MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future (1985) Discussion > Three questions about the Libyans

Three questions about the Libyans


How do the Libyans know the precise time and place to find Doc? Even if they have Doc's hometown on record, I don't see how they could be aware of his plan to be in the mall's parking lot in the middle of the night. What immediately tells the scientist that the nationalists are the ones driving the van? It's a typical car, and while Doc has probably seen a vehicle belonging to the group in their country, it obviously wouldn't be in America. Why do the Libyans suddenly stop while one is aiming a gun at Marty as he is speeding? That is why he is able to escape into the past.

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Tracking device in the plutonium

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Even Doc would call your thought process questionable.

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No. Back in those days you could track plutonium

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Maybe one of them tracked him down, followed him to the parking lot and then went to fetch the others.

It's a typical car, and while Doc has probably seen a vehicle belonging to the group in their country


I don't understand. Why wouldn't Doc have seen them in that vehicle in the US?

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The real question is why would he? The Libyans are not going to just drive by Doc's house and say hello. They don't want to alert him to their presences. The researcher doesn't know that his Eastern nemeses are in America until he sees their car approaching. That supplies my second inquiry, and proves that Doc is not followed, which the Libyans would not attempt anyway since it's the middle of the night and they are travelling in a van. Moreover, terrorists don't hesitate to kill regardless of location or time, so they wouldn't bother to wait until their intended victim is in a convenient place.

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The plutonium was stolen in the US. Doc was most likely approached by the Libyans to make the bomb IN the US. Why would he be surprised at them still being in the US?

This was not a terrorist attack, but more like a liquidation. It's very much possible that the one Libyan tracking him down found him and then went back to fetch the others with the heavy weaponry.

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It is never stated which nation the plutonium and mechanical parts are purloined in. Due to the major risk to themselves, I could not imagine nationalists being foolish enough to approach a famous American scientist for assistance in his country. I assume that Doc steals the items in Libya, but even if that is incorrect, there is no explanation for how he immediately knows who is driving the van since he is surely seeing it for the first time. It doesn't matter that Doc's murder is not a traditional terrorist attack; the assailants are still terrorists who would not be so intimidated by American police that they feel the need to kill someone in a deserted area. Apparently nobody can answer my questions, but the issues might just be errors in writing, which this movie is loaded with.

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The plutonium was stolen from the Pacific Nuclear Research Facility, so we know it was somewhere near the Pacific. We also know the FBI, a US federal agency, was investigating the matter. The Libyans, Doc and the plutonium were all inside the US, so it stands to reason that the plutonium was stolen IN the US and the Libyans and Doc met up IN the US. I don't see how Doc could've possibly smuggled any plutonium from Libya back to the US. Back in the 80s Libya wasn't even capable of producing plutonium, they had to get it abroad. They would most likely use the bomb abroad anyway, so if they steal the plutonium abroad, they would also build the bomb abroad.

What gives you the idea Doc is famous?

A parking lot is NOT that deserted. But maybe they were only able to identify Doc after he had left his house. And the terrorists still wanted the plutonium to commit an attack, moving in on a residential area with a lot of violence just to kill one person would ruin those plans.

We are answering your questions, you just won't accept the answers because you prefer to believe you discovered some major goof. So be it.

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I apologize, I have been incognizant of the report. I play movies at relatively low volumes, and the speech in that moment is not clear on my cassette. It can only be heard when I make the television too loud. My thought has sat in the area that the news appears just to tell us that someone has stolen plutonium and why Doc is a prime suspect later. However, as I have explained several times, the country which the theft takes place in is not germane to my questions. Doc has been internationally recognized and at one time rich enough to easily get his word out. A mall parking lot is deserted in the middle of the night. I am not blaming you or anyone else for the lack of answers and have clearly said that I believe that my mentioned issues are things that the writers have overlooked. It is not necessary or fair for you to presume my stance or use a harsh and flighty defense for everyone on this thread. I decide and state my preferences on my own, and am certain that the others here would say the same thing about themselves. Like the rest of the members, I simply have curiousities about movies and am asking from a general perspective. The matter is not a personal affair.

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"Doc has been internationally recognized and at one time rich enough to easily get his word out."
What? has he? how do you know that?

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Doc is employed by a very powerful and influential laboratory that works with other countries and has even been sought by foreigners for some of the most sophisticated kind of scientific assistance. He has made quite a name for himself. There is a newspaper article about the Brown mansion, and Doc mentions using his inheritance for decades.

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what an imagination, they should get you to write the next sequel

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I beg your pardon, mark. All of those things appear in the movie.

