling in love
and now Marty/Calvin, George, and Lorraine are floating down a
completely different timeline.
Some believe that this would destroy the original timestream that
led to the birth of Marty. That is what was proposed in Back to the
Future. Marty starts to vanish. There is no scientific or even logical
basis for this view. It's non sequitur and unscientific. Why would the
old timestream that has already flowed all the way down to 1985
suddenly start to vanish, just because Marty created a new flow
sending George and Lorrain down a new destination? It's completely
illogical. Furthermore, since the timestream future Marty came from
is in the past, it cannot be rewritten. The past is immutable. Now, that
past can be changed, but it would no longer be the past that it was
and would have no effect on the original past. See how this works?
Furthermore, if Marty sends George and Lorraine down a new
river path and this somehow destroys the stream they were on you
have the grandfather paradox again. How did Marty go back in time
if his parents never met and had children? So, in this case, the
grandfather paradox doesn't prove that time travel to the past is
impossible, it only proves that the way they envision time travel to
the past and its effect on time as impossible.
If you think about it in the terms of “many worlds” or “alternate
universes” then the paradox goes away, for, when Marty goes back
in time he creates a new world, a new alternate reality. Then, when
he interferes with his parents, he creates yet another one. Because
the future is not written, therefore it cannot be overwritten.
What I just said is so important it must be repeated. Doc Brown, if
“the future isn't written yet” then the future cannot be “overwritten” in
the way these authors continually overwrite the future in these
movies!
Sure, Marty can go back in time to 1955, but guess what, he's not
in his own past, he's not in his own time, he's created a new past. If
he changes anything, including killing his parents, or just stopping
them from having kids, it has no effect on him. He's only created a
new reality, a new past where his parents never fall in love and
subsequently he's never born. Should he proceed back to the future,
after messing with his own past in this fashion, he would go to a new
future, where he never existed.
He wouldn't vanish at all.
When they had him vanishing they were trying to suggest that
when Marty created a new past where his parents never meet and
fall in love and have kids, he destroyed his own past.
Nonsense!
The argument is that since George and Lorraine will not proceed
into the future and give birth to Marty, then Marty that stops them
from meeting can no longer exist. He fades out.
Ridiculous logic, for the very fact he stopped them from meeting
and this new past proceeds into a new future where he doesn't exist
is all the evidence that his timeline did not vanish and he could not
vanish, for if he did, he couldn't stop his parents from meeting and
everything would switch back to the way it was before he went back
in time, then in 1985 it would all reoccur again, unfolding just as it
did, and you have a perpetual time loop.
The very fact that Marty is in 1955 is all the evidence that he's not
in his own past, but a new past.
The future that unfolds from there would not be his own future
(which is actually technically the past) but would be a new future that
has nothing at all to do with him.
So, what happens to the 1985 that Marty knows when he time
travels to 1955. Does it vanish because he created a new timeline?
Why would it. How could it. It's technically still the past and is
immutable. It proceeds on as it was without him in it. The same way
the timeline continues on for a full minute while Einstein left the
timeline and time traveled. Marty would be gone from the 1985
timeline he left and would never return. He couldn't return, not by
going into the future from 1955, because if he goes to the future from
that point (the new timeline he's created by going back in time) he
would go to the future of that reality. According to Doc, in BTTF 2 of
course, that is how it works!
 Marty got in a DeLorean and went back to 1955, once there he
created an alternate reality, alternate to everyone else but him in that
timeline. When he proceeds to the future from there he doesn't go
back to his original 1985, he goes to an alternate. Which is precisely
what happens. He ends up at “Lone Pine Mall” where he watches a
completely new and different Marty McFly, one who was raised by
the confident and wealthy George McFly. He never returns to the
1985 he's left! This is irrefutable.
Let's say that when Marty went back to 1955 and struck a pine
tree, if he had had plutonium couldn't he have zipped back to 1985?
Would he return to the 1985 he just came from? No way, because as
he enters 1955 he mows down a scare crow, then moments later he
plows over a pine tree. He's no longer in the reality that he left, he's
now in an alternate reality. In the reality he just left in 1985 the mall is
“Twin Pines Mall,” in the reality he returns to the mall is “Lone Pine
Mall.” Not the same reality at all.
Time travel to the past only makes sense when you think of it in
terms of the multiverse or “many worlds” theory. Marty didn't go to
his own past, he went to a new past that he created when he arrives
in the past, a new present which was at one time his own past until
he arrived there. This doesn't destroy the future he came from for it
is in the past and cannot be changed. It doesn't destroy the past that
led to the 1985 that he came from because it too is even further in
the past and the past cannot be changed.
If we erroneously think of it as Marty went to his own past (or his
parent's past) we have an irreconcilable paradox for he could not
exist before he's even born. Presenting it using the many worlds
theory, in which time has many branches, employing the logic of the
four laws, travel to the past merely creates an alternate reality (an
alternate past). It's no longer a paradox that he's in 1955 and it's not
a paradox when he changes it, resulting in a world where he never
existed.
As a result, time travel movies such as Back to the Future seem
absurd to some and not just "paradoxical.” Yet it's the writers' failure
to understand time theory correctly that is at the root of the paradox.
Let's face it, nothing is more absurd than Marty being alive and
interfering with his parent's falling in love, and in so doing,
jeopardizing his own existence, yet he still exists there for a week,
long enough to get them back together again (while at the same time
being told he never existed in this new reality). Even though he no
longer exists in the future he still exists and begins working to undo
the damage he's done?
The grandfather paradox ultimately results in a temporal causality
loop which repeats itself in an endless feedback until the space time
continuum is destroyed, but; thankfully, according to Doc Brown in
the second movie, the destruction might be "very localized,
limited to merely our own galaxy." (Back to the Future Part
II).
Not only is it a paradox that Marty is even in 1955, being that he
couldn't have been born any earlier than 1968, there is the
grandfather paradox in which Marty, while he's trying to figure out
what's going on, meets his father, George McFly. He follows his
father, and after a very uncomfortable discovery that his father was
indeed a young peeping tom, he saves him from being struck by a
car, realizing only too late that this is the very car accident that leads
to his father meeting his mother, who is, not coincidentally, the same
girl upon whom the father had been peeping moments before the
accident. By preventing their first real meeting he creates a causality
that leads to their never falling in love and so he's never born. He
takes out a family photo from his wallet and discovers that his elder
brother is beginning to vanish from the photo.
This is classic "grandfather paradox." He's interfered with his
parents' meeting, which results in his never being born, which means
he could not travel back in time to interfere with his parents' meeting,
etcetera etcetera... BOOM!
What does Marty do? Silly kid that he is, he further pollutes the
already nearly irrevocably damaged timeline by seeking out the one
person in 1955 he believes will understand time travel and get him
“back to the future.” Doctor Emmett Brown's younger counterpart
(the scientist responsible for his accidental time jump to 1955 to
begin with). Doc Brown has Marty retrace his steps and determines
what happened. They then set out to set things right by getting his
parents together at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance where
his parents originally kissed and fell in love.
Incidentally, this creates paradox after paradox. Doc Brown is now
aware of certain unavoidable facts about his future, such as, he
builds a time machine out of an automobile called a DeLorean, in
1985. This is a paradox.
Doc gets to see, touch, and examine an invention that he hasn't
even created yet and won't create for 30 years!
Not only that, but Doc Brown knows about Marty. Whereas, before
the time travel occurred, Doc and Marty had met by happenstance,
now, Doc will be expecting to meet Marty. He may not know the
exact circumstances or date of their future meeting but Doc and
Marty have now started an interpersonal relationship with each other
that is based upon a pre-existing relationship with each other that
began several decades later. This new relationship, based on their
future relationship, takes place decades BEFORE the relationship
upon which their new relationship is based even began.
In fact, it's 13 years before Marty is even born how can Doc be
having a friendship with him at all in 1955? This is why identifying a
"paradox" in a time travel movie does not a genius make and it
certainly doesn't qualify as discovering a "mistake" in the movie or a
"plot hole" as so many seem to believe. These types of "grandfather
paradoxes" popping up continually in these movies are never
explained, certainly not in the movies, and people just write them off
as, "yet another time paradox." Some argue that in all the dilemmas
in these movies they eventually "fix" the disasters their time travel
causes, so the paradox was averted, yet, fixing a paradox does not
negate that it happened and is itself yet another paradox, for how
can you fix a paradox that never happened because you fixed it?
In a time travel movie, a paradox is not the same thing as a
"mistake" or a "plot hole." I've seen many and various objections to
plot lines presented in all three installments of these movies that are
based entirely on the unfortunate fact that the movie plot presents a
paradox that is simply over the head of the person objecting. When
debating whether or not a plot in Back to the Future contains a "hole"
it's best to stick to the movies themselves and to allow the events
and the dialogue themselves to explain things. Let's not forget, time
travel is not real and neither is Back to the Future! Aside from
applying logic, as we have done with the four rules, we can't argue
how time travel would “really” work. You might not like the
explanation in the movie but give the writers license. They are the
ones that created the plot in question, they should have the last
word.
However, as with the Einstein question and the Jennifer and Marty
jump to 2015, time travel works one way in one movie and another
way in the next movie. Then in later interviews we hear the writers'
ad hoc explanations. It's a frustrating pattern. I would rather they
merely answer these types of questions with, “shut up and just enjoy
the story.”
 CHAPTER THREE—THE RIPPLE EFFECT

The Back to the Future movies continually employ a mechanism

whereby items that came from the future ( photographs, a fax,
newspaper articles, a matchbook) change before their very eyes
once things in the past have been altered. These changes either
occur gradually (as in the case of Marty's family photo) or they occur
instantly. We will discuss the difference between the instant change
and the gradual change in a moment.
Doc Brown, near the end of the second movie refers to "the ripple
effect" when explaining how newspaper articles and other printed
articles brought from the alternate future were suddenly altered.
During this scene we see the following items that were taken from
the Alternate Biff timeline change right before their very eyes.

1. The matchbook Marty took from Biff's Pleasure Paradise

Casino changes to read: "Biff's Auto Detailing."

2. George McFly's obituary changes from "GEORGE McFly

MURDERED" to "GEORGE McFly HONORED."

3. The newspaper article that once said "EMMETT BROWN

COMMITTED" changes to read "EMMETT BROWN
COMMENDED."
MARTY
(Excitedly shouts into the walkie talkie): The
newspaper's changed! Doc, my Father's alive!
That means everything is back to normal right?

Doc looks at his newspaper.

DOC BROWN
Mission accomplished!
 MARTY
That means Jennifer is okay and Einy is okay, right?"
DOC BROWN
That's right Marty, it's the ripple effect, the future is back, now let's
go home!
Doc likens the changes that are made to the future to dropping a
pebble in a pond. The ripples then travel outward in all directions like
small waves. In actuality "the ripple effect" comes from chaos
theory." It's the proposition that space time continuum (and indeed
the universe) has a sensitive dependence in which even a small
change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in
large differences in a later state. The name, is actually “The Butterfly
Effect,” coined by Edward Lorenz. It is derived from the metaphorical
example of how an hurricane is formed (exact time of formation,
exact path taken) and how even minor perturbations such as the
flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier can,
through cause and effect and amplified over time, cause a huge
storm. Applied in time travel a very small change in initial conditions
can create a significantly different outcome than what happened
before.
In BTTF II, as they were leaving the alternate Biff timeline (1985A)
to go back to 1955 and take the Almanac away from young Biff
before he can use it, Doc Brown explains that as soon as they
succeeded, the alternate 1985 would be changed back to the regular
1985, "instantly transforming around Jennifer and Einy," he
added that they would both be fine and would have "no memory of
this horrible place." This is where the whole "ripple effect" thing
gets completely fuzzy indeed. So far, we've witnessed several
changes made in the past which did not appear to have an
"instantaneous effect" on either those who were from the future (but
trapped in the past) or those who were in the future.
Take for example how Marty was vanishing in the first movie after
changing his future but only slowly and more importantly, his siblings
who were in 1985 at the time were also vanishing slowly.
 If we go to Wikidot and read up on the Back to the Future fan sites
we soon discover that most fans believe the "ripple effect"
represents how changes to the future are made "gradually" after you
make changes to the past. They erroneously base this on the week
long fading out of Marty's siblings in his family photo in the first
movie. They are, however, confusing the “ripple effect” with the “time
continuum lag.” (We'll discuss that later). There was a specific
reason it took a week for Marty and his siblings to vanish from
existence. It was a unique exception to the ripple effect.
According to Doc Brown the rule is that when you make changes
to the past, the future is instantly transformed. ("Instantly
transforming around Jennifer and Einy").
Marty was from 1985. When he interfered with his parents'
meeting and with their falling in love, the "future" he created was not
"instantly transformed" around him or his siblings.
In the case of Marty himself, many have argued that since he was
no longer in the future, he was now a part of the past and the future
would not instantaneously transform around him. This is a fair
argument, yet, this same point proves that Marty should not have
been vanishing at all, for the very same reason. Rule Number Four
governs here. Though the future is normally unwritten, when it
becomes the past it is written. Since Marty is from the original 1985
and that is a part of his past, and since the past is "written" it makes
logical sense that he would not be effected by the changes he
makes when he time travels to the past. Otherwise, would he not
instantaneously cease to exist the moment he made the changes
that result in his no longer existing?
Yet, the slow fading of Marty and his siblings is self explanatory in
the movie.
Most fans miss it completely for some reason.
While Marty interfering with his parents' meeting by taking his
father's place in the car accident was the catalyst for erasing him
from existence, it was not the direct cause of his erasure. Marty
didn't cease to exist until his parents failed to kiss on the dance floor
a week later. Marty has created a new timeline sequence of events
where his parents didn't meet in the same way they met before, but
there were still millions of ways his parents could still meet and end
up at the dance together kissing and falling in love just as they had
done in Marty's past/future.
This is why the movie has him fading away slowly (aside from the
fact that if they just have him vanish after he gets hit by the car it
would be a far different movie). The movie sets the stage that the
real cause of Marty's erasure from existence is that his parents don't
kiss on the dance floor, giving him plenty of time to correct the
damage before he fades away. It's not scientific, it's full of holes, but
certainly the authors never meant to suggest that it takes a week for
the ripple effect to take effect in the future after you make changes to
the past. This was a unique situation in which two changes to the
past, a week apart, result in a single time stream overwrite. The rest
of the time in the movies the ripple effect is immediate and
instantaneous.
In fact, the ripple effect of his parents failing to kiss, the final
boiling point which led to his erasure from existence, was
instantaneous for Marty. As the bully dragged Lorraine away from
George, Marty began to instantly fade out of existence. Thus
indicating that it was not the fact that he kept his parents from
meeting that led to his own erasure, but rather, the fact that they
never kissed on the dance floor. The writers go to great lengths to
show that just getting his parents to meet and go to the dance
doesn't save Marty from oblivion. They have to kiss, and just
because they meet and go to the dance doesn't mean they fall in
love! It's the kiss that matters. The kiss causes Marty to exist and if
they fail to kiss, he no longer exists and as their kiss is interrupted by
a random bully, Marty starts to instantly vanish. In this way the
writers attempt to make it clear that the ripple effect is instantaneous
for Marty, once the event that leads to that ripple (his erasure) is in
full bloom (namely his parents fail to kiss on the dance floor and thus
fail to fall in love).
How so many fans miss this is a mystery.
 Let's examine examples of the "ripple effect" seen at the end of
the second movie.
When they retrieve the book from young Biff nothing really
changes in the future. This is all the evidence we need that Biff's
mere possession of that book is not what creates the alternate the
future it's his betting on horse races in 1958 that is (just as it was not
Marty interfering with the car accident that led to his erasure, but
rather the fact they failed to kiss on the dance floor a week later). It
wasn't until the moment the Almanac gets burned that we see the
"ripple effect,” because if the book is gone from 1955, Biff cannot bet
on race horses with it in 1958. Until the burning moment there was
still a possibility that Biff might hunt them down and get the book
back. After all, he hunted the first Marty down just for costing him
300.00 in damage to his car. Imagine how motivated he'd be to find
them after they stole a book from him that he is now aware was
going to make him billions of dolllars
It makes sense therefore that laws of probability come into play
when you are talking about alterations to the future from some point
in the past. As long as there was a "chance," however slim, that Biff
could get the book from them, the alternate future they had already
witnessed would continue to exist.
Once Marty finally gets the book away from Biff, the articles and
the matchbook do not change instantly. There are still probabilities
that Biff could get the book away from him again. Then he burns it.
After the moment the book is burned, there remains zero chance of
the "Hell Valley" future. At the moment the book is destroyed we see
newspaper articles from that alternate reality revert back to what
they would have read had Biff never received the Almanac and bet
on sports games. This happens instantaneously.
To this day, when interviewed, Zemeckis and Gale both insist that
the "ripple effect" is the governing behavior over changes made to
the past and how they impact the future! The authors insist that
when you change something in the past, whatever is affected in the
future is going to instantly transform around those who are in the
future! When Marty made changes that caused himself to not exist in
the future, he was vanishing, when he made changes to his parents
by getting his father to deck Biff at the dance, then proceeded back
to 1985, he witnessed the ripple effect of those changes
immediately, not a week later. When Marty had Griff arrested instead
of Marty Jr. The Newspaper of Marty Junior's arrest changed
instantly.
So, something had to be different about the ripple effect when
Marty interfered with his parents' meeting, and aside from this
exception to the rule, Marty and his siblings vanishing in the
beginning of the first movie, the writers take great pains to make it
clear that the ripple effect is normally “instantaneous” into the future.
We must fix this mechanism firmly in our minds before we can
truly dissect these movies by looking at how the ripple effect should
have effected the very plot lines of the second movie that
precipitated the ripple.
When you make changes to the past, the changes you make are
instantly "transformed" around everyone and everything in the future.
This is the principle.
Biff steals the time machine while Doc and Marty are still in 2015,
goes back to 1955, gives the Almanac to himself, then proceeds
back to 2015. On his way, he passes 1958 where young Biff who
now has the Almanac bets on horse races and never loses,
becoming a millionaire. When old Biff arrives in 2015, he arrives right
back where he has left Doc and Marty desperately trying to rescue
young Jennifer from the McFly home! Right after Biff parks the
DeLorean and exits, breaking his cane as he does, we see Doc and
Marty running toward the DeLorean carrying Jennifer.
This is off. If the ripple effect of young Biff betting on horse races
in 1958 with the Almanac goes instantly into the future, transforming
around everyone, changing the 2015 into the altered 2015 of the Biff
timeline, then what are Doc and Marty from the original timeline
doing there? Wasn't Doc hospitalized in 1985 in that timeline?
Wasn't Marty sent to boarding school in 1985 in that timeline? What
is Jennifer doing there at all?
 The authors stick to their guns on this one. In an ad hoc
explanation during an interview they insist that old Biff, the one that
stole the time machine, does indeed return to the alternate 2015 Hell
Valley future with the DeLorean, they claim that the neighborhood
just looks the same. Nevermind that Doc and Marty from the original
timestream are still there in that future. Somehow there are two Doc
Brown's and two Marty's in the Hell Valley future! Wouldn't the NEW
Doc Brown, created by Biff's bets on horse races, the one who is
committed to a mental hospital in 1985 replace the old Doc Brown
who built a time machine?
Apparently not. What's worse, there was a deleted scene from the
movie, in which old Biff who has just stolen a time machine and
given himself an Almanac in 1955 immediately begins to vanish after
he arrives back in 2015, as Doc and Marty leave 2015 in the
DeLorean. The authors insist that the old Biff (the one from the
original timestream who grows old as a car detailer) somehow
vanishes because the Biff he gave the Almanac to, is murdered in
1996!
Then, as Doc later explains in the movie, we learn that when old
Biff gave his younger self the Almanac he created an “alternate
reality” complete with a new Biff, who becomes a billionaire, and a
new Doc and a new Marty! How is the death of this new, billionaire
Biff going to cause the old Biff who was not even a part of this reality
to vanish?
It boggles the mind. It just cannot be. It's not a paradox... it's
nonsense!
Jump forward. They discover they are in an alternate reality so
now they have to jump back to 1955, wait for old Biff to give young
Biff the Almanac and then wait for old Biff to leave 1955 for 2015
Then they take the Almanac from young Biff before he can use it.
Well, why would they have to go back to the day that old Biff gives
his younger self the Almanac? They know that young Biff doesn't bet
on his first horse race until he's 21, 3 years after receiving the
Almanac. They literally have 3 years to get that Almanac away from
him!
 Well, let's give the authors some much deserved credit on this
one. Doc wouldn't want to give young Biff 3 years to mull over the
Almanac. He might be able to memorize some of the statistics. Fair
enough. It's imperative they get it away from him as soon as
possible. So, Doc and Marty go from an alternate future in 1985 to
November 12, 1955 where old Biff had given himself a Gray's Sports
Almanac . When they go to 1955, that is the timeline in which they
now exist. They then alter that past, (arguable just by being there,
back in 1955) but certainly they alter the past by getting the Almanac
away from young Biff. At the moment they get the book back from
young Biff (and burn it), the future where he bets on horse races
would cease to exist due to the ripple effect. In which case, Doc and
Marty never would have witnessed this "Hell Valley" 1985. If they
never witnessed it, they never would have gone back to 1955. They
would then, themselves, vanish from 1955. They never time traveled
back to get the book from young Biff. Young Biff never got a chance
to bet on horse races and create the reality that sent them back to
1955 in the first place! Everyone keeps hawking this "ripple effect
overwrite" employed by the writers, expecting us to ignore all the
glaring inconsistencies created by it.
Let's back up and consider the true "ripple effect" that would occur
once old Biff gives young Biff the book. Many over the years have
insisted that the Biff Pleasure Paradise reality would have been
instantly created on November 12, 1955, at the exact moment young
Biff gets his hands on the book. They who rigidly believe this also
insist that when old Biff returns to 2015 he returns to the future of the
alternate 2015 where he is rich and powerful and corrupt. Here's an
excerpt from one such interview with the authors.

From Wikidot:
QUESTION:
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?
Writers' RESPONSE:
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.
Only when you take into account the writers' explanations does
this become one of the worst of all the plot holes in the Back to the
Future trilogy. Especially going strictly by what they have already
said in other interviews. Remember when they explained how
Jennifer and Marty could meet their future selves when time jumping
but Einstein didn't? They quoted Doc Brown from the first movie and
claimed that a person goes to the "most probable future from the
moment they left."
Apparently they also forget one crucial detail in their story when
they claim Biff went to the 2015-A after leaving 1955 for the future. If
the 2015-A future of Hell Valley was “the most probable future” when
Biff leaves 1955 to go back to the future, then the Marty who is
struggling to get his parents back together at the dance, after he
succeeds doing so, will get in the DeLorean and go, not to the future
that was created in the first movie, but, like Biff would go to the Hell
Valley future instead. This would overwrite the 2015 future. Doc is
institutionalized and never builds a time machine, which means
Marty never goes to 2015 to save his family, which means he never
buys the Almanac, which means old Biff never steals the DeLorean
and the Almanc, which means old Biff never gives himself the book.
This would be a perpetual causality loop, where the two timeline
events switch back and forth overwriting each other. Forever!
Mind you, this is not an opinion as to how things would really
work, but rather this is the logical conclusion of what would definitely
happen according to the events as depicted in the movies!
Doc and Marty aren't time travelers in Biff's new alternate
"Hell Valley" reality.
If the new reality Biff creates is created instantly at the moment
young Biff gets his hands on the book (or bets on horse races, either
one) so that when old Biff returns to 2015 a few hours after giving
out the book he returns to the altered reality that he created, then
there should be no time traveling Doc, Marty or Jennifer in 2015
when old Biff goes back to the future. Furthermore, once they learn
of what old Biff did and try to go to 1955 to undo the Hell Valley
timeline there should be no Marty McFly at the dance disappearing
after interfering with his parents' falling in love. Why?
It's elementary dear Watson.
We see in the second movie, when they go back to that altered
timeline, that by 1985 Doc was already committed to a mental home,
before he could build the time machine (or at least before he could
use it to take Marty to 2015). Marty was shipped off to Switzerland
and never time traveled at all, not even to 1955, which means there
was no time machine for Marty to travel back to 1955 in, and no
Marty in Hill Valley to time travel back to 1955. George McFly would
never deck Biff (being as Marty never traveled back to 1955 to
interfere with his parents). In the Hell Valley timeline Biff creates,
George would grow up a complete nerd instead of an author.
Nevertheless we see a news article from the alternate 1985 where
George, local author, is shot and murdered. George would not be an
author in the alternate future. Marty never time traveled and never
arranged for the fateful Biff thrashing at the dance.
All of this means that, one second after young Biff gets his hands
on the book there should be no Doc and Marty in 2015. Not only
that, there should be no Marty in 1955, struggling to get his parents
back together at the dance. The ripple effect would have caused
Marty to vanish instantly from 1955. The time machine was never
built and Marty never went back to 1955 to begin with.
Some people don't get that there should be no Marty at the dance
in 1955 at all once Biff gave himself an Almanac. Never mind he
shouldn't be “vanishing.” We know from earlier in the movie that,
after young Biff gets the book, Marty still exists in that alternate
2015-A timeline and is living in a boarding school in switzerland.
At this point someone will say, "now wait a minute Marty was
disappearing from existence at the dance." Yes, well that's true, but
in the movie, his vanishing is not due to anything old Biff did while
1955 to give himself the Almanac! Otherwise, that Marty, the one
who is trying to get his parents back together in the new 1955-A
timeline Biff created by giving himself the Almanac, that Marty would
have just kept vanishing after his parents kissed! Why? Because
now he's vanishing as a result of the fact that Biff has given himself
an Almanac in 1955 that results in a future where Marty goes to
boarding school instead of time traveling back to interfere with his
parents.
Old Biff's activities in 1955 (giving himself the Almanac) were
directly effecting Marty's future, Marty shouldn't even be there in
1955 after Biff gives himself the Almanac (or he should be vanishing
as a result of the Almanac). In the Biff alternate reality the Mall scene
never happened.
In a reality where Marty goes to Switzerland instead of time
traveling, Marty couldn't be in 1955 at all since the time machine was
never built. The argument is that this new reality of Biff's doesn't take
over instantly when old Biff gives young Biff the book and doesn't
actually create the reality where Marty goes to Switzerland instead of
time traveling until 1958.
Fair enough!
But this would mean that Doc and Marty who come from 1985-A
back to 1955-A to take the book back from Biff, would vanish the
minute they arrive in 1985-A, because Marty, in 1955-A who is still
struggling to get his parents back together when old Biff gives young
Biff the book, would then get in the DeLorean later that evening and
attempt to go back to 1985. As he attempted to pass the moment in
1958 when young Biff bets on horse races he couldn't exist past that
moment, because in the new reality the bet creates Marty went to
Switzerland instead of time traveling. Time traveling Marty never
existed in that new Almanac 1985-A reality. He went to Switzerland
instead, and the DeLorean time machine he's riding in never existed
either.
Once he vanishes while trying to go past the 1958-A, this results
in no time traveling Doc and Marty in 2015-A and no time traveling
Doc and Marty in 1985-A. They would vanish as they tried to
proceed to the 1955-A to get the book back from Biff.
The contention made by the author's and many others, that old
Biff would have gone to the 2015A (altered future) after leaving 1955
immediately and that time traveling Doc, Marty and Jennifer would
still be there and have that 2015-A transform around them is utterly
preposterous. These movies beg the question:
When one gets in a time machine and proceeds to
the future, do the things that occur afterward have
a direct bearing on what kind of future they go to,
or does it have no bearing?
This might seem like a silly question but it is not, based on the fact
that it is never concretely answered in the movies. We've looked at
several examples from the movie already where what occurs in the
past directly before or after they jump to the future has no bearing on
the future they go to. Such as in the case of Marty and Jennifer's
jump to 2015 and their subsequent encounter with their older future
selves. In that case, the fact that they disappeared in 1985 in a time
machine and were missing for the next 30 years had no bearing at
all on the future they went to.
Granted, the writers give two ad hoc explanations for this
dichotomy in order to attempt to patch these gaping holes in their
plotlines, the problem is both explanations suggest that what
happens afterward has no bearing on the future you go to. In the first
explanation they give, the older Marty and Jennifer in 2015 were
time travelers themselves who, in 1985 traveled in time to 2015 then
turned around and made it back to 1985 (thus it was like they never
left). However, as we've already pointed out, since this Marty and
Jennifer had no knowledge or recollection of this time traveling event
from their past, so much so that Jennifer fainted when she saw her
younger self, we're left with the inescapable conclusion that what
happened after they left (their time travel itself and their experiences
in 2015) had no direct bearing on the future Jennifer and Marty. They
don't even recall the events.
 In the second explanation the author's give for this inconsistency
they say that when you time travel you “go to the most probable
future extrapolated from the moment you left,” which is an implicit
statement that what happens after you leave to go to the future has
no bearing on what future you encounter. In this case, after Jennifer
and Marty left 1985 they were missing for 30 years, but this had no
bearing on the future they go to, and they find their older selves in
2015 (even though after they left 1985 they were missing for 30
years).
Thus, it's an open ended question. In other examples of changes
to the future in the movies what happens after the person goes to the
future seems to have a direct bearing on where they end up in the
future. Case in point, old Biff's jump to 2015 from 1955 after giving
himself the book. The author's state that old Biff indeed jumped to
the 2015-A Hell Valley future. Given this answer, we are left with the
inescapable conclusion that what happened after he left 1955 had a
direct bearing on the future he ended up in. In the Hell Valley future,
George McFly is still an author, which means George still decked Biff
at that dance. It also means Marty managed to get his parents back
together at the dance after old Biff left for the future, otherwise old
Biff would have ended up in the future where Marty was never born.
So, even though the kiss on the dance floor happened after old Biff
left for the future those events dictated to what future he went.
Likewise, old Biff goes to the Hell Valley future even though his
younger counterpart didn't create that future by betting on horse
races until 3 years after old Biff leaves for the future. The bets had a
direct bearing on where old Biff ends up in the future. So, in one part
of the movie (Marty and Jennifer's jump to 2015) what happened
after they left had no direct bearing on the future they ended up in,
but in the same movie, what happened after old Biff jumped to 2015
from 1955 has a direct bearing on what future he goes to. The
writers don't answer the question at all, they create more questions
than they answer by doing both in the same movie series.
If we decide that what happens after the time traveler jumps to the
future must have a direct bearing on what future to which he travels,
then old Biff should have jumped to the 2015-A Hell Valley future
where Doc and Marty never time traveled. That is a future where
Doc was put in a mental home in 1985 and Marty shipped off to
boarding school. There would have been no Doc and Marty and
Jennifer from 1985 running around in the 2015 to which old Biff goes
and no Marty running around in 1955 in the past he just left.
Some have argued a delay or lag explains this but we will soon
see that is impossible as well.
If we decide that what happens after the time traveler jumps to the
future has no direct bearing on what future the traveler goes to (as
was seen in the Marty/Jennifer jump to 2015) then old Biff should
have either gone to one of two possible futures:
X. Marty never existed future.
Y. Marty never went back to 1955 future.
Whether old Biff jumps back to either of these futures, x or y, the
end result is there's no Marty time traveler in 1955 to cause him to
be decked, George doesn't become the confident successful author,
and none of the ending of Back to the Future 2 could have
happened. There would be no time traveling Doc and Marty to fix the
Biff timeline. Biff wins!
At the time Biff goes back to 2015, he's headed to either the
"Marty never existed" future, or the "corrupt Pleasure Paradise
future," there would be no Marty in any future 2015 to buy an
Almanac. Do you see how this all works with the overwrite method of
the "ripple effect?" The "grandfather effect" permeates every plot line
of all three movies when you employ the "ripple effect in the way
they employed it. It just doesn't work people!
No matter which future outcome you look at after young Biff gets
the Almanac the events of the first and second movies are directly
changed. In the future X scenario, Marty, the first Marty, the one who
struggles to get his parents back together, would not go back to the
future from whence HE came once he got his parents back together.
In the new timeline where old Biff gives young Biff the Almanac just
before the dance, the first Marty, after getting his parents to kiss at
the dance would have got into the DeLorean and gone back to the
Hell Valley future!!! Once he was there he would have been trapped
there. This would mean he never went to 2015, never bought the
Almanac, old Biff never would have got his hands on it or the
DeLorean and everything would have reverted back to the way it
was originally. Perpetual causality time loop.
At this point the debate gets heated. People start shouting
obscenities and throwing around offensive words like "retard," and
“moron.” The argument takes an even uglier turn because people
are stubborn and refuse to understand we are talking about paradox.
They are trying to make sense of something of which you cannot
make sense. (That's the very definition of paradox, remember).
If Biff leaves 1955 and goes to 2015 when they say he did,
according to the “vanishing Marty” theory Biff couldn't exist past the
1958 betting on horse races which destroys his entire existence as
car washing Biff. None of the futures that were created in the first,
second, or even third movies could occur as they did. This would
include the future events where the DeLorean is destroyed on a train
track in 1985 and where Doc builds a new time machine out of a
train.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you need to take a motrin and lie down
go ahead, but we aren't done here. What about the taking of the
book away from young Biff before he could use it. This occurred after
old Biff leaves 1955 to go back to the future. If whatever happens
between 1955 and 2015 (when Biff leaves to go to the future)
dictates what future old Biff returns to, then certainly their taking the
book away from young Biff before he could actually use it to create
that future would have a bearing on where old Biff ends up in the
future. The author's claim old Biff went to the alternate 2015 and this
is a direct contradiction. They took Almanac away from young Biff
only hours after old Biff left to go to 2015. How could anyone deny
that when they took the book away from young Biff, this would not
dictate where old Biff lands in the future?
Many do argue this, however, while trying to maintain that even
though their taking the Almanac away from Biff after old Biff left for
the future had no direct bearing on where old Biff lands,
nevertheless, young Biff betting on horse races 3 years later DOES
have a direct bearing on where old Biff lands in the future. They say
things like "well when old Biff takes off for 2015 they hadn't got the
book away from young Biff yet."
Really? Well, young Biff hadn't bet on horse races yet when old
Biff takes off for 2015.
Those same people want to argue that even though Marty had not
got his parents back together at the dance when old Biff headed to
the future that wouldn't dictate where he landed in the future either.
They are attempting to argue both points simultaneously.
Ironically, the same people that argue the taking away of the book
from young Biff had no effect on where old Biff goes in the future
(simply because it happened after he left for the future), also want to
argue that even though young Biff doesn't bet on horse races (and
thus doesn't create the altered future) until 3 years AFTER old Biff
leaves to go to 2015, the betting on horse races has a direct bearing
on where old Biff goes. Whether we're talking about the horse race
betting or the taking of the Almanac away from young Biff after the
dance, both events occured after old Biff leaves to go to the future.
We cannot have it both ways. Either what happens after old Biff
leaves 1955 to head to 2015 directly dictates what future he ends up
in, or it doesn't. If what happens after old Biff leaves 1955 effects
what future he goes to, then, since Doc and Marty manage to get the
book away from young Biff in the evening of November 12, 1955,
just after old Biff leaves for the future, then old Biff goes to the
original timeline from whence he came because young Biff never got
to bet on horse races and never create the altered timeline.
Yet, in that case then neither would Marty and Doc ever ended up
in that alternate timeline after leaving 2015 for 1985. It makes your
head spin doesn't it?
If what happens after old Biff leaves 1955 to go to 2015 has no
effect on where he lands (those things hadn't happened yet when he
left 1955), then Marty getting his parents back together after old Biff
leaves to go to 2015 has no bearing on where old Biff lands in the
future. As it stood, at the moment old Biff leaves 1955 Marty's
parents hadn't kissed and Marty was vanishing. He didn't exist in the
future.
That future where Marty never existed is CLEARLY where old Biff
would have ended up. It's an irrefutable plot hole and not a “paradox”
at all because it could have all been avoided if the authors had just
consistently remembered the many-worlds branching timestream
theory and employed it every time, because if the changes they
make in the past create a new timestream, rather than overwriting
the old one all of these contradictions disappear like Marty's siblings
in a photograph!
From Wikidot:
"Question: When Doc and Marty leave 2015 to go
back to 1985, the time displays show that the "Last
Time Departed" is November 12, 1955, 6:38 PM, which
must be the time that Old Biff left 1955. But since he
gives himself the Almanac much earlier in the day,
what was Old Biff doing for all of that time?'
writers' response:
The "extra hours" were designed into the time
display for a simple production reason: at the time
we filmed the sequence when Doc, Marty and
Jennifer leave the future, we still weren't sure
whether the scene when Old Biff gave Young Biff
the Almanac would be day or night. We left room
on the time displays so that we'd be covered if the
scene took place at night. Our thinking as to what
Old Biff might have been doing for those extra
hours included two very believable possibilities: 1)
Old Biff, having never traveled through time,
decided to do a little additional nostalgic
sightseeing before returning to the future; 2)
Depending on where Old Biff hid the DeLorean, he
 may have had to wait for it to get dark before he
could leave, for example to avoid being spotted by
the police who could have shot at him.
Here we have old Biff going back to 2015 in the early evening and
he is supposed to have gone to the altered 2015 timeline, however,
Marty, at the time, is at the dance fixing his own time paradox, and
he's still vanishing. Then, after fixing it, Marty leaves several hours
later and goes to the 1985 timeline where everything is beautiful and
his parents are cool and happily married? This makes no sense at
all. If Biff goes to the alternate 2015 Hell Valley future by leaving on
the evening of November 12, 1955, then Marty would go to that
same future when he leaves an hour or two later (the Marty who
uses the clocktower to get home).
In their interviews the authors fall back on a deleted scene from
the second movie where old Biff vanishes shortly after bringing back
the DeLorean to 2015. Even in the original movie where this scene
was deleted we see that old Biff is obviously ill when he gets out of
the DeLorean. The authors use this scene (and many use Biff's
obvious looking "not well") as the proof that old Biff indeed went to
the 2015 A future. Therefore, those who make these types of
arguments in general are falling back on another "ripple effect"
mechanism that many have coined "The Space Time Continuum
Lag."
Just as Marty's disappearance was delayed a week and occurred
gradually, it is argued that old Biff's disappearance into oblivion was
"delayed" long enough for him to get back to 2015 and that he was
sick (or vanishing) when he arrived, because he arrived in the new
alternate future where he didn't exist anymore. This makes no
sense.
Old Biff, upon arriving in 2015, would have moved some 57 years
past the moment in time when his younger counterpart had bet on
horse races starting the “ripple.” It would be like trying to say that,
after interfering with his parents' meeting, Marty could have jumped
in the time machine and gone to 2015, 60 years past the moment in
time when his parents were supposed to kiss (but didn't) and the
“ripple” effect of his interfering with their meeting wouldn't catch up
with him until after he arrived.
We know it doesn't work this way. George and Lorraine almost
didn't kiss and Marty nearly vanished completely. If they never
kissed, Marty couldn't exist past that moment when they were
supposed to kiss. In the same way, old Biff couldn't exist past the
moment when his younger counterpart bet on horse races in 1958.
The writers have offered up the explanation that old Biff indeed
arrived at the new alternate 2015A timeline and state that the
neighborhood they are in is not much difference in either timeline.
They completely forget (or ignore) that Doc, Marty, Jennifer, and
Einstein are still there (in the timeline which Biff arrives) and this
itself above all other things more than suggests that old Biff arrived,
not in the alternate 2015A he created by handing out the book but
that he went back to the original timeline. Space time lag doesn't
explain it either and we will soon see why.
They also insert an ad hoc explanation as to why old Biff vanished
just after arriving in 2015 by saying that Lorraine shot Biff in 1996.
Really? Then old Biff could not exist past that moment in 1996 when
his younger counterpart is shot by Lorraine, any more than Marty
could exist past the moment of the kiss on the dance floor (if it failed
to occur).
 CHAPTER FOUR—TIME CONTINUUM LAG
As we've already discussed, one of the biggest controversies that
arise in discussions over this move comes from this simple and
logical question.
"If Marty stopped his parents from meeting and falling in
love why did he and his family gradually 'fade' out of
existence? Due to the ripple effect, wouldn't he and his
family photo rather instantly vanish, being that he is from 30
years in the future?"
There have been some very heated debates on this, almost knock
down drag out fist to cuffs. This may be and exaggeration, but
certainly some of the debates about this subject to which I've been a
party have been quite heated with insults flying around like lawn
darts.
There have been many proposed theories to explain what many
see as a clear and obvious plot problem. Bob Gale and Robert
Zemeckis have avoided the question like the plague. They've
answered many other questions about this movie that are related to
this question, and they have even pointed to a deleted scene where
old Biff vanishes right after arriving in 2015, but you cannot find a
direct answer from the authors to the above question. You can,
however find the fans have expressed their opinion on this!
EXAMPLES of fans explanations from "Moviemistakes.com"
EXAMPLE 1:
“Question: I'm really confused, and need help with this.
I saw the second BTTF, so I saw the scene when Doc
explains the two timelines and changing the future, but
I'm still confused. If what Doc said was true, when
Marty got hit by the car, he would have changed the
future by preventing his parents from marrying.
Therefore, there are now several timelines in the movie
all going off at the same time. According to the movie,
the first one is a timeline where Marty goes into the
time machine back to 1955, and he has a loser for a
father. There is also a timeline just like the first one, but
George punched Biff, making him cool in the future.
Another, alternate timeline is also present where
Marty's parents haven't married, Marty doesn't exist,
and none of the events from the first two timelines
happen in this timeline. However, if this were true, all
three timelines would have to be there, as Marty jumps
from timeline to timeline in the movie and then in the
end, watched himself do it again. First he would be in
the regular timeline, then as he prevents his parents
from meeting, he is in the other timeline. As he puts his
parents back together and goes to 1985, he is now in
the "cool father timeline". That is how I see the movie.
Can somebody help shed some light on the subject for
me?
Answer: To be honest, it sounds like you've got a
reasonably good handle on the situation. Initially
Marty's in a 1955 where his parents will marry after
George is hit by the car, but his father will be the loser
we see in Marty's original 1985. The moment that
Marty gets hit by the car, the future is changed and he's
now in a timeline where his parents will never get
married and thus he will not be born. The timeline
begins to slowly alter (time is shown to have a
resistance to change in the series), giving Marty
enough time to reengineer his parents' meeting before
he's erased from existence as the new timeline exerts
itself. The way he handles it creates a third timeline
where his parents do get married and go on to be cool
and thus when he returns to 1985 at the end of the first
film, that's the timeline he's in. The other Marty that he
sees there is one who grew up in that third timeline,
with the cool parents, and thus may be a bit different,
but who still met Doc at some point, rendezvoused with
him at the mall and ultimately went back in time after
encountering the terrorists, where he'll encounter the
young loser version of his father and will have to turn
him into the cool, confident man that he grew up with.
In the second film, old Biff goes back in time and gives
his younger self the sports Almanac, which changes
the timeline again, now creating a fourth timeline where
George and Lorraine still marry and are cool, but
George will subsequently be murdered by this
timeline's rich and powerful version of Biff, leading to
the 1985 we see in the middle section of the second
film. When Marty and Doc go back to 1955 from there,
they arrive in the same timeline, the one where Biff will
go on to be rich and powerful. As a result of their
actions there, stealing the Almanac from young Biff and
destroying it, they technically create a fifth timeline, one
where events in 1955 played out slightly differently but
which is otherwise effectively identical to the third
timeline, where Marty's parents are cool and successful
in the present day. It is quite a complicated situation,
with several different timelines involved, and I have no
idea how well I explained it, but hopefully that helped a
little bit, at least.”
EXAMPLE 2:
“Question: Since Marty's actions led to him not
existing, shouldn't no Marty mean that there would
have been no Marty to get hit by the car in the first
 place, meaning that Marty would have just reappeared
when he ceased to exist?
Answer: The simple answer is NO. According to the
time travel rules established in the films, alternate
realities are created when changes are made to the
past. Marty continues to exist as long as there's the
possibility that he exists in 1985. Small changes don't
affect him. Marty only begins to disappear after the
past has been altered so significantly that he would
*never* exist in the present. But at the time he gets hit
by the car, Marty hadn't impacted the timeline enough
to assure his non-existence.”

Does the "continuuum lag" theory hold throughout all of the time
travel examples in the movie? To answer this, let's examine, yet
again, the first example of this "lag" and why there are questions.
If Marty came from 1985 and he interferes with his parents
meeting and with their falling in love, would he not have instantly
disappeared at the moment he got in the way of their meeting? This
question only grows exponentially as the story progresses, until,
during the second movie you have Doctor Emmett Brown explaining
that when they make a change to the past the future "instantly
transforms" around those who are in the future, which would
definitely contradict what happened to Marty in the first movie (and
especially what happens to the photograph of Marty's siblings in the
first movie, who are 30 years past the moment when his parents'
kiss was ruined). Since the writers have remained tight lipped about
this we are therefore left to speculate. So if our speculations are
wrong Bob and Robert, you have only yourselves to blame.
In the first installment, Marty interferes with his parents' original
meeting. Marty keeps a photo in his wallet of a family vacation to
Disney Land. Almost immediately Doc Brown notices that his elder
brother's head has vanished in the photo. Upon examining it closer,
and asking Marty if he's interacted with anyone, Doc realizes that
Marty has somehow interfered with the natural course of his parents'
relationship and has "erased" his elder brother from existence. If
Marty cannot figure out how the damage occurred and if he can't
repair the damage, Doc postulates that the older brother will
eventually vanish completely, followed by Marty's sister and finally
Marty himself will be erased... "from existence."
Obviously, they aren't sure how Marty has interfered. They only
know that they have got to get Marty's parents together somehow.
Marty's mother, Lorraine Baines, is one of the most attractive and
perhaps the most popular of all the girls in the school and Marty's
father, George McFly, is a complete geek who Biff calls, "an Irish
Bug," in one scene!
At the beginning of the movie we see George McFly mousily
acquiescing to the town bully, Biff Tannen, and just letting the guy
walk all over him and when Marty gets to 1955 he learns that nothing
has changed in that regard. Lorraine and George are world's apart
on the social ladder. What's worse, in 1955, Tannen, a guy who
comes from a long line of Hill Valley bullies, has designs of his own
on Lorraine! If that's not the worst of it, they soon discover that Marty
may be caught in a love triangle involving his own mother and his
father! One of the most comical moments is when Doc breaks the
news to Marty and he asks, "Doc, are you telling me that my mom
has the hots for me?"
Marty finally sees a poster for the Enchantment Under the Sea
Dance and Marty remembers that his parents are supposed to go to
that dance, where they kiss for the first time on the dance floor
during their song "Earth Angel." They then set out at all costs and
against all odds to get Marty's inept, cowardly father to ask the most
popular girl in school to the dance. All through this part of the movie
Marty's siblings continue to vanish from his family photo. (Strangely
the photo remains which is another problem we will discuss). Marty
has only 1 week to get his parents together before he too vanishes
from existence.
Researching it on the internet there doesn't seem to be a
plausible explanation for this slow "rub out" of Marty and his siblings
from existence. People merely use it as a precedent for the way time
travel works in the Back to the Future universe. There is no shortage
of crazy theories from fans as to why Marty would vanish slowly.

1. It takes time because Marty's the youngest. Since

Marty has older siblings they get "rubbed out" first and
this takes a certain amount of time. That's like saying "it
takes a certain amount of time because it takes a
certain amount of time." The question before us is "why
does it take a certain amount of time," not "why didn't
Marty get rubbed out first?" The logical thing to believe
is that when Marty interferes with his parents' meeting
he and his siblings, who are born decades later, would
instantly cease to exist. There's no logical reason why it
would take a week for this to happen. At least, the
movie gives no logical explanation.
2. Time traveller delay syndrome. Marty was still in
the past after he made the changes to the future. The
ripple effect of those changes take time to "get back to
him." That doesn't explain his siblings being slowly
rubbed out. They aren't in the past with Marty, only their
pictures are.
3. Only the picture took time to erase. One poor
misguided soul argued that it wasn't Marty's siblings
that were being rubbed out slowly, just their images in a
photograph. However, this poses way more questions
than it answers. Why then did Marty begin to vanish at
the dance at the exact same rate that he was
disappearing from the photo, starting with his hand? If
Marty no longer exists and neither do his siblings why
and how would he even possess a photo of them at
 Disney Land? That family vacation never happened.
Lorraine and George never got together! Another
question it poses, why would the photo remain until you
have a photo of an empty well from Disney Land? Who
snapped that photo in the new timeline and why? More
importantly, how would Marty possess this new photo
of an empty well taken in a timeline where he never
existed to begin with?
4. The universe "resists" changes made in the past
that effect the future. This is perhaps the most
implausible and unscientific of all the explanations for
the lag. The universe is not a living organism and does
not "resist" anything. The events that occur in the future
are a direct result, cause and effect, of what happens in
the present. The universe doesn't care what happens
in the future. There is no "force" governing the timeline
sequence of events other than the forces that cause
the chain reactions which create the future.
The writers, for whatever reason have not explained the "lag."
Thankfully, however, God gave us a brain and we can figure it out.
There is one theory that may shed some light on it, and show how it
could happen. We could also use this same theory to also address
some of the later inconsistencies in the movies when changes to the
future have been made. To explain this lag ourselves we can use
rule number 4:
" THE FUTURE WRITTEN WHEN IT BECOMES THE PAST."
The future is not written yet, but the past is, which makes the
October 26, 1985 that we witness at the beginning of the movie (the
day Marty left to go back in time) a part of the universal past. Marty
is a part of the universe and this space time continuum. That past
Marty knows is not just “his” past, it's the past of the entire universe.
Those events are part of the past in this universe's space time
continuum. Even though it's future to everyone else in 1955,
nevertheless, it is a part of Marty's past and Marty's continued
existence is proof that it is part of the past. He may not disappear
right away, he may only vanish at the rate in which the possibility of
his existence vanishes in the timeline.
Yet, that really doesn't explain why his siblings vanished slowly
does it? They were in the future, far past the boiling point (the point
of the failed kiss on the dance floor). Never forget the real boiling
point of this event. Marty ceases to exist when they fail to kiss on the
dance floor.
Don't forget that Marty's existence itself is a direct causality result
of the kiss on the dance floor and if that kiss never happened neither
would he have ever happened. His lingering existence after he
interrupts their meeting is all the evidence we need that there is still
a possibility they meet and kiss on the dance floor despite his
interference. We need only remember, when the future is part of the
past it is written.
The original timeline where Marty still exists is in competition with
the new timeline (where he doesn't exist) and this is what creates the
lag. The lag would be the exact amount of time between when the
change to the past begins and the "boiling point," which is the
moment when the kiss on the dance floor is supposed to happen. As
the moment when they are supposed to kiss draws nearer, it
becomes less and less likely that they will kiss. Marty (and,
according to the movie, his family) grow weaker and less likely to
exist themselves, fading out of existence gradually. As long as there
is any possibility of Lorraine and George getting together, kissing,
and falling in love somewhere in the future. The movie claims then
Marty will continue to exist while that existence slowly fades as the
moment they are supposed to kiss draws closer.
However, in the timeline where Marty never existed, Marty's
siblings are not back in 1955, they stay in 1985, at a point after
Lorraine and George were supposed to kiss (the boiling point) but
didn't. They would have vanished instantly, back when Lorraine and
George never met and never went to the dance together, at the
moment that dance floor was devoid of George and Lorraine and
their kiss, Marty's siblings could not exist one second past that
moment. In the same way Marty begins to instantly vanish when the
kiss is interrupted by the random bully.
Dave and Linda were all the way in 1985, 30 years after George
and Lorraine failed to kiss. Marty, according to the movie, couldn't
exist past the moment when they don't kiss. It's certain, therefore,
that his siblings could not exist further beyond that moment either.
This is sound and logical.
While the slow vanishing of Marty in the first movie is not
necessarily a plot hole the slow vanishing of his siblings from the
photo (especially with the photo remaining) remains a huge problem.
Who can argue that if Marty got into the time machine right after
interfering with his parents' meeting and went back to 1985 he
wouldn't have made it. As he crossed over the moment when his
parents were supposed to kiss but didn't , he would completely
vanish, just as he was about to completely vanish on stage when the
kiss was interrupted by the red headed bully on the dance floor. The
siblings in the photo would not "fade" out of existence. Only Marty's
vanishing would be delayed because he exists (momentarily) in the
time between his interference with their meeting and the fated kiss
one week later!
Now, let's look at how this time lag principle would have to apply
to old Biff giving young Biff the Almanac then heading back to 2015.
We will soon see that what happens in the movie (and in the deleted
scene the author's use in their defense) simply could not occur using
the standard set in the first movie.
 CHAPTER FIVE—TIME CONTINUUM LAG AND
INSTANT RIPPLE EFFECT?

The plot mechanisms from movie to movie, in which we see both

instant ripple effect changes as well as "time lag" changes may, on
the surface, seem like huge plot holes (contradictions), but they
aren't, necessarily, as we have seen.
By contradictions I mean, for example, Marty and his siblings in
his family photo vanish gradually, over a week, however, in later
movies it appears, at least on the surface that this “lag” is absent.
Photographs or items from the future change instantly. These
seeming contradictions, however, are much like the old cliche' of
"comparing apples and oranges."
When we look at it properly, the other "vanishing" photos and
changed items (due the ripple effect) in the other two movies are
very consistent with Marty's family slowly vanishing in the photo from
the first movie. The only difference between these is the amount of
time between the initiating event and the catalyst for the change (the
“boiling point” as it were).
In the case of the second movie, the amount of time between the
initiating event (old Biff gives young Biff the Almanac) and the
catalyst for the new reality (young Biff bets on horse races) is 3
years. If you could examine the newspaper articles, the matchbook,
etc after old Biff hands over the Almanac, you wouldn't be able to
see them changing to reflect the new future (the way we see Marty's
photograph changing almost immediately) because the change
would be taking place over 3 years instead of a week.
For example, if old Biff had one of those matchbooks in his pocket
that say “Biff's Auto Detailing” back in 1955 when he hands himself
the Almanac, the matchbook might begin to slowly change to “Biff's
Pleasure Palace Casino,” the way Marty's siblings began to
disappear in his photo, but because this change would take 3 years
to complete, the transformation might be undetectable to the human
eye.
 Doc and Marty brought their matchbook and new articles with
them from the already altered 1985 future, they had already been
transformed, coming from a moment that was beyond the 1958
betting on horse races and Doc and Marty themselves obtained
those items decades after young Biff bet on horse races. So they
would remain as they had found them in 1985 until Doc and Marty do
something to stop the young Biff from betting on horse races.
In the case of Marty's photograph, there was a full week between
the initiation event (Marty is hit by the car and therefore his father
never meets his mother) and the boiling point that creates the reality
in which he never existed (his parents failed to kiss on the dance
floor because they never met). While, in the case of the Biff
matchbook, there were only mere moments between the time they
got the book away from young Biff and the time they burned the
book. So there wouldn't be a noticable and gradual alteration of the
items after they got the book back from young Biff.
Once they get the book away from young Biff, the articles and the
matchbook don't seem to change at all until after they burn the
Almanac (or we just don't notice a change because of the short time
between retrieval of the book and its burning. The lack of change to
any of the items after they retrieve the book could be an indication
that just mere possession of the book on the part of young Biff was
not enough of a catalyst to result in the changes to the timeline, or it
could just be due to the short time it took them to burn the book after
retrieving it.
If there was no change at all to the items after they retrieved the
book (and there's no way of knowing for sure if this is the case or
not) it could indicate it's the use of the book and not the possession
of the book by Biff that causes the altered reality. Conversely, it could
indicate it was the burning of the book and not the retrieval of the
book away from young Biff that resulted in the reality switching back
to the “real 1985.”
Many still feel that the alternate Biff timeline would be created at
the moment young Biff is given the Almanac. They contend that just
by giving himself the Almanac, old Biff sets in motion the events that
lead to his altered reality and the fact that Biff doesn't use the
Almanac until 1958 is completely irrelevant, from the perspective of
1985. It's a good argument but only if you don't know the Four Laws
of Time Travel. The future is not written. They are now in 1955 and
this has become the present. Just taking the Almanac away from Biff
would not rewrite the future they just experienced in 1985 because
that is in the past and you can't change the past. The matchbook
and news articles would remain as they were until you completely
undo the events that created them. That would be when young Biff
finally gets to 1958 and bets on his first horse race.
Technically, they didn't have to take the book away from Biff in
1955 in order to stop the Hell Valley timeline from being created.
They could have stopped Biff from betting on horse races in 1958.
Being, that taking the Almanac away from young Biff was not even
necessary in the quest to stop the Hell Valley future, it would make
sense that taking the book from him would not set the future aright,
and would not result in the items they took from that future to switch
back to the way they were supposed to be.
Yet, many will still insist the future should have switched back to
the real 1985 once they took the book away from young Biff. It's
interesting to not that those who insist this, usually also maintain that
old Biff, when he left 1955 for 2015, would have returned to the
altered future! Both arguments are built on the idea that once Biff
has the book this altered future is a certainty. Their argument is
destroyed, however, by the fact that the articles were not changed
after Biff lost the book. Again, assuming that the items were not
changed. They could have been changing already once they
retrieved the book and we just didn't get to see those changes
because they didn't wait, they burned the book almost immediately
after retrieving it.
There was no visible changes to the matchbook after they took
the book back and then when Marty burned it, the changes were
instantaneous. There could have been a delayed time lag after they
retrieved the book but because they quickly burned the book all we
see is the instant ripple effect and we never see the delayed time
lag.
There was a delayed time lag when Marty interfered with his
parents' meeting, and there was an instantaneous ripple effect too,
when the bully dragged Lorraine away from George, Marty started to
instantly vanish. Just because we don't see the “time lag” between
the initiating event and the boiling point in the case of the matchbook
and the newspapers doesn't mean there was no delayed time lag.
Yet, it's obvious from the movie what the writers intended. They
got the book back, looked at the matchbook, there was no change.
Marty burns the book, bam the ripple effect goes into the future and
the matchbook changes instantly.
This subject is a "hot button" for Back to the Future fans. Most
people feel strongly that once young Biff got his hands on that
Almanac the Hell Valley future that he created with it was somehow
"inevitable." This violates Law Number One. The future is not written,
no one's is.
It can clearly be seen in the movie that young Biff receiving the
Almanac was merely the "initiation point" for that timeline. Young
Biff's possession of the book created the probability of the
nightmarish 1985 future we experience midway into the second
movie, but it did not make that future “inevitable” Not as long as
something could occur to prevent him from using it. (And in fact
something did occur to prevent him).
As time went on, the longer young Biff possessed the book, the
more the laws of probability shifted in favor of that nightmare future,
until, in 1958 he actually bets on his first horse race with the
Almanac. This is "the boiling point" of that timeline. Burning the book
prevented forever the undesirable future and it was the book burning
that precipitated the desired "ripple effect" changes to the
newspapers.
While it appears as though the changes to the photos, the
matchbook and the articles were instantaneous with no lag at all, it's
not necessarily true. The two events that led to those changes
(getting the book and burning the book) were closer together in the
timeline and therefore there was less lag, but the lag could have
been there. This lag, where things are half in half out of existence,
makes no logical or scientific sense, but let's give the writers a
break. You can't call it a “movie mistake” if they consistently have it
work the same way every time. It then just becomes a matter of
opinion whether or not the writers should have done it this way or
not. It's their movie, so I'm sure they'd tell us naysayers to “make like
a tree and get out of here.” Opinions are like butt holes, everyone
has one and they are usually full of waste” (that's a paraphrase, we
couldn't repeat what he actually said).
In the first movie the lag was a full week because the two events
which led to Marty being erased, (interfering with his parents'
meeting and their not kissing at the dance a week later). Which
seems lucky for Marty. It gave him just enough time he needed to get
them back together, but in reality it's not luck at all it's physics.
Saying it's "lucky" or "convenient" that Marty had a week to change
things back would be like saying that it's lucky for us that there is a
full year between our birthdays so that we can all get a full year of
life before we turn one year older.
It just makes no logical sense to say it's luck, it's sheer cause and
effect. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Marty interfered with his parents' meeting. This action had a
reaction. As a result, one week later they do not kiss and fall in love
on the dance floor. Marty had a week to fix things because the actual
event that is the boiling point and which leads to his erasure is one
week away at the time he discovers what is happening.
However, where we have to draw the line of incredulity, is when
the people insist that old Biff made it to the alternate 2015-A and
then there was some type of “time lag” (such as the kind Marty
experienced in the first movie) that delayed the ripple effect of old
Biff vanishing. That is simply not possible and here's why. Marty's
time lag ended at the boiling point. (The failed kiss on the dance
floor). If he didn't make that kiss happen the instant ripple effect was
making him disappear at the exact moment the kiss failed to happen.
Marty could not exist one second past that moment if his parents
didn't kiss.
In the same way, with old Biff, the time lag began when he gave
himself the Almanac and continued until the boiling point. Three
years later when his younger counterpart turns 21 and bets on horse
races. Old Biff might have already been starting to vanish after he
gave himself the Almanac, but we wouldn't see it because his
erasure would take 3 full years, it would proceed much slower than
Marty's vanishing. Nevertheless, when old Biff tried to go past that
moment when young Biff bets on horse races old Biff would vanish,
just as surely as Marty would have vanished if his parents didn't kiss.
You might say, “that's not true because Biff's existence wasn't
destroyed by him betting on horse races.” You'd be wrong, of course.
Old Biff, the groveling idiot who polishes George's fenders in 1985,
no longer exist past 1958 when young Biff bets on horse races. He's
replaced by a suave and sophisticated business tycoon who's one of
the richest men in the world and is known as “Mr. Lucky.” There
would have been no old car washer Biff lurking outside the diner in
2015. No old car washer Biff to overhear Marty and Doc discussing
the Almanac.
In fact, in that 2015 timeline Doc went to a mental home and
Marty went to Switzerland. None of that would have happened in the
altered Biff Pleasure Palace timeline.
You may have spotted the problem that we are now approaching
like a train going 88 mph toward a ravine! If the old Biff who stole a
time machine no longer exists, because instead, he becomes old Biff
who owns a casino and is a billionaire, then how does old Biff steal a
time machine and go back to 1955 to give himself an Almanac? It's
the grandfather paradox all over again. Any time you use the idea
that a single timestream exists that is “overwritten” by time travel you
are going to run into this paradox, which ultimately results in
everything that was done in the past by the time traveler switching
the timestream events right back to the way things were before the
time travel. You have perpetual causality loops.
 Another problem is created. We've asked this question over and
over again: If old car washer Biff went to the altered 2015 of the Hell
Valley timeline, what were Doc, Marty, Jennifer, and Einstein doing
there when he arrived? They are from the original timeline. We've
discussed how the “time continuum lag” explanation doesn't work,
deleted scene be damned. Even the ones that don't have that
footage try to point to how old Biff was acting as though he were in
pain when he exited the DeLorean in 2015. They want to blame all of
this on the "time continuum lag" however. Sorry it's nonsense.
2015 is 57 years AFTER the boiling point when young Biff bet on
his first horse race and created the timeline. That would be like Marty
still continuing to exist in 1955 and fading out of existence over 57
years after his parents failed to kiss on the dance floor. It's
preposterous.
In the first movie the lag was due to Marty living out the one week
time period between the moment when Marty set the erasure reality
in motion by interfering with his parents meeting and the boiling point
moment when his parents were supposed to kiss at the dance but
didn't. The lag did not continue all the way to 1985, nor did it
continue all the way to 2015. If it did, Marty would not have almost
vanished just before they finally kissed, he would have continued to
lag vanish for 70 more years.
If there was time continuum lag in the Hell Valley timeline it would
have to end when young Biff finally uses the book to bet on horse
races. We know this to be true because, again, the future wasn't
"restored” until the book was burned.
Furthermore, Marty remained in the past for a week so the lag
lasted a week. Biff got right back in the time machine the same day
he gave himself the Almanac and headed back to the future. Once
he passed the moment in time when his younger counterpart bet on
horse races he could not exist anymore and would vanish. Old car
washer Biff who steals a time machine doesn't exist in the timeline
where his younger self bets on horse races.
Had Marty climbed in the time machine moments after taking his
father's place in the car accident and he were to have headed back
to 1985 right then, he still had to pass the moment when his parents
were supposed to kiss on the dance floor (but now didn't kiss
because they never met). He would have “fast forwarded” to the
dance as he traveled the timestream in the DeLorean and vanished
when his parents failed to kiss, just as he was vanishing when he
played the guitar and the kiss was interrupted. He never could have
made it to 1985. Marty couldn't exist past the moment of the failed
kiss whether or not he's in a time machine hurtling at light speed
when that moment occurs or on a stage playing guitar.
There's no way old Biff could jump to 2015 and still experience the
Hell Valley future slowly unfolding in a "time lag,” he wouldn't have
made it and would have either vanished at the moment his younger
counterpart bet on horse races, or he would have vanished in the
year 1996 when Lorraine shot him for killing George (using the
author's failed ad hoc explanation for the fading of Biff in the deleted
scene).

FROM WIKIDOT:

QUESTION: What happened to old Biff when he

staggered out of the DeLorean in 2015?

RESPONSE: “Our intention regarding old Biff was that

upon his return to 2015, he would be erased from
existence because he had changed his entire destiny
by giving his younger self the Sports Almanac.
(Probably, Lorraine shot him sometime around 1996!).
After old Biff clutches his chest and staggers (the same
symptoms that Marty exhibited in Back to the Future
when he was beginning to be "erased"), we actually
 filmed him falling onto the street and vanishing, and we
previewed the movie this way (see The Secrets of the
Back to the Future™ Trilogy). However, the vast
majority of the audience did not understand it, so we
decided to cut it out, leaving the answer ambiguous,
and subject to various interpretations — besides the
above explanation, you can believe that Old Biff had a
heart attack from the shock of time travel of from flying
the car, or from something that happened to him in
1955.”

They maintain that old Biff did indeed go to the "Hell Valley" Sports
Almanac altered future 2015 and they explain the disappearing old
Biff in the deleted footage by saying that Lorraine shot Biff in 1996
after learning he killed George! That would be impossible, however,
using the single reality timeline overwrite concept the writers' stick to
like glue. They also state that when someone goes from the past to
the future they go to the "most probable" future extrapolated from the
moment of time when they left.
We have to seriously wonder what's going on in their heads.
When they are asked pointed questions about obvious plot holes
and the only way they can explain it is to ad hoc canon to the story
line that did not exist in the movies, that's pretty shabby. As in the
example above where they explain that Lorraine finds out that Biff is
the one that shot George (around 1996) and that's why old Biff
vanishes in the scene that was cut from the movie. Why 1996? How
hard would it have been to have her shoot him in 1985 and include
this bit of canon right into Back to the Future II?
Here's how the scene could have went:
Marty and Biff are on the roof top Casino in 1985A. Biff is
about to shoot Marty and says, "I suppose it's poetic
justice, two McFly's with the same gun," confessing to the
murder of George McFly. Marty jumps off the ledge and
then is lifted by the flying DeLorean. It would have only
 taken about 30 more seconds of movie reel to have
Lorraine appear from the shadows on the rooftop after
Marty gets away. From inside the entranceway we see
Lorrain has been eavesdropping. Her face is filling with
tears. She steps out onto the rooftop, stoops down, and
picks up the gun.
LORRAINE
"You monster, you shot my sweet George?"
Biff has recovered back onto his feet. When he sees her
with the gun pointed at his head he holds up his hands
and nervously backs away.
BIFF
"Now hold on honey pie, let's talk about this."

