4 Back to the Future Theories Too Good not to be True

0:00 Introduction
0:45 When Doc changed his mind
2:57 Lorraine's past trauma
6:42 The Sports almanac
8:18 Biff and Calvin Klein

Sorry for the reupload everyone my first upload got copyright striked and demonetized for an 8 second clip.

So after recently watching Back to the Future again, I knew I had to make a video breaking down some very convincing theories on the time travel movies! Hope you enjoy the video and have a fantastic day, see you all next time!

[brianp]

biff got into the car detailing business because in high school, his car kept getting filled with manure and he became an expert at scrubbing every inch of a car inside and out.

[unRRS]

The Loraine theory makes total sense, and adds a heartbreaking layer to her character.

[JezaLoki]

Thomas F. Wilson, who seems to be a total sweetheart irl, did an amazing job as Biff.

[DavidBrocekArt]

I like how the first movie started as a "50's nostalgia" movie and then sneakily shifted into an "80's nostalgia" movie

[Steve-izsb]

I always thought that when Doc says “Never?” to hearing that George had never stood up to Biff he was thinking that the future could be drastically changed. Then he realized that Marty at least existed so it wasn’t as urgent as the more pressing matters to deal with right then.

[DreamAsylum]

I don't buy the "Biff is clever" one. I think after George knocked him on his ass, everybody started standing up to him and his unjustified confidence never recovered. He had to adapt by being what he thought (as kind of a sociopath) nice was - just nonthreatening as hell. Meanwhile, his darkness never really went away, it was just hiding under the camouflage he had created to get by.

[whitworths]

I have a theory that Marty's sudden personality change between 1 and 2 ("Nobody calls me Chicken!") is his personality reverting to the personality of the Alternate Marty; the one we see leaving the Lone Pine Mall parking lot at the end of 1. Alternate Marty grew up with confident parents, and because of this, he grew up with a bit more attitude and a more fiery temper. When Marty returns to 1985 for the first time he's the same guy, but after a short delay, the changes his alternate self makes in 1955 (mostly the same btw, as we see at the end of 2) the changes to the future ripple out and change our Original Marty into the Alternate Marty.

One key clue to this is that Marty never acknowledges memories of his original 1985 parents after the final scene in 1. At some point after he sees his new truck for the first time, but before he travels to 2015, the ripple catches up to him, and his memories of his old life are erased. He still remembers Doc and time travel, because that Marty would as well. But from that point forwards, he only remembers his parents as Alternate Marty would remember them, despite having only seen them once for about a minute. When he meets his mother again in 1985A, he seems surprised to see that she's an alcoholic, even though this version of his mother is pretty much the same as what he grew up with, more or less. And he's shocked to believe that his mother would leave George. If he remembered his father as being a wimp for his entire life, maybe it wouldn't seem so shocking to Marty that his mother might go for the guy across town with his own skyscraper.

[chanek]

Never thought about the Almanac always being correct with changes in the timeline since it was a future artifact. Pretty cool.

[billyyank]

I disagree with the last theory. I think it is far more likely that Biff tried to keep his tough guy status after George knocked him out, but the rest of the school basically treated him as an outcast since he was beat up by the wimpiest guy in school. It turned the tables on the relationship between George and Biff, making Biff subservient to George.

In 2015 when Biff saw the Delorean, he mused that he hadn't seen a flying Delorean in 30 years. It was only after he saw two Martys and then listened in on the conversation between Doc Brown and Marty that he put two and two together. His decision to travel back in time himself was spur of the moment.

How awesome is it that a trilogy is still making us dissect every part over 30 years later? Not even Star Wars has this level of complexity.

[thingsiplay]

Also the moment where Biff saw Marty coming out of the party and knocked out the other Marty. This adds up to his suspicion and curiosity.

[garyhall]

At one point in time there were 4 DeLoreans in 1955.
1. The one Marty went back in time with.
2. The one Marty and Doc went back in time with.
3. The one Biff went back in time with.
4. And finally the one in the cave.

[carlosr]

When a movies script is written well, people can make plausible assumptions of things not in the script. That’s a sign that they built a very good world.

[enprisezzz]

Interesting points. I'm more convinced this was more of a life change for Lorraine than anyone else... and that makes me happy. Best movies ever.

[DamonCzanik]

I like to think that Biff found a girl who wouldn't put up with his shit. And it changed him for the better. He was happy. He apologizes for being a butthead to the McFlys and starts his own business. He had a kid (he is a grandpa after all) and life is good ...until Mrs. Biff dies. He is now a heart broken man angry at the world when we see him in 2015. He needed the love of a good woman to keep him sane. Lorraine (in any timeline) never loved him.

[dylanhughes]

The sports almanac makes so much more sense now. Cause I’ve always wondered… wouldn’t his first win, or maybe his first big win, wouldn’t that change the future. So this solves that. Brilliant

[GrizzyLatrizzy]

I remember hearing that in the "original" timeline, when George took Lorraine to the dance, Biff and his friends got drunk and skipped the dance. Biff was mostly at the dance to get revenge on "Calvin" for wrecking his car. So maybe Lorraine wasn't assaulted in the old timeline.

[cubbiedog]

There was once a deleted scene from part 2, where after returning to 2015, Biff starts to be erased from existence, because in the altered timeline, Loraine kills Biff at some point before 2015, after having enough of his abuse while married to him.

[MrSpooner]

I like the idea that Marty goes back in time, preventing his mom from having to go through that trauma so in present day, she isnt having to self-med to deal w/ it; just the idea that you can go back and help undo something like that for someone else i bet is something many of us would do w/out hesitation.

[looneynes]

I don't know about Biff recognizing that Marty is Calvin Klein. How many of us remember a face that we saw 20 years ago? Also, shouldn't his parents have recognized him too, then? This also applies to him recognizing the DeLorean after all these years. He only saw a glimpse of it as it flew away so how could he recognize it so many years later?

[ejquezad]

This is one of my favorite movies but I have always thought that the script missed the fact that since the alternate present is much better, Marty's family wouldn't be living in the same house as it is the same house when they weren't doing so well. Everyone now is a different person except Marty.