Continuity Errors :D

[Evilraptor 0]

Right, I'm gonna start with; How do Doc and Marty get to 1985A?

Old Biff; gets time machine, goes to 1955, gives book to young Biff, creates alternate reality.

Doc and Marty are in the future of the reality at the end of the first film, where everything's hunky dory for his family.

Biff travels back to 2015, leaves the Delorean and then vanishes. CONTINUITY ERROR

Because Biff changed the events, Biff shouldn't have gone to that 2015, he should have instead gone to the 2015 that follows from 1985A, an effective "2015A".

He would have gone to where Doc quotes in 1985A

"if we travel into the future from this point in time, it will be the future of this reality!" (He underlines 1985A on the board)

Doc and Marty should have carried Jennifer across the street to an empty space where the Delorean was, but is now in the spot in an alternate reality.

One cannot simply say that all the realities are interlinked, otherwise the Marty travelling towards the clocktower would also experience the alternate 1985, before Doc and Marty went back to 1955 (which couldn't happen because of ^).

Effectively what Biff did was cause a paradox, perhaps a stable one, but not one that fits with the story.

This occured to me today whilst walking to the bus stop from work with Evilrex today, he is disappointed that we found the error, I'm rather pleased with myself for thinking so 4D.

Oh and here's a query... what happens to the "other" Doc and Marty in 1985A?

The Doc that's committed and Marty who's meant to be in a Switzerland boarding school...

do they vanish due to Doc and Marty appearing in the same time?

[archer9234 20]

That logic is always flawed. One reason. If certain events from 1985 didn't occur, biff couldn't steal the car causing a canceling paradox. This is how it works. The moment Biff returned to 2015, that universe is converted around Marty, Doc, Enstine, and Jen, to 2015A. Biff vanishes because Marty's mom killed him in the 90's. He erased himself. But his anchor point remained in 2015. Retaining his alterations. The reason why the 1955 BTTF lighting run still exists is because those events are part of 1955, and time wasn't altered in till 1958. The original reasons why marty traveled back to 1955 where erased. Basically the Delorean car became detached to the original time line. And got linked to 2015/A. Allowing the car to remain in existence.

Edited June 29, 2010 by archer9234

[ak907bttffan 0]

Thank you for posting this topic!

Aside from the cool concept of the flying DeLorean, is the main reason why I didn't care too much with the story of BTTF 2.

I agree of this error and also believe it set an example of what a time paradox can cause by changing the natural course of time!

I would like to see if this topic catches other users attention for discussion more!!

[Evilraptor 0]

That logic is always flawed. One reason. If certain events from 1985 didn't occur, biff couldn't steal the car causing a canceling paradox. This is how it works. The moment Biff returned to 2015, that universe is converted around Marty, Doc, Enstine, and Jen, to 2015A. Biff vanishes because Marty's mom killed him in the 90's. He erased himself. But his anchor point remained in 2015. Retaining his alterations. The reason why the 1955 BTTF lighting run still exists is because those events are part of 1955, and time wasn't altered in till 1958. The original reasons why marty traveled back to 1955 where erased. Basically the Delorean car became detached to the original time line. And got linked to 2015/A. Allowing the car to remain in existence.

How come nothing happened to Marty in 2015, when Biff returned, if it was actually 2015A?

Shouldn't they have vanished because the time line is altered? No time machine, no way of taking them to the future, (keep in mind this is after Biff's used the time machine, so it's not like he couldn't have given the book to himself... at first), Marty's meant to be in Switzerland and Doc's meant to be mental.

Ooh raises the question, why does the Delorean remain in existence if the paradox that Biff made means that the time machine doesn't get invented?

[Dave27 1]

Well the delorean's time circuits get damaged but maybe the car is exempt from temporal events due to its own manipulation of chronotron particles. Its now a nonevent mass with a quantum probability of zero.

5 points for whoever guesses where that line comes from

[ak907bttffan 0]

I'm guessing

Stasis is a facility aboard Red Dwarf ?

[Dave27 1]

Yay 5 points to you sir

And for 2 more bonus points who said it?

Edited June 30, 2010 by Dave27

[ak907bttffan 0]

Frank Todhunter ?

[iMaster 0]

When the universe starts collapsing due to the almighty paradox, minor paradoxes can stand, due to the universe's complexity being weakened. You might guess who's been watching The Big Bang of Doctor Who

[archer9234 20]

How come nothing happened to Marty in 2015, when Biff returned, if it was actually 2015A?