Lorraine sneers at him wickedly.

LORRAINE
“Ironic, shot by your own gun!”
She pulls the trigger. Cut.
It could have been included it in the movie, seeing as how simple
it would have been.
Time continuum lag doesn't work in the case of the deleted scene
where old Biff vanishes moments after arriving in 2015. That is not
how the lag works.
I have gone far afield from our original topic but it was necessary.
We are trying to understand why time continuum lag effected Marty
in the first movie but didn't seem to effect anyone or anything else in
subsequent time changes. All we have to really do is closely
compare Marty's interference with the timeline in 1955 with old Biff
the carwasher's interference in that same timeline.
The author's hope we won't notice the contradictions created by
their "ripple effect" and write it off as a “paradox.” Yet, these so called
paradoxes were completely avoidable (as we will see later) so they
are not time paradoxes at all.
 As for the deleted scene where old Biff vanishes from existence
just after they get in the time machine and leave 2015, it simply
nonsense! In fact, the DeLorean would have vanished at the 1958
boiling point too, because in the altered timeline Doc went to a
mental hospital instead of building the time machine and Marty never
traveled to 2015. Without time traveling Marty there is no Almanac
and no time machine to use to take back to 1955. It's a huge
conundrum from which there is no escape.
The "Time Space Continuum Lag Theory" to explain the deleted
scene of Biff vanishing doesn't wash, still, the movie writers were
consistent in this plot mechanism for the most part. We have no
other choice but to simply accept that this is how changes in the past
effect the future in the Back to the Future universe.
 CHAPTER SIX-- MANY WORLDS

There is one solution to these dilemmas. One hypothesis that

could solve most of these paradoxes and completely eliminate them.

“The Many Worlds Hypothesis”

This is the theory that our entire universe is only one of

innumerable universes, each universe like one tiny bubble in a
limitless ocean of universes. The many-worlds interpretation is a
hypothesis of quantum mechanics which asserts the objective reality
of the universal wavefunction and denies the actuality of
wavefunction collapse. It implies that all possible alternate histories
and futures are real, each representing an actual "world" (or
"universe"). Simply put, there is a very large, even infinite, number of
universes, and everything that could possibly have happened in our
past has actually (or could have actually) occurred in the past of
some other universe or universes.
The theory has been called many things: many-worlds theory or
just many-worlds, the Everett interpretation, many-universes
interpretation, the relative state formulation, and the theory of the
universal wavefunction.
Many-worlds theory suggests that, should one time travel (and
especially should someone travel to the past and change it) they
would merely create another simultaneous alternate reality, or as
some call it a "parallel universe." Which, using the river of time
approach of the Back to the Future Movie, each new universe would
be represented by either a branch of the river that diverges from the
stream, or a converging branch that connects from the future to the
past with an opposite flowing current.
 Such tampering in the past would merely create a divergence in
realities, “a fork or branch in the river of time.” Thus, creating a new
alternate reality or a new "tangent" as Doc calls it in the second
movie. Go to the past and make changes, you create new alternate
realities that exist simultaneously with the original timeline from
whence you came. In the case of a jump to the future, the greater
the space of time you jump, the larger the divergence between
universes would be and the more profound.
Time would then represent more of a matrix or even a spiraling
web (like a funnel web).
How it works, practically speaking, is very simple. Each causality
which could lead to a different path to the future creates a separate,
and quite real, universe. When someone time jumps to the future
they would go to the future from that moment in time. Go back to the
past and change something else (or in theory change nothing
because your very presence in the past would be enough change to
create a new branch of reality), then jump to the future again, you
end up in a completely different universe (or reality). This is the most
logical explanation for all paradoxes that might pop up in a time
travel movie.
Alternate realities explain everything (almost). Such as the
Einstein/ Marty and Jennifer future jump conundrum we examined
earlier. In one reality a dog is sent into the future but when he arrives
there is no second version of himself in the future, while in the
second reality they go to the future and meet their future selves who
never time jumped.
The alternate reality fits nicely. In the case of Jennifer and Marty's
time jump to 2015, they go to an alternate reality where they never
time jumped and instead had kids, because Doc has already been to
that future and created a path there. In Einstein's case he remains in
the same reality because no one has gone before him into the future
and created a path there. Einstein would essentially be in
suspension for a minute of time, missing from the timeline as time
moved along normally, then he would emerge and to him, from his
perspective the jump was instantaneous because he has no
consciousness of the passing of time for the moment that time is
suspended for him.
These separate universes would have to exist "parallel" and
simultaneously and have no effect on each other. This is why the
movies make little logical sense. The authors offer a different
explanation, "you go to the most probable future of the moment you
left," but even that explanation only works using many-worlds theory.
At the beginning of Back to the Future II, when you go to the most
probable future of the moment you left, what happens after you left
(hence your being missing) would not effect the future you go to. It
wouldn't matter what happens after the time traveler leaves the past
and goes into the future, the events that occur after they leave have
no effect on the future that they go to/ No explanation is given for this
illogical turn of events except they proceeded to "a logical
extrapolation of...” the future.
Many-worlds theory clears this inconsistency, because in the case
of the beginning of the second movie, Doc had already proceeded
into the future and created a path to that future. When he goes back
to the past 1985 and gets the children, then returns to the future, he
would go to the future of the world he's already created. The future
world where the kids are missing for 30 years doesn't exist yet, it
hasn't happened, and it's only theoretical.
Using this explanation Einstein would reappear 1 minute later in
the same timestream he left, and his being missing would have a
direct effect on the future to which he travels because he's the first
time traveler and there is no other path to the future but the current
timestream he's in when he jumps to the future.
In a "timeline rewrite" scenario, such as used by the authors of
Back to the Future, everything that happens after your departure for
the future (including your disappearance) would have a direct effect
on the future you go to. You'd go to a future where you disappeared
at the moment in the past where you left for the future. Their "most
probable future" explanation, therefore is in fact the "alternate reality"
theory of "many worlds." They just didn't realize it. They were mixing
up the two time concepts.
 Normally, in many worlds, a time traveler leaving the present 1985
for 2015 would proceed to a universe future that is the result of what
was occurring in that exact moment they left. The "ripples" of their
leaving to the future would directly effect the future they go to, but
the time jump at the beginning of Back to the Future II was not a
case where they were leaving the present and jumping to the future.
The 1985 they left was actually the past, because Doc had already
been to the future. This, explanation, however, only works if the 2015
Doc and the kids go to is a separate reality from the future the kids
were about to make before Doc came to 1985 and got them, and
only works if the future where the vanished in 1985 is a separate
reality from the future Doc takes them to. Many-worlds.
The scientific basis for this "alternate" or "parallel" universe theory
is gaining in popularity every day. In this "Everett hypothesis" there is
a very large—perhaps infinite number of universes, based on the
number of choices we creatures traveling through this stream could
make and everything that could possibly have happened in our past,
but did not, has occurred in the past of some other universe or
universes. If you ever watched an episode of "Sliders" starring Jerry
O' Connell as "Quin Mallory" you are familiar with this idea. In that
show they have built a machine that allows them to jump (slide) from
reality to reality. Same earth, same people, just different histories
resulting in altered outcomes. String theory has since offered even
more support to many-worlds theory.
Many have argued that the writers don't say anything about "many
worlds" in any interview and conclude this means the theory is not
employed in the movies. They are correct but only to a point
because the writers do represent alternate or parallel universes in
the Alternate Biff Hell Valley timeline, they just do it badly. The
writers may not mention alternate universes in interviews, but many-
worlds theory is clearly mentioned and described in the movie by
Doc Brown. Furthermore, during their interviews the writers present
explanations that can only work using many-worlds theory.
Nevertheless, in many of their interviews they do insist on an
"overwrite" approach to a single timeline and early in the first movie
they establish this overwrite. Logic dictates that if they were using
many-worlds in the beginning of the first movie Marty would not have
been vanishing, being that all he would have done is create a new
reality where he never existed and this new world would be
disconnected from the reality where he does exist.
As we've already seen, using “single timeline overwrite” as our
"base line" for how time travel works in the movies presents no end
of problems in the Back to the Future universe. The more we watch
the movies, the more we start to see even more inconsistencies.
Such as the example we have discussed twice already, when old Biff
goes back to 1955, gives himself a Gray's Sports Almanac, then
returns to 2015.
The way the movies go, the only thing that would explain how
time traveling Doc and Marty could remain in existence after old Biff
creates the alternate timeline by giving his past self a Sports
Almanac would be if the reality from which the original Doc and
Marty came remained intact after young Biff creates the alternate
reality "tangent." Yet, some categorically deny that this is the case.
They are stuck with a huge plot hole that can never be adequately or
logically explained and hope we'll all just shrug and say, "eh it must
be a paradox."
The writers' ad hoc explanation also creates a grandfather
paradox of cataclysmic proportions resulting in a permanent "Edge
of Tomorrow" causality loop scenario, if Doc is in a mental hospital in
this new overwritten timestream, he couldn't build the time machine.
This undoes all 3 movies and leaves us permanently stuck with Biff's
reality... except, with no time machine, old Biff can't go back and give
himself the Almanc in 1955 which undoes the Biff alternate reality.
The future would then switch back to the way it was originally and
the whole thing would repeat itself over and over again in a causality
loop. BOOM!
The only thing that could prevent this sort of conundrum is if time
traveling Doc and Marty were from another reality that is separate
and unaffected by the changes old Biff made to the past! Yet, you'd
still be left to explain how time traveling Doc, Marty and Jennifer
leave a 2015 reality, go backwards in time, and somehow end up in
a completely different world, where there's a different Doc but he's in
a mental home and a different Marty but he's off in Switzerland.
Even though, when Doctor Emmett Brown explains what
happened on the chalk board he draws an alternate reality that
skews off the original reality, this violates how things worked at the
beginning of the first movie because Doc shows the original reality
still in tact. It makes you wonder. How do so many justify denying an
explanation that is clearly found in the movie and say "there are no
alternate realities" employed in the Back to the Future movies?
There's at least one (but, judging by what happened to Marty in the
first movie there shouldn't be). Let's take Doc Brown's word for it.
From Back to the Future II:

Doc Brown
Obviously the time continuum has been disrupted,
creating a new temporal event sequence resulting
in this alternate reality.
Marty
English, Doc!
Doc Brown
Here. Here, let me demonstrate. Let's say that this
line represents time. [draws straight line and points
to places] Here's the present 1985, the future and
the past. Obviously, somewhere in the past the
timeline skewed down into this tangent [draws new
line and writes 1985A] creating an alternate 1985.
Alternate to you, me, and Einstein, but reality for
everyone else. "
 Doc Brown is telling Marty that they are in an "alternate universe"
complete with alternate versions of themselves who exist
simultaneously. However, where the authors fail is to then have them
go back to 1955 to reset the timestream back to the “real” 1985 by
getting the book from young Biff. The fact is, they are in the “real”
1985 now. The new Biff timeline is “reality” for “everyone else” but
them, Doc says. It is the real 1985. They can never switch that reality
back to the reality they know. They are stuck in that reality and no
amount of time traveling will get them back to the reality they are a
part of!
When they go back in time and get the book and burn it, do they
reset the reality back to what they consider the “real” 1985? No, they
simply overwrite the reality Biff created. It's now a reality where
young Biff is given a chance to become a millionaire by a time
traveling version of himself, but then a man who calls himself a
scientist and a bratty kid take that chance away. That's not the reality
Doc and Marty had just came from when they left 2015. It's a
completely different reality and the Biff of 2015 they encountered
would be a Biff who was once given an Almanac in 1955 and then
had it stolen from them by Calvin/Marty Klein who then got away,
aided by a crazy white haired Doc Brown in a flying DeLorean.
In this new reality they created by getting the book back from
young Biff, all they have done is make Biff aware that time travel is
possible. (He's actually witnessed how this book is from the future,
he was told it was from the future by the old man who gave it to him,
and he's seen it predict future sporting outcomes). Young Biff now
knows that Calvin/ Marty Klien was staying at the Brown estate, and
drove Doc Brown's car to the dance. He's not going to stop trying to
get that book back from Calvin. He wouldn't imagine that Calvin
would burn such a valuable book!
You can bet this dangerous psychopath is going to come calling
on Doc Brown in 1955 demanding to know where Calvin and his
book is. Doc's life in 1955 has just been severely complicated!
Furthermore, even if nothing comes of that of consequence, in 1985
when car washing Biff comes bouncing out of the garage to show
Marty his new matchbooks and sees the DeLorean fly off, he's going
to remember that was the vehicle that Calvin used to get away after
taking his Almanac! Now, Biff can figure out exactly what happened!
In 2015, when he sees Doc and Marty and the DeLorean again,
overhears the conversation about the Almanac, he's going to know
not to leave his younger self's side after giving him the Almanac, and
he's going to know just how Doc and Marty plan to take the Almanac
from his younger self.
In fact, old Biff now realizes he cannot let Doc and Marty have the
time machine after he brings it back from 2015. If he does they will
undo his effort to make himself a billionaire with the Almanac. He's
not going to be dumb enough to park it in the same place it was at
when he stole it. When he himself gets to 2015 as an old man and is
in the position to steal the Almanac, he's not going to leave it there
for Doc and Marty. He's probably going to keep the thing!
It has now become obvious that the writers haven't thought their
plot lines through to their logical conclusions. Again, this is not a
theory as to how things would really happen, but it is a clear logical
assessment of what the movie itself says happens.
Maybe the many-worlds theory cannot explain how Doc and Marty
find themselves in the nightmarish "Hell Valley" reality, but neither
does the single timeline overwrite idea used by the authors. Nothing
explains how they end up there! If the timestream was overwritten
when Biff changes it, then Doc and Marty never time traveled. They
cannot be in the 2015-A and neither can the time machine that old
Biff stole in the original 2015. It was never built in the timeline of the
2015-A young Biff with the book creates!
Yet, there they are in the altered Biff timeline and we are stuck
with it.
Still, the writers did think some things through. They realize they
cannot stop old Biff from giving young Biff the book in 1955. If they
do, then old Biff might not leave 1955, thus creating a paradox that
prevents them from getting the time machine back in 2015. They
know they must let old Biff give the book to young Biff then allow him
to leave 1955 to go back to the future, believing that he has
succeeded in making himself rich and powerful in the past.
Yet, everything the writers do to avoid the inevitable causality
loops associated with the grandfather paradoxes are thwarted by the
fact that they used the grandfather paradox as a plot mechanism in
the first film. Like Doc and Marty in the altered Biff timeline, the
writers are “stuck with it.”

There are actually THREE altered Biff timelines.

1. Young Biff receives the book. This is the same Biff who
grows up as George's supervisor. As yet he has not been
decked by George at the dance. Marty has not yet
managed to get his parents back together, so this young
Biff who receives the Almanac is part of a reality where
Marty doesn't exist in the future. We never see this reality in
the movies and we really don't know what Biff's Pleasure
Palace reality would have been like if Marty never existed,
but we do know that such a world exists because Marty's
siblings are just about gone from the photo when young Biff
gets the book and Marty is also going to vanish in the
future.

2. Young Biff receives the book, then is decked buy

George: In this reality, young Biff is decked by George,
Marty McFly gets his parents to kiss on the dance floor,
jumps in the DeLorean that night, heads back to 1985,
however, this young Biff who has the Almanac makes it to
1958 with the book and bets on horse races (because there
is as yet no Doc and Marty from 1985-A to stop him). This
is the reality we see in the movie after Doc, Marty, Jennifer
and Einstein return to 1985 from 2015 and find Biff has
altered reality.
 3. Young Biff receives the book, then loses the book: Old
Biff gives young Biff the Almanac, then, after he goes back
to the future, Marty and Doc are there in 1955 and they take
the book away from young Biff, thus preventing the very
timeline that precipitated their re-entry into 1955 to begin
with. This young Biff ends up growing older and polishing
George's fenders for a living, because when the burned the
Almanac the Biff Pleasure Palace reality is transformed
back to “the real 1985” according to Doc.

Without the “many worlds” interpretation, if young Biff's betting on

horse races with the book ensures the nightmare reality that Doc and
Marty experienced, then young Biff is changed instantly and
becomes a "new" Biff. He never grows up to be old car washer Biff.
He grows up to be rich tycoon Biff, owner of BiffCo which means
there's no Old Biff to steal a time machine and an Almanac and give
it to himself in the past!
Originally, the Biff who receives the Almanac is destined to
become George McFly's supervisor (until he gets decked at the
dance which hasn't happened yet). The approach taken in the movie
is that since the decking of Biff by George McFly at the dance takes
place after young Biff receives the book, and since 2015 is long after
all of the events that occur in 1955, therefore, when young Biff
receives the book, apparently the decking of Biff is already "written."
(Even though the movies assert that the future is not written).
Using the “single timeline overwrite” cause and effect the authors
chose to use, we can only conclude that, since old Biff. the car
washer Biff who hands out the Almanac and who was decked by
George exists here in 1955, that future is inevitable for young Biff
until he receives the book (and a punch from George McFly is in his
future no matter what he does).
Yet, Marty and Doc lived in that reality for a time so it is now a part
of the past. It cannot be completely “undone.” When they took the
book back from young Biff they did not destroy the world of the Biff
Pleasure Palace reality or else there would have been no way they
could have learned about the reality and no way for them to go back
to 1955 to stop it. It wasn't until 3 years after old Biff gives young Biff
the book that the ripple effect would take full force and the court
house would transform into the Casino (in the future). Until 1958, If
anyone goes back to the future from 1955, they wouldn't necessarily
go to the Hell Valley future. There are so many possible futures
besides that one. Infinite amount in fact.
When Doc and Marty went back to 1955 together in the second
movie they came, not only from the "cool parents" timeline we see at
the end of the first movie but also had just come from the Hellish Biff
1985 timeline back to1955. Since they were present, alive and well
in 1955, that's all the evidence we need that both of the timelines
from which they had come were still in tact. After they took the book
away, if the Biff altered timeline vanished away, then they would
have vanished from 1955. There would be no Biff Pleasure Paradise
reality to cause them to go back to 1955.
We know they in fact do succeed in getting that book back from
young Biff. Therefore, the future in which they stop the Hell Valley
timeline was not only possible it was probable. Some might say
"inevitable." (Again this is all going by how changes to the past
effected the future according to the scripts of these movies).
If you are of the opinion that the Hell Valley future was "inevitable"
just because young Biff had the potential of using the Almanac to bet
on horse races, then you must also accept that it was just as
inevitable they would get the book back from young Biff. (As
inevitable as it was that young Biff would be decked by George). In
point of fact the only way you could have the events of the movies
unfold as they did would be to explain it by multiple parallel
universes, or many worlds.
 People often think this is an “overanalysis” of the movies. We
actually haven't even begun to analyze these three films. We've just
barely scratched the surface believe it or not.
 CHAPTER SEVEN-- PARADOX OR “MISTAKE?”

When most people identify paradoxes in the BTTF movies they

often list these paradoxes as mistakes. Why? Perhaps it's due to
Doc's words to Marty, which we have already seen, in BTTF Part 2,
concerning Jennifer meeting her older self in 2015.
"...the encounter could create a time paradox, the
result of which could cause a chain reaction that
would unravel the very fabric of the space-time
continuum and destroy the entire universe!
Granted, that's worst-case scenario. The
destruction might in fact be very localized, limited
to merely our own galaxy."
People automatically conclude, from these words, that any
paradox in the movies is a mistake because it should result in the
universe being destroyed. They're missing something. Doc foresees
"two" possible scenarios for a paradox. Destruction of the universe is
but the second possible outcome. We know from watching that
paradoxes are sometimes relatively harmless. Jennifer saw herself
and went into shock, the galaxy did not implode. If paradoxes
destroyed the universe, then in the world of Back to the Future the
universe should have been destroyed many times over.

1. Marty sees himself go back in time at the end of BTTF 1.

2. Marty sees himself at the dance in BTTF 2.

3. Doc Brown hands himself a wrench in BTTF 2.

4. There are two Doc Browns and two Marty's present in the
alternate Biff 1985 timeline in BTTF 2 (arguably even three if
you include the Marty who got his parents back together at the
dance hours after old Biff gave young Biff the book, then
proceeded into 1985).
 5. Biff hands himself an Almanac in BTTF 2.
This is just to name a few paradoxes shown in the movies.
Yet, when you think about it, Doc was wrong about two possible
outcomes from the paradox of young Jennifer from 1985 interacting
with older Jennifer from 2015. There could be far more than two
possible outcomes. Doc Brown's position is “either or fallacy.”
In fact, later, when they go to 1985 alternate Biff reality, it could be
argued that we now see a third possible outcome of people
interacting directly with themselves in the past or the future. Biff
interacts with his younger self. This could be the only explanation
needed for how how Biff's time travel created a completely different
alternate reality instead of overwriting the current reality. There you
go, Bob Gale... you're welcome to use that explanation the next time
someone asks you about it. The alternate Biff reality could be one of
those “unforseen circumstances” of people interacting directly with
themselves in the past.
Like any time travel movie involving a single timestream reality
that gets “overwritten” by the time traveler medling in the past, there
are paradox issues that most people have trouble comprehending
which is why you often find people identifying a "paradox" and calling
it a "mistake." In a way, they are right, because using a “single
timestream” that gets “overwritten” when the past is altered is itself a
huge mistake. Yet, people aren't thinking of that when they call the
paradox a mistake.
Some of the more minor paradoxes that people often point to as
"mistakes" are easily explained and or refuted. Let's examine some
examples of paradoxes and mistakes and see if we can figure out if
they are indeed a paradox, or a mistake, or both.

1. Since Marty interacted with his parents in 1955-

after Marty was born and began to mature
wouldn't Lorraine and George begin to notice how
much he looked like the kid they met in 1955, the
 kid who was "responsible for them getting
together?"

People think this is a mistake only because they are looking at

these events from the omnipotence of the movie viewer. They know
all things and therefore are aware that it was Marty who was
responsible for Lorraine and George getting together.
They reason, "wouldn't they remember the face of the boy who
was responsible for their marriage?" They might, IF they knew that
Marty was responsible. Now, George certainly knew that if not for
Calvin/Marty he and Lorraine would never have got together, but
Lorraine certainly would not know and its doubtful George would
have told her. He'd have to tell her all about Calvin/Marty's brilliant
plan to pretend that he was taking advantage of her so that George
could come along and pretend to rescue her, and of course, she'd
then know that she was almost raped by Biff because of these two
idiots brilliant plan to completely con her into thinking George was
some kind of hero. No, there's no way George is going to tell her that
Calvin/Marty was really responsible for their getting together. He'd
take that bit of information to his grave.
At the end of BTTF, after George tells Biff to put two coats of wax
on the car, Lorraine remarks that if it wasn't for Biff they would have
never fallen in love. She credit's Biff for their fateful dance and kiss
on the dance floor, not Marty, and George obviously lets her believe
that. She has no idea Marty was even involved. How could she?
Marty was just some random kid Lorraine met 30 years earlier,
and knew for only 1 week. It's just as likely Lorraine would remember
him but not remember his face. Lorraine did have a short crush on
him but would she remember what he looked like 30 years later?
That would have to be one helluva crush.
Of course, George probably would have remembered Calvin, but
perhaps not remembered exactly what he looked like. People often
say that George would have noticed that his second son looked
suspiciously like the boy Lorraine had a crush on in high school and
would have accused poor Lorraine of sleeping with that "Calvin
Klein" from school she went out with. Oh Boy, the person who
suggests this has issues! Jealousy is an ugly thing my friend.
On a side note, most people assume that they named their
second son after Calvin/Marty. But did they? Apparently the Back to
the Future Novel has Marty ask his parents “whatever happened to
that Marty kid that I was named after.” This makes no sense. Marty
wasn't named after Calvin/Marty Klein. He possessed the name
Marty before he ever went back in time and met his mother. In Back
to the Future we learn that Marty had a great uncle (his great
grandfather's brother) name Martin McFly, who, much like him,
couldn't stand to be called a coward and was killed in a knife fight in
Virginia City. Could Marty have actually been named after this
relative?
Recently, five years after the publishing of my first edition of this
book, Bob Gale answered those who claim this to be a “plot hole”
because they believe George and Lorraine would have to have
realized their kid looks like that Calvin Klein kid. He offers much the
same explanation as I have offered here. In fact Bob Gale is merely
echoing Chris Pratt's explanation (which comes years after I first
provided the same explanation). ScreenCrush.com credits Pratt for
the explanation as if it's some sort of new thought.

From ScreenCrush:
“As it turns out, Pratt was dead on. In a recent interview with The
Hollywood Reporter, Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale
closed the plot hole once and for all. “Bear in mind that George and
Lorraine only knew Marty/Calvin for eight days when they were 17,
and they did not even see him every one of those eight days,"
explained Gale. “So, many years later, they still might remember that
interesting kid who got them together on their first date.”

But even though Marty’s parents might have recognized him as

someone they’d met before, it’s unlikely that they could pinpoint
exactly who he was. "If you had no photo reference, after 25 years,
you’d probably have just a hazy recollection," said Gale. He
concluded by stating that even if George and Lorraine noticed some
resemblance between Calvin and their teenaged son, they would
probably chalk it up to coincidence. “It wouldn’t be a big deal,” he
confirmed.

Welp, that settles that.”

Except, that doesn't settle anything! While it is true that might not
remember exactly what Calvin/Marty looked like, and probably, to
Lorraine, Calvin was just some random kid she knew for a week and
went on one short lived date with. To suggest, as does Bob Gale that
Calvin/Marty would be no different to George McFly than any other
kid he knew for a week back in High School is perhaps the silliest ad
hoc claim ever made by either of these writers regarding questions
with the movies!
Calvin/Marty Klein was far more to George McFly than just some
“kid” he vaguely could remember from High School, a kid he only
knew for 1 week. Before George met Calvin he was one of the most
unpopular kids in High School. People hung “kick me” signs on him
and the other kids would follow him down the hall kicking him over
and over again. No one sat with him at lunch. He had no friends. He
was secretly in love with a girl who didn't even know he existed
because he was too timid to approach her and talk to her. He wrote
lots of stories but never showed them to anyone. After George met
Calvin, Calvin became the closest thing George had to a friend in
High School, and actually was like a best friend. Calvin encouraged
him to date Lorraine, encouraged him to have confidence. In fact
Calvin followed him around begging him to date Lorraine. During this
same week George was visited by an alien in his bedroom who
threatened to melt his brain if he didn't listen to Calvin and ask
Lorraine out on a date. Sure, George would chalk this up as a
dream, surely, but he would not forget the correlation between Calvin
begging him to date Lorraine and the dream of an alien forcing him
to date Lorraine.
Especially since George wrote everything Calvin said and did
down in a little black book for use in his stories! But this does not end
there. Because of Calvin's crazy plan to pretend to sexually assault
Lorraine at the dance and to have George come to her rescue,
George ends up decking Biff Tannen, a man he'd never stood up to
in his life! This results in George becoming the most popular kid in
school because everyone hated Biff. George is asked to become
class President, he ends up with the hottest chick in school, all
because of Calvin. Also, because of Calvin, George finally lets
people read his stories and he becomes a successful author.
Bob Gale's suggestion that George is barely going to remember
Calvin is rather ludicrous in the extreme.

` 2.
There are two DeLoreans in 1885 once Marty goes
back to save Doc, wouldn't this be a paradox?
Actually, at the moment old Biff gives young Biff the book there
are three DeLoreans in 1955. That's right three!

A. The DeLorean Marty took back to 1955, which Doc is

now preparing to use to send him back to the future after
the dance.
B. The DeLorean that old Biff uses to go from 2015 to
1955 in order to give himself the Almanac.
 C. The DeLorean that Doc and Marty used to get from the
alternate Hell Valley timeline back to 1955 in an attempt to
stop young Biff from using the Almanac.
Again, at least during portions of this movie one could add a
fourth DeLorean.
D. The DeLorean that Doc Brown hid in the old
abandoned mine for 70 years in the year 1885.
After Marty gets the Almanac back from young Biff he burns it.
Doc Brown is struck by lightning and disappears. Marty immediately
gets a 70 year old letter from Western Union informing him that the
DeLorean is buried in the old mine. Many insist that you cannot say it
wasn't there when old Biff gave young Biff the book. If it had been
there for the last 70 years then of course it was there, old Biff gave
young Biff the book less than 24 hours before Marty got the letter
telling him the car had been buried there for 70 years.
It appears that the buried DeLorean was not in the mine until after
Doc was struck by lightning and went back to 1885, nevertheless, it's
a fourth DeLorean, and after Doc buried it, and all of the events of
the 1955 timelines occurred again, there would be four DeLoreans
present in 1955. That is the nature of causality paradox. If you had
been sitting in that cave at the moment Doc was struck by the
lightning and went careening to 1885, the DeLorean would have
instantly materialized in front of you. That's how changes in time
work in the movies.

3. In 1885 wouldn't Doc know that he was going to

die, having seen his own tombstone in 1955 and
helping Marty go back to 1885 to "save" him?

Based on the “timeline overwrite” employed by the writers of this

movie, this is a legitimate plot hole. Doc should also have known
who dressed Marty in that ridiculous rodeo clown outfit. Also, Doc
would have known all about Clara, having read her touching
memorial on his tombstone. When Doc of 1955 helps Marty get back
to 1885 to save the Doc from 1985, then the ripple effect of this
event should go into the future, granting the Doc from 1985 instant
memories of helping Marty go back in time to save him in 1955.
Not only this, but couldn't the Doc of 1955, after learning of the
lightning strike accident simply determine to avoid that entire future?
Couldn't he have simply taken precautions to keep old Biff from
stealing the time machine when he some day takes Marty and
Jennifer into 2015?
These movies can make little sense without the many worlds
hypothesis, yet this concept was only used once in the movies and it
was considered an “aberration.” Those who try to use the Biff 1985-A
alternate reality as proof that the movie deals in alternate realities all
the time forget that Marty would not have been disappearing after
creating a reality where he never existed. So, we have to face facts,
even though most of the time alterations in the movies did not result
in alternate realties, the writers relied on alternate universes for their
story telling, creating huge plot holes that can never be explained no
matter how hard they try.

Taken from BTTF.Wikidot.com

Question 1.19: Doc Brown of 1955 learns a lot
about the future from Marty. Shouldn't the Doc of
1985 remember all of those things that happened in
1955?
ANSWER: 3 possible answers, all credible. 1) The
"Ripple Effect" of time travel (which caused all of the
photographs to change) does not affect human
memory. 2) The 1955 Doc suffered a memory loss
sometime after his adventures with Marty (maybe it
was from the drugs he took in the 60's as Reverend
 Jim!). 3) Doc actually did remember everything, but he
still did all the same things he "remembered" because
he didn't want to risk disrupting the space-time
continuum.
There's a 4th possibility which depends on your view of
time travel. There's a theory (we like to call it the "Self-
Preservation Instinct of the Space-Time Continuum
Theory") that says that the continuum is always trying
to keep itself "on course," and when things happen to
change it, it always tries to correct itself. It is much like
a river, which tries to keep its overall course. Although
earthquakes, fallen trees, floods, or other
circumstances might disrupt it at points, the river would
cut a new channel so that it would end up back at the
same place. Thus, the overall physics (or metaphysics)
of the space-time continuum would insure that any of
Doc's memories of events that might create paradoxes
would become hazy — or be erased.

The first possible explanation that the ripple effect has no effect
on the memory of the people who are changed by it in the future is
utterly preposterous. If this were so, then when Marty returned to
1985 his siblings would remember the old timeline where they were
nerds and would be just as puzzled by their new lives as Marty was
to see them. George and Lorraine would remember their former
selves before Marty created a ripple effect that changed them, and
the whole world would remember the former reality the way it was
before Marty went back in the past and changed it.
I laughed at this explanation it was so ridiculous. Biff would have
remembered his former self and his entire life he had before George
decked him at the dance! Of course the ripple effect would effect
how they remembered things! How can these people who are in
1985 when the ripple wave of the changes Marty makes hits them
remember things the way they were since those things never
happened in their reality? Biff never wrecked George's car, was
never George's supervisor in the reality created by the Ripple Effect.
It's completely ridiculous.
When Doc is taking Marty from the 1985-A future back to 1955 to
get the Almanac away from young Biff, Marty says of Jennifer and
Einstein, "Doc we can't just leave them here."
To this Doc responds that when they succeed in putting the future
back the way it was it would "instantaneously transform around"
Jennifer and Einy. Then Doc says "Jennifer and Einstein will be
fine and they'll have no memory of this horrible place." Doc
makes it quite clear that the ripple effect most definitely effects
human memory!
Unfortunately, the writers have accidentally contradicted their own
movie in this explanation.
Some try to make the case that Doc's comments about Jennifer
not remembering that horrible place was not because the ripple
effect wiped her memory of it, but because she was unconscious
during the alternate reality. This is again ridiculous. Why would Doc
say she would have no memory of the reality when discussing how
the ripple effect works if the ripple effect had nothing to do with her
not remembering the reality? If it was her unconsiousness that
prevented her from remembering? Furthermore, Doc says Einstein
wouldn't remember the alternate reality either because of the ripple
effect and he was conscious during the alternate reality!
The second explanation demonstrates they do not take these
clear plot holes seriously and have attempted to make a joke of it.
Doc suffered a memory loss? What a weak ad hoc explanation.
The third explanation is just, well there's no other word for it. It's
just stupid.
Doc did remember that in 1955 he had to dig up a DeLorean from
the mines and help Marty go back to 1885 to rescue himself from
being shot after being trapped in 1885 he just never said anything
because he didn't want to disrupt the space-time continuum? So,
what, when Doc in 1885 saw the tombstone he only ACTED upset?
When he took Marty and Jennifer to 2015 he knew Biff would steal
the time machine and he'd end up having to go back to 1955 to
undue a horrible reality created by Biff and then he'd end up trapped
in 1885 but he said nothing and did nothing to prevent it?
Doc was just ACTING when he asked Marty "what idiot dressed
you in those clothes?" Why would Doc appear genuinely surprised
when Marty told him he gets shot in a week? Why would Doc refuse
to pay Biff knowing this leads to his being shot? The third
explanation is almost one of the worst ad hoc explanations ever
given.
But their 4th explanation takes the prize as “worst explanation
ever.”
The fourth explanation isn't science it's new age. It's actually
religion.
"The continuum is always trying to keep itself on course, and
when things happen to change it, it always tries to correct itself?"
Really? According to all the physics we know the course of the
“River of Time” is governed by mass and gravity only. The universe
is a living entity? This is not science, it borders on "pantheism." It
has no place in a scientific or even a logical discussion about time
travel. They attempt to pass this off as a legit "scientific" theory about
time travel. Poppycock. No self respecting scientist is going to speak
of the universe as if it's alive and trying to "correct" itself.
Let's face it, it's becoming obvious that the authors of this film
have no real explanations for some of the plot holes they have
created and when all else fails they make "reverand Jim" jokes.

4. In 1955, Marty asks Doc Brown to help him get

back to 1885, in so doing Doc Brown is given full
knowledge of the events of the second movie
including the theft of the time machine.
 Doc Brown sends Marty a letter from 1885 explaining everything
that happens to him after he is struck by lightning. Not only does
Marty read the entire letter to the 1955 Doc, he gives him the entire
background of why they came to 1955, including telling him about
Biff stealing the time machine in 2015.
At that point Marty would not have to go back to 1885 to save Doc
at all. Instead, the 1955 Doc could have just waited until 1985, when
he takes Marty to 2015 and could have prevented Biff from stealing
the time machine, thus preventing the need for them to go back to
1955, thus preventing himself getting struck by lightning and going
back to 1885.
In the case of explanation four, it's not a “paradox” as much as it is
a complete plot hole that could be cleared up if they had used the
many worlds theory.

5. The Clocktower Paradox.

A bolt of lightning struck the tower at 10:04 pm on November 12,

1955 and stopped the clock from running. Doc set up cables and
diverted the charge from the lightning bolt away from the clock and
down to the DeLorean. This leads some to believe the clock should
be undamaged. In which case, there would be no "Save the
Clocktower" flyer to be handed to Marty in 1985 and no way for Doc
in 1955 to learn about when and where the lightning would strike.
Those who propose this don't realize what they are really
proposing is another causality loop (or grandfather paradox). Marty
would be trapped in 1955 and Doc wouldn't run a cable from the
clocktower to help him get back to 1985. If there is no reason for Doc
to run the cable, then the lightning hits the clock and the flyer is
printed. History repeats itself and it's a time loop.
 However, this is another case where someone has invented a
paradox where none exists in the movie. The lightning bolt still
strikes the Clocktower, Doc just sets up a cable that channels the
lightning from the clock tower after the lightning strikes it, into the flux
capacitor. Where these people get the idea the lightning doesn't
strike the tower once Doc sets up his contraption is a mystery.
Incidentally, if you watch the first movie, when Jennifer and Marty are
given the flyer which outlines exactly what happened to the clock
tower, the clock is directly in the background. The spot where Doc
Brown breaks the ledge is flawless. Later, after Marty gets back to
1985 we see the damaged ledge. Just a bit of trivia.

6. Tombstone Paradox.

In 1955, Doc, Marty and Copernicus

discover Doc's tombstone, showing that
Emmett Brown died on September 7, 1885
after being shot in the back by Buford
Tannen. Marty goes back to 1885 to save
his friend. As a result, Doc is not killed, and
the tombstone (as shown by a changing
photograph) is no longer present in 1955. If
there is no tombstone in 1955, Marty will
not know that he must go back to 1885. But
if Marty does not go back to 1885, Doc is
killed, etc. Since Doc is stuck in 1885 near
the end of Part III, he would have plenty of
time to avert the paradox.
 The above paradox question was taken right off the internet, from
one of the various fan sites. It only becomes a paradox when you
accept the author's choice of how the future is effected by changes
to the past in an overwrite of events. The "single timeline" and
"single reality" explanation that is the prevailing theory. Notice that
the paradox is not even articulated very well. The final sentence of
the makes no sense whatsoever:
"Since Doc is stuck in 1885 near the end of Part III, he
would have plenty of time to avert the paradox."
We have to read that sentence several times to understand what
is meant.
Basically, what they are trying to say is that after Marty learns that
Doc went back to 1885 he seeks out 1955 Doc (who has just sent
him back to 1985 using the lightning at the clocktower). Now that
Marty has contacted him and read him the letter from 1885 Doc, the
1955 Doc is aware that he will eventually go into 2015, come back,
get Marty and Jennifer, take them to 2015, then while they are there
old Biff will steal the time machine, causing them to have to come
back to 1955 to get the book back from Biff, then 1955 Doc knows
he will get struck by lightning and be sent back to 1885. The Doc of
1955 now has 30 years to plan and to prevent the events that lead
up to the eventuality of his being stuck in 1885!
The future is continually "overwritten” in these movies, there is no
way around this plot hole. There would be no need for Marty to even
go back to 1885 to save Doc Brown. Doc Brown from 1955 could
save himself from being trapped in 1885 by avoiding the events that
lead up to it. Doc Brown of 1955 could stop old Biff from stealing the
time machine, which would negate their need to go back to 1955
which would prevent him from being sent to 1885.
I can hear the author's trying to worm out of this by saying that
Doc wouldn't do that. He doesn't interfere with the space time
continuum.
Really?
Doc taped the letter back together, the one Marty wrote him about
the terrorists, then used that information to prevent being killed by
the Libyans! We are supposed to believe that Doc is just going to let
himself get shot by Buford Mad Dog Tannen in 1885? Not only that,
we are supposed to believe that even though Doc could easily
prevent all of these events, instead he lets Marty take the time
machine back to 1885 to save his future counterpart, further risking
the timeline so that he doesn't risk the timeline by preventing the
events himself?
Yet, once again the many-worlds theory could solve this
conundrum. The Doc of 1955 who helps Marty get back to 1885 is
not the same Doc Brown who gets trapped in 1885. Without the
“many worlds” explanation we are stuck with a major plot hole.

7. Marty Jr. Paradox

Doc Brown arrived on October 26, 2015 from 1985 and learned
that Marty Jr. (and, later, Marlene) had been put in jail on October 21
of that future year. This started a chain reaction which completely
destroyed Marty's entire family. Then Doc went back to 1985 to get
Marty's assistance in preventing the event. Marty, of course,
prevents the disaster, and the USA Today headline changes from
"YOUTH JAILED" to "GANG JAILED."
As Doc notes, "future history has now been changed", but the
past has been changed as well. If Marty is no longer arrested in that
future, Doc would arrive in October 26, 2015 only to find no evidence
of any problems with Marty's kids. This would then leave him with no
reason to go back to 1985. No reason to say to Marty, "something
has got to be done about your kids!"
Yet, if Doc does not go back to 1985 to get Marty, then Doc and
Marty don't prevent Marty Jr. from getting into trouble. More time
loop. Doc of Part II would need to find some way to alert Doc of Part
I of the potential paradox, which would be difficult, in that Doc
departs 2015, gets stuck in 1885, and is not able to return for many
years (until building the Jules Verne train).
This is another case where they are describing, not just a paradox
but a causality loop. It is also an unavoidable byproduct of the
writers' use of the “single timeline overwrite.” This entire paradox
goes away using many worlds theory. Without alternate realities
there is no escape from this paradox and it becomes a plot hole for
which there is no explanation.

8. A second Marty, raised by confident and

successful parents.

At the end of Part I, Marty goes back to 1985 early and watches
himself travel back in time, then the next day he discovers that his
parents are now changed. Some claim that when Marty arrives back
in 1985 (10 minutes early so he can save Doc) the ripple effect
hadn't caught up to 1985 yet. This could have worked actually. If they
had stayed consistent with the 7 day ripple effect they used at the
beginning of the movie, then when Marty arrived he could watch
himself leave to go back to 1955 in the DeLorean, and the Mall sign
would have read “Twin Pines Mall” still because it had not yet been a
full week since he had struck the pine tree. Yet, we know the ripple
effect had already changed the 1985 Marty arrives in, because the
Mall sign reads “Lone Pine Mall.”
Since it had been just under a week, in Marty's time frame since
he had hit the pine, they could have actually had the sign on the Mall
change from “Twin Pines Mall” to “Lone Pine Mall” the minute Marty
watches himself leave in the DeLorean.
But they didn't do this. When he arrives 10 minutes early the sign
says “Lone Pine Mall” so the ripple effect has already proceeded into
this year, 1985 and made its changes based on Marty's actions in
the past.
Therefore, we know for sure that when he watches himself go
back in time all of the changes that were made to 1985 as a result of
this time travel in the past had already taken effect.”
Yet, Marty has no memory of being raised by confident and
successful parents. Obviously, the Marty he watches go back in time
is not him. It's a very different Marty. This new Marty will have a very
different understanding of the past than the original does. The Marty
who goes back in time at the end of the movie was raised by
confident and successful George McFly and sober Lorraine. The
effect this new Marty will have on the past will likely be very different
than the original, possibly causing further changes to 1985 and
having the different effects on the Marty he may witness going back,
and so on.
There have been many attempted explanations for this. Some
have argued that the time continuum lag would make this possible.
We have already debunked that explanation! The time continuum lag
seen in the first movie was due to a one week period between when
Marty interfered with his parents meeting and when they were
supposed to kiss on the dance floor. That lag does not continue on
past the point where they were supposed to kiss and if they had not
kissed Marty would have completely vanished. Many try to fall back
on this "continuum lag" theory to explain every inconsistency in the
movies and it just doesn't work. There is only "lag" under certain
unique circumstances.

9. The “Stop The Time Machine Theft” Paradox.

In BTTF II Doc Brown says they couldn't stop Biff from stealing
the time machine because if they were to go to 2015 from where
they were they would go to the altered 2015. Scientifically and
logically Doc Brown was right but at the same time he was wrong.
We have already discussed this paradox at length so I'll just
summarize.
The movie has already provided an example that refutes Doc's
claim that they can't go back to the future they just came from. Doc
goes into 2015, sees Marty Junior was arrested, then goes back to
1985 to get Marty. When he puts the kids into the time vehicle and
heads back to 2015 they do not proceed to the “future of the current
reality.” Because, after the kids get in the time machine and leave for
2015, the future of that current reality would be a future where the
kids disappear for 30 years and never bet married and have children.
Yet, that doesn't happen. Instead, they end up back in the 2015 that
Doc Brown had just came from.
By this example, set in stone by the writers, there should be no
reason that Doc and Marty couldn't just jump in the time machine
and proceed back to the 2015 they had just came from, arrive 10
minutes earlier, and stop Biff from stealing the time machine.
The writers try to pass this off as a paradox, but clearly, it's a plot
hole.

10. THE "BELOVED CLARA" PROBLEM.

The romance between Doc and Clara Clayton in 1885 has been
cause for quite a bit of confusion. At first glance it appears as though
the movie contradicts itself in that, Clara's name is on Doc's
tombstone in 1955 yet she was supposed to have died before Doc
was even shot. The Clayton Ravine is named after her and Marty
has specific memories of a school teacher who dies in the ravine. It
would seem that if Marty has memories of her dying when she did
(before Doc was shot) it's a terrible mistake to see her name on
Doc's tombstone. Once again, ad hoc, the writers attempt to clear
this up:

From BTTF.Wikidot.com
QUESTION: 1.18: How could Clara have erected the
tombstone for Doc after September 7, 1885 if she was
supposed to have gone over the cliff on September
4th? At the beginning of Back to the Future Part III,
would the name of the ravine be "Clayton," "Shonash"
or "Eastwood?"
ANSWER:
The "Original History" occurred before Doc Brown was
ever born or invented the time machine. This is how
things would have been written in the history books in
Back to the Future, and in most of Back to the Future
Part II.
Version #1 — "Original History"
August 29, 1885: Hill Valley Town Meeting. No one
volunteers to meet the new school teacher at the
station.
September 4, 1885: Clara arrives at the train station.
Since no one is there to meet her, she rents a
buckboard. While heading out to the school house, a
snake spooks the horses, they run wild, the buckboard
goes out of control, and over the edge of Shonash
Ravine. Clara is killed.
September 9, 1885: After a memorial service for Clara
Clayton, the city fathers decide to name the ravine in
her memory. Thus, "Shonash Ravine" becomes
"Clayton Ravine."
Again, Version #1 is the history of Hill Valley that
happened BEFORE the beginning of Back to the
Future.
At the conclusion of Back to the Future Part II, Doc is
zapped back to January 1, 1885. He settles in Hill
Valley as a blacksmith, and the above events are
altered because of his presence, as follows:
Version #2 — Doc in 1885, without Marty.
August 29, 1885: Hill Valley Town Meeting. Doc Brown
volunteers to meet the school teacher at the train
station.
September 4, 1885: Doc meets Clara at the train
station and they fall in love at first sight.
September 5, 1885: Doc takes Clara to the festival.
Buford shows up and shoots Doc in the back with the
derringer. Despite Clara's efforts at nursing him, Doc
dies two days later from internal bleeding as a result of
the gunshot wound.
September 9, 1885: Clara dedicates Doc's tombstone,
"In loving memory from his beloved Clara."
In this sequence, the name of the ravine remains
"Shonash Ravine." This history ripples into the future
AFTER Doc is struck by lightning at the end of Back to
the Future Part II. Marty, however, retains his
knowledge and memory of the original history because
he has come from a point in the space-time continuum
in which the original history applied. If Marty were to go
to the ravine in 1955 at the beginning of Back to the
Future Part III (on his way to the Pohatchee Drive-In,
for example), he would discover that the ravine is
called "Shonash Ravine."
In Back to the Future Part III, Marty's trip to September
2, 1885 alters Version #2 as follows:
Version #3 — Doc and Marty both in 1885
August 29, 1885: Exactly the same as in version #2:
Doc volunteers to meet the school teacher.
September 3, 1885: As seen in Back to the Future
Part III, Marty shows Doc the photo of the Tombstone.
Doc decides NOT to meet Clara at the station.
September 4, 1885: Clara arrives at the station. No
one is there to meet her, so she rents a buckboard, as
in Version #1. Similarly, on her journey to the
schoolhouse, the snake spooks the horses and they
run wild toward the ravine. As seen in the film, Doc
rescues her from going over into the ravine. They meet
and fall in love at first sight.
September 5, 1885: At the festival, Doc's behavior is
now different due to his knowledge that Buford is going
to shoot him in the back (which is why Doc keeps
facing front to Buford). Because Buford never does
shoot him at the festival, and due to Marty's
interference, the name on the tombstone photo
vanishes.
September 7, 1885: "Clint Eastwood" is apparently
killed when the runaway locomotive plunges into the
ravine. In honor of his heroic action against Buford
Tannen, the city fathers decide to name the ravine after
him.
 (Incidentally, there is an alternative scenario that may
have occurred in Version #2: On September 15, 1885,
Clara, distraught over Doc's death, commits suicide by
jumping into the ravine. As a gesture of sympathy, the
people of Hill Valley decide to name the ravine in her in
memory, thus putting the space-time continuum back
into a similar situation as in Version #1. We will remain
ambiguous about whether this suicide incident actually
happened in Version #2 so that the viewer may choose
whichever scenario fits into his own theories about time
travel.)

As ad hoc explanations go, this is one of the best the authors

have provided. It clears up almost every plot hole regarding Clara.
Save for one.
After Doc Brown saves Clara from going into the Ravine he
escorts her home. As they are leaving Marty tells Doc about a story
he learned in school, about Clayton Ravine and how it had been
named after a school teacher who died in the ravine 100 years
earlier. Doc is then mortified realizing he has probably just changed
the timeline by rescuing her.
The problem here should be obvious. According to all that we
know about how time travel works, once Doc saves Clara from the
Ravine the ripple effect would proceed into the future, instantly
transforming around Marty at the moment in time when he first hears
about the school teacher that went into the ravine. In the new
overwritten timestream, Marty would hear no story about a school
teacher that went into a ravine because no teacher ever went into
the ravine. Marty would have no memories of a story about a school
teacher who fell into the ravine. It never would have happened.
Yes, of course, the writers would no doubt try to claim that time
changes don't effect human memory which, as discovered earlier, is
preposterous and makes no scientific or logical sense. How could
Marty from 1985 hear about a teacher falling into a ravine if no
teacher ever fell into a ravine? They want to chalk this up as another
paradox as usual but it's completely avoidable, merely by employing
the many worlds theory into the story. Remember also what Doc
says in the second movie, about how Jennifer and Einy would have
"no memory" of the Biff Hell Valley timeline after the future is
restored, clearly the ripple effect has effect on memory. The nerdy
George has no memory of being nerdy after the ripple effect
transforms him into confident and successful George. Lorraine has
no memory of being a lush after she's transformed. Biff has no
memory of being George's boorish supervisor who makes him do his
reports for him after the ripple effect changes him. Of course the
ripple in time effects human memory or all these new improved
characters would remember their former selves before the ripple hit
them. Come on, Bob and Robert, think, McFly... think!
The only thing that would explain this inconsistency logically is
that Marty is from a different world, where Clara falls into the ravine,
and therefore still remembers those events, and Doc has now
created a new world (or reality) where Clara was saved. Without the
"many worlds" theory there is no explanation for any of these
paradoxes and various inconsistencies in the movies so in point of
fact they are all "mistakes." If we stick with how the authors say time
travel works in the movies, these plot holes can never be explained.
Therefore, those who point these paradoxes out as mistakes are
technically correct in doing so.
Because it's a mistake to use the river of time theory and use a
single timeline that keeps getting “overwritten” whenever someone
changes the past and ignore many worlds or “branches” of the
timestream that converge and diverge).
But, let's cut the writers some slack though, they made one big
mistake that turned into many smaller mistakes. It's just a rather
unfortunate error in the writers' choice of how time travel works and
their doubling down with so many failed ad hoc explanations.
 CHAPTER EIGHT—IT'S A MISTAKE!

In movies there are often many different kinds of mistakes that

could be made during the writing of the screenplay, or production
phases, or even on the cutting room floor. We won't bother ourselves
with "continuity" errors. A continuity error is an error that occurs
during production where the flow of the scene is incongruous with
itself. Such as the character enters the bar wearing one pair of shoes
but exits the bar wearing a completely different shoe.
Another example would be that, in 1955, Marty thinks it's
necessary to hook the JVC camera up to Doc's old 1955 black and
white television in order to watch the film on the camera, when that
particular model had an electronic viewfinder that allowed you to
preview any movie on the camera, and included a headphone jack
for listening to the sound. We know Marty had headphones, he used
them on George when he did his "Darth Vader" schtick. That is a
perfect example of a "continuity" error. The script supervisor dropped
the ball on that one. If there are any other such errors in Back to the
Future they are not relevant to this study.
A plot hole is a much more serious error. This occurs when
something happens which contradicts what has already happened or
goes against established rules put in play by the already existing
plot, or is just completely implausible.
We have already examined numerous alleged plot holes in Back
to the Future. The type of mistake we will examine now have to do
with fallacies in logic or out of character action or dialogue that
simply "make no sense." Keep in mind this is only a partial list and
was compiled by pouring over fan sites on the internet (and some
from personal observation).

1. Why Steal The Almanac Back In 1955?

 We have discussed this already but there is more to this that must
be explored. For many, their position is simple:

Doc and Marty have a time machine at their disposal. Why, then,
do they try and get the Almanac right after the exact moment in time
that it's given to young Biff? He doesn't place any bets, nor
presumably appreciate its value for several years afterwards, why
not go back in 1956 or 1957, perhaps when he's at
school/work/shouting at people in the street, and take it then?

This question is completely invalid, built on the false premise that

it is the Almanac that creates the alternate future. Those who make
this assumption ask, why not just wait until Biff lets his guard down to
take the book from him? There is one scene from the third movie
that renders this entire idea moot..
After Biff gets the book back from Marty at the dance, he gets in
his car and is driving home. As he does so the radio comes on with
the latest sports scores. Biff grabs the Almanac and carefully
compares the scores for the day with what is in the Almanac then he
mumbles "son of a BITCH!" Biff can read this Almanac any time he
wants as long as it is in his possession.
Look, people, Biff is a big dumb bully, but he's not that dumb. He
probably can read tomorrow's sports scores and remember them.
Maybe the sports scores for two days from now. Heck, Biff could
even read the outcomes of every sporting event for the next week!
The question ignores that the real danger in not the Almanac as
much as it is the information contained in the Almanac in the hands
(or memory) of Biff Tannen. It's information about the future that
poses a huge threat to the space time continuum. They simply
cannot let that book remain in Biff's hands for even minutes, much
less days, or, God forbid, years (as some here are proposing).
Give Biff two years to study that book and he probably won't even
need the Almanac to create the Hell Valley future, he could do it from
memory.
When people come up with supposed "plot holes" like this they
are literally inventing them from thin air. It's a very bad idea to think
it's okay to leave that Almanac in Biff's hands for years waiting for
the right time to get it back!
Heck, I know Biffis dumb but maybe he finds some other schmuck
like George McFly and forces the poor kid to hand copy the entire
Almanac, just to be on the safe side? Even some of the counter
arguments people have offered to this question ignore the basic
common sense idea that the longer they leave that book in Biff's
hands, to study, the more probable it will be he can bet on sporting
events using the information.
Such counter arguments have included:
The point in 1955 they go back to is the only one where
the Doc and Marty know exactly where the book will be,
namely, at the point old Biff gives it to new Biff.
Or, another counter argument:
Biff is specifically told to put it in a safe somewhere, and
assuming - let's give him the benefit of the doubt here -
that he does so, that's going to make it tricky to get.
Although for the Doc, one would suspect, it's not
impossible...
These counter arguments make a good case as to why it's not a
good idea to leave that Almanac in Biff's hands for "just the right
time" to steal. It's simply not an option. They cannot leave that
Almanac with Biff for even one second more than they have to! As
Doc puts it in the first movie...
"no one should know too much about his own future... the
consequences could be disastrous."
Just as no one should know too much about his own future, Biff
shouldn't know too much about ANY future, especially the outcome
of sporting events. The Almanac is like a loaded time continuum gun
in the hands of a 3 year old, they have to get it away from him,
literally, yesterday!
 Of course, under many-worlds theory, the Gray's Sports Almanac
is not an effective way to change the future anyway.
First of all, when old Biff hands out the Almanac, he would not be
changing his own future, he would only create an alternate world or
reality in which another Biff (who is not him) has a different future
than he had. The moment he created that alternate world there
would be no guarantee that the outcome of the sporting events
depicted in the Almanac would be the same. The future is not written
and the Almanac could be utterly worthless in the new reality that old
Biff creates when he gives young Biff the book.
It might not seem like young Biff possessing an Almanac from
2015 could actually change the outcome off sporting events but
theoretically it could. Teams that won in the reality from which the
Almanac came could lose in this new reality. Even without the "many
worlds" idea this would still hold true. Old Biff has created an
alternate reality when he hands out the Almanac, and there would be
no guarantee that the sporting events chronicled in the Almanac
would have the exact same outcomes in the new reality. It's the first
law governing this. The future is not written, remember? Old Biff
gives young Biff an Almanac which shows how the sporting events
occurred, yet, the world is now given a "do over" (and not just Biff).
Every team in the world is now given a "do over" for every sporting
event all the way to the end of the century, every horse race is given
a second chance to win the race.

2. Just Call Marty "Chicken" At Key Moments.

Many have called into question the logic of the plot device of
manipulating Marty McFly by calling him chicken. The main thrust of
this question is why would the Marty McFly of 2015 fall for this?
Hasn't this Marty time traveled to 1955, done amazing things, faced
off against father time himself, ridden a lightning bolt back to 1985?
Yet, here he is in 2015 and he still can't abide being called chicken
and allows himself to be manipulated. There is no explanation for
this. It's a flaw in character development by the opinion of some, but
clearly, not in the opinion of the authors and they're the ones writing
the character. It's not a “mistake,” not a "plot hole" and it certainly
isn't a paradox, yet people have called it all three.
In actuality it's a “character arc.” Characters develop all the time in
movies and formerly unknown personality traits are often times
revealed later in a story. There's nothing wrong with this. It's simply
not a mistake.

3. Doc Brown declares the time machine must be

destroyed, but then, he just builds another one out
of a train.

Several times in the movies, after Doc Brown has had to fix the
space time continuum again and again, he throws up his hands and
decides the time machine should be destroyed. By the end of the
third film he seems more determined than ever to go through with
destroying the time machine. He specifically instructs Marty to
dismantle it when he gets back to 1985.
As it turns out, Marty doesn't have to, they bring the DeLorean
back on the train tracks and it is, moments after the return, struck by
a train and destroyed. Then, at the very end of the movie Doc
appears in a flying time train he has subsequently built. Many have
called this into question. Doc says "the time machine must be
destroyed" but then just builds another one?
This is another matter of opinion. You might not think that Doc
Brown would succumb to the temptation of building another time
machine, but clearly the writers believed their character would. We
need only examine Doc Brown's character more closely to see if
those who pose this question are correct in their assertions that this
behavior is "out of Character,” or “illogical” behavior on Doc's part.
 In the first movie Doc Brown refuses to listen to any warnings
about the future as Marty tries to warn him about the Libyans. Marty
even wrote Doc a letter and put it secretly in his coat pocket. Doc
found it and tore it up angrily lecturing him about how dangerous it is
for him to know too much about his own future. "The consequences
could be disasterous," shouts Doc! However, when Marty finally
gets back to 1985 just in time to see Doc being shot by the Libyans,
moments later Doc sits straight up and reveals a hidden bullet proof
vest. Then when Marty asks "how did you know?" Doc shows him
the letter which he had taped back together and actually laminated.
Marty asks "what about all that talk about the space time
continuum?" To which Doc replies, "I figured, what the hell?"
Doc's character wants to do what's right when it comes to the
space time continuum, but he also cannot resist getting in the time
machine and traveling through time, even after all they have been
through.
In fact, let's back up a bit. The Doc Brown who wears a bullet
proof vest had every opportunity to move his experiment to a more
secret location and ensure the Libyans could never find him. Yet, he
knew if he did that Marty would not be sent back in time, which
would mean he wouldn't get the letter warning him of the Libyans
and would not have been able to change anything. Doc Brown knew
that he must let everything unfold as it did before or he could screw
up the space time continuum, causing major paradoxes.
Consider if he had just made it so the Libyans couldn't find him?
In that case the Libyans would not have crashed into a photo booth
while chasing Marty. Who knows, maybe instead the Libyans hijack
planes and fly them into buildings instead! Doc couldn't risk changing
anything that happened, so he let himself be shot and merely wore a
bullet proof vest so that he might not die. Even that was a huge risk
on his part. What if they shot him in the head? Evidently, Doc
brown's integrity doesn't extend to reckless "self sacrifice" in the
name of preserving the space time continuum and he's not above
taking a precaution or two based on foreknowledge he gains using a
time machine. Doc obviously draws the line at "dying for the cause"
in his moral rule about not messing with space time.
In BTTF II, after Marty purchases the Almanac, Doc Brown angrily
lectures him again, saying that he didn't make the time machine to
benefit personally from it, however, Doc is somewhat of an hypocrite.
He's already personally benefited from the time machine. He
wouldn't even be alive if he had not used the letter to his advantage
to save himself from gunfire. If that isn't using the time machine for
personal gain, what is? Doc says the time machine is only for "study"
to answer the "human questions," yet he uses it for his own personal
gain on more than one occasion, even at one point further risking
more space time contamination by helping Marty go back to 1885 to
save him from being shot by Mad Dog Tannen.
Let's not forget his relationship with Clara and subsequent
children, all created using the benefit of a time machine! Clearly Doc
is a man of great principles who doesn't always stick to them by the
letter of the law. In Doc's case the law "don't mess with the space
time continuum for personal gain" is more a guideline than a rule.
Why shouldn't Doc build another time machine in 1885? Looking
at it objectively, most of the time disasters created in all 3 movies
were created because Doc involved his teenage apprentice in the
time travel. If there is any lesson to be learned from the Back to the
Future movies it's this: Don't leave the keys to the time machine lying
around where your teenage friend can get ahold of them. Every time
continuum nightmare in the movies was created by... you guessed
it.... Marty McFly. Not Doc Brown.
The first alteration to the continuum occurred when Marty followed
his father and interfered with his parents' meeting. Doc helped Marty
fix that then tried to send Marty back to 1985, to the exact moment
he left, but no, Marty changed the time on the time circuit to arrive 10
minutes early. Who knows what time disasters he could have caused
doing that. If time travel should have taught Doc anything it's don't
involve your teen aged assistant in your time travel. Yet, Doc, never
learns this lesson and takes Marty and Jennifer into 2015 to use the
time machine for personal gain. Namely, to help his close friend
prevent the destruction of his family in the future.
Granted, what happens next couldn't happen if Doc didn't take
Marty to the future but nevertheless it is Marty who gets his hands on
a Sports Almanac which he intends to take to the past and use to
become a millionaire. Biff overhears this, gets his hands on the
Almanac, steals the time machine which results in every other time
disaster they had to fix in the movies, including the rescue of Doc
from 1885.
Ultimately it was all Marty's fault (and Marty admits it). The only
real mistake Doc made was continually involving Marty in his time
travel. In light of this realization, it's quite possible that Doc instructed
Marty to destroy the time machine once he made it back to 1985
because he was terrified of the prospect of his teenage friend having
unfettered and unsupervised access to a time machine.
Obviously the thought of Marty having a time machine of his own
with no adult supervision was just too terrifying for Doc to
contemplate. Doc's insistence might have had nothing at all to do
with a change of heart when it comes to the merits of time travel for
himself and more to do with keeping a time machine out of the hands
of a reckless teenager. Marty's now out of the equation, Doc
probably figured it was safe to build a new time machine, this time
one that Marty can't get ahold of.
Yet, does Doc learn his lesson? No! He takes his children on time
travel adventures, and they too will become teenagers some day. Try
as he might to be careful, Doc is just reckless when it comes to the
space time continuum. He always was and he always will be. His
building a new time machine therefore is completely in character and
no mistake at all.

4. Why can't Doc make Gasoline? Why couldn't he

have taken gas from the buried DeLorean? Why
couldn't he have taken the fuel manifold from the
buried DeLorean?
 Many think that even in 1885 Doc should have somehow been
able to make gasoline in only a few days or they insist he could have
drained some gasoline out of the DeLorean he buried in the mine. At
the end of BTTF II, Doc Brown gets stuck in 1885 with a disabled
DeLorean time machine. He buries it in a mine. Leaving it for Marty
to find in 1955 and sending him a letter explaining what needs to be
done to fix it using 1955 parts. Marty gets the letter moments after
Doc is struck by lightning, retrieves the DeLorean, fixes it, then
against Doc's express wishes takes the DeLorean to 1885 to save
Doc and subsequently is attacked by Native Americans who damage
the fuel line, causing the gas to leak out of the time machine.
Many have asked "why doesn't Doc simply make gasoline since
he's such a brilliant scientist, or why doesn't he simply get some gas
from the DeLorean buried in the mine?" They think this is a mistake
and believe the entire sequence of events where they use the train
to get the DeLorean up to 88 mph is a plot hole. There are many
reasons for why their reasoning is flawed.
First and foremost is their assumption that a lack of gasoline is the
reason why Doc and Marty had to use the train to get the DeLorean
up to 88 mph. It's not so. Doc was making fuel using 1885 alcohol.
During his attempt to power the DeLorean with a gasahol alternate
fuel he blew the fuel injector manifold. Doc picks it up off the floor
and says "it would take a month to fix it." They have to get Marty out
of there in less than a week!
People erroneously conclude "Doc, the inventor of a time machine
should have been able to make gasoline."
In 1885? In less than a week?
Do they not realize that gasoline is not "made" by man? Doc may
be a scientist but scientists are not God (contrary to modern popular
belief).
Gasoline is not made it's "refined," from petroleum, which is a
substance that is made of fossilized organic materials over millions
of years. I don't think Doc has time to find an oil well in California,
pump the oil out and refine it into gasoline. He's going to be shot in 1
weeks time. How was he going to locate a petroleum deposit under
the earth and then how was he going to drill it and pump it out?
Afterward, he'd have to distill the gasoline in a process that takes at
least THREE days using a state of the art modern oil refinery. In
1885 it's highly unlikely he was going to do that. Even if it were
possible, which is easier, "making" gasoline or modifying a train to
push the DeLorean to 88?
Some have suggested Doc could have used Kerosene. Kerosene
is actually diesel fuel and the last time I checked DeLoreans don't
have diesel engines!
The argument that he could get gas from the DeLorean that he
has buried in the mine makes a false assumption that there was gas
in the DeLorean when Doc buries it. An assumption that is not based
on anything that was said in the movie. Most people will drain the
gasoline from a vehicle when they store it, Doc is no different.
Someone once said, "well, if he drained the gas from it he should
still have gas lying around there." Not necessarily. When Marty
comes back to 1885 he arrives 8 months after Doc buries the
DeLorean in a mine. I'm quite sure that in 8 months time Doc would
have found plenty of uses for that gasoline.
When they assume the DeLorean in the mine should have gas in
it still, they are just assuming that Doc Brown is an idiot and doesn't
think of going back to the mine to get gas. Obviously that DeLorean
has no gas to get! How do we know? Doc says so. When Marty tells
him that his DeLorean is out of gas Doc says "you mean we are out
of gas?"
Even if the DeLorean had gas in it when Doc buried it, there's also
the risk of messing with the time continuum. Marty was only there in
1885 because Doc buried the DeLorean in the mine and never
messed with it or went near it again. If he goes to the mine to
retrieve gasoline he's risking messing all that up. Doc wouldn't
consider the risk worth it.
Finally people argue that Doc could have swapped out the fuel
manifold from the buried DeLorean with the damaged one. As if Doc
in 1955 is going to have any better luck rebuilding a 1985 DeLorean
fuel injector than Doc in 1885 would have. Doc risked rendering the
buried DeLorean useless to Marty in 1955 for a very long time,
further risking more and more timestream contamination. Not to
mention the unforseen events that could happen while they are
trying to dig up the buried DeLorean in 1885 in order to get parts or
fuel from it. They might be seen digging it up. They might be seen
burying it again. Any number of things could happen that could result
in a major Paradox where Marty never gets the time machine in
1955. It would not be worth the risk. Doc would not go near that
buried DeLorean after Marty appears in 1885 driving it!

