# BTTF nitpick --- well perhaps bigger then that... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305 "2008-12-15T22:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/21 "2008-12-16T14:37:00Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Didn’t the brother say that his apartment was being repainted or something like that? I think what **GuanoLad** meant was that a successful author and his family would be living in a nicer house in a better neighborhood. Clearly he has an inflated sense of what kind of income the typical SF/fantasy author can expect to earn. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/22 "2008-12-16T14:59:30Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > And Marty suffers for that change - not having been brought up by a successful family like his brother and sister. His only memories are the loser version of his family. > > I submit that they probably wouldn’t live in the same house if they were as successful as they appear, too. But maybe that’s being too picky. Well yeah, that too. “Hey Marty, remember that trip the whole family took to London a few years ago?” “Huh, what? I don’t… we went to London?” “Marty, how is it you don’t remember anything this family did your entire life? And why does everything about us suddenly surprise you? I think we’re going to send you somewhere where you can get some help. Somewhere calm, with no sharp corners and comfy jackets…” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/23 "2008-12-16T15:08:55Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > I think what **GuanoLad** meant was that a successful author and his family would be living in a nicer house in a better neighborhood. > > Clearly he has an inflated sense of what kind of income the typical SF/fantasy author can expect to earn. 😃 Not only that, but that was George’s first novel. It hadn’t even been published yet. Their life was probably pretty similar before, but now George has the confidence to write that he didn’t have before he met Calvin. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/24 "2008-12-16T16:01:41Z")
Yeah, why is older brother Dave still living at home? I’ve wondered why Lorraine (or George) wouldn’t look at Marty and think, “You know, it’s uncanny how much this guy Marty looks like Dad/Uncle Frank/somebody else…” Except, of course, the actors don’t resemble each other in real life enough for it to matter. Wouldn’t you “recognize” your own kid, even if you had NO way of seeing him as your own kid? (And Lorraine was just a bit of an airhead anyway – one of those '50s brides who got married right out of high school and never thought of going to college. College is for the UGLY girls!) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/25 "2008-12-16T16:28:36Z")
[Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=364980&highlight=Marty+McFly) the thread from when I asked the very same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/26 "2008-12-16T16:45:02Z")
We know that many of the McFly patriarchs look like Marty (c.f. BTTF III). So what would be more likely is that George McFly would look at Calvin back in 1955 and think “Whoa! Gramps (or Dad) has been a naughty boy!” Or, given that everyone is gormlessly innocent in 1955, maybe wouldn’t think that until 1980 or so when Marty started looking like the pictures of Grandpa from the 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/27 "2008-12-16T17:07:22Z")
You are talking about the same Marty Mcfly who HIRED THE GUY WHO TRIED TO RAPE HIS WIFE? Yeah, I don’t think long term memory is something the McFly’s are going to be famous for. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/28 "2008-12-16T19:04:59Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > You are talking about the same Marty Mcfly who HIRED THE GUY WHO TRIED TO RAPE HIS WIFE? Yeah, I don’t think long term memory is something the McFly’s are going to be famous for. You mean “George.” And Lorraine says something about how if it hadn’t been for Biff, they wouldn’t have fallen in love, so maybe they keep him around out of a combined nostalgia and schadenfreude at seeing how low he’s sunk. A related point: is it just me, or (judging by his altered mannerisms from the beginning of BttF to the end, post-timeline-shift), did that one punch thirty years before somehow turn adult Biff gay? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/29 "2008-12-16T19:05:59Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > A related point: is it just me, or (judging by his altered mannerisms from the beginning of BttF to the end, post-timeline-shift), did that one punch thirty years before somehow turn adult Biff gay? Maybe not gay, but I’m guessing it emasculated him quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/30 "2008-12-16T20:30:29Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Maybe not gay, but I’m guessing it emasculated him quite a bit. Agreed. I imagine when he got knocked out by the school nerd, other people quit being afraid of him and started standing up to him. That would likely strip away his bullying confidence and the power that went with it. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/31 "2008-12-16T23:25:49Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Clearly he has an inflated sense of what kind of income the typical SF/fantasy author can expect to earn. 😃 Being an author isn’t what made him successful. The parents come bounding in after playing tennis or squash or whatever it was, looking fit and healthy (and strangely now that [Lea Thompson](http://images.starpulse.com/pictures/2007/03/11/previews/Lea%20Thompson-SGS-021273.jpg) is genuinely the age she played in that scene, she looks a lot better now than the good looking Mom of 1985…) and it all implied that George (and Lorraine) had a successful job and a great life up until now, at least enough to have a house further away from pylons. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/32 "2008-12-16T23:30:09Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Or, given that everyone is gormlessly innocent in 1955, maybe wouldn’t think that until 1980 or so when Marty started looking like the pictures of Grandpa from the 30’s. Why would it be surprising that Marty McFly looks like his grandfather? When looking at pictures of me or my brother at the same (young) age, even I can’t tell if it’s me or him. My own mother has heard me and thought I was my father many times. Relatives do tend to look alike. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/33 "2008-12-17T00:01:48Z")
What I’m wondering is how his novel got published considering he’d be using a name and planet already made up by two other people (Darth Vader and Vulcan.) I assume he changed the names so he wouldn’t get sued by Lucas and Roddenberry, but how did he justify this to himself? Did he just figure that aliens visited all sorts of people in the 50’s? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305/34 "2008-12-17T05:09:11Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > I think what **GuanoLad** meant was that a successful author and his family would be living in a nicer house in a better neighborhood. Oooooohhhhh. I had a totally different interpretation of the phrase “the same house.” Sneaky English language! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bttf-nitpick-well-perhaps-bigger-then-that/477305.md?page=1)