Back to the Future question

Ah...BTTF...my favourite movie when I was younger.  Haven't seen any of them in years...:(

Did it bother anyone else that the sports almanac seemed too damn small to have every single sports statistic and victory for 50 years?  Just me?

http://www.moviemistakes.com

it could be a flaw or you could think of it this way...
 
when old Biff gave young Biff the Almanac Young Biff was ready to chuck it. Therefore it wouldn't have changed anything. Old Biff has already returned to the future, before Young Biff has made the choice to use the Almanac. The flaw was having Biff disappear but this was an ongoing scenerio in the movie. In either event, once Biff decides to use the Almanac the future changes. Marty could have run into to Biff and told him that was very rare book and was his thus fooling Biff into destroying it. Part II was a bit too much plot to take but it was still a fun movie.

ORIGINAL: fArGuS_CoLliGus

The flaw in this movie that brings about the question that was originally posed is that there is only one "real" continuum existing.  However, for the viewer, the movie wouldn't make much sense if Biff time travelled back to give himself the almanac and, at the moment that happened, the movie changed to the alternate 2015.  To the viewer it would seem real choppy and confusing.  However, this would be what would happen because the changes that Old Biff has initated by travelling back in the time maching HAVE ALREADY OCCURED.  Thus, at the moment that Old Biff hits the "time travel" button on the machine, the past is changed and thus the present (at this time according to the viewer, 2015) is changed.

 
Jordan's Continuum?

ORIGINAL: Lomox

ORIGINAL: renzdrummer

ORIGINAL: GhostofCain

What about the fact that Marty and his Mom look at exactly like Marty's great great grandparents on his father's side in part 3? What the hell is that all about?  And not only that, Marty looks exactly like his G G Grandfather and nothing like his father.  And i always wondered about that "having to save the future" thing too.

Well his great great grandfather looks like Marty probably for the same reason his son and daughter look like him. They are all played by Michael J. Fox and they are all on the same side of the family. The only reason Lea Thompson was used as Marty's grea great grandmother was because the director wanted to include her and there were no scenes with his mother in that movie.

Or how come his parents never said (in 1985)..."Hey remember that guy who got us together when we were in High School. I know we named Marty after him but DAMN WOMAN he looks just like him!!!"

LMAO!!

I never thought of that. It could be the grounds for divorce. I see how George could easily go balistic: "Lorraine, you bitch! You cheated on me.I'll divorce you...and Im gonna murder that Calvin Klein!"

haha plus this got me thinking that they could've mistaken 1985's Calvin Klein.

ORIGINAL: Monk

it could be a flaw or you could think of it this way...

when old Biff gave young Biff the Almanac Young Biff was ready to chuck it. Therefore it wouldn't have changed anything. Old Biff has already returned to the future, before Young Biff has made the choice to use the Almanac. The flaw was having Biff disappear but this was an ongoing scenerio in the movie. In either event, once Biff decides to use the Almanac the future changes. Marty could have run into to Biff and told him that was very rare book and was his thus fooling Biff into destroying it. Part II was a bit too much plot to take but it was still a fun movie.

So you're saying that the timeline changes not at the point old Biff hands over the almanac but at the point young Biff decides to use it. Does he decide right after he listens to the radio broadcast. It's been a while but isn't old Biff around the corner watching...does a "heh.

I met Christopher Lloyd last Thursday at a taping of Fox's TV show Stacked.

I need a flux capacitor for my drumkit.

ORIGINAL: OnlyAMatterOfTime

ORIGINAL: fArGuS_CoLliGus

The flaw in this movie that brings about the question that was originally posed is that there is only one "real" continuum existing.

Jordan's Continuum?

Hmmm

Dad.... dad.. daddy-o

This "flaw" is explained on one of the commentaries and it's a deleted scene.

If my memory serves me correct, the deleted scene had Biff returning from the past, he hid behind a dumpster and you saw him dissapear... a la BTF 1. Which explains that Biff indeed changed something in the past.

Same thing with Marty having a hair dryer on that scene were he visits his dad on that Radioactive suit. And some others I can't remember.

Probably you don't know this (i'm actually pretty sure you don't) but in the italian rendition (BTTF 1&2) Marty is called Levi Strauss instead off Calvin Klein...this is because the Calvin Klein mark was not so popular at that time in Italy.

ORIGINAL: matcesa

Probably you don't know this (i'm actually pretty sure you don't) but in the italian rendition (BTTF 1&2) Marty is called Levi Strauss instead off Calvin Klein...this is because the Calvin Klein mark was not so popular at that time in Italy.

 
 
Yeah, and in the french version (the one I saw when I was child), it says "Pierre Cardin".
 
Definitively, my favorite movie.
 