5. How did Doc make a flying train in the 1800's

when he couldn't even make gasoline to get Marty
home?

This one almost didn't make it on this list. It's not really worthy.
Obviously Doc didn't make the train fly in the 1800's. The answer to
this lies in the dialogue. As Doc is taking off at the end of the movie
Marty asks "where you going back to the future?" Doc replies...
"already been there." Then the train rises up, hovering above the
tracks just like the DeLorean hovered after Doc took it to 2015.
Clearly Doc made the train fly the same way he made the DeLorean
fly, by giving it a hover conversion somewhere in the future.

6. California Indian wars in 1885

In BTTF III, when Marty arrives in 1885 he is chased into a cave

by Native Americans. The mistake here should be obvious. The
California Native Americans were all taken captive by 1880. Yet, here
in the movie we see the calvary chasing a tribe of Native Americans.
Enough said, it's just historically inaccurate.

7. The magic bear.

After Marty is chased into a cave by the Native Americans, a cave

that doesn't seem to be much deeper than the car itself, suddenly a
bear appears from within the cave. Many people list this as a
mistake claiming there's no way a bear could be hiding in that cave.
This is all, of course, matter of opinion really.

8. The 88 mph rule was broken at the end of BTTF

II.

Many have a problem with how Doc Brown ends up back in 1885
to begin with. At the end of the second movie Doc is struck by
lightning as he hovers over the billboard sign. Suddenly the car
disappears with two flashes of light shaped like a pair of nines. The
problem many have with this is, the car was sitting still and yet it
goes back in time. The rule up to that point has been that the car
must be going 88 mph in order to time travel.
One Youtuber made the point that if the car only need be struck
by lightning to time travel then Marty did not have to be going 88
mph at the end of the first movie when they used the lightning from
the clock tower. This is not a good argument. First of all, even if it
were true that the car could have just sat there and waited for the
lightning to be channeled into the flux capacitor, how would Doc
Brown of 1955 know that would work? He'd been told the car had to
be going 88 mph.
 As for the basic argument that the car wasn't going 88 mph, this is
not necessarily an "inconsistency" in how time travel works as much
as it would be an "exception to the rule." When we consider that the
direct lightning strike sent Doc to a random point in history it
becomes obvious that even if all the DeLorean needs was the 1.21
gigawatts of electricity to send it careening off into time, it doesn't
seem that would be an ideal way to time travel, especially since the
end result of this method was Doc being trapped in the past with a
fried time circuit and no way to fix it. The fact still remains that to
make a controlled jump through time one needs to be going 88 mph.
The author's provide and excellent explanation for this scene.
They say that the DeLorean did in fact speed up to 88 mph, but it
was spinning instead of moving forward. Let's read their response:

From the Official Back to the Future FAQ

(BTTF.Wikidot.com)
QUESTION: 1.15: What is the significance of the pair of
"backwards 9's" of fire left behind when the DeLorean is struck
by lightning?
ANSWER: When the big bolt of lightning hits the DeLorean, it
sends the flying vehicle spinning on its axis. As we already
know, the DeLorean leaves fire trails behind it when it travels
through time. Since in this case, the car was spinning, the fire
trails are left behind as spirals instead of the usual straight
lines left behind when the car is moving straight ahead.
QUESTION: 1.16: How could the DeLorean travel through
time when it gets struck by lightning if it isn't going 88 miles
per hour?
ANSWER:
The sudden rotation of the DeLorean from the lightning hit
accelerates it to 88 miles per hour when it spins.
 9. Lone Pine Mall

We've already discussed how they could have presented the final
time jump scene at the mall at the end of Back to the Future in such
a way that the ripple effect of Marty killing the pine doesn't catch up
to 1985 until after Marty returns to his own time. Marty could have
been standing next to the Twin Pines Mall sign watching himself go
back in time and then the sign changes to Lone Pine Mall.
Yet, there is another possible mistake, one that I've never seen
anyone identify on the internet other than myself, regarding the Lone
Pine Mall.
Marty hooks up his JVC VHS recorder to Doc's TV in 1955 and
together they watch the footage taken when Doc was doing his time
experiments. During that footage Doc says “I'm here in the parking
lot of the Twin Pines Mall.” This is a clear mistake. Moments later
Marty discovers that his siblings are starting to disappear from his
photo. Already the ripple effect of his interfering with his parents'
meeting has gone into 1985 and changed the photo that is taken
from 1985. Well, the mistake is, Marty ran over Peabody's pine tree
before he interfered with his parents. If Marty had a photograph of
the Twin Pines Mall sign he would now see that it had changed to
Lone Pine Mall. Isn't a video of Doc Brown, standing in the mall
parking lot the same as a photograph? It absolutely is. In the video,
Doc would not have called it “Twin Pines Mall” because by that time
the ripple effect would have gone into 1985 and altered the video the
same way a photograph would be altered. Doc should say “I'm
standing in the parking lot of the Lone Pine Mall.”

10. Marty's new family are strangers to him.

This "mistake" is purely a matter of opinion. It has to do with

Marty's triumphant return to 1985 and his immediate discovery that
his activities in 1955 have forever altered his entire family. These
alterations are presented as "good" and we are supposed to be
happy for Marty that whereas he once had a weak, cowardly and
nerdy father he now has a strong, confident, savvy, and successful
father. Whereas he once had a depressed alcoholic mother he now
has a vivacious, vibrant, and apparently together (not to mention
sober) one.
His brother used to work at a burger joint (many think the uniform
Dave wore is a Burger King uniform but it actually looks more like a
McDonald's uniform from that era). Now he "wears a suit to the
office" on Saturday.
His sister who was frumpy, lonely and somewhat desperate is now
fielding calls from numerous suitors. The house used to be a dump
but now it looks like it was decorated for Better Homes and Gardens.
Yes, it appears that Marty's family is much improved, except for one
thing. They aren't his family. He has no idea who these people are.
He clearly has no memory of ever being raised in this family.
Not only that but they don't know anything about him. He is a
stranger to them. The Marty they knew would have been just as
altered as his siblings were, having been raised by these completely
different parents. Marty's parents have undergone such drastic
changes that he doesn't even recognize him any more and they don't
recognize him. It's a terrifying ending to be sure, but wait, Marty now
has the Toyota truck he's always yearned for. That makes everything
better.
And we wonder why Crispin Glover still complains to this day that
the Back to the Future ending was “too materialistic.”
Yet, who was the Marty that we see go back in time at the end of
the movie, the one in the Lone Pine Mall parking lot? Wasn't he
raised by these altered parents?
No other scene in the movie stresses the need for the “many-
worlds theory.” The writers have created an alternate reality,
complete with a different Marty who was raised by very different
parents! Yet, they still insist that there is a single timestream that has
been “overwritten.”
 Doc, in the second movie still refers to this strange new world
Marty steps into as “the real 1985.” It's a mistake for that reason
alone.
The reality Marty finds himself in at the end of the movie is clearly
not the “real 1985.” In the real 1985 George is working for Biff and
still taking his crap and Lorraine is an alcoholic.
When Marty inadvertently arranged for Biff to get decked by
George he created a completely new reality, another world, where
everything is different while seeming the same but it's not all good.
Marty is completely out of place here. He doesn't belong.
In the future, when his siblings mention something he did when he
was 8 he won't remember it because it never happened to him.
Family vacations? Forget them literally! They never happened to
him. Their memory will be a mystery to him and he'll have to pretend.
One person pointed this out on the internet and suggested that
Marty's "life is ruined." That's a pretty fair assessment of things,
however, there is always the possibility that Marty won't see it that
way at all. Especially after he drives that truck of his. Marty appears
to be “all about the Benjamins” in Back to the Future. You might not
agree with this, Crispin Glover, but it's not your movie now is it?
Marty, in time, may begin to believe this is the life and the family
he was always meant to have, and that his time travel was somehow
fated to right the wrongs in the universe that had created his former
life and his former family. He might feel that somehow Doc Brown's
time machine helped fix a cruel joke that had been played on him to
begin with.
Yet, one can't help but think Marty may someday think of his
parents and siblings that were and feel a tinge of homesickness. Of
course, as I said, this is all a matter of opinion, so quit your crying
Crispin!

11. The punch heard around the world.

 In the first movie George McFly knocks Biff Tannen out with one
punch (a very unlikely scenario in and of itself). Harder to believe is
how drastically Biff's personality is changed by this one event. When
Marty gets back to 1985 he finds a Biff kowtowing to his father like a
whipped puppy. This strains credulity. Especially when, in BTTF II,
after Biff is decked he regains consciousness and then immediately
kicks the crap out of Marty and nothing has changed, he's still the
same huge bully he always was. No punch can explain how Biff ends
up groveling before George McFly's feet in 1985! So George is now
popular, maybe he becomes class president, would that make Biff
stop being an jerk? I don't think so.
What is Biff doing in the McFly circle anyway? Didn't he try to rape
Lorrain in 1955? Why would they keep him around? Are George and
Lorrain sadistic in some way? What have they been doing to Biff to
cause him to grovel before them so and what hold do they have over
him, to keep him around, debasing him like a personal slave?
Why would Biff let the punch go, in 1955? It's just one sucker
punch? Wouldn't he come to and gone looking for George to settle
the score, the way he went looking for Calvin in the second movie,
after Calvin punched him while he was down and stole the Almanac?
It's more likely the next time Biff sees George there's going to be a
huge butt whoopin in his future! It's just the kind of person Biff is
presented to be in the movies. There is a huge loose end in which
Biff's drastic personality change is never explained. They leave us to
assume the punch did it all but in the real world that explanation
makes very little sense at all. It would have to be one helluva punch.

12. Marty, the worst boyfriend... ever!

In BTTF II Doc takes Jennifer and Marty into 2015 to help him "do
something" about their kids. On the way, Doc knocks Jennifer
unconscious so that she doesn't know too much about her future.
While Marty seems upset by this attack he quickly accepts it and
turns back to the mission at hand. Then, in the most callous move
ever, he helps Doc lift Jennifer out of the DeLorean and they leave
her lying helpless and unconscious in an ALLEY!
Why is Marty so horrible to Jennifer? Sure, crime is almost non
existent, so much so they've eliminated all lawyers, but even so,
dumping her helpless and unconscious in an alley? That's cold!
We know there's still crime in that time period, the police talk
about later in the movie, as they are taking young Jennifer back to
her future home to sleep it off. When Jennifer finally woke up from
this debacle, Marty would have a lot of “splaining to do” IF he still
had a girlfriend at all. It's doubtful she would have been interested in
his excuses once she learned how he dumped her comatose body in
a back alley somewhere and ran off on a time adventure with Doc
Brown or worse yet, how he left her helpless and unconscious in a
nightmare world and jumped to another timeline, all the while “hoping
for the best” and trusting that things would just “work themselves
out.”
In the bizarre world of the Hell Valley future, where Marty leaves
Jennifer unconscious on what was her front porch, Marty goes home
to his own house and finds strangers living in his house, there is no
reason to believe that the porch on which he left Jennifer is even her
porch anymore. Yet, Marty doesn't run back to her immediately!
Instead he goes off with Doc on another time adventure! That would
be the proverbial last straw on the back of the camel for their
relationship.

13. They find a receipt for an Almanac that was

never purchased and a cane belonging to a Biff
that never existed in a DeLorean time machine that
was never built.
 In the second movie, after they find themselves in 1985-A (Hell
Valley Future) Doc pulls a receipt out of the DeLorean, the receipt
from the purchase of Gray's Sports Almanac in 2015 and the bag in
which it came from as well as a top section of old Biff from 2015's
cane. There's only one problem with this. The ripple effect. Since
young Biff bet on horse races in 1958, and then killed George McFly,
and then sent Marty McFly to boarding school in Switzerland and, we
assume, also had something to do with Doc Brown being committed
to a mental hospital, the time machine was never built. There would
be no DeLorean time machine for old Biff to steal, and no old car
washing Biff in 2015 to steal it.
What's more, since Marty went to Switzerland instead of time
traveling with Doc Brown, he never purchased the Almanac in 2015.
There would be no receipt of the purchase for them to find. Old Biff
from 2015 who walked with a cane and who stole a time machine
never existed. Instead he became rich and powerful Biff, living in a
Casino at the center of town. He never grew old to walk with a cane
in 2015. According to the authors in interviews, Lorraine shoots Biff
in 1996 when she learns he is responsible for the murder of her
author husband, George McFly.
Yet, there's a problem there, too. Marty never time traveled to
1955, going to Switzerland instead. He never changed the past,
which means George McFly never became a confident successful
author!
This one ACT is riddled with plot holes..
Of course, they would have been all avoided by many-worlds
theory. If, every time you change or enter the past or the future you
merely create a new timestream reality, a “new world” it would mean
that Doc, Marty, Jennifer and even old Biff with the cane are all from
a completely different world and reality than the one they now find
themselves in. However, the many worlds idea is mentioned in the
movies. Except of course when Doc explains the Biff altered
timeline, but then the writers turn right around and go back to the
single timeline overwrite by saying that when they get the book away
from Biff the ripple effect will change the timeline back “to the real
1985.” That's not how many worlds theory (alternate reality) would
work at all. So the one time they revert to the many-worlds
hypothesis they mess it all up.
As it is in the movies, the Biff Pleasure Paradise reality is so
illogical as to stagger the imagination and the movies go downhill
steadily from there becoming more and more ludicrous.

14. No one notices a DeLorean hit by a train

At the end of Back to the Future III, Marty gets the DeLorean back
to 1985 from 1885 on the train track. He enters the 1985 time on the
rail bridge and then coasts across the street, in between the rail
crossing gates that have lowered. We at first believe the crossing
gates are lowered because of the presence of the DeLorean on the
rail. As he rolls past we see several cars who have been stopped at
the crossing gate and the drivers gawk at the DeLorean rolling by.
Less than a minute later a train comes barreling in and smashes the
DeLorean to bits. Marty barely gets out of this alive. The train never
stops. The conductor is indifferent to the fact he just struck a vehicle
on the rail near a crossing. He rolls on, and the gates lift as Marty
watches the train move away. The cars who were waiting at the
crossing have mysteriously vanished. They never cross. What's
worse, no one jumps out of their vehicles and goes to look and see if
the kid they saw driving a DeLorean on a railroad is still alive. No
one runs to get help. No one heads for a pay phone to call for police
or an ambulance.
Marty has time to walk to Jennifer's and wake her up. The two
kids smooch for a while then walk to Marty's house and get the truck.
They take it for a spin and almost get into a drag race and nearly
repeat the tragedy that Jennifer learned of in the future where they
struck a Rolls Royce. Then they go back to the railway crossing
where the DeLorean is smashed, and there are still no police, no
ambulances, the conductor of the train not only never stops but
never calls in to his dispatch to tell them he's just struck a car at a
rail crossing!
It's a clear movie mistake. Blame that one on “paradox” Bob Gale!

15. George calls Calvin- “Marty” three times in 1955

In the first Back to the Future, right after George is visited by

“Darth Vader” from the planet vulcan, he sleeps in late, then he goes
looking for Calvin Klein to tell him about the alien visitation and seek
his advice on how to get Lorraine to date him before Darth comes
back and melts his brain. As he's running across the street, he sees
Calvin and shouts “Marty” three times. Nowhere in the film has
Calvin Klein told George his name was Marty. He's told Lorraine to
call him Marty, but not George and George and Lorraine have, as
yet, not effectively communicated once in the movie so far, so no
way Lorraine told George to call Calvin Marty.
Someone argued that only Lorraine called Marty “Calvin” based
on the name written on his underwear, and it's certain George never
got a look at Calvin's underwear. They argue that Marty could have
told George at any time (off camera) to call him Marty.
We have no evidence that's what happened, but they are wrong
when they say that George was not introduced to Marty as “Calvin.”
In the school hallway, when Doc brings Marty to try and get his
parents back together at first, Marty leads George over to Lorraine to
introduce them to each other. Lorraine turns around and shouts,
“Calvin!” George was standing right there. George would believe his
name was Calvin.
It's true that at any time Calvin might have told George to call him
Marty, the way he did with Lorraine, but without evidence of this on
screen, it's borderline a mistake to have George calling him Calvin. It
would be more in character for George to continually call him Calvin,
since that's the first time George ever heard this kid's name, and for
Marty to have to keep correcting him over and over again saying,
“George, call me Marty.” It would also be questionable for George to
question why someone named Calvin wanted to be called Marty.
George would have asked this question and Marty would have had
to had a good explanation, such as, “it's my middle name.”
I chalk this one up as a movie mistake, simply because the
authors should have seen it coming and done something in the script
to avoid the question. crossing!

It's utterly ludicrous. It's a clear movie mistake. Blame that one on
“paradox” Bob Gale!
 CHAPTER NINE-- THE MANY WORLDS
(In Chronological Order)

Quick Jump

World Number 1-- MARTY'S NERDY PARENTS WORLD

World Number 2-- LONE PINE MALL WORLD

World Number 3-- MARTY NEVER EXISTED WORLD

World Number 4-- CONFIDENT McFly FAMILY WORLD

World Number 5-- MARTY YOUR KIDS ARE OUT OF CONTROL

World Number 6-- QUEST FOR THE ALMANAC

World Number 7-- DOC IS TRAPPED IN 1885

World Number 8-- THE HOMECOMING

World Number 9-- MARTY YOU'RE FIRED

World Number 10- CLASH OF THE JENNIFER

World Number 11- BIFF HAS THE ALMANAC

World Number 12- MARTY GOES TO HELL (VALLEY)

World Number 13- ALTERNATE MARTY GOES BACK TO 1955

World Number 14- JENNIFER AND MARTY- MISSING PERSONS

World Number 15- BIFF LOSES AN ALMANAC

World Number 16- DOC GIVES HIMSELF A WRENCH WORLD

World Number 17- DOC BROWN RECEIVES A WESTERN

UNION

World Number 18- MARTY LOSES THE BOOK

World Number 19- BIFF LOSES AN ALMANAC

World Number 20- DOC THE BLACKSMITH

World Number 21- GRIFF TANNEN GANG GET ARRESTED

World Number 22- CLINT EASTWOOD TOMBSTONE

World Number 23- THE MYSTERIOUS MISSING GRAVE

World Number 24- EASTWOOD RAVINE

World Number 25- DOC BUILDS A TIME TRAIN

World Number 26- DOC TAKES THE TIME TRAIN TO THE

FUTURE

World Number 27- MISSING MARTY WORLD

World Number 28- MARTY'S BRAVE NEW WORLD

World Number 29- COUNTING THE DOCS

 World Number 1- MARTY'S NERDY PARENTS WORLD

We come now to the most controversial part of this book. So

many people over the years have said to me that there would have
been no movie if they had not used the single timestream overwrite
concept. They tell me that using the alternate universe concept
would have so drastically changed the story that it wouldnt' be worth
watching.
We are about to embark upon a journey to disprove this!
We will now look at the general plotline of all 3 movies and show
and demonstrate how they could have kept logic and science in tact,
avoided all the plot holes and even most of the paradoxes, and still
had basically the same exact story. We will do this by describing, in
detail, each new “world” that the writers' story created and how they
could have not only used the “many worlds theory” but how it would
have made much more sense if they had.
The first world we will look at is “MARTY'S NERDY PARENTS
WORLD.”
This is the original timeline before any time travel has occurred.
Marty's father, George McFly is a weak willed nerd who is bullied by
his supervisor, Biff Tannen. His mother is an alcoholic and his
siblings are, well, let's just say they are not rising stars. Marty himself
has self esteem issues and confidence problems and while he is a
day dreamer, it's unlikely his life will amount to much of anything. In
fact, we later learn he “flushes his whole life down the toilet.” In this
timeline there was no Doc who lived in 1885 because time travel
hadn't been invented yet. There was no Calvin/ Marty back in 1955
who met his parents. In this reality, Doc Brown dies in a hail of
bullets at the Twin Pines Mall the night Marty goes back in time and
Marty goes back to 1955.
 World Number 2- LONE PINE MALL WORLD

This is the first change made in the movie. In the original timeline
the entire region where the Twin Pines Mall was built was once
owned by someone named “Peabody” who planned on breeding
pine trees. Marty McFly goes back to 1955 in the DeLorean from this
Mall and runs over one of the pines. This creates a new reality where
Peabody's dream of breeding pines is shattered. In the original
timeline Peabody never woke up one early morning, November 5,
1955 to the sound of a “UFO” crashing into his barn. In the new
timeline he wakes up to the crash and chases an apparent
“mutating” space creature off of his property. In the future of this
timeline the Mall is named “Lone Pine Mall” instead of Twin Pines
Mall.
Until Doc creates the timeline mapping system, Marty could never
get back to his original timeline, whenever he tried to jump to the
future from the past he would only go to the future of that new reality
he has created by being in the past.
So, In the original timeline Marty has left behind, (SEE MARTY IS
MISSING WORLD) the Twin Pines Mall continues on without him It
too is a “new world” where Marty McFly disappears, never to be
seen again in 1985. The last time his parents saw him he was asleep
in his bed, still wearing his clothes. It is believed he snuck out in the
middle of the night and is never seen again. In a bigger mystery, the
mad scientist Marty hung out with all the time is also mysterious
vanished and a bullet proof vest riddled with bullets is found at the
scene of the mall, where Libyan nationals have been found crashed
into a photo booth and seriously injured. It is unknown if these
terrorists had anything to do with the disappearance of Marty McFly.
 World Number 3--MARTY NEVER EXISTED WORLD
In the “Lone Pine” world of 1955, Marty then bumps into his father,
George McFly and in an unexpected twist, prevents him from
meeting his mother when he should have. Unknown to Marty, when
he took his father's place in the car accident he created a new world
in which his parents never met, never kissed at the dance, and never
fell in love. In this new reality branch Marty and his siblings won't
exist. (But we wouldn't learn of this new world until Marty returns to
1985 and finds a world where he never existed).
This is a completely separate world. Separate from the world from
which Marty came.
In this world, Marty would go right from Lorraine Baine's house to
Doc Brown's estate, where he would “lay low” at the advice of Doc
Brown. There's a brief tense moment of foreboding when Doc asks
him if he's interacted with anyone and Marty confesses to have
bumped into his parents. Doc examines the photo, but sees nothing
wrong. He then decides there's nothing they can do and proceeds
with plans to send Marty back to the future next Saturday.
The plan goes off without a hitch, and Marty still writes his famous
note trying to warn Doc about the Libyans. Doc still tears the note up
and sends Marty back to the future. Just as before, Marty sets the
time dial 10 minutes early to warn Doc. Marty arrives but the
DeLorean stalls, then he runs to the Mall. He sees Doc Brown
pacing alone back and forth in the Mall parking lot looking at his
watch frantically next to him is the DeLorean but it doesn't look right,
It's missing some components in the rear. Almost as if it hasn't been
converted to a time machine yet. Just as he arrives he sees Doc
pace one more time, mutter a curse under his breath, and then jump
into the DeLorean and speed away, just before the Libyans appear in
the parking lot, apparently looking for Doc Brown who they don't find.
Marty then goes to Doc's work shop on foot and when Doc
answers he's shocked and relieved to see him and wants to know
why he wasn't in the parking lot of the Mall, scolding him that he sent
him back to the future to the precise moment he had left. Doc is not
happy to learn that Marty changed the time to 10 minutes early to try
and warn him but then the DeLorean stalled out in the middle of town
and is still sitting there.
Doc frantically rushes to get the disabled time machine from town
before someone discovers it. During that time he explains that he
hasn't quite finished the time machine, he's about a week away from
it, but he has just secured plutonium from some Libyan nationalists.
Doc confesses that he read Marty's letter after he left and he was not
going to make the same mistake as before, he tells him he bought a
bullet proof vest. Marty is confused how Doc could now be a week
behind schedule finishing the time machine. Doc has no real answer
but conjectures that in the original timeline Marty probably
contributed in some small way to Doc's success in finishing the time
machine. Marty can't think of how, but then is confused again,
wondering why he's no longer in the picture in this new future. Doc
has to break the news to Marty that he doesn't exist in this future.
Doc tells Marty he hasn't seen him since 1955. Marty learns that
by interacting with his parents he somehow jeopardized his own
existence and erased it, creating an alternate reality where he never
existed. His parents never married. Marty then learns the horrible
truth that Lorraine is now Married to Biff Tannen, who controls her
completely. They have a kid named Marty, Marty Tannen, who's a
complete jerk, looks nothing like Marty, and is dating Jennifer! Marty
is devastated. He begs Doc to come with him back to 1955 and
figure out how to fix what he has done. Doc refuses. Marty doesn't
belong in this timeline and he can never go back to the one he came
from. Marty will just have to be stuck in a world where he never
existed. In the middle of the night, Marty steals the time machine and
two vials of plutonium, one for the trip to 1955 and one for the trip
back to 1985. He goes back in time, to one minute after the lightning
strike, and reappears in town just as Doc Brown is celebrating,
nearly hitting the Doc during his re-entry.
After Marty explains to Doc why he's back from the future, Doc is
not happy, but agrees to help Marty figure out how he erased his
own future. The movie then proceeds much as it did before. Marty's
mere presence for a second time in 1955 has already created
another world and he intends to make sure he exists in this one. Doc
sadly explains to Marty that all he will do is create a new Marty
McFly, who may look and even act just like him, but he will never be
able to see his family again and his beloved Jennifer is lost to him
forever.
Marty doesn't care, he can't leave his parents the way he just
found them. George lives alone and is poor and his mother is
married to Biff who controls her and probably beats her. Marty
doesn't care what happens to him after he sets things back the way
they were.
So, in this version of the story, Marty goes back to the future,
learns he no longer exists in that future, takes the time machine and
some plutonium and returns to 1955, he then discovers that his
parents never kissed at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance. The
rest of the movie is as it was in the original movie,(minus the family
photo with disappearing siblings). There's no exciting lightning clock
tower sequence at the end. (That has already occurred earlier in the
movie)
 World Number 4--CONFIDENT MCFLY FAMILY WORLD

This is the world created at the end of the first movie. All of the
worlds created in the subsequent movies are built upon this world.
This world is created when George Decks Biff at the dance, it
therefore begins in 1955 when, as a result of Marty's meddling,
George escorts Lorraine into the dance and promptly kisses her
good. Which of course cancels out the “Marty Doesn't Exist” world
but doesn't cause it to magically disappear. Under many-worlds
theory the Marty Doesn't Exist world would continue on without
Marty. When Marty gets his parents to kiss, a new reality is created,
complete with a new Marty. A Marty who not only exists but is raised
by parents who were themselves are no completely different as well.
By George decking Biff it leads to Lorraine and George's new kiss
on the dance floor, an earnest kiss, and not the "Florence
Nightingale" pity kiss that led to Marty being born the first time. This
was a TRUE passion kiss that leads to a much different world than
the one from which Marty came!
We don't see this world fully until Marty goes back to 1985 at the
end of the first movie. Marty watches the new Marty go back in time
in the DeLorean just as he had once gone back in time. He then
finds out that Doc was wearing a bullet proof vest. Doc explains to
Marty that he's not in his own timeline anymore and he might not
recognize his family. Marty decides he's going to have to live with
that. He asks about the other Marty that has just left in the
DeLorean, Doc explains that he has just sent that Marty back to
November 14,1955, with enough Plutonium to come “back to the
future” right away. Marty is concerned, wondering why the other
Marty hasn't returned to their time yet. Doc again explains that that
new Marty, when he goes back to the future, will go to a future that is
based on the reality he just created, another world, and who knows
what that would will be like. Marty is blown away by this.
 Marty then returns to his home and goes to sleep, assuming his
place in this timeline, taking up the vacancy left by the departing of
the other Marty and assumes the other Marty's identity.
The end of the movie is exactly as it was at in the original.
World Number 5—MARTY YOUR KIDS ARE OUT OF CONTROL
WORLD

The second movie opens the way the first movie ended. In 2015
Jennifer goes crazy about seeing her future and Doc knocks her out.
After Marty says “you're the Doc, Doc” he notices a brand new digital
display on the dash above the time circuit. It has a strange tree like
image with bright dots at some of the branches. Doc explains that in
the 21st Century he was able to install a new mapping system that
helps him map the known multiverses. The little branches with the lit
dots represent alternate realities that Doc has mapped. Doc explains
that, using the map, he can now track in time coordinates and
backtrack through a converging reality. Doc is quite pleased with his
new feature and tells Marty that he can even lock on to a specific
timeline, he points to the display and a branch that is entirely lit up.
He tells Marty that is their current timeline and time and the time
machine will automatically return to where and when they are no
matter where they go, forward or back in the timestream, until he
unlocks it.
“Pretty impressive Doc” Marty admits.
Doc then tells Marty what he hasn't realized. He explains that this
new system is a must, otherwise he'd never be able to return Marty
and Jennifer back to the exact time coordinates they just left. “It will
be as though you never left” Doc says.
When they land in the alley everything occurs much as it did in the
original alley scene, again. Doc tells Marty the story about the arrest
of Marty Jr. The scene in the alley is pretty much the same minus
Jennifer. Marty expresses his confusion how he and Jennifer could
go to 2015, disappear from 1985, and still be here married with
children 30 years later. “Didn't we skip over those 30 years Doc?”
Doc then shows him the mapping display again and explains how
it makes it possible for him to be able to go back to 1985, pick Marty
up, and then return to the same reality he had just left.
“That's heavy” says Marty.
 “Ya, heavy” Doc repeats in a “I heard that before” tone.
When Doc tells Marty his plans to have Marty take Marty Junior's
place and to tell Griff and the gang no, Marty gets upset.
“Doc, why did you have to bring us all the way here to 2015 to
stop my son from being arrested? Couldn't you have just warned me
back in 1985. I could keep my son away from this gang.
“No”, says Doc, “you can't! This is part of the problem Marty,
you're kids are completely out of control, they don't listen to a word
you and Jennifer say! I blame virtual reality games! You've tried to
get Marty to stay away from Griff, he just never listens!
“Well then you could just tell me to take the family on a vacation
this week.”
“That won't work either,” says Doc. “You'd only be postponing the
inevitable. As long as you live here in Hill Valley this Griff character
will eventually lead to disaster for your whole family! I brought you
here for two reasons Marty. To get you to keep your son from going
to jail, and to show you how how your kids turn out. Hopefully you
can learn from this experience and figure out a way to get your kids
to listen to you in the future!”
“You mean in the past,” says Marty.
“Whatever!”
Everything happens as it did in the beginning of the original
second movie.
There is the same hoverboard chase, with old Biff remarking how
“familiar” the hoverboard chase scene looks. Biff steals the time
machine, returns just as they are carrying Jennifer back to the
DeLorean. They fly off and time jump to 1985.
They enter the clouds above the 1985 Hill Valley and Marty asks if
they made it, are they back in 1985. Doc looks at his readings on his
mapping display with confusion it's doing some weird things.
Suddenly an aircraft passes too close and almost hits them. Doc
says, “I'd say we made it.”
This Act goes much the same as it did before in the original Back
to the Future movie, with a few minor changes near the end of the
Act and some differences in Doc's explanation of the alternate
timeline Biff has now created. The workshop scene is pretty much
the same, except for Doc's ultimate explanation of what he believes
happened to the timeline.
He draws the 1985 A tangent line as he did before, but he draws it
in a different color and drags the chalk straight across the original
1985 timeline. He explains that although Biff created an alternate
timeline when he went back to the past, that timeline is somehow
overlapping with portions of the original timestream. The two realities
are “married” together and one is bleeding over the other! Marty
doesn't understand fully, but then Doc shows him the newspaper
articles and how Biff interacted with himself in the past and gave
himself an Almanac. He uses the magnifying glass to show Marty the
Almanac in Biff's pocket.
“That sonofabitch!” Marty barks, “he stole my idea!”
Much of the rest of the 1985 A timeline scene is the same. Except
for Doc's explanation as to why they can't go back to the future and
stop Biff from stealing the time machine. When Marty suggests that,
Doc explains that because the two realities are linked they can't lock
onto the future they just came from because of the other timeline.
The two timelines are in too close a proximity to each other in the
space time continuum and he can't get a lock, he's already tried.
They would only end up in the future of this reality, where Bif is
corrupt and powerful, and married to Marty's mother and this has
happened to him. (Doc shows him the article about him being
committed). Doc explains the only option they now have is to find out
where and when young Biff got his hands on that Sports Almanac.
Marty then offers to find out where and when Biff got his hands on
that book.
The scene where Marty confronts Biff about the book is identical,
as well as Marty's escape from the roof of the casino. With one
addition.
After Marty hits Biff with the DeLorean's door and Biff falls down,
he drops the gun. As the DeLorean takes off, out steps Lorraine,
who has been hiding in the doorway listening as Biff confesses to
shooting George. Lorraine runs and grabs the gun. Biff jumps up and
she warns him away with the pistol.
Biff tries to sweet talk here but she's livid calling him a “filthy
bastard” and saying “you killed my sweet George.” Biff tries to move
slowly toward her to talk her down. She pulls the trigger!
Cut to Doc and Marty as they escape the casino. In this version,
Marty is concerned about leaving Jennifer and Einstein in this reality.
He points out that if they succeed in fixing the two timelines, Jennifer
and Einy will be trapped in this new Hell Valley reality. Doc tells
Marty that isn't how it works. He explains that if they separate the
realities that are merging because of what Biff did, Jennifer and Einy
will be separated from this Biff reality because they are a part of the
real 1985. The real 1985 will transform around them, and they will
have no memory of this horrible place!
He asks Doc “what if we don't succeed though.
Doc says, “we MUST succeed.”
 World Number 6—QUEST FOR THE ALMANAC

On November 12, 1955, the day of the dance, old Biff from 2015
shows up in 1955 using the time machine he stole from Doc and
Marty. Old Biff comes armed with the Almanac to give to his younger
self. This old Biff, remember, is a part of the reality that was a direct
result of the original Marty McFly trying to make sure he exists in the
future. Just by old Biff being in 1955, it's no longer the timestream
that leads to his own future he just came from. This is because, in
the 1955 past of his own timestream, there was no old Biff present,
holding an Almanac, ready to give it to himself the day of the dance,
and in this reality, there is! It's not the same reality, and the young
Biff is no longer him. He's a young Biff with an unwritten future ahead
of him, who is about to meet a version of his older self from a
completely different reality and be given a great gift that will some
day make him rich and powerful.
Thus, there is no threat of a paradox, nor is there a threat of a
causality loop in which old Biff, by giving himself an Almanac
destroys his own future, until old Biff gives directly and physically
interacts with his younger self that afternoon when he gives him the
Almanac. Giving himself the Almanac would normally merely create
a universe where old Biff never existed. Old car washing Biff would
be replaced by old Biff the Casino operator, the “Luckiest Man Alive.”
But, there is a problem that Doc Brown has identified after
discovering this alternate tangent. Old Biff personally interacting with
his younger self somehow links the new reality that old Biff had just
created by coming to 1955 with the new reality young Biff would
create once he gets an Almanac and bets on horse races in 1958.
Yet, now that Doc and Marty have also come to 1955 to take the
book back from young Biff, they too have created a new reality that
co mingles with the Biff alternate reality. There is also one more
reality that is fused to the others in this huge time continuum
entanglement. That is the reality that both old Biff and Marty came
from, the Confident McFly Family World!
 Most of the story proceeds as it did before, with Marty trying to get
the book by hiding in young Biff's back seat. He witnesses old Biff
giving young Biff the book. He then gets locked in the garage and
ends up riding with young Biff to the dance.
When he arrives at the dance he discovers that he himself is at
the Dance with his mother, in Doc Brown's car and realizes by the
events, that he is now in his own reality. They are in a full blown
major paradox. When he tells Doc about it over the radio Doc is
terrified! Doc theorizes that there are two many realities converging
on one another. They have only further amplified the time wave that
goes into the future and now the universe is at even more risk of a
rift in the space time continuum.and that they need to get out of this
reality as soon as possible, but not until they get the book back from
young Biff of course. Doc cautions Marty that it is imperative that he
does not physically interact with his younger self here in 1955.
Right after this warning, Doc's younger self who is working on
setting up the clock tower to send Marty back to the future asks him
to hand him a wrench. This is the same scene, as the original,
except Doc purposefully drops the wrench as he hands it to himself,
then walks away, forcing his other self to pick it up on his own. Thus,
he follows his own advice not to physically react with his counter self.
The movie continues almost exactly as it did before. There is an
added discussion between Doc and Marty about what happens when
they succeed. Doc tells Marty that he must return to the original
timeline he came from, the timeline before he went back to 1955.
Marty is not keen on this at all. That reality sucked as far as he's
concerned. Doc tries to reason with him about it, that it is where he
belongs.
They get interrupted however when Biff pulls up in his car and
they must get ready to execute their plan.
Since the two realities are linked in the future, Doc brings with
them a newspaper article about his being committed in 1985 to a
mental hospital. Marty brings with him the matchbook taken from the
Casino and the article about his father's murder. Because the two
realities are linked, moving in parallel and bleeding into each other,
they theorize that when they take the Almanac from young Biff they'll
be able to examine these articles to see if they sever the link
between the two realities and set this current reality back on it's own
current timestream.
They quickly realize, however, that just taking the Almanac away
from young Biff does not make any changes to the newspapers or
the matchbook. Doc suggests they burn the book. When Marty burns
the book they are excited to see the items change to reflect a better
future. George McFly is honored instead of murdered. Doc Brown is
Commended instead of Committed. The matchbook switches back to
the Biff's Auto Detailing logo.
Doc and Marty are thrilled. They have averted a major paradox.
Doc says, “we've stopped the ripple effect of Biff's interferance from
crossing over into our timestream. Now, we can take you home. Just
then Doc stares at his display and then says, “Marty, I think we have
a problem!”
Marty asks what problem. Doc never gets to answer because the
DeLorean is struck by lightning and vanishes with two fiery spirals
into the night and a streamer floats down, landing at Marty's feet.
Then the scene where the Western Union man delivering the letter.
Marty learns that Doc is trapped in 1885 just as in the original.
 World Number 7-- DOC IS TRAPPED IN 1885

The third movie opens exactly as the original third movie opens.
Doc Brown struggles at the clock tower just before the lightning hits,
the DeLorean races down the road, makes contact with the lightning
and vanishes. As Doc is celebrating, Marty, carrying the Western
Union letter, appears from around the corner. The 1955 Doc faints at
the sight of Marty just as before. The entire first ACT of this movie is
virtually identical, except for a few key pieces of information. When
Doc is hiding in the bathroom Marty goes into a bit more detail about
how Biff stole the time machine in 2015 and interacted with himself
in the past, creating two alternate realities that are stuck together
and they came back to get the book from 1955 Biff so they could
stop a rift in the space time continuum. Doc's letter to Marty is
different. Here's how it reads in the many-worlds of Back to the
Future.

Dear Marty-
If my theory is correct you will receive this
letter immediately after you saw the DeLorean
struck by lightning. Normally, this should never
happen, being that the realities we both occupy
should not be connected. Unfortunately we
miscalculated. Burning the Almanac did not
sever the Biff alternate Hell Valley reality from
our own. This is obviously because when we
took the Book back from Biff we were still in
the converged time streams, so burning the
book had no effect on severing the two
realities.
 Doc, who has been reading the letter out loud, stops, and shakes
his head. “Obviously,” he says with a frown and shakes his head. He
continues reading.

First, let me assure you that I am alive and

well. I've been living happily these past eight
months in the year 1885. The lightning bolt that
hit the DeLorean caused a gigawatt overload
which damaged the time circuits, activated the
flux capacitor, and sent me back to 1885.
Luckily, the surge protector I installed in 1885
when I installed the time mapping display
saved that system from damage. You can still
go home, back to the future of your original
timestream. However, the overload shorted out
the time circuits and destroyed the main buss
for the flight controls. The car will never fly
again. I set myself up as a blacksmith. I
intended to use this ruse to exact repairs to the
time circuits. Unfortunately this proved
impossible because suitable replacement parts
will not be invented until 1947. I'm getting quite
adept at shoeing horses and fixing wagons. I
have buried the DeLorean in the abandoned
Delgado Mine, adjacent to the old Boot Hill
Cemetary as shown on the enclosed map.
Hopefully, it will remain undisturbed and
preserved until you uncover it in 1955. I have
drained the gas tank to preserve its delicate
fuel components. Attached to this letter are
repair instructions. My 1955 counterpart should
have no problem repairing it so that you can
drive it back to the future. There are also
detailed instructions on how to use and read
 the timestream mapping system and locate
your own original 1985 timestream. I will mail
my 1985 counterpart a Western Union letter
similar to this one, informing him/ me of Biff's
treachery in 2015 and warning him to stop Biff
from stealing the time machine. I will wait a
decent amount of time after I bury the
Delorean before I send this letter, to ensure
that you have time to find the Delorean and fix
it before my 1985 counterpart repairs the
timeline by stopping Biff from stealing the time
machine. If my calculations are correct, this
should sever the quantum entanglement and
allow you to return to your own timeline. Once
you have returned to your own 1985, destroy
the time machine.”

When doc is puzzled about the order to destroy the machine

Marty explains to him a little bit more about how Biff came into the
past and created two parallel universes that are bleeding into each
other. Doc immediately is concerned adding that they could be
causing a rift in the space time continuum and that now, apparently
there are three interlinked realities, counting the 1885 timestream
that he himself is now trapped in, in the future. Marty corrects him
and says, “you mean in the past,” and Doc says “whatever!”
Doc continues to read.

Also, I have preset the time map for your return

to your original timeline. It will be the only
timeline you can return to if you jump to the
future. It's also password protected, just to
keep you honest. I am sorry Marty, I know you
were opposed to returning home to where you
 belong but it's the safest course of action to
avoid further compromise of the space time
continuum. Do not- I repeat- do not attempt to
come back here and get me. I am perfectly
happy living in the fresh air and wide-open
spaces, and I fear that unnecessary time travel
in these convergent timestreams only risks
even further disruption in the space-time
continuum.

“Geez you sound like a broken record, Doc.”

Doc glares at Marty.
“Well, he does,” Marty corrects himself. “That Doc Brown sounds
like...a .. broken...” He shuts up.
Doc continues reading;

And please take care of Einstein for me. I know

you will give him a good home. Remember to
walk him twice a day and that he only likes
canned dog food. These are my wishes,
please respect and follow them. And so, Marty,
I now bid you farewell and Godspeed. You've
been a good, kind, and loyal friend to me.
Knowing you has made a real difference in my
life. I will always treasure our relationship and
think on you with fondness, warm feelings and
a special place in my heart. Your friend in time
and out of time. Doc.

The story then proceeds almost the same as before, except for a
scene where young Biff pays Doc Brown's house a visit while they
are digging up the DeLorean.
 Doc has carelessly left the letter on his desk in the family room.
While Biff's henchmen toss Doc's place looking for the book Biff
reads the letter, then he reaches in his pocket and pulls out a
camera and takes pictures of the letter and the instructions that
came with it. After searching for the Almanac in vain they give up
and plan to come back later. Suddenly there is a knock on the door.
It's the police. Biff and his henchmen are arrested. The cop mentions
to him that he should know better than to rob rich people like Doc
Brown, they can afford home security systems.
Doc Brown is met by police when he and Marty arrive back to his
estate with the DeLorean, who explain that Biff and his gang broke in
and messed the place up pretty badly.
Doc thanks the officer profusely for his help and the officer leaves.
The rest of the story proceeds much the same as before with a
few exceptions noted below:
When the DeLorean is repaired and Marty is getting ready to
leave with it at the drive through movie theater he uses the
instructions Doc sent him to consult the time map display. He finds
the timestream branch that leads back to his own reality that he left
at the beginning of the movie and tries to set it as default but it won't
set. Marty looks at the instructions several times and makes several
attempts. This gets Doc's attention and he comes over.
Doc says, “you'll never guess the password Marty,” if my 1885
counterpart is anything like me he's going to use a 64 random
character password.
Marty says, “Ya, I'm damned if I do and screwed because I can't.”
They stare at the blinking time map display for a moment.
Doc agrees and says, “it's a catch 22.”
If the other Doc Brown in 1985 has already gone to 2015 and
stopped Biff from stealing the time machine isn't he the same Doc
Brown who gets trapped in 1885? If he stopped Biff from stealing the
time machine, why would he have gone back to 1955 to steal the
book that Biff never stole and why is he still trapped in 1885, and
what am I doing here?
 “Well,” Doc surmises, “all of that might be future, to us Doc, but to
the Doc in 1885 it's the past and the past cannot be “unwritten.”
Marty puts his hand to his head! “Geez Doc” says Marty, this
whole thing is starting to give me a migraine!
“I know, right!” Says Doc. “Time travel messes with your head a
little! But look at the bright side, now you can go back to your own
timeline and rejoin your own family there any time you want!”
Marty pretends he didn't hear that. He has no desire to return to
his original timeline. He changes the subject. “Ya, Doc” he says,
“right after I go back to 1885 and save you from being shot and
killed.
“Right” says Doc, “so, what are we waiting for?
The rest of the movie then proceeds as it did before.
Marty seems really confused at this point, noting that it makes no
sense that if Biff never stole the time machine Doc is still here,
trapped in 1885! Doc explains the grandfather paradox to Marty and
surmises that although the quantum entanglements of the three
realities was repaired there must still be residual effects.
Another change to the story is the changing tombstone
photograph. Since the entanglement has now been fixed, the
photograph would not exist in this new timeline Marty has created by
going back to 1885. That was a completely unnecessary plot
mechanism in the original third movie anyway. Since Doc has
determined to go back to the future with Marty and since Marty has
defeated Mad Dog Tannen using the bullet proof vest, there's no
reason to keep Doc “safe” in 1885.
There is an additional scene when they are preparing the
DeLorean to be pushed down the track (during their overnight
camping scene). Marty once again tries to convince Doc to let him
return to the other timeline, where his dad decked Biff at the dance.
Doc insists that Marty has to go back to his original timeline. He
cannot return to the timeline where his parents are confident and
successful. Marty argues with him about it reminding him that Doc
Brown in that timeline is dead.
 “You're dead in that timeline Doc, remember?” Marty says
balefully. “I don't know if I can live without you Doc!”
Doc pauses for a moment looking down. Then looks up at Marty
slyly. “That's very touching Marty but you don't have to worry about
that. In my letter I told myself about the Libyans and warned myself
to wear a bullet proof vest!”
Marty is shocked. Then it hits him. “Wait a minute Doc, how did
you send a letter to the Doc of MY timeline? That wasn't one of the
“tanglement” streams or whatever you call it.
Doc looks a bit nervous, “quantum entanglements” Doc corrects
him.
“Doc,” Marty continues to press him, “did you already go to my
timeline before?”
Doc nods. “Right after I created the time mapping device.”
Marty is incensed.
“I had to, Marty, like you said I knew I'd be sending you back to
that timeline!”
Marty stands up and paces. That's just great Doc, you mess with
every timeline under the sun and pick and choose where you go in
the universe, but I'm stuck with a universe where my parents are
both ... well... they're embarassing Doc!
“But they're you're parents Marty, and no one gets to choose their
parents! Not even me.
“Then why didn't you just knock me out with that stunner thing and
just plop me back into the timeline?” Asks Marty.
“Maybe I should have!” Doc says. “Enough discussion. You're
going back to where you belong in the space time continuum and
that's final. Your timeline is now default, it's the only future anyone
can go to anywhere from the past and I'm not changing the
password. Marty is not happy and storms off into the night.
Doc watches him go, then shakes his head. “Teenagers.”
When he comes back Doc is sleeping. He goes to sleep himself,
still pretty upset.
The story then proceeds just like before right up until after the
train destroys the DeLorean in 1985.
 World Number 8-- THE HOMECOMING

There the story changes slightly because there's no sleeping

Jennifer on her porch swing for Marty to wake up. The train destroys
the DeLorean as it did before. Then, instead of going to find Jennifer,
Marty heads right to the mall first, expecting to find out that Doc
Brown, his Doc Brown was found dead in the parking lot of the Mall.
By now the Mall Parking lot is starting to fill up with customers. There
is police tape all around the entire area where Doc's equipment still
sits and where the Libyans crashed their van. Marty goes down there
and talks to an officer. Asking if they found any “dead scientists.” The
officer says there were some seriously injured Libyan Nationalists,
but no, no scientists. Marty is relieved. Apparently Doc Brown in his
reality somehow knew about the Libyans shooting him and also wore
a bullet proof vest, Marty just not have noticed he was wearing it.
The officer mentions that they did find a bullet proof vest down there
with a lot of bullets in it. Marty happily heads home with the news
that somehow his own Doc Brown survived.
As he passes the “Lion Estates” entry he mutters sarcastically,
“here I am, home sweet home.” The first thing that Marty sees is the
car that Biff totaled the night before. He's upset all over again. He
breathes a heavy sigh and smacks it in frustration.
Suddenly, Marty hears George shouting and Lorraine crying. He
rushes in there and finds the same old Biff he always knew, towering
over Lorraine. She's lying on the couch, crying. Marty sees that her
blouse is torn. George is just standing there, looking terrified and
angry. Biff grins widely and evilly at Marty as he burst in, while he
wipes Lorraine's lipstick off his mouth. Lorraine sees Marty then
ashamedly gathers her torn blouse and starts to get up. Biff throws
her back down again.
George tells Biff to get the hell out of his house!
Biff glares at him menacingly.
 “Oh, ho, so, now you're the tough guy” says Biff as he moves
closer. George starts to back up a little. Biff balls up his fist. “Don't
forget, you IRISH BUG,” says Biff, “first I can kick your ass, then I
can fire your ass!
Lorraine tells George that it's okay, she accidentally tore her own
blouse.
It's obvious what was going on here just moments before.
Marty springs in action, he runs toward Biff full force. “Hey Biff,
look out” Marty shouts, pointing behind Biff. Biff turns to look where
he's pointing and Marty throws a wild punch. Without even looking
Biff catches his fist in his big meat hook, twists Marty's arm until it
nearly breaks. Marty screams out in pain. George points a warning
finger at Biff and menacingly says, “you leave him alone Biff!”
Biff scowls and just tosses Marty across the room. He lands in a
heap next to the counter. Biff starts to laugh. George has clearly had
enough, he moves in and takes a poke at Biff. Biff catches his
punch, then twists George's arm just as he did outside of the dance
in another world. Lorraine stands up and jumps on Biff's back and
starts flailing at him. Biff tosses her on her ass then looks down at
her laughing harder.
“The McFlys” he says, “one big Mick loser family!”
George, who's still being bent over with his arm twisted, looks at
Lorraine in pain on the floor, then looks up at Marty who has now got
on his feet again and is clearly contemplating another run at Biff.
George's fist clenches tightly then, he swings around, using Biff's
grip on his other arm for leverage he knocks Biff out! He stares at his
own hand, shaking, and then grins in exultation. Marty is shocked.
He'd never got to see the punch at the dance up close. He can't
believe what he's seeing.
George reaches down and picks Lorraine up, who is now looking
at him with a look of deep love and awe. He holds her and she puts
her head into his shoulder. They look at Marty.
“You alright son?” Asks George?
“Ya,” said Marty, “never been better dad,” his voice beaming with
pride, “it looks like you still got it dad!”
 George smiles. “I guess so.”
Some of the neighbors run in, they've heard the commotion. They
are shocked to see Biff, knocked out and bleeding from the lip and
the nose. Some of the other neighbors outside are whispering.
“George decked Biff...” and “he's going to get fired!”
After the police lead Biff away out the front door swearing that
George sucker punched him for no reason, Marty tells his parents
just how good it is to be back home and what a sight for sore eyes
they are. They aren't sure what he means, but they did notice he
wasn't home in his bed this morning. He tells them the truth. He was
helping Doc with an experiment at the mall.
George asks how it went.
Marty thinks about his answer, then says, “it all turned out great in
the end.”
Marty goes outside and is once again looking at the car.
“Doesn't look like I'll be taking you to the lake” he says to the car.
“That's okay,” Jennifer's voice is heard behind him, “we don't need
the lake to have fun!”
Marty turns and rushes to her.
They kiss as before while George and Lorraine watch for a
moment then go inside.
There's a new scene where Marty and Jennifer are walking and
he's telling her about his adventures.
“So our kids don't listen to us in the future?” Asks Jennifer.
“Well, not in this reality,” Marty explains. “There's no 4 X 4 truck,
so I don't get into an drag race, and I don't get into the accident so
that whole future is now different!
“Marty, that's a crazy dream!”
“It's not a dream, Jennifer, it happened and I'll prove it.” They
arrive at the railroad tracks.
They look at the wreckage and she said, “I see what you mean, if
this was a DeLorean, you can't tell. There's not much left!”
There is a few flashes and they are thrown back as the time train
appears. The ending is pretty much the same from there. Doc says
he had to come back and get Einy.
 Marty asks Doc what he can expect from the future now.
Doc tells him, “you make your own future Marty. The future isn't
written. No one's is. The future is what you make it. So make it a
good one!” The rest of the ending is the same as the original with
one addition.
After the train flies away and it fades to black, cut to the scene of
Biff and his henchmen not that far away from where the train has just
flown away. The henchmen look shocked speechless. Biff has been
watching with binoculars. He turns to his henchmen. Go get the
flatbed and some gloves... we've got a salvage operation to perform.
He puts the binoculars to his eyes and looks at Marty's feet, where
the flux capacitor lets out a tiny little spark.
Words come across the screen...
“TO BE CONTINUED IN ANOTHER WORLD”
 World Number 9- MARTY, YOU'RE FIRED

There are numerous other “worlds” created by the Back to the

Future story lines using the many-worlds theory, all of which are
separate realities, all of them building on the others as each new
change occurs. Here are some more examples of alternate realities
created by the story.
While in 2015, Jennifer ends up in the future McFly residence,
hiding in various closets and rooms, peeking in on the family as they
interact. She learns things she should not have known about the
immediate future of her future husband Marty.
Jennifer discovers that Marty lets people manipulate him into
doing things he shouldn't do. All they have to do is call him “chicken.”
She learns this from Lorraine who recounts how, back in 1985, Marty
let someone shame him into a drag race by calling him “chicken” and
the end result was Marty hit a Rolls Royce, was sued, got injured
and gave up on his music.
This is what old Biff meant in the 80's retro diner when he says
that Marty Senior “flushed his life down the toilet.”
Then, as she hides in a back room watching Marty, Jennifer
observes this weakness of his first hand as he tries and fails to play
the guitar. Then Needles (Marty Senior's “Biff like” supervisor
character) cajoles him into doing something illegal with his company
ID card by calling him chicken. Marty of the future is summarily fired
over skype and a printout pops out of the printer near Jennifer with
the word's, “YOU'RE FIRED,” and the company logo.
She takes this “FAX” with her back to 1985. Now Jennifer has
more than enough information to create a new reality where Marty
does not get fired, by preventing the chain reaction that leads up to
it. As it turns out her interference is not needed and the information
is useless, because while she is unconscious after seeing her older
self in 2015 and fainting, she's then taken to the 1985-A altered Biff
timeline, placed on her front porch, still unconscious.
 When she awakes, she finds that Marty is missing. He's never
seen from again. She eventually marries someone else and has a
happy life but she never forgets the wild dream she had about going
to the future with Marty McFly.
 World Number 10- CLASH OF THE JENNIFERS

In 2015, Jennifer from 1985 (17 year old Jennifer) is left lying
unconscious in an ally and is mistaken for her older counterpart by
police. They then take her to her future home in Hilldale and leave
her. She is trapped in the house for a while but manages to get the
front door open using her fingerprints. Just as she tries to leave,
however, her older counterpart enters. The two Jennifers see each
other and FAINT. Now, Jennifer from 1985 has seen herself as an
old woman. When she grows old lives in that house, she will be quite
aware of the exact date and time in which her younger self comes a
calling. She will not faint when she sees herself. She will know it's
coming.
Clearly, the world in which the two Jennifers faint and the world
that results from that encounter cannot be the same reality. For
obvious reasons.
 World Number 11- BIFF HAS THE ALMANAC

On November 12, 1955, the day of the dance, exactly one week
after Marty interferes with his parents' meeting and begins to vanish
away, old Biff shows up in 1955 using the time machine he stole from
Doc and Marty in 2015. He carries with him an Almanac with
sporting stats, purchased by Marty in 2015. He had taken it from the
trash can where Doc Brown had put it after scolding Marty about
trying to use time travel for his own personal gain.
Old Biff had come to 1955 to give himself this Almanac so that he
could make himself rich.
This gifting occurs only hours before the dance where George
decks Biff and where Marty's parents kiss on the dance floor,
restoring his future existence.
We've discussed how, since at the time the Almanac was
delivered to young Biff, Marty was still vanishing from existence. The
most probable future at that point was a future where Marty never
existed. We've also discovered that because Marty never existed,
old Biff never existed (not in his current incarnation as car washing
old Biff) and the Almanac was never purchased by Marty, of course,
being he never existed.
From the moment old Biff handed over the Almanac, it, the
DeLorean(s), as well as Biff would all begin to vanish at the same
rate that the first Marty was vanishing. This only begins the creation
of an alternate world. A world where young Biff has an Almanac.
Young Biff certainly has the potential to use it three years later to bet
on races, which creates the “Hell Valley” future, but that future is not
created simply by young Biff possessing the Almanac.
Law number one dictates the “Hell Valley” world would not exist
until the day young Biff actually bets on horse races 3 years later on
his 21st birthday.
When old Biff gives out the Almanac it would initiate another “time
lag” event sequence that would culminate 3 years later, at the boiling
point, when young Biff wins his first bet. At which time the “lag”
would be complete. Everyone and every thing from the original
timeline would then vanish completely (just as Marty would have
vanished if George and Lorraine never kissed on the dance floor).
Of course, this second vanishing “time lag” would be so prolonged
(3 years) that it wouldn't be noticeable until they all approached the
date of the horse race bet. Until the boiling point, this world would
not be much different than the world that existed prior to.
Biff still goes to the dance.
He still drags Marty out of the car and tries to rape Lorraine.
He is still decked by George McFly.
George McFly is changed and is now destined to become a
successful writer.
Everything proceeds as it did before, except in this world Biff has
an Almanac. The only difference between the original reality that old
Biff came from and young Biff's new reality is the possession of the
book.
When old Biff was decked he didn't possess such an Almanac.
Young Biff does possess the Almanac when he is decked. They
cannot be the same Biff. They are from two different worlds. But the
worlds are so similar as to be indistinguishable, until later when
young Biff bets on horse races using the Almanac.
There is, however, one major difference between the original
world we saw in 1955 in the first movie and the world in which young
Biff has the Almanac. This difference actually creates yet another
world. A world in which Marty, who was at the dance trying to restore
his future existence, gets in a DeLorean after the dance is over and
goes to 1985 using the lightning strike at the clocktower. Since Biff
possesses the book when this happens, Marty fast forwards past
1958, at which time Biff bets on horse races. Then Marty arrives in
the 1985-A Hell Valley future instead of where the first Marty who
bought the Almanac ended up. So this world gives birth to “Marty
Goes to Hell (Valley)” World.
 World Number 12- MARTY GOES TO HELL (VALLEY)

There is a world that would never be seen in the movies but that
actually must exist somewhere, using the many-worlds hypothesis.
Before Doc and Marty learn of the theft of the time machine, old Biff
successfully gives the Almanac to another version of himself in 1955
and then this new version of Biff manages to bet on horse races in
1958, eventually becoming “the Luckiest Man In The World” and
creating the nightmare “Hell Valley” reality Doc and Marty stumble
into when they leave 2015.
In this reality, Marty, who succeeded in getting his parents to kiss
on the dance floor, only hours after old Biff gave young Biff the
Almanac, then uses the lightning strike at the clock tower to go back
to 1985. However, he wouldn't land in the 1985 we see at the end of
Back to the Future. He would go to the 1985 Hell Valley world.
He would stumble into the Casino the same way Marty did in Back
to the Future 2 and would discover the same thing, that Biff is now
his stepfather and George McFly was murdered when he was five.
The lightning strikes the clock tower sending Marty through the
new timestream and as he passes 1958 young Biff bets on horse
races and destroys his beautiful future, creating a nightmare world
instead.
Marty would find himself in the Biff Hell Valley future and would be
unaware what has happened to the world. He would wander the
parking lot at the mall for a while wondering where Doc was, (but
Doc would be in a mental institution). Time traveling Doc and Marty
don't exist in that reality. Poor Marty arrives in 1985 and finds it taken
over by a corrupt Biff who has used an Almanac to make himself
rich! There would be two Marty's in that timeline at that point. The
Marty who was sent to board school in Switzerland and the Marty
who just came from 1955 after getting his parents back together.
 World Number 13- ALTERNATE MARTY GOES BACK TO 1955

When Marty of World Number 4 finally returns to 1985 after

restoring his existence, he arrives 10 minutes early and looks down
into the mall parking lot as Doc is being shot and sees another Marty
McFly being chased by the terrorists. We know it cannot be him. The
mall sign reads, "Lone Pine Mall" and when HE was being chased by
terrorists the sign read "Twin Pines Mall.” It's a different world and a
different Marty. This truth becomes abundantly clear when Marty
gets home and meets his new family who are not the same people at
all.
The Marty that he watches go shooting off in the DeLorean (to
November 14, 1955 according to Doc Brown) was raised by the
confident McFly family we meet in the next scene! The Doc Brown
he sees lying on the ground, shot, is not the same Doc that he left
lying on the pavement when he went back in time. He finds that out
shortly when Doc sits up, reveals a bullet proof vest under his
coveralls then shows him the letter that he himself gave Doc back in
1955 warning of the terrorists.
His Doc, the one we met at the beginning of the movie is dead (or
so he believes)! Shot by terrorists. He was never warned by a time
traveling Marty. The Doc Brown who gets shot at the very beginning
of Back to the Future is a different Doc Brown with completely
different life experiences and memories than the Doc Brown who
gets shot at the end of the movie. He has memories of meeting
Marty in 1955. The Doc Brown who was shot and killed by the
terrorists at the beginning had no such memories. They cannot be
the same Doc Brown!
Hence, clearly Marty is now in a brand new world that he himself
created by his interference in the past. When he goes home to his
new family, they mistake him for the Marty they raised and grew up
with, (the one he just watched go back in time) but he's not him! He
has no memories of these people.
 The Biff he sees there, washing his father's car, is a completely
different Biff than the one he knows from 1985. That Biff was a
disrespectful jerk and his father's supervisor at work. This Biff is a
mealy mouthed little pissant who gets barked at by George McFly
simply because he didn't put enough coats of wax on the car.
Marty finds the truck that he could only dream of owning in the
world from which he came waiting for him in his garage.
He meets up with Jennifer, but this is not HIS Jennifer, she's a
Jennifer who was the girl friend of the other Marty, the one that was
raised by these cool McFly's! I know, this is uncomfortable to think
about but it is nevertheless the unavoidable truth.
The only other way we could explain this leaves us with huge
holes of logic and no foundation upon which to rest our collective
noggins. The "Lone Pine Mall" sign alone can only be explained by
many-worlds hypothesis. If Marty had returned to the exact world he
left the sign would have read "Twin Pines Mall" until the moment the
DeLorean hit 88 mph then disappeared. Then the sign would have
changed to "Lone Pine Mall,” due to the ripple effect."
Clearly Marty did not return to the time, reality or world that he left.
Once he interfered with the past he could never return to the
future from whence he came. At least, not by using a time machine.
Until Doc built a “time mapping” system for the DeLorean in the 21st
Century. This world that follows the alternate Marty who is seen
going back to the future at the end of the first movie is described in
full detail in Chapter 12. Including all of the details of his adventures
in 1955.
World Number 14: JENNIFER AND MARTY- MISSING PERSONS

