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Plot[]

Marty McFly and Doc Brown make an exhilarating visit to the year 2015 seemingly to resolve a few problems with the future McFly family. But when the two return home, they soon discover someone has tampered with time to produce a nightmarish Hill Valley, 1985. Their only hope is to once again get back to 1955 and save the future. Written by Robert Lynch <docrlynch@yahoo.com>

Errors and Explanations[]

Internet Movie Database[]

Continuity[]

  • When Marty and Doc are getting ready to go back to 1955 to get the sports almanac, Doc makes a point of turning the time circuits on. However, they were already on, which is evidenced right before this when they are shown to be malfunctioning.
    • Doc could have switched them off and on again to clear the malfunction.
  • When Doc and Marty arrive back in 1955 to retrieve the Almanac and land behind the Lyon Estates billboard, Doc opens the trunk which is covered in fresh ice, but it doesn't appear to hurt his hand as it did in the first movie after sending Einstein one minute in to the future.
    • The medical procedure he mentioned at the start of the film could have boosted his ability to handle extremes of temperature.
  • When Strickland confiscates the Almanac from Biff, he is seen looking through it and talking about sports statistics, he then folds it up and takes it away. When Marty finds the Almanac in Strickland's office it is suddenly the Oh La La! magazine. At no point is Biff seen switching covers.
    • Strickland could be guessing the stats.

Factual errors[]

  • Marty's Japanese boss in 2015 is called "Fujitsu-san". Fujitsu is not a real Japanese last name, but the contraction of "Fuji Tsushinki" (Fuji Telecommunications), "Fuji" being likewise the union of the first syllables of "Furukawa" and "Siemens" ("Si" is pronounced "Ji" in Japanese"). It is very unlikely that a Japanese person bears that name, which is actually a trademark.
    • Unless the boss changed his name for some reason.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs[]

  • When Marty returns to 1985 from 2015 and goes into the house he thinks is his, a Dirty Dancing (1987) poster can be seen on the girl's bedroom wall. Dirty Dancing was not released until 1987 in our timeline, but history has already been changed.
  • When the DeLorean is hovering and is struck by lightning, it isn't moving 88mph. However, the letter Doc sent from the past explained that "the lightning bolt that hit the DeLorean caused a gigawatt overload which scrambled the time circuits, activated the flux capacitor, and sent me back to 1885," so it's not a plot hole.
  • In the tunnel scene, as Biff is preparing to chase Marty, the car's front tag is dated 1951. California-registered cars had 1951-dated license plates in 1955; a small metal "55" tab was placed over the "51" stamped into the plate to keep the registration current.
  • When Marty discovers that the "Sports Almanac" in Strickland's Office is actually just the cover of the "Sports Almanac" with the "Oh La La" magazine, Marty pronounces the magazine as "Ooh La La." Previously, it was believed that "Ooh La La" should have been printed on the cover of the magazine because it is the "correct phrase," however "Oh La La" is correct in spelling and pronunciation in the French language. Americans tend to mispronounce the phrase, using "ooh" instead of "oh" as should be.
  • When Old Biff says "Something very familiar about all this" there appears to be a crew member reflected in the window. But it's not a crew member, it's just a guy on the sidewalk.

Plot holes[]

  • When 2015 Biff steals the Delorean to give young Biff the Almanac, the time-lines should have already altered on his return to the future and not just when Marty and the Doc returned to 1985. In the alternate 1985 Doc has been committed to an asylum and therefore would have been unable to invent the time machine in the first place.
    • In which case, Old Biff would not have been able to go back in time to pass the almanac to his younger self. Besides, the time machine was already a – secret – part of the event in 1955.

Revealing mistakes[]

  • As Biff and the two ladies in the hot tub were watching A Fistful of Dollars, what they are really watching is random scenes in that movie that happen at different times in that movie.
    • This version of Biff is presumably powerful enough to have his own version, made up of random scenes.
  • When Marty confronts Biff about the Sports Almanac; Biff pulls a revolver and points it at Marty. There are no bullets in the gun; otherwise, the tips of the bullets would be visible in the cylinder. There are blanks in the gun which are shorter and not visible.
    • Biff could have had special bullets that look invisable.
  • When the DeLorean is landing in the alley in 2015 it is raining, but a camera angle shows the main street at the end of the alley and the cars going by are in the sunshine.
    • The end of the alley could mark the edge of the rain.