Shouldn't they have vanished because the time line is altered? No time machine, no way of taking them to the future, (keep in mind this is after Biff's used the time machine, so it's not like he couldn't have given the book to himself... at first), Marty's meant to be in Switzerland and Doc's meant to be mental.

Ooh raises the question, why does the Delorean remain in existence if the paradox that Biff made means that the time machine doesn't get invented?

Because Marty, Doc, Jen, En, and the car are now linked to the 2015A universe. Disconnecting them from the events of 1985A. They have temporal duplicates created for that universe. In order for our main heroes to have been erased was to either kill the 1955 DOC, preventing the creation of the time machine, or stopping the 1955 lightning run. Which would cause a paradox. Effect can create cause. Perfect example is DR. Who in Big Bang and Bill and Ted where he caused a garbage can to appear. And the Doctor caused his escape because his effect went back to create the cause.

[hscitpe 6]

Effectively what Biff did was cause a paradox, perhaps a stable one, but not one that fits with the story.

My buddy and I (moreso my friend) came up with a, now retarded sounding idea. A paradox takes some time to completely unravel the fabric of the Space Time Continuum, which DOES explain why Marty took a week to fade in 1955. The DeLorean's malfunctioning Time Circuits is a result on this paradox causing the DeLorean to become uninvented, what with the Doc getting committed and all in 1983, not allowing for the completion of the Machine, and it's starting to fade out of existence, much like Marty's hand fading.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but anything sounds good at three in the morning when you're completely exhausted.

[Evilraptor 0]

lmao but you forgot about the fact the Delorean went 32 years into the future... the Delorean must be quite tough to survive a paradox lasting 32 years

@Archer: I didn't fully understand until you mentioned Bill & Ted with the garbage can, and providing the tape recorder, etc

It all clicks into place now

Hmm... time to think of a different continuity error...

[daangelo29 5]

Cool. Finally an interesting topic lol.

Because Biff changed the events, Biff shouldn't have gone to that 2015, he should have instead gone to the 2015 that follows from 1985A, an effective "2015A".

It was mentioned before that when Old Biff went back in time and changed his past, Marty and Doc unknowingly "shifted" to new timeline, 2015A. You'd wonder how Jennifer and Einstein, who was left in 1985A, was found in the original 1985 in BTTF3. It might have been true that when Doc and Marty was carrying the KO'ed Jennifer away, the supposedly McFly house has now been changed by the ripple effect, and Doc and Marty never knew that someone else was then living in that particular house. An existence-erasing paradox are now after the 4 time travelers, but apparently by fixing the past, the paradox never got to catch them

Here's a theory I thought of: In the BTTF universe, the time traveler's "power" to influence or alter history with his time machine makes it hard or takes a lot of time for the paradox or ripple effect he caused to affect him, erase his existence or whatever. After all, the time traveler has the WILL or the ability the fix whatever he/she damaged in the timeline. Apart from Marty, who took a week to be erased, you can take the future Doc as another example -- Doc in 1885 wasn't able to remember giving Marty such outlandish outfit because as a time traveler it took time for the ripple effect to catch up with him and "write" those new memories into his mind. However, if this "power" is lost or weakened, the paradox would take effect on him much faster -- for instance, Old Biff of original 2015 wasn't erased until he left the time machine (his "power"), where it was certain that he won't be able to use it again.

They have temporal duplicates created for that universe.

Yes, they have temporal duplicates, but I think those duplicates would be an entirely different Marty/Doc/Jennifer/Einstein/DeLorean. The new timeline wouldn't result to the originals, otherwise Marty and Doc wouldn't have noticed that the world they left has changed when they returned back home.

do they vanish due to Doc and Marty appearing in the same time?

Nope. The original Doc and Marty and their alternate counterparts co-existed in the same timeline. As I've theorized above, a paradox was after the four, so the originals should be the one erased, but apparently Doc and Marty fixed the past and won the race.

hscipte, your idea sounds good actually. However, there is one drawback to this idea -- it was still malfunctioning after Doc and Marty fixed history. Doc wouldn't have possibly set the DT to 1885 shortly before the DeLorean got strucked. I wonder why the TC would set it to such a date.

[hscitpe 6]

I dunno, chance? The Timeline never finished shifting until the final newspaper changes we complete, maybe from that point on the Time Circuits started working right again, Doc just never put a new Destination Time in. I only though about this because in Part III, they don't have any Time Circuit related issues. But then I realized that Doc and Marty replaced the Time Circuit Control Microchip, which I guess is where the issue with the Circuits in Pt II lied.