Since Jennifer and Marty left 1985 and proceeded into the future,
skipping over the next 30 years, the same way Einstein skipped over
1 minute in the beginning of the first movie, then Jennifer and Marty
would be missing persons during that 30 years and could not marry
and have children. Doc would create a new world where they are
missing and where their kids never existed.
The writers try to maintain that this is not so. In an interview they
claim that since Jennifer and Marty eventually make it back to 1985
they could then grow up and have kids. This creates an entirely new
set of interesting questions to pose to the writers.
First, if the old Jennifer and Marty that young Jennifer and Marty
encounter in 2015 are the same Jennifer and Marty who time
traveled from 1985 to 2015 to “do something about their kids” why
didn't they do something about their kids to begin with?
They were taken to the future and shown what happens to their
kids, why, then would Marty need to inject himself into the situation
as a young man? Couldn't Doc have just gone back to 1985 and
warned them? He could have written a note and placed it on Marty's
windshield that read:
“Dear Marty, n October 21, 2015 you better keep your kid,
Marty Junior at home. Ground him or something, or he'll be
arrested... oh and keep Marlene at home just in case, and
for Pete's sake keep your kids away from Biff's grandkid's!”
This way Doc would not have to knock Jennifer out so that she
wouldn't know too much about her future, would not have to take
Marty into 2015 where he could risk further messing up the timeline.
In fact, Doc doesn't have to even tell them anything when he goes
back to 1985. Just write them a note the way Marty did for him in
1955, a note that says “Don't Open Until October 20, 2015.”
Certainly if Doc took them both to the future and showed them the
arrests of their children, that's all he would have had to do. He could
then take them back to 1985 and say, “okay, now keep Marty at
home that day.”
For that matter, why involve the 1985 Marty and Jennifer at all?
Doc had a time machine and old Marty Senior knew all about it.
When Marty Junior was arrested, why couldn't Doc take the time
machine back one day and warn Marty Senior about it? Why couldn't
he get the older Marty to “do something about” his kids? Instead he
comes up with this elaborate plan to get Marty Senior from 1985,
knock Jennifer out leave her in an alley, knock out Marty Junior, then
have Marty Senior pose as Marty Junior. None of it makes any
sense!
The writers' proposal that this 2015 Jennifer and Marty are the
same Jennifer and Marty who were taken into 2015 and then brought
back to 1985 is, therefore, utterly ridiculous.
This world where Jennifer and Marty grew up and had kids (the
world Doc experiences on his first trip to 2015) would have to be
completely independent from the world Doc creates when he takes
the kids 30 years into the future. If, by taking them into the future,
Doc simply "overwrote" the existing timeline and changed the future
he had just seen, he would no longer remember that future when he
got the kids to 2015. That future never happened! Instead, Doc
would have memories of a future where Jennifer and Marty vanished
mysteriously in 1985 and hadn't been seen since.
In fact, he would have had no reason to take them into 2015 to
save their kids. They never had kids. Which would mean that at the
moment Doc took them into the future they would have instantly
popped back into their driveway and Doc would have gone on to
wherever he would have went to had he not gone to 1985 to get
them in the first place. Of course, this would eventually lead to them
marrying and having kids as they did before, which would lead to
Doc seeing their kids get arrested, which would have led to his
coming back to 1985 to get them and we have another colossal
space time causality loop.
In both the movie timeline created by the writers and in their ad
hoc explanations there exists no real reason for Doc to ever take the
kids into the future of 2015. According to the "overwrite" principal,
the moment he took them into the future it would change the future
and the problem of Marty Junior being arrested would be
instantaneously solved by the fact that Jennifer and Marty
disappeared in 1985 and never had kids. In the ad hoc explanation,
there would be no reason for Doc to take them into the future. He
could just warn them to keep Marty Junior at home that day.
It should be becoming obvious that the new "missing persons"
world could not have any effect on the world that Doc experienced
when he first went to 2015 or he would not have experienced that
world and vice versa.
This is yet more evidence of the many-worlds hypothesis creeping
in.
 World Number 15—BIFF LOSES AN ALMANAC

We must discuss yet another world that was created. After Marty
steals the Almanac back from young Biff in 1955 and flies away
hanging off the DeLorean, Biff witnesses for the first time the flying
DeLorean, just before he crashes into another manure truck. This
creates an entirely new reality, where, young Biff once had an
Almanac that would make him a billionaire but it was stolen from him
by that Calvin Klein kid whom he had dragged out of Doc Brown's
car in the dance parking lot.
We have no reason to believe this psychopath is going to let this
go. He must know where Doc Brown's estate is. He would figure out
that Calvin was staying with Doc Brown. Now, Doc Brown in 1955
has a huge problem! Biff is eventually going to come calling on him,
demanding to know what happened to Calvin Klein and more
importantly what happened to his Almanac. This could spell real
trouble for not only Doc Brown, but for Marty who is trapped in 1955
again after Doc is struck by lightning and is then trapped in 1885!
This is the reality of the third movie in the trilogy.
 World Number 16-- DOC GIVES HIMSELF A WRENCH WORLD

While they are trying to get the Almanac away from young Biff in
1955, Doc from 1985 encounters the Doc from 1955 who is getting
the DeLorean and the clock tower ready to send Marty back to the
future. Doc from 1955 asks the other Doc to hand him a wrench and
they have a short conversation about the weather and weather
experiments. The Doc of 1985 has no recollection of bumping into
himself in 1955 and is genuinely surprised when it happens. It's an
accident. This tells us that the 1985 Doc who is there to get the book
back is a different Doc than the 1955 Doc, otherwise he would
remember the encounter and not be surprised by it. He might even
think about avoiding it all together! The fact that he does not is all the
evidence that they aren't the same Doc and they are from two
different realities.
 World Number 17-- DOC BROWN RECEIVES A WESTERN
UNION

In 1985 Doc Brown receives a Western Union letter from himself,

mailed to him 100 years earlier in the year 1885. In it are detailed
warnings about being shot by Libyans while preparing to time travel
for the first time in the DeLorean time machine and warnings that he
will inevitably have to stop Biff Tannen from stealing the time
machine on October 21, 2015 in outside of Hilldale. It is stressed that
if Doc does not keep Biff from stealing the time machine a major
paradox will ensue that will threaten the very fabric of the universe.
As a result Doc Brown is ready for this potential future and prevents
it. Clearing up the quantum entanglement.
 World Number 18- MARTY LOSES THE BOOK

After he saves his former self from the Henchmen, he lingers

outside the back stage door to watch again as he says goodbye to
his parents. As he does this, Biff shows up and challenges him to a
fight. He turns to walk away but Biff calls him a “chicken.” Marty
stops and faces off with him, but before anything can happen his
counterpart comes running out, racing to his destiny at the
clocktower. As he throws open the door it hits this Marty in the head
and knocks him down. While he's down Biff sees his Almanac and
starts literally kicking the crap out of him. Biff takes the book and
runs off, throwing it in his back seat and driving off. Biff now has the
book again and it's an entirely new world.
 World Number 19- BIFF LOSES AN ALMANAC

We must discuss yet another world that was created. After Marty
steals the Almanac back from young Biff in 1955 and flies away
hanging off the DeLorean, Biff witnesses for the first time the flying
DeLorean, just before he crashes into another manure truck. This
creates an entirely new reality, where, young Biff once had an
Almanac that would make him a billionaire but it was stolen from him
by that Calvin Klein kid whom he had dragged out of Doc Brown's
car in the dance parking lot.
We have no reason to believe this psychopath is going to let this
go. He must know where Doc Brown's estate is. He would figure out
that Calvin was staying with Doc Brown. Now, Doc Brown in 1955
has a huge problem! Biff is eventually going to come calling on him,
demanding to know what happened to Calvin Klein and more
importantly what happened to his Almanac. This could spell real
trouble for not only Doc Brown, but for Marty who is trapped in 1955
again after Doc is struck by lightning and is then trapped in 1885!
This is the reality of the third movie in the trilogy.
 World Number 20—DOC THE BLACKSMITH

After they burn the Almanac, Doc is struck by lightning and is sent
back to 1885 where he becomes a blacksmith. Some have argued
that if everything that happens in the past has a direct bearing on the
characters in 1955, 1985, and 2015 then this world should be first in
the chronology. This, however, is not right. This world is not created
until later.
Just as some have pointed out that there were 4 DeLoreans in
1955 and if we have included the DeLorean buried in the mine in
1885, then there would be a world somewhere, where Doc's
tombstone at the old cemetary must also have been there all along.
It was put there in 1885. It's inescapable, pure logic. Doc died in
1885, some 32 to 35 years before he was even born. Once Doc the
Blacksmith was shot, it would create a world where, when Doc
Brown in born 32 to 35 years later, his own tombstone would already
be at the Boot Hill Cemetary. This is one of the few paradoxes
created by the many-worlds theory, but it's not a problematic one that
would create causality loops.
When Doc Brown went back to 1885 he would have simply
created a new reality or world and this world would likely proceed as
it did before, leading to Doc Brown's birth. We know that in 1985 Doc
builds a time machine. If Doc Brown was in 1885 and died that year
and if his tombstone was in the cemetary when he built the time
machine it's a paradox but not a conflict. Since Clara is mentioned
on the tombstone, then this is also a different world where Clara
never falls in the ravine. Which is another paradox, but not a conflict
either.
Doc's time travel to 1885 predates everything else that happens in
the movie, chronologically, but it's also one of the last things that
happens! Nevertheless, once he's trapped there and establishes a
history, his history in 1885 would be the only original history that any
one knows after 1885 in this new world he has created.
 World Number 21-- GRIFF TANNEN GANG GET ARRESTED

In the first 2015 Doc sees Marty Jr get arrested due to his giving
in to peer pressure from Griff and his gang. He does something very
illegal and is subsequently arrested. Then, his sister tries to break
him out of jail and she is arrested, too.
That, however changes when 17 year old Marty Senior is brought
to 2015 by Doc Brown. What happens instead is that Griff and his
entire gang get arrested and convicted. In the “overwrite” theory
used by the movies, this would create a huge ripple effect that alters
everything that happened in the second movie and would result in a
terrible causality loop.
Why? Because days later, when the Doc Brown from 1985 gets to
2015 on his first trip to the future he won't read about Marty Jr. being
arrested, he won't read about Marlene being arrested trying to break
Marty Jr. out of jail. Instead, he reads about Griff and his gang being
arrested and he then goes about his time traveling business. He
would then have no reason whatsoever to go back and get Marty
and Jennifer to "do something about their kids."
Thus, Marty and Jennifer never time travel to 2015. Which also
means their kids grow up exactly as we see at the beginning of Back
to the Future Two!
This world, where Griff gets arrested instead of Marty Junior is yet
another which begs for the "many worlds" hypothesis as the only
way the movies can be followed and made any sense of whatsoever.
In the overwrite method chosen by the writers, Griff gets arrested
instead of Marty Jr. Doc never goes back to get Marty and Jennifer.
Marty never buys an Almanac. They never have to go get Jennifer
from the McFly house where the police have taken her. Old Biff
never gets his hands on the time machine or the Almanac. He never
goes back to 1955 to give it to himself. Doc and Marty never
experience the Hell Valley alternate reality. To them it never
happened. They never go back to 1955 to get the Almanac from
young Biff. Doc is never trapped in 1885. Which then causes
everything to switch back to the way things were before the time
travel events, which then causes everything to happen as it did in the
movies again and walla... time loop and BOOM!
 World Number 22—CLINT EASTWOOD TOMBSTONE

When Marty goes back to 1885 to save Doc, he gets into a public
confrontation with Mad Dog Tannen and is challenged to a gun fight.
He accepts the challenge, but at the last minute tries to talk his way
out. He's shot while he's unarmed in the middle of the street. He's
buried in Boot Hill Cemetary, where Doc Brown's tombstone was
supposed to be. The inscription on the stone reads: “Here lies Clint
Eastwood, The Biggest Yellow Belly In The West.”
 World Number 23-- THE MYSTERIOUS MISSING GRAVE

There is a cemetary near Hill Valley California that dates all the
way back to the early 1800s. Boot Hill Cemetary. This cemetary was
filled up some time before the turn of the 20th century. However,
there is a mysterious plot, near the center of the cemetary that
appears to have once had a tombstone and a grave, but, historians
have excavated the plot and never found a body or even a casket. It
is believed some outlaw may have been buried there without a
marker and without a casket and there is no trace left of the body.
This is one of the biggest mysteries in Hill Valley history.
 World Number 24- EASTWOOD RAVINE

Once Marty uses the train to go back to 1985 he creates yet

another completely different world. Everything that happens from
that moment in 1885 on is different than anything that happened
before he made that change. For example, in 1955 when he was
getting his parents back together at the dance in the first movie the
name of that ravine was "Clayton Ravine." Now, when he strives to
get his parents to kiss on the dance floor the name of the ravine is
"Eastwood Ravine." This may seem like a very small difference
between the two worlds but it's enough of a difference to say they
are no longer "the same" world! Plus, even though in the "Clayton
Ravine" world Marty succeeds in getting his parents to kiss and fall
in love, in this new world where the ravine has a different name
things could turn out very differently due to the first LAW.
There were other changes made in Eastwood Ravine World that
could and most likely would have a direct impact on Marty's future
and the future of his family. In the other 1885 worlds Marty runs into
his great great grandfather Seamus McFly and interacts with not only
him but his great great grandmother and his infant grandfather.
Those things never happened in the world Marty had come from.
He's creating a whole new family history in which his family knew a
"Clint Eastwood" in 1885.
When Marty goes back to 1985 from that point in time he goes to
the future of his original world, and the ravine sign is changed back
to “Clayton Ravine” because he's back in his original time, but
somewhere in the universe there is an "Eastwood Ravine" and the
legend of the man who bested Mad Dog Tannen, only to rob a train
and die when it went out of control and careened off of a the ravine
that now bears his name.
 World Number 25—DOC BUILDS A TIME TRAIN

After Marty takes the DeLorean back to 1985 and it is smashed by

a train and destroyed, we think the time travel aspects of these
movies are over. However, we find out soon enough that you “can't
keep a good time traveler down.” It seems that once Marty leaves
1885 Doc gets busy with Clara (they have two sons, Jules and
Verne) and he builds another time machine, this time out of a 19th
century steam engine. We find this out at the end of Back to the
Future part III but the world is created after Marty leaves 1885. This
is a new world. No such time train existed in 1885 up until that point.
Doc literally changes the history of the old west (even if few know
about it).
Technically this time train predates the DeLorean by around 100
years, so it now becomes the first time machine ever built, and it's
built decades before it's inventor, designer, and builder is even born.
 World Number 26- DOC TAKES THE TIME TRAIN TO THE
FUTURE

Sometime after Doc builds this time train he takes it and his family
into the future and retrofits it with a “hover conversion,” just as he did
with the DeLorean. When he shows up at the end of the third movie
in this train we see it hover and fly.
 World Number 27- MISSING MARTY WORLD

There is a world where Marty disappears in 1985 (because,

unknown to the world he has gone back in time in a DeLorean built
by Doctor Emmet Brown). The world never sees Marty McFly again.
He never returns, being trapped in an alternate reality.
 World Number 28-- MARTY'S BRAVE NEW WORLD

When Marty returns to his own timeline (which had resulted in

Missing Marty World) he transforms “Missing Marty World” into a
whole new world in which George finally stands up to Biff (in 1985,
not 1955). This is where the story leaves Marty (Biff watches Marty
and Jennifer talk to Doc and his family in the time train, then later
salvages the wreckage of the time machine from the tracks).
 World Number 29— COUNTING THE DOCS

We must count the number of Doc Browns here so that we can

keep track.

Doc Brown Number 1- was thought to be shot and killed at the

beginning of the first movie, but at the end of the trilogy we learn that
he actually wore a bullet proof vest without being warned about it by
anyone.
Doc Brown Number 2- met Marty in 1955, sent him back to the
future using the lightning at the clock tower, without knowing that
Marty no longer existed in the future, then met Marty in 1985,
refused to help him go back to 1955 and then Marty left without him.
The rest of the history of this Doc Brown is unknown, it's presumed
he finished his time machine and went on his own timestream
adventures creating even more worlds and more Doc Browns.
Doc Brown Number 3- the Doc Marty enlisted in 1955 after he
learned he never existed, to help him get his parents back together.
This is also the Doc Brown who takes Marty into 2015 to meddle in
the “Confident McFly Family” timeline, in order to save the McFly
grandkids from going to jail. He's also the Doc Brown who discovers
the Biff 1985-A reality. He's also the Doc Brown who goes back in
time and creates the world where Biff loses the Almanac, and he's
also the Doc Brown who gets trapped in 1885. Finally, he's the Doc
Brown that eventually builds a time train.
Doc Brown Number 4- Asked his other counterpart to hand him
a wrench and created the “Doc Hands Himself A Wrench” world.
This is not the same Doc as any of the first 3, he's a version of Doc
Number 2, but Doc Number 2 never encountered himself while he
was preparing the DeLorean for the lightning strike at the clock
tower.
Doc Brown Number 5- Was contacted by Marty in 1955, shortly
after helping Marty go back to the Future at the clock tower. He then
helped Marty dig out the buried DeLorean and helped Marty go back
to 1885 to rescue his other self from being shot. This Doc Brown is a
version of Doc Brown Number 3, who asked himself for a wrench.
He also receives a letter from 1885, from himself, via Western
Union but he's quite aware of it already having been told about it by
Marty in 1955. Nevertheless, he too stops Biff from stealing the time
machine in 2015.
Doc Brown Number 6- This Doc Brown lived in the Biff Alternate
1985-A timeline. In ` 1985 he receives a Western Union from
himself, somehow, in another reality, he has succeeded in building a
time machine and then is trapped in 1885 as a blacksmith. The letter
warns him to stop Biff from stealing the time machine in 2015 and
giving an Almanac to himself in 1955. Suddenly this Doc realizes
how Biff Tannen made his fortune betting on horse races. He knew
all the results ahead of time. Doc starts talking to authorities and
anyone who will listen and is finally committed to an insane asylum.
He never finishes the time machine.
Doc Brown Number 7- This is another version of Doc Brown
Number 3. In 1985 (World Number 17) he receives a Western Union
letter from himself, who is trapped in 1885. This Doc Brown stops
Biff from stealing the time machine in 2015, repairing the quantum
entanglement.
Doc Brown Number 8- Trapped in 1885 he became a
Blacksmith, picked up Clara Clayton from the train station, fell in love
with her, was shot at the Clock Tower dedication ceremony and died
several days later.
Doc Brown Numer 9- Trapped in 1885 he became a Blacksmith,
he found Marty being hung by the Tannen Gang, saved Marty, then
rescued Clara from going into the Ravine, fell in love with her, helped
Marty go back to the future and saved Clara from the train before it
went into the Ravine using Marty's hover board. He then used some
of the technology from the Hover Board to build a time train. This
same Doc Brown went back to 1985 to get Einstein, gave Marty a
souvenir picture of he and the Doc standing in front of the Clock
Tower the night of the Clock Tower ceremony.
 Doc Brown Number 10- Was Born about 32-35 years after Doc
Brown Number 8 was buried in Boot Hill Cemetary. His history is
largely unknown.
Doc Brown Number 11- This Doc Brown saves Marty from being
hung, but is unable to stop Griff Tannen from gunning Marty down in
a gun fight. He was buried where Doc Brown was supposed to be
buried, then combines the parts from both DeLoreans, the one he
buried and the one Marty brought back. He then takes his time,
refines some gasoline. He and Clara Clayton then begin their life
together time traveling in the DeLorean. Eventually they have
children and have to upgrade to a larger time machine. Doc uses an
old train from the 1800s for nostalgic reasons.
There are of course innumerable amounts of Doc Browns in
countless realities. These we have listed are some of the most
notable, and there are probably unmentioned versions and variations
of each of these.
 CHAPTER TEN-- HOW IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

So, let's recap just exactly how the "many worlds theory" works,
exactly and how would it explain Back to the Future. Starting with the
first movie and the first alteration of the past and go from there.
In the first movie Marty ran over a pine tree on the Peabody farm.
He created an alternate world in which Peabody lost his pine tree
and couldn't breed pines. In this world the mall is called "Lone Pine
Mall" in 1985 that would be the only major difference between the
world from which Marty came and the new world he created. It may
seem like a tiny microscopic variant but it can snowball in the future.
Who knows the ramification of those events on the Peabody farm.
What happens in the future to this new Peabody family who have a
tall tale of the night an alien landed in their garage and ran over a
pine tree? The only one who might believe them is George McFly,
who was visited by an alien fitting the same description during that
same time frame. Perhaps in this new worldcreated by Marty the
Peabody children grow up and become famous UFOLOGISTS.
Maybe old man Peabody starts a cult and they all drink cool aid one
night. Who knows. The only thing we know for sure is that Marty
came from a world in which no alien landed in the Peabody's barn
that night so he comes from a different world than the world he's now
in.
Let's look at the next change. Marty informs Goldie that he'll be
mayor some day. In the world Marty came from there was no Marty
in the diner in 1955 to give him the idea. Maybe Goldie becomes
Mayor much earlier in the timeline as the result of being given the
idea sooner in the diner.
Marty interferes with his parents' meeting and he takes his father's
place in the car accident and in his mother's bedroom. Now, we
know that the world from which Marty came still exists because he
still exists. Yet, he begins to vanish away, erased from future
existence. This, of course does not support the "many world's
interpretation." If Marty simply comes from a different world, and has
created a NEW world with his interference he would not vanish, nor
would he fade.
So, somewhere there was a universe in which Marty was born,
otherwise Marty could not exist here and couldn't stop himself from
existing.
If he hopped in the DeLorean after creating this NEW world where
he was never born and jumped to 1985, he would go to a future
where he no longer exists. He would be like Bailey in "It's a
Wonderful Life." No one would know who he is. But he wouldn't
cease to exist simply by interfering with his parents meeting on that
day.
Let's look at the next change. Due to Marty trying to fix the
damage of his interference, George decks Biff. This creates an
entirely new reality in which Biff grows older and ends up working for
George, instead of the other way around.
The reality Marty came from where Biff was never decked by
George does not vanish away when George decks Biff. If it did,
Marty could not remember that reality and instead would have
memories of a Biff that washes his dad's car instead of wrecking it.
We do know, therefore that Marty has simply created another world,
a new reality in which George decks Biff and they grow up very
different people.
When Marty gives Doc the note warning him of the Libyans, he
creates yet another world and another Doc. His Doc is already dead.
Marty watched him die. It's in the past. His Doc never met a kid
named Marty in 1955. His Doc never saw a future time machine he
would some day build. That Doc died by gunfire. The NEW DOC
Marty has created is one who meets Marty in 1955, is given a note,
is able to prepare against being shot and killed with a bullet proof
vest! This Doc lives past the night Marty goes back in time!
Marty has created a new world with a new Doc Brown. Yet, the
Doc Brown doesn't cease to exist, otherwise Marty would not
remember him. Marty would not remember a Doc Brown who's shot
and killed and consequently could not slip the Doc he meets in 1955
a note warning him not to get killed! The only thing that explains
these contradictions is there are MANY worlds in Back to the Future!
Marty keeps making new ones as he goes alone in 1955, making
changes. The old ones don't vanish or dissipate, otherwise he would
have no memory of them.
This now brings us back to the future.
In 1985, after Marty gets home (remember Marty is not back in his
home world, he's in a NEW world he created when he made his last
change in 1955), Marty is in this new, slightly different world which
he now considers home. He comes back early and watches himself
go back in time. Yet, it's not him. The Marty he sees go back in time
was the assistant to the Doc Brown he created when he meets Doc
Brown in 1955 and slips him a note. This Marty he sees doesn't
watch his Doc Brown die (he only thinks he does). This Marty is
raised by COOL parents, rather than a nerdy father and an alcoholic
mother. This Marty has a brand new Toyota 4 X 4 Pickup at home
and his father is a published and highly respected author. The Marty
he watches go back in time never knew the sadistic and mean
spirited Biff who was George's bullyish supervisor. He knows old Car
washer Biff. That is a different Marty from a completely different
world, a world that the first Marty is now stuck in, a world of his own
creation so to speak.
So, he watches another version of himself go off in the time
machine to who knows where or when! If that new Marty goes back
to 1955 what further changes does HE make to the timeline? It
boggles the mind doesn't it? In Chapter 12 I have provided a
complete Novella that details the adventures of this Marty.
Any changes that second Marty made in the past would not effect
the present that the first Marty now finds himself in. The second
Marty would merely create yet ANOTHER WORLD and a new future
which he would then proceed into separately from the first Marty!
So now, first Marty is in the world that second Marty came from
and he's met second Marty's parents but has no memory of them.
He wasn't raised by them and they only THINK he's their Marty. He's
not their Marty and they are not his parents. Strange isn't it?
 He wakes up and eventually gets with his girlfriend, Jennifer, but
she's not his girlfriend, she's the girlfriend of the second Marty that
he just watched go off in the time machine, the Marty who was
raised by the cool, together, successful parents. Yet, she's identical
to his Jennifer so he doesn't know the difference. He's lucky she
didn't have different hair or personality.
They then are grabbed by Doc Brown and taken into 2015. Yet, at
the moment Doc comes to 1985 and pulls them out of there he
creates a new world. A world that they are not a part of. He creates a
world where Jennifer and Marty left in 1985 and disappeared. If
anyone were to jump to the future a second after he leaves with
them, they'd go to that world where Marty and Jennifer disappeared
never to be seen again.
Now, the writers have suggested that is not so by pointing out that
they eventually make it back to 1985. Yet, they aren't really thinking.
The explanation is impossible for, if they go back to 1985 from where
they are they simply go to a NEW 1985 world where Jennifer and
Marty time traveled then came home. That's not the same Jennifer
and Marty world that they left. In the world they left Jennifer and
Marty never time traveled. They meet that Jennifer and Marty in
2015 (or at least Jennifer meets that Jennifer in 2015).
That's the world they would go back to, not their world, a world
where Jennifer and Marty time traveled in 1985. Doc takes them to
2015 and then has Marty pose as his own son and stop his son from
being arrested. This is a world that Doc has already seen and from
which he just came when he brought them into 2015. Doc
remembers this world, where Marty Jr. get arrested.
Yet, 17 year old Marty Senior then steps in and prevents this
event creating a NEW world in which his son is never arrested
because he time traveled to 2015 and stopped it! That never
happened in the world from which Doc came. In that world that he
takes them to, Jennifer and Marty never time traveled and have no
memory or knowledge of meeting themselves in 2015. In that world,
Marty Jr. gets arrested. In the NEW world Doc and Marty create
Marty Sr. keeps his son out of Jail by time traveling. If it's not a new
world they created then Doc could have no memory of the old world
where Marty Jr. is arrested. The moment he took them from 1985 to
2015 he would have no recollection as to why he did it!
These sort of contradictions are ONLY explained by saying that
they create a NEW world every time they make a change, a world
that has absolutely no effect on the world from which they came
before they make the change. It's irrefutable. We could go through all
3 movies, covering every change made and the explanation would
still be the same. For example: when they go from the alternate
1985A to 1955 to stop young Biff and take the book away from him
their actions (taking the book from him) have no effect on the world
that was created when old Biff gives young Biff the book. Instead,
they merely create a new world where young Biff is given a sports
Almanac but then promptly loses it. There would be no "ripple effect"
into the Biff altered reality. There would merely be a new unwritten
future in a brave new world, free of any Biff/Almanac threat to the
future.
If they proceed into the future from that point it would not be the
future from which they came and it would not be the world from
which they came for in that world young Biff was never given a book
from the future in 1955 and in this new world he was given one and it
was taken away.
Certainly, the law of probabilities suggest that the future they
proceed to from that point would be similar if not almost identical to
the future they left. It would have to suffice them for it's doubtful they
could ever get back to that world and reality they left behind.
So, how do we explain the changing photographs, newspapers
headlines, matchbook and fax in this "many worlds concept?" That
seems to be the only fly in the ointment. In truth, we have no choice
but to discount these events within the movie. Nothing explains
them. These scenes, where newspapers, faxes, etc. taken from the
future suddenly change after they alter the past simply do not work,
no matter what type of time travel theory you employ. They
especially don't work in the single timeline overwrite version of river
of time that the writers used regularly in the movies.
 We've already looked at how it makes absolutely no sense that
people vanish or that people in a photograph (or the tombstone)
disappeared but the photograph remains. We will probably need to
refresh our memories a little.
The same basic principle applies to the changing newspaper
articles, fax, and matchbook. Let's take the newspaper articles first.
They were torn out of an archive at the library when Doc and Marty
were in the 1985A alternate future. Once they burned the Almanac,
however, that future never happened. Therefore there would be no
1985 A Hell Valley future for them to go to and tear pages out of an
archive. They were never in the library and would have had no
reason to tear those pages out. The pages themselves would have
vanished and they would be left with no recollection of them. For that
matter, they wouldn't remember the 1985A future at all and would
most likely stand there in a daze wondering why they were in 1955.
Yet, let's take it another step further. Since the Hell Valley future
never happened, they never ended up there, which would mean they
never went back to 1955 to prevent that future (since it never
happened), which means they themselves would vanish with the
newspaper articles, ending up where they would have gone if the
Hell Valley future had never occurred.
It's the same thing goes for the matchbox taken from the Biff
Pleasure Paradise Casino. One could try to argue that Marty could
theoretically have a matchbook in his pocket given to him from Biff of
his timeline, that said “Biff's Auto Detailing” on it, except, oh wait,
that's right, Biff never got to give him one. He came out of the house
at the beginning of the movie to show Marty the matchbooks and
would have given him one but Marty flew off in a DeLorean before he
could do it!
So also, does this principle apply to the fax. It would have
vanished completely once Marty stopped the drag race because it
was his inability to abide being called “chicken” that led to him being
fired in 2015.
Once he got over that, he was never in his den that night to get
the call from Needles.
 He never got in the accident and never gave up on his music.
Even if you accept that he'd still be in that den that evening on
2015, Needles got him to go along with the transaction by calling him
chicken, but that was the OLD Marty, the NEW improved Marty
cannot be manipulated in that way. He would not have been fired. If
he was never fired, Jennifer would not have had any reason to grab
a piece of paper from the fax machine and bring it with her. The fax
paper would have vanished, and Jennifer would have no memory of
it, nor of the words that were once printed on it. Those events never
happened.
For all of the above reasons, the changing items from the future
cannot be explained by any means of time travel theory. They are
just unexplainable plot holes and not paradoxes at all.
Finally, in the many-worlds version of Back to the Future we
constructed here in this book, there are three realities entangled
together as the result of old Biff directly handing himself an object in
the past. This allows for the story arc to proceed much as it did in the
original stories, but still keeps the paradox and plot hole pitfalls out of
the story. Everything is explained.
The Many Worlds of Back to the Future, as you can see, is not
much different a story than the original. It retains all of the best parts
of the original and at the same time avoids all the plot holes and
mistakes.
Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis insist that their movies are
“perfect” and should never be remade. We have now scrutinized this
claim and find it wanting. The story could be better, it could actually
make sense.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN—THE SCIENCE OF
BACK TO THE FUTURE
In July 2010 Dr. Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physicist at
the City University of New York does an interview with CNN about, of
all things, the possibility of hover boards, such as the ones seen in
Back to the Future part II. Kaku explains how the science is
theoretically possible (and indeed we now have hoverboards,
although they are extremely limited and nothing like the ones in the
movie). The subject of this interview was actually how realistic was
the vision of the future 2015 in Back to the Future part 2. The
discussion inevitably turned to the possibility of time travel itself.
Kaku explains that there is a “loop hole” in Einstein's equations
which means that time travel could some day be a reality.
Calling time travel a “type 2 impossibility,” Dr. Kaku first destroys
the idea that 1.21 gigawatts of power would be enough to time travel.
He characterizes time travel as “wrapping time up in a ribbon.” Then
he later theorizes that if we could master “stellar power” or harness
the power of a “black hole” we might be able to open a “gateway” or
a “tunnel” in time itself.
Not much later, Dr. Kaku weighs in on the movies, in the special
features of the new Back to the Future Blu-ray set. He commends
this series of movies as one of the only time travel flicks to get “it”
right. By “it” he meant, the science behind time travel. What they “got
right” the most, according to him, was how they stuck with the “River
of Time” theory of time travel. It's important to scrutinize what Dr.
Kaku says about time travel.
“Back to the Future is novel because you go forwards in time
and you go backwards in time and believe it or not going
forwards in time is the easy part. Our astronauts go forward in
time a fraction of a second every time they go into outer space.
You realize that in outer space, like on the moon, time beats
faster on the moon than it does on the Earth. So it is true that if
you could race near the speed of light time begins to slow
down, so that you rocket into the future. Of course, we cannot
 go near the speed of light, but one day we will, so future travel
is a definite possibility.
But, going back into the past? Aha! That's the killer.. and if you
had enough energy, maybe in a DeLorean, you might be able
to wrench this “river of time” and make it fork into two rivers.
According to the laws of physics, according to Einstein's
general theory of relativity, time is a river. It's a river that
meanders and goes backwards and forwards and has all these
gyrations, and we now know it could have whirlpools,
whirlpools in the river of time.
When Doc Brown went to the blackboard, drew the timeline,
the river of time, and then drew a fork in the river of time, that's
how we physicists view the possibility of time travel. We jump
from one stream to another stream. So if you go backwards in
time you enter an alternate reality, a “quantum reality,” and
Back to the Future, to my knowledge is the only film which gets
it right.”

But, Dr. Kaku is speaking of one scene only in the movies as his
reference point. It's possible he did not see all three films and or did
not notice the glaring inconsistencies which contradict the “river of
time” theory (as it is presented in the movies). If travel to the past
creates an “alternate” or “quantum” reality as he states, then when
Marty interferes with his parents' meeting that would not cause him
nor his siblings to begin to vanish. They are from another “fork” in the
river of time. He has merely created a “new fork” and while certainly
he may not exist in the future of that reality (fork) that cannot effect
the fork of the river that he came from. He wouldn't vanish, and
neither would his siblings, but when he jumped back to 1985 it would
have been like “The Wonderful Life,” a world in which Marty McFly
never was born.
While Back to the Future does “stick to” the “river of time” theory
as Kaku suggests, they botch it horribly, but only because they
disregard the only scientific theory that could make these movies
possible. Many-worlds theory. Kaku fails to grasp what was going on
in these movies. In every case that a new fork is created in the river
of time, they have the original river from which it forked destroyed or
altered in some way. In Kaku's analogies and even in Doc Brown's
explanation on the blackboard there is no reason to believe that the
original river is destroyed or altered in any way, there is just a “new
fork” created and we “flow” down that new path that time takes us.
So, time could be a river with almost infinite forks, created by an
equally infinite number of possibilities and possible choices. There is
no reason to believe the new fork would in any way effect the original
fork that you came from (as we see happening time and time again
in the movies). Yet, in an amazing twist, the movies also have an
alternate reality that does not effect the original fork in the river. The
Biff 1985 A created reality which sees a different Marty and a
different Doc and which did not erase the original Doc and the
original Marty (even though they should have been erased if the new
fork effects the original fork). So the real mistake of the Back to the
Future movies is they keep employing two contradictory theories as
to how time travel works.
Notice too, that Kaku proposes the DeLorean was going “near
speed of light” to jump to the future. This, currently, scientifically, is
not possible either. In order to go that fast the very construction of
the DeLorean would have had to have been completely modified
with new materials and it would have had to have been just as valid
as a space vehicle as it was a time vehicle. Why? Because when
you travel at high speeds you have to go somewhere! You cannot
take off from point A, travel near the speed of light, and end up at
point A, the way the DeLorean does over and over again in the
movies. Well, theoretically it could do this but when it arrived at point
A it would have gone far out into space at near the speed of light, did
a U turn, and came back.
Since there is no indication the DeLorean was capable of space
flight we must surmise that Doc Brown found another way to jump
through time. This is where the “wormhole” idea comes in.
 Physicists who specialize in string theory have, for a long time,
postulated that such “wormholes” may exist between various and
infinite alternate realities. That the space time continuum is like a
“fabric” (you've possibly heard the phrase “fabric of space time”). As
a fabric there are interwoven strings that hold the garment together
and in between these strings is, more space, or tiny holes in the
weave.
The theory is if you could widen one of these holes large enough
to go through it without ripping the fabric you could slip through to
the other side and end up in an alternate universe or reality, or end
up in another time (or both). This is the most likely way time travel
worked in Back to the Future. I say this because of the “flux
capacitor.”
A capacitor is a device that stores energy for later use, similar to a
tiny battery within the circuitry. In electronic devices (especially older
ones) you might recall that after you switched something to “off” the
on light remained for a while even though the power was cut. That
was due to the energy stored in the capacitors. If we proceed on the
premise that a flux capacitor is what it's name suggests, a capacitor,
then it must store “flux.”
In physics, flux is the flow rate of something through a given
surface area (such as water). Since time is being characterized as a
“river” and all rivers have “flux” (ebbs and currents) therefore we can
safely assume that the flux capacitor is something that stores time.
Literally. You might think of this in terms of the old Jim Croce song,
“time in a bottle,” which has the main hook “if I could save time in a
bottle.”
It could be that is exactly what the flux capacitor does. It stores
“time in a bottle” or in a “flux capacitor.” How would this make time
travel possible? Well, for time travel to the future, as Dr. Kaku said,
that is the easy part. Let's say you are going 1 minute into the future,
you store up that 1 minute in the flux capacitor. The flux capacitor
could store up the “flux” of time (localized only around the
DeLorean's stainless steel construction) creating a “time bubble.”
This would cause you to be in a form of suspended animation and
once you released that stored time flux, the passage of time would
resume it's normal flow.
How would storing up time make time travel to the past possible?
That's a bit more difficult to explain and in order to do it we have
to delve into physics at the quantum level. This, of course, will be an
overly simplistic paraphrase.
Due to theories postulated by Sir Isaac Newton it was once
believed that time was an arrow that moved straight and true, turning
neither to the right nor the left until it hit its mark. We used to think
that time was measured the same throughout the universe. Then,
Einstein calculated his “theory of relativity.” Time, according to him is
more like a river. This river wanders around the universe and is sped
up or slowed down, diverted around objects based upon their mass.
Time, then is not measured the same throughout the universe but is
“relative” to where you are in the universe and the gravity and mass
of that location.
Enter Princeton physicist, Kurt Goedel who is considered by some
one of the greatest modern mathematical logicians. He found a “loop
hole” in Einstein's equations which theoretically could allow for time
travel. He calculated that there could be “whirlpools” in this river of
time that could “wrap themselves” into a circle. If you were in one of
these whirlpools moving along in the flow of time you could find
yourself back where you started. Back in time.
Einstein examined this theory before he died and concluded it to
be insufficient on it's face. He did not believe the universe “rotates,”
but instead expands and he believed for that reason alone Goedels
“loop holes” would be rejected eventually. Yet, even within his
rejection, Einstein inadvertently supported later theories. His
rejection included the concession that if the Big Bang indeed was
rotating when it occurred, then the universe could be rotating,
allowing time travel to the past.
Since 1963, and a mathematician named “Roy Kerr,” who
theoretically proved that some black holes could have a spinning ring
of neutrons that could act as a sort of “portal” into alternate universes
time travel theory has gained an air of respectability.
 If the earth is in such a “time whirlpool” and you had a “flux
capacitor” that could “store the flow of time” and if you could store up
enough of that time you could suspend time long enough to go “back
in time.” So, a flux capacitor that worked in this way could work to
make time travel to the future or the past quite possible.
Of course, this is all pure conjecture.
One thing's for sure. Kerr opened a Pandora's box in Einstein's
equations, the end result of which is hundreds of other “wormhole”
solutions being found. Wormholes which could connect not only two
regions of space (hence the name) but also two regions of time as
well. In principle, if you could come up with a machine that could
locate them and use them you have time travel.
The main hurtle is as Dr. Kaku says, the enormous amount of
energy that would be needed. He flatly rejects the 1.21 gigawatts of
Back to the Future but what if the flux capacitor stores energy as well
as time? What if it is an amplifier as well as a capacitor? An
“amplifier capacitor?” We simply do not know what kind of genius
Doctor Emmett Brown really was and therefore almost anything
seems possible in Back to the Future.
Stephen Hawking once opposed the idea of time travel. He
staged a “party” and invited guests from the future to come. He
reasoned that if we ever did invent time travel they would have come
and since no one came to his little science party, he concluded that
time travel to the past must be impossible.
Do you see the flaw in his logic? First, he's assuming that anyone
from the future would be even remotely interested in attending his
party. The whole experiment was based on his own sense of self
importance. He's also assuming that if we some day did develop
time travel to the past, we'd be foolish enough to use it!
If we learn anything from the Back to the Future movies it's that
time travel to the past results in nothing but disaster after disaster.
It's quite likely that by the time mankind develops time travel to the
past he'd be too smart to actually use it in that way.
Even Stephen Hawking could not ignore the tremendous strides
of theoretical physicists within the last 5 years or so. As a result of
their hard work even the self important Hawking finally changed his
mind, and in the end he believed that time travel to the past is
possible, with the addendum that it is not practical nor probable.
For certain, time travel is at least theoretically possible and what's
more, aside from the inconsistencies in the way they presented time
travel in the Back to the Future movies, it appears Zemeckis and
Gale may have been on the very cutting edge of this with their
movies. Who knows, perhaps they will develop a time machine in the
future and at the center of that technology may be a device that they
will lovingly call “the Flux Capacitor?”
Only one question remains on this subject. What could be the
significance of the need for speed in the movie? Doc Brown stated
from the start that you must be going exactly 88 miles per hour for
the flux capacitor to work. Why would this be? One would think if any
speed were necessary at all that speed would be closer to “the
speed of light” than just 88 miles per hour? Why 88?
Bob Gale and Zemeckis have stated they only picked 88 because
it was a dramatic number, yet the question here before us is not why
did the writers choose the number, but rather could this number
actually have some scientific basis in relation to the science of time
travel? (If it does, what an incredible coincidence since the writers
have already said that it does not). In point of fact, believe it or not
88 miles per hour has a mathematical and scientific basis using the
above theory of how a “flux capacitor” might work.
Remember we theorized that a flux capacitor might store up the
“flow of time” within a bubble that would be the exact size of the
DeLorean's stainless steel construction then at the crucial moment
this storage of time flux would be released. It would be this release
of the time flux that would result in the time jump (either forward or
back in time) and not the actual storage of time in the bubble.
In a Reddit post, a user named KalEl1232 offered up some
interesting math to support the 88 mph requirement:
So, the release of the time flux would have to
be timed just right and could not be any longer
in time than the size of the DeLorean.
 Amazingly, that is where 88 miles per hour
comes in. A DeLorean DMC-12 is exactly 4216
mm long. When a car that size travels at 88
mph, the car travels it's own length in 107.2
milliseconds. (4216 mm/ 88 mph). A DeLorean
DMC-12 is exactly 4216 mm long. 107.2 ms
could be the length of time needed to encase
the DeLorean in the time bubble created by the
flux capacitor. Since the DeLorean arrives in
the exact location as it left (yet oftentimes at
different times of the day) and knowing that
any “whirlpool” of time flux around the earth
would be created as a result of the Earth's
gravitational pull, the DeLorean, traveling along
that whirlpool would have to move along the
circumference of the earth and must correct for
Earth's rotation. The time travel in back to the
future was taking place in California. California
is at 37 degrees north latitude. If the DeLorean
traveled due east from 37 degrees north and
circled the earth, the distance traveled is the
circumference of the earth times cos (37) and
this equals 32,005 km.
So, at the speed of light, traveling 32,005 km it would take 107.2
milliseconds (the exact length of the DeLorean at 88 miles per hour)!
Either Zemeckis and Gale are bonafide time travel savants or this
goes down in the annals of movie history as the most stupendous
coincidence of all time.
When talking about the science of Back to the Future we can't
ignore all the predictions of future scientific and technological
advances the movies predicted for the year 2015 and beyond. There
are a surprising number of inventions depicted in 2015 that weren't
even dreamed of in 1985 by most, but that we now enjoy today, in
the real 2015.
 FLYING CARS

Of course, there aren't skyways jammed with “flying cars” as we

saw in Back to the Future part 2. Yet, flying cars are a reality, you
may be surprised to learn. Several companies now make and sell
them. They are just rather expensive for most people and you have
to have a pilot's license to operate them.

HOVER BOARDS

Like flying cars, the sidewalks aren't jam packed with hover
boards like in the movies but they do exist in a more primitive form
and have been out on the market for several years as of the writing
of this current revision.

INTERACTIVE COMPUTER GOGGLES

In 2015 Marty Junior and his sister Marlene are seen wearing
goggles that are a 3 D computer display and are hooked into their
home computer network and double as an interactive cell phone.
Such devices are already on the market as of the writing of the first
edition of this book.

GIANT FLAT SCREEN LCD COMPUTER MONITORS

 These inventions have been out for a while. They serve a dual
purpose as a television and a computer monitor. In Back to the
Future they had these in several rooms. Marty Senior engaged in a
Skype style video chat on the one in the den, when he received
several phone calls, which is yet another prediction that came true.
Today many people video chat during their telephone calls and have
their cell phones tied into their home video systems. Also, we see
Marty Junior watching numerous channels at once on his flat screen,
yet another prediction that has come true and is common place here
in the real 2015.

ELECTRONIC VIDEO BILLBOARDS

In the town square there is a billboard that plays video

commercials. These types of advertisements are commonplace here
in real 2015, especially in large cities such as New York and Tokyo.

SLAMBALL PREDICTED

When Marty and Doc are examining the USA TODAY for October
21, 2015 we see the “slamball”scores. This is a sport that did not
exist at all in 1985. As we see, it's a cross between basketball and
trampolines. It's possible, of course that the people who invented
slamball saw the movie and thought it was a good idea but still, it's
crazy!

3D MOVIES POPULARITY
 Marty encounters a holographic advertisement for “Jaws 19” in 3D
and is attacked by a 3D holographic shark. Well, we may not have
that sort of advertisements but 3D movies have never been more
popular. Another interesting prediction is an inane movie that has a
ridiculous amount of sequels. Granted, Jaws never climbed to such
heights as to have 18 sequels, however if they had decided to use
the movie “Friday the 13th” they wouldn't be far from the mark.

WII PREDICTED

While in the 80's nostalgia diner Marty teaches several young

boys how to use an old video shooting game that he's good at.
Suddenly one of them says, in disgust, “you mean you have to use
your hands? The other kid says, “that's like a baby toy.” Today home
video game consoles have evolved to the Wii Systems which are
indeed controlled and operated without hands. The games you get in
these consoles make the 1980's video games indeed look like “baby
toys.”

POWER LACING SNEAKERS

On January 07, 2015 Nike announced it's working on 'Back to the

Future' shoe for 2015 release. Calling it the Marty McFly・Back to
the future shoes, the sneakers would come with the same type of
power laces as the shoes worn by Marty in 2015. These shoes have
been a reality for 5 years now, as of the writing of the first revision of
this book.
Other predictions they made that came true would include the
popularity of cell phones and how parents now long for the days
when their children will sit and watch t.v. For a change instead of
texting or social networking on their iphones. It's actually quite
impressive how truly close they came to describing the real world of
2015 in this movie!
I hope you have enjoyed this analysis of some of the greatest
science fiction movies of all time. I equally pray that it did not give
you a headache. In the end, I may think that I can improve on the
story, and perhaps that is horribly arrogant of me. No doubt there will
be more than a few who will want to spit on the “many-worlds”
versions proposed in this book.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
One thing is for sure. The love that the world has for these movies
is rightly deserved, despite the obvious flaws in the plot lines. We
can overlook those because it's such an epic tale, told masterfly by
two of the greatest movie story tellers of our time.
They say there will never be a reboot of these movies. Perhaps
that is for the best. Who could we trust to do them as much justice as
the original authors? However, this book was dedicated to
demonstrate how it theoretically could be done. In fact, the Many
Worlds of Back to the Future has the potential, because of all the
alternate realities that could emerge, to being rebooted as a
television series. One can only dream.
Now we come to the most asked question about the movies.

Will there ever be a sequel? Will they ever make a Back

to the Future IV?
It appears highly unlikely. The more time passes the less likely it
seems. Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis have been asked this
question thousands of times and their answer is always the same.
Under no circumstances do they foresee themselves in a position
where they would want to do another sequel. They are in total
agreement and make it clear they like these movies exactly as they
are and to do a sequel might cause them to end on a “low note”
instead of the “high note” they currently enjoy in pop culture!
You can't really blame them.
Since the release of the first movie, of which they admit they
originally had no intention of even doing a sequel, there has been an
animated television series, comics, books, and games featuring the
characters and plot lines of the franchise. 30 years later the Back to
the Future franchise's popularity shows no immediate signs of
waning! We can, of course, understand their desire to not mess with
a good thing, as my father once said, “if it ain't broke don't fix it.”
Yet, couldn't it be argued that the popularity of these movies is not
a con, but a pro, in favor of a sequel? Couldn't the fact that neither
Zemeckis nor Gale can do an interview without being asked if there
will be a part IV (even 30 years later) be a message to them?
Perhaps they should take a hint. It's almost like standing back stage
when the audience is screaming encore and won't leave, frozen in
fear that if you go back out there you'll never top the last number.
Maybe you won't but that's not the point! Maybe the audience
doesn't care if the next number might not be as good as the last one.
Maybe they just want to hear more!
One would think that the extreme love that people have for this
movie franchise alone would be enough to make a Back to the
Future IV sequel one of the biggest box office smash hits in history.
Like Elvis coming out of hiding and saying "hey it's me, I'm alive and
I faked my death but now I'm ready to get to work. It's would be like
Jim Croche coming back from the grave and doing another concert.
It would be like the Beatles getting back together and touring again,
(before the tragic death of John Lennon). The more we look at this
the more crazy it seems that they aren't considering a sequel, but
could one be done this long after the last movie?
Christopher Lloyd is 75 years old. Micheal J. Fox is 54 which has
got to be around the same age his character would have been in the
year 2022 and although he has Parkinson's disease he is still active
as an actor. In fact, one might think they could even incorporate
Parkinson's disease and the plight of those who suffer with it into a
plot line in the sequel. Marty McFly is not above getting Parkinson's
disease. Perhaps the sequel could open with Doc going into the
future to seek a cure for Parkinson's. I'll say no more about that. All
of the original actors are still around and probably available for a
project such as this.
 In December 2015 the new sequel to Star Wars is coming out and
in this film are the original actors. It will be interesting to see how this
movie fares at the box office with such aging iconic actors portraying
their original characters almost 40 years after the fact! If Star Wars
can do it, why not Back to the Future?
What would a sequel look like? What plot line would develop? We
could speculate but it's more fun to dream and leave the writing up to
Zemeckis and Gale. However, if they drag their feet, or fail to
produce a continuation of this epic tale, it might be smart for some
enterprising writer to take it upon him or herself to write the story.
Perhaps someone is working on this very thing as we speak. (Hint,
hint... see Chapter 12 of this book... smile).
I suspect that the real reason they would never consider doing a
fourth picture is fear. I knew a lot of people who did not like the third
installment! Compared to the first two movies, the third one did not
fare well at the box office.
Back to the Future spent 11 weeks at number one. The film then
went on to gross $210.61 million in North America and $173.2 million
in foreign countries, accumulating a worldwide total of 383.87 million.
Back to the future II grossed a total $118.5 million in the United
States and $213 million overseas, for a total of $332 million
worldwide. Compare that to the third installment. It was released in
the United States on May 25, 1990 and earned only $244.5 million
worldwide. Clearly, the movies were getting weaker in box office
sales. I'm certain it's hard for them to accept that the third movie just
wasn't as good as the other two. They probably just feel their
popularity was waning. The truth is, however, Back to the Future III
simply lacked much of the pizzazz of the first two. They used the
same gimmicks and gags in all three films. A joke isn't nearly as
funny when it's told a third time unless of course it's done right.
One thing's for certain, whether they do a sequel or not the story
of Back to the Future and the adventures of Marty McFly will live on
in the hearts of millions of adoring fans and will continue to make it's
indelible and gigantic footprints in the sands along the banks of the
river of time, possibly forever. So let it be said, so let it be done,
some day in the future.
 CHAPTER TWELVE – THE FUTURE OF
BACK TO THE FUTURE

As was promised. In this chapter I provide an example of what

one of the many worlds of Back to the Future would be like. This
episode follows the adventures of the Marty McFly we see go back
to the future at the end of the movie, the one that was raised by
confident and successful George McFly. This is World Number 13 in
the many-worlds list: “Alternate Marty Goes Back To 1955.” Act 1 is
taken from the description of “World 4” in the man-worlds list.

BACK TO THE FUTURE IV

By Jeffrey Dean

Text Copyright © 2015 Jeffrey D. Dean, Sr.

Author's Introduction:
Back To The Future IV, the Sequel/Remake is designed as both a
remake and a spinoff. If it were ever produced as a movie, either the
scenes from Back to the Future original used in this story would have
to be re-cast and reproduced (in which case it becomes a total
remake) or the scenes from the original movie can be incorporated
into this story as background.
This version follows the adventures of a completely different Marty
McFly, the one who is raised by the altered parents, George and
Lorraine, after the Marty from the original movie drastically changes
them. This is the story of the Marty McFly who goes back to 1955 at
the end of the first movie.
 faber est suae quisque fortunae
“every man is the artisan of his own fortune”
Jump to Scene

PROLOGUE:

1. JENNIFER LOVES MARTY

2. THINK BIFF, THINK!

3. YOU JUST DISINTEGRATED EINSTEIN!

4. PEABODY HAD A FARM EYI EYI OH!

5. ANOTHER MARTY

6. ANOTHER FAMILY

7. ANOTHER BIFF

8. ANOTHER GEORGE MCFLY

9. ANOTHER DRAG RACE

10. ANOTHER TRIP TO 1955

11. HILL VALLEY BLUES

12. READ MY MIND NO NEW TIME TRAVEL

13. ROCKY MCFLY

14. BOILING POINTS

15. A BRAND NEW GEORGE

16. MOVE LIKE A BUTTERLY EFFECT STING LIKE A MCFLY

17. HELP ME OBIWAN YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE

18. THE REVELATION

19. PLAY WITH PLUTONIUM YOU'RE GONNA GET BURNED

20. HEAD CASES

21. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

22. Biff's Revenge

EPILOGUE

(Or SCROLL to NEXT PAGE)

 PROLOGUE:

October 26, 1985 around 1:20 AM .The night is still and quiet over
the sleepy little California town of Hill Valley, somewhere in California
not far from the Mojave Desert Region. Red now sleeps near the
court house in a tattered overcoat on a park bench. Old newspapers
his only blankets. A small portable radio plays at his feet. How have
the mighty fallen?

Like Red, Hill Valley has seen better days. Some of the businesses
that thrived in the square have long since been replaced by such
“fine” establishments as, “Cupid's Adult Bookstore,” and “Al's Tattoo
Art.” The Essex Theater is now showing porn. The Old Courthouse
itself no longer serves it's distinguished purpose. It had long since
become the home of the “Department of Social Services.”

He was sleeping off another bender. This was far from a new thing.
He and Hill Valley have grown old together and the townsfolk pretty
much leave him alone. Tonight; however, his sleep would be
disturbed by two things. First, a helicopter incessantly passed over
the old broken clock tower at the top of the courthouse for some
inexplicable reason, periodically shining it's light on the clock at the
top of the tower, exposing the broken face of the ledge just under the
clock. It then flew off in a southerly direction. Red stirs a bit, but this
does not even come close to rising to enough of an irritant to wake
him completely from his stupor. It almost does though, several time.

He felt it first as a twinge at the back of his neck. An electric tingle

that quickly builds to a jolt. A strange and unreasonable hot gust of
wind picked up, literally from everywhere and from nowhere. His
newspaper blankets were blown clean off and they bounced down
the empty street like tumbleweed. He bolted up at the flash of light
down the street, accompanied by an odd rushing sound, like a door
opening, an inter-dimensional door.

Blue shafts of lightning streak out from the middle of the street.
Suddenly, it was there, where it wasn't before. A DeLorean DMC-12.
The car was made of unpainted, paneled and not brushed ss304
stainless steel. The stainless steel panels were fixed to a glass
reinforced plastic monocoque designed underbody, which was then
affixed to a double-Y frame chassis which the designer, John
DeLorean, derived from the Lotus Esprit platform. This particular
DeLorean had been radically modified, especially in the rear with
what, at first glance, looked like a otherworldly jet pack.

He leaped up off the park bench, stymied and bleary eyed, just as
the car jumped right into the street amid the lightning and the wind.
Its tires locked immediately and as if it were possible, they literally
“burned” rubber down the street, leaving an actual trail of rubber and
flames as it skidded and slid to the end of the block, straight into the
old town theater which is now a Pentecostal Church. With a loud
crash the DeLorean smashed into the front of the church and rested
like a lukewarm parishioner, half in and half out of the church

The bewildered and befuddled old man danced and bounced next to
his bed/bench struggling to focus in the direction of the mayhem. As
his eyes cleared he could see the tail lights of the car backing out of
the front of the Church and slowly turning around.

“Crazy drunk drivers!” He grumbled, taking a swig from a bottle with

mysterious contents obscured in a brown paper bag. The liquid
slightly dribbled down his chin, across his unkempt wild man
appearance. He swiped it with a filthy sleeve and watched the
DeLorean maneuver around, facing his way.

“Whiskey,” he mumbled to himself, “it's not just for breakfast

anymore.”

He is wearing ear muffs, because fall at night around those parts can
be unforgiving. He just stood there, swigging and muttering curses
under his breath. In his inebriated state, the odd sight of a DeLorean,
encrusted with ice, seemed perfectly normal. He'd once seen a car
drive by with a pink elephant driving it. Fog rolled off of this one
strangely as it began to move again, then stalled.

Red squinted to see the driver, who was feverishly trying to start it
again.

These cars were known to be fraught with electrical problems, due to

the rush John DeLorean had placed on production. DeLoreans were
equipped with “wing doors” that swung upward when opened. The
driver's side now did so and a young man quickly emerged.

Red knows he's seen him before and he might be able to place the
face but he suddenly got distracted by a burning in his throat that
could only be quenched by another swig.

Dressed in his red quilted winter vest and faded blue jeans, Marty
McFly egressed the DeLorean, hardly seeming to even notice Red,
who is used to that, being that he has become a unique part of the
Hill Valley scenery. Like the broken ledge of the clock tower looming
behind him.

Marty looked around in amazement, not at where he was, but when

he was. He cannot contain his astonishment that 30 years has just
gone by in the blink of an eye. As he stood, gaping, a blue VW
Microbus came racing around the corner from behind him with it's
headlights off. Picking up speed, it rushed past him.

His eyes narrowed in dismay as he could only helplessly he watch it

disappear around the corner, on its way to the Twin Pines Mall and
its fateful confrontation with Doc Brown. Marty McFly curses his life!
Apparently, even when he has a 30 year head start to save Doc
Brown, he's still late!

Strickland would have nodded his agreement with that, if he were

here, putting on his familiar, “doesn't surprise me at all,” look he was
so good at. Then he would have mumbled, “slacker.”
Marty realized he had no choice but to run.

And run he did, right past Red, who shouts after him, “Crazy drunk
joggers!”

It took him nearly the whole 10 minutes to run the distance from
downtown Hill Valley to the Twin Pines Mall. He arrived there
completely out of breath and exhausted. He almost stopped in his
tracks when he read the mall sign. It's no longer “Twin Pines Mall,”
but instead reads “Lone Pine Mall.” Whatever changes he has just
made to the past in 1955 have already caught up with him here in
1985. He looked frantically at his watch as he ran toward the mall
sign. Sure enough, looking down at the scene below he realized that
he has arrived just before he makes the time jump to 1955. So, it's
odd to him that the sign would already be changed.

He watches in absolute horror as once again the Libyans emptied

their clip into the chest of his dear friend and mentor, Doctor Emmett
Brown, the eminent scientist and recent inventor of the DeLorean
time machine conversion kit.

Marty then heard his own voice down there in the mayhem
screaming, “no, you bastards!” His eyes went wide at the sight of
himself, dressed in the yellow radiation suit he had donned to assist
Doc in refilling the flux capacitor with plutonium only a week earlier.
The same yellow suit that was even now sitting in the trunk of his
own Delorean. He watched in amazement as his other self runs
behind Doc Brown's moving van.

The hill on which rests the Lone Pine Mall sign is steep and in his
rush to climb down he tripped and fell, rolling down the hill to the
parking lot pavement below. When he recovered his legs, his eyes
dart in amazement and terror as he watched the drama replaying
itself. It was surreal observing these events as an outsider looking in.

Marty's mind reeled. He was no expert on time travel, but it seemed

to him, If the mall sign was already changed, this would mean he's
now in some“alternate 1985.” Was this himself he's watching dive
into the DeLorean and peel away from the Libyans, or was it
someone else? Another Marty McFly? His heart sank into his toes.
Doc would know!

The DeLorean peeled away and the VW Microbus followed, it's

occupants bouncing and lurching, half in and half out of the sun roof,
shooting at it wildly. The bullets seemed to just bounce off the
stainless steel of the car. The rifle jammed. It looked like the
DeLorean might be in the clear but the man sank back into the VW
bus, then re-emerged with a shoulder mounted rocket grenade
launcher, aiming it at the DeLorean.

In a burst of speed it took off in the direction of the photo booth at the
end of the parking lot with the Libyans in the van not far behind. The
car was engulfed in that ethereal energy. When the DeLorean
vanished, leaving behind that familiar fire trail, the shocked Libyans
lost control of their van and it crashed into the photo booth and rolled
over on it's side.

Marty now threw caution to the wind, not even knowing if the Libyans
survived the crash or not, (and not really caring at the moment) he
ran to check on poor Doc who was still lying motionless on the
ground by his step van. He reaches Doc's side and the older man
stared blankly and lifeless into the night sky.

Devastated, Marty fell down next to his dear old friend, the inventor's
dead body now limp. Marty began to weep. He can't bear to look and
turns away. The world fell away from him for a while and he didn't
even think about the burning van that once belonged to the Libyans.
He couldn't bear to look and turned his head.

The world fell away for a while and he didn't even think about the
burning van that once belonged to the Libyans. Finally, though he
stood up and began to pace nervously. Einstein barked at him from
inside the work truck. He went and opened the door and the dog
greeted him happily, not realizing what has befallen his master.

Suddenly, Marty heard sirens in the distance.

“The time machine” he mutters, “the plutonium!”

He ran and grabbed the yellow case snapping it closed and looked
back down the road at the flashing lights of several police cars and
fire trucks headed his way. Kneeling down, Marty kissed the
forehead of Doc Brown still lifeless there and took off, with Einstein
following closely on his heels.

Behind him, back at the carnage, the police arrived and swarmed
around Doc's moving van and the VW bus. Marty does not stop, nor
does he look back. He's got a plan.

“We've got a time machine,” he tells Einstein, who is tagging

reluctantly behind him, “we can fix this!” He sprinted as fast as he
could toward the direction of town and the waiting DeLorean. Marty
turned the corner near the now smashed church front and found it
still sitting there, where he left it, in the middle of the street. Red was
also still there, and had resumed his repose on the bench. He flipped
over as Marty begins to maneuver to get back into the car.

Red muttered his dislike of people who leave their cars in the middle
of streets at all hours.

Marty opened the trunk and was about to put the plutonium case in
when a siren wailed and several police cars rolled in fast from
seemingly nowhere. They hit him with spotlights and he put his
hands up. Einstein too got up on his hind legs and put his paws up.
ONE WEEK EARLIER
 1. JENNIFER LOVES MARTY

Marty McFly was excited for many reasons. Well, maybe excited was
too weak of a word. He felt like the song by Timbuk3, “my future's so
bright, I have to wear shades.” It was playing on his Sony Walkman
right now as he skateboarded his way through oncoming traffic. In
fact, he was wearing shades too so the song fit perfectly. The traffic
whizzed dangerously around him, but there was nothing to be
concerned about. He knew what he was doing. This was old hat to
him. He wasn't going to get hit by any cars.

The early morning sun seemed higher than usual, he chalked it off
as the oncoming winter and an earlier sunrise. He timed it just right
so that he was able to grab the closed tailgate of the passing gray
Ford pickup. He felt the heavy vibration of the skateboard wheels
zinging on the blacktop below. He went through a lot of wheels doing
this, but it was quicker than pushing the darned thing around himself.
He had been doing this so long, pushing the skateboard around
himself like prehistoric, like Fred Flintstone, using his feet to move
his car around.

He saw the Burger King up ahead and could smell the grease of the
morning breakfast wafting his way. It was odd to him how this smell
always made him hungry and queasy at the same time. Just past
there was Doc Brown's workshop.

Doc hadn't been around much that week and it was starting to
concern him. What crazy experiment was he up to now? When Marty
first agreed to clean up and run errands for him a year and a half ago
it was just a way to drum up a little gas money to take Jennifer out
every now and then, whenever his dad loaned him the BMW. Since
that time, though, Marty and Doc had become great friends. Doctor
Emmett Brown was one of the coolest people Marty ever knew! The
guy was truly insane, but in a refreshingly good kind of way. The kind
of crazy that Marty always liked.

The sky was bright and blue, the air was fresh and crisp, and there
was a winter chill in the air. He wore his Shott Brothers
Commemorative James Dean leather, designer acid-washed jeans,
and of course, his white high trainers. The blue sky and bright
morning added to his already high spirits. He was not a tall kid.
About 5 foot 4 inches. Athletic in build but not “stout.” His light brown
hair parted on the side, not too long but not butch either. He was an
Alex P. Keaton type. A good looking conservative kid with a
rebellious side.

Marty couldn't wait to tell Doc about the letter he got from the record
company! This, by itself, would be enough to brighten his entire year,
but it wasn't all. Any day now he expected delivery on his brand new
jet black 4 x 4 Toyota pickup truck he'd been waiting for since his
mom and dad had ordered it for him on his birthday!

To top that off, he and Jennifer were finally going to get to go to the
lake house for the weekend. They'd made their plans before to go
there but something always happened to ruin them. The only real fly
in the ointment was that he had hoped to have his new 4 x 4 by then
but that wasn't looking good. Still, there was no reason to think that
anything would stop them this time, his father had already pledged
the use of the BMW!

He always smiled when he thought about Jennifer. She was the

perfect girl, curly reddish brown hair, dimples, beautiful lips, great
body, and she was smart and supportive of his dreams! Nope, he
couldn't imagine that life for him could get any better. Everything was
going exactly as he always dreamed and planned it would.

He let go of the green pickup as it passed the Burger King and he

commenced his coast into the driveway of Doc Brown's workshop.
He was pressed for time, he knew. He really couldn't afford to be late
for school again. This pit stop to Doc's place was risky but he just
had to know where Doc had been all week.

Marty approached the doorway, reached down and pulled the key
out from under the welcome mat. Inside he could hear all the clocks
ticking. Going into the shop always reminded him of the opening
introduction from the song "Time" by Pink Floyd, which is the fourth
track on their 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon."

He called out for "Doc" several times while he placed the keys back
under the doormat, opened the door and entered. Once inside, he
called out again.

“Doc, hello!” He whistled and called for Einstein, Doc's best friend,
some sort of sheep dog. He never knew breed and never thought to
ask, it was just “Einstein.” He looked around.

There were many clocks of various kinds and they all read the same
time, 7:53. His eyes fell on one particular clock that always
fascinated him. It featured a man hanging from the second hand.
Doc had told him once that it was a tribute to the film “Safety Last”
starring Harold Lloyd. There were various antique clocks on shelves,
hanging on the wall in several different animal shapes. Doc brown
had always been obsessed with clocks and with time itself.

Also on the wall was a clip board, covered in glass. Hanging on its
cork veneer below the glass were several Newspaper articles. The
Hill Valley Telegraph with headlines like “BROWN MANSION
DESTROYED” and “BROWN ESTATE SOLD TO DEVELOPERS.”
These all occurred a very long time ago, before Marty was even
born. There were old photos on the mantle below of what looked like
Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin.