Movie Mistakes[]

Revealing[]

  • When Biff cocks his revolver in the alternate 1985, you notice that the chambers rotate in the wrong direction. This is either a flipped shot or a mistake caused by the prop gun.
    • Either revolver chambers rotate in the wrong direction in this version of History, or Biff had one made with a chamber that revolves the wrong way.

Corrections[]

  • When Marty confronts Biff in 2015 and asks when, where, and how he got the sports almanac, Biff retrieves it from a safe and a lock box and carefully shows it to Marty. Because the almanac contained results from sporting events through the end of the century (the year 2000), it would have been rendered worthless 15 years before and would therefore no longer need to be kept in a safe, if even at all.
    • Corrected by Tailkinker No, this scene takes place in 1985, so the almanac still contains fifteen years' worth of future information.
  • When Marty goes to the cemetery, it says his dad was born in 1930 and died in 1973. If the Enchantment Under the Sea dance [George's senior prom] was in 1955, that would have made him 25 at the time.
    • It clearly reads born in 1938, making him 17 in 1955.
  • When Old Biff hands Young Biff the Almanac, the book passes through the film split (the vertical bar that divides the windshield) perfectly because it was on a motorized rig. But the stand-in for Old Biff didn't hold his arm at the right height, so Old Biff's arm disappears into the bar that runs down the middle of the window while the book floats across to Young Biff.
    • Corrected by Sacha No it doesn't. The arm is below the windshield, that is why it can't be seen. The tip of the hand is perfectly visible, with no missing parts.
  • Considering the sports almanac contains 50 years of statistics in all major sports, it is very small and thin, about the size of a magazine. This would work if it only contained major sporting event results (super bowl, world series) but obviously it doesn't. It has results from horse races in small towns like Hill Valley listed and regular season college football scores. The font size of the printing in the book would literally have to be microscopic in order to contain all the info it does. Even college football alone, listing just Division 1 teams, would require several hundred pages.
    • Corrected by Xofer Based on the information in the film, we actually know very little about the almanac itself. It could just be a local or regional publication, and therefore focus on a limited range of scores/results. Granted, the font would have to be quite small, but not unmanageable (especially if there were no graphics).
  • When Marty buys the sports almanac, how does he get the money to do it? Considering a Pepsi costs 50 bucks, the almanac probably costs several hundred dollars. How many teens from the 1980's just happened to have that amount of money in their wallet at any given moment? He didn't get the money from Doc since Doc didn't even know he bought it until after the fact.
    • Corrected by Twotall He doesn't need money in his wallet, he simply needs to trade some of the 1980's items he is carrying with him. His clothes, for instance, would not only be genuine, but with hardly any wear in them at all. They would be worth a lot to a vintage clothes store.
  • When Marty's son walks by young Jennifer in the hallway of his home, he thinks is the older Jennifer and says "Hi mom, nice pants". Later at dinner, Marty Sr. and Lorraine are talking about how Jennifer is late coming home. Marty Jr. is sitting right there and doesn't even mention how he just saw his mom in the hallway.
    • Corrected by shortdanzr He's a teenage boy. Not always the most observant or helpful.
  • In the year 2015, Marty's daughter Marlene is telling Lorraine that the reason the scenery channel isn't working is because the scene screen repairman called Marty a chicken and Marty threw him out of the house. Why would the repairman call Marty a chicken? Nothing at all makes sense about this, what could possibly provoke a repairman to call the owner of the home he was working in a chicken ? Even if Marty was rude to him, it would make more sense to just call him a jerk, not a chicken. Calling him a chicken likely means he was goading him into a fight and there is no logical reason for some repairman to want to pick a fight with someone he is servicing.
    • Corrected by Tailkinker As we have no information regarding what happened, it is somewhat absurd to attempt to base a mistake on personal speculation regarding a trivial conversation that took place off-screen. It is unlikely, yes, that a repairman would call a client a chicken, however, as we are not made aware of any other details of the incident, it certainly cannot be said that it could not have happened.