For the debates about what really happened in the movie. I guess, there are some things you can't explain, like in any sci-fi movie.

"Last night Darth Vader came down from Planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, that he’d melt my brain"
 
Lou: You gonna order something, kid?
Marty McFly: Ah, yeah... Give me a Tab.
Lou: Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something!
Marty McFly: Alright, give me a Pepsi Free.
Lou: You want a Pepsi, PAL, you're gonna pay for it!
 
btw..for the longest time I never realized both Crispin Glover and the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st BTTF were replaced in the 2nd and 3rd. Elizabeth Shue of course was very hot, but the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st had some kind of mental or emotional problem with acting..and Glover I heard wanted a bigger part or more $..or both.
 
oh, and I agree..both Doc and the principal had no evidence of being 30 years younger..hell I wonder how old they would have been in '55..guestimating..the principal could have been between 50-60 years old..so he was in his 20's..same with the Doc...maybe 30's at best.
 
Kyle

I remember something...
How Marty was able to pay his coffee when just arrives in 1955, if the money is not the same? Right?
Cause you can see in BTTF 2, Doc has money change for different periods. So I guess, he will need different money for 1955.

ORIGINAL: angra1

btw..for the longest time I never realized both Crispin Glover and the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st BTTF were replaced in the 2nd and 3rd. Elizabeth Shue of course was very hot, but the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st had some kind of mental or emotional problem with acting..and Glover I heard wanted a bigger part or more $..or both.

 
That drove me crazy, especially cause I thought the original Jennifer (BTTF 1) was so much hotter.

ORIGINAL: OnlyAMatterOfTime

ORIGINAL: angra1

btw..for the longest time I never realized both Crispin Glover and the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st BTTF were replaced in the 2nd and 3rd. Elizabeth Shue of course was very hot, but the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st had some kind of mental or emotional problem with acting..and Glover I heard wanted a bigger part or more $..or both.

That drove me crazy, especially cause I thought the original Jennifer (BTTF 1) was so much hotter.

1) True dat.
2) Who is Crispin Glover?
3) My only gripe with BTTF is that they didn't allow Flea to act more. What was his character called? Needles?

ORIGINAL: RigoStar

I remember something...
How Marty was able to pay his coffee when just arrives in 1955, if the money is not the same? Right?
Cause you can see in BTTF 2, Doc has money change for different periods. So I guess, he will need different money for 1955.

I'm pretty sure this is addressed in an early draft of the script where Lou (the cafe owner) does say something to Marty about the money.   However, for the actual film, they just decided to let it go.  How often does one look at the year of money, especially when behind a cash register all day?

As for the question in the first post of this topic, the answer I have always heard (from many, many discussion on the BttF.com Forum which I used to frequent more than this board) is that during the time that old Biff comes back from 1955, 2015 DOES change, but the only part of 2015 shown is Hill Dale, and from the description of the Officers Reese and Foley (the two female cops), Hill Dale is already a real shit-hole.  Marty and Doc are just coming out of 2015 Marty's house, so they would not see the changes that are happening inside the house.  And as previously stated in this thread, there is a deleted scene of Biff being erased from existence, which was only cut because Zemeckis and Gale (and probably some of the crew) felt it would be too confusing for the casual viewer; therefore one can consider the deleted scene to be canon.

Another explanation is that the "ripple effect," a plot device to explain gradual and not hardly simultaneous changes in the future when the history is altered (remember the photo of Marty and his siblings in the first film?  Marty was not immediately erased; his two siblings went before him one at a time), simply did not catch up immediately when Old Biff arrived.  Just because Old Biff gets erased from existence does not mean that the rest of 2015 had to change along with him.  It could take another few minutes or even hours before the ripple effect caught up to change 2015.

Or you could just say that parts II and III are nothing compared to the original.  The original did not focus on time travel - it was simply a device to get Marty to interact with his parents while they were the same age as him.  Parts II and III did try to focus on time travel, and therefore a helluva lot of plot holes open up.  Personally, I think the original stands perfect on its own.  Just think of how cool the ending is if we did not  find out and NEVER found out what the future was like.  That was the original intention of the ending; part II and III were never thought about until after the success of the first film.

Regardless, even though I'd prefer the original movie to stand on its own, I still consider myself to be the ultimate fan of the entire Back to the Future trilogy on this section of Internet and on Long Island (and perhaps the entire tri-state area)

Oh yeah, and for the "gigawatt" discussion - renz already explained it (the correct spelling is indeed gigawatt).  However, it is spelled "jigowatt" in the screenplays, as opposed to "jiggawatt."

And yes, my signature still applies to this topic.

ORIGINAL: Whiskeyjack

Some people will continue look the same, ie Dick Clark.

renzdrummer is this your favorite movie(s) of all? If not, what is? 