A clock radio had clicked on by a timer. It played a commercial about

Statler Toyota. An automated coffee pot was pouring coffee onto the
hot plate where the carafe should be. The liquid sizzled on the plate
and was pouring onto the floor.
A television also automatically came on with a timer. On the morning
news a female talking head reported about a recent theft of a case of
plutonium. The news piece showed a picture of a yellow and black
nuclear logo in the backdrop of the report. An automated toaster
burned the same two pieces of toast over and over again and an
automated machine cracked eggs which fell into a pan, where a
burner came on.

A robotic can opener opened a can of Kal Kan dog food and emptied
the contents into a dog food bowl marked "Einstein." The dog food
plopped with a sickening sound onto a small mountain of spoiled
food that was now overflowing in the bowl. The robot arm tossed the
can into a trash can that was almost full of empties. Marty gagged at
the sight and smell of the pile of dog food.

“That's disgusting,” he grumbled as he walked past.

“He put down his skateboard and kicked it across the floor. He didn't
notice where it rolled. It came to a stop against a hidden yellow box
with the nuclear logo on it. Near the box was the only clock that
showed a different time than the others. It read 8:20. He didn't notice
it either. His attention had focused on a huge amplifier with one of
the biggest speakers one might ever expect to see. He headed over
to it.

He then found and picked up a beautiful banana colored "Erlewine

Chiquita" electric guitar from a corner, strapped it on, grabbed the
chord and plugged it into the amp. Reaching up, he flipped a switch
marked CRM 114. In a succession of moves he quickly tripped a row
of circuit breakers and other switches. Then he turned a series of
dials, one by one, as the amp began to hum and crackle into
overdrive. As he did so, the poor shielding in the guitar causes a
loud buzz to increase, menacingly.

Centering himself on the speaker, facing it, he paused, readying

himself, and he then strummed the instrument in a single power
chord. The speaker literally exploded. The concussion of that
explosion was so powerful it lifted him right off his feet and sent him
flying backwards hard against a bookshelf. The book shelf fell on top
of him, spilling its entire contents over him, covering him in books
and papers. Sitting up, he stared in awe at the destruction. There
were sparks flying from the speaker that now resembled an over
inflated balloon that had popped.

He lifted up his sunglasses and, impressed by the carnage he'd

wrought with a single power chord.

“Woah! Rock on!" He said.

Just then a fire alarm began ringing off the wall. It was actually a
telephone rigged to an alarm bell. He scrambled up quickly,
searching for the phone in all that mess. He found it by pulling the
phone cord and letting that lead him to it.

“Hello,” he cheerily answered.

“Hey, Marty, it's me,” came Doc Brown's canny voice over the other
phone. Characteristically he spoke hastily, always getting right to the
point. “I need you to meet me tonight at the Lone Pine Mall at 1: 15
am sharp!”

Marty's was a bit surprised. “One fifteen in the morning? What's

going on?”

Doc ignored the question completely and followed with his own. “Do
you still have that camera I loaned you several weeks ago?”

“Ya,” answered Marty.

“Well bring it along,” Doc orders, “with fresh tape and make sure the
batteries are good and charged this time, okay?”
“Sure thing, Doc,” Marty agreed. “Hey, Doc where you been all
week?”

“Working,” Doc quipped.

“Well, you left your equipment on,” said Marty, grimacing once again
at the sight of the pile of dog food on the floor.

Doc responded, “that reminds me, I wouldn't try to use the amplifier
today there's a slight possibility of overload."

Marty chuckled at this while glancing once again at the destroyed

speaker and slyly said, "I'll keep that in mind." Just then, all the
clocks went off at once, chiming and ringing.

“Is that my alarm clocks?” Doc asked excitedly.

“Ya Doc, what do you think it is?” Marty chuckled to himself.

“What time is it?” Doc asked him abruptly.

Marty looked around the room at all the clocks, still not noticing the
one oddball that had a different time. “8:00 am,” he answered.

“Great! My experiment worked!” Doc sounds quite satisfied. “They

are all exactly 25 minutes slow!”

The smile instantly dissolved from Marty's face.

“Wait a minute,” said Marty, with panic and irritation rising in his
voice, “hold the phone, Doc, are you telling me it's 8:25?”

“Ya,” Doc confirmed, “why?”

Marty, in complete frustration answers into the phone. "I'm late for
school!"
He then slammed down the receiver, grabbed his skateboard once
more and rushed out. Back outside he latched onto the first pickup
he saw coming out of the Burger King drive through. Once again he
was back in traffic on his skateboard, using the various vehicles
passing by through town to tow him to school. The drivers all
seemed as though this was all par for the course here in town. As if
they were used to Marty, or many of the kids in town, getting around
this way. Out of habit he put on his Walkman and the song “Power of
Love” By Huey Lewis And The News was playing.

Passing from vehicle after vehicle, like a baton in a race, Marty made
his way to school on his skateboard to the sound of “... and with a
little help from above, you feel the power of love.”

Hill Valley High school was a boxy, two story, white cement structure
that looked more like a prison than a school It was built 40 to 50
years earlier. At one time it was probably a magnificent structure, like
some ancient school of higher learning. Now it was old, run down,
almost neglected. It had large steps that ascended regally to the
huge front entrance.

Marty skated up to it in a hurry and jumped off the skateboard. He

stomped down on one end and it flew up into his waiting hand. He
ran up the steps, his red backpack he'd been carrying in one hand
and the skateboard in the other. He was met and waylaid by a girl,
who warned him off. His girl. Jennifer Parker.

“Marty don't go this way Strickland's looking for you,” she warned
him. She grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him back
down the stairs, heading for the side entrance. “If you get caught it
will be 4 tardies in a row.” She said as she ushered him forward.
Warily they made their way into the school with her at the lead using
the other entrance. She peeked around corners, looking all
directions down every hallway.
Marty admired her as she did this. She was dressed in a pink soft
leather jacket, tiny floral pattern blouse, acid washed designer jeans
like Marty, and carried a light brown leather purse. When she
decided the coast was clear she stepped into the main hallway and
looked back at him. “Okay, c'mon” she said, signaling.

Marty joined her in the corridor, and they began to walk softly and
slowly. In a low tone he explained to her why he was late. “You know
this time it wasn't my fault,” he said in a tone that suggested that she
wouldn't believe him.

She gave him a playful look, as if to say, “oh really?” Then she
smiled.

They slunk down the empty school hallways that once were paved
with white and black checkered marble floors but had long since
been covered up by ugly linoleum tiles that caused your feet to make
loud pitter pattering. The stone walls made their voices echoe far
more loudly than they liked.

“Doc set all his clocks 25 minutes slow,” he finished, bitterly.

“Doc?” A gruff voice barked.

A balding man with a hawkish face and wearing a cheap brown suit,
white shirt, with matching brown bow tie stepped out from the
shadows of an adjacent corridor. The ambush was perfectly timed.
He'd been doing this for years. Around his neck he was wearing a
whistle. He lunged out at the them grabbing Marty by the jacket, right
between the shoulder blades, and he pulled them to a stop.

Marty closed his eyes and grimaced. Jennifer put her hand to her
chin and looked straight ahead. They were busted! Marty's face had
drooped at the sound of Strickland's voice.

“Hey, Mr. Strickland,” said Marty, turning to face him and jerking the
man's hand loose from his jacket at the same time, “fancy meeting
you here.”

“Am I to understand that...” Strickland interrogated, as he reached

with the other hand and adjusted Marty's jacket collar, “...you're still
hanging around with Doctor Emmett Brown, McFly?” His voice
dripped with disdain as he said the name of Marty's older friend.

Marty just looked away, holding his tongue. He never understood

what Strickland had against the Doc!

Strickland glared at him meanly for another second, then released

his collar and turned his attention to Jennifer. He ripped a tardy slip
away from it's pad and handed it to her. “Tardy slip for you Ms.
Parker,” he said, his tone softening.

She took it, smiling, without a word.

Strickland then looked down at his pad of tardy slips dramatically

and said, “...and one for you Mr. McFly.” He slowly ripped one off,
handing it to Marty as if handing out awards for student of the year.

Marty took it with a petulant look.

“That makes four in a row,” said Strickland, sounding pleased with

the idea.

He then wrapped his arm around Marty's shoulders, almost fatherly

and started leading him down the hall toward his classroom, with
Jennifer trailing slightly behind, almost giggling.

“Let me give you a nickel's worth of free advice, young man.”

Marty just stared down at his shoes, not knowing how to respond,
while he apathetically stuffed the tardy slip in his inner jacket pocket.

“This so called Doctor Brown is dangerous,” warned Strickland. “He's

a real nut case. If you keep hanging around with him you're going to
get in BIG trouble!”

“Oh, yesssir,” said Marty his tone dripping with sarcasm.

The principal grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to face
him. “You've got a real attitude problem McFly,” he growled, while
poking his finger at the youth.

Marty's expression was blank.

“Your a SLACKER!” Strickland accused.

In the short moment of silence that followed, the two teens just
stared at Strickland.

Jennifer's expression was mixed, both worried and amused at the

same time.

Strickland was over middle aged, perhaps in his mid 60's. Not a
large man but very formidable in appearance. His completely bald,
wrinkly head, coupled with a hawk like nose lent him a trollish
visage. The wrinkles extended from his forehead to the crown of his
head and then downward to the base of his skull.

He lowered his voice, hissing like a viper. “You're a disgrace, McFly!

You're not even half the man you're old man was when he went
here.”

“Ya I know,” says Marty rolling his eyes, he'd heard this lecture
before. “Valedictorian, president of his class, a real pleasure to
teach, bla bla, you've told me.” Marty looked at Jennifer. “You know,
Jennifer,” he said to her sardonically, “I think Mr. Strickland might
secretly have a man crush on my father!”

Strickland balls up his fist as if to hit him.

Marty straightened himself and glared at him defiantly.

Strickland stiffened, then regains his composure.

“Can I go now Mr. Strickland?” Asked Marty, in disdain.

Strickland leaned his head back, reached out and grabbed Marty
with both hands by his jacket lapels and pulls him in closer. Marty
Winced. It was almost as if Strickland knew he had dragon breath
and used it as a torture device. Living up to his name “strict” land (as
the kids called him) he had a way of shouting without raising his
voice hardly at all. He had honed it over decades of overseeing the
education of countless teenagers.

"I saw your band is on the auditions roster for the school dance,”
said Strickland.
“Why even bother McFly? You don't have a chance!”

Indignantly Marty answers, “oh, I think I have some chance,” Marty

disagreed.

“Keep dreaming,” Strickland continued, “you're nothing like your old

man! Even if you managed, by some miracle, to win the audition...”

Strickland leans in, his nose is almost touching Marty's nose.

“I predict history will record Marty McFly as the first McFly in the
history of Hill Valley to never amount to anything!”

Marty stuck his hands in the pockets of his leather and said defiantly,
"Ya well, we make our own history.”

**********

That afternoon Marty entered the gymnasium with Jennifer at his

side, looking confident as ever. A band was just finishing their
audition. Four judges sat together on chairs in an otherwise empty
room facing the stage. Lifting a megaphone, a geeky looking man in
a ridiculous plaid suit and huge horned rim glasses shouted into it.
“NEXT, PLEASE!”

Marty and his band walked up on stage taking their places at the
waiting instruments. Marty plugged his guitar in. He stepped to the
microphone while still strapping on his guitar. Nervously, he
introduced the band.

“Hi,” he stammered, “we're called The Pinheads.”

The panel of judges, looking unimpressed at what Marty considered

a very clever name, all simultaneously make notations on their clip
boards.

Marty swallowed hard at their reaction to the band's name.

The band readied itself and Marty turned to them, whispering

encouragement. “Remember what we talked about,” he coached,
“this is a High School dance, keep the volume down to a dull roar will
ya?"

With that they launched into the the first few bars of “Power of Love”
by Hewey Louis and the News. Marty wailed out an intro and pushed
down hard on his dive bomb tremolo. Jennifer giggled with glee, her
hands to her mouth, and her hips swaying lightly to the beat. She
clearly loved their music. The other bands were looking up in
amazement, obviously impressed by their unique sound, maybe
even a bit intimidated. The pinheads had the attention of everyone in
the room but the judges.

The panel of judges, however just looked at one another, leaning in

to each other and shouting in each others' ears. Several just sat
there, their hands clasped tightly in their laps, on their clip boards.
The man with the megaphone looked at the man to his right. A
younger man who was not only frowning but looked like someone
was boring a drill into his skull. Megaphone man's expression
seemed to say, “okay, I've heard enough.” They hadn't gone much
more than a minute into the first tune when megaphone man stood.
He placed the huge megaphone to his mouth quickly.

“Okay, thank you.” He shouted into the megaphone, barely being

heard over the din of the music.

They kept right on playing, too into their music that was so loud you
could barely hear the megaphone.

Megaphone man looked at the megaphone as if to say, “what's

wrong with this thing.” He then cranked it's volume (looking quite
irritated).

This time he also shouted into the megaphone. “Hold it, now, hold it,
that's enough, thank you, thank you!”

They stopped playing.

The man stopped yelling, but almost facetiously continued to speak

into the blasting megaphone even though it was now deadly silent in
the gymnasium. “I'm afraid you're just too darned loud!" He said. The
band heard that. Probably everyone in Hill Valley heard it.

The only thing louder than Marty's band had been were those words
echoing throughout the entire school. Marty's countenance fell. His
band members were downcast and downtrodden as well, but Marty
quickly recovered. He turned to them.

“Don't sweat it guys, what do they know anyway? He motioned for

them to follow and they did. As they stepped off the stage the other
bands were leering at them.

“Pinheads huh,” said a big haired glamour rock dude in spandex,

“way to live up to your name.” The other guys with him chuckled.

“You're just jealous,” said Marty and just kept walking.

**********

Not much later, he and Jennifer walked past the old courthouse. A
huge brick structure with high roman columns that went straight up to
a large clock tower at the top. It was no longer a courthouse,
however, having long ago been converted into the Social Services
Office.

A white van drove around the square painted with campaign

slogans. “RE-ELECT GOLDIE WILSON.” The smiling profile of the
beloved mayor of Hill Valley plastered all over the side and back of
the van. Band music played from a loud speaker mounted on the top
of the van (Blues Brother's style).

“Re-elect Mayor Goldie Wilson,” a recording blared, “progress is his

middle name.”

Marty had forgotten all about their disappointment at the audition. As

they made their way into the village square, which was once a plush
grassy park, but was now just a parking lot, he excitedly read from a
letter he had just received.

“Dear Mr. McFly,” the letter began, “thank you for your submission.
“We were very pleased with what we heard...” Marty's voice raised
with excitement as he read the word “pleased.”

Jennifer squeezed his arm, looking thrilled.

He continued reading. “...and we believe that your band has great

potential.” He stopped and looked into Jennifer's eyes.

“Told you,” she said gleefully.

They continued to walk across the square as he read.

“...you definitely could have a bright future. We'd like to be a part of
it. Give us a call at the number below when you have the dates of
your next engagement. We'd like to send a man out to hear you live
and in person.

Sincerely, Daddy Records.”

He slapped the letter and stopped reading. “Hear that Jennifer, the
bands got a bright future if they could just land a gig somewhere.”

Jennifer hugged his arm again. "Aren't you glad I convinced you to
send that demo to a record company?”

He smiled, putting the letter away. “Ya, they are definitely interested
in us but we're never going to get to play for anyone at this rate.”

“Hey I have an idea” said Jennifer cheerfully, “maybe we could throw

our own party, invite all of our friends and the band can play. You can
invite Daddy Music.”

“I don't know what I'd ever do without you?” He sounded almost

facetious.

She squeezes harder on his arm. "You better remember that mister!
When your famous some day and you start to think you don't need
me anymore!"

Marty stopped and looked deeply into her eyes, and in a most
sincere tone said, “that's NEVER gonna happen." They walked
together some more.

“Just don't you forget me,” said Jennifer, “you have all those
groupies hanging around.”

He scoffed. “There's more of a chance of you forgetting me!”

“Nonsense!” She said, pouting.

“You're going to make it, and then no one in Hill Valley will forget
your name, not ever!” She held both his hands and said, "It's like you
always told me, what Doc Brown says, that you can accomplish...”

He finishes her sentence, "...anything if you just put your mind to it,
ya...”

As he said this, two pretty women dressed in tights and workout

clothes head past them on their way to the aerobics studio, which
used to be Lou's Diner. Marty's head is turned by this as he finishes
Jennifer's sentence. His gaze continued to follow them.

Jennifer reached up and firmly grabbed his chin, pulling his head,
she steered it away from the girls. Through almost clenched teeth
she said, “that's good advice MARTY!”

“Ya, ya,” he replied, embarrassed, “but he also says never count

your chickens before they hatch.” Suddenly it dawned on him how
that must sound in light of what just happened. He looked at her
nervously.

Her eye brows are knit together.

“...Because...” he tried to recover, “the future is not written yet and

anything can happen.”

Jennifer's eyes go wide. “OH really?”

He looked extremely uncomfortable now, realizing he only made

things worse.

"Doc Brown isn't right about everything," she quipped.

He frowned and looked deep in thought, almost distantly. "Ya, well,

actually he is,,” replied Marty, “or sometimes it seems like he is. It's
uncanny. He always seems to know what's going to happen before it
even happens. He's like some crazy wizard.”
She laughed. "A crazy white haired wizard... sounds familiar.”

Marty chuckled. "He's Gandalf, I get it."

She laughed. “I guess that makes you Frodo!” She again and
squeezed his arm as they walked.

"Ya?" He asked incredulously. "Thanks a lot!"

As he said this his attention was drawn away yet again. This time to
across the street.

He climbed up on the park bench to get a better look.

“Check it out, my 4 X 4!”

He gestured to where a red 4 X 4 Toyota pickup was being pulled in

on a trailer at the Texaco Station. It had a banner on the side that
read, “ANOTHER CUSTOM 4 X 4 from STATLER MOTORS.”

Jennifer squinted at the truck. "Someone else ordered the same

truck as yours?

Marty nods. “Only it's a red one.” He appeared upset. “That sucks!"
He looked down.

Jennifer is confused. “What, that someone else has the same truck
as you? That was bound to happen Marty.'

“No!” He responded. “I wonder why mine hasn't been delivered yet? I

was hoping we could take it to the lake. He pulled her up to stand
with him on the bench.

“There's still time,” she offered.

“Wouldn't it be great?” He asks her coyly, pulling her in closer,

wrapping his arms around her waist. “Take that truck up to the lake?”
She blushed a little.

“Throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back...”

He sat down and pulled her onto his lap and ran his hand across her
abdomen.

She looked away, smiling in embarrassment then grabbed his hand

and pushed it away.

“Stop it!” She scolded.

“What?” He asked, feigning innocence. “I guess we'll have to settle

for my dad's BMW.” he sighs. “At least they already gave me
permission to take it, in case the truck doesn't come on time.” He
looked wistfully in the direction of Statler Motors, as if he might see
his truck now, being pulled into the lot.

Jennifer looked a bit worried. “You told your parents? About the
lake? That means your mother knows?”

Seeing her terrified expression he tried not to chuckle. “Relax! Don't

worry about it," he assured her, “I told you, my Mom's cool! “

He squeezed her arm the way she always squeezed his and she
leaned in. “She thinks you're a "peach,” he said, exaggerating the
word for effect while pinching her left cheek.

She pulled her head away, slowly, and smiled wickedly. “That's
because she sees me as respectable."

Smiling wickedly, Marty said, "well, we better make sure she never
finds out the truth then!"

Jennifer giggled and punched him on the arm with a grin.

They were about to kiss when they were rudely interrupted by a

UNICEF style donation can being shoved in between their faces and
rattled by an older woman with her hair in a tight bun, wearing large
square rimmed glasses. “Save the clock tower! Save the clock
tower!" The woman shouted at them as if they were across the
square from her. “Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace
that clock tower!” She gestured behind them toward the court house
and the ancient clock.

They turned, following her gesture with their gaze and looked at the
clock tower while she continued with her pitch. Marty stared at the
damaged ledge.

“Thirty years ago,” the woman continued indignantly, “lightning struck

that clock tower and the clock hasn't run since.”

Marty turned back toward Jennifer, grimacing and biting his lip. He
wondered why she thought that they would care about some broken
old clock tower.

Almost as if reading his mind she defended, speaking in a tone that

suggested she was talking about saving a living thing from being
executed. “We at the Hill Valley preservation society think it should
be preserved exactly the way it is, as part of our history and
heritage!”

Marty commented. “At least he could fix that broken ledge!”

She shook her head as if he were suggesting something

unthinkable.

“What happened there anyway?” He asked. “Lightning didn't do that

to the ledge!”

“It happened the same night,” she said in hushed tones, as if telling a
ghost story around a campfire. “No one knows for sure how it
happened, but some say that crazy Doc Brown was lurking around
the clock tower that night, performing some weird weather
experiments.” She wrinkled her nose. “He's always lurking around in
parking lots and such in the middle of the night doing God knows
what!"

Marty's eyes grew dark at this. "Listen, you don't know what you're
talking about, Doc's not like that!"

She faltered, seeming at a loss to know how to respond.

He angrily put a penny in the UNICEF can to emphasize his point.

“Don't spend it all in one place,” he said sardonically.

"Thanks a lot," she replied dryly, handing him a flier that says “Save
the Clock Tower.” She then ran off to find more reasonable
prospects, other unsuspecting potential donors who might be
passing by.

“Ya, go find another sucker to prey on ya hag,” Marty said under his
breath.

Jennifer was chuckling at the penny stunt. “That was kind of mean”
she said.

He looked at her defensively.

“But justified,” she added.

“Where were we?” Marty asked.

“Right about here...” she said warmly, leaning in to kiss him.

Again they were interrupted. This time by the beep of a horn. It was
Jennifer's father in an AMC Eagle station wagon. He had arrived to
pick her up.

“I'll call you later,” said Marty as she headed off.

She stopped and turned. “Oh, I'll be at my grandma's.” She ran back
and grabbed the flier from him and used the folder she'd been
carrying to write down her grandmother's phone number.

He stares at her hair while she was doing it, looking disgusted,
thinking about the kiss he just missed out on... twice in a row. When
she was done, she handed him the flier and said, “bye.” Then she
leaned in and they kissed.

The horn honks again, a bit more forefully. She turned and ran once
again toward her father's car, who is now glaring at Marty with the
look that can kill. Marty watched her leave then lifted up the flier and
read the number she wrote. Below the phone number it read, “I love
you.” He smiled and sighed in satisfaction. He stared at the note a
few more seconds, looked up and watched as Jennifer and her dad
drove away. As they passed Marty the father took his two fingers of
his right hand, pointed at his own eyes, then pointed menacingly at
Marty with those same two fingers in a “I'm watching you,” gesture.

Marty waved back at him while he stuffed the treasure in his pocket.

He sees a police car trailing the Jennifer's dad. “Better watch the
road pal,” he muttered, “someone's watching you.” He got back on
his skateboard and ran toward the passing cop car, keeping low. He
grabbed its bumper and hitched a ride.
 2. THINK BIFF, THINK!

As dusk fell like a reverse dawn, Marty skated past the entrance to
the run down suburb of Lyon Estates subdivision where he lived. The
stone pillars on each side of the street were marred by time, neglect,
and graffiti. He grabbed the back of a green car as it passed him and
was towed all the way to his house. When he arrived, he let go and
coasted toward his driveway.

His house is a modest ranch style home, one of the oldest models
here. His parents could have purchased a newer and much nicer
home long ago, with his father's very successful writing career, but
his parents claimed there were just too many fond memories there.
Even though it's one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood it's
still one of the finest and best maintained. His dad's BMW was in the
garage, immaculate as ever.

But what caught Marty's attention was the brand new 4 X 4 pickup
truck someone had just let down from a tow vehicle. He was elated.
"It's here!" He exclaimed in excitement, spreading his hands across
the tailgate as if hugging it. "I can't wait to take this baby out to the
lake!" Suddenly he noticed a pasty faced man with slick oily hair and
a 5 o' clock shadow who was feverishly rubbing hard on it in one
spot with rubbing compound. He looked like a homeless bum
cleaning windshields for money and mumbling to himself.

Angry voices started to waft out from in the house, but he was too
busy glaring now where the man was working. It was a huge scratch!
“What happened to my new truck?" He demanded.

The man responded curtly, “I'm not sure, I just work here.” There was
alcohol on the man's breath.
An outraged Marty took on an accusatory air. “That looks deliberate!
Like someone keyed it!!! " He turned and jogged toward the house,
calling out as he did.

"DAD!"

As he got to the screen door he could see his father, George McFly,
who stood in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning on the threshold,
wearing a nice plush smoking jacket with a college emblem on it,
well pressed khaki pants, and high end leather loafers. Not a hair
was out of place, as usual.

George was not your typical man in his late forties. Life and the
advantages of success had been good to him. He was slim, trim,
athletic. Tall, dark and handsome with chiseled features and soft
soulful eyes. There was just the slight trace of acne scarring from his
younger years but it was hardly noticeable.

Biff, their auto detail guy, was there in the kitchen with George, he
looked like a scolded dog. He was wearing his usual loose running
suit. Tonight it was gray. Biff was once taller than George, now he
walked around hunched over. His hair was graying. He had a paunch
as well. He just reminded Marty of a big white haired orangutan.

As Marty burst in through the door to interrupt them his father held
up a hand to silence him.

"Dad, I think you better come out here and take a look at this,
someone..."

His father didn't say anything, just turned back to Biff.

“I'm really sorry for this, Mr. McFly," Biff blustered what sounded like
a completely insincere apology. "I swear it was an accident, I never
noticed that tow truck had a blind spot before now."
"A blind spot?" George McFly scoffs. "Biff, are you kidding me, that's
the best you can do?"

Marty slapped his hands on the counter nearby and turned back to
look out the screen door in disbelief at his damaged brand new truck
he has never even driven yet.

George continued ripping into Biff. "You've always got some story
Biff, it's been that way since High School!"

"I swear it's true” said Biff, insincerely, (or so it seemed to Marty,
anyway).

"Now Biff," George changed to his “let's talk business” tone as he

moved closer to Biff while pointing out at the direction of the front
door and the damaged truck outside. "Can I assume that your
company is going to pay for these damages?"

"I thought Marty's insurance would cover it?"

George grew irritated. "Hello! He exclaimed in sarcastic tones.

"Think Biff! Think! if I claim this on Marty's insurance his rates will go
through the roof, they might even cancel him on the policy, you
wouldn't want that to happen just to save yourself a few bucks,
would you?"

There's a pause, as Biff appears to weigh his answer. The big man
gave Marty a sly sideways glance and Marty stiffened.

George became just a bit more forceful. "Well, would you?"

Biff stammered, "well, now, of course not, Mr. McFly, you know I
wouldn't want that to happen!"

Marty scowled at this middle aged weasel.

George didn't let him off the hook that easily. "Well you know this is
no laughing matter, Biff, I paid a fortune for that vehicle and Lorraine
and I wanted it to be perfect for Marty!"

Biff looked truly remorseful now and said to Marty, "I'm really sorry,
Marty."

Marty folded his arms and said nothing, leaning against the wall. He
suspected Biff missed his calling as an actor.

Biff said, "I have my best body man out there right now!"

Marty scoffed. "Rubbing compound? That's not going help that

gouge in the paint!"

"I know it's not" he started to growl, then checked himself. He turned
to George again. "Mr. McFly let me take it back to the shop tonight.
We'll work on it all night if we have to and I swear it will be right as
rain by tomorrow morning."

He looked at Marty. "Just in time for your trip to the lake!"

Marty is skeptical. "I don't know, I don't trust your friends, Larry, Mo,
and Curly" he said finally.

Biff frowns. “Those buttheads couldn't fix a race if they were running
it themselves!” No, I mean that my best mechanic is out there right
now and he can do it, I swear!“

George looked at Marty quizzically. “It sounds like a good plan, son?"

Marty is still not convinced, "ya but Dad, my new truck!"

George tried to placate him further. "I know son, but Biff says he'll
have it fixed by tomorrow so you can go to the lake. You want it to be
perfect right? For Jennifer?"
Biff waited with baited breath for Marty's approval as George
advocated for him.

Marty thought it over some more. Then, reluctantly shrugged in

agreement. “What real choice do I have?” He asked, despondently.

Biff smiled, almost apish.

“Okay, Biff but this seems like it's worth six months free wash and
wax for both our vehicles for all of our trouble!” George told him flatly.

Looking downward submissively Biff agrees. "Sure thing, Mr. McFly,

whatever you think is fair.”

George followed Biff's gaze to the floor then pointed and said, "hey
Biff, your shoe's untied!

Biff looked down. "So it is, thanks." He bent down to tie his shoe.

“Don't be so careless Biff,” George lectured him, “you could fall and
break your neck! “

Then to Marty. “When we were kids Biff was always getting into
accidents. “ He turned back to Biff. “How many times did you crash
your car into a manure truck in High School, Biff?”

Biff stopped tying his shoe, remembering bitterly. "Once.”

George frowned. "I could have sworn it was two times!"

As Biff was finishing tying his shoes, he just sort of glared at Marty
with almost an accusatory expression. Marty shifted uncomfortably.

Then he quietly appealed to George. "Dad, he's giving me that

creepy look again."

His shoe now tied, Biff jumped up, embarrassed. "Oh, I wasn't
looking at you? I was just deep in thought about something else,
sorry. "

Marty frowned.

George made a "let it go" gesture with his right hand at Marty and
shook his head.

Biff headed out the door, saying goodbye as he went He bounced

past Marty, and as he did, he said to him, nonchalantly. “Hey Marty,
say hello to your mom for me.” He then ran out the door.

George stared after him with a look that seems to say, "pitiful.” After
he left, George closed the front door while shaking his head. He saw
his son's still angry stare. You'll have to excuse him," George
actually apologized for Biff. “He had that head injury when we were
young.”

“Ya, I know in the fire, I remember you told me.”

George continued to defend him, emphatically. “Ya in the fire and he

also had other accidents.” They stood there watching Biff leave.

He gave his mechanic a smack across the back of the head. Then
they both climbed into the tow truck.

Looking out at them George said, sadly. “He's never been completely
right in the head even before he wasn't 'right in the head.'

Marty frowns. "He's an asshole dad!"

George couldn't deny it. He nodded, then smiled, ruffling Marty's

hair. "Well, when you're right, you're right son." He looked over to
see Lorraine standing in the other doorway leading to the living
room.

Lorraine was a bouncy brunette, same age as George, but also like
George she did not look her age. Her hair was a bit darker than
Marty's hair. She wore it short. They say that boys somehow end up
dating girls that are like their mother and in this case they would
never know how true it was. Lorraine and Jennifer Parker had many
things in common physically. They could have been mother and
daughter. Lorraine was slim and athletic just like George. They often
played Tennis together at the country club and even played golf on
couple's weekends. She was normally cheery. She just lit up a room
whenever she was there.

“Well, he's right!” Said George to Lorraine.

She nodded. “Biff's a butthead!”

Marty and George share a look and Marty raises his eyebrows.

“Dinner's ready,” Lorraine announced, “so go wash up, both of you.”

**********

That evening the family sat down for dinner - George, his wife
Lorraine, and their children Marty, Dave, and Linda.

Dave was tall and dashing, like George. He was about 5 years older
than Marty. He was a certified accountant at a major firm. He
managed the northern California branch. He was still wearing his tie,
but he had hung his tweed suit coat in the closet when he came in.
His hair was always perfect, like George.

Linda was a computer programmer for IBM. She was on the fast
track. She looked like Lorraine, but had George's square jaw. She
was well built for a woman. Marty often thought his sister reminded
him of Ricki Lake. He would only tell her that when he wanted to tick
her off, though, she hated being compared to her. She was a serious
business woman and future entrepreneur. She was very popular with
the men, however, and had made no apologies for it.

The family dining room was gorgeous. Beautifully decorated with

great lighting. There is a white piano behind them against the wall. At
the table, Marty sat fidgeting with Doc's portable VHS recorder.

“What are you doing with that?” Linda inquired, a bit irritated.

“I'm going to use it later,” he replied, still playing with it. “Maybe make
some movie magic.” He holds up the camera as if shooting, pointing
it at her.

She didn't appear amused. “Okay, Spielberg!”

Marty put it down, instead turning his attention to his mother as she
walked into the room from the kitchen carrying a cake. Sadly she
plops it down on the table in front of them. The writing on the cake
reads: 'Welcome Home, Joey,” next to a picture of a bird flying out of
jail. "You children might as well enjoy this cake for dessert," Lorraine
said, woefully, "your uncle Joey won't be joining us tonight after all.”

"I thought he was acquitted of all those charges!” Said Marty.

George chimed in. "Of course he was acquitted! It cost me a fortune

for that shyster lawyer, the best criminal defense attorney in
California! What went wrong this time?”

Lorraine patted George's hand. "He was released, dear, but then he
went out to celebrate and punched a cop in a bar room brawl.”

George shook his head in total disgust and then went back to
watching an old rerun of “The Honeymooners” on a huge console
television set. Dave was also watching.
Marty, talking with his mouth full noted, “Geez mom, you'd think he
liked it behind bars!"

"Don't be silly" she replied. But then, thinking about it, she lowered
her head and nodded.

“He's such an embarrassment,” Linda complained.

Lorraine continued to make excuses for her jail bird brother but
Marty wasn't listening, he was watching his father.

Dave and George were both laughing together at the screen. George
had a distinctive “nerdy” laugh where he would suck in air like he
was choking. Marty marveled how incongruous this laugh was with
the rest of his dad's personality. He had a silly side for sure. The
normally suave, debonair George McFly, pointing and laughing like a
nerd. It's was so odd, in fact, that Marty decided to film it.

As he did, Linda suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, by the way Marty, while you were pouting over your truck,
Jennifer Parker called two times.”

Lorraine smiled at the mention of Marty's girlfriend. "I really do like

that girl. She's got moxy, like I did when I was her age ... although,”
she reconsiders, “I wouldn't have chased boys.” She then looked
quizzically at Linda, who was now glaring at her and added, “but that
was a different time!”

“I don't know how you ever met boys or went out on dates if you
never called boys.”

Lorraine stared adoringly at George who was still half watching the
TV show and eating at the same time. "It was just destiny." She said
dreamily.
"That was so stupid!" Linda objects. "Dad beat up poor Biff because
he pushed you down or something and you both ended up falling in
“love.” The word “love” drips with mocking sarcasm.

Lorraine stared at George adoringly, who is still snorting at the TV

show with Dave and doesn't seem to notice her look at all. "Your
father was like a knight in shining armor that night. “

Marty was still periodically picking up the camera and filming.

“So,” Linda continued her critique, “dad ends up beating up poor Biff,
who never hurt anyone, at the “Fish Under the Sea Dance, and you
are so turned on by this you ask him to dance!”

Dave corrected her, "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, you

NINNY!"

"Ya, whatever," she said, taking a bite of cake.

“Watch your mouth” Lorraine warned Dave, “don't talk to your sister
like that.”

“Whatever,” Dave muttered, turning back to the television.

Linda continued her rant, “...and then a month later dad saved
someone from some big huge fire and got a medal or something,
and from that day he was your hero.” The word hero drips
sarcastically off her tongue.

Lorraine interjected at this point. “He was a lot of people's hero

young lady and it was the key to the city, not a medal.” She stopped,
remembering.

Then, to George she said, “although I never got a straight answer

what you were doing that far out of town that night. How did you ever
see that fire and run in and save everyone? “ She waits for an
answer.
He ignored her, still watching the show.

“George?”

George still doesn't seem to hear her.

“George?” She asked a bit louder.

He turned to her, “hmm, what was that?” (It was almost as though he
were pretending not to hear the question).

“Never mind,” she said, “it doesn't matter.

Then she turned back to Linda. “Once I saw what a true hero your
father was I knew this was the man I was going to spend the rest of
my life with.”

Linda rolls her eyes. “That doesn't sound like destiny, it sounds more
like "dense-ity!"

George and Lorraine stared into each others' eyes romantically .

George chimed in on the story, dreamily, still looking into his wife's
beautiful eyes. “You should have seen your mother at the dance!
(Not realizing they had moved on from the dance and were
discussing what happened afterward, or, he was trying to steer the
subject away from that) “Every guy there was jealous of me because
I was with the most beautiful girl in Hill Valley. They kept trying to cut
in but I wouldn't share her."

Lorraine smiled, remembering the scene.

George got up and moved over to her and she jumped up to him.
They began to passionately kiss.

The kids all practically choked.

Dave complained. "We're still trying to eat here." He quickly looked
at the clock and and his eyes went wide. He jumped up and
announced that he's got a hot date, as he moved around the table,
squeezing past his dad, and kissing Lorraine on the forehead. He
whispered, "maybe next year, mom.," (gesturing at the cake).

She lovingly patted him on the arm.

Then he looked at George with raised eyebrows. "Really Dad, you

two should go get a room or something!"

George looked quickly at Dave like he said something unexpected

and very clever. He started to laugh that same nerdy laugh again.

As Dave walked toward the door George is still pointing and

laughing. "Go get a room!" George echoes. "You go get a room!"

Reaching into the closet to get his suit jacket, Dave turned around
and slyly said, "I intend to,” he raised his eyebrows a couple of times
as he put his jacket on.

George laughed even harder at this as Dave walks out the door.

Marty, once again, was filming.

 3. YOU JUST DISINTEGRATED EINSTEIN!

Marty was asleep in his cluttered room later that evening when he
was awakened by the phone ringing. “Hello,” Marty answered,
groggily.

“Marty, you didn't fall asleep, did you?” It was the voice of Doc
Brown.

Marty jumped up and looked at the clock wondering if he missed his

appointment at the Mall. “No, no, Doc I was just getting ready to go,”
he lied.

“Marty,” Said Doc, knowingly, “don't forget to bring that camera with
you, it's vitally important!”

“Sure thing, Doc,” replied Marty. “I'm on my way.” He hung up and

jumped out of bed, pulling up his suspenders. He grabbed the
camera and his skateboard,, threw on his leather jacket, and
scurried out of his bedroom window. So as not to wake anyone.

Not long afterward Marty showed up at the Lone Pine Mall on his
skateboard carrying the camera. It was beautiful night. The stars
were out but it was a bit chilly. The parking lot below the mall sign
was pretty much deserted. There was never anyone around this
early in the morning. Which is probably why the Doc chose this
location. He skated past the sign and stared down the hill into the
parking lot. There was a large moving van and a truck in the parking
lot below. He made his way down there and approached, almost
cautiously.. Einstein ran up to him. “Einstein,” Marty happily patted
the dog on the head, “hey Einstein, where's the Doc, boy, huh?”

Just then, the back of the step van opened slowly. An eerie fog rolled
out of the truck and out of the fog came what appeared to be a
souped up DeLorean DMC-12. It backed down the ramp seemingly
on it's own, then the driver's side wing door opened and out stepped
Doc dressed in some khakis and an Hawaiian shirt, covered by a
white jump suit.

Doc brown was tall and lanky, especially standing next to Marty. He
was a quite a bit older than Marty's parents, perhaps in his 70's. He
had wild hair. Pure white and shooting out in all directions, like
Einstein's. Not Einstein the sheep dog, but Einstein the scientist after
whom the sheep dog was named. Doc had a crooked nose, straight
long face, jutting forehead, and deep penetrating eyes.

“Marty you made it!” He said, excitedly. As if there really was some
doubt of it.

“Ya,” Marty responded, almost in an agreeable tone.

“Welcome to my experiment,” he gushed, "this is it, the big one, the

one I've been waiting for all my life.”

“Um, well is that a De....?” Marty gestures at the car.

“Never mind that now, never mind that now.” Doc cut him off rudely.
Then, he softened, apologetically. “Bare with me, Marty, all of your
questions will be answered in due time.” He made a rolling sign with
his hands. “Roll tape, we'll proceed.”

Marty puts the camera to his face and focuses. “Alright, I'm ready.”

Looking quickly at his watch Doc begins. “Good evening, I'm Doctor
Emmett Brown. I'm standing on the parking lot of The Lone Pine
Mall. It's Saturday morning, October 26, 1985, 1:18 a.m. and this is
temporal experiment number one. “ Doc calls to Einstein and the
pooch runs happily to him.

“C'mon, Einy,” Doc coaxed the dog into the DeLorean, “hey hey boy,
get in there, that a boy, in you go, get down,” he sat the dog in the
driver's seat, “that's it.”

In a completely unexpected move, Doc placed the dog, Einstein, into

the driver's seat of the DeLorean and buckled him in.

Marty, a bit taken aback commented, “whoa, whoa, okay,” he said, I

don't think Einstein can drive Doc.”

Doc ignored him completely and lifted up a watch that was hanging
on a chain around the dog's neck and held up a similar watch.
“Please note,” Doc continued in his official tone, “that Einstein's clock
is in complete synchronization with my control watch.”

“Check,” said Marty.

Doc strapped the dog into the seat belt. “Good. Have a good trip
Einstein, watch your head,” he closed the wing door.

Then he whipped out a remote control from seemingly nowhere.

Marty was once again taken aback. “Did you hook that up to the
car?”

Doc only nodded, then used the remote control to drive the car
across the parking lot some distance away. When it reached the end
of the lot, he spun the car around to face them and locked the front
breaks on the vehicle. With another flip of a switch the back tires
begin to spin faster and faster as they squeal and the rubber burns in
place on the asphalt.

“Watch this.” Said Doc, excitedly.

Marty was getting visibly nervous, obviously worried that Doc was
about to do something really stupid with that car, with Einstein still in
it. His camera drifted to film Doc again but Doc interjected.

“Not me, the car, the car.”

Marty quickly turned the camera back to the DeLorean.

If my calculations are correct...” Doc said intensely, staring down at

the remote, and continuing to play with switches. He looked up at
Marty dramatically. “When this baby hits 88 miles per hour... we're
going to see some serious shit!"

He switched off the brakes!

Free now, the DeLorean excelled rapidly, right toward them!

Marty tried to inch his way out of the car's path but Doc gave him a
disapproving look and he sheepishly and reluctantly rejoined him,
right in the path of the careening DeLorean. He clenched his teeth
and narrowed his eyes tightly shut, turning his head, bracing for the
impact.

Instead, however, a bright light quickly emanated from deep within

the center of the DeLorean, spreading outward like colorful lightning,
surrounding the vehicle and engulfing it. Before the car could hit
them, it flashed like the sun then... it vanished in an instant, leaving
nothing but two burning fire trails on either side of them where the
tires would have traveled had the vehicle not vanished.

Standing in the midst of the fire trails, Marty looked back behind
them, gaping in amazement and horror. Where the DeLorean should
be, all that was left was the license plate which ironically read
"outatime.” It was spinning there in the center of the car's fiery wake.
The plate fell to the ground with a series of clanks.

Doc cheered like a madman! “What did I tell you? EIGHTY EIGHT
MILES PER HOUR!!! He was shaking the remote into the air with
each word. Grinning and dancing around he stared at his watch
again. “The temporal displacement occurred at exactly 1:20 a.m. and
zero seconds!” He sounded truly pleased with himself.
Marty just stared in horror. He can't believe his ears nor his eyes. He
stared at Doc in utter dismay. “Hot Jesus Christ, Doc, you just
disintegrated Einstein!”

“Calm down Marty,” Doc said, reassuring him, “no one disintegrated
anyone! The molecular structure of Einstein and the car are
completely intact.”

Marty, exhausted, looked back in the direction where the car should
be. Dumbfounded he asked, “Where the hell are they?”

Doc began to explain like a professor giving a lecture to a student.

“The appropriate question is, where in the hell are they? Einstein has
just become the world's first time traveler. I sent him into the future.
One minute into the future to be exact. And at exactly 1:21 a.m. we
should catch up with him and the time machine.”

Again Marty appeared to not be able to process what he was

hearing. The look on his face was telling. He started to think how
right Principal Strickland might have been in his prediction about Doc
Brown being "dangerous."

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, Doc, you expect me to believe that

you built a time machine out of a Deloreon?” Marty asks
incredulously.

Doc nodded his head.

“Why not? The way I see it, he explained, “if you're gonna build a
time machine into a car why not do it with some style. Besides, the
stainless, steel construction made the perfect conductor for the flux
dispersal...“ he looks suddenly down at his watch then shouts. “Look
out!”

He shoved Marty out of the way just in time as the DeLorean

reappeared with a flash and with a small explosion. It came in at the
exact spot it had disappeared only a moment earlier. Doc
manipulated the remote control and brought the car to a screeching
halt, then he approached it cautiously.

It appeared to be encrusted with something, like ice. Smoke or

steam was pouring off of it. As he came near, air and steam released
from the exhaust vents to the rear of the vehicle, making Doc jump.
He then moved even slower. Even more cautiously still he reached
out to touch the door handle and recoiled in pain.

“ What, What, is it hot?” Asked Marty.

“No, it's COLD. Damned Cold!”

The DeLorean was indeed encrusted with ice. The Doc had to use
his foot to open the door. There, inside, was Einstein, safe and
sound, still strapped in, looking warm and cozy and happy to have
taken a ride in the car.

“Ha, ha, Einstein,” Doc laughed, “you little devil.”

Once more Einstein's watch is lifted and placed next to Doc's control
watch, the two watches are now exactly one minute apart. “Einstein's
clock is exactly one minute behind mine, it's still ticking,” Doc notes,
thrilled.

Still more worried about the dog than the experiment Marty asked,
“is he alright?”

“He's fine,” Doc assured him again, “and he's completely unaware
that anything has happened. As far as he's concerned the trip was
instantaneous. That's why Einstein's watch is exactly one minute
behind mine. He skipped over that minute,” (Doc gestures with his
hand in an arcing motion) “to instantly arrive at this moment in time.”

Marty has still been rolling the camera during this explanation.
Doc waves him closer. “Come here, I'll show you how it works.” Doc
pulled Marty over to the DeLorean/ time machine and he got inside
and began to give him a tour. Where a gear shift would normally be,
on the center console, Doc reached down and grabbed a lever.

“First, you turn the time circuits on.” Doc flips the lever toward him
like a circuit breaker switch. An LED display array Doc has mounted
to the dash board came to life. Below it a set of meters Doc has
installed provide the following readings. “Primary, Percent Power,
and Plutonium Charge.”

“This read out tells you where you are going,” explained Doc while
pointing to the top dates on the display that read OCT 26 1985 01:21
in red-letter. He then points to the middle display that is in green-
letter and has the date OCT 26 1985 01:22. “This one tells you
where you've been.” Doc then quickly points to the bottom read out
which is in yellow-letter and has the date OCT 26 1985 01:20. “This
one tells you where you've been.”

Marty,still rolling the camera, just grunts. “uh huh.”

He glances at Marty like a kid showing someone his favorite video

game. “You input your destination on this keypad. Say you want to
see the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” There are three
lit buttons on the keypad corresponding to the colors of each display.
Doc presses red button and types on the keypad and presses enter.
A white light glows below the three green buttons on the pad and the
date on the display changed to JULY 04 1776.

“Or say you want to witness the birth of Christ,” Doc continued his
demonstration by pressing the red button again, typing in the date
DEC 25 0001. (There is no such thing as a year 0000). The display
changed to read the new date.

Doc then begins to type in another date. “Here's a red-letter date in

the history of science, November fifth nineteen fifty fi...” Doc stopped
short, considering his actions carefully as the date he typed in
changes on the display to November 5, 1955. He smiled to himself,
as if reaching some epiphany. “Yes, of course, November 5, 1955!”
He pauses and stares off into space deep in thought then he smirked
at Marty, shifting uncomfortably as if unsure of what to say.

Marty put down the camera and stopped filming. Looking totally
confused. “What?” He asks eagerly, “I don't get what happened.”

Doc threw back his head and slapped his palm to his forehead, in
some sort of eureka moment chuckling. “Ha, ha, of course!” Then, to
Marty he explains, “that was the day I invented time travel.”

Marty hung on his every word in amazement, an expression on his

fact that suggested he was wondering why he'd never heard this
story before. “ I remember it vividly,” Doc goes on, “I was standing on
the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, I
slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink. And when I came to I
had a revelation, a vision! A picture in my head, a picture of this” He
turned and pointed to the back of the cab of the vehicle, at a
triangular shaped flashing object held inside a glass casing. “This is
what makes time travel possible. The flux capacitor.” Doc says it's
name with awe in his voice.

“The flux capacitor?” Marty echoes incredulously, while still filming.

“This is good stuff Doc, keep going!”

“It's taken me almost 30 years and my entire family fortune to realize

the vision of that day,” Doc continued. He stops, his eyes stare wildly.
“My GOD has it been that long?” He exclaims in dismay.

Doc stopped talking, as if fighting some inner struggle and he looked

at Marty with an odd expression. Then he laughed and and shook
his head as if waking from a dream. He turned and tapped another
date into the display, speaking as he does so, uttering each word as
he taps a key stroke. “Or... it... could... just... be... any... random...
date...” He smiles at Marty. “If you just feel like taking a little joy ride
through time.” He winked at Marty then swung his legs back out of
the vehicle and sat, half in and half out, talking dreamily.

“Things have certainly changed around here,” he reflected

thoughtfully as he climbed out of the DeLorean, waving his hands in
all directions. “I remember when this was all farmland as far as the
eye could see. Old man Peabody, owned all of this. He had this
crazy idea about breeding pine trees.” Doc looked around, as if still
lost in the past.

Marty continued to film the inside of the DeLorean, thinking about

what Doc just said with a weird look on his face. He started filming
the gauges inside the vehicle and the first time he notices the word
plutonium on one of them. He dropped the camera down to his side
in confusion. “With a lone pine?” Marty scoffs. “How does that work?”

Doc shakes his head with another strange look.

“This is uh, this is heavy duty, Doc, this is great.” Marty is practically
speechless as he continues to film the Doc, who is now donning
some protective suit. Marty now starts to sound a bit nervous all over
again. He doesn't like the thought that just popped into his head.
“Uh, does it run like on uh regular unleaded gasoline?”

“Yes and no” says Doc. Unfortunately, I needed something with a

little more kick. There's a pause, then, as if he's talking about ice
cream, or bubble gum, or some other harmless substance he states
flatly.... “plutonium.”

Marty's heart jumped into his throat and his voice went up a few
notches. “Uh, wait a minute, wait a minute,” he says, looking back at
the vehicle, then back at the Doc with a deep look of concern. “Doc
are you telling me that this sucker's nuclear?”

Doc, who has been kneeling down at his tool box, looks back and
saw Marty is no longer filming. He jumped up, waving his arm in a
circle motion and moved back toward Marty. “Hey, hey,” he ordered,
“keep rolling there!”

Marty is struggling with the camera now and with what he's just been
told. His face contorted and his eyes were squinting. “Doc!” He
exclaims in outrage! But he raises the camera up again and films as
Doc continues.

“No, this sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction to generate

the one point twenty-one gigawatts of electricity that I need.”

“Doc,” Marty said balefully, “you don't just walk into a store and ask
for plutonium!” Marty protests. He can hardly believe what he's
hearing. Suddenly he stops and, almost whispering he asks Doc the
question that he already knows the answer to. "Did you rip that off?"
He started looking from side to side, as if the mall had eyes and
ears.

Doc turns and walks swiftly back to Marty, moving his hands back
and forth as if to say “cut, cut,” and shaking his head as if to say no.

But when he got right up to the camera lens he said, “Of course, I
stole it. From a group of Libyan Nationalists. They wanted me to
build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and in turn gave them a
shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts.” Doc grins at
his clever ruse.

Marty's eyes bugged out and he dropped the camera back to his
side. “Jeez....” was all he could muster to say to this.

“Let's get you into a radiation suit, we need to reload.”” Doc

suggested, as if it's all of no consequence now.

Doc has already donned a special radiation hood and mask, and his
breathing sounds like Darth Vader. He pulled out the yellow box with
the nuclear logo on it, opened it, reached in and wearing special
gloves, and using a pair of tongs, slowly, delicately pulled out a
round vial of a reddish brown liquid suspended in some kind of clear
liquid. He stood there, holding the vial of plutonium up to his face,
examining it.

Marty has already moved over to Doc's position, and realized there
is a suit just like the one Doc is wearing, only yellow, ready and
waiting for him. He put it on and, reluctantly, unable to believe what
he has now got himself into, and under Doc's guidance and
direction, he learns how to reload a makeshift nuclear reactor with
one of the most volatile compounds on the face of the earth. The
whole time Mr. Strickland's words were echoing in his brain, “This so
called Doctor Brown is dangerous. He's a real nut case. You hang
around with him you're going to get in BIG trouble!”

Marty just stood there in his yellow radiation suit, shaking and trying
hard to steady the camera while he filmed Doc showing how to insert
the vial and turn it so that the plutonium dropped safely into the
reactor chamber he has built on the back of the DeLorean.

Doc removed the empty vial, twisted the cap back onto the reactor's
round radiator chamber, and then pulled his head covering down.
“Safe now, Doc said, “everything's lead lined.” Doc gestured at the
camera as Marty also lowered his head covering, still looking like
he's about to shit gold (or plutonium) bricks

Tearing off his helmet, Doc hurried to the plutonium case, and kicked
it back open with his foot. “Don't you lose those tapes now,” he said
as he haphazardly placed the empty vial back in it's place, “history
will need a record,” he said, “for posterity's sake. He closed the
plutonium case and threw down his head covering and tore off his
gloves.

He then carried the case and his luggage to the front of the car and
began placing them in the trunk. While he did it he mumbled. “I can't
forget my luggage. I mean who knows if they've got cotton
underwear in the future. I'm allergic to all synthetics.” He paused as
he was placing them in. As if contemplating whether he's doing the
right thing. Finally, he shook his head and put the case in there first.

Quietly he muttered to himself. "I'm taking way too many risks!"

“That's an understatement!” Marty said, thinking Doc was referring to

the stealing of plutonium from dangerous terrorists and promising to
build them a nuclear bomb, but then double crossing them. “So, the
future, that's where you're going?” Asked Marty.

The Doctor nodded. “That's right, twenty five years into the future.
He gazes off, as if seeing something afar. “I've always dreamed on
seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of
mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world
series.

“Uh, Doc,” Marty says.

“Huh?”

“Uh, look me up when you get there?”

“Sure thing” Doc replied warmly.

Then, as if remembering something dangerous, a very serious look

clouds over on his face. “Marty, there's something I need to tell you
and it's important you listen carefully.”

Marty stops recording.

“Actually roll the camera, record it.” Doc instructed.

Marty resumed filming.

“Listen Marty,” he begins, “on the off chance, however unlikely, that
something were to ever happen to me and it is within your power to
destroy this time machine I don't want you to hesitate.”
Stunned, Marty stopped filming. “Doc, what's going to happen?”

“Keep filming” says Doc urgently.

Marty points the camera again.

“I don't know, I'm just speaking hypothetically here,” explained Doc.

“If some day you were to say, find yourself in the future or the past
with this machine you have to PROMISE me you will not interact with
ANYONE, not even me, ESPECIALLY not me.”

Marty is totally confused. He keeps rolling but he has a lot of

questions. “Doc, how the heck am I ever going to use the time
machine?”

Doc looked nervous. “There's no time to explain, just promise me if it

ever does happen you'll follow this one rule, don't interact with
anyone in the past OR the future, just do what you can to get this
time machine home and if I'm dead or missing, destroy it! In fact, if
you can't get the time machine home, destroy it. You'll just have to
accept your fate and remain wherever or whenever you are. Can you
promise me?”

Now Marty is really nervous. He reluctantly agrees. “Sure Doc, I

promise!” Marty is used to this sort of melodrama from the Doc, but
something in his voice tells Marty that the Doc is hiding more than a
few things.

Looking satisfied, Doc Brown leaned onto the doorway. Leaning on

the car, Doc began a farewell address. "I'm about to embark on an
historic journey, he started, “this will be the day long remembered.
Every great adventure begins with a single step. If Neil Armstrong
took a giant leap forward for mankind... this will be considered a pole
vault." He stopped, mid sentence as Einstein, who is back in the
mobile command post, began to bark crazily in warning of something
or someone approaching. Doc looked in the direction the dog is
barking. “What is it Einy?” He sees headlights come on in the
distance across the parking lot near the entrance. He cries out in
dismay, "it's too late, they found me, I don't know how, I took every
precaution this time but somehow they STILL found me.. again!”

Marty asks, "who found you?"

Doc replied, "who do you think? " He pointed in the direction of the
entrance to the parking lot and screamed, "the LIBYANS!"

Marty looked in the direction he was pointing his eyes growing wide
with terror. A VW microbus raced toward them across the parking lot.
A man popped out of the top hatch, or sun roof (Marty didn't know
which it was) with an M-16 automatic rifle.

“Holy SHIT!” Screamed Marty.

The man began shooting .

“Run Marty,” Doc yelled as he waved him away, “get the hell out of
here, I'll hold them off.” Doc ran for an open tool box near the
command post and produced a pistol, but it was too late, the VW bus
was on him.

Instead of running, Marty just stood there, frozen in fear, like a deer
trapped in the headlights.

Doc tried to shoot but the pistol just clicked. Evidently it was not
loaded. In surrender, Doc tossed the pistol away. It clattered limply to
the pavement as he put his hands up.

There is a brief pause.

Marty watched from near the DeLorean, a look of hope on his face.
Maybe they just want their plutonium back. Then, the man opened
fire on Doc, riddling his body with bullet holes. Doc brown's entire
body is nearly picked up off the ground by the impacts.
Marty screamed at the Libyans, "NO! You bastards!"

Hearing Marty's screams, the terrorist turned his gun on the

teenager, but he dodged and hid on the other side of the work truck.
The van tried to go around Doc's large moving van to get at him from
the other side, and when Marty sees this he leaped into the
DeLorean head first. Slamming the door behind him, he took off in it.

They chased him relentlessly through the parking lot. Bullets were
just bouncing off the stainless steel frame and body of the DeLorean.
The rifle jammed. It looked like Marty might be in the clear, but the
man went back into the VW bus, then re-emerged with a shoulder
mounted grenade launcher, aiming it at the DeLorean.

Marty looked in the mirror at this sight and his eyes went wide. He
dropped the shifter into low gear and muttered, "let's see if that thing
can do 90!” He sped away. When the speedometer almost reached
88 mph, he had to swerve and it dropped back down again. Still
running from the terrorists who were still attempting to get a bead on
him with their grenade launcher.

He put the pedal to the medal again and picked up speed. He was
so intent on watching that maniac in his rear view mirror with the
grenade launcher, he didn't realize that he was headed straight
toward the one hour photo processing booth near the exit.

Suddenly, the DeLorean lights up in that same ethereal energy he

had witnessed earlier. It was all around him. The air tingled and
crackled making his hair stand on end. He finally looked out and saw
the looming photo booth just ahead. He started to veer away from it
but the car slowed when he did, so he locked his arms straight and
leaned back into the seat. It had finally dawned on him that the only
escape from these Libyans was a time jump. He NEEDED that 88
mph! He braced for impact with the photo booth.

Brillian light surrounded him. There was this terrible jolt of electricity
all through his body, then he felt nothing and it felt like he would
black out.

Suddenly, the photo booth and the mall parking lot are replaced by a
scare crow and it was raced toward him. He screamed. The
scarecrow bounced off the windshield. He pulled the car's steering
wheel hard to the right, as if he were still trying to avoid the photo
booth. He just barely missed a barn that also loomed up out of the
middle of nowhere. He plowed out into a nearby corn field and did
not slow down for quite a few moments, cutting a DeLorean sized
swath through the crops.

When he finally stopped and pulled the helmet off his head (it has
fallen over his face in the landing). He looked down the swath he cut
in the crops, behind him breathing hard from all the excitement.
“Thank the science gods that those Libyans couldn't follow me here,”
he muttered to himself. Then he stopped and looked to the dash with
a stunned look on his face. “Wherever... or whenever 'here' is!” He
said sardonically. The time circuit read, “November 14, 1955?” Marty
just mumbled... “Heavy.”
 4. PEABODY HAD A FARM EYI EYI OH!

Sitting there in the middle of the corn field in 1955, Marty was beside
himself for a few moments. It was an eerie silence accentuated by
Marty's heavy breathing. He thought about being back in time and it
occurred to him, “how cool is that?” He could see how things were
done, he could observe great historical moments! His history teacher
would LOVE him. Yet, what historical event happened in 1955
besides the invention of the flux capacitor, and he couldn't very well
write a history paper about that, besides he'd missed that date. What
kind luck does he have? He is the first human time traveler and he is
stuck in a crappy, unimportant time in history. I mean, what, 1955,
what's so special about it? It was the year his parents met and fell in
love...

That gave him pause. Maybe there WAS something interesting to

“observe” in 1955. His parents, in High School! He put it immediately
out of his mind, it was replaced by the thought of poor Doc Brown,
lying dead on the concrete. A tear rolled down his face.

Back at the Peabody barn, the door had been boarded up. Having
been damaged 9 days earlier by another DeLorean from 1985.
Lights came up in the nearby farmhouse. A spindly man emerged
with his mousy wife, a daughter and a son around 9 or 10 years old.
They cautiously crept toward the barn, for the second time in a week.

“Gotdammit, not again!” Peabody grumbled. He noticed the path in

the dirt the DeLorean made going past the barn and his gaze with
the flashlight followed the path out into the corn field. The smell of
crushed corn and soil and dust filled the air. His face went red with
age! “Those mutant bastards,” he exclaimed, “they killed my corn!”
The entire family went to the edge of the barn and stared in shock
down this path and the swath cut into the corn field.

Meanwhile, at the end of that path, Marty had opened his wing door,
removed his gloves and was in the trunk. He had the case to the
spare plutonium open and as fast as he could he was putting his
helmet back on the radiation suit, in preparation to refuel the flux
capacitor and go back to the future.

Old man Otis Peabody stood near the corner of the barn, once again
holding his shotgun in the middle of the night. Next to him was his
son Sherman, a boy of about 9 or 10. Lagging behind them, looking
terrified, were his wife Elsie and their daughter Martha.
“SONOFABITCH!” Old man Peabody exclaimed again. “What the
HELL happened here?”

“Crazy drunk space aliens?” His son Sherman asked.

Peabody looked down at his son like he was stupid.

The son only lifted up a comic book he'd been reading.

Otis Peabody shined his flashlight on the cover, to see a drawing of

a UFO crash landing in a corn field, cutting a path of destruction in
the crops and earth as it falls. The title said “Crazy Drunk Space
Aliens.”

Sherman looked at his father, who was staring at the comic in

disbelief. “They're back!”

“MUTATE BASTARD FIRST MY BARN, THEN MY PINE, NOW... MY

CORN TOO! Everyone back in the house!” He ordered. As they
obeyed he shouted after them to his wife. “...And Elsie, call the
damned sheriff this time!” Peabody began to stomp his way toward
the path cut in his crops, his gun at the ready.

Elsie shouted after him, “you be careful Otis!”

He waved her off, facing the newly cut path in his field, determined to
get to the bottom of these shenanigans. As he cautiously
approached the path a truck come pulling up fast. It was another
farmer, Bo Wilkins from down the road, his son, Kenny, riding
shotgun, literally with a shotgun. In the bed of the truck were two
other men with rifles, Billy and Ted, other neighbor farmers.

Bo rolled down his window and he half grins at Peabody. “What's all
the ruckus?”

Peabody seemed hesitant to answer. When he does he spoke

almost under his breath. “I got me another one!” He gestured at the
steaming path. “That a way. Just like before!”

Bo backs up his truck, turning it at the same time to point its

headlines at where Peabody had gestured. He looks down the dark
path in the corn field then, and whistled, not even hiding his utter
amusement. “You mean another one of them little green men?” He
asked, chiding the man.

Bill and Ted in the bed of the truck snickered. Ted struck Bill on the
arm playfully. “Aliens...” he said. They chuckled.

Kenny, in the passenger seat stares in the direction of the path in the
corn field wide eyed and nervous.

Peabody tried to ignore the chuckling fools in the back. “Not green,”
he corrected “some kinda critter in a yellow suit, but it looked human
enough.”

The men in the back can't contain themselves and they start
laughing out loud. Kenny grimaced and looked even more
uncomfortable, gripping his shotgun tighter.

Bo looks back at his friends Bill and Ted, and shouted. “Pipe down
will ya?”
This wipes the shit eating grins off their faces but they still snicker
back there.

Bo surveyed the path again, mulling things over. “Hop in,” he said to
Peabody, gesturing at the back of the truck. “Let's check it out!”

Peabody looked at the bed of the truck with the two snickering idiots
in it and rolled his eyes. Then he handed his shotgun to Bill, grabbed
the side and leaped into the truck bed with them. Bill handed his
shotgun back to him and he returned a respectful nod to each of
them, even though they are huddling, almost like school girls,
giggling at him.

Bo waited until Peabody settled in back there. He then threw the

truck in gear abd ut lurched forward, spinning it's tires. They headed
for the corn field and the waiting mysterious dark path. Bill and Ted
stood up and started hooting and hollering. Peabody glared at them
with utter contempt.

“Idiots!” He growled low between clenched teeth.

Meanwhile, Marty had just finished refueling the fusion reactor in the
DeLorean machine. He pulled back his hood and stood there now as
if considering something. He picked up the empty plutonium vial and
headed toward the trunk, at the front of the car. He placed it into the
case gingerly. “I gotta warn him!” He mumbled. He snapped the case
slowly and took off the gloves. He stopped, staring down into the
trunk, thinking hard. He left the trunk open and went to the driver's
seat and sat down. Weighing his options. He could hear Doc's voice
echoing in his head.

“...If some day you were to say, find yourself in the future or the past
with this machine you have to PROMISE me you will not interact with
ANYONE, not even me, especially not me.”

“I can't leave him like that,” he said, speaking to the time circuit as if
it were arguing with him, “I have to go back early and warn him!” He
started to input the date and time into the destination display using
the keypad. “Ten minutes ought to do it!” When he finished he stared
at the new destination date and time. “Sorry Doc,” he said, “I can't
keep that promise, guess you'll just have to sue me.”

He got out and tore off his gloves. He headed to the trunk to take the
radiation suit off. “... But at least you'll be alive!” He muttered as he
went. As he neared the trunk, he heard the not too distant roar of a
truck engine and some hooting and hollering wafting down the
pathway he'd just cut in the corn field. The engine sound approached
rapidly and he could see lights down the path. Headlights.

“Shit!” He finished tearing off his gloves threw the in the trunk and
began fumbling with the helmet. “What now?” The light grew brighter
down the path. “SHIT!” He exclaimed again. “The Libyans?!” His face
wrinkled. “That's impossible.” He started to fumble with the helmet to
take it off but he looked up and realized he did not have time,
whoever was coming down that path was almost on him. He let go of
the hood and it fell back down over his head. He slammed the trunk
and rushed for the driver's seat.

Before he could reach it, however the pickup truck roared up behind
the DeLorean and slammed on its breaks just 5 feet down the path.
The truck's bright lights blinded him. His yellow radiation suit glowed
like neon in the light. In the cab of the truck, Bo slammed on his
breaks fast as the DeLorean and Marty came into view. Kenny
gasped in sheer terror. All of the men's eyes were giant saucers of
amazement, except Otis' this was now getting to be old hat for him.
His face only reflected determination to get his revenge on the space
bastard that killed his pine.

