# Is there an explanation why Marty McFly is a 17 year old senior, on Oct 25, 1985? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144 "2017-11-30T13:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 30, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/41 "2017-11-30T17:46:04Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The question I always wondered is Marty was so important to them meeting you would think they would have named their first son Marty rather than their second in the new timeline. Maybe the first two kids were named after relatives and the parents didn’t get to use the name they liked until the third kid. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/42 "2017-11-30T18:12:35Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Like Prince Albert! Or The Earl of Doncaster! (And maybe even King Edward VIII if the rumors are true 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/43 "2017-11-30T18:59:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Maybe the first two kids were named after relatives and the parents didn’t get to use the name they liked until the third kid. Also, their second child was a girl, so that kinda leaves out naming her Martin. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/44 "2017-11-30T19:04:47Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Also, their second child was a girl, so that kinda leaves out naming her Martin. The way her mom drinks, she’s lucky she wasn’t named Martini. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/45 "2017-11-30T19:58:14Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I was a bit not yet quite born in 1955 but a few years later is quite common for people to carry cameras to events like a prom. True, it’s more likely to have pictures taken at home or something formal at the prom that Marty wouldn’t appear in, but there’s the possibility some girl without a date wearing horn-rimmed glasses had a Brownie hanging from a strap around her neck. Kodak Instamatics, which debuted in 1963, were easy to carry. Cameras before then were clunky. Not something you could put in a pocket or a purse. Also, even if someone took a photo of Marty, it would probably sit in an album somewhere, never to be seen again. No photo sharing back then. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/46 "2017-11-30T20:09:46Z")
Well, you can always pull out, even if you don’t have birth control available. People has been managing for centuries, I hear. Anyway, the only really relevant question nobody’s asking is- Why would Marty MacFly even know Johnny B. Goode? Why not something by Van Halen, or Bon Jovi, or whatever 1980’s teenagers listened to? And why would the people at the dance be so astounded by a song that was only a four or five years in the future? And why would he say that their “children would love it”? Some of them would love it in a few years, when they were in their early twenties and the song appeared. Their children wouldn’t even have heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/47 "2017-11-30T20:25:49Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Well, you can always pull out, even if you don’t have birth control available. People has been managing for centuries, I hear. > > Anyway, the only really relevant question nobody’s asking is- Why would Marty MacFly even know Johnny B. Goode? Why not something by Van Halen, or Bon Jovi, or whatever 1980’s teenagers listened to? And why would the people at the dance be so astounded by a song that was only a four or five years in the future? And why would he say that their “children would love it”? Some of them would love it in a few years, when they were in their early twenties and the song appeared. Their children wouldn’t even have heard of it. J B.G is a classic. Possibly, Marty, in his drive to be a better musician, was student of the history of rock. “Your children will love it” refers to the later era of rock as symbolized by kicking over the speakers. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/48 "2017-11-30T20:29:29Z")
I don’t think he was specifically talking about the song, but the balls-to-the-wall guitar solo he started shredding at the end, that included the destruction of sound equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/49 "2017-11-30T20:35:55Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Anyway, the only really relevant question nobody’s asking is- Why would Marty MacFly even know Johnny B. Goode? Why not something by Van Halen, or Bon Jovi, or whatever 1980’s teenagers listened to? And why would the people at the dance be so astounded by a song that was only a four or five years in the future? And why would he say that their “children would love it”? Some of them would love it in a few years, when they were in their early twenties and the song appeared. Their children wouldn’t even have heard of it. Marty was not just a generic 1980s teenager; he was the guitarist for a band, The Pinheads. They auditioned, remember, in the “Battle of the Bands,” but were rejected for “being too darn loud.” Their audition was an amped-up power chord version of “Power of Love,” and the megaphone-wielding judge that rejected them was played by . . . Huey Lewis. In any event, it’s very likely that a nascent band trying to get playing gigs would learn lots of cover songs. Such as “Johnny B. Goode.” His comment “your kids are gonna love it,” did not refer to JBG, but to the stage antics he improvised, like smashing stage equipment, a reference to similar antics by Pete Townshend of The Who. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/50 "2017-11-30T20:36:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m sure others have picked up on this question. Is there an accepted retcon? > > Marty’s parents attend the high school, Enchantment Under the Sea, dance Nov 12, 1955. > > Seems reasonable to assume Marty was born between 1957-60. He would have finished high school by the mid to late 1970’s. > > Why is Marty a high school senior, Oct 1985? He should have finished college by then. > > A mistake like this is more noticeable because the movie provides specific dates. Returning to Oct 1985 is a plot point of the movie Want a real brain-breaker? Homer Simpson and Marge Bouvier met in the last year of high school. Homer was slightly older, since he’d repeated a grade at least once, so figure at graduation, she’s recently turned 17 while he was nearly 19, so that in later adulthood, she’d be 36 and he’d be 38. They conceived their first child the first time they had sex, in the miniature castle on a putt-putt course, before they were married. So why is Bart 10 when Homer and Marge are 36 and 38? Did they date without having sex for nearly a decade after high school? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/51 "2017-11-30T20:44:15Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Anyway, the only really relevant question nobody’s asking is- Why would Marty MacFly even know Johnny B. Goode? Why not something by Van Halen, or Bon Jovi, or whatever 1980’s teenagers listened to? First up, for an eighties kid playing rock guitar, **Johnny B Good** was essential, even if your personal tastes were more _Van Halen_ or _ZZ Top_. > [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > And why would the people at the dance be so astounded by a song that was only a four or five years in the future? And why would he say that their “children would love it”? Marty was referring to the very 80s solo that he broke into after he finished “duck-walking” across the stage - which **was** a Chuck Berry move. He then does some Pete Townsend power chords and a stage slide, Jimi Hendrix behind the neck riffs, Angus Young back wriggle, Van Halen style tapping and 80s metal sweep picking ending with a traditional rock’n’roll amp-kicking. That is what he refers to when he says: _I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet, but your kids are going to love it_ and Ninjaed ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/52 "2017-11-30T20:51:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Want a real brain-breaker? > > Homer Simpson and Marge Bouvier met in the last year of high school. Homer was slightly older, since he’d repeated a grade at least once, so figure at graduation, she’s recently turned 17 while he was nearly 19, so that in later adulthood, she’d be 36 and he’d be 38. > > They conceived their first child the first time they had sex, in the miniature castle on a putt-putt course, before they were married. So why is Bart 10 when Homer and Marge are 36 and 38? Did they date without having sex for nearly a decade after high school? A wizard did it. Ok serious answer. because when the show started, they were not yet 30. They were, co-ink-a-dent-a-diddily just about my age at the time. Homer had many of the same experiences as me at the same ages. But since Bart should now be about 39, something had to give. Now Homer and Marge are stuck in some ill-defined mid age, that makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/53 "2017-11-30T21:22:06Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The question I always wondered is Marty was so important to them meeting you would think they would have named their first son Marty rather than their second in the new timeline. They know him as Calvin in the '50s, not Marty. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > True, but it’s unlikely that George & Lorraine would have copies of the pictures Ms. Horn-rim took. All they’d realistically still have in 1985 are whatever pictures are in the yearbook. Which are very unlikely to have a closeup of Marty. Also, how often do people open their yearbooks when they’re adults? I haven’t looked inside one for at least ten-fifteen years. I’m not entirely certain where they are, right now. In a box somewhere in storage, I’m assuming, but they might be gone altogether. I wouldn’t be surprised if George and Lorraine haven’t looked at theirs since before Marty was born. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/54 "2017-11-30T21:27:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > They conceived their first child the first time they had sex, in the miniature castle on a putt-putt course, before they were married. So why is Bart 10 when Homer and Marge are 36 and 38? Did they date without having sex for nearly a decade after high school? When was it established that it was their first time? I thought it was just prior to them getting married. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/55 "2017-11-30T21:29:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > They know him as Calvin in the '50s, not Marty. Only at first. > [@](#): > > George: Marty, I want to thank you for all your good advice. I’ll never forget it. > Lorraine: Marty, will we ever see you again? > Marty: I guarantee it. Well, good luck you guys. )Oh, and one other thing, if you guys, and one of them, when he’s eight years old accidentally sets fire to the living room rug? Go easy on him. > Lorraine:Marty… such a nice name. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/56 "2017-12-04T09:43:59Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Actually, what bothers me most about Marty’s time travel trip is that neither of his parents seem to recognize that their youngest son looks remarkably like the guy who was so vitally important to them getting together in the first place. Did Marty’s father never stop to think “Hey waitaminute, this kid looks suspiciously like the guy whom my wife was majorly crushing on just before we got together! And then he just disappeared – at least, _I_ never saw him again…” _Family Guy_ did a cutaway on this, with George asking Lorraine pointedly why Marty looks so much like that guy she had a thing for in high school. On the OP: our first child was born 18 years after we got married. Sometimes these things take a while. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/57 "2017-12-04T10:18:38Z")
I was still 16 on Oct. 25 of my senior year. I then turned 17, graduated the following June, and turned 18 in November while away at college. My kindergarten rule was that if you born Sept-Dec, you wait until fifth birthday to start school. If born after Dec 31, you wait until next September to start KG. I presume if I was 16 in Oct of senior year, almost everyone else was 17. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/58 "2017-12-04T10:30:18Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I did see an explanation for this somewhere. > (paraphrased) Marty was only in the past for a few days at most. It’s now 20+years later, they don’t clearly remember what Marty looked like. Since “their” Marty grew into looking like he does, it’s not the same as suddenly seeing Marty 20 years later. (paraphrased) Exactly. No parent looks at their teenage kid, who they’ve raised from birth, and thinks “Huh. He reminds me of someone.” Besides, if they’re like most parents, in their minds he’s still 8 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/59 "2017-12-04T13:35:42Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The question I always wondered is Marty was so important to them meeting you would think they would have named their first son Marty rather than their second in the new timeline. As was said, Marty was important to them, but not as important as a family member, maybe one who recently died, or was a family patriarch, or a traditional family name. Still, now it pokes at the baby Martin growing up to look like Marty. “So George, what other names were you thinking of” “Well, how about Martin, after Marty, that odd kid we met in High School for a couple of days?” “Martin … after Marty … yeah, that’s sweet” _Pats belly_ “You like that, Marty” —years pass— “Say, didja notice, we name him Marty, and he seems to be growing up to look like that guy” “Yeah, odd. Like in the movies, when you give a kid a name, and they look like the name…” “You mean like, you name somebody Engelbert, and they grow up dweebish and geeky, requiring strong eyeglasses, that sort of thing?” “Yeah, or if you name a girl Helga or Bertha she grows up dumpy looking, whereas if you name her Roxanna she grows up to be a hot blonde regardless of familial genetics?” “Yeah, wait, are we in a movie?” Then the time paradoxes built up over the films melts the celluloid as the credits roll. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144/60 "2017-12-04T19:32:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Exactly. No parent looks at their teenage kid, who they’ve raised from birth, and thinks “Huh. He reminds me of someone.” > > Besides, if they’re like most parents, in their minds he’s still 8 years old. And besides that: suppose you opened your old yearbook and saw a picture of a kid that looked just like yours. Would you think: a) “Wow, that looks just like my kid!” or b) “OMFG!!! My kid must have invented a time machine and traveled to the past!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-explanation-why-marty-mcfly-is-a-17-year-old-senior-on-oct-25-1985/803144.md?page=4)