They are definitely some of my favorite movies. I love them all. I like the Matrix and Spiderman movies, as well as many comedies. I really loved Batman Begins too.

_____________________________

ORIGINAL: angra1
oh, and I agree..both Doc and the principal had no evidence of being 30 years younger..hell I wonder how old they would have been in '55..guestimating..the principal could have been between 50-60 years old..so he was in his 20's..same with the Doc...maybe 30's at best.
 
Kyle

I think that was done purposefully just to add to the overall humor of the series. I mean when Marty pulls out the one liner, "Jesus, didn't that guy ever have hair?" I just lost it. The Doc actually does look different and a bit younger. It is more in his attitude and his actions that lead you to believe that this is actually a much younger, inexperienced, naive, and immature Doc.

ORIGINAL: stratomailer

ORIGINAL: OnlyAMatterOfTime

ORIGINAL: angra1

btw..for the longest time I never realized both Crispin Glover and the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st BTTF were replaced in the 2nd and 3rd. Elizabeth Shue of course was very hot, but the girl who played Jennifer in the 1st had some kind of mental or emotional problem with acting..and Glover I heard wanted a bigger part or more $..or both.

That drove me crazy, especially cause I thought the original Jennifer (BTTF 1) was so much hotter.

2) Who is Crispin Glover?

 
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000417/
 
he's the guy who plays George Macfly, Marty's dad in the 1st movie. He was I believe sort of in the "Brat Pack" in the 80's..he showed up in some of the films.. Jeffrey Weissman I guess was the guy to replace him in BTTF 2 and 3.
 
The girl who played Jennifer in BTTF 1 is named Claudia Wells, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000417/ pretty girl..but other than 1 film in '96..she got out of acting shortly after being in BTTF.
 
Kyle

Exactly -

Principal Strickland (not Skinner, guys) not having aged at all is supposed to be a joke, like he's a legendary vice principal or something.  (remember when he gets out the shotgun in BTTF2?)

Also, Doc actually does have makeup when he's playing the 1985 version - he has some more lines on his face, his hair is cut to look like he's balding, and I think he has kind of a pasty makeup on.  It's just really hard to tell.  The "old" makeup is the whole reason they have that moment in BttF2 where Doc says he got a facelift - I thought it was a joke because he looks *exactly the same*, but they also did it so he wouldn't have to wear the makeup for the whole movie.

ORIGINAL: sarcophage

Exactly -

Principal Strickland (not Skinner, guys) not having aged at all is supposed to be a joke, like he's a legendary vice principal or something.  (remember when he gets out the shotgun in BTTF2?)

Also, Doc actually does have makeup when he's playing the 1985 version - he has some more lines on his face, his hair is cut to look like he's balding, and I think he has kind of a pasty makeup on.  It's just really hard to tell.  The "old" makeup is the whole reason they have that moment in BttF2 where Doc says he got a facelift - I thought it was a joke because he looks *exactly the same*, but they also did it so he wouldn't have to wear the makeup for the whole movie.

Ah, NOW I see why they did that scene.  Wow, the things they had to do to make that movie WORK.  I guess Chris Lloyd didn't want the makeup every single time, so they did that,  Crispin Glover didn't want to do II or III, so they replaced him (But yet used his footage, both used and cut from I in II), and then there is Elizabeth Shue replacing Claudia Wells in II & III.  I wonder what kind of things they had to do to get Michael J. Fox to do II & III.

This also explains why they filmed II & III simultaneously.  It was unprecedented sure, but sounds like they had to because of actors' demands.  Better to get it out of the way then to wait for another renegotiation years later.

And about the time travel loopholes, I can quote Star Trek: Voyager on that one:  "I HATE temporal mechanics."

I forgot to add, forumer "Kirby" aka ex-DT North American Fanclub Prez..is a huge Christopher Lloyd fan. I recall going to a tribute site she once set up.
 
Kyle

ORIGINAL: Phoojoeniam

Oh yeah, and for the "gigawatt" discussion - renz already explained it (the correct spelling is indeed gigawatt).  However, it is spelled "jigowatt" in the screenplays, as opposed to "jiggawatt."

 
Jigga what??
 
 

ORIGINAL: RigoStar

I remember something...
How Marty was able to pay his coffee when just arrives in 1955, if the money is not the same? Right?
Cause you can see in BTTF 2, Doc has money change for different periods. So I guess, he will need different money for 1955.

 
Don't forget... he never paid for the "something without any sugar."   He was distracted by George and Biff, and then runs out to follow George without finishing or paying for the coffee.
 