“Holy sheep shit!” Bo shouted.

Kenny started screaming like a girl.

Bill and Ted glared at the sight of this yellow space alien and his
flying saucer, their mouths were finally shut.
Peabody pulled up his shotgun and aimed. “CUT HIM DOWN BOYS
BEFORE HE MUTATES!” He shouted at the other men, almost
proudly now that the sight of Marty has vindicated him. He took a
shot and it's almost like that shot woke the others from some dream.

They also pulled up. Kenny hung out his passenger side window, still
screaming like a little girl, but he also took aim.

The first shot from Peabody truly took Marty off guard. It whizzed
past his head, dangerously close. A muffled scream emitted from
inside the radiation hood. He dove into the DeLorean, slamming the
wing door shut behind him. The bullets really started to fly then,
some of them ricocheting off of the DeLorean as Marty fired it up and
sped forward, cutting more path in the corn ahead of him.

“Somebitch!” Shouts Peabody in outrage. “Don't let that pine killer

get away!” He continued to shoot feverishly. The others all shot
wildly at the quickly departing time machine. Bo threw his truck back
into gear and gave chase.

Even with the advantage of the path the DeLorean is cutting for
them, they still are no match for a 1985 DeLorean. Marty begins to
put distance between him and them. Marty was bouncing up and
down as the car went over the corn rows.

Bill, Ted, and Peabody were having a hard time staying afoot in the
bed of the truck as it bounced after Marty. The chase went on.

Marty kept plowing through the field until he hit a hard dirt road, then
he turned quickly and frantically to the right. He looked behind him
and saw the men shooting at him through the glint of the pickup truck
headlights. “Those are no Libyans” he said, still in shock at being
shot at yet again. Twice in the space of an hour or two. (Or in the
space of 3 decades, depending on how you looked at things).

As he turned to the right onto the road a bullet entered the cab of the
car and nearly exploded the flux capacitor. Now he realized the
danger he was in. He looked forward, down the dirt road, his eyes
determined. “Let's see if that bucket of bolts can do 88!” He stomped
on the gas pedal and, fish tailing, sped off with the pickup truck in hot
pursuit. Bullets still cut holes into the back of the car.

Still he was pulling away from them more and more.

Kenny stopped screaming like a little girl and was still hanging out
the window shooting. “He's getting away daddy, he's getting away,”
he squealed in through the window.

Peabody beat on the top of the pickup, shouting. “Step on in Bo,

DAMMIT, don't let the mutate bastard get away again! “

Bo opened the sliding window in the back and shouted through it,
“this is a hay truck, Otis, it ain't no stock car! I've got the pedal to the
metal boys, that's all ole Betsy's got!”

They all looked forward as the DeLorean began to move away.

Bo swore under his breath while the men in the bed of the truck kept
frantically shooting as fast as they could.

Marty came to a paved crossroad, slammed on the breaks, turned to

the right, slammed on the gas and peeled off again, really moving
away on solid pavement. Behind him, the pickup slammed to a halt
and all the men in the back went flying toward the cab, shouting
angrily. There was no time to slow down gradually. The pickup spun
to the right trying to continue the chase but it was no good, the
DeLorean's tail lights were becoming tiny dots moving off in the
distance.

Marty threw back his helmet. He was still visibly shaken but he
looked back and grinned, seeing the pickup's headlights fading away
behind him. “I blew their doors off,” he smiles. The speed of the
DeLorean was now approaching 85. Marty braced himself and made
sure the time circuits were switched on. Out of nowhere, in front of
him, blocking his getaway was a black and white sheriff's car, it's
lights came on and the siren began to wail. This sheriff was trying to
cut him off, but he did not know what he's dealing with. He somehow
took a calculated risk in his head that he was betting he would hit 88
mph just before he hit that sheriff's car.

The sheriff, who looked exactly like the strange plaid suited judge at
the dance audition, right down to the same glasses, jumped out of
his car and stood, gun raised, shouting into his megaphone mic “pull
it over!” The megaphone in the front of his car caused his words to
echo in the night. Then, the poor sheriff realized that this vehicle,
whatever it was, was not even slowing down. He faltered in
uncertainty, looking at the oncoming thing, then the side of the road,
then the thing.

Marty put his arms outstretched and held his head back, praying he
hasn't made a huge mistake as he hurtled toward the police car. 86
mph. 87 mph. He was almost on the sheriff.

Just as Marty hit 88 mph the sheriff thought better of his whole
strategy and literally jumped for the side of the road . The DeLorean
lit up in its spectacular colors and then was gone, just where it would
have made impact with the police car.

The sheriff, his mind blown, got up from the side of the road and
surveyed the fiery trail left behind in Marty's wake. He whistled. Then
the pickup truck raced up. The sheriff holstered his gun as he
realized who was approaching.

The pickup came to a stop right in front of the sheriff.

All the men in the truck stared, wide eyed at the Sheriff and at the
fiery trail made by the DeLorean.

The deputy sheriff looked down and shook his head.

 5. ANOTHER MARTY

Just a little under a mile from the Lone Pine Mall, on a deserted
road, the silence of the night was suddenly broken by a few flashes
of light then the sound of small explosions. The DeLorean appeared
from nowhere and came to a quick stop in the road. It was covered
in ice. The wing door opened and Marty stepped out, looking around
in amazement. He was still dressed in the yellow suit. He looked at
the time circuit and it read October 12, 1985 1: 23 AM. He grinned.

“Great! I still have time,” he said to himself as he started quickly

ripping off his radiation suit. He threw the suit in the passenger seat
and jumped back in the DeLorean. Slamming the door shut behind
him. He turned the key and... click. NOTHING!

Flustered and frantic, he turned the key over and over. Still Nothing.

“Dammit,” he spewed, “Not now, any time but now.” He kept

frantically turning the key and simultaneously pumping the gas pedal
(as if that will help). He threw his forehead on the steering wheel in
total frustration. Looking at the time he'd lost 2 minutes.

He threw open the wing door again, jumped out and pushed the car
to the side of the road, setting the emergency brake. Looking once
again at the timer he muttered, “It's about ¾ of a mile in 7 minutes... I
can make it!” He started running. The thought never occurred to him
until he got ½ mile away from the DeLorean he stopped, realizing his
mistake.

“What am I doing? I'm an idiot?” He scolded himself. He looked back

down the ½ mile he'd just run. I've got a time machine, I've got all the
time in the world! I can just fix that piece of crap and go back in time
even earlier.
Then something dawned on him. “...but what if there's no fixing it,
what if it's broken for good? What if all those bullets damaged the
time machine? “ He shook his head then took off again, running even
harder now. Huffing and puffing. “Running... for... fun... “ complained,
“that's … so... dumb! He would give his eye teeth for his skateboard.

He ran hard until the Lone Pine Mall loomed into view a ways ahead
of Marty as he ran. Suddenly he heard distant gunshots and
screaming!

“OH NO!” He started sprinting. “Why don't I ever go to the gym?” He

ran up to the sign and looked down in total dismay at the limp figure
of Doc Brown lying on the pavement. He looked toward the photo
booth and saw the blue VW microbus lying on its side in the
wreckage, burning. He saw the now familiar fire trail of the DeLorean
after it time jumped.

When he looked back at Doc he can't believe his eyes. A lone figure
runs toward Doc. It looked like... him. Another Marty McFly? “It's...
me,” he muttered in disbelief, “but look at me, I'm dressed like a
dork.”

The Marty he sees is dressed in a reddish quilted vest and cheap

jeans. “What's with that vest?” He asked himself. “It looks like a life
jacket.”

The other Marty now sat down next to Doc and turned away,
obviously mourning the loss of his friend.

He just kept staring down at the surreal scene in total shock and
fascination tearing up all over again.

The other Marty down in the parking lot turned away from the sight of
Doc.

“ Dammit Doc! What the hell is going on?” He sat down and watched
the other Marty below as the other Marty paced for a while. He heard
the sirens approaching at the same time as the other Marty did.

The other Marty then retrieved Einstein out of the van (who had been
barking now for a few minutes). The other Marty then grabbed the
yellow case of plutonium, closed it and picked it up. About 5 minutes
had gone by now.

Our Marty stood up and determined to fix whatever was going on.

“I'll just get the time machine fixed,” he decided. “Then I'll go back
again, maybe a day or two earlier and make sure this disaster never
happens!”

He looked once again down the road in the direction of the

approaching sirens. Then ducked behind the mall sign as numerous
police cars and a fire engine come near. He lwatched as the other
Marty knelt down one last time and kissed the lifeless forehead of
Doc Brown and then he ran off, with Einstein following closely on his
heels.

Our Marty got up and followed from a safe distance, keeping an eye
on the new Marty, and staying out of sight of the emergency vehicles
so as not to be spotted. He looked behind at the chaos in the mall
parking lot. The police were arriving and swarming around Doc's
moving van and the VW bus. He stopped and watched for a few
seconds making sure he did not lose sight of the new Marty and
Einstein. He wanted to learn the fate of the Libyans but the other
Marty was rapidly disappearing in the direction of town.

“Who are you?” He asked the other Marty running off into the night.

He ran after him.

When they reached town, the other Marty and Einstein appear from
around a corner with our Marty not far behind. He is stunned to see
another DeLorean sitting in the middle of town square. Obviously
where the other Marty had left it. Red, the former Mayor turned
homeless guy, is standing near it, drinking from a paper bag and
muttering to himself about crazy drunk drivers leaving their cars in
the middle of streets.

Our Marty held back, his eyes wide with amazement and perhaps
some confusion.

The other Marty opened the trunk and was about to put the
plutonium case in. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a siren wails and
several police cars roll in fast . They hit the other Marty with
spotlights and he put his hands up. Einstein too got up on his hind
legs and put his paws up.

Marty high tailed it out of there before he too ended up in the back of
a police car.

He made his way first for town and Doc's workshop. He needed
money if he was going to get the DeLorean fixed. At Doc's
workshop, he went up to the doorway and sighed in relief when he
found the key under the mat. “Some things never change” he
commented in delight, flipping keys in his hand. He entered and
looked around.

Marveling, he said, “it's exactly as I remember it!” He saw the dog

food and waved his hand in front of his nose. “Exactly!” He went to
the phone and grabbed a nearby phone book, thumbing through it.
He then dialed.

“Frank's towing,” a voice on the receiver said.

“Oh good, you're open.”

“24 hour towing service,” the voice said, sounding irritated. “What
can I do you for?”

“I need a tow,” said Marty.

“Go figure,” said the voice sarcastically.

Marty gave the man on the phone directions to where the DeLorean
was. He told him he thought there might be something wrong with
the starter. There's a pause.

“Cash or credit,” the man asked.

“Hang on” he said into the phone. Running back to a desk drawer
across the room, he rifled through it and produced a credit card. It
had Doc's name on it and a yellow sticky that said “For emergencies
only.”

“I think this qualifies, Doc!” He muttered

He ran back to the phone and gave them the man the number.
Waiting a few moments while he ran it.

“Good to go,” said the man, “you're pre approved for our VIP
service.”

Marty frowned, not knowing if the guy was joking or not.

“Oh, can you come pick me up,” asked Marty, before you go out
there to get my car?”

There was a pause.

“Since I'm pre-approved for your VIP service,” Marty added.

The man said, “sure thing, kid,” I'll give you the VIP discount, that will
be another 50.”

“Of course,” said Marty, “I'm at 1646 Riverside Drive.”

“Old man Brown's place,” said the man on the phone. “I know it.”

“Of course you do,” Marty said, exhausted.

**********

The old Texaco Star is a gas station, convenience store, and above
the old garage is a sign that reads, “FRANK'S COMPLETE AUTO
CARE AND TOWING.” A tow truck pulled up with the DeLorean in
tow and Marty, sitting silently in the front passenger seat. The truck
stopped and Marty got out.

Leaning in he asked the guy, “how long will it take before you know
what's wrong with it?”

The guy shrugged. “We'll call ya.”

“Okay,” said Marty, disappointed that he didn't get at least a time

estimate.

“Listen,” said Frank, “Let me drop this heap off and I'll run ya home,
kid, the sun's coming up soon.”

Marty thought about it then sighed and nodded. “I am pretty tired, it

feels like I haven't slept in decades.
 6. ANOTHER FAMILY

The sun was just beginning to light up the edge of the horizon when
the tow truck pulled up at the end of the driveway of the McFly
residence. Marty opened the door and climbed out saying his thanks
and his goodbyes. As he did so, he reached in the cab and yanked
out the plutonium case and turned, looking around nervously, he set
it on the ground,. He then took his leather coat off and wrapped it
around the case. When he finished he tucked it under his arm and
ran toward the back of the house, fast as he could, staying in the
shadows like a prowler. The truck driver watched him go, shaking his
head, until the boy was gone. He then pulled out and away.

Marty snuck in through his window the way he always did and in no
time he was crashed in his bed.

When the sun was fully up, the radio came on playing the song “I
Can't Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar. He got up and looked around. His
room was a mess. Not a good sign. He frowns at it. He always left
his room cluttered, but clean.

“What a nightmare,” he said, referring to last night's events. But

looking around he notices just how bad his room looked. “It looks like
a bomb went off in here,” he mumbled in disapproval. As he got up
his foot kicked the case of plutonium. He bent down, and his eyes
went wide when he saw it. Then he appeared totally downcast that it
was not, after all, just a nightmare.

He slid the case under the bed, and made his bed quickly, using the
bedspread to hide the case. He walked out toward the kitchen
yawning. He heard the voice of his mother and his sister Linda. They
were discussing something. He made out a few words about a
lawyer, and jail and as he moved closer he heard Lorraine talking
about Doc Brown.

“I never liked him hanging around with that crazy wild eyed old man
to begin with. Now I hear he might have been some sort of terrorist!”

Marty stepped out into view, angry. “Doc's no terrorist, mom, don't
believe everything you heee....” His jaw dropped. What he saw he
could not believe.

His mother was a mess. Her hair was crazy, she looked like she
slept in her clothes, her mascara was old and running from crying.
Linda looked frumpy, not dressed in her usual 80's businesswoman
look and she was wearing glasses. Linda HATED glasses.

Dave and his father weren't there.

The two women look at him in total surprise.

“Marty!” They both exclaimed together.

Lorraine squealed with joy and ran to him with her arms out. “Oh my
GAWD! You're here, you're okay!”

Linda got up and, placing her hands on her hips disapprovingly,

glared at him.

He was confused for a second. “Well, ya, why wouldn't I?”

Lorraine stopped and stared at him angrily. “When we got the call at
2:30 in the morning that you've been arrested we thought the worst!

Linda sat down and just went back to her breakfast as Lorraine
continued to fawn over him. “We thought we were going to have to
bail you out again. “ Said Lorraine, running her hand through Marty's
hair.
Marty couldn't help but notice that his mother had alcohol breath.
She'd either been drinking already this morning, or had been
drinking heavily the evening before. Or both.

“Arrested.. again,” added Linda dryly, “you're a total embarrassment.”

Lorraine continued her fawning over Marty, ushering him to the

breakfast table. “You're father and Dave are out there right now
trying to get you out of JAIL! I was just about to call the lawyer to find
out what the hold up is.”

The light bulb went on in his head. The other Marty was arrested.
They think HE was arrested.

Linda, who had been seething during this entire display of her
mother's affection for Marty, staring into her breakfast, Linda piped
up. “I knew you would find a way to weasle out of whatever trouble
you got into... you always do!”

Marty now looked around the house. It was dingy, not well lit, and the
furniture was all old and cheap looking. The grand piano was
missing. The living room looked like someone from hee haw
decorated it. He started to panic a little.

“What's going on?” Is all he could say.

Lorraine stared at her daughter with a frown. They both ignored

Marty's heartfelt dismay.

“Of course he's not in trouble,” Lorraine responded, “I'm sure it was
all a complete misunderstanding. I blame that crazy old man.” She
then look at Marty who was still looking around the house,
disoriented and mistook his disorientation for grief. “Oh, I'm sorry
Marty,” she apologized, “I know how much you cared about him.”

He just stared at the two of them blankly, his mouth almost hanging
open.
Lorraine put her hand on his head, “oh, you poor dear, were you hurt
during the incident?”

Marty put his head down actually feeling the grief of losing Doc
again. How could he have almost forgotten about the image of poor
old Doc lying there on the cold hard pavement staring blankly into
the sky?

“I am gonna miss him,” he said with meaning.

“I know, son, I know” she patted him on the hand.

But also, Marty was even more so upset about somehow losing his
family. He didn't know this family. He wanted his REAL family back.
He couldn't for the life of him make sense of who these people were!
Just then Dave came in through the front door. He was pushing
George McFly... in a wheel chair!

Marty, when he saw this, stood up, and shouted “Dad, what
happened?” Then he fell over on the floor.

His mother rushed to his side and helped him get back up.

George wheeled himself over to Marty, very concerned. Dave and

Linda both held back, indifferent, glaring down at Marty coldly.

“He's faking” said Linda.

Lorraine helped Marty back to his feet.

“Son,” George said in a soft, whiney voice, looking at him worriedly.

“Are you alright?”

Marty, nodded, brushing himself off. “I'm okay Dad.... what happened
to you?

George gives him a confused look. “I see they didn't hold you very
long.” He turned to Dave, “I told you he wasn't involved!” Dave just
made a face and headed to the breakfast table. He and Linda shared
a disapproving look at each other and never even spoke.

“Oh, Marty, you must have hit your head or something, last night,”
Lorraine bewailed as she helped her younger son sit back down in
his chair. She felt his head again.

George said to Lorraine, “when we got to the police station, no one

would tell us anything. There were FBI crawling all over the place
and they refused to even acknowledge that Marty was in custody!
Something about National Security!

Lorraine looked horrified.

Dave and Linda shared a “uh, huh, thought so,” look.

“National Security?” Lorraine echoed incredulously. “OUR MARTY?”

Marty was just staring in shock at the sight of his father in a wheel
chair. George's legs looked, odd, sort of twisted, like he didn't even
have use of them.

“Hey Marty,” Dave demanded, “what the hell went on last night? We
heard the mall was attacked by terrorists and you were one of them!”

“Don't be ridiculous David,” Lorraine chimed.

Linda was nodding in the background, sipping her coffee.

Marty ignored Dave. His attention still on his father.

“Dad, what happened to you?”

Everyone looked at Marty oddly now. The room went quiet.

George seemed confused by the question more than anyone else.

“What happened to me? “ He echoed. “Nothing son, what happened
to you? What happened to Doc Brown?”
Marty realized that whatever this condition is that put George in the
wheel chair, it's nothing new to any of them except him! He must
sound like a lunatic asking him that question. He though of a way of
covering for himself.

“... I just meant you look really.. GREAT this morning.” He lies, balling
up his fist and chucks his father lightly.

George gave him a halfhearted smile then wheeled himself into the
kitchen. “Well, thanks son,” he says as he goes. “I've been working
out.”

Dave is leering at Marty.

Marty's countenance falls. This whole thing was breaking his heart.
What happened to his family?

For breakfast, everyone ate in relative silence. Marty looked around

the table periodically. Eyeing each person with growing alarm. They
are literally strangers to him. Dave and Linda kept just glaring at
Marty while he tried to eat.

Dave finally placed his fork down abruptly. “Alright,” he said, abruptly,
“no one else is talking about this so I will,” he grumbled. “Marty, you
gave us one helluva scare last night and now someone is dead and
you seem to be involved in some way. I...” he stops, then rewords it,
“We demand an explanation!”

Marty shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “I really don't want to talk

about it right now, Dave.”

“That's not good enough Marty,” Dave insists, “You're always getting
into some sort of trouble. Where did you get those clothes? They
look like they cost a fortune. What do you do late at night when you
sneak out that window?”
George just sat there, eating, saying nothing. Lorraine stared sadly
and silently down into her plate. Linda joined Dave in glaring at
Marty.

Marty looked around for an ally but found none.

Finally Lorraine sheepishly said, “Dave, that's enough.”

Dave frowned deeply at his mother.

“He's obviously been through some sort of ordeal,” she defended,

“and we need to give him some space and support.”

Dave snorts and shot up from his chair. “That's total bullshit mom!
He gets away with murder around here!”

George's eyes spark and flash. “Hey, hey, watch your language in
my house.”

Dave stormed off.

For the first time Marty realized how different this family really was. It
actually wasn't even until then that he notices Dave's UPS uniform.
Without thinking he blurted out, “Dave, when did you start working
for UPS?'

Dave spins around angrily. “See? Mom? Dad? He's on drugs or

something.” Then to Marty. “Working for the UPS is a perfectly
respectable job. At least I contribute around here! Unlike SOME
PEOPLE!”

George scoffs. “Drugs? C'mon Dave, now you're getting carried

away.”

Dave's face went red.

Linda gaped in amazement at Marty, her fork held in front of her

open mouth as if he were some sort of alien creature.
Dave stormed away, blustering now. “He's following in uncle Joey's
footsteps!” He stomped out the front door.

Lorraine reached over and rubs Marty's head again. “Oh dear, did
someone do something... bad.. to you in jail?”

“No, mom,” Marty said, gently pushing her hand away, sounding
irritated. “I, I, just don't feel good, I've had a rough day.”

Linda put her plate in the sink and quietly left, giving Marty
backwards glances.

“Mom, Dad,” Marty finally said, “I think I need to talk to Dad alone.”

**********

Lorraine pushed George into Marty's room and Marty followed. She
kissed his father on the forehead. Marty was glad to see that one
thing hadn't changed, they were obviously still very much in love. He
was truly relieved. She lingered in the doorway for a second or two,
as if wondering what they might have to talk about.

George and Marty both stared at her. Respecting their privacy she
left, closing the door softly behind her, but she stayed, leaning up
against the door, placing her ear against it to listen in.

Marty sat down on his bed.

George looked at him, puzzled. “Well son,” he asked, breaking the

awkward silence, “what can I do for you?”
Marty searched for words and didn't seem to find them. Finally, after
another awkward silence he attempted it. “Dad, I need to ask you
some questions that might seem really really strange to you, please
don't think I'm crazy.”

“No Marty,” George assured him, “I don't think you're crazy.”

“Wait,” said Marty, “You haven't heard the questions yet.” He

chuckled nervously.

George waited patiently.

“Okay, here it goes...” He takes a deep breath. “Dad, how did you
end up in a wheel chair?”

George's face goes white and he looks mortified. “Son, you know...”

Marty interrupts him, apologetically, “I've been having some memory

issues lately so please forgive me, I'm confused.”

“...You know I don't like to talk about that,” George continues,

ignoring Marty, “but since you've never asked me like this before, I
have to assume it's important...” said George.

Marty nodded.

George eyed his son strangely. “Okay, well then,” here goes.”
Marty's father shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “Son, this is not a
pretty story and it's embarrassing. I've never told anyone the truth
about what happened, not even your mother, but I think she's
suspected.” George paused for a second, took a deep breath of his
own, then came out with it. “Biff and his friends did this to me.”

“Biff?” Marty can't believe his ears. “Biff TANNEN?”

George nods.
Marty shakes his head. The Biff Tannen he knows was a
marshmallow.

“How is that possible Dad?”

“I know, I know,” George cut in, mistaking Marty's tone for

disapproval. “I should have reported it, I should have had him put in
prison, but I was afraid of the repercussions if he managed to beat
the charges, which he always seemed to to do!”

“But, wait, hold on, Dad, Biff? Biff Tannen put you in a wheel chair?
How? Was it some sort of accident?”

“No,” said George, “it was no accident! He hit me with his car and
then he and his friends kicked me and beat the crap out of me until I
was unconscious, I think they left me for dead.”

Marty sat back on his bed, devastated by this bit of news. What kind
of topsy-turvy world had he found himself in? Where Biff and his
stupid friends could get the jump on George McFly this way?

“A few days earlier, at the big dance,” George continued, “there was
a conflict in the parking lot and Biff was being rough with your
mother. I couldn't stand for that so I decked him.”

“ Ya, I remember that part,” Marty blurted out.

George stopped and stared at him. “Did your mother tell you about
that?”

Marty thinks fast. “Ya, she did, a while back.” It didn't feel right lying
to any George McFly, even this stranger, one who was obviously and
technically not the father Marty remembered.

Seeming to accept that answer George went on.

“After the dance I heard that Biff and his gang were looking for me,
something about a kid named Calvin Klein and something that he
took from Biff. It sounded bad, and I couldn't understand what that
kid had to do with me, I barely knew him. Anyway, I managed to
avoid them for a few days but they finally caught up with me.”

He sat back and thought about those long gone days, then began to
recount the events. “I was riding my bike to go see Lorraine and they
hit me by surprise, from behind, with their car, knocking me off.
Then, I was injured and couldn't get up to defend myself and Biff and
his gang started kicking me, demanding I tell them where Calvin
Klein is. They were crazy. How would I know where he was? I barely
knew the kid. Biff kept going on about how this Klein kid stole a book
from him.”

Marty frowned. “A book?”

George confirmed, “A book.”

“Dad, what sort of book? I didn't even know Biff read books.”

George nodded. “Me either, but I think he said it was some kind of
book about sports scores and gambling. “

Marty nodded back, that made more sense.

“Anyway, I ended up in the hospital, and in this wheel chair ever

since. You're mother has taken care of me all these years.” He
stared off into the distance, thinking of Lorraine. “Poor woman, she's
had it rough.”

“Poor woman,” Marty repeats, “Dad, you're in a wheel chair. Can you
use your legs at all?”

George is shocked by Marty's candor. “You've asked me that before

and we discussed it, son, what's going on with you?”
“I don't know!” Marty says in exasperated honesty. “I really don't!”

Unexpectedly, Lorraine burst in, her eyes full of fire and tears, like
wet hornets. “All these years and you never told me! “ She exclaimed
in outrage. “That bastard Tannen did this to you? On purpose???”

George dropped his head, ashamed. “I never wanted you to know.”

Lorraine is furious. “Why didn't you want me to know, really? Is it

because you knew I'd take a gun and put a bullet in that bastard?”

“Mom!” Marty exclaimed shocked.

George threw his hands up, “Well ya!:” He sighed. “That's one good
reason!”

Lorraine's eyes filled with tears. “You told me it was a hit and run
driver. You lied to me all these years, George, and meanwhile we've
put up with that animal's shit and now I find out, he's responsible for
this...” she points at his wheel chair, “and all of.. THIS!” She gestures
at the house. She stormed out, crying.

“I'm sorry,” Marty apologized.

“It's okay, son, the truth had to come out some day, but I don't
understand why you are asking me this now.”

“I can't say just yet,” said Marty, “but I need to know one more thing,
and this is important.”

“Okay,” George agreed, looking more uncomfortable, wondering

what Marty might ask now.

“I need to know the exact location, date and time this happened.”
 7. ANOTHER BIFF

Inside the Texaco Marty stood at the counter and handed Frank the
credit card he borrowed from Doc. Outside the Texaco, a mechanic
pulled the DeLorean up to the front entrance.

“That car has some interesting modifications.” Frank said, almost

with suspicion as he rang up the transaction.

“Ya,” Marty admitted, elusively, “they're mostly for looks though,” he

lied.

“Looks?” Frank gave him a sideways glance. “It's seen some action
too, found some bullet holes, some buck shot.” He drops the buck
shot on the counter. It clatters and rolls off the counter onto Marty's
feet. “And what's that contraption mounted to the back, if I didn't
know better I'd think it was a fusion reactor, and those interesting
displays with the dates? ”

Marty laughed, a forced laugh, a nervous laugh. “Reactor? No..”

Suddenly, Marty sees Jennifer walking past the Texaco with a girl
friend.

“Hey, hold that thought Frank,” he said as he darted for the door.

As he swung the door open and ran outside Jennifer glanced at him
then went back to her conversation.

“Jennifer!” Marty shouted.

Both girls stopped and spun around. Surprised. Jennifer frowns and
tenses up.
“Oh, man, Jennifer,” Marty said in relief as he ran up to her and tried
to move close. “Are you a sight for sore eyes.”

Jennifer stiffened more and backed up as he invades her private

space for a hug.

He stopped in his tracks, seeing her demeanor.

“Wait,” Jennifer said, “I know you!”

Her friend looks at Jennifer as if she's crazy.

“You're that kid in that band?” Jennifer said. “The one that called
themselves- what was it?” There's an awkward pause.

Her friends eyes light up and she points, “the Spinwheels!”

Jennifer frowns. “No, that's not it. It's the Pinheads.”

“Ya, you know, it's me, Jennifer, it's my your... Marty.”

“My Marty?” Jennifer blushed and tries not to chuckle. “Since when?”

“In your dreams creep!” The girl with Jennifer has had enough.
“Leave us alone!” She grabbed Jennifer by the arm and dragged her
away.

Marty stares after them, crestfallen.

Jennifer turns around, kind of smiling at him as her friend urged her
onward.

“But.. we were supposed to go to the lake...” Marty mumbled sadly. “I

can't believe you could just forget me Jennifer.” His heart is broken.
Of all the terrible things about this strange new reality he had fallen
into, this one was the worst. Jennifer didn't even know him. He
turned, and like a whipped puppy shuffled his feet back into the
Texaco where Frank was looking sympathetic.
“Struck out, huh kid?” Asked Frank as he entered.

Marty just nodded.

“Sorry, 'bout that, but hey, such is life, right.” “Women, can't live with
'em, pass the beer nuts,” the mechanic said, handing him back his
credit card and the receipt. “Heard that one on cheers the other
night.” He pointed to the receipt. “Sign here.”

“That car of yours looks like something out of a science fiction

movie.” Frank said bluntly.

Marty signed then said, “Look, I'm not supposed to say anything but I
work for a movie studio part time and that car is a prop for a movie...
about time travel.” He chuckled nervously.

“I knew it!” Said Frank. “Who's movie? Is it Spielberg?”

Marty doesn't answer.

“It's gotta be Spielberg!”

“Look Frank,” Marty said, “I gotta get this thing back to the studio lot,
I'm kind of in a hurry.

Frank smiled. “Ya, I hear ya, there never seems to be enough hours
in a day does there?”

Marty nodded wholeheartedly. “You have NO idea, “ he said. “Now, I

trust this whole thing about a movie and Spielberg is our little secret
right? I mean, Frank, I could get fired.”

“Absolutely!” Frank agreed shaking his hand. “If you see Spielberg
tell him I can do mechanic work for him, if he ever needs it.”

“I'll try to remember.”

“I also do some acting on the side and I can do stunts and special
effects,” the mechanic added.

“I had NO idea,” said Marty, feigning to be impressed. “Great to

know,” he said, as he took the keys from Frank and hurried for the
door. As he went out the front door he heard a familiar voice.

“Hey BUTTHEAD!” He stopped in his tracks and sneered. It was

Biff's voice... ?”

Marty turned toward the sound, a look of indignation on his face.

“Are you talking to m...”

His sentence was cut off by the sight of Biff approaching on the
sidewalk but it wasn't the the Biff Marty knew. This Biff looked
confident to the point of, well, like he owned everything. He seemed
as though he might spend most of his time in the gym too. His huge
frame was pumped with rippling muscle. He was dressed in a
Magnum P.I./Miami Vice cross look. Wool sport coat, Levi 501s, and
a Hawaiian pattern t-shirt. The giant man stomped up and towered
over him.

“What's this I hear you and Doc Brown got something going on in my
territory?”

Marty's eyes shift and narrow. “Your... territory?”

Biff grabs his shirt. “That's what I said, dumb ass, MY territory.”

Marty squares off.

“Woah, what's this?” He looked at Frank who had come out of the
shop. Biff grins, “Little upstart going to get physical with me? You
want a piece of me little runt?”

Marty is too shocked by this new Biff to respond, he just stands

there, holding his fist, hesitating. “No I want the whole thing.” Marty
said.

Biff squeezed the kid's shirt tightly, drew his huge fist up higher. Just
then he sees a cop approaching on the sidewalk. He relaxed his grip
on Marty and just sort of smooths Marty's shirt out as the cop walks
past, looking. Biff smiles at the cop nervously.

The cop looks at Marty, who nods. “Hello officer.”

“Ya, hello officer,” said Biff as the cop continued to walk down the
sidewalk.

Biff watched Marty's fist open and relax. “I didn't think so.” He said.

“Listen twerp, you know nothing happens in Hill Valley that I don't
know about and I know about everything! So, I hear Doc bought it
last night. Messed with the wrong people. Well the same thing is
going to happen to you if you don't stay off my turf.”

Marty is confused. It sounded like Biff thought he was some sort of

gangster movie.

Biff looked over at the DeLorean and sneered. What's that piece of
shit, is that a DeLorean?”

“No, it's a volkswagon,” Marty replied, curtly.

“Don't get smart with me.” Biff warned. “I don't want no DeLoreans in
Hill Valley, that butthole Jack DeLorean owes me money, freakin'
coke head.” A white 1985 Rolls Royce pulls up and the passenger
side doors open. There are three men dressed in 3 piece suits
wearing sunglasses. He recognizes them even though they are
almost unrecognizable dressed this way. It's Biff's henchmen. One of
them is on an expensive looking car phone.

“Hey, Boss,” one of them says, “we got a situation down at the
warehouse.”
“Give me a minute!” Biff snapped. He looked at Marty menacingly.
“You're lucky, runt, I have bigger fish to fry and you're just a tadpole.”

“Actually, Biff, a tadpole is a frog not a fish.”

“I don't need a chemistry lesson from a guppy.” Biff growled, pointing

at Marty as he walked away. “I'll break you in half.” Biff stomped over
to his car. He stopped before getting in. “Stay out of my territory
punk, or else.”

He looks at the DeLorean again. “...And I don't want to see that

piece of crap around here again.”

Marty just stares at him, not intimidated.

“Oh,” Biff said as he jumps into the back of the car without opening
the door, “and, say hello to your mom for me, give her a big kiss from
uncle Biff, will ya?”

They all laugh and drive off with Marty staring after them, dazed.

Frank came up to Marty and whispered. “That guy is bad news, kid,
you need to stay away from him.”

Marty scoffed. “Who, him? He's an asshole.”

Frank looks at Marty gravely, “That may be so, but that guy is
serious trouble. He runs Hill Valley! Some say he's more dangerous
than Al Capone!”

“Capone?” Marty scoffs again. “Tannen?”

Frank shakes his head. “Be careful kid, that guy will bury you in the
desert in a heartbeat.”

Marty looked down the street as Biff and his henchmen slowed down
to hoot and holler at a beautiful woman crossing the street in her
aerobics uniform on her way to Lou's Aerobic Studio. He shook his
head. “Thanks for the advice,” he said to Frank as he moved to the
driver's side of the DeLorean, keys in hand. “But if I have my way, in
a few hours THAT guy won't be around anymore.”

Frank shook his head as Marty pulled away. “Poor kid,” he said to
himself, “thinks he's in a movie.”
 8. ANOTHER GEORGE MCFLY

Marty pulled into the driveway of the McFly residence in the

DeLorean. He stopped, got out, opened the garage door, and pulled
the DeLorean in. He then closed the door behind him, flipping on the
light. He stared at it.

“Okay, Doc, I'm coming. It's another promise to you I can't seem to
keep.”

He reached in the trunk and pulled out the radiation suit and donned
it. He went to the back of the garage, reached down and moved
some old boxes. Buried there underneath is the plutonium case. He
dragged it out gently and opened it. Then he took a plutonium vial
from the case and loaded it into the fusion chamber. When he
finished he took the suit off and stood there looking at the DeLorean.

“Something tells me if I do this, I could be destroying the galaxy, or

universe, or something like that, but my universe is already
destroyed.”

**********

The front door to the McFly residence opened and Marty wheeled
George out toward the garage.

“I don't know what this is all about, but you're starting to scare me,”
said George as his son pushed him along hurriedly.
“I'll explain it all in a minute,” Marty said.

When they got to the open garage door, George saw the DeLorean
and he looked surprised.

“A DeLorean?”

“Not just any DeLorean.”

“Is it Doc's?”

“Uh huh.”

“How does it drive?” Asked George excitedly. He looked wistfully at

the car. “I never got to drive, that's one of my biggest regrets.”

Marty pushed George into the garage.

“Dad, listen, I don't have much time... well actually I have as much
time as I want,” Marty corrected himself, “maybe I have too much
time.”

George laughed, “you're starting to sound like Doc Brown now.”

“Listen, Dad,” Marty got in front of George, knelt down and grabbed
his father by both arms, “what I'm about to tell you is going to sound
crazy, but I swear it's all true.”

George truly looked nervous, but he waited, as Marty braced himself.

“I'm a time traveler and that,” he points at the car, “is my time
machine.”

George stared at his son with growing eyes. He stared at the

DeLorean, taking it in as if for the first time as well. The light of
understanding was clearly dawning. He said not a word. Just stared
from Marty, to the car, back and forth.
“I don't know what to say about that,” said George

“I know,” Marty said, “It sounds ridiculous, but I swear Dad!”

“You didn't let me finish, said George. “I don't know what to say
about that,” he repeated but then he added, “except, I know!”

Marty was taken aback. He stopped and stared at George the way
George had been staring at him a few moments ago.

“You know?” Echoed Marty in amazement. “But how?”

George shook his head. “I never could put my finger on it before. I

thought I was losing my mind but as you grew into a teenager you
started to look familiar to me and I couldn't quite place it but then,
one day I saw an old newspaper article from 1955 about the dance
and it had a picture of a kid I knew once, that Calvin Klein kid I told
you about that Biff was looking for.”

Marty stood back, still in shock, beginning to grasp everything

George was saying.

“I know it was you Marty. I guess maybe I've always known, but I
didn't know how.”

“Who Dad?” Marty asks totally confused. “Who was me?”

“You know...” says George slyly, “Calvin Klein.” He laughs. “That

kid... “ He pauses, “...YOU... were always a little strange and he,
you, seemed to have this obsession about me and your mother. I
can't forget his... YOU'RE face! I thought I was losing my mind but
you look just like him, and he insisted on being called 'Marty, too!”
George looked away, distant. “It explains so much.

He looked back at his son. “Actually, it explains everything.”

Marty shook his head. “Dad, that doesn't make any sense, if I'm that
guy, that Calvin guy, don't you think I'd remember?”

“I don't know how it works, son,” George said, wheeling over to him,
“Maybe time travel messes with your head a little, screws up your
memory, I have no idea, but I remember you in 1955, you were
there!”

Marty looks away in complete helplessness. “If only Doc were here,
he might be able to explain all this.”

George thought about this more. “I almost accused your mother

once of staying in touch with that Calvin kid.” He chuckled nervously.
“When you looked so much like him.”

“I thought maybe you were his kid.”

“Dad!” Marty gasped.

“I know, I sure as hell am glad I didn't accuse her of that!”

“Dad,” Marty jumped in, “it doesn't matter anyway. I need to tell you
the rest. You're not supposed to be like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like this!” Marty gestured at the wheel chair. “In my reality you play
tennis, you are a golfer, hell, you almost went pro!”

George looked at him disbelieving.

Marty got an idea. He went to the DeLorean and pulled out the JVC
GR-C1U Movie Recorder he always borrowed from Doc Brown. “I
can prove it to you,” he said, as he looked at the pop out electronic
viewfinder display. He began rewinding to the dinner the night
before. “I have it on film. You... the other you, the you not in a wheel
chair.”
When he got to the spot on the recording where is the McFly family
dinner he couldn't believe his eyes. The film was changed. The
dinner appeared to have been going on exactly as it did before,
except George is in a wheel chair, Lorraine is in a bath robe at the
dinner table, looking depressed, Dave is in a UPS uniform, and the
house looked the same as it did now. Marty was beside himself.

He snapped the viewfinder back, frustrated. “I HAD it on film” he said

sadly, putting the camera down in the DeLorean.

He started to pace. “I was only in 1955 for a few minutes,” he

rambled on quickly. You couldn't have met me there. Still, somehow,
despite all that, I changed things back there, in 1955. I don't know
how it could happen. I went back there, came right straight home,
immediately, just like Doc told me to do if I ever got stuck in the time
machine somewhere, or some when. After I got back, though, I
found you like this. In my world you write short stories, articles,
NOVELS!”

George seemed to be having trouble processing this.

“Dad, in my world you're a damned hero, everyone in Hill Valley

loves you! And Biff, well Biff isn't a thug where I come from, he's a
marshmallow!”

George shook his head. “That sounds too good to be true, son,
you're not pulling my leg?” He smiled staring at his legs.

“ That's not funny, Dad,” Marty said exasperated.

“It's a little funny,” argued George.

“This is serious,” insisted Marty. “I don't know how the HELL

everything got so messed up, but listen, I'm going back there, I
swear to you, I'll find out and I'll fix it. I'll fix everything. I don't even
know why I'm telling you this since, if I succeed in my plan I doubt
you'll even be here, at least not like this.” Marty kept talking a mile a
minute. “I guess I just needed someone to talk to, and maybe I'm
only telling you all of this in case I don't succeed. In case I fail and I
never make it back. There's still TIME Dad, you can still write that
first novel, you can still make something of yourself. I know for a fact
you got it in you!”

Still reeling from the part about if Marty succeeds George “won't be
here,” George didn't look like he approved. “Now wait a minute kid,
I'm no expert on time travel but I've read lots of science fiction on the
subject. It seems to me you can't just go meddling around in the
space time continuum. You can't just go jumping around in the past
in a time machine like it's some kind of skateboard park. Changing
the past to suit you.”

“I realize that Dad,” Marty said. He knelt again, putting his hand on
his Dad's shoulder. “Don't you think I know that? Doc warned me
about all of this before he died, but I have to fix this, I have to put this
right. Somehow this is all my fault! He stopped, looking away
distantly. But I have no clue how.”

George grabbed his hand. “I am sorry, son, but you don't know that.
Not for sure.”

“Okay,” Marty agreed, “but I'm pretty sure. It's the only thing that
makes sense. Something I did back in 1955 created this crazy
upside down reality where Biff is Al Capone, you're in a wheel chair,
and Jennifer doesn't even know me!”

“Jennifer,” inquired George.

“Ya,” said Marty, “Jennifer Parker. In my world she's my girlfriend.

“Ah, Jennifer PARKER,” George seems impressed You've always

had a secret crush on her but you never had the balls to ask her out
before!”
“See what I mean, Dad?” Marty is exasperated. “I don't know for
sure what I did, but I have to fix this!”

George shook his head again, in objection. “So don't you think you
should find out before you go driving back into the past to poking
around there blindly?”

Marty shook his head. “Yes, I probably should but I have no idea
how to figure it out, I need Doc Brown, and I need him ALIVE.”

George realized then what Marty was planning and he liked it even
less. “Ah, now hold on son, you're planning to go back and change
what happened last night aren't you?”

“Well, technically it was this morning, but ya, I don't believe that Doc
is supposed to be dead!”

“Marty!” George said as if he saw Marty about to stick his hand in the
cookie jar where it doesn't belong.

“Dad, somehow his death is connected to the same events that led
to this, nightmare world where you're in a wheel chair and Biff is
some sort of Mafioso running Hill Valley.”

“I can assure you, son, this is no nightmare world, it could be a lot

worse!” George objected again.

Marty shook his head. “Anyway, Dad, I'm going to go back to 1955
and find Doc. Together I bet we can figure out what changed
everything. While I'm there I'll warn him about the Libyans, I can
save him from being shot.”

George shook his had again. “I don't like this, Marty, it sounds like
you are trying to play God, trying to control the universe with this
time machine of yours.”

“Not control, Dad, I'm only trying to fix what I broke.”

“You say tomato.. it sounds like you could make things even worse.”

“It's possible, but I can't just leave you here like this!”

George looked at Marty. “Son, I'm okay, things didn't turn out too
bad, I still have your mother and you kids and this wheel chair, it's a
minor inconvenience, but the ladies DIG it,” he smiled facetiously,
“and I can still kick the crap out of you in a tennis match.”

Marty laughs. “Ya, I bet, with that unfair advantage of those wheels.”

They laughed together.

“There's no way I can talk you out of this?” George asked.

Marty shook his head. “It's the only way. I won't let what Biff did to
you stand, I'm going to fix it, and I'm going to fix that sonofabitch
once and for all if I get a chance.”

George looked horrified. “Don't start taking things into your own
hands, son, violence never solved anything!”

Marty patted him on the hand. “I'm not talking about violence,” he
assured his father, “I'm just talking about a good ole fashioned butt
whooping.”

George frowned.

Marty continued, “I'm just going to try and set things back the way
they were, as much as I can remember about how you and mom
TOLD me the way things were, anyway. If I succeed, you'll be back
to normal and this conversation will never have happened. You won't
remember it.”

George eyed his son. “I can see you're growing up to be your own
man. I can't help but be proud of you son! Even though, I'm quite
certain that has to be a law against time traveling and changing the
past to suit yourself.”

“Doubt it dad,” said Marty, since technically time travel was just
invented early this morning.”

“Well, maybe there should be a law against it,” George said. “But
still, I am proud.”

“Thanks Dad,” said Marty. He hugged George. “That means a lot,

coming from you.”

“Well it's true,” says George.

“Now push me back in, it's getting hot out here.” George ordered.

Marty started pushing George back to the house.

“Oh, and Dad,” he said hesitantly, as he did , “I kind of forgot

something. There's another me here in 1985.”

“Another you?” George echoed.

“Ya he's the one that got arrested. He might be the Marty you know,
the Marty you raised and I'm sure he's wondering why you guys
haven't rescued him from the FBI yet or at least haven't tried to
contact him .”

George slammed on his brake. “So you're saying that you're not the
Marty I raised and my real son is in jail? You tell me this now, after I
hugged you and everything?”:

Marty looks at him then realizes he's messing with him. George grins
slyly.

“Dad, it's not that simple but it is simple at the same time. I'm your
son but I was raised by the other George McFly, the author!”
“Oh, ya, simple,” George said sarcastically.

Marty looked at him, and realized the man was just messing with him
again.

“Not funny... George.”

“Oh, so now it's George and not DAD. I KNEW IT.” George chuckled.

Marty released the brake and started pushing him again.

“So what happens to me if you do all this changing in the past? Do I

disappear?”

“No Dad!.. Well, I don't know!”

“Well that really sucks!”

“I know!” Said Marty as he backed George into the house. “I'm sorry.
Maybe you don't disappear, maybe this is some sort of alternate
reality and when I change things back to the way they are I return to
my reality and this one just goes on as it is. Maybe the Marty here
belongs here. I don't know. I hope Doc can clear things up.”

“Okay,” said George shaking his hand, “Good luck to you. I guess.
And I hope I don't erase yourself or something once you leave here
in that machine.”

“Me too,” agrees Marty, “I kinda like this George McFly.” They shared
one last long look before Marty turned away and left.

George watched him from the screen door as he sprinted to the

DeLorean.

In the garage, Marty got in, closed the wing door, pulled out and took
off down the road, without looking back.
George still watched, half expecting to see the DeLorean suddenly
disappear into a cloud of smoke or something. He had no idea how
that time machine worked.

“Bye Calvin.” George muttered as the DeLorean drove away.

Then he turned around and shouted to Lorraine. “Call the lawyer,

Marty's in jail again.”

“What?” Lorraine yelled from somewhere in the house.

“Just like Uncle JOEY!” Dave's voice could be heard saying from
another part of the house.

“Shut up, Dave!” Both George and Lorraine yelled in unison.

 9. ANOTHER DRAG RACE

Marty pulled up to an intersection, in front of the Hilldale housing

development. His intention was to get far out of town before he made
the time jump. However, as he sat there looking at Hilldale, a truck
pulled up to the left of him. Marty looked over and it was Needles
and his gang driving a red, souped up Ford pickup. They motioned
for him to roll down the window. He did.

“Nice WHEELS, McFly,” said Needles. Where'd you get them?”

“It's borrowed,” replied Marty.

Needles looked back at the fusion generator modifications. “It looks

like you've done some things to it!”

“Not me, someone else.”

“Is it fast?”

“It's faster than the speed of light,” Marty doesn't lie.

Needles revved his engine. “Put your money where your mouth is
McFly, let's see what she can do!”

Marty rolls his eyes, “No thanks, I've got somewhere to be.”

“What are you, McFly, chicken?” Asks Needles.

Marty got mad. Really mad. No one calls him chicken.

“Okay, but I get the outside.”

Marty threw the DeLorean into reverse, burned rubber, whipped back
and then around the truck ending up on the left side of the truck. He
wasn't even sure why he did it, he just thought it would look cool.

Needles and his gang were hooting and jumping around and
Needles revved his engine again. The truck obviously had some real
power because it rocked left to right as Needles power breaked.

Marty revved the DeLorean and it sounded, well, sad in comparison.

They laughed harder.

The light changed and they were off. Marty dropped down in low and
surprisingly the car kept up rather well for a few feet but then the
more powerful truck easily pulled away with them laughing
hysterically. He continued to accelerate, knowing that they are in for
a real shock when he hit 88 mph.

As they raced, Marty input the destination into the keypad. The
display destination changed to November 14, 1955.

By now, the truck had blown way past Marty. As he looked up from
inputting the destination, his mouth dropped from a smile to a look of
fear. A white Rolls Royce was pulling out from the next intersection,
right into the path of Needles' truck. It was Biff Tannen's Rolls Royce.

Needles, unable to react in time, t-boned the Rolls Royce.

Marty didn't slow down, he kept accelerating and as he passed the

accident he looked over to see that Biff appeared to have been
driving this time and he was screaming angrily. Apparently
unharmed. Everyone seemed to be okay, except Needles, who was
slumped over the steering wheel, apparently, unconscious.

Both vehicles, however, were obviously totaled.

Marty blew past them and a few moments later he hit 88 mph. He
was gone, his tires leaving the familiar flame trails. He knew he
shouldn't have done the time jump in front of those idiots but who
would believe them anyway? Besides, he was going to change all
this and none of this will have happened... he hoped.

“I hope I succeed,” he said to himself as he time jumped, “I have to

succeed.”
 10. ANOTHER TRIP TO 1955

In 1955 on the Hill Valley paved roads on the outskirts of the town
they were largely viewed as “highways.” They were built and
maintained by the State, to further commerce. Most of the time they
sat empty. Which was good for Marty.

On one of these quiet, rarely frequented roads there was silence

except the sounds of birds chirping and crickets. There was nothing
on either side of this road but an occasional tree. Suddenly there
were a few small explosions and flashes and the DeLorean
appeared, breaking the silence. It screeched to a halt in the middle
of the road.

Marty made himself relax. This was his third jump and they were
always nerve racking. The time circuit was blinking. He looked
around outside and was happy to see that he was right in choosing
this particular road for his jump.

“There's nothing here yet,” he congratulated himself. He glanced at

the time.

“I've got 24 hours to prepare, he told himself. First, I have an old

friend to visit.”

The thought had originally occurred to him that all he really had to do
was arrive early enough on the night Doc died to warn him in
advance, but after giving that a lot of thought he realized he would
be interacting with Doc right before Doc actually tested the time
machine, which would have ruined the need to test the time
machine. Marty's mind reeled at the paradoxes this would create.
Plus, he also knew that Doc would not approve of his coming back
here to 1955 to stop his father from ending up in a wheel chair.
No, this was the only possible way Marty could think of to fix
everything.

He threw the car in gear and took off. In his eagerness the tires
squealed a little. The DeLorean sped down the road towards town.
There's something Marty didn't know about 1955, however. Because
vehicles were not as fast in that time period, speed limits were lower.
He also didn't know that most outlying roads were speed traps. If he
had known these things he might have watched his speed a little
closer.

He crossed an intersection and a moment later a police car pulled

out from behind a group of bushes. It's lights flashing. It gave chase.

Marty looked behind him and saw the police car. “Oh SHIT! What
now?”

He considered running.

“I wonder if that cop cars could do 90 in 1955?” He wondered out

loud.

Not knowing the capabilities of a 1955 police car Marty opted to try
and con his way through this. He slowed down and pulled over, with
the police car coming up behind. He put his head on the steering
wheel, with a deep sigh.

He sat there inside the DeLorean, with the cop car, lights still
flashing, sitting directly behind him for what seemed like an eternity.
The officer in the car did not get out. He looked at the display. Time
was a ticking.

“What is he DOING?” Marty grumbled.

Then, it dawned on him that this might just be the same officer who
witnessed his earlier time jump, when he was being chased by the
gun toting locals. He began to get more and more nervous the more
time went on.

He also realized that the officer may be using his radio to call in the
license plates. The 1985 license plates.

“This was a really bad idea,” he scolded himself.

A voice emitted from the police car, over it's megaphone. “Turn off
the vehicle.”

Marty started to sweat. If he ran this could turn into a big ordeal with
numerous cop cars chasing a time machine through Hill Valley. He
was certain Doc would not want that.

He still grappled with the desire to just throw the DeLorean in gear
and run. How was he going to talk himself out of this? He finally
sighed and the law abiding citizen in him won over. He turned off the
engine.

“Step out of your vehicle with your hands up,” the tinny voice over
the microphone said.

Crestfallen and defeated, Marty opened the wing doors, wondering

what the officer back there would do when he saw the door swing up
instead of out like every car in existence in 1955. The door hissed
open, otherworldly.

Marty stepped out, his hands in the air, trying his best to look as
harmless as possible.

There was another few awkward moments as the officer looked

Marty over.

“Probably looking for antenna, or tentacles on me” Marty mumbled to

himself.
Finally the officer opened his car door and stepped out with his
weapon drawn.

“Is that necessary?” Marty called out to the policeman.

Then, he heard sirens in the distance, approaching. The officer had

called for backup.

“Backup,” Marty mumbled, “of course he called for backup... great,

just perfect!”

“I'm not an alien!” He called to the policeman.

“ Just stay right there,” the officer warned, “don't you move a
muscle.”
 11. HILL VALLEY BLUES

The Hill Valley police station in 1955 looked like something right out
of the Andy Griffith show. It was a red brick building with a dispatch
office for a lobby and past that, inside the facility an open office with
three desks, one for the sheriff and one each for his two deputies. At
the aft of the facility were the two holding cells adjacent to each other
and the rest room facilities.

Deputy Sheriff Bill McCallister sat at his desk typing with two fingers
on an old keyboard, his tongue hanging out of the corner of his
mouth.

Another deputy, Ray Benson, approached Bill's desk carrying

something, and Bill doesn't look up, as if almost he can't be
interrupted from the grueling job of typing 5 words per minute.

“I don't understand kids these days,” said Deputy Benson, “this one
has a fake I.D. that says he isn't even born yet.” He threw the license
on the desk in front of Deputy McCallister face up, we see it's Marty's
I.D.

“You were there when we arrested him, he said he works for a movie
studio and it's a prop.” McCallster reminded Benson without even
looking up from his typewriter.

“Yes, and I called the Studio,” Benson said with a slight hint of
irritation, “they never heard of him!”

“Hmm, what a surprise.” Officer Bill picks it up and reads out loud.
“Date of Birth 1968?” Tosses it back down. “Okay, so he's a time
traveler, I wonder what the penalty is for speeding and driving
without a valid license in 1968?”
Benson, who is clearly the officer that Marty encountered that first
night, when he was being chased, continued to complain about him,
“he told me at first he didn't even have a license.”

McCallister chuckled, going back to his paperwork. “And he wasn't

lying either, that one is crap.”

Benson stared over at the cell where sat Marty on the bunk, head
down, looking despondent.

“What in the world is that kid up to?” Benson hissed. “Did you see
that vehicle,” he leaned forward on the desk, almost whispering to
McCallister. “It's like something out of science fiction theater?” Then
he did whisper. “You weren't there that night Bill! That thing came out
of nowhere and then just flew off, leaving a trail of fire and smoke!”

McCallister glared at Benson coldly. “I thought you weren't smoking

that stuff anymore, you know it makes you paranoid, and kind of
crazy. “ Then his gaze joined Benson's toward Marty.

“I'll give him an A for originality anyway. McCallister remarked, “I

don't know what he's up to, but he's got imagination! Maybe it's
some sort of prank. Half the county knows you believe in little green
men, maybe someone is messing with you.”

Ray frowned deeply at this. “I hope not,” he said, “for their sakes, cuz
I might start busting heads!”

McCallister glared at him.

“You'll do no such thing. Don't you think you should get back out on
patrol? I don't think his time traveling friends are going to come any
time soon to get him. Although, that vehicle has a fake registration
card in the glove box with the name of that crazy scientist fellow out
there past Maple Drive! Maybe HE invented it and it really IS a time
machine.”
Ray laughed. “Ya, you're right, I'm not biting.” He stood, sniffed
deeply, straightened his holster, threw his shoulders back and
walked out.

Marty had been watching them when they weren't looking. It was
fascinating because there was something about this duo that
reminded him of Sheriff Taylor and Barney Fife.

“Great,” said Marty dryly, “I'm stuck in Mayberry.”

After a while McCallister left too, and Marty began pacing back and
forth inside the cell.

After an hour or so, Bill McCallister entered the office again, and
looked right at him. Marty sat down and put his head down again.
McCallister just frowned and came toward the cell.

“Okay, kid, so, you're license says you were born in 1968 and live on
a street that doesn't exist in a house that isn't built yet but is
scheduled to be built next year. “

Marty get nervous, wondering how he knew that.

McCallister, reading Marty correctly explains, “I checked with the

realty office.” McCallister went over to his desk, grabbed his chair,
and wheeled it over to the cell. “You're license also says your name
is McFly, not “Maxwell Smart” like you told my partner when he
pulled you over.

Marty tried not to chuckle at his own joke.

“We have a family by the name of McFly here in Hill Valley,”

continued the deputy, “I called them. They never heard of you,
although they said they had an uncle by that name.”

“No relation” said Marty abruptly, nervously. “I'm not from around
here.”
The Deputy looked him up and down, scrutinizing his odd apparel.
“Ya, no kidding.”

“Don't I get a lawyer or a phone call or something?” Asked Marty.

Officer Bill stared at him in frustration.

“Okay, son, have it your own way. You get ONE phone call but I don't
have to give it to you right away. Someone's looking at your car right
now, it's in impound, and somehow, I have a feeling there's going to
be more questions soon enough.” I can hold you for 48 hours without
charging you.” He tapped on the bars. “You better get used to these
bars kid.”

“Please tell them to be careful with my car.” Marty pleaded. “It has
some delicate experimental equipment from Detroit on board.”

“You mean your DMC?”

“Yes, officer that's what I said, my car.”

“It's interesting, that car matches the description of an odd vehicle

that crashed into the old Peabody farm about a week ago and also
early this morning. You wouldn't know anything about that either,
would you?”

Marty shakes his head.

McCallister's eyes bored right through him as the tapped his pen on
his clip board. “I didn't think so,” He replied sarcastically. “IF and
when you get out you can reclaim it as long as you have the fine and
the tow charge. I looked through your wallet, all I found was play
money with dates on them like 1980. I don't think ole Frank is going
to take monopoly money.”

“Frank?” The name surprised Marty. “Your tow truck driver's name is
Frank?”
“Ya,” replied officer Bill, Frank Senior, “you know him?”

Marty shakes his head. “Not yet anyway.”

At that the deputy slightly turned his head and frowned. “You're a
strange kid.”

“Thanks,” said Marty, facetiously. Which only made Bill McCallister

frown harder.

The Deputy got up, spun his chair back to it's place behind the desk,
gave Marty one last long look, then turned and exited the office
again, shaking his head as he went.

Marty sat back down on the bunk, pulled his legs up, wrapped his
arms around his them, then rested his head on his knees.

**********

Through the tiny window of the jail cell Marty could see that the sun
was now setting. He'd been in that cell all day. He was once again
pacing, even more vigorously. He stopped at the front bars.
(Hollering) Hello! Is anyone out there? I still didn't get my phone call!

There's no response. The pacing started over. As he did he was

wondering who he would call anyway. Doc Brown? The Doc Brown
in 1955 doesn't even know him.

A lonely train whistle was blowing and now moved off, fading into the
distance. The mournful sound cut right into Marty's heart and
matched his mood. He sat down against the wall under the window
and began to hum. Then it turned into singing.
His own version of “Folsom Prison Blues.”

I hear the train a-comin, it's rolling 'round the bend

And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when

The folks in Hill Valley don't seem to know I'm here

That whistle seems to tell me, soon I'll disappear

He heard the entrance to the jail house open and he paused. He

could hear some voices in the dispatch area. He started his song
again.

When I was just a baby my mama told me, Son,

When you're grown up I want you to have fun.

But I got stuck in Hill Valley back in ole 1955

When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry

The door to the office opened and Benson emerged leading a

drunken man all dressed in black, carrying a guitar strapped to his
back.
Marty kept singing. Somehow he couldn't help himself. He was on a
roll.

see the rich folks eating in that fancy dining car

They're probably drinkin' coffee and eatin' caviar

Now I ain't crying envy and I ain't crying for me

It's just that I have seen things that they ain't never seen

If I owned that lonesome whistle, if that railroad train was mine

I bet I'd ride it on a little farther down the line

Far from Hill Valley that's where I need to stay

And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away

While Marty was singing the officer helped the man into his cell. His
head was down the whole time and a black cowboy hat obscured his
face. He seemed drunk enough to barely walk. The song echoed it's
final notes in the walls as Benson helped the man take the guitar off
his back and lay down.

“I'll just set this right here, Johnny,” said Benson to the man as he
propped the guitar up in the corner.

Marty figured this guy must be a local, and probably well liked, if they
were going to let him keep his guitar in jail with him.

The man said nothing back. He just laid his head back and tilted his
hat down over his eyes.
Marty stared out the window into the darkness. Trying to see, what,
he didn't know.

“Can you sing that little diddy for me again?” The man asked without
moving.

It was dark in the cells now, the light from the office wasn't very
strong back there. Marty couldn't really see the guy well, even if he
wasn't hiding his face in his hat, but still there was something familiar
about the voice and about the man. He moved closer to the man's
cell and peered in, straining his eyes.

The man rolled over, and pulled his hat back to reveal his features.
“That sounded real good, son, I'd like to hear it agin.”

Marty's eyes expanded to saucer size when he finally recognized the

man in the cell next to his. “You're... you're... you're JOHNNY
CASH!” Marty gushed. He could see the man better now and before
him lay the youngest version of Johnny Cash he'd ever lain eyes on.
The man finally sat upright. Somewhat surprised himself.

“Ya, that's my name, son, how'd you know that?”

“I, I, know you're music,” Marty said, instantly realizing he was

messing up. He shouldn't be there and certainly should not be
interacting with Johnny freakin' Cash. Doc would NOT approve. He
decided to say no more and moved away, turning his back and
facing out the window again.

“You do?” The man sounded pleased. “I hadn't realized the young
people still liked my kinda sound, although, I do love the rhythm and
blues. You're too young for the honky tonks, so I guess you heard us
at the County Fair?

He got up and grabbed his guitar from the corner, moved back to the
bunk, sat down and started strumming some 12 bar blues.
Marty couldn't believe the coincidence. He was singing Folsom
Prison Blues and in walked Johnny Cash himself.

“So, let's see,” Johnny was almost talking to himself, “how did that
diddy go?” He thought for a second then, slowly, one chord at a time,
played the exact guitar hook intro for the song Folsom Prison Blues,
then started strumming the first E chord to the rhythm of the song as
Marty remembered it.

Marty couldn't help it, he turned away from the window and watched
the great legendary Johnny Cash as he wrote the music for Fulsom
Prison Blues.

Johnny nodded at Marty. “Go ahead, belt it out.”

Marty shyly began to sing his version of the song, “Hill Valley Blues.”
After the first chorus, however, Johnny stopped playing.

“That's a good song but it sounds a bit familiar.” Johnny

concentrated. “I think I heard Gordon Jenkins and Beverly Mahr sing
a blues song like that.” He considers this a while longer. Then shook
his head. “Doesn't matter, blues are the blues. I would sing it a bit
different though to make it more marketable.” He started to play it
again, this time he launched into the first verse, “I hear a train a
comin' it's comin' round the bend, and I ain't seen the sunshine since
I don't know when, well I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, and time keeps
draggin' on...”

Marty was beside himself as Johnny worked out the material that will
make him famous. “I can't believe I'm watching Johnny Cash write
Folsom Prison Blues” Marty muttered, his eyes glittering with joy.
“Gotta hand it to you Doc,” he said, whispering to the air, “time travel
is pretty damned cool!”

When Johnny got to the part where the solo would be he just played
the rhythm chords. Marty, in the moment, uses his voice to mimic the
lead solo of the guitar, while air guitaring, getting right into the
moment.

Johnny Cash tapped his foot, nodded his head, grinning from ear to
ear and continued to play the rhythm.

Marty hummed out the entire lead solo of the song and Johnny
stopped.

“That's pretty damned good ole son! You play?”

Marty, blushing, looked down. “I play a little.”

“We got to get together then, when we get outa here! “ Johnny told
him with sincerity, with enthusiasm. “You can show that little lick to
my lead guitarist, if you don't mind?”

“Oh,” said Marty, “I have a feeling he probably can come up with the
same thing on his own. I'm pretty sure about that.”

Johnny thought it through and then shrugged. “Maybe, does sort of

sound along his style.”

“You're amazing, kid,” said Cash. “What's your name?

“It's Mar...” he stopped, catching himself. “Just call me Mac.”

Johnny Cash got up and, still shaky on his feet, stumbled slightly
over to Marty's side of his cell. He reached his hands through the
bars.

Marty shook his hand, with stars in his eyes

“Name's J.R.” said Johnny, “but, as you already know, my friends just
can call me “Johnny.”

McCallister entered the office, looking irritated.

“That sounded real sweet but I gotta take that guitar Mr. Cash,
Benson never shoulda let you keep it. The sheriff will have my ass if
he catches you with it in there.”

Johnny frowned, looking down at his guitar.

The deputy opened the cell and reached out for it.

Johnny reluctantly handed it over, slowly. “Take good care of her,

now, we go back a ways, me an' Lucille. She's German royalty by
descent so be a gentleman.”

“Will do,” said the deputy as he took Lucille, handling her with
respect.

After the deputy was gone Johnny turned back to Marty.

“I'm going to get out of here any minute now, how 'bout you?”

“I don't know,” replied Marty, “I haven't even got my phone call.”

“You don't need one,” said Johnny, “you're with me now and I have
some clout around here.”

“Ya, I can see that,” Marty said, looking around him at the cells they
were in. He just couldn't help his sarcastic tone, even with someone
like Johnny Cash.

Johnny laughed out loud. “You're funny kid, I like you!”

 12. READ MY MIND NO NEW TIME TRAVEL

A line of three cars pulled up and stopped in front of a stately

mansion, designed in the classic California American Arts and
Craftsman architecture. It was designed by brothers Charles Sumner
Greene and Henry Mather Greene of the architectural firm Greene
and Greene between the years of 1908–09 for the Von Braun's. It
was now known as “the Brown Estate.” Located at 1640 Riverside
Drive, (Marty had got the address from the phone book at Lou's
diner), it was a three story home, built using traditional Japanese
asthetics.

