a technical point I noticed in Back to the Future

[kolchak]

I am a big big fan of the Back To The Future Trilogy.  Not to spoil the fun of the movies but a critique of the plot of the second one where they go to the future and see themselves would not be possible, theoretically speaking of course.   The reasoning is simply because they jumped over that time and never were there to grow old in the first place.  

In the third one where they go back to the old west, a major plot hole involves Marty going back  to rescue Doc in 1885 in the Delorean with the help of the 1950's Doc.  When he gets there he ruptures the fuel line and they try various methods to create a fuel since gas won't be invented till the early 1900's but then accidently break the fuel injector manifold.  They forgot that there is actually two Deloreans.  There is also the one that originally brought Doc to 1885 to begin with. They could take the gas from that one instead of having the train push it to 88 miles an hour. of course that would ruin the fun of the movie and i do tend to analyze things too much.

I still love the Back to the Future movies but time travel plots almost always have plot holes. It's inevitable.

[Ash]

Between the Back to the Future trilogy and the Terminator films, you could have a huge debate on temporal mechanics and paradoxes.

Actually, I think we already had a lengthy Terminator discussion on this board a couple years ago.

[dean]

Talking of pointless 'technical problems' with movies, I couldn't help but laughing after watching X-Men 3 during a discussion with a few friends of mine on the point: "The bridge had no middle supports, why didn't it collapse?"

I mean, blue beast-like monsters, guys who can set fire to things and fly/control the weather, sure I'll believe that, but a bridge across to Alcatraz?

Boy, talk about crossing the line of reality...

[Just Plain Horse]

Heh heh... time travel movies are a test of the audiences patience- but only AFTER the movie is over. Since it's all theoretical, you could make up any asinine theory and it'll make as much since as another...

[peter johnson]

RED DWARF!!
RED DWARF!!
Do I have to say it again?  Red Dwarf!!!! -- The pseudoscience cross-dimensional barrier jumping, parallel Universe creating physics of that show should simply diminish such objections to mere piffle by the very existence of RED DWARF!!!  This was the show/event that defined the fact that in space, nobody can hear you MAKE SENSE!!  And it is a brilliant show, by the by . . .
Oh, wait -- I already wrote that letter . . .
Now I see myself writing that letter . . .
Now that letter has its own Universe, with relatives and cousins and letter-people popping over for tea . . .
Back to the Future?  Sheer pablum we feed to our nano-offspring . . .
DON''T PANIC!!!
much love
peter jocrane/denny crason

[iamthevillain]

I see your point about the third movie. But if they would have tampered with the delorean that doc left for Marty, then it would have changed the existence of Marty. Because Marty might have done something different, or not have been able to use the time machine at all.  So if I had Doc's mentality, I would say messing with that other delorean is not an option.

[The Burgomaster]

I have actually experienced time travel and I can tell you that none of the paradoxes exist.  You just press a button, and there you are . . . and nothing gets messed up in either the past, present or future.  It's amazing.  Oops.  Gotta go now.  Voices in my head.

[kolchak]

you know i thought about what you said but if they just used the gas from the other one, it wouldn't mess anything up for Marty in 1955 because by 1955 they could just get gas for it.  The other thing i thought was after 75 years of just sitting in that mining shaft, how could the delorean even work?  after sitting for that much time wouldn't it be rusted out?  a mine shaft ins't usually knwn for it's protection against dampness and humidity which would cause corrosion.  although it was sealed off it couldn't have been air tight.  there had to be some oxygen in there too.

1955 doc would have to put in a new engine which would be a much less sophisticated engine than the original delorean's.  

at the end of the thrid one, how did doc build a time machine out of a locomotive?  how did he get it to the future to get the hover conversion done?  how does he know where tracks are going to be in the 21st century?  also wouldn't the people of the 21st century (who do the hover conversions) think it strange and wonder why he would want it converted and how he got it there?  i thought he was trying to keep a low profile and not let alot of people know he has a time machine.  

he said it runs on steam which raises the question, if he could have built it out of steam (that's alot of steam) why didn't he do so in 1885 and Marty wouldn't have had to go back to save him in the first place.  He could have also done this in 1985 instead of using plutonium which p**sed off the Libians who wanted him to build a bomb.  he could have also used steam instead of lightening to help Marty get back to 1985 in the first movie.  

well, it's a light hearted drama/comedy so you can't expect exact attention to details.  I'll have to talk it over with spielberg but i'm sure someone mentioned these points to him.  they are still some fun movies.  although i seriously doubt we will have hover cars by 2015, hydrogen powered most likely, but no hover.

[Just Plain Horse]

If you could travel through time, would you use it to win the lottery or change history... or just pay your phone bill on time?

[Fearless Freep]

Like Burgomaster said, Time Travel is common and easy.  I've already moved myself forward by about forty five seconds from when I started typing this.

Gotta run..time flies

[peter johnson]

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
--- groucho marx

[Fearless Freep]

Man, I *so* much wanted to say that bt I thought it would break the rhythm of what else I had said : )

[AndyC]

I'm just amazed, with all of the many huge problems presented by Back to the Future's version of time travel, that someone would be concerned with small details.

[Shadowphile]

The locomotive was used to reach 88 mph, not power the time jump.  Mr Fusion provided the 1.21 gigawatts needed but couldn't do that AND move the car.  Talk about a limited use table top fusion reactor....