I like how they input Christ's birth year as 0000 |
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Now, I like to think that I am my own man, and that I can do whatever I please. In most cases I am, and I do. However, I am also a man who likes to please my buddies and my bosses. This past week - just after I got my column back – one of the few people who are both my boss and my friend asked me to write a Back to the Future column. And so - just like a necrophiliac who looks at a dead corpse- I said "I can do that"
Truth be told, I could write about Back to the Future at length. I could turn it into a ten part column if I was so inclined. However, while I may write future articles on this subject, right now I will stick to a two parter, and hope that it serves its purpose.
BACK TO THE FUTURE is a timeless classic that blends science fiction (not fantasy) comedy and drama. It is one of those movies that appeals to all ages and can be shown to nearly all ages. It is also one of the biggest movies ripped apart for its plethora of "plot holes"
Okay now folks, let me educate you, wait sorry, I'm not on IMDB at the moment, all of you guys actually ARE educated. Let me remind you of the fact that a "plot hole" is when an event in the film could not have occurred based on previously established plot events. A plot hole is an oversight of the writers and the result is an impossible situation occurring. Contrary to (somewhat) popular belief, Back to the Future actually has very few plot holes.
Allow me to debunk the usual suspects for you:
1)"Boy, Marty sure can run fast/walk slow
At the beginning of the original film we see Marty park the Delorean behind the sign and make the two mile walk into town. We know that Marty arrives at 6:00 A.M, we know that Hill Valley is two miles, and we know that he gets into the town square at 8:30 AM. So, it takes him a little over two hours to walk two miles. Fast forward to the end of the film and Marty seems to run the exact same distance in under ten minutes. This is not a plot hole, it's bad writing perhaps but not a plot hole.
What we do not know is what Marty does on the two mile walk, which direction his arrival point is from town and how far the mall and the town square actually are from each other. When we see Marty driving away from Peabody's farm/ Lone Pine/Twin Pines Mall he could in fact be driving away from the town square, not towards it. So by the time he actually stops the car he's two miles away from town square, but the farm could have been a quarter mile from town. This explains the possibility of him making the run in good time later in the film. If you don't buy the fact that it is quite possible for him to make two miles in under ten minutes.
On the flip side, it should 
How the hell did kicking the air around the hoverboard actually move Marty? |
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not take a 17 year old two hours to walk two miles, but he could have done any number of things on the walk that we don't see. He could have veered off course, he could have stopped for a walk, he could have walked along the side streets of town. Etc.
It is terrible writing that these two scenes seem to really mess up in the timing, it is however totally possible for the timings to be totally accurate and the one scene in no way suggest that the other scene is impossible.
2) The Marty Loop
When Marty comes back from 1955 and sees himself go back in time, many people think that there will now be a never ending loop of Marty's who leave for1955 and come back to watch himself do it a week later.
This is a silly thing to think, however it's not hard to fault the logic of why people think this way, and it has to do with the fact that when Marty comes back and sees his himself go back, he is in an alternate 1985. We see the original at the beginning of the film. In the original one, George was a pushover, a loser, and Lorraine was a drunk. When Marty returns he is in the new future where George is cool, and Biff is the pushover. Well if the future is different, then clearly the life of Marty in that timeline (the one who is seen to go back in time) is different as well. Many people think that we are now dealing with a different and separate Marty, when in actuality we are not.
Marty is not looking at a different Marty, he is looking at himself, at the trip he just returned from. He is not watching "another" Marty. It is a bit of a mind blowing thing to realize that this other Marty MUST have had a different life, while at the same time knowing that no different can Marty actually exist.
If that seemed to make no sense, think about it this way. What would a Marty who had a different upbringing do differently if he went back in time? He could change something so minutely that he never actually makes it back to 1985, or never get his parents together to create him. Well what then? How is this even possible when we know that Marty originally got his parents together and made it back to 1985? This situation is clearly illogical and impossible and therefore completely destroys the loop theory.
3) Doc should Know Things
Doc should apparently know about Marty being sent to 1885, and that it was he who had dressed Marty in the clothes. He should also know that he would be shot. People think that Doc should know this because he should have all of the memories of Marty's second visit to 1955, the one where he sends him to 1885.
Um, no For all intents and purposes there are two different Docs who just happen to co exist for a brief 
How the hell did the hoverboard move Doc and Clara faster than the train? |
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period of time, and then the alternate one is basically snuffed out for all time. Much like the Marty who grew up with a cool George father, we never know about him, nor does he ever really exist. The Doc stuck in 1885 never sent Marty back a second time. He had only sent him that one time, Therefore he can only have memories of what he had experienced. The memories do not all of a sudden jump backwards in time 70 years into old Doc's head. By receiving the letter in 1955 an alternate timeline is created, but then basically doesn't exist once Marty makes it back to 1885. Think about it, we never again see the Doc who saw Marty twice, there are not two Docs who travel through time. By the time Marty returns to 1985 in Part three we skip over the departure of when they had originally left, so that second Doc doesn't really exist anymore. There is only the one old Doc left, and he is stuck in 1885, and as established, he does not have any memory of Marty coming the second time.
4) Old Biff Doesn't Return the Delorean to a Changed 2015
Actually without evidence to the contrary we would have to assume that he does. In fact, it is logical to think that he does. When he returns, Doc and Marty are outside. How much would the outside scenery change, and would it even be noticeable? How much attention would Marty and Doc had for the minutia of the outside world? The timeline almost certainly changed around them but unnoticeably so. It took them a while to realize that 1985 was wrong, the same would be true of 2015.
5) Delorean Travels to 1885 without hitting 88 MPH
In my opinion this IS a plot hole. It is never sufficiently explained in the film, other than the letter saying that there was a "Gigawatt Overload" Well what does that mean? There was too much power? Why didn't the plutonium ever do that? How would an overload of power cancel out the cars need to be going a certain speed to activate the time circuits? If this is the explanation it certainly does nothing to solve the riddle.
Apparently the producers say that the Delorean spins to 88 MPH on its axis. All I can say to the producers is, "Screw you for insulting our intelligence." The car does not spin, anyone with two working eyes can see that, and this explanation is an insult to a legitimate plot hole in the film. This may satisfy the movie geeks who take the producers word for a clearly flawed explanation, but it should not satisfy anyone with a working brain, and an ability to think about questions beyond the complexity of "What is 2 plus 2?"
Please watch for Part 2 Next Article......................
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| Mouthing Off |
Every other Thursday
Mouthing Off is the no bull, tell it like it is column on various issues in the Hollywood arena. You want PC, then keep on moving, you won't get it here.
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| Jeff Winston |
I am a part time writer and full time teacher. I am currently stationed in the middle of nowhere, northern Alberta, Canada. I love movies, and I love to vent, I am happy to have an outlet to incorporate both here on Matchflick.
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If you have a comment, question, or suggestion, you can send a message to Jeff Winston by clicking here.
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