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Sorry to butt in , but where are these things in the movie. I feel like I've missed them

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thankyou! its not just me then ...

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My understanding is he spent all his money on realizing his vision of the flux capacitor. He even had to sell off the house and land, and all was left was the workshop/garage.
I don't recall any mention of him working for a powerful and influential laboratory. The only name I thought he made for himself was amongst the locals and it was crackpot.
But maybe I've missed something despite watching this at least 3 times a year for about 30 years. Hopefully TM1617-2 (166) can help me out here.

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yep - its all coming back to me now. He says to Marty "Its taken me 30 years and my entire family fortune to build THIS! the Flux cap..."

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It's considerate of you to worry about interjecting, wearsalan, but that is often unavoidable on an online forum. Sometimes it is the only way that we can talk to each other. Thank you anyway. Doc must work for the place that he steals from if he can access its vault, even if the entry itself is unauthorized. His position, however, is a low one which is why he needs his own odd business on the side. In the first newspaper article Emmett Brown is acknowledged as an inventor, so he hasn't always been viewed as trouble. He comes from a generation in which people with doctorate degrees, especially men, are always given reverence. His family estate is referred to by its name and therefore of importance to the public. As a younger man, Doc is known as a rich and creative scientist, but tarnishes his reputation when he slowly drains his inheritance on strange objects and ideas for things that others deem impossible or nonexistent. The Pacific Nuclear Research Facility is probably interested in the inventor from his earlier, better days but not comfortable with giving him a high rank due to the widespread misconceptions. The staff achieves the balance of protecting its image yet using the abilities of the employee, who is likely hired secretly, by keeping him on the level of a domestic. I believe that the facility has a firm idea of who is responsible for the theft since they try to cover it with a clerical mistake when the Libyans become involved. They don't want to lose Doc to prison or write their own death contracts for terrorists. There is a cogent enough title, whether positive or negative, for the scientist if people from another country think that they can trust him to build a bomb for illegal reasons.

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let see now...

Doc must work for the place that he steals from.[/i]
He stole the plutonium from the Libyans!

[i]if he can access its vault, even if the entry itself is unauthorized. His position, however, is a low one which is why he needs his own, odd business on the side.[/i]
He has no other job!

[i]In the first newspaper article Emmett Brown is acknowledged as an inventor, so he hasn't always been viewed as trouble. He comes from a generation in which people with doctorate degrees, especially men, are always given reverence. His family estate is referred to by its name and therefore of importance to the public. [/i] Yes - he is inventor, degrees are respected , his family is known to the neibours - the rest is fantasy / speculation

[i] As a younger man, Doc is known as a rich, creative scientist,

Again -you just pulled that out of thin air.

i cant even be bothered to go through the rest becasue of the formatting involved... but NONE OF IT IS IN THE FILM!!! you made it up in your head!
hence my original comment about your imagination

can you provide actual minute timestamps of where in the film doc brown biography occurs?

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Doc didn't steal the plutonium though, the Libyans did. Below is from the script:

'need a nuclear reaction to generate the one point twenty-one gigawatts
of electricity that I need.

Marty: Doc, you don't just walk into a store and ask for plutonium. Did
you rip this off?

Doc: Of course, from a group of Libyan Nationalists. They wanted me to
build them a bomb, so

I took 'THEIR' plutonium and in turn gave them a shiny bomb case full of
used pinball machine

parts.'
So I'm not sure where you get that Doc was working for a top lab (or whatever) that had the stuff and he himself stole it. If that was the case, why would he bother even contacting the Libyans to make them a bomb he had no intention of making. i mean all he wants is the plutonium, yes?
The rest seems to be conjecture from yourself , with nothing to back it up in the actual movie. I mean I'm all for theorising, but if that is the case then offer it up as a theory and nothing more. Or, have I missed something?

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In its own right, I'm glad that you appreciate theorizing. The reporter on television says that the Libyans take responsibility for the theft, not that they are caught. She goes on to state that the research facility has denied being robbed and is blaming the information on a clerical error, which the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is not accepting. The laboratory would not try to cover the crime unless if they were protecting one of their own. Likewise, the nationalists would not confess to purloining the plutonium without a personal benefit such as keeping their supposed assistant out of prison. If Doc takes the substance from the building, and the eastern group has verbally claimed it for their potential weapon, then he would still be considered stealing from them secondarily. Another possibility, and perhaps the more strongly suggested one, is that the terrorists break into the vault, hear that Emmett Brown is under suspicion at work as a result, and turn themselves in. Either way, the inventor must be employed by the scientific facility, otherwise the news report would have no basis. Doc does not contact the Libyans, they contact him. His reaction in his (original) final moments displays that he would not voluntarily work with individuals of that sort. When asked to build a bomb, the scientist finally sees a chance to get the element that he wants, so he plays along.

