What if Marty McFly DIDN'T Make it back to 1985?

Back to the Future is an amazing movie, but the ending cut it soooo close to missing the lightning strike. What if it did miss?

[mookyyzed]

The fact that there are 60 seconds in a minute, and they had zero idea when the lightning would strike within that minute makes me think this movie is fiction.

[newjoel]

If Marty stayed in Hill Valley, Lorraine wouldn't go after him because she had already lost interest in him after she kissed him "It feels like I'm kissing my brother"

[johnwiese]

There's a full length story about this subject, can't remember everything that happens but he stays in 1955 for a while and eventually used the entire production of the Hoover Dam to power the Time machine to get home.

[hugoheavens]

Marty decides to live up to his name and invest into underpants as Calvin Klein and persuades the real guy to take a different career path, and probably gets a facelift and hangs out with Doc up until Marty's real birth

[septimiusseverus]

A nice hypothesis. Here's what I reckon would happen.

I do agree that Doc would have sent Marty to live elsewhere in California to prevent any potential further screwups while he continues to try to figure out a way to send Marty back to 1985. Doc's nothing if not persistent, and will keep in contact with Marty so as to keep him up to date. However, if no major breakthrough has occurred within 5 years at the most, Doc would likely have to break the bad news, as by 1960 Marty would be 22, and would clearly be maturing fast.

Marty is understandably going to have a hard time coping with this. He cannot return to his old life. He realistically cannot see his family again, especially after he is born in 1968. He cannot see Jennifer, or his old friends, or Doc, because as you said, it could interfere with his meeting OG Marty. However, Marty is smart, resourceful and tough. I agree with you that he could carve out a living as a gifted musician in the budding rock 'n roll scene of the late 50's/early 60's, although he would have to change his identity again, likely to prevent his parents from making any further connections, as well as try to alter his appearance. He may not turn to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism, but he might instead make the best of a bad situation, find a girl in the mold of Jennifer, settle down and raise a family.

For many years it's going to be sheer torture for Marty. But he's much stronger and resilient than I think you give him credit for, and if he is able to assimilate into society and focus on self - preservation, he can adapt and live life as best he can. Perhaps some time after his "disappearance, " he could write a letter to his family, letting them know that due to unfortunate circumstances he cannot return, but is well and urge them not to be concerned.

[jamesgarcia]

Sounds like it would of been a good idea for a back to the future 5 where another version of Marty comes back and saves himself
To help him get back to 1985.

[davehopping]

The BTTF trilogy got people thinking about the nature of time as a static dimension in which on could (theoretically!) travel not just forward or back, but sideways. The Author-George 1985 that Marty returned to at the end of BTTF 1 is sideways from the Drunk-Lorraine 1985 he left in the earlier part of BTTF1, and the Rich-and-Powerful-Biff 1985 he and Doc returned to from alt-2015 in BTTF2 is considerably more so. We don't see it, but the 2015 created by Marty NOT hitting the Rolls-Royce is probably a fair distance sideways from (and better than) the 2015 that Doc, Marty, and Jennifer did visit. The trilogy does posit that you can't go to an alternate present except by going to the past and changing an event there. Alt-history authors like Keith Laumer, Poul Anderson and H.Beam Piper have taken the proposition further and written some great stories about traveling sideways directly, and it would have been absolutely fascinating had Zemeckis and Gale taken BTTF in that direction.

But to address the focus of this vid, Marty being marooned in the alt-1955 created by his presence there very likely butterflies away his own existence in that timeline. That means his (now not) parents have entirely different children, and very different lives, as do Biff and Jennifer.

As an aside, we could theorize that Marty's actions in 1955 somehow changed the lives of Jennifer Parker's parents so that they gave birth to Elizabeth Shue instead of Claudia Wells!

[bendowson]

If Marty didn’t make it then the time machine would also be stuck in 1955. If Doc keeps it in a safe place then by the time 1985 comes around and the younger Marty is sent back to 1955, Doc could then recover the time machine from 1955 and use it to go back in time to rescue Marty.

[tonytwodat]

He does become a famous musician and he tours with Richie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly… he convinces them the plane gonna crash and saves their lives and then writes American Pie himself since they never died and gave Don McLean inspiration

[davidreichert]

It's not like getting Plutonium was any easier in 1985 than 1955, in fact with more advanced security technology it would have been harder. If Doc could score Plutonium in 1985 he could do it in 1955.

[rhess]

Another theory that came to mind while I was watching this video was that the Doc wouldn't quit. I think Marty would stay with the doc and lay low while they figured out how to channel that amount of energy into the flux capacitor.

Marty might have to grow old but I think since the doc now realizes that he invented something that actually works, coupled with the fact that the DeLorean would still be in 1955, he could focus his efforts on putting the energy into the flux capacitor. After all he's got a working prototype right in front of him that he himself eventually would design.

Much the way he knew enough to leave the note from 1855 he could very well engineer his own future and then send somebody back possibly to retrieve Marty. And given what they know about encountering yourself and that the space-time continuum would not unravel, it's conceivable that he could actually send Marty back to retrieve Marty.

[jasonchev]

Plutonium was discovered in 1940, so it had been around for 15 years. Find a way to acquire the amount needed to power the time circuits.

[neotrance]

Here's how it would go down..
Doc sends Marty away.
Doc still reads letter Marty left him about himself getting shot.
Doc and Marty live out there lives from 1955 to 1985, with no contact.
1985 Doc gets up from being shot, knows what's happening to Marty begins building time machine mark2 since he knows it works.
Goes back to 1955 and retrieves Marty AFTER he's 1955 counterpart has sent him away.
Marty returns with Doc to 1885 and live goes on !
Well.. that's my take . I think it makes sense

[Movietuff]

1:37 this wouldn't create a paradox any more than in the second movie where the original Marty was still in the 1955 during Biff's timeline where there was no time machine in the new 1985.

[russ]

It would be nice to have a BTTF what if movie....

[johnruschmeyer]

At the risk of making your dark scenario darker, let me suggest a spin on it. We know from BTTF II that Marty has an interest in fast cars and being seen as "chicken". So, let's assume that Marty is stuck in 1955, leaves Hill Valley, and has some success in what appears to be his only viable talent- music. Of course, he has to buy himself some fast cars. This leads to a fateful moment where the BTTF II future timeline pushes back with karmic vengeance as Marty follows in the footsteps of James Dean and Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean fame). In other words... Marty doesn't come back from Deadman's Curve.

My personal curiosity has always been about what happened to the "other" Marty- the one who leaves from the Lone Pine Mall at the end of the movie. You know, the son of the SF author. He would have heard a very different story about how his parents met, etc. Would he inadvertently "reset" the timeline or, worse, spawn a third one?

[uyjyntd]

Perhaps when Doc realizes that Marty is doomed to miss the lightning, he vows that once he gets to 1985 he will make 2 Deloreans, 1 to send Marty back to 1955 to avoid a paradox and a second time machine to go get Marty in 1955.

If so, then Marty might get picked up almost right after Doc sends him away to another town.

[Jo_]

He would stay on Hill Valley waiting a few minutes to future Doc show up and carry him back to 85.

[djco]

What if he and Doc were stuck in *1885*?

[moviesgalore]

Marty would become very wealthy he'd know what companies to invest money in and could also win sports bets if he was able to remember what team won what games in the 50s and 60s even a casual sports fan would know what team won the World Series in some years.