  • After Marty burns the sports almanac, it is only burning for a few moments before it begins to pour rain. There was not enough time to burn the whole book, considering he started the fire with some cheap matches and no gas or lighter fluid to make it burn faster. Some of the pages may have survived. There would have been water damage from the rain on the remaining pages for sure, but a few pages may have still survived and have been legible enough for a passerby (or maybe even the western union guy) to be able to read and use to make bets.
    • Corrected by Grumpy Scot Yes, but since Marty and Doc see the timeline change in response, it was enough to do the job.
  • In the scene where Doc lands the DeLorean in pouring rain in 2015, after a while the rain stops, and it is sunny and you can see the clock tower is in full light when Marty looks at the newspaper. But when Marty, after putting on his new clothes, walks on the street, it is cloudy again.
    • Corrected by BocaDavie As the submitter mentions the rain stops suddenly and it's sunny. Apparently there are some rapidly-moving clouds in the area; altogether possible for it to be overcast again within a few seconds.
  • The cooling vents on the back of the DeLorean change between silver and black throughout the film. A clear example of this is the first landing scene of the DeLorean in the alley in 2015.
    • Corrected by BocaDavie It's not silver, it's frost. The car freezes whenever it goes forward in time.
  • When Marty and Doc successfully save Marty's son from going to prison in 2015, the USA Today headline spontaneously changes while Marty holds it. If this is possible, then, when Biff steals the DeLorean to deliver the almanac to his younger self, Marty and Doc's memories would be instantly replaced by those of the alternate 1985 - which would mean that Marty would not be baffled by bars on his windows or locks on his gate when he arrives back home there. In fact, they wouldn't have returned to that house at all.
    • Corrected by BocaDavie Throughout the course of the three films physical objects change but Doc and Marty retain the bulk of their memories from alternate time lines, apparently protected from time line changes. Since it's all science fiction we'll have to assume it works the way it is shown in the film.
  • After Biff steals the DeLorean and travels back to 1955 with the Sports Almanac the movie states that he creates an alternate time line. Doc Brown does a good job of illustrating this on a chalk board. So if, as Doc Brown states, Biff created an alternate time line, then when he travels back to 2015 it would be the year 2015 on the alternate time line.
    • Corrected by liljojo79 It would be if he travelled back to the year 2015, but they didn't. Doc and Marty traveled to 1955 when Biff originally received the almanac. They then obtained the almanac and burned it, in doing so it changed the future back to the way it was before the alternate universe was created.
  • How did 2015 Biff know how to operate the time machine well enough to get himself back to see 1955 Biff? He learns about the existence of the time machine from an overheard conversation, which does not include any details of how to set the time circuits nor the requirement to accelerate the car to 88 mph in order to start the time jump.
    • Corrected by JC Fernandez This is a question, not a mistake. Given that the time circuits are not that complicated (it's a keypad with a display clearly marked DESTINATION) and that Biff also saw the time machine in use in 1985, it might not have taken him very long to figure out: 1. Punch in numbers and 2. Go fast. Not that he needed a short amount of time to figure out. This is a time machine, after all. He could have stolen the Delorean and then spent weeks figuring it out, with Doc and Marty none the wiser as long as he returned it to a time moments after he stole it. Not to mention that Doc may have left materials (like the videotape of the Delorean's test run from the first film) in the car that could have facilitated Biff's figuring it out.
  • After Marty gets a crack shot on wild gunman, the screen is black. But when you see the arcade machine, just before Marty Jr. says, "Griff, guys, hey," you see the screen is on.
    • Corrected by JC Fernandez There are twenty seconds between the two shots in question. The 30+-year-old machine could simply have been resetting itself after Marty had scored his "crack shot."
