# Back to the Future. \[Spoilers inside\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-spoilers-inside/680056 "2014-01-29T18:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-spoilers-inside/680056/61 "2014-02-03T00:49:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There really isn’t any coherent model for the time travel in any of the Back to the Future movies, and any attempt at associating the events of the movies with a coherent model is doomed to failure. Put simply, the movies don’t make any sense. Actually, the movies do have a coherent chronology, albeit not within the universe of the film itself as experienced by any of the characters other than Marty. The viewer can identify specific changes in the world line as they follow Marty from 1985 (at the _Twin Pine Mall_) to 1955 (_Calvin Cline_), back to 1985 (and the _Lone Pine Mall_ and Biff the Auto Detailer), then forward to 2015 (where post-crash _Hilldale Marty_ who cannot play the guitar and the Sports Almanac), then back to 1985 (_Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Palace_), thence back to 1955 (with Biff Sans Almanac), then to 1885 (with Marty as _Clint Eastwood_ and the soon-to-be christened _Clayton Ravine_), and finally back to 1985 (with the renamed _Eastwood Ravine_). It is critical to note that _every single change in timeline is precipitated by some direction action by Marty_, e.g. pushing his father out of the street, convincing his George to ‘rescue’ Lorraine from him, buying the 1950-2000 sports almanac, challenging Mad Dog Tannen to a duel, et cetera. It is also worthy of note that no other character experiences changes in the timeline _except in Marty’s presence_ (Doc doesn’t see that _Lone Pine Mall_ 1985 has become _Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Palace_ 1985, Jennifer notices that the fax in her pocket changes from “You’re fired,” to blank because she is next to Marty.) What can we deduce from this? It is clear that Marty is no casual pawn in this series of achronological events without volition or free will; he is the key decision making element in every major change of the timeline, the decider of fates, the Prime Observer of this universe. In fact, despite the many challenges and almost continuous threats to life, Marty barely gets a scratch (save for being hit by Lorraine’s father’s car and being dragged behind a horse). It is clear that this entire universe exists completely to serve Marty and keep him entertained or occupied, which also explains how Marty could introduce the music of Chuck Berry to 1955 without Berry having previously played in the _Twin Pines Mall_ 1985 timeline. So, this is clearly a solipsistic universe built around Marty’s consciousness, and the when Marty goes from one timeline to another, the other characters not in his presence just cease to exist. (This also explains why both Marty’s father and girlfriend change radically in appearance between movies with nobody, including Marty, expressing any surprise despite the fact that the change occurs without Marty changing timeframes or doing anything that would inherently change the past.) It will be left as an exercise to the reader to determine whether Marty is trapped in a Rekall simulation gone awry, is actually a member of a pandimensonal species capable of bending space and time to their wills, or is actually a figment of Tommy Westphall Universe as a previously unsuspected branch off of the _Family Ties_/_Spin City_ trunk. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-spoilers-inside/680056/62 "2014-02-03T01:43:08Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > …Doc doesn’t see that _Lone Pine Mall_ 1985 has become _Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Palace_ 1985… Actually, Biff’s Pleasure Palace is in the town square, in the old courthouse with the clock but now turned into a skyscraper, arguably the singular inanimate element in your Marty theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-spoilers-inside/680056.md?page=3)