But, if he did get the chance to pay for it, it probably would have been ok.  Why?  With the exception of pennies (which changed from the "wheat" back to the "Lincoln Memorial" back in 1959) all U.S. coins looked identical in 1985 as they did in 1955, save for the year but how often do you really look at the year?  Dollar bills are slightly different in color and texture but a cup of coffee would probably only have been 15 cents or so in 1955.

ORIGINAL: angra1
I forgot to add, forumer "Kirby" aka ex-DT North American Fanclub Prez..is a huge Christopher Lloyd fan. I recall going to a tribute site she once set up.

 
www.christopherlloyd.net

ORIGINAL: Lomox

ORIGINAL: renzdrummer

ORIGINAL: GhostofCain

What about the fact that Marty and his Mom look at exactly like Marty's great great grandparents on his father's side in part 3? What the hell is that all about?  And not only that, Marty looks exactly like his G G Grandfather and nothing like his father.  And i always wondered about that "having to save the future" thing too.

Well his great great grandfather looks like Marty probably for the same reason his son and daughter look like him. They are all played by Michael J. Fox and they are all on the same side of the family. The only reason Lea Thompson was used as Marty's grea great grandmother was because the director wanted to include her and there were no scenes with his mother in that movie.

Or how come his parents never said (in 1985)..."Hey remember that guy who got us together when we were in High School. I know we named Marty after him but DAMN WOMAN he looks just like him!!!"

 
 
"And come to think of it, he warned us that you would set the rug on fire when you were eight years old...you little shit..."

ORIGINAL: DTArtstar

Did it bother anyone else that the sports almanac seemed too damn small to have every single sports statistic and victory for 50 years?  Just me?

 
no...because if it was any bigger than it couldnt fit in someones back pocket, thus rendering all the suspense filled moments when marty tries to get it back from Biff useless!!!

Is anyone else's favorite/most hysterical part of the entire series when old Biff goes back to young Biff. Young Biff walks to his car, sees Old Biff in it, puts his arms up and goes, "Get the hell out of my car old man!"

I love that part.

and Glover I heard wanted a bigger part or more $..or both.
 

 
The story according to Glover is that he just wanted the same pay as the other actors which they weren't willing to give so he refused to be part of this.
 
They then reused some of his old footage in the next movie, he sued, and won.  This actually set a precedent for the use of archive footage and is now recognized by the Screen Actors Guild.
 
The makers of the movie also were vocal in "how hard it was to work with Glover."
 
From what I have gathered from other people that have worked with him, that is the furthest thing from the truth.

ORIGINAL: sarcophage
Principal Strickland (not Skinner, guys) not having aged at all is supposed to be a joke, like he's a legendary vice principal or something.  (remember when he gets out the shotgun in BTTF2?)

"Eat lead, slackers!"

One of my favorite lines from the trilogy.

Yeah renzdrummer!!  That shit is hilarious!
 
Old Biff: You always did have a way with women Tannen.
Young Biff:  Get the hell out of my car old man!
Old Biff:  You wanna get with that girl, I can make it happen.
Young Biff:  Yeah, who are you Miss Lonely hearts!?
Old Biff:  Just get in the Car butthead.
Young Biff: Who you calling butthead, butthead.

ORIGINAL: NMSUdrumguy

Yeah renzdrummer!!  That shit is hilarious!

Old Biff: You always did have a way with women Tannen.
Young Biff:  Get the hell out of my car old man!
Old Biff:  You wanna get with that girl, I can make it happen.
Young Biff:  Yeah, who are you Miss Lonely hearts!?
Old Biff:  Just get in the Car butthead.
Young Biff: Who you calling butthead, butthead.

"Hey how do you know how to do that? Nobody can start this car but me."

And another hilarious one.

"And another thing, how do you know where I live?"

ORIGINAL: renzdrummer
"And another thing, how do you know where I live?"

 
"Let's just say we're related"
 
or
 
"The manure. I remember that" --- like you could forget crashing into a shit truck! LOL!

ORIGINAL: Lomox

ORIGINAL: renzdrummer
"And another thing, how do you know where I live?"

"Let's just say we're related"

or

"The manure. I remember that" --- like you could forget crashing into a shit truck! LOL!

Well it did happen 2 times to him and 3 times tif you count Mad Dog (Mad Dog! I hate that name! Nobody calls me Mad Dog you hear! Nobody! Specially not some young, no good, yellow bellied, gutta-trash! \tangent) He's probably having a tough time keeping track!

"Take your Damn Hands off Her"

ORIGINAL: BKJ2005

"Take your Damn Hands off Her"

 
I believe it's "Take your meat hooks off her"

ORIGINAL: BKJ2005

"Take your Damn Hands off Her"

"You think I oughta sware?"

"Yes damnit George sware!"