There were a few lights on in the mansion and a light glowed on the
front porch.

The three vehicles came to a stop and the rear passenger door of
the lead vehicle opened. Marty stepped out.

Johnny Cash poked his head out, then his arm, and shook Marty's
hand. “You got my number now,” Johnny said as he did so.

Marty nodded.

“Don't hesitate to call me son, if you change your mind about going
out on the road with us.”

“You haven't even heard me play” Marty smiled.

Johnny shook his head. “Don't need to, I got a feel for this. You're
destined for great things kid!”

Marty smiled a sad smile, doubting it now, considering his current

predicament. “Thanks,” he said, nonetheless.
Johnny nodded back and then ducked back into his car and closed
the door behind him.

Marty stood and watched as the cars circled around the drive and
pulled away.

Everyone in all three vehicles rolled down their windows and waved
at him and he waved back. They all looked very familiar to Marty.

As they drove away, Marty turned and headed for the front door of
the Brown Estate.

“I gotta hurry,” Marty said to himself, “I don't have much time and
now I don't have a time machine either.”

Marty walked up and knocked on the front door. He waited for what
seems like a very long time. To the left he saw a curtain rustle, as if
someone peeked out. Then without warning the door swung swiftly
open wide and a very young looking Doc Brown appeared.

His expression could be described as furious. On his head was

some sort of contraption. A sort of metal half sphere with what
looked like Christmas tree lights decorating it.

Doc Brown glared at him in a most ugly fashion.

“Marty!” Doc asked him, in a scolding tone, “what are you doing
here?”

Marty was taken aback, shocked.

“You know me?”

Doc looked around outside, as if to make sure no one was watching.

He saw the tail lights of the Cash entourage down near the end of
his driveway and looked even more upset.

“Did someone follow you here?”

Marty followed his gaze down the driveway.

“No, that was my ride.”

Doc frowned deeply, then dragged Marty into the house and closed
the door behind them.

This was the first time Marty had actually seen the Brown estate
except in the newspaper articles from 1962 that hung on the wall in
Doc's workshop, which recounted the fire of 1955 which had
destroyed it.

The interior rooms were built using multiple types of wood, including
teak, maple, oak, and mahogany. There was a wooden panel in the
entry hall which Doc had once mentioned led to the kitchen. Doc had
described this place so many times Marty felt at home there. He
knew there was a main staircase, and just before that another panel,
adorned with ebony keys that opened to closet space Doc had said
the rooms had a low horizontal shape which, because of the natural
light that filtered through the art glass windows made the entire
interior glow a reddish gold.

Doc had often said, quite fondly that the Estate commanded a “grand
and stately, yet earthy presence.” Marty could now see that he hadn't
been exaggerating at all! It really was quite impressive and Marty
found himself saddened to know it was going to be destroyed, and
this very year.

“Of course I KNOW YOU, what kind of question is that?” Doc

unstrapped the contraption on his head and pulled it off.

“What the hell was that on your head?” Marty couldn't help but ask.

Doc stared at him like he had lost his mind. “That's my thought
reader, Marty, we've had this conversation before!” Doc then moved
his face closer to Marty as if examining his pupils. “What's going on
with you Marty, are you messing with me?”
“A thought reader?” Marty is startled. “So that's how you know who I
am, you invented a thought reader?”

Doc scoffed and shook his head. “That's not funny, Marty.” He turned
away and placed the gaudy contraption on his work bench.

“Marty, I have no idea what you are doing here this time,” Doc
scolded him some more, “but you can forget it, I'm done helping you
out of these time jams!”

Marty is once again stunned. “This time? Doc, what are you talking
about, this is my first time, it's not like I have a time travel hobby or
something!”

Doc Brown stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Marty hard
again, then he realized this Marty was telling the truth!

“GREAT SSSSSCOTT!” He hissed.

Doc backed away from Marty like he was contagious.

“So you're not the Marty McFly who was here just yesterday, the one
I sent back to 1885? Or the one that was here before that?”

Marty can't believe his ears. “1885?” He exclaimed in amazement.

“No, Doc, I came here in a time machine you built, I need your
help...”

“To get back to the year 1985,” Doc interrupted him, sitting down on
the couch, staring blankly at nothing.

“No! Not that, I need your help to figure out what happened to my
future.”

Doc looked at him hopefully. “So, you're not stranded here in 1955?”

Marty shook his head no, “I have PLENTY of plutonium! You put a
whole case of it in the DeLorean before I … left, well,not you, but the
older, 1985 you!” Marty looks exhausted. “Can I sit down? It's been a
long day!”

Doc Brown looked somewhat relieved and apologetically motioned

for him to sit next to him on the lounger.

As Marty did so, worry creased Doc's forehead again. “Okay, so now
you said there's something wrong with your future? Even if that were
so what in blue blazes am I going to do about it?”

Marty, looking exasperated. “That's what I've been trying to tell you
Doc. “I need a chance to explain.”

“Okay Marty,” Doc gave in, but first a few ground rules.”

Marty nodded in agreement.

“DO NOT tell me ANYTHING about my own future, aside from the
fact that I built that infernal time contraption.” Doc began.

Marty nodded again.

“That's imperative!” Doc said gravely waving a finger. “I especially

don't want to hear anything about any disasters that might befall me
on the night you came back to 1955, got it?”

Marty hesitated.

Doc glared at him waiting for him to agree.

“Okay,” Marty finally, and reluctantly gave in, “I think I can explain
without telling you what happened to you the morning I came back
here.” Marty chose his words wisely.

“Wait,” Doc said holding up his hands. “I'm going to need some tea,
I'm getting a headache.”
When dock had finished with his tea he emerged through the hidden
panel leading to the kitchen. Marty had moved to the lounge chair.
Doc set his tea on the coffee table after taking one more sip, glaring
at Marty like he was a ghost. He sat down on the couch, then he laid
down, placing on his forehead a cold compress he had brought with
him. He listened, seemingly in agony as Marty began his story.

**********

Some time later Marty drew near to the end of his tale he had told,
leaving off the important details of the Libyans and Doc's unfortunate
demise. “So, then I came back here, to 1955, but I got arrested and
they put me in jail with Johnny Cash, and he got me out of jail
because he liked my guitar playing... which he never heard before...
but anyway he drove me here.”

Marty stopped, awaiting Doc's response. There was a few moments

of silence.

Doc sat up suddenly, tossing the cold rag aside. “Wait a minute, go
back.. you got ARRESTED? And put in JAIL?”

“Yes, Doc, but it's no big deal.”

“Here, in 1955, in Hill Valley? And the time machine is here in Hill
Valley now?”

Marty nodded sadly.

“Where's the time machine now?” Doc's voice took on a tone of
urgency that startled Marty.

“That's one of my problems,” says Marty, “they impounded it!”

Doc's eyes bug out. “What!?” He jumped up and pulled on his hair.
“IMPOUNDED?”

Marty was confused. “Ya, Doc but I can get it back... I just need to
borrow 100 dollars from you.”

Doc leaned forward as if to faint. Exasperated.

“Hohhhhh!” He breathed out, then looked at Marty like he was an

idiot. “Marty!” Doc began to pace. “Are you even listening to
yourself?

Marty stated blankly at him, confused.

“This is disastrous!” Exclaimed the Doc. “You're telling me that a time

machine built in the year 1985, full of weapons grade plutonium from
1985, a substance that is not even readily available in this time
frame, and an extra case of which now sits in the trunk, is now in the
hands of the local constabulary? Here in 1955?”

“Well, when you say it like that,” says Marty, “it sounds really bad.”

Doc threw up his hands. “Bah” he shouted in exasperation. “A time

machine or pure plutonium,” Doc continued, still pacing, “in the
hands of local municipalities. I can think of many scenarios, either
one of which could be a disaster of galactic proportions.” He stopped
pacing, facing Marty. “If they turn those things over to the State or
worse, FEDERAL authorities!”

Marty stands up in horror. “Great Scott!”

Doc nodded, running his hands through his hair.

Doc put his hands on Marty's shoulders. “Kid, do you realize what
could happen if weaponry from 1985 made its way into the hands of
the 1955 military? We have to get that time machine and that
plutonium back right away, that is now our first important priority.
Failure to do so could have most dire consequences.”

“Nuclear holocaust.” Marty hissed.

Doc nodded, his eyes going wide. “The four horsemen of the
apocalypse.”

Marty nodded then looked down. “You warned me about all this.”

Doc stopped and looks at him. “I did?”

“Ya, back in 1985,” Marty explained, “you told me there could be an

off chance I'd end up with the time machine and warned me not to
interact with anyone if I go back into the past of into the future,
especially you.”

“That was good advice Marty!”

Marty was thinking out loud. “You must have somehow known ahead
of time about Libyans, you gave me that warning just before they
shot you!”

Doc who was taking a sip of his tea, lurches forward and spits. “Shot
me? MARTY!”

Marty said “ya, well, you're dead in 1985 Doc, that's one of the
reasons I came back, to warn you!”

Doc, gagging, stands up and puts his hands over his ears. “Marty, I
told you not to reveal to me anything about my direct future beyond
the building of the TIME MACHINE!” He yelled.
Marty looked only partly ashamed. “Oh, ya, my bad, I forgot.” Seeing
Doc's infuriated stare, he looked genuinely sorry, but not really. “It
slipped out, I'm sorry!”

Doc thought about something for a while, his hands on his hips.
Then he went to a drawer and pulled out some torn paper. An
envelope. He started laying the pieces out on the table like a puzzle.

Marty approached and watched him in curiosity.

When Doc was done Marty could make out the words on the
envelope.

“Do Not Open Until 1985.”

Marty seemed again surprised, he recognized his own handwriting

when he saw it.

“Who gave you that?”

“You did,” replied Doc, “well the other you, the one who was here
before... twice.”

“Twice?” Marty repeated. “You said that before but I don't get it!”

“Never mind about all this,” Doc said, putting a large book over the
envelope, “we can deal with it later, right now our first priority is to
get that time machine!” He looked at his watch. “It's almost dawn, I
want to be waiting there for him when he opens at 7:00.”

“Ya, well, Doc, I still have a lot of questions and not only that I have
to be somewhere around 8:30 this morning.”

Doc eyed him with suspicion. “You have an appointment? In 1955?

With whom?”

“With destiny Doc.”

“Marty!” Doc gave him that same warning tone. “You aren't planning
to interact with anyone here are you?”

“Interact, no” Marty replied, sheepishly, “I just wanted to see

something.”

Sensing a fib, Doc responded forcefully, “Marty, I don't like that idea,
even just your presence here in 1955 could have serious
repercussions.”

“Ya, tell me about it,” said Marty.

 13. ROCKY MCFLY

The impound lot for Hill Valley was actually the local junk yard, and it
was also owned by Frank, who happened to own the towing
company and the Texaco. It was off to the left of the junk yard,
sharing a high, 7 foot chain link fence with barbed wire angled
outward at the top In the front was extra privacy, with large plank
boards covering the chain link. This was located just on the edge of
town, a source of contention to many who did not like the eyesore.

Bright and early, Doc Brown backed a tow vehicle in through the now
open gate. Marty rode shotgun. They stopped just inside the gate
and climbed out. They were in a fenced in court yard with a single
shack at the center. Marty looked around for the DeLorean through
the fencing but didn't see it.

“Wait here,” said Doc, I'll go pay the fine.

Marty leaned up against the bumper of the rented tow vehicle while
Doc made his way into the attendant shack.

About 10 minutes later Doc emerged, and the attendant followed

locking the door behind him.

“I'll be right back with your car... or whatever the heck that thing is.”
The crew cut heavy set attendant told them.

Marty straightened. “Your driving it?” He shouted out to the

attendant.

He nodded. “Company policy,” he said, “I can't let anyone back

there.”

“Well, can you tow it then?”

He shook his head, looking confused and just a little bit irritated. “I
know how to drive!'

“Ya, I'm sure you do,” responded Marty, “but as you may or may not
know that is a highly valuable prop from MGM studios and I'd rather
you didn't drive it.

“Well,” said the attendant, “I don't have a tow vehicle here, and I'd
have to charge you for another tow.

Doc reached into his pocket, looking down in annoyance, he pulled

out the keys to his tow truck and tossed them at the attendant. “You
can use mine.”

The guy caught it and smiled. “I'll still have to charge you for the
tow.”

Doc and Marty both glared at him.

He started laughing. “I'm just foolin', man you two need to lighten
up.” The attendant ran past them, jumped in the truck and started it
up. Then he drove it to the back of the court yard, jumped out,
unlocked the inner gate and swung it open, then jumped back into
the truck, tearing out, and throwing gravel as he entered.

“What a lunatic,” remarked the Doc.

“Ya, that seems to be a common theme here in Hill Valley circa

1955,” Marty retorted.

Doc looked at him funny.

“I didn't mean you.” He assured the older man.

“I wouldn't think so,” said Doc. Doc looked away, then gave Marty a
quick sideways glance.
As they waited Marty continued an older conversation they were
having on the way over. “Doc I told you we don't have to tow it back
to your house, it runs good, I just had it tuned up.”

“And I told YOU, Marty” objected Doc, “I can't have you driving a
1985 time around 1955 Hill Valley.”

Marty looked around. “Okay, whatever you say, you're the Doc, Doc.”

Not very long went by and the tow truck reappeared with the
DeLorean. The attendant pulled it right up next to them. Immediately
they both grabbed the canvas tarp they had brought with them, and
before the driver even got out, they were covering the DeLorean.

“Okay,” said the attendant as they ignored him completely, “I guess

that's it.”

“Ya, thanks” said Doc, tying the tarp down feverishly.

“The keys are in the truck,” the attendant told them as he walked
back to his shack, fascinated by how seriously they covered the
vehicle.

Marty looked at his watch. “Doc! We have to get going, that thing I
told you about.”

“Marty, I”m not going to say this again,” said Doc, again annoyed at
his persistence, “we are not sure exactly what you did to alter your
future, you coming back here and snooping around in the past can
only lead to disaster!”

“I hear ya, Doc, but it's on the way home anyway. Didn't you say we
have to take the back streets to keep from being seen as much as
possible?”

Doc nodded.
“Well, I know a short cut and it just so happens what I wanted to see
is right along the way.”

Doc mulled it over. “Then maybe we should take another route.” He

decided. “What street did you say this thing happens on?”

“Never mind,” Marty said, giving up. In the back of his mind he
realized that as long as he had plutonium he had all the time in the
world to stop George McFly from being put in a wheel chair.

Doc finished checking the last tie down on the tarp, then leaned on
the tow truck fender, as if exhausted by this tug and pull battle with
Marty. “I can't imagine what I was thinking,” he remarked almost to
himself, “involving a teenager in time travel experiments! I must be
out of my mind in 1985.”

Marty ignored him, jumping into the passenger side of the truck.

Doc Brown moved toward the driver's side door of the tow truck
staring into the sky in lament. He climbed in and Marty climbed in.
Doc then started the truck in silence and pulled away with Marty
looking apprehensively at his watch.

Doc eyed him out of the corner of his eye suspiciously. He hid his
watch and pretended it meant nothing to him.

**********

The old neighborhood, as Marty knew it, in Hill Valley, in 1955 was
not so old. It was a vibrant suburban environment. Little pink and
white houses, lined up like monopoly pieces. Freshly trimmed lawns.
The neighborhood always had a lawn mower going somewhere and
it smelled of fresh cut grass and shrubbery almost year round.
People walked their dogs leisurely and chatted, waving friendly
waves at one another and shouting happy greetings. It was a
Norman Rockwell world. The paperboy was just finishing his rounds,
two cloth satchels, one on either side of his luggage rack behind the
seat. He would reach back and with the expertise of a major league
pitcher toss each paper onto everyone's porch.

A milk man stopped at almost every house, running up to the door

with his load, grabbing the empties and replacing them with fresh
Vitamin D milk. A diaper service was making its rounds as well.

George McFly was in a hurry, pedaling his bicycle down the street
like a madman. He was heading to her house. Lorraine Baines. His
new sweetheart. He was dressed in a brown suit coat, matching
pants and a white shirt with a thin black tie. This was George's idea
of a “courting” outfit. It had only been two days since his fateful
encounter with Biff in the parking lot of the school and he was still
very much the nerd he had always been.

As he approached an intersection and began to cross it, a large

black sedan that had been lying in wait in a nearby driveway pulled
out, tires squealing and accelerated right toward him. Inside were
Biff and his 3 henchmen. They were headed right straight for George
as he finished crossing the intersection.

Seconds before Biff's car crossed the intersection and would have
rammed into George, coming from the other direction was a tow
truck. Doc's tow truck. Marty saw what was about to go down and
reached over with his foot and stomped on the accelerator.

Doc let out a yell. But before he could stop, the truck rolled into the
intersection, cutting Biff off from his target.

Biff also slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt.

Doc was now yelling at Marty, but he didn't listen. He smiled,
satisfied. It couldn't have worked out better if he'd tried to arrange
this. Fate was on his side.

The top was down on Biff's 1946 Ford Super De Luxe. He was
furious. He jumped up and started yelling. “What the HELL is wrong
with you?” He shouted at Doc's tow truck, “You MORON?”

Doc Brown looked out the window at Biff, then, over at George
McFly on his bike, who had stopped and turned to see what was
going on himself. Then he glared at Marty, who smiled apologetically
and innocently at him.

“Wasn't my idea to go this way, remember?” Said Marty innocently.

George laid his bike down and out of curiosity began to walk around
the tow truck to see what Biff was yelling at.

Marty saw this and acted fast, opening the truck door and jumping
out, stepping in front of a startled George.

“Hey Dad... daddy-o,” Marty said warmly.

George stared at him in complete surprise.

“Calvin?”

Marty jumped in surprise. George of 1985 was right, Calvin was him,
or, the other him anyway. “Hey, George buddy, where ya going?” He
asked his father.

George pointed at the noise on the other side.

Doc had got out and was apologizing profusely to a Biff who was
growing angrier and angrier that he would not move the truck.

George attempted to croon his neck around and see.

“Move this bucket of bolts right now old man or I'll move it for you!”
Threatened Biff.

“Well, I'm sorry sir,” said Doc, “but I must have flooded it as I entered
the intersection, she might take a few minutes for the extra fuel to
evaporate.”

On the other side of the truck Marty was almost shoving George
away, back toward his bike. “Listen, George,” said Marty urgently,
“you gotta go right now, take my word for it, you don't want to stick
around.”

George was still trying to find out what was going on with Biff.

Marty ushered him to his bike and picked it up for him, practically
forcing him onto it. “I'm telling you George,” he said, “take my word
for it and trust me, you need to split right now!”

George, looking at Marty's face, realized that maybe he was right.

“Okay, well, then” says George, “I was supposed to walk Lorraine to

school but I'm late!”

“You can't miss that!” Said Marty practically giving him a shove on
the bike. “I'll talk to you later!” George started slowly pedaling away,
looking back at Marty and the tow truck in complete confusion.

Biff was in his car again and he was honking at Doc.

Doc was sitting in the truck pretending to try and start it. He held up
his hands in a helpless gesture.

Biff laid on the horn hard.

“Dammit, what a dumbass,” he shouted.

Suddenly Marty walked deliberately around the front of the truck,

rolling his sleeves up as he went, looking totally unintimidated. His
stride was confident and meaningful.

Biff, saw him and laid off the horn, unable to believe his eyes!

He hopped out of the convertible again, without opening the door.

“Well, looky who we have here!” He almost sang the words. He

henchmen looked, and also exited the vehicle, their heads down.

“KLEIN,” Biff screamed pointing at Marty. “You little SHIT, you got
something that belongs to me and I want it back!”

“I don't know what you're talking about, BIFF,” Marty denied, spitting
out the young man's name like it was a swear word, an insult.

Biff looked like he was going to kill Marty. He quickly stomped over to
the much smaller kid. He stopped just short of slamming his chest
into Marty's face, as he saw Doc getting out of the truck, as if seeing
him for the first time.

Suddenly, Doc didn't look like some helpless stupid old codger
anymore.

Biff pointed at Doc and shouted, “You had something to do with all
this I'm betting!”

Doc looked at him innocently, like he's insane, pointing at himself

and innocently shrugging. “Who me?”

“I'll deal with you later old man!”

Biff turned his attention back to Marty and shoved him hard. He
stumbled backwards but never lost his balance and never fell.

A few other people from the immediate block were beginning to

come out of their houses and gather on the sidewalks.
Biff's henchmen began to circle Marty like a pack of laughing
hyenas.

“That's real fair, four guys against ONE.” Said Marty.

“Ya, you punks” a large man in a white body shirt holding a wrench
shouted, “why don't you guys pick on someone your own size.”

Marty walked back over toward Biff, defiantly, unafraid.

They squared off face to face, or more accurately it was forehead to

chin.

“Let's you and me settle this mono a mono,” suggested Marty.

“Mono what? I ain't got Mono!” Biff said, incredulously.

One of the henchmen punched his fist. “That's the kissing disease
Biff, this queer wants to kiss you.”

Marty explained to the big oaf. “That means just you and me man to
man Biff, right here right now!”

Biff smirked at the suggestion. His voice went low. “You mean man to
dwarf,” said Biff. His hencmen laughed. “Alright, twerp, you've been
asking for this ever since I met you.”

“Ahem,” Doc cleared his throat.

Marty looked at Doc quizzically.

Doc waved him over to him.

Marty looked at Biff. “I'll be right back.”

“Ya, sure you will.” Biff laughed, then the smile dropped to a
menacing frown. “You BETTER!”
Marty went over to Doc.

Doc whispered, “Marty are you sure you know what you're doing
fighting that animal? . Plus, think of what you could be doing to the
timeline!”

“Yes, Doc, I'm sure, and believe me, that's exactly what I'm thinking
about.

Doc looks at Biff again uncertainly.

Marty leaned in and whispered, “Doc, my dad had money. Boxing

lessons twice a week for 6 years, junior varsity boxing champion 3
years in a row.”

Doc looked completely impressed but unyielding in his objections.

“No one has ever put this asshole in his place,” Marty said, defiantly,
“it's high time he had a good ass whoopin, and I believe I'm the one
to do it!

Doc looked over at Biff once again.

“C'mon runt, let's get to it.” Biff taunted. “What are you chicken?”

The color drained from Marty's face.

Doc looked back at Marty who was now seething. He nodded and
made a gesture as if to say, “be my guest.” “Knock his block off!” Doc
told him.

Marty hiked up his already rolled sleeves even further, turned and
approached Biff boldly.

Biff just smirked and ripped his shirt off, handing it to one of his
henchmen.
A small crowd was now gathered in a small circle around Biff and
Marty.

The guy in the body shirt shouted to Doc, “I got 20 says the little guy
gets creamed.”

Doc looked at him then said, “you got a bet, mister.” The man
stepped over and he and Doc shook on the bet, while Marty and Biff
were squaring off, moving around each other in a circle. .

Marty was dancing now in a typical boxing stance. “Move like a

butterfly, sting like a bee.” He said outloud.

Biff just looked irritated.

One of his henchmen heard Marty and laughed, “hear that Biff, told
you the kid was a fairy, talking about butterflies and bees...”

Biff didn't look away, he just got madder and madder as Marty kept
dancing around him.

“Stand still, runt, so I can finish you!” Biff spewed in anger.

Marty obliged him, stopping and holding his fists in block position. He
took one hand and made a “come get me” gesture to Biff.”

Biff moved incredibly fast for a lumbering ox. He was on Marty

before the kid expected it and hit him full force with a terrible right
hook. Marty's head snapped back like a rag doll and blood spurted
out from his nose and his mouth. He flew backward from the impact,
falling right next to Doc.

Biff grinned from ear to ear and dropped his guard.

Doc leaned over a dazed Marty and helped him up.

“What are you doing?” Doc whispers.

“I'm wearing him down” Marty whispered back.

“Oh,” said Doc, “that's what you call it.”

Marty brushed himself off. “Okay, so I'm a bit out of practice.” He

admitted.

Biff is just stood there, arms outstretched, laughing and turning in a

circle, looking at everyone as if to say “see.”

His typical gloating, he was used to winning his fights with one
punch.

“Well, I'd suggest you get IN practice” Doc suggested, “and fast.”

Marty nodded. “I think your right.” “he put up his dukes again.

“Hey!” He yelled at Biff. The big man's back was to him, as if he were
leaving.

Biff stopped and slowly turned around with a menacing glare.

“We aren't done yet!” Said Marty. “I'd say this party is just getting
started!”

“Well bring it on butt wipe!” Said Biff as he moved in, fists at the
ready.

This time Marty doesn't just stand there and get hit.

Biff tried to deck him straight on but Marty dodged the blow easily,
coming back with a right cross that connected surprisingly hard for a
little guy.

Biff actually staggered back.

The crowd murmured. The henchmen started to also move in on

Marty, but a couple of large burly men, including the guy in the body
shirt, held out their arms to block their path, a look of warning on
their faces.

Biff took a wild jab at Marty with his left and this was a huge mistake
because Marty took advantage of his greater height and ducked
down, moved in under the swing and delivered a left and a right to
his chin then a quick left, right left to his abdomen.

Biff crumpled over and Marty stepped back, just in time because Biff
reached out with his mighty right arm and almost clocked him.

Marty danced to the left of Biff then almost got behind him,
completely disorienting the big lout.

As Biff swung around to face him and take another poke, Marty did a
little jig, which confuses Biff just long enough for him to deliver five
more devastating blows.

Now Marty was dancing around Biff and the big man just looked
awkward, like a clumsy oaf swinging wildly and missing.

Biff never connected another blow. Marty was just too damned fast.

In the end Marty backed up, surveying the bloody face of Biff
Tannen, who'd finally met his match and was standing there, dazed,
confused, panting hard with exhaustion trying to keep up with this
little dynamo.

“Had enough?” Marty asked.

“Biff, bloody and battered wiped his face and scowled.” Then he put
his head down and charged Marty like a bull.

But Marty was ready for that. He dodged to the side and gave the big
man a shove with his right arm. This threw Biff off balance and he
ran, headlong, into the side of the tow truck.
The crowd moaned and Doc and Marty winced.

Marty too winced.

Even the henchmen winced.

“That's gonna leave a mark,” Marty said, as Biff fell, flat on his face,
unconscious.

The crowd cheered and Marty ate it up.

Doc and the body shirt man settled up on their bet, then Doc stepped
forward and held Marty's hand up like a champion at the end of a
title match.

Marty looked around at the crowd and saw George and Lorraine
standing there. Lorrain was clapping wildly with the rest of the crowd,
but George was not clapping very enthusiastically.

Lorrain shouted. “Yay! Calvin Klein!” She turned to another girl

nearby. “That's Calvin Klein, I told you he's a dream boat.” She had
to say this loud enough to be heard over the cheers but just as she
shouted it, the cheering stopped and everyone heard.

The girl only smiled and nodded in agreement and then giggled,
looking around at the people who are now looking at them because
of Lorraine's remark. Lorraine blushed then hungrily stared at Marty.

Marty dropped his arms confused and concerned.

Doc and Marty share a look, and Doc raised his eyebrows.

“Not again,” Said Doc.

“Not again, what?” A confused Marty asked.

George stopped clapping the moment he heard Lorraine's remark

and he now stared down at the ground with a deep expression of
defeat and sadness.

Marty give George an apologetic look but Doc leaned in and

whispered. “We have to get out of here before you end up back in
jail,” then added, “or married to your own mother!”

Marty blankly stared at Doc as if coming out of a dream. “Ya, right.”

As they climbed into the tow truck, Lorraine hurriedly left George
gawking on the sidewalk and chased after Marty.

“Hi Calvin... Marty,” she said, “it's good to see you again.”

“I gotta go,” Marty said.

“”Okay,” she looked down a bit disappointed. “When will I see you
again?”

“I'm not sure,” he sincerely replied.

Doc cleared his throat and Marty looked at him. “I'll see you around
sometime.” He told her, and closed the door.

Doc glared at him. “You know, she's never going to give up now,
you're her 'dreamboat.”

Marty's eyes grew wide, it was now dawning on him what he had
done. He looked out the window as Doc pulled away. George and
Lorraine were walking together and he could tell that she was
gushing on and on, not about George.

His heart sank into his stomach.

“What have I done?” He asked.

Doc glared at him and nodded as they drove away.

 14. BOILING POINTS

Marty looked Doc's garage over with some interest. This was the
same building that, in 1985 was Doc's home and workshop. It was
hard to fathom that in just 30 years a Burger King would sit, just a
few feet away from where they now stood. There were no shelves in
there, no clocks, no crazy gadgets. It was just a typical garage.

The DeLorean was parked and still covered. Marty sat in a lawn
chair, holding the “Save the clock tower flyer” and looking longingly
at Jennifer's note. It seemed like a lifetime away.

Doc was tinkering behind him on something.

“Doc, isn't it strange that when I went back to 1985, Jennifer didn't
even really know me? I was just some kid in a band.”

“It's probably for the best. You might have discovered that she and
you don't have any chemistry in this reality. Maybe she's dating your
worst enemy.”

“I don't have any enemies, “ Marty said.

“Well you might in this timeline!”

“Oh!” It was all he could say to that, still staring at the flier.

“Okay,” said Doc, straightening up. “I'm finished.”

Marty got up and went over to the bench. Doc had taken the pieces
of the letter out of the mysterious envelope with Marty's handwriting
on it, and he had taped them together so that the letter was now
readable.
Doc said, “if I'm right about this, this letter will warn me about being
shot in 1985!”

Marty still didn't understand. “Okay, Doc but what will that prove?”

“Nothing really, but it might suggest that had you never come back
here and spilled the beans about it I might not have ever read this
letter.”

“Okay,” Marty said sarcastically, shrugging.

“Marty, don't you see?” Doc explained patiently. “I know for a fact
that I survived in 1985 because I go to 2015, the time machine is
stolen from me, we get it back, we and the other Marty came back
here to 1955 to get a book away from Biff.

“The same book he's still looking for?”

“Precisely. Once you got the book back,, the other you, I got struck,
the other me got struck by lightning and went to 1885.”

“Oh, okay,” said Marty, beginning to see. “So, you're saying that
none of that would have happened if you didn't survive, so you were
SUPPOSED to read this letter, if it warns you about the Libyans.”

Doc nods. But I assure you Marty, I had no intention of ever reading
this letter, until you came along!

“Heavy!” Marty exclaimed, finally getting the picture.

Doc picked up his magnifying glass and began to read.

“Dear Doctor Brown, on the night I go back in time at 1:30 am you

will be shot by terrorists. Please take whatever precautions are
necessary to prevent this terrible disaster. You're friend, Marty.”

“Doc that's my handwriting, woah.”

“Yes and it is proof of my theory.”

“Which is?”

Doc frowned. “Try to pay attention Marty.

Marty nods.
Doc continued, “just like you said, I was meant to read this letter, I
was not supposed to read this letter and I wouldn't have until you let
is slip about the Libyans. You're indiscretion rendered my reading of
the letter moot.”

“If you weren't going to ever read it,” Marty inquired, “why did you
keep it?”

“Keepsake,” replied Doc. “I was going to press it into my scrap book

and include it in my memoirs some day.”

Marty shook his head. “I sort of get it Doc, but not really, sorry.”

“It suggests, my boy, that at least in another reality you did come
here, just like you're doing now, and let it slip.”

“Okay, ” Marty acknowledged, feigning comprehension. “But how

does that get us any closer to knowing how I changed things so
drastically by just coming back here for a few minutes.

Doc sighed. “Marty, I believe that is precisely why things changed for
you. You came back immediately.”

Marty looked hopelessly confused.

Doc was a born teacher, and he led Marty along in his theory with
the patience of a saint. “Since you proceeded back to the future
immediately,' Doc further explained, “you never came here, told me
about the terrorists and had me read the letter. So, when you got
back there I was dead! If I'm right, when you go back now, I will have
taken some sort of precautions to prevent being killed that night.”

“You would do that?” Marty seemed honestly surprised, “after all that
talk about not messing with the space time continuum?”

“What, you think I am going to let myself get shot?” Doc asked.
“Marty you must know me better than that by now!”

“So you buy a bullet proof vest some day, that's all” Marty blurts.

“Armor? I don't think so, too heavy and bulky.” Doc dismissed the
suggestion.

“No, Doc” Marty explained, “in 1985 they have lightweight vests, light
as a regular jacket but they stop bullets, you can even wear them
under your shirt.”

Doc's eyes lit up. “Everyone has bullet proof vests... makes sense,
with all the rampant crime.”

Doc's eyes lit up. “Everyone has bullet proof vests... makes sense,
with all the rampant crime.”

Marty let that go, with a shake of the head. “So, what you're saying is
that I'm not messing with the timeline, by coming back here, I'm
supposed to be here!” Marty asked in amazement.

“That's not exactly right, ” Doc said dryly, “it's a bit more complicated
than that.”

“But whatever happened to my Dad and the rest of my family

happened because I wasn't here to STOP it!” Marty was excited now.
I might have fixed everything already!”

Doc shook his head. “Don't jump to conclusions. A theory was

beginning to form in Doc's head but he needed to be sure. “The
other Marty had a family photo.”

Marty nods, “so do I.”

“Let me see it.”

Marty pulled out his wallet and handed over the Disney Land photo
of he and his siblings.

When Doc inspected it under the light with his magnifier he hissed,
shook his head, and exclaimed, “Damn!”

Marty, alarmed, grabbed the picture back and the magnifier and
looked at it himself.

“It's just as I suspected,” said Doc, wandering off, his hands on his
hips, deeply disturbed.

“Wait a minute Doc,” said Marty in alarm, “my brother Dave's head is
starting to disappear in the picture!”

Doc Brown slapped his hands to his sides. “Of course it is” he said in
frustration.

Marty approached him, and in desperation asked, “what does it

mean, Doc?”

“It means,” Doc said moanfully, “just as I predicted, you made

matters worse, now your brother and sister are being erased from
the family photo and if we don't repair the damage eventually you'll
be erased... from EXISTENCE!”

“Woah, now wait a minute Doc.” Marty followed Doc who is just
wandering aimlessly around the garage now. “How is that possible I
haven't done anything!”

He stopped and Doc turned, glaring at him. “Oh no... ROCKY?”

Marty is shocked. “You know about the Rocky movies?”

Doc shakes his head in irritation. “Marty focus, never mind all that.”

He nods. “So how did my beating up Biff cause me to be erased in

the future? It makes no sense.”

Doc paces angrily. “It makes perfect sense Marty, your mother was
amorously infatuated with the other Marty, he barely got your parents
back together I told you this entire story.”

“Ya, ya, the dance and dad decking Biff, but those things still
happened right?”

“Yes,” Doc is trying not to lose his patience, “we haven't changed the
past Marty, we've altered the future even more. You saw how your
mother reacted to your victory, I'm afraid she's forgetting all about
poor meek George McFly, she's found a Knight in shining armor who
can 'protect the woman he loves.” Doc slaps his sides again and sits
down. Glaring at Marty in total frustration.

“Woah, this is heavy Doc, you're saying my mom has the hots for
me.”

“Yes, yes, we've had this conversation before,” Doc is peeved now,
“we have to figure out a way to fix this Marty, or the future that we've
already seen, the future that the original Marty experienced is going
to go away and maybe he might even be erased! Who knows what
repercussions can come of this one tiny change to the timeline. Like
when a butterfly's wings fluttering results in a huge storm some day.”

“The butterfly effect, ya, you spoke of that before,” Marty says, “the
other you back in 1985.”

“Marty, I'm afraid you haven't fixed a thing. You are going to have to
figure a way to get your mother to fall in love with your father all over
again, she needs to forget about you and see only him!”
“So, I'll just disappear. I'll go away and never come back.”

Doc shakes his head. “That won't work, Marty, if that could work your
plans to go immediately back to the future from here would have
fixed the problem.”

“Wow, this time travel stuff is hard to understand.”

“So what do I do?” Asks Marty helplessly.

“Marty, I'm afraid you're stuck here for the time being. I don't know
how long you have until you vanish completely from the timeline. You
are going to have to use that time here to work to get your parents
back together and get your mother to forget all about you as a
potential mate!”

“Don't say it like that Doc” protests Marty, “it's really creepy!”

“Well, that's the truth as I see it! There has to be a pivotal moment, a
boiling point as you will,” Doc is thinking out loud.

“A boiling point?” Marty echoes in confusion.

“Yes, a significant event in both your parent's relationship when your

mother fully commits to being with your father for the rest of her life!”

“OH!” Says Marty, the light finally coming on in his head. “Like the
FIRE!”

Doc looks at him, worried. “The fire?”

“Ya, Doc, listen, in about a month or so my dad saves a bunch of

people from a fire and becomes the town hero! My mom always said
she was having cold feet until that moment then she knew that my
dad was the man for her.”

“Hmmm,” Doc thinks about this. “Do you know the circumstances of
this fire?”
“NO! Dad would never talk about it.” Marty sits down, sad that he
doesn't know more.

Suddenly Marty remembers something and his eyes light up. “Doc,
wait, I have an idea.” He runs to the Delorean and unties the tarp
lifting it up enough to open the door. He climbs half in and when he
re-emerges he has the JVC GR-C1U Movie Recorder in his hand.
When he approaches Doc, the scientist puts up his hand.

“Don't bother with that” says Doc.

Marty doesn't listen. “No!” Says Marty, I recorded my parents before I

got sent back to 1955! My whole family is on here, Doc, and the last
time I looked on this tape my father was in a wheel chair, everything
was all wrong. It was like the changes that got made in the future
were overwritten on the tape somehow.

“That's the ripple effect,” Doc says, just as your siblings are
disappearing from your family photo, any change you make back
here now will be overwritten in the future. All because of a quantum
entanglement.”

“So,” said Marty, lifting the camera up and looking through the
electronic viewfinder display. He rewinds it with one hand without
looking. What he sees is nonsensical. It's like two different movies
double exposed over each other. “I can't make sense of this,” he
says, I see my dad and he's not in a wheel chair anymore, I see me,
my mom is barely visible, fading out, my brother, with the top of his
head gone, and my sister, but my dad is acting like no one is in the
room with him.” Marty stops and stares at Doc in confusion.

Doc, without looking in the camera, moves away and leans on the
work bench. Sounding exhausted he explains. “Of course your father
is not in a wheel chair because we're past that boiling point in time.
It's been overwritten. Your family members are fading because we
haven't yet reached the boiling point of when your parents finally
commit to each other. You are still caught in the quantum
entanglement created by Biff getting his hands on that book!”

Marty stops and stares at Doc like he's speaking in latin.

Doc sighed again. “It means your mother and your father never end
up together in this new timeline, you've permanently damaged their
future together. They probably don't even speak!

Doc goes over to him and puts both hands on his shoulders. “Marty
you have to face facts, your entire family's future depends on what
you do here in 1955 now.” Doc stopped, his eyes bulge and he has a
“eureka” moment.

“Great SCOTT, that's IT!” Doc exclaimed as he dropped his arms

and paced again. “All of the changes that have occurred since you
came here the first time have happened, not because of something
you did in the past, but because of something you didn't do! You
didn't come tell me about the Libyans, and I was shot by the Libyans.
You didn't go stop George from being hit by Biff's car, so George
ended up in a wheel chair.”

“Wait a minute Doc. Are you saying that I am SUPPOSED to be here

in 1955, that my future depends on it?”

“Precisely.”

Marty looked at the DeLorean then the camera. “Woah, that's....”

“Heavy,” Doc finished his sentence, “ya I know.”

“Doc, how is that even possible, isn't that sort of like some kind of
destiny?”

“It's actually a major paradox caused by a quantum entanglement,

said Doc, but you don't need to understand all that.”
“I don't speak science geek, Doc!”

Doc grabbed a chalk board and wheeled it over. Like a professor he

began a short lesson on the subject. He drew a line.

“This is the original timeline, from which the original Marty came.”
Doc expounded. He tapped on the end of the line with his chalk.
“This is the present.” He waved the chalk around at the empty space
beyond the line. “This empty space ahead of the line is the future, it's
a “blank slate.” As each decision is made and each event occurs,
another possible future springs forth from the present. “Doc began
making numerous other lines that spread off from the end of the first
line in a fan shape. “Each one of these possible futures exists
separately, and each event sequence creates “another world” within
the universe, all of these possible worlds and future timelines co-
exist with each other, separately.”

Marty stood in awe of Doc's knowledge on this subject. “So, I come

from another “world” than the first Marty who came here, but his
actions effected me and my future world, I don't understand how that
works.”

Doc tapped the end of the single line again where the other lines fan
off. “This present represents the point in time after the first Marty's
interference, and after George decks Biff at the dance. Because of
where your future sprang from, of course your history includes the
events created by the original Marty, you are a PRODUCT of the
quantum entanglement. Even though it has since been corrected,
you are still caught in it's ripple effect! You're future sprang forth from
the moment in time somewhere AFTER you go back to 1955 the first
time.”

Doc took a different colored chalk and drew another line. “You and
the family you know are on a timeline that was started AFTER the
events that are happening now. When you went back to 1955 the
first time you proceeded to the most logical and probable of futures
from THAT moment in time.”

“OH!” Marty almost begins to understand now.

“It doesn't matter,” said Doc, “you may not understand it fully, heck,
I'm not even sure that I do. All you need to know is that if you want to
get back to the future you remember (or one identical to it) you have
to recreate the circumstances that created your reality and then you
can proceed down that path to it's logical conclusion.”

“So, you're saying that even though I wasn't born yet I created my
own future here in 1955?”

“That's an oversimplification,” Doc protests, “but close enough.”

Doc put down the chalk. “There's just one problem now, Marty,” he
looked at the young man with sympathy, “I believe your rash decision
to confront Biff the way you did has created an entirely new future,
you've somehow interfered with the natural course of your parents'
relationship. This fire of which you speak, it sounds like that was a
pivotal moment in your parents' lives and led to their long happy
marriage, evidently that never happens now because of your fight
with Biff. We need to know more.”

“So why don't I just use the time machine to go back in time and stop
myself from making this mistake, save George some other way?”

“Absolutely not!” Doc glared at him. “Marty, have you learned nothing
yet? More time travel to fix the problems of time travel will only result
in further pollution of the time stream. You could end up recreating
the quantum entanglement that got us both here, tearing a rift in the
space/time continuum.”

“I could go to the future in the time machine and find out what
happens.” Marty suggested hopefully.
“It won't work,” Doc tells him flatly. “Any future you go to from here is
a future where those events didn't happen, and where you don't
exist.”

“Right!” Marty nods as if understanding what Doc just said.

“Besides,” Doc added, “since you don't exist in the future if you go
there now chances are you will jump past the boiling point in which
case all you have done is fast forward to a moment when you don't
exist. You'll vanish instantly. You can't exist past the critical moment
in which your fate is decided.”

“But you could probably go, right? Asks Marty and you could find out
what actually happens, or doesn't happen, you can find out why I
don't exist.”

“No, Marty because the future is not written yet. If I go into the time
machine and proceed to the future I only go to the most probable
extrapolation of events from the very moment I leave to go forward.”

“Ya” said Marty almost sarcastically, “that pesky probable

extrapolation thing.”

Doc finished, “Anything I see in the future will be purely theoretical

and based only on what is happening now.”

“So how do we find out about the fire?” Marty is totally frustrated.

“We don't!” Doc said flatly.

“So we're screwed! I destroyed my whole family!”

“No, Marty, you just can't bank on making the fire happen. Besides,
even if you did know the exact circumstances, what would you do,
light a fire somewhere, put people's lives at risk, hope your father
saves them?”
“I see,” said Marty, “so I'm just going to have to forget about that fire
and find some new way to make my mother look at my father like
some sort of hero.”

“Exactly!” Doc agreed, happy that Marty finally got it. “You're going to
have to go back to High School,” Doc informs him flatly, “thankfully,
you're technically already enrolled as my nephew, Calvin Martin
Klein.”

“I'm going to go to High School in 1955?”

“Yep,” Doc confirmed.

“For how long?”

“For however long it takes Marty!”

“I'll graduate 12 years before I'm even born! That's going to be hard
to explain on a resume' Doc!”

Doc nods at this. “Of course, that's assuming you aren't erased
before that.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“You're welcome.”
 15. A BRAND NEW GEORGE

It was a bright and sunny day in Hill Valley. The birds were singing in
the town square, squirrels ran across the lawn. People were out
shopping and going in and out of Lou's Diner. George and Marty
walked together down the sidewalk, past the Diner, to a small shop
called “Ruth's Frock Shop.”
As they approach the entrance George stopped at the doorway as
if afraid of it.
“I don't understand what we're doing here,” complained George.
“Listen, George,” replied Marty, “I already told you, I came into
some extra money recently and I want to spend it on my bud.”
He slapped his hand on George's shoulder, who flinched then
shook his head. “But I don't understand why you want to buy me
clothes. What's wrong with mine?”
Marty looks at his clothes, frowning, then, realizes he's offending
his young father. “Nothing, nothing at all George, but there's always
room for improvement, right? He took his father by the arm and
began to usher him into the store. “Wouldn't you like to have some
really great threads to wear, so you can impress Lorraine with them.”
“Clothes don't make the man,” George said with conviction.
“Besides, If Lorraine isn't impressed with me, she's not going to be
impressed with my clothes,” He pontificated. “You can never judge a
book by it's cover.”
“Ya, ya,” Marty said practically dragging him into the store, “you're
a walking encyclopedia of warn out cliche's George. “If you keep
believing that you'll never get anywhere in life. George haven't you
ever heard the saying 'dress for success?”
That caught George's interest, “no, I haven't, where did you hear
that, is that Dale Carnegie?”
“Sure, it's whoever you want it to be,” said Marty.
 “Dress for success” George repeated as Marty led him over to the
men's section of the store. He pulled out his little black book and
jotted it down for future reference. “Dress for success.” That's really
good Marty.
“Ya, ya... it's Hemmingway.
“I thought you said it was Carnagie.”
“Nevermind that George,” Marty said, trying not to get flustered.
“Now remember what I said. Money is no object buddy, pick out
whatever you like, the sky's the limit.”
George looked around. “I don't know, nothing looks like it's in my
size.” He started to walk away.
Just then a slick salesman stepped up (having heard Marty say
something about money being no object).
“Nonsense!” Said the salesman, sizing George up and down. He
smelled a big fish. “We've got plenty of duds in your size.”
“I don't wear duds,” said George, “I like comfortable clothes.”
“These are VERY comfortable” Marty assured him.
“Well, do you want me to dress like you or something?” Asked
George?
Marty hesitated. “Well, no George, that would just be weird now
wouldn't it?”
“This whole thing is weird if you ask me,” George grumbled.
The salesman looked at Marty's attire and laughed, then said to
George, “No, no, that will never do for you!” He coaxed George away
from Marty. “You're much too distinguished and debonair to dress
like that beatnick!”
“Hey, I'm debonair...” Marty objected.
The salesman looked back and made a shewing motion to him.
Marty took the hint and let the guy work his magic on George.
The salesman began to show him some really nice shoes. Marty
called after the salesman, “he needs the whole ball of wax and make
him look hip.”
George doesn't like the sound of that. “I don't want to look, “hip...”
 The salesman looked back at Marty questioningly and Marty
mouths the word... “hip,” and holds up a wad of cash. The salesman
grinned wickedly then went to a pair of Sullivan slip on boat shoes,
white and brown.
Marty hung back for a while and began to browse a bit himself. He
kind of tugged at a dress, he recognized it as the same exact dress
his mother always had hanging in her closet, or it was just like it. He
muttered. “My mom had one like this.” Looking up he sees a woman
shopping staring at him oddly.
“My mom has one just like it,” he explained in embarrassment.
The woman just said, “mm hmmm.”
He blushed, put his hands in his pockets, turned and walked
outside. Standing there in the doorway he looked around.
There were plenty of people hustling and bustling here and there
in the late afternoon.
“Marty!” He heard a familiar voice and turned. His mother. She
stepped right up to him, looking at him like he was a movie star. The
girl with her, Babs, was trying not to giggle and she too is giving
Marty quick short looks of admiration.
“Oh, Lorraine, hi,” Marty said nervously.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Oh, just hanging out.” Is all he could think to say.
“In front of a clothing store?”
“Well, ya, I was thinking of... buying some... clothes.”
“Well, that makes sense,” she said, but I think your clothes are
just dreamy!”
She moved in closer and he blushed, backing up against the store
window.
“I haven't seen you much in school.” She said, in a sultry voice.
“I've been busy.” Marty replied, taking a quick glance back in the
store to make sure George doesn't see him talking to Lorraine.
“We never got to finish our date.” Lorraine said, moving a bit
closer and dropping her voice low.
 “Ya, well, I thought you and George were an item now.”
“Well, like I said, he's kind of cute and all, and he's very smart, but
I like a man who can handle himself in a jam. You know, protect the
one he loves.”
“George can handle himself!” Marty defended his future father.
“Remember what he did to Biff at the dance.”
“Yes, I remember,” said Lorraine, “and I do appreciate it, but I
think maybe that was just a lucky punch.”
Marty was visibly uncomfortable.
“You fight like a professional boxer.” Lorraine moved closer. “I like
strong...” closer she moved as Marty squeezed himself further back
against the glass, “...athletic...” even closer “...men.”
“I never knew that about you,” he said, pinned up and turning beet
red.
“There's a lot you don't know about me Calvin Marty Klein!”
“Ya, well, I thought you kinda thought of me as more like a brother,
remember?”
“Well, brothers and sisters don't date each other at school dances,
and make out in the parking lot, silly,” said Lorraine, backing off and
looking a bit miffed. “That would be gross.”
“Really gross,” babs chimed in, glaring at Marty with some
disgust.
“Oh,” he laughed nervously, “I guess you have a point there, but
we really didn't make out, did we?” Marty countered.
“There's plenty of time for that,” said Lorraine, as she pulled some
lipstick out of her purse and a mirror and began freshening up, as if
in preparation.
Babs stood there giggling.
Marty looked into the shop and saw that it's possible George may
be finished. The salesman was putting stuff in boxes and he waved
at Marty to come in.
“Listen,” he said, inching past her toward the door, “I really gotta
go but I'll see ya in school okay?”
 She looked totally disappointed and confused by his avoidance.
“Sure! We can sit together in the lunch room if you want.”
He nodded and ducked back into the store.
Lorraine and Babs continue walking. “I never seen a boy play so
hard to get before,” said Lorraine in frustration.
“Ya, but it's kind of, sexy...” Babs remarked.
Lorraine giggled. “Yes, it is, very. He's so shy, it drives me crazy!
But I can work with that!”
“I know you CAN,” said Babs.
They both laughed together as they walked away.
Luckily, George was around a corner from the cash register and
from his angle he could not see the provocative exchange between
Marty and Lorraine.

**********

Most Americans who attended public schools know what a school

cafeteria looks like. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. They
usually double as the gymnasium and have the fold out bleachers
lining the walls, and a stage at one end. The Hill Valley High school
was no different, and it hadn't changed in 30 years. It was just as
Marty had always known it.
Attending Hill Valley High school over 12 years before he was
born was a mind bender, to be sure. Not only were the styles
different, the language was different, the customs were different, it
was literally a “whole new world.” He'd been there almost a week
now, and it was getting increasingly harder to fend off his mother's
advances. He would sometimes sit in the cafeteria, staring at that
stage, trying to fathom how, 30 years from now, he'd be standing on
that stage playing a form of rock and roll that wouldn't even be
invented for another 20 years or so.
 On this particular day, Marty walked with George through the
cafeteria (as he did most days). He was sticking to his dad just like
glue. This seemed to wear on George with each passing day though.
Doc's plan just wasn't working.
They both carried trays. George was finally dressed to the hilt in
his new clothes but people don't even seem to notice him. A couple
of guys came up and tried to talk to Marty.
“Hey, we heard what you did to Biff last week there Klein, way to
go!”
“Thanks,” said Marty, halfheartedly, “but it was nothing, not like
what George did at the dance.”
George kept walking to his seat, saying nothing to the two boys
who just sort of waylaid Marty.
“That's not what I heard,” said the one kid, “I heard you mopped
the floor with him like some kind of Rocky Marciano.”
Marty stared at him oddly, looked over at George and absent
mindedly corrected the boy. “You mean Rocky Balboa.”
The kid stared at him oddly. Marty walked away, heading for
where George was.
The kid turned to his friend who looked equally as confused. “Who
the hell is Rocky Balboa?” The other kid shrugged.
George always sat at the same damned table.
The kid called after Marty. “You should think about running for
class President!”
George just kept eating as Marty sat down.
Marty slowly started to eat. “Hey, George,” Marty broke up the
silence, “you really need to ask Lorraine out on another date.”
“Why?” George asked dryly. “Why would she want to go out with
me?”
“Because you're George Mcfly, dammit,” Marty said with
conviction.
“Well, I think she'd rather go out with someone else.” George said.
“Who?” Marty asked in confusion.
 Without looking up from his food he pointed. “With you.”
“Me?” Marty repeated, startled. Just then Lorraine and Babs
joined them at the table. Lorraine on one side of Marty, Babs on the
other. He was sandwiched between them. He hung his head in
frustration.
“Hi Marty.” Lorraine bubbled.
Marty looks at her, then Babs. “Ladies,” is all he could say.
“George,” Marty growled at him.
“Hi Lorraine, hi Babs,” George finally said, reluctantly.
They barely acknowledged him. Keeping their attention mainly on
Marty.
“So, Marty,” said Lorraine after a minute or so went by, “we should
finish our conversation.”
“Ya, well, maybe later,” Marty answered her, “right now George
and I were just talking about his up and coming novel. Weren't we
George?”
“I don't have an up and coming novel,” George denied.
“George is writer.” Marty told them, “Did you know that?”
“Mmm,” she said, looking at George for a second then turning
back to Marty. “I'm more of a movie buff. I like James Dean movies!
How 'bout you?”
Marty knew she was hinting around for him to ask her to the
movies. He'd heard about the new James Dean movie coming soon.
“You remind me of James Dean” offered Babs.
Marty scoffed, still wearing his 1985 commemorative James Dean
leather. He looked down at it and swallowed hard, cursing his
stupidity. He knew his mother LOVED James Dean! What the hell
was he thinking? It was becoming painfully and uncomfortably hard
to deny that his own mother was deeply attracted to his “bad boy”
image.
“Ya, you do remind me of James Dean,” agreed Lorraine, putting
her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands, dreamy
eyed, “only more handsome!”
 “I read he's got a new movie coming out next year called “Giant.”
Said Babs.
“Ya, well, I think George here is more like James Dean than I am.”
Marty offered, a bit lame.
“Be serious,” says Lorraine.
George looks up and glares.
“Oh, not that you aren't cool in your own way,” Lorraine added,
feeling the heat of his stare. “I like the new clothes by the way.”
“Ya,” said Babs, “you look like the cat's meow George.”
“They're hot and uncomfortable.” George said coldly and got up,
taking his tray and heading for the dish line.
`“Okay, ladies,” Marty said, getting up to follow, “it's been nice
talking to you, see you around.”
The ladies stare after Marty sadly as he tagged along behind an
unhappy George.
“Are you going to follow me to the bathroom too?” George
demanded as he put his tray on the dirty dish line.
“Naw,” replied Marty, sadly, “I just still need to talk to you about
this Lorraine thing is all.”
“There's nothing to talk about,” he stomped off, “it's obvious she
likes you better, I hope you two are very happy together.”
“No, George,” Marty protested loudly practically running to keep
up with him, “that's where you're wrong, buddy, I know for a fact
she's crazy about you. She's just playing it, cool.”
“Cold, is more like it.” George remarked as he exited the
lunchroom.
Marty stopped to take one last look at Lorraine and sure enough
she was still watching him. She waved and he nervously smiled and
nodded back. Suddenly, from out in the hallway, he heard a familiar
voice where George had retreated.
“Hey MCFLY!”
Marty rolled his eyes. “Biff!” He moaned the name.
 He hurried out into the hallway and there Biff was, stepping up to
George who had put his head down submissively.
“You got a knuckle sandwich coming after that sucker punch the
other night!” Biff said, sporting the black eye and a huge red lump on
his forehead he still had from last week's unfortunate encounter with
Rocky Mcfly. He also had a scabbed over lip.
When Marty emerges from the swinging door of the cafeteria, fists
clenched, Biff didn't see him. “Hey, BUTTHEAD,” shouted Marty. “I
guess you didn't learn your lesson the other day?”
Biff immediately backed off of George.
“Mind your own business KLEIN,” Biff retorted weakly, still backing
up, his tone not so menacing anymore. “This is between me and
Mcfly.”
“Ya, well, anything you have to say to my friend George, here, you
have to say to ME.” Said Marty, stepping between George and Biff.
George rolled his eyes and his face turned red.
“What, are you his mommy or something?” Biff laughed and his
henchmen laughed with him. In fact, the small crowd that was
gathering now in the hallway, eager to see for themselves more
“Rocky” Mcfly action, also laughed.
“I'm warning you right now, Tannen,” Marty squared off with Biff
yet again, “stay away from George Mcfly. I'm not playing around!”
“Ooooh,” Biff said, mocking him. But still he backed up yet a few
more steps when Marty lurched toward him. He was wary. “I'm not
afraid of you Klein.”
“Well then you're as dumb as you are ugly,” Marty said.
The growing crowd in the hallway laughed again.
Biff didn't know how to respond. “I'm not ugly,” is all he could think
to say.
The henchmen look at Biff in amazement and dismay, realizing
this runt of a new kid has got Biff spooked for the first time in history.
“Oh, but you ARE stupid?” Marty took another step toward him.
Biff took another step back, appearing more and more uncertain
of himself.
 “C'mon BIFF,” one of his henchmen said, “we got better things to
do.”
Biff, actually looked grateful for the save. He slunk away and,
pushed past the crowd of people holding open the cafeteria doors,
with Lorraine in the front, staring at Marty, her heart in her eyes.

She and Marty shared a look, then Marty turned and saw that
George was nowhere in sight anymore. “Dammit, George” he
muttered, “you are one slippery eel.” He headed down the black and
white checkered marble hallway looking for his father.
 16. MOVE LIKE A BUTTERLY EFFECT STING LIKE A MCFLY

Marty sat with Doc at the dinner table. Neither one of them spoke
much as they ate meatloaf. Marty was never crazy about meatloaf,
but he had to admit, Doc Brown had a secret talent, he could actually
cook. Who knew? The only sound was the clanking of forks against
plates. It had been almost 2 weeks since Marty started going to Hill
Valley High School and he was still trying to figure out how to get his
mother interested in his father again.

Finally, Doc broke the awkward silence.

“Marty, whatever it is your doing down at that school is just not

working!” He told his young friend.

“I know, I know,” Marty admitted. “Doc, I'm pulling my hair out here.
She won't even look at my old man anymore, she just follows me
around and the more I ignore her the more she seems to be
interested in me! I've never seen anything like it!

“Marty, Marty,” said Doc, this is typical female behavior.

“It is?” Marty was stunned. This was really news.

“Yes, Marty! No wonder you only ever had one girlfriend. It drives
women crazy when you make yourself unavailable! They will hunt
you! It's in their nature.”

“Get outa town, Doc!” Marty couldn't believe his ears. “Are you telling
me you know about women too?

Doc put down his fork in disgust. “Marty, I'm not a eunuch. I have
had a few romances in my life. But in point of fact no one knows
about women, they are the universe's greatest mystery.”
Marty truly was surprised, this was a side of Doc Brown Marty had
never seen.

“What kind of women have you dated, Doc?”

“Never mind that, we need to talk about your failure to get your
mother to lose interest in you and your failure to figure out how to
make your father more appealing to her.

“I just can't figure this out Doc,” replied Marty, “I suck at

matchmaking.”

“They're your parents,” Doc exclaimed in frustration, “and you barely

know them!”

“Doc,” Marty said, “these two are nothing like my parents, they look
like my parents, they sound like my parents, and now they both
dress like my parents, but trust me, they are NOT my parents.”

Doc stopped mid bite. “What did you just say?”

Marty shrugged. “I said trust me, they are not my parents.”

“No before that,” Doc said urgently, “what was that you said before?”

Confused Marty thought back. “I said they look like my parents, they
sound like my parents, and now they both dress like my parents...”

“That's it!” Doc said, excitedly. “Why do you say NOW they both
dress like your parents?”

“Because,” explained Marty, “before George was dressing like some

kind of revenge of the nerds, until I took him to the store. He walked
out of there looking like my father....” Marty stopped, his eyes lighting
up when he saw where Doc was going.

“So, you are the one who taught your father how...”
“How to dress!” Marty finished his sentence, straightening in his
chair. My dad got his style from me? Doc, that's crazy! How is that
even possible? As far back as I can remember my father liked the
same style clothes, a bit outdated but he wore them well!”

“From all that I understand about the universe,” said Doc ominously,
“it shouldn't be possible!”

Marty swallowed hard.

“Ya, Doc, but what does it mean?”

“I don't know,” the Doc told him, “I need time to think about this.”

Marty looked up at the calendar on the wall behind Doc. “Well,

you've got about 13 more days to figure it out Doc. I'm dying here.
I'm out of ideas.

There was another 30 minutes of silence and more clanking on

plates with forks as they finished their dinner, both of them trying to
figure out the significance of this new revelation. They cleaned up
together, still not saying much.

As Marty was drying the dishes and handing them to the Doc, who
then put them away, Doc brown suddenly stopped in his tracks and
smiled at Marty.

“What?” Asked Marty.

“I think I have it,” the Doc replied, “but I need to know more about
your father to be sure.”

“Well, I'll tell you what I can,” said Marty.

“What did you and your father do together growing up?”

“Well, lots of things. He taught me golf, tennis, racket ball, he even

taught me to skateboard, he was really good.”
“Marty I don't see any of that helping, your mother is not going to be
impressed with racket ball.”

“My dad got me started in boxing,” Marty blurted out. “He said he
“dabbled' a little in High School. A friend got him interested in it!”

Doc Brown pointed at Marty, an intense look of satisfaction all over

his face.

Marty smiled. “I get it Doc. I got this!”

**********

George McFly's garage was small and dark and extremely cluttered.
It didn't look like a car had parked in there in years. Marty and
George were both dressed in athletic wear. Marty finished hanging a
boxing speed bag from a low hanging rafter near the far wall. George
was taking halfhearted pokes at a nearby punching bag. Marty let
the speed bag hang and began to hit it in a perfect rhythm. George
watched him intently.

When he was done George took a hard poke at the 60 pounder.

“You expect me to do that sort of stuff?” George protested. “I'm not

very athletic.”

“No, George, I know for a FACT that you ARE.” Said Marty. He
walked over to him while taking off his boxing gloves, then steered
him to the speed bag . “You can accomplish anything if you put your
mind to it.”
George half heartedly banged on the speed bag with his closed fists
and quickly lost rhythm as it swung around wildly in a circle.

“No,” Marty instructed him gently, “you have to open your hands,
don't make a fist.” He demonstrated, starting slowly. “Hit in small
circles and count to yourself like your marching, left, left, left, right,
left.”

George stepped up and tried it again. He got a bit of a rhythm going

for a few seconds, not very fast then it went wildly in a circle again.

George, frustrated, glared at Marty.

“You're getting it,” Marty assured him.

George frowned, skeptically.

“Here put your gloves back on,” Marty said, handing them to him.

He complied.

“Let's try the punching bag.”

Marty moved to the 60 pounder and hugged it. “Okay, George, now
come over here and hit this thing as hard as you can hit it.”

George was now quite irritated and he took it out on the punching
bag. Marty was actually knocked back a bit.

“Woah!” Marty exclaimed, impressed. “You have a helluva left! I can

see how you decked Biff in one punch.”

George looked down, almost ashamed. “I only did what I had to do.”

“No, George, don't apologize, dammit!” Marty went over to him and
grabbed his arms. “Don't ever apologize for sticking up for yourself,
or the woman you love.” George blushed and looked down again.
“I hardly know her,” said George sheepishly.

“Okay, the woman you WANT to love.” Marty corrected himself.

George blushed even harder.

“Listen, George, I don't know how much time I have here so we have
got to really concentrate on this stuff.” Marty put on his own gloves.
“Okay, George show me the fighting stance I taught you.”

George lifted up his arms and and slightly spread his legs apart
awkwardly. Attempting to balance himself the way Marty showed him
earlier.

Marty stopped, put his arms down and moved toward George,
looking down. He took his left foot and guided George's feet into a
better stance. Then he backed up, rubbed his glove against the side
of his nose, and got back into boxing stance.

“Okay, George,” Marty said, “moment of truth. I want you to come at

me.”

“What,” George sounded nervous, “you want me to just punch you?”

“George, I want you to try to knock my block off!” Replied Marty

emphatically. “You know you want to. Hit me George! Hit me McFly!”

George hesitated.

“Hey McFly,” Marty does his best Biff impression, “I thought I told you
never to come in here!”

George rolled his eyes.

Marty put his gloves down. “George, you gotta take this seriously if
you're going to learn to fight.”
“That's just it,” says George, “maybe I don't want to learn to fight.
Maybe I don't have to fight to be a man! MAYBE, it takes a bigger
man to WALK AWAY!”

“Ya, but George, you gotta be able to defend yourself. Your life just
might depend on it some day. Heck, maybe someday Lorraine's life
might depend on it. Or even...” he hesitated to say it, “even mine!”

George picked up his gloves again, reluctantly, and the two young
men circled each other. He took a few half hearted stabs at him.

Marty blocked and dodged them easily. But he smiled. “Good,” Marty
encouraged him, “real good George, you're a natural, it's probably in
your blood! Go ahead, try to breach my defenses.”

George was hesitating again as Marty danced around him, poking at

him with half jabs.

“Mfly!” Marty did Biff again.

George suddenly looked determined. He took a few more

determined swings and Marty blocked again.

“C'mon George,” Marty egged him on, ““Hello, McFly! Think McFly..
think, I gotta have time to recopy...”

A look resignation came over George.

Marty was almost taken aback by it.

Suddenly like greased lightning George reached out and knocked

Marty right on his ass before he could react!

George looked mortified.

Blood was gushing from Marty's nose.

“I'm sorry!” George comes over. “Are you okay?”

Marty sat there on the ground wiping his nose, looking real pleased.

“George, I'm more than okay, buddy, that was GREAT!”

He sprung to his feet. “That's what I'm talking about, George, you
could be a great fighter!”

“Ya, but I'm a lover not a fighter,” said George.

Marty puts his arm on his shoulder. “Women dig both.” Marty said
matter of factly. “Or at least one woman I know does.”

George moved away toward the exit at this. “You're always trying to
push her on me, why is that?”

“Because, I guess I'm a hopeless romantic, George,” said Marty,

“and I think you two kids belong together. I think you two have a real
future together!”

“Well, that's not really your decision is it?” Objected George as he

turned and stomped out of the garage toward the house.