  • When the "old Biff" steals the time machine in 2015, as Doc and Marty attempt to retrieve Jennifer, it shouldn't be possible for Biff to return to the world that exists around him, as he gets out of the car back in 2015. Doc, Marty, Jennifer, and the world around them ALL should no longer exist, while still trying to escape from 2015. An alternate time line should have been created the moment "old Biff" left 1955. (Thus, Doc's explanation to Marty via the chalkboard explaining an "Alternate Reality"). This all started in 1985, and one result of old Biff's ventures, we learn that Doc is committed to an institution and couldn't even invent, or at least complete, the time machine by October 26th, 1985, which is the starting date of the initial film.
    • Corrected by Tailkinker Incorrect. A timeline split would only occur once an action was taken differently from the original course of events. Young Biff being given the almanac by his older counterpart does nothing to the timeline - he has additional information about the future, true, but until he acts on that information by placing a bet, the timeline remains unchanged. Old Biff came back in time, gave young Biff the book and left immediately, before any action had been taken. As a result, he left before any split had occurred, and thus returned to his original unchanged timeline.
  • In the scene in 2015 where the future Lorraine and George McFly come to eat dinner at Marty and Jennifer's house, Lorraine cooks a pizza in a toaster oven. After cooking for 3-4 seconds, Lorraine removes the pizza, which is sizzling hot. However, Lorraine removes the hot pizza with her bare hands without burning herself.
    • Corrected by JC Fernandez This is the future. The technology must exist to create a pan that doesn't absorb heat in the hydrator (not toaster oven).
  • Doc puts Jennifer to sleep because she was asking too many questions about her future, and according to him, no-one should know too much about their future. But when they have landed in 2015, Doc doesn't see anything wrong with telling Marty, at length, what is going to happen to Marty in his future.
    • Corrected by BocaDavie Character decision, not a movie mistake. Marty is already completely informed about the time machine. Doc is taking a calculated risk that the 1985 Marty can fix this one event (that ruins his kid's lives) without severely disrupting the existing time line (from 1985 to 2015). Doc does not disclose any information to Marty about his future, only about the future of Marty's kids. Putting Jennifer to sleep with the hopes of making her think it was all a dream would ensure that she does nothing to disrupt the time line.
  • In Back to the Future 1 after Marty goes to 1955, you see a sign that says "Hill Valley 2 Miles". Later in the movie, Marty talks to George and Lorraine then walks out the door. The next scene you see Marty with Doc in his 1985 explaining that he needed to change his clothes, and than there is the whole sequence where Marty goes back to 1985. In 1955, in Back to the Future 2, Marty is standing outside the gym when Biff approaches him. Marty is knocked down by his earlier self, and Biff steals the Almanac. Then Marty steals the Almanac, burns it, sees Doc get struck by lightning, receives the telaeraph, runs 2 miles back to Hill Valley, just to meet Doc after his previous self goes back to 1985. How is it possible for on Marty to do the thing previously stated, while the other one dresses and drives to the Clock Tower, taking up the same amount of time?
    • Corrected by JC Fernandez You explained the nit yourself. We don't know how long it took for Marty to change into his 1985 clothes in Part 1... we only know that according to Doc, Marty was late in meeting him. Marty may have gone back to Doc's house to get his clothes, adding some time.
  • When 1985 Marty first puts on the "future jacket," the sleeves are really long (can't see his hands or anything), but after Doc comes up (and before he pushes the button to make it fit) you can see Marty's fingertips, and the jacket only goes up a short bit.
    • Corrected by jhoffman100@yahoo.com Marty is holding the sleeves up. That's why you see his fingers.
  • In the Cafe 80's scene, when the future Marty has ordered a Pepsi and Griff walks in, the Pepsi bottle changes from in his hands to on the counter several times between shots.
    • Corrected by jhoffman100@yahoo.com He is holding it the entire time. There are other bottles on the counter.

Source[]

Info from IMDB entry and Back to the future II on Movie Mistakes Screenshot from Back to the Future Part II

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