“George, where ya going?” Marty called after him, then he followed,

“we've got a lot of work to do.”

“I'm going to watch my favorite show, Science Fiction Theater!” Said

George. Then he turned around. “No one is in charge of my destiny,
except me,” George pointed , “Not you, nor anyone else on this
planet can decide my future.” George stormed off into the house.

Marty stared after him, thinking. “No one on this planet?” He

muttered. Then he smiled.
 17. HELP ME OBIWAN YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE

That night Marty McFly slunk through his father's neighborhood like
a cat burglar carrying a stuffed backpack. He was desperate. He had
tried for weeks to get his mother to fall back in love with his father
neither of them were cooperating. Desperate times call for desperate
measures, he'd heard once. It was just past midnight when he
arrived, there. He went through the back yard. Several dogs were
barking in the distance, but other than that nothing was stirring in this
part of Hill Valley this late at night.

Marty stopped at the back door, praying that his grandparents hadn't
changed much over the years. There was a large white rock to the
left of the back door. “Bingo,” Marty whispered to himself. He lifted
the rock and there it was, the spare house key. “Thank God that old
habits die hard in the McFly family.” He said to himself.

He then set the backpack on the ground and began laying out the
contents. First, his yellow radiation suit, then an electric hair dryer
taken from 1985 Doc Brown's suitcase. A Walkman radio with
headphones. Check. An Edward VanHalen Cassette. Check. He was
ready.

George was sleeping soundly in his bed when Marty crept in and
made his way to the foot of the bed, towering above in his yellow
suit. He had wrapped his belt around his waist and tucked the hair
dryer under it like a holster. He took out the Walkman. It was difficult
to insert the VanHalen cassette in wearing the heavy radiation
gloves but he finally managed it.

Marty took the headphones, plugged them into the Walkman, went
over to the side of the bed, and gently placed them over the ears of
the sleeping George. Readying himself, he cranked the volume on
the Walkman and then hit play.

A thunderous noise of heavy drums and screeching distorted electric

guitar woke George out of a sound sleep with a start. George bolted
upright in the bed, backed himself against the headboard,
disoriented and trying to focus on the yellow figure once again
standing before him. Marty turned the tape off. George was still
groggy but starting to look alert.

“You again!” George shouted, pointing.

Marty almost dropped the Walkman, this wasn't the reaction he

expected.

“Who the HELL are you?” George demanded, reaching up and

grabbing at the headphones.

Marty hit play again and the music didn't seem to startle George, it
only appeared to make him more angry.

Marty hit stop. “Silence EARTHLING,” Marty said, trying to keep up

the facade. “I am Darth Vader of the Planet Tattooine!”

George ripped the headphones off of his head and jumped out of
bed. “The LAST time you said you were from the planet Vulcan!” He
screamed, lunging at Marty. In doing so he knocked the walkman
right from his hand.

The two boys started wrestling.

Marty began to regret giving George boxing lessons because the kid
could hit hard. He was feeling his punches right through the
protective helmet.

George somehow got a good grip on the head covering and ripped it
right off of Marty's head. His father stepped backward gaping at him
in shock and outrage. “YOU!” He wailed. “IT WAS YOU ALL
ALONG!”

Marty stammered, searching for words.

“You're crazy,” George pointed an accusatory finger at Marty, “you're

completely INSANE!”

“George, please,” Marty pleaded, “let me explain.”

“Just take that... thing,” George pointed at the walkman and the
headphones, “whatever the hell that thing is, and get the HELL out of
my house before I call the police!”

Marty could hear his grandfather scrambling for the gun case down
the hall. His grandmother was shouting something about the phone.

Marty reached down, grabbed his Walkman and jumped out the
second story window, feet first. He landed and did a roll. His
Walkman and the hair dryer went flying across the lawn. He
stumbled up and scrambled to gather them up. Inside he could see
the lights going on inside and hear his father explaining to his
grandparents that he was just having another nightmare.

“No more Science Fiction Theater for you!” Shouted Marty's

grandmother as Marty scurried off and away from the house. “It's still
giving you nightmares!”

**********

Back at the Brown Estate, Marty came in, confused and upset, still
wearing the suit, with the hood under his arm. Doc was waiting there
in the workshop/garage. He was holding a magnifying glass staring
at something. He looked up at Marty, quizzically.

“Where have you been dressed like that?” He asked.

“It's a long story Doc,” Marty replied abruptly, “needless to say, I think
I really blew it this time with my Dad. I bet he never talks to me
again.”

“That's truly unfortunate Marty,” said Doc, handing him the

magnifying glass and his family photo,” “because look!”

Marty looked and his brother Dave was completely gone. “Holy shit!”
Marty exclaimed.

Doc nodded. “By my calculations, at the rate your siblings are

disappearing in the photo you had exactly one month to the day from
the moment you had the fist fight with Biff. That's the date of the
boiling point.”

“The date of the fire!” Marty added.

“It's been almost three weeks now since the fight with Biff and you've
made no progress at all getting your parents to interact in a
meaningful way!”

“I know, “ Marty shook his head, “you don't have to remind me. In
fact, I think I might be making things worse.”

Doc nodded again in agreement.

“It appears to me, Marty, that your only chance now may be to see to
it that the future unfolds exactly the way it did before.”

“I told you, Doc, I don't have a clue about the fire,” Marty said,
moving away and resting on the DeLorean. “My parents would never
talk about it in detail.”
“You don't even know the location?”

“No!”

Doc shook his head, frustrated. “Well then, you may have to pick a
place, start a fire yourself, and arrange for your father to be there.”

“What Doc?” Marty was shocked at the suggestion. “I can't believe

you're suggesting that! I can't do that!

“Barring that,” Doc said, ignoring Marty's surprise, “the best you can
do is keep up with your efforts.”

“I told you Doc,” said Marty, “I seriously screwed up tonight, I doubt

my Dad is going to ever talk to Calvin Klein again!”

“Then you have to concentrate your efforts on your mother.”

“My mom? Doc, are you crazy, my mom is all over me every time I
turn around, I can't encourage her, you said so yourself!”

“I didn't say encourage her,” Doc explained gravely, “you might have
to discourage her.”

Marty straightened at what Doc seemed to be suggesting. “Are you

saying I need to be mean to my mother?”

“Not mean,” Doc suggested, “not necessarily mean, just, well, maybe
not at first, but you have to show her that you're a complete loser
and that compared to George you are a bad seed.”

“Doc, I don't know if that's going to work, I'm starting to think that my
mom goes for the bad boys.”

Doc thinks this over. “It's Hollywood! They glorify rebels. The James
Dean syndrome, I call it.”
“Ya,” Marty agreed, “Doc she told me that James Dean is her favorite
actor.”

“Then you have to be less James Dean and more James Cagney. “

“Doc I don't even know who that is,” Marty lamented.

“Marty,” Doc said ominously, “the way I see it you have about a week
to get your mother to respect your father and forget about Calvin
Klein, or your entire future is history!”
 18. THE REVELATION

The next day at school, Marty approached George boldly, but

cautiously at his locker. George had gone back to wearing his old
dull and boring outfits, instead of wearing the clothes Marty bought
for him.

“Hey, George,” Marty said. “Nice threads.”

“Leave me ALONE psycho!” George snapped as he slammed his

locker and stomped away.

“I'm sorry, George, I got carried away,” Marty apologized, following

his father down the hall, “it won't happen again.”

“Stay AWAY from me and QUIT FOLLOWING ME AROUND!”

George shouted without turning around, his back to Marty. Marty
stopped and stared after, looking very much like a kid being rejected
by his own father.

Down the hall, another kid walked past George and with an evil grin
slapped him on the back and said, “Hey McFly how's it goin?”

Marty started to move forward, seeing the kid has just put a “kick
me” sign on George's back, but before he could say or do anything,
George McFly grabbed the sign off his back and pinned it to the kid's
chest. “You leave me alone too, I'm sick of these juvenile pranks.”

Marty stopped again, his eyes glowing with pride. It dawned on him
that George was transforming himself. He was no longer the
sniveling coward, the brunt of all the other kid's jokes.

“Maybe there's hope for you yet George McFly,” Marty muttered.
“Hello Marty.” He heard a sweet voice behind him. His head dropped
and he turned around. It was, of course, Lorraine.

His eyes narrowed. She was smiling up at him so sweetly. This was
going to be difficult but it had to be done. He sighed, took a deep
breath, then steeled himself.

“Get lost,” he said to Lorraine and stomped away himself leaving her
looking confused and crushed.

For the next few days Marty continued to attempt to intervene on

George's behalf, all the while he was just as rude as he could be to
Lorraine.

Once, in the gymnasium, Marty made the team captain pick George
for their team (who was just standing there with 3 other nerdy kids).
George glared at Marty and then left the Gym floor, heading for the
lockers.

In the cafeteria, Biff once stomped over toward where George was
sitting and Marty stepped in between them.

Biff slunk away trying to act like he was just walking past anyway.

One day after school, as Marty walked down the steps, Lorraine and
a friend approach him. He glares at her, turned, and walked the other
way. She stopped, looks puzzled, then, embarrassed she walked
another direction.

At the lockers one morning, Marty stepped up and tried to talk to

George, he walked away. As he stared after him Lorraine and Babs
walk by, she didn't even acknowledge his existence anymore. Marty
sighed with relief, then looked at his family photo and ran his hands
through his hair worriedly.

Again the cafeteria, Marty tried to sit next to George for lunch.
George picked up his tray and moved to another table. Marty
dropped his head sadly. The time of the fire, the “boiling point” as
Doc referred to it, was fast approaching and Marty was failing
miserably. It was taking it's toll on him.

Early one morning Doc Brown came out of the front door of his
mansion, followed by Marty. Doc was taking him to school.

“Marty, you're going about this all wrong.” Said Doc. “Maybe you
should just talk to Lorraine. Try to reason with her. Tell her that she's
selling George short.”

Marty looked skeptical.

“Put your cards on the table,” said Doc as he unlocked the door to
his car.

Marty was not sold on this idea. “I don't know Doc, it sounds unlikely
she'll listen.”

“May I remind you,” said Doc, “that your family has almost vanished
from that photograph, which means, the date of this supposed fire
could be any time now. It could be today!”

“I know,” said Marty, leaning on the car, emotionally exhausted. “I'm

gong to go hang out at the Diner after school, maybe I'll talk to her
about it then.”

They get in the car.

Not far away, Biff lurked in the shadows watching them get in the car
and leave. He waited until the car was out of sight then he ran, half
crouching, toward the garage. He tried the door and it was unlocked.
He smiled evilly to himself and entered. Immediately he saw the
canvas covered DeLorean. He walked over to it and lifted up one
end of the canvas.
Biff marvels. “What have we here?” He asked himself. Then he
frowned. “Hey, there's something familiar about this thing.” He let go
of the canvas and walked over to the now dismantled scale model of
Hill Valley Square that Doc had built for the first Marty to
demonstrate how he would send him back to the future.

“What's this?” He stood there for a second holding the tiny model
car, it still had words written on it. He read it aloud.

“Time machine?” He frowned.

“He looked over and saw the JVC camera.” Dropping the car. “What
the HELL?”

He walked over to it and picked it up. Looking it over.

“Some kind of instant camera.” He muttered in amazement. He put it

to his face and tried to look through the viewfinder. “Doesn't work!
Some inventor you are Brown!” He noticed a button marked “PLAY”
and pressed it. Then he saw movement in the view finder. He looked
into it again and saw a much older Doc Brown.

“Old man is RIGHT!” He commented.

He watched as Doc explained the time circuits and watched as Doc

announced he was about to embark on an historic journey. Now his
attention was fixed. He looked and found a button marked “rewind”
and pressed it. After he heard it stop whining he put it to his face
again and started watching. He watched the entire film.

Glued to the view finder, Biff saw as Doc put Einstein in the
DeLorean. He watched Doc yell, “What did I tell you, eighty eight
miles per hour.” He watched as Marty said, “you built a time machine
out of a DeLorean.”

Biff put the camera down and stared at the tarp with an intently evil
look on his face.
“So... Doc Brown invented a time machine!” He smiled. “So that's
where that old codger got that book! It came from the FUTURE!” He
watched the movie until it got to the part where Marty asked Doc if it
runs on gasoline and Doc talk about the plutonium. He watched as
they refilled the chamber.

Biff heard a noise, looked up, and realized someone was coming. He
put the camera back on the work bench and ducked down just as
Doc hurried into the garage.

Doc stopped and notices a corner of the tarp on the DeLorean was
out of place. He stared at it hard, then he put it back where it
belonged, looking around nervously. His spidey senses were on high
alert. Something was not right.

He slowly moved toward the work bench where Biff was now hiding.

Biff scooted around to the other side avoiding being seen.

Doc walked up to the camera and stared at it. His eyes shift back
and forth, suspicious. He picked up the camera and carried it with
him across the garage and into the main house.

Biff quietly and snuck back out of the garage.

**********

Marty liked Lou's Diner as it was in 1955. It always made him sad
that it had been converted into an aerobics studio in his time. He
loved the atmosphere, the old juke box, the food. They didn't have
anything like this place in his time and in the month he'd spent in
1955 he was truly wondering why not.
He'd seen pictures of old diners like this one before. They were
always the same. Long and narrow, a bar, padded stools, linoleum
floors, tiny booths along the window side. A juke box at one end.
Behind the bar soda and coffee machines. And the shakes at Lou's
Diner were to die for. Marty thought if he had to stay here, he was
going to end up fat.

He now sat at the end of the bar trying to figure out how to talk to
Lorraine, who was also sitting at the bar, all the way down at the
other end. Seemingly ignoring him now. He gave her several
glances, but she did not return them. George McFly was walking
past the Diner and Marty saw him through the glass.

Then, he also saw Biff and his henchmen following George.

Marty jumped up immediately and ran out of the Diner.

“McFly!” Biff shouted after George, who turned, looked back, and
then keeps walking.

“Hey, McFly, I'm talking to you, you Irish worm,” Biff hollered after
him, “you been ducking me for weeks and I'm sick of it!”

George kept walking and Biff and his gang started to trot after him.
Suddenly Biff was struck full force from behind and he stumbled,
almost falling. Fuming, he turned and saw Marty standing there.

George, hearing the commotion behind him, stopped too, looked

behind him. He was not happy to see Marty.

Once again, Marty squared off with Biff. “Look, ass hole,” Marty said,
“are you deaf or just stupid? I told you to lay off George!”

Biff actually seemed a little nervous.

To be fair, so did Marty. He looked around at the henchmen and

realized he was outnumbered and there were no bystanders this
time to keep things fair.

One of the henchmen stepped up this time. “Listen, fruit cake, you
can't take all four of us.”

“Are you sure about that?” Asked Marty, putting on his best brave
face.

The henchman moved closer, followed by the other two, and Biff.
“I'm positive, four against one, butthole, that's not good odds for
you.”

Goldie and three of his friends had stepped out of the diner and
when they overheard this, they stepped forward to Marty's side. “It
will be four against five!”

Biff and his thugs backed off, looking somewhat upset.

“Hey, what's it to you anyway?” Biff whined. “This is between me and

McFly!”

He turned back around and George, to his surprise, had not run off,
but had came back and was standing directly behind Biff. “I want a
rematch, McFly.”

Marty started to roll up his sleeves. “You got it,” he said!

Biff turned and looked at him like he was crazy. “I said McFly,
moron!”

Then he turned back to George. “You sucker punched me at that

dance and I deserve a chance to set the record straight! What'you
say? Me and you, at the ball park, tonight what was that term?”

He looked at his henchman. “Monny Monny?”

The henchman kind of whispers, “I think it's Mono E Mono.”

“Mono E Mono,” Biff said as if he knew it all along.

George looked at Biff as if he was actually considering the challenge.

Marty noticed that Lorraine was now out there on the sidewalk,
looking at George again, for the first time in weeks perhaps. He ran
past Biff and the henchmen straight to George.

George ignored Marty for now. He looked up from staring at the

pavement thoughtfully. “No Biff,” he said, “I'm not going to fight you!”

Biff sneered and there was actual disappointed muttering from the
crowd that was gathering.

“George!” Marty whispered, “you have to stand up for yourself.”

“I didn't think you would!” Biff says loudly. “You're nothing but a big,
skinny, mealy mouthed chicken!”

Marty leaned in toward George. “George, Lorraine is watching, you

can't let him get away with calling you chicken.”

George's face went beet red but his anger was not turned toward
Biff.

“You just shut up, you!” He screamed at Marty in absolute rage. “I'm
sick of you following me around, telling me what to do, sticking your
nose into where it doesn't belong, SNEAKING INTO MY
BEDROOM!”

There was a hissing from the crowd.

Marty looked around embarrassed. “That sounds worse than it is!”

Marty explained to everyone, “it was a prank.” He said. “He's talking
about a prank I played.” Then he pulled George by the arm
backward a few paces.

Before he could say anything, however, George laid into him again.
“How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone? You keep
wanting me to fight and you call that standing up for yourself, but it
takes a bigger man to walk away from a fight!”

Marty looked at Lorraine and she appeared conflicted.

“In fact,” continued George, “I'd rather fight YOU than Biff.” He
shoved hard and Marty fell back flat on his ass.

The crowd murmured.

George turned around and stomped off.

Biff was gloating at Marty and he started to laugh. Then he shouted

past Marty, toward the rapidly departing McFly, “this ain't over yet
McFly! I owe you a knuckle sandwich.”

“Stuff it!” George told Biff without even turning around.

Goldie and his group started to walk toward Biff and his henchmen
menacingly.

“Us spooks owe you peckerwoods a knuckle sandwich,” said Marvin

Berry, one of Goldie's friends, “don't think we don't remember you
from the other night at the dance!”

Biff and his henchmen took off, trying to appear casual.

“That sonofabitch Klein” Biff sputtered, “I'm sick of his interference,

and he took something from me that I am going to get back.”

“What was it again, Biff” asked one of the henchmen as they walked
toward Biff's car.

“It was a family heirloom!” Biff glared at him. “Something a distant

relative gave me. Never mind what it was, it's none of your business,
you just be ready because I have a plan to get it back.”
They jumped in the convertible.

Back on the sidewalk, in front of the Diner several people had helped
a shocked Marty get up and he was brushing himself off. Lorraine
approached him and when he saw her he rolled his eyes and hung
his head in complete frustration.

“Marty,” said Lorraine, “are you alright? I can't believe what George
just said to you.”

Marty glared at her in anger. “Lorraine, has it ever occurred to you

that George McFly might be too good for YOU?”

She looked at him in utter shock.

“Lorraine,” Marty said, “when are you going to realize that life isn't a
Hollywood movie? I'm not James Dean just because I lose my
temper and end up settling things with my fists. George is right! It
does take a bigger man to walk away from a fight, especially when
you know everyone will look at you as a coward. George is TEN
TIMES the man I will ever be. If you can't see that, then, he's too
good for you!”

Lorraine's eyes welled up with tears. “Calvin Klein!” She wailed.

“You're a MONSTER!” She turned and ran off. Babs stepped up to
Marty, glared at him and kicked him in the shin.

He bent over, grabbing his leg. “OW!”

She stomped away as well.

Marty pulled out his family photo and looked. All that was left of his
sister is her feet.

“Ya, well monsters have a way of disappearing on their own

sometimes.” He muttered to himself.
Just then Doc Brown pulled up behind Marty in his car. Marty looked
over as he jumped out and rushed up to him.

“Marty,” Doc said sounding a bit upset, “we have a problem.”

“Doc, can't this wait I'm trying to work on this problem with Lorraine.”

“We need to talk, Marty,” Doc leaned in and whispered, “someone

was in my garage, I think they saw the time machine and looked at
your camera!”

Marty's eyes narrowed. “That's not good Doc!”

“Indeed!” Doc agreed. “We have got to secure the DeLorean and
everything else related to time travel, my garage is compromised.”

“But Doc,” objected Marty, “don't you remember, this is the night of
the fire, I have to find George and stick with him like glue, we
agreed!”

Doc ushered Marty toward the car against his objections, looking
around as if they might be followed. “Marty, if the time machine were
to fall into the wrong hands, the consequences for the entire
universe could be disastrous!”

“Okay, Doc,” Marty agreed, opening the passenger door, “but let's
hurry so I can find George, I want to be there in case he comes
across a fire and decides to run the other way.”

“He would do that?” Doc seemed shocked.

“I don't know what he'd do,” Marty said in complete frustration, as he

sat in Doc's car and closed the door.

Doc started the car.

“He's my father,” Marty continued, “but I barely know him.”

“I can relate, said Doc, “my father was like an alien from another
planet to me.”

Marty nodded. “Exactly. Like Darth Vader from Vulcan.”

Doc gave him an odd look.

“Never mind,” said Marty, “inside joke.”

Doc shrugged and they pulled away.

**********

It was a pleasant and beautiful late afternoon. An early winter chill

was lurking, just below the senses. The front door to the McFly
residence opened. George emerged from the house, stopped,
looking around. He breathed in the fresh air and shouted inward into
the house.

“I'm off to the Library Mom.”

The faded voice of his mother called out from within the house
somewhere.

“Don't be late for dinner.”

George shouldered a small book bag and headed for his bicycle. He
rode away on the sidewalk, which was an extremely rebel move for
George. He knew riding on the sidewalk was illegal and he no longer
cared. What was happening to him, he wondered? He was moving
along at a decent pace.
Suddenly, in front of him loomed Biff's convertible. It cut him off and
he slammed on his brakes.

Biff jumped out. “Okay, McFly,” he said, “where's your body guard,
Klein?”

“I don't need Klein to fight my battles for me,” George snapped.

The two young men stare hard at each other.

“Excuse me,” George politely said as he attempted to pedal around

Biff. The Henchmen jumped out hooting and hollering at him. They
all grabbed him and yanked him right off his bike.

George put up a struggle but it was 4 against one.

Biff looked around, nervously, holding his hand over George's mouth.
“Not here, I have plans, tie him up and stow him.”

As George continued to struggle the three henchmen quickly

wrapped rope around his hands and tightened.

“What are you doing?” George yelled. “What do you want with me?”

They shoved a rag in his mouth, picked him up, and tossed him
unceremoniously into the trunk of the Ford like a sack of garbage.
They jumped in, Biff in the driver's seat.

“What now?” Asked his right hand man.

“Now, we have a meeting, with Klein.” Biff reached over to his glove
box and pulled out a pistol. A small 38 special. In another lifetime,
another universe, a much older Biff might use this same gun to try
and shoot a time travelling Marty McFly on the roof of “Biff's Pleasure
Palace.”

The henchmen, all three, went a bit white when they saw the gun
Fun and games is one thing, but they didn't look too enthused about
being a part of anything involving a gun. It was now obvious to them
that Biff was off balance and they were getting in too deep.

Biff stuffed the pistol between his legs and did a quick you turn, and
sped off. No one in the car but he knew the ultimate destination or
purpose.

**********

Doc and Marty were rushing, scrambling to secure the DeLorean

after Doc had discovered someone had been in his garage. The tow
truck pulled up to the garage, then turned and backed up to the
DeLorean.

“We must get the time machine to a more secure location until this is
over,” Doc was explaining. “The time machine and everything you
brought with you, especially that camera and the plutonium!” Doc
gasped. “Great Scott, I shutter to think what would happen if that fell
into the wrong hands!”

“Doc, are you sure that storage barn is going to be a safer place for
the DeLorean?”

“Affirmative, no one knows about it,” replied Doc, “at least it's highly
unlikely the person who was snooping around in my workshop earlier
knows about it. I will feel a lot better once it's not in my garage
anymore.”

Marty got out of the truck, went to the back, and marshalled Doc with
hand signals back to where he could hook up to the DeLorean. He
started working on the cables.
Doc threw it in park and jumped out, joining Marty as he continued
talking. “I can't believe I didn't secure it sooner. I already have all the
plans and drawings for the flux capacitor as well as your,” he
stopped, and shook his head, “the other Marty's letter and my
memoirs in a safe deposit box.”

Doc looked around the perimeter. “Are you sure you checked behind
every bush and tree?” He asked Marty.

“Ya, Doc,” Marty assured him. “There's no one out there watching.
Or at least there wasn't before.

That made Doc look around even more intently.

“Relax Doc,” Marty said, we'll just make sure no one follows us to the
barn.”

Marty's watch beeped and he looked at it.

Doc frowned. “Marty, I thought I told you not to wear that 1985 time
piece, it's going to cause suspicion.”

“Suspicion of what?” Marty scoffed. “Suspicion that I'm a time

traveler? Who's going to suspect that?”

“You never know,” Doc said moving toward the house, “maybe the
person who was in my garage today.”

“Good point,” Marty admitted begrudgingly. “Listen Doc, I'm really

sorry but can you handle all the rest of this on your own?”

Doc scoffed and slapped his hands as if to say, “it figures.”

“I gotta go find my Dad, can I borrow your car?”

Doc does not like it, but he tossed him the keys anyway. “Good luck,
I guess,” he said.
“Hey, listen Doc, if I fail I might be gone by tomorrow.”

Doc stopped and slowly turned around, sadly.

“Don't worry about it, Marty, chances are everything is going to work
out fine!” Doc lied. He knew the chances were more probable at this
point Marty was going to vanish before too long.

“I hope so,” Marty said, “but in case not, it was great knowing you!”

Doc smiled, “likewise.” He came back over to Marty and they hugged
warmly. Doc backed up and slapped him on both shoulders. “Now go
get him!”

Marty quickly jumped in Doc's car and sped away.

It was dusk when Marty pulled Doc Brown's car up into the driveway
of the home of his father, the home of his grandparents. He got out
and ran with abandon to the front door and banged on it, perhaps a
bit too enthusiastically.

A person opened the door but Marty couldn't see them through the
outer screen. Just a silhouette. The person sounded very irritated.
“What do you want?” Marty was taken aback by the gruff sound of
his own grandfather.

“Um,” he stammered, “can I speak to George?

“He's not here, he went to the Library,” the mysterious silhouette

said, then slammed the front door closed.

Marty ran back to the car, muttering, “I just spoke to my dead

grandfather. He didn't even recognize me! Time travel really messes
with your head.' He jumped back into the car and started it. “The
library! I could have guessed that!” He stopped and thought about it.
“I wonder if the library burns down tonight?” With a new sense of
urgency he put the car in reverse and almost burned rubber getting
out of the driveway.

Marty pulled up in front of the Hill Valley public library moments later,
jumped out and ran in. A spinster looking librarian with a bun in her
hair and a sour look glared at him as he entered.

“We're closing in five minutes!”

“I won't be longer than two,” he said.

He looked everywhere, starting in the science fiction section.

Nothing.

He looked in the rest room.

There was no one in the library but the old woman.

No George. He looked again all over the entire library. In complete

disappointment he approached the librarian again.

“Can I help you with something young man? It doesn't appear you're
looking for books today.”

Marty was surprised, she actually sounded sweet and nice.

“I'm looking for my fa...” he stopped himself, “my friend George.”

“George McFly?” Asked the Librarian.

“Ya, him!”

“HE is no longer here.” She said dryly.

“I can see that,” replied Marty, “but was he here?”

“Well, I don't really know you, so I'm not sure if I should say.”
“Please say,” he begged her, “it could be a matter of life and death.”

Hesitantly she answered him. “No, I haven't seen him all day.”

Marty turned around, leaning on the librarians desk, looking trapped.

This was not like George to say he was at the library but not to be at
the library.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Asked the librarian,
looking up at the clock.

“No, thanks anyway,” said Marty, “I don't think anyone can help men
now.” He ran for the exit.

After he was gone, the librarian got up, quietly closed and locked the
door behind him. “Putz,” she said. Then she sat down at her desk,
opened a drawer, pulled out a bottle of scotch, tore it open, and took
a deep swig. “It's the only way I can put up with these little shits,” she
said to herself, wiping her mouth.

Marty jumped back in Doc's car and sat there at a loss. “Now what?”
He asks himself. He looked at his watch, then pulled out his wallet
and looked at the family photo. There was nothing left of his sister. It
was just he, alone standing in front of the well. “C'mon George,
where can you be?”
 19. PLAY WITH PLUTONIUM YOU'RE GONNA GET BURNED

Biff's car approached the end of Doc Brown's driveway slowly,

headlights off. The top up. He turned off the engine and coasted to a
stop a few hundred yards away. The garage door was open and a
tow truck was backed up to the DeLorean.

“They're trying to move it!” He said.

Doc Brown was pacing. “I know I'm forgetting something,” he

moaned. I just know it. He looked at his wrist watch.

“Damn!” He exclaimed.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. “DAMN!
DAMN! Where the hell is that kid?”

The wing door was open and inside, on the passenger seat sat the
camera and the radiation suit. Doc went to the trunk, which was also
open and peered in at his 1985 older counterpart's suitcase, then
laughed at his stupidity. “What was I thinking? I'm an idiot.”

He then went to a special storage locker at the other end of the

garage, stumbling for his keys. Stenciled on the door of the locker
were the words “HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. He opened it, reached
in, and gingerly pulled out the plutonium case out. Carried it carefully
to the trunk and gently set it in. Then closed the trunk.

Biff and his three henchmen slunk toward the garage, bent down,
moving cautiously.

Doc looked around him after closing the trunk. His spidey senses
were tingling. “I think that's all of it,” he muttered in satisfaction.
Suddenly he heard a sound out there in the dark on the other side of
the tow truck.

Biff slapped one of his henchmen in the head. He had accidentally

bumped into the front of the tow truck. They ducked down, by the
front grill.

Doc Brown warily poked out from behind the tow truck inside the
garage. He didn't see them. But, still sensing something was up he
went to a corner and grabbed an old golf club. Holding it high he
moved around the passenger side of the tow vehicle.

“I have a gun!” He warned whoever was out there, “and I know how
to use it!”

As he slowly approached the front of the tow truck, Biff appeared in

front of him, pointing his pistol.

“What a coincidence,” said Biff, “so do I and mine shoots real

bullets!”

Doc stopped in his tracks and dropped his golf club, throwing his
hands up in the air.

**********

The town was slowing down, getting ready to call it a night. Marty
slowly rolled past Lou's Diner and looked in. No one could be seen in
there except Goldie, slowly sweeping the floor, mumbling something
about, “Mayor Wilson.”

“Dammit George!” Marty grumbled. “Where the hell did you go?
Doc backed up, hands in the air and Biff herded him past the
DeLorean. The henchmen skulked behind Biff taking in the sight of
the uncovered time machine with amazement.

“Going on a little trip?” Biff asked?

“I have to get this back to the movie studio,” Doc said, “I don't get
paid if I don't deliver this prop to them by tonight.”

“Wow, cool, movie props,” said one of the henchmen. All three
moved closer to the DeLorean staring in awe. Biff looked at them like
they were idiots.

“Prop?” Biff scoffed at him. “This is no prop old man, I KNOW what
this is! I've seen the film on that newfangled camera of yours.”

“Camera?” Doc played innocent. “OH! You mean the rehearsal

tape?”

Biff started to look a little less sure of himself. “Rehearsal?” He

repeated.

Doc kept backing up with his hands in the air. “That was a special
new movie camera, all the studios have them. They let me keep it
because it has footage from the dry run of the movie this machine
was made for. It's about a time traveling space ship from Venus.”

Biff pointed his gun at Doc in a menacing manner. “Cut the crap old
man, you must think I'm an idiot, but I know what is going on, you
see I got it all figured out!”

Doc shook his head. “I don't know what you think, Biff, but I can
assure you....”

“Shut up!” Biff yelled.

**********

Marty reluctantly pulled up to Lorraine's house and parked. He took

a deep breath, preparing himself for an encounter with yet another
pair of grandparents. He got out and approached the front door. He
knew it was a long shot. “George, please be in here,” he muttered.

**********

“Where's Klein?” Biff demanded.

“He's not here,” replied Doc, “he's out on a date.”

Thinking about it, and looking around to see Doc's car was gone, Biff
relaxed. “Well, we can wait,” he said, “meanwhile, you can go get my
BOOK!”

Doc feigned confusion.

“Don't play stupid old man, the book from the future you and that
little runt stole from me!”

Doc's eyes popped open as if he thought Biff had lost his mind.

Biff's henchmen stopped their gawking at the time machine to stare

at Biff. One of them mouthed the words “time machine” to the other
who raised his eyebrows in concern.
“Book from the future?” Doc repeated, humoring him.

One of his henchmen was touching the fusion generator fuel port.
Doc noticed it.

“ Excuse me son,” Doc said to the lad, “but you shouldn't fool with
that, it is not quite stable yet.”

Biff glared at him evilly. “Not stable? I thought you said this is just a
movie prop?”

“It is,” Doc tried to cover for the mistake, “but it has highly specialized
pyrotechnics built in. If you mess with the wrong thing we could all go
up like a roman candle.”

Biff looked back at his henchmen. “Why don't you go make yourself
useful and get that Irish bug from the trunk?” They turned and
started to run back to Biff's car. “And hide the car will you, if that
Klein kid shows up I don't want him to have a heads up!”

The henchmen knew better than to dally when Biff gave them an
order, they turned and dashed back down Doc Brown's driveway to
Biff's car.

Biff motioned with his gun for Doc to back up toward the work bench.

“Now you listen, old man, I know you and that snot nose little weasal
are messing with time travel. I also know that I end up with this time
machine sometime in the future, when I am an old man. I know,
because I met myself, my older self. He came and gave me a Gray's
Sports Almanac that had the sports scores for every game until the
end of the century!”

Doc backed up, continuing to stare wildly at Biff like he was

completely insane.
“Don't try to deny it! I'm not as dumb as I look.” Biff stopped, thinking
that over, “as you might THINK I look.” He revised.

“I never said you look dumb,” Doc tried to placate him.

“Stow it!” Biff thrust the gun his way again. “Now, either give me that
book or I'll tear this place apart looking for it. Then, if I don't find it, it
won't matter because I have a time machine here, I'll just go to the
future and get another one!”

Doc shook his head. “This is no time machine it's a cheap Hollywood
prop.”

“Bull shit!” Biff yelled. “I saw it fly, the night you and that punk took
the book from me. I know what it can do! I know it's a real time
machine and now, it's mine! I know how to use it too because I
watched the movie on that camera box thingy. I saw you explain it.
Not you, though, an older you! I also know that Calvin Klein is really
Marty McFly, the future kid of George McFly!

Doc looked at him with pity and raised eyebrows.

That's when the the henchmen returned, dragging poor George

along.

Biff motioned to the far left wall. “Put him over there,” he said, “and
that one too.”

One of the henchmen shoved George over to the wall and pushed
him down. Another one grabbed Doc and led him over there too.
Biff's eyes narrowed. “Tie him up first!” He said to the one leading
Doc.

The henchman stopped and looked at Biff nervously. “But we used

all the rope on McFly!”

“Then find something in here!” He barked.

**********

Marty closed his eyes as the Baines' front door slammed in his face.

“I told you, the kid is an idiot...” he heard Lorraine's father's muffled

voice from somewhere inside the house.

He turned around and slowly made his way back to Doc's car,
looking downcast and out of ideas. He stopped and in the light of the
street lamp he took out the family photo and stared at it. There was
no change. He couldn't say if that was good or bad. He wondered if
his body parts started disappearing in the photo, would they
disappear in real life? He hoped not!

He threw his hands down to his sides, exasperated. “George!” You're

literally KILLING me!”

He climbed back in the car, sat there for a few more minutes, a look
of desperation on his face. Then he started and pulled out. He drove
around aimlessly for a while just hoping to see George, somewhere,
anywhere.

He stopped again, on the side of the road, put the car in park and sat
there, helplessly. He wiped his forehead that was dripping in sweat,
despite how cool it was. “I don't feel good,” he realized. “I think I'm
coming down with a cold or something.”

Then, fear gripped him. He quickly takes out the picture. Still no body
parts erasing.

“Ya!” He said. “I think it's starting. I'm next! I need Doc's help with
this,” he decided. He threw the car into gear and turned it around,
pointing toward the Brown Mansion.

As he drove memories started to flood his mind. First, memories of

Jennifer, her beautiful smile haunting him. Then he had memories of
his mom and dad, Dave and Linda. Their family vacation. Their
dinners every night. The endless conversations.

“Oh no,” he thought, “my life is flashing before my eyes.” He wiped

his forehead with his sleeve, it was drenched. He put the pedal down
harder.

An inexplicable memory popped into his head, from several years

back when he first started working for the Doc, cleaning up his
workshop. It was a conversation between George and Lorraine.
They were unaware that he had overheard it.

“You know I don't want him hanging around with the crazy old man,
George,” his mom was saying adamantly. “He gives me the heebee
jeebees.”

“I know,” George said, “but he really is harmless.”

“Harmless?” Lorraine repeated, incensed. “One of his crazy

experiments nearly killed you, George, you were lucky to get out of
that fire alive, much less saving everyone else that was in there.”

“Now, Lorraine, you're exaggerating, it wasn't an experiment it was

just a regular house fire.”

“You KNOW that's not true, you suffered serious memory loss from
whatever that mad scientist was cooking up in his laboratories! We
were lucky your exposure was minimal, remember what the doctor
said. Poor Biff, what about him? He's never been right in the head
since!”

“I still think Biff was the cause of that fire, Lorraine! I could never
prove it but you remember what he was like?”
“Well, still,” Lorraine said, “I just don't think it's healthy the way Marty
follows that crazy inventor around hanging on his every word!”

Marty shook his head in total surprise at this sudden childhood

memory that he had somehow suppressed!

“OMG, the FIRE!”

Now he could remember the news articles in Doc Brown's workshop

about how the Brown Estate property had been sold in 1962. When it
was sold they did an historical article about how the original mansion
had burned down years earlier, in a mysterious “laboratory” accident.
In his memory he could see the date reported in the article.
December 12, 1955.”

“December twelve 1955! I'm such an IDIOT!” He put the pedal to the
floor.

“Hang on Doc, I'm on my way!

**********

Doc was now tied up with some electrical chord and gagged, he and
George, together. Biff had the camera out of the DeLorean and he
was watching the film again, paying close attention to each
component's operation as it was demonstrated. Rewinding here and
there. During the short section of the film which showed Doc from
1985 in full radiation suit, fueling the fusion reactor, Biff sat down the
camera and stomped over to Doc.

He pulled the gag down off Doc's mouth. “Where is this pink stuff?
This plutonite or whatever?” Biff demanded.

“I told you, it's just a movie.” Doc said.

Biff took the pistol and waved it in Doc's face. “If you don't start
talking you're going to have an extra blow hole.”

“Go ahead,” Doc said with a complete look of defiance. “I'd rather be
dead than help you.”

Biff grinned menacingly. “Okay, have it your way.” He pointed the

barrel at Doc.

Doc turned away, squinting and braced himself. Then, Biff got an
idea.

He moved to George now.

“I bet you care about your worm, here, Mr. Bigshot's old man.”

He put the gun to George's temple. George didn't even look scared.
His eyes narrowed in anger.

The henchmen, who were supposed to be looking out for Marty's

arrival, were now all three watching Biff, looking more scared than
Doc.

“You just don't LISTEN, butthole!” Marty stepped out from behind the
tow truck. “I told you to leave George McFly alone.” Marty was
holding the hair dryer from Doc's suitcase, the one he once used to
try and convince George he was a space alien. He walked forward
pointing it at them.

The three henchmen back away from him with their hands up.

“What the HELL is that supposed to be?” Biff asked, pointing his
pistol at Marty now.

I'm a time traveler,” Marty informed him, “and this is a high intensity
phaser pistol from the future. I can disintegrate your entire body with
one shot.” Marty stepped closer.
The henchmen were now laughing at Marty's claim of time travel
until they saw Biff's reaction.

Biff looked at the strange “weapon” and hesitated. When Marty came
closer, he actually backed away. Which wiped the smiles right from
the faces of his 3 friends.

“Now drop your primitive pistol before I vaporize you.” Marty said
boldly.

Biff thought it over for a moment, “okay,” he said. He looked like he

was going to put his gun down but then, with an almost sly look, he
lifted the gun again. “But first, shoot something.”

“What?”

“I said, show me, butt wipe. I want to see this ray gun in action.”

Marty's eyes dropped.

You see, punk, I play poker and I'm real good at it.” Explained Biff. “I
say you're bluffing and that's not even a gun. Show me! I call.
Vaporize....” he looks around for something, “....that ladder.” He
pointed at the ladder in the back of the garage.

“I'm not vaporizing a perfectly good ladder?” Marty replied lamely.

Biff pointed his pistol menacingly at George again. “Do it punk,” Biff
said, “or I'll blow your DAD'S head off.”

Biff's 3 companions' mouths gaped open stupidly when Biff called

George Marty's father.

Marty looked at George who's eyes were steady and almost

menacing. This time full of understanding George remembered that
“laser” gun from before and he's betting in his own mind that it was
no more a laser gun that Marty was Darth Vader from the planet
whatever.

A look of defeat came over Marty. He dropped the “laser gun,” the
way he had seen Doc drop his pistol for the Libyans. It clattered to
the floor and literally broke in half.

Biff started laughing.

“Okay, Biff,” he said, “you got me.” He put up his hands. “I was
bluffing.”

**********

Marty had donned the radiation suit the whole time Biff was holding
the gun on George. He now stood, fully covered, labored breathing,
as if waiting for further instructions.

“Don't just do it,” Biff said, “walk me through it so I know how to do it

next time.” He looked at his henchmen like they were idiots. (Which
they technically were, but no more so than Biff). “Don't just stand
there, unhook that damned thing.” He barked, pointing at the tow
cable connected to the DeLorean.

“You have to wear this radiation suit every time you fuel the fusion
generator.” Marty's muffled voice came through the radiation helmet,
but stalling, for what purpose he didn't know. “This stuff is highly
radioactive.”

“ No shit sherbet! Biff said, “I got that part.” Then, thinking it over a
bit he backtracked, “What kind of radiation?”

Marty looked over at Doc who was struggling to speak with the gag
on him. “That's his department,” said Marty flatly.
No one noticed George McFly anymore, who was just ever so
slightly squirming where he sat with his hands tied behind his back.

Doc's restraints were still holding good, but all this time George had
been working on his restraints, which hadn't been tied that well to
begin with. He was just about free.

Biff moved over to Doc, warily, keeping one eye on Marty and the
gun pointed at George. He reached and pulled down the gag from
Doc's mouth.

“I'm not helping you,” said Doc defiantly.

Biff's eyebrows grew together, then he jabbed the pistol in George's

direction.

“Please Doc,” Marty pleaded.

Dock rolled his eyes and sighed. “It emits a large amount of thermal
energy” Doc said matter of factly, as if lecturing a class, “with low
levels of both gamma rays and spontaneous neutron rays... it's also
an alpha emitter.”

“And that suit will protect me from that?” Biff asked skeptically. “It
looks like it's made out of paper.”

Doc shook his head, “it's not paper, but if it were it would be enough.
This type of isotope combines high energy radiation with low
penetration.”

Biff's blank stare told Doc everything.

Doc looked at Marty. “We cannot let this technology fall into the
hands of this neanderthal!

Biff back handed Doc. Surprisingly, it didn't even phase him.

“Doc,” pleaded Marty again, “we have no choice.”

Biff went closer to George, who, no one noticed had been squirming
and now had stopped.

Doc sighed in frustration again. “It requires minimal shielding,” he

said abruptly.

Biff still looked confused.

“A sheet of paper can be used to shield against the alpha particles,”

Doc simplified it.

“Oh, why didn't you just say that,” Biff demanded angrily.

Doc glared at him then continued.

“Without shielding, however, and without the proper container, you're

looking at major radiation damage to your cells and even chemical
burn. One kilogram of the isotope can generate about 570 watts of
heat!”

“Okay, so it's safe as long as it's in the container and I'm wearing the
suit?”

“Well, yes,” replied Doc, 'but should you drop or break its glass
container or get it directly on your skin you will suffer immediate
radiation burns. Even if you just breath in the fumes of it you can
suffer permanent brain damage!”

Biff was looking at Marty. “Quit stalling, get going, Doc here can fill
me in on the rest as I watch you.”

Marty moved to the trunk, opening the plutonium case. With the
henchmen hovering over him, like little kids.

“If you ever expose it to air,” Doc was still saying, “and it oxidizes, it
can become a powerful type of fuel. The resulting fire and explosion
can burn through 2 feet of stainless steel.”
“So... you could use it to get into a safe or even a bank vault?” Biff
said. “Interesting.”

“I wouldn't try that if I were you,” Doc warned him, you might get in
but you won't be around very long to spend whatever you got out of
it!”

“Oh, because of the radiation?”

Doc looked at him like the dullard he is, raised his eyebrows and
nodded.

“Well, I'll just have to make sure I'm wearing that suit when I do it,”
Biff figured that all out on his own.

Doc just rolled his eyes.

Marty had taken out a vial of plutonium with the special forceps and
was moving to place it in the fusion chamber. Suddenly he stopped
and keeled over in pain.

Biff jumped up in anger. “Hey, butt hole, quit fooling around!”

Marty groaned loudly seeming to barely be able to hold on to the

plutonium.

“Quit trying to scare me!” Biff shouted, pointing the gun at George
who's eyes were narrowing angrily.

Marty tried to get up again, but collapsed onto one knee, the
plutonium nearly slipping out of the tool in his hand this time.

At first Doc thought Marty was pulling some kind of ruse, but now he
began to realize what was happening. He could see a finger on
Marty's hand flickering, as if fading in and out of existence.

“He's not faking!” Doc shouted, there must be something wrong with
the radiation suit! Or the container holding the plutonium might be
unstable.

Biff seemed unsure. He looked from Marty to Doc, then back. He

didn't know what to believe.

Marty groaned again and this time dropped to both his knees, bent
over in agony. The hand holding the vial began to shake.

“Well HURRY UP THEN!” Biff shouts at Marty.

“Someone has to get the vial from him before he drops it!” Doc
screamed now, and it was for certain from his tone that this was for
real.

“What, with my bare hands?” Biff asked.

“Well, I'd do it myself by mine are TIED!” Doc screamed.

They all looked at Marty in dismay, who is coughing now and not
able to get up from a kneeling position. Suddenly, his hand holding
the vial began to shimmer, then went transparent.

Everyone's eyes bulged.

George's eyes were showing total empathy for Marty.

The vial, as if in slow motion, now freed from the forceps, dropped to
the floor and shattered with a sickening ring!

Doc's draw dropped open and he half screamed and half gasped.
“Great SCOTT!”

Biff had been kneeling next to Marty, wrapping a rag around his hand
in preparation to grab the forceps from Marty. Now he jumped to his
feet in a panic.

Marty fell backwards, his entire arm disintegrating.

“HOLY SHIT BIFF!” One of the henchmen screamed. “Look at his
arm. It's disappearing!”

The plutonium instantly crystallized on the cement next to Marty, into

a grayish metal that begin jumping around like a jumping bean and
arcing in all directions. It gave off a greenish smoke that filled the
room almost instantly.

After one whiff of that smoke, Biff and his henchmen dropped to the
floor instantly unconscious.

Doc too succumbed and was out.

Marty rolled around on the floor in agony, safe from the smoke
because of the radiation suit.

George, who had freed himself from his restraints quite a while back,
reached up and tore the gag from his mouth. Then, thought better of
it and used it to cover both his mouth and his nose. It was a brilliant
move on his part, keeping him from breathing in too much of the
fumes.

The metal jumping bean flashed into a bright flame that literally
caught the cement floor of the garage on fire, barely missing Marty.

His arm was completely gone and his agony was crippling.

Everyone was now helpless or unconscious except George McFly.

He sprang immediately into action, untying his feet and jumping to
his feet. The gag was still tightly wrapped around his mouth and
nose. George grabbed Marty to drag him from the garage.

“No, no!” Marty protested through the helmet, “Doc, help Doc!”

George hesitated, then ran over and grabbed Doc, dragging him
from the garage out into the lawn, away from the fumes. He then ran
back in and started to grab Marty again.
“No, No!” Marty was trying to drag himself out of the garage with one
arm, unable to stand. “Get the others first.” Said Marty.

Again, George hesitated, then he began to drag the others from the
garage, laying them down next to the Doc. He saved Biff for last.

By this time Marty had managed to drag himself past the tow truck.

The plutonium, burning brightly with a white flame, turned into a

grapefruit sized fire brand and bounced under the DeLorean, then
somehow caught the undercarriage on fire.

A thick, and no doubt highly toxic, black smoke began to pour out
from under it.

Marty was now slipping into unconsciousness next to the front of the
tow truck tire.

George ran to him and looked. Both arms were now gone! George
couldn't believe his eyes.

He grabbed Marty by his shoulders, where his arms should be,

reluctantly, and then dragged him to safety next to the others. The
black smoke had filled the garage and in the middle of it all white
lightning bolts shot out. It looked like a terrible storm in the middle of
Doc Brown's garage.

George looked at Marty again and to his shock the kid's left leg was
gone as well! Panicking he looked at his own arms and legs, to make
sure they weren't disappearing.

Marty's head popped up and he looked down in horror at his now

vanishing legs, then looked at his arms. “But the fire!” Marty
screamed through his helmet! “I don't understand, it's the fire, I
thought that was supposed to fix it all!”
Then he realized what was wrong. He rolled over to George who
now lay there unconscious.

The fire had now lit up the night sky and Marty heard the distant
approach of fire trucks. He finally made it to George's side and
began tapping his father in the face with his helmet.

“Wake up dad!” He screamed! “Wake up dammit!”

George's eyes fluttered. He awakened and looked at Marty.

“Who are you?” Asked George, completely disoriented.

“It's me, your son, Marty,” he replied through the helmet.

“Who?” George was totally out of it.

“Never mind,” said Marty, “I need you to listen. You're a hero

George!”

“I am?” He asked in confusion, then he noticed the flames and the

lightning bolts and the cloud of thick smoke and crawled backwards
in terror.

“Yes, yes!” Marty screamed. “It's YOU, you saved all these people!”
He waves at the bodies laying there! Then, realized his arms were
back! He laughed for joy!

“I did?” George asked in amazement!

“Yes, you did!” Marty looked down and saw that he had two legs
now. He jumped up, grabbed George by the shoulders and shook
him! “You, George McFly are like some kind of SUPERHERO or
something, I never saw anything like it.”

George looked at Marty and asked, “are you okay? What are you
wearing?”
Marty ripped his helmet off. “It's me, Marty!”

George was surprised and half smiled. “From the dance, right?

“You're going to be okay! George!” Marty shouted with joy! “You did
it!”

“I did?” George asked.

Marty looked down the driveway the fire trucks had rounded the
corner and were racing up. Followed closely by ambulances and
police cars.

George was still completely disoriented but he stood as the first

fireman ran up.

“You boys okay?” Asked the fire chief. Two other firemen ran to the
lifeless bodies of Doc and the others.

Marty stood with George and nodded. “YES!” He shouted. Thanks to

this guy! Thanks to George McFly. He saved everyone!”

George shook his head.

“Don't be modest!”

Marty told the fireman, “He should get the key to the city or
something, he ran right in that blaze and dragged us all out!”

He pats George on the back.

The fireman grinned. “Great work son, people will hear about this!”
He went back to helping pull out the hoses on the fire truck.

Ambulance workers were now attending to Doc and the others.

George stood there in a daze looking at the fire and wondering how
he got there.
Marty took one last look at Doc, and the fire, and Biff and the others,
then, another long look at George who was starting to smile in relief
and amazement. Then he took off running toward the edge of the
estate and the waiting woods.

George shouted after him. “Wait! Where are you going? You have to
wait for the ambulance.” Marty just kept right on running,
disappearing into the darkness and the woods beyond the estate.
 20. HEAD CASES

The Mercy General Hospital was a tiny little place, by comparison to

other hospitals. It had recently just been built. Before that people had
to go many a mile for their medical emergencies. Marty walked
through the halls marveling at the nurses pointy caps, that looked
almost like what nuns would wear. The doctors were all men. Aside
from that it was a hospital, not much different than the ones in 1985.

Marty found Doc Brown lying in his bed hooked up to an IV. He was
half asleep when Marty entered the room.

“Hey Doc,” he said, happy to see his old friend alive and well. “How
ya feeling?”

Doc looked over at him with a blank look. “Who are you?”

Marty stopped, not knowing what to say. “Uh, uh... you don't
remember me?”

Doc looked sad. “Kid, I'm sorry but right now I don't remember much
of anything that has happened in the last 2 months or so. They tell
me it's some form of amnesia. I have short term memory problems!
Are you someone important in my life?”

Thinking about his answer carefully he lied. “No,” Marty said, “I'm
just the kid that cuts your grass, I heard you were in a fire and I
wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Do I owe you any money?” Doc looked concerned.

“No,” Marty smiled sadly, “you don't owe me anything Doc, I owe
you.”
He just stood there staring at Doc fondly, wondering if he would ever
remember him. Marty hadn't forgot what Doc had told Biff about
brain damage from the plutonium fire. A deep sense of sadness
welled up within him. Followed by relief. Maybe it was a good thing
that Doc couldn't remember him, or remember about time travel right
now.

“Oh, I've been to your house,” Marty said to Doc, “I found this in the
driveway,” he lied again.

He handed Doc a small key.

“What is it?” Doc asked.

“I think it's a key to a safe deposit box.”

Doc looked at it in amazement. “I don't even recall having one of

those.”

“At least, that's what it LOOKS like,” Marty kept fibbing. “You might
want to check it out, could be something of value in there.”

Marty smiled to himself. He had rented another safe deposit box and
in it he put the key to Doc's original box, that held his memoirs and
other important information about time travel. Marty had put several
letters he'd written in there, including a replica of the letter the other
Marty had written warning him about the Libyans, the original had
burned up in the fire, so Marty made a new one, ripped it up, then
taped it back together and finally, laminated it. It looked just like the
original as far as he could remember it.

Doc smiled and nodded, putting the key on his night stand. “Thanks
a lot! I will check it out as soon as I'm better and they let me out of
here.”

“Good,” said Marty.

“Who knows maybe there's something in there that will help me
remember the last few months.” Doc surmised.

“I'm sure it will be very helpful,” is all Marty said.

Marty stared at Doc for a good long minute or so in silence then

backed out of the room. “Well,” he said as he did so, “I better be
going, I've got lots of lawns to cut.”

“Strange,” Doc muttered as Marty leaves, “I seem to recall cutting my

own grass.” He shrugged.

As Marty made his way down the hall he saw Lorraine sitting by
George's bedside. She saw him at the same time.

“Marty!” She called to him.

Quickly she bent down, kissed the sleeping George's hand and got
up. Lorraine came out into the hall.

“Marty, did you hear George saved people from a terrible fire!”

“Ya, I heard,” he said, he's a real hero! Saved four people.”

“It was FIVE,” Lorraine says proudly but one person took off. They
think he might have been the one responsible for the fire!”

“That's crazy,” said Marty.

“Listen, Marty,” Lorraine said, “I've been thinking about what you said
the other night and you're right. George McFly is no coward and this
proves it! He just knows how to wisely choose his battles! He's a
wonderful man. I was wrong not to see that before.'

Marty smiled. “I knew you'd come around.” They smile at each other.
“You know,” Marty added, “I've always had feeling you two were
meant for each other.”
She blushed and smiled.

Marty looked at his watch. “Oh, listen, I gotta run, sorry.”

She backed up. “Will we see you later? George doesn't remember
much but the doctor's say he wasn't exposed to whatever is affecting
his memory long enough to do any real permanent damage!”

Marty thought it over. “Not sure... we'll have to wait and see what the
future holds.”

Lorraine leaned forward and pecked Marty on the cheek. “You're not
a monster!”

“Thanks.” He said, “neither are you.”

She looked at him oddly and he laughed. She laughed too.

He turned and headed down the hall. As he turned a corner he heard

yet another familiar voice.

“Nurse,” the voice of Biff could be heard calling from a nearby room,
“nurse.”

Biff's tone was so gentle and almost childlike that Marty got curious.
He followed the sound and then peeked into the room.

“Nurse, nurse!”

Biff saw Marty.

“Hey, kid!” Biff called to him in a friendly tone.

Marty reluctantly stepped forward into the room. He couldn't help

himself. “Ya?” He replied.

“Can you go find a nurse for me, pal?” Biff asked.

Marty stared in awe. This didn't sound like the same old Biff he'd
come to know since he made his first time jump. This sounded just
like... the Biff Marty remembered, from before the time jump.

“I need some more pillows,” Biff said, “my head and my neck are
killing me.” Then Biff looked at him in recognition. “Hey, you look
familiar, do I know you?”

“Naw,” Marty lied, “you don't know me at all.”

“Nurse, nurse,” Biff started to whine again.

A Doctor came along and eyed Marty as he was leaving the room.

“Wow, you're the first visitor he's gotten so far.” The Doctor
remarked. “You family?”

Marty shakes his head. “No, just passing by here, heard him asking
for help.

Then in a low tone he asked the Doctor, “Hey, Doc, what's wrong
with him can you tell me?”

“Well, not really, not unless you're a relative.”

Marty shook his head no.

“Well, let's just say he's been exposed to something highly toxic,” the
Doctor violated his own rule, “I think he may have permanent brain
damage, but you didn't hear that from me.”

“Of course not,” replied Marty. He left the room and headed back
down the hallway. A look of true understanding streaking across his
face, and of sadness. He kind of felt sorry for Biff.

**********
Marty sifted through the rubble at the burned out site of Doc Brown's
estate. There wasn't much left of the DeLorean, it's just a pile of
twisted and melted metal, completely unrecognizable as a vehicle of
any kind. “It's all gone,” he muttered to himself. “The time machine,
the Plutonium, everything. I'm stuck here. In 1955, for the rest of my
life!” He looked up and stared around him, a deep sense of
depression sinking in. “Jennifer.” He whispered longingly with deep
deep regret.

**********

Marty now stood in the phone booth at the back of Lou's Diner. He
took a piece of paper out of his wallet and read it. “JR Cash” it said,
with a phone number. He picked up the phone and dialed. A woman
answered.

“Hello,” Marty said nervously, “is JR there?”

“Who is this,” the woman's voice on the other end asked.”

“Tell him it's Mac calling.”

 21. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

Friday, October 26, 1985. 1:35 AM

A dark figure stood afar off from the Lone Pine Mall. He was far
enough away not to be seen, but he could still hear the sound of
gunshots and Marty's voice distantly screaming “you BASTARDS!”
Rolling down the hill from the “Lone Pines Mall” sign was another
figure, dressed in his red quilted jacket vest. He got up and observed
as the fateful events that started this entire drama unfolded before
his eyes. Just as it had been before.

The the Libyrans chased the DeLorean around the parking lot and
toward the photo booth. When the DeLorean vanished, the shocked
Libyans lose control of their van and it crashed into the photo booth
and rolled over on it's side. Throwing caution to the wind, not even
knowing if the Libyans survived the crash or not, the figure ran down
to check on poor Doc.

This dark figure stood in the distance peering through binoculars.

Completely devastated the kid fell down next to the inventor's limp
dead body and began to mourn. He couldn't bear to look and turned
his head. The figure off in the distance and smiled as he saw the
limp figure of Doc Brown sit straight up.

“Good for you Doc,” they mystery man muttered, “good for you.”

Down in the parking lot, Marty McFly was beside himself. "You're
alive! But how?"
Without saying a word, and as if he's just remembering this for the
first time himself, the Doc opened his coveralls to reveal a bullet
proof vest covered in flattened bullets.

Marty asked "how did you know?"

Doc reached in his top pocket and pulled out what looked like the
letter he had slipped him in 1955. It was taped back together and
laminated to preserve it. But as Marty stared at it something looked
different to him. He couldn't place it. Marty demanded, "what about
all that talk about screwing up future events? The space time
continuum?"

To which Doc merely replied, "well I figured, what the hell!"

The Dark figure continued to watch from his distance through the
Binoculars. A much older and worn Marty McFly. He looked to be
about 47 to 50 years old. He watched until Doc and Marty hurriedly
packed up the moving truck before the police got there. He watched
as they departed, on their way to retrieve the DeLorean which he
knew must be sitting in the middle of town.

“You're lucky I don't steal that DeLorean from you,” he facetiously

remarked to the other Marty as he and Doc left the parking lot.

His binoculars went to the Libyans who never emerged again from
the van. He watched until the fire department showed up, then the
police who bring out the bodies of the Libyans with sheets covering
them.

“Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys,” coldly remarked.

He put down the binoculars and sadly turned away.

22. Biff's Revenge

Jennifer and Marty got out of the black 4 X 4 Pickup truck and
walked silently together down to the railroad tracks. Wreckage was
strewn everywhere. They waded among the debris. "You're right"
she remarked, "there's not much left."

Sadly, he picked something up from the debris and looked at it.

"Doc's never coming back." He was holding a torn and burned piece
of the old photo which showed Doc standing alone by the clock
tower and said, "I'm sure gonna miss him, Jennifer."

Suddenly, without warning there was a large FLASH and the familiar
sound of a time jump. Their hair was blown back and then they
themselves fell backward as well, as a train appeared on the tracks
before them! It had the letters ELB embossed on its side.

The train had all kinds of futuristic accessories. It even had a wing
door like the DeLorean. It opened and Doc and Clara emerged.
Marty was pleased, Jennifer was totally stunned.

The Browns introduced their kids, both boys, Jules and Verne and
Marty and Jennifer to each other.

“Doc, I thought I'd never see you again.” A relieved Marty said.

Doc explained that he had to come back and get Einstein and that
he didn't want Marty to worry about him. He gave Marty a gift. It was
the photograph they both took together at the clock tower dedication
ceremony in 1885.

Jennifer interrupted, holding the blank fax sheet out to Doc and
asking him what it meant.

Doc said, "it means your future isn't written yet, no one's is, your
future is what you make it, so make it a good one, both of you!"

He told his boys to buckle up and told Marty and Jennifer to stand
back. They said goodbye.
Marty asked him if he was going back to the future.

Doc shook his head. "Nope, already been there."

The train rose up into the air, hovering and it's wheels folded into the
underside of the train. It turned and moved away from them a bit as
they watched. It then shot up and over them, vanishing in a flash,
leaving behind a flame trail.

Not far off, in someone's back yard, Biff stood with binoculars
surveying the entire scene. He'd been watching the whole thing.

“So,” he spoke to himself, “Doc Brown invented a time machine!” He

stopped. “Wait a minute, there's something familiar about that!”

**********

A Policeman got back into his cruiser after taking one last look
around the wreckage at the train crossing. Biff's detailing van pulled
up and he and his crew jumped out dressed in coveralls. The officer
waved. Biff approached the cruiser and handed him a wad of bills
through the window.

“What do you think?” Biff asked the officer.

Counting his money the officer replied, “Go ahead, there's no

casualties. Looks like someone just parked a DeLorean on the tracks
and then walked away. Witnesses say some crazy kid in a cowboy
suit was driving it right on the tracks but there's no sign of him.” He
held up a license plate that read “outatime.” “It's registered to an
Emmett Brown.”

Biff nodded. “I know him.”

The officer chuckled. “Everyone knows that crazy old man. I'm off to
talk to him right now.”

Biff told the officer, “good luck, I bet you won't find him.”

The officer looked at him quizzically.

“... at home I mean.” Biff said.

“I'll let ya'll get to it,” said the Officer as he looked at the sky. “It'll be
getting dark soon so you best get a move on. I told the city that I'll
take care of the debris here, I'll need some of it to show for my
effort.”

“No problem,” said Biff, “I'll get up with you later.”

They backed up and left.

Biff barked orders to his henchmen who were just kicking around the
debris. “I want every last nut and bolt!” He saw one of his crew reach
down and unwrap a piece of a streamer flag from an axle. His eyes
widened and he hurried over there.

“Let me see that,” he ordered, snatching it out of the man's hand. He

turned it over and over, as if lost deep in a memory. It looked ancient
and practically crumbled in his hand.

His memory from 1955 had never been the same since the accident,
but there was one night he never forgot. November 12, 1955. He
thought of the tunnel chase, after Calvin Klein stole the book for him.
He could still remember the odd device the kid used, seeming to
float along above the highway. He remembered at the edge of the
tunnel, some flying machine swooped in with a multicolored
streamer.

Biff looked at the piece of matching streamer in his hand, ancient

and crumbling.
He remembered as Klein grabbed the streamer and just floated up in
the air. In his memory he could now see Doc Brown in the flying
machine.

Doc yelled, "hang on Marty" and lifted the machine up, carrying
Marty to safety.

“A flying DeLorean.” Biff muttered. Then his mind went to just a few
hours earlier. He came out of the house to show Marty McFly his
new business matchbooks, just in time to see a flying DeLorean take
off and disappear in a fiery trail in the sky.

He remembered that night in 1955 again. He saw himself watching

as Calvin Klein floating away. When he looked back at where he was
going, he was headed straight for a manure truck. He spun sideways
and clipped the truck, the same way he done a few days earlier in
front of the diner. Once again his car and even his mouth were filled
with manure. He spit manure out of his mouth and screamed,
“MANURE! I HATE MANURE!"

Biff just sat there, staring at the crumbling streamer. He clenched his
fist and it turned to dust.

The friend who found the streamer asked him, “what's that?”

Biff just scowled. “Never mind, just keep working!”

The man shrugged and went back to gathering parts up.

Biff stared at the string that held the streamer.

“Marty McFly...” he muttered, “or should I say CALVIN KLEIN? You

cost me MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, you sonofabitch, and now, I'm
going to take it out of your ASS! “
 EPILOGUE
Marty McFly stood on the dark stage in the spotlight, with a beautiful
electric Gibson SG, playing the opening notes to “Folsom Prison
Blues.”

Johnny case began singing. He sang the first few verses as the song
was known. Then he stepped away from the microphone and
motioned to Marty, who stepped up to the microphone and began
singing “Hill Valley Blues” as he had come up with it in the Hill Valley
Jail years earlier when he and Johnny had met.

“When I was just a baby my mama told me, Son,

When you're grown up I want you to have fun

But I got stuck in Hill Valley, in 1955

Marty looked Johnny's way and grinned when he sang the last
verse:

When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry.

***************

In 1985, a much aged Marty McFly entered his office building and
walked down the hallway carrying a set of binoculars. He looked
tired. It had been a long night. The walls in the hallway were lined
with gold records and photographs and news articles. They showed
him, Marty McFly, playing on stage with, not only Johnny Cash, but
numerous famous artists. There was photos of him playing at
Woodstock. There was also news articles following the glowing
career of Arthur George Mac, whom everyone just called “Big Mac.”
One of those ironic names since he was so short.

He stopped at a door to an office. The door had large initials that

read “BM.”

He entered and approached a cluttered desk. He sat down and

looked at a copy of a letter he'd recently mailed out.

Dear Mr. McFly, caught your show at the Palade last week. I liked
what I heard. I believe you definitely have a bright future and I'd like
to be a part of it. Give me a call at the number below and make an
appointment.

Sincerely, Big Mac, President of Mac Daddy Records.