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Is it me or is there some real professional trolling going on on this site , or are some of the posters batshit crazy , or is it due to language barriers?
I'm not just talking about TM1617-2 , theres some others.

I think what we are seeing here is the ultimate of extrapolation. Sometimes people will say "That wasnt mentioned in the film (whatever film)" , and then someone will say "Well we see in scene x that John Maclain has a gold watch on , this proves he has served 100 years in the police and if therefore a huge badass who can handle C4 and an mp5"

TM1617-2's Fan fiction is the ultimate in conjecture and extrapolation and fantasy.

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Is it me or is there some real professional trolling going on on this site , or are some of the posters batshit crazy..


Sadly, you are likely correct on one or the other, particularly on the OP thread. I'm pretty good at recognizing trolling but this one escaped my TrollAlert ®.

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Nobody is suggesting the Libyans were caught. As for the rest of what the reporter says, I'm not sure what the relevance is. Doc says that HE ripped the plutonium off from the Libyans, not the lab.
As for the next part:
{The laboratory would not try to cover the crime unless if they were protecting one of their own.}
Who says they are covering up for one of their own? It could just as easily be theorized that they didn't want to highlight the shortcomings in their security for fear of losing a major government contract.
The rest assumes a lot. As I said, if Doc stole the plutonium he would have no need to deal with the Libyans.
Your original post asks how the Libyans knew where the Doc was? Somebody gave a good theoretical answer in saying maybe they had a tracker with the plutonium. doc himself says 'they've found me. I don't know how, but they found me. Run for it Marty'.
You seem to be going to great lengths to show it was Doc who stole the plutonium and that he worked for a major company (lab), yet nothing in the movie suggests this to be the case. I asked for help in clearing this up and all that seems to be coming back is more theory. A better question would be 'What happened to Marty MK2'?
Marty MK2 came from an upbringing where his parents were successful and would have been very different to original Marty. Now theories on this would be interesting.

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I appreciate your attempting to follow me, wearsalan. Perhaps one of my suggestions needs more details. I don't believe that this one is what happens, but wish to explain it for the sake of completion. Suppose that Doc were the one to take certain contents from the vault. He would do so after being asked by the foreigners to build a nuclear weapon because they know that he can get the required element. That is a saver of time and money for the group members even though they are capable of breaking into the facility. From the perspective of the criminals, the scientist would be stealing from them since they are counting on the plutonium for the bomb to function and thus viewing it as their property. The movie seems to blame the physical removal of the radioactive substance from the building on the Libyans. Assuming that this is the manner of the theft, Dr. Brown uses what his time machine lacks after being entrusted with it. He implies that he tries to lessen the burden on his conscience through the by-product of preventing a piece of warfare. The inventor is also murdered for making dolts of the Eastern nationalists by pretending that he is willing to create a bomb, not just for his larceny. I know that the terrorists are not caught, which is one of my chief points.
They instead confess, and never would consider such a thing without hefty compensation. The only person in play who can provide the reward is Doc, so there has to be a connection between him and the laboratory. Your hypothesis about the news report is savvy, but cannot be applicable because The Pacific Nuclear Research Facility would increase their security after the burglary and require government assistance to do so if they have a national contract. I'm afraid that I have run out of textual room, so please continue to my next post.

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[deleted]

Please do not mind the deleted post above. I've realized that this is probably a better place for my extension. If a method for tracking plutonium were available, then surely Emmett Brown would be cognizant of it, which is a mismatch to his confidence that he is free of the Libyans. The way that this thread has carried out proves that my questions are topics that have been ignored in sketchy storytelling and cannot be settled. That aspect is the culprit for a complicated discussion. By the way, what does MK2 stand for?

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Well you have Marty MK1 (original Marty) and Marty MK2 (altered timeline Marty).
When original Marty arrives to meet Doc, he arrives at Twin Pines Mall. When original Marty goes 'Back to the Future' he arrives in a different (altered) timeline and goes to save Doc at Lone Pine Mall, where he sees Marty Mk2 disappear to the past. Marty Mk2 is from this altered timeline and will have had an upbringing with successful parents. As such he won't have the same hang ups and lack of confidence as original Marty.
Clear?

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Yes, but what does MK stand for?

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Mark 2.
Never heard that before? I mean, it's usually a vehicle term, but the gist is the same. It means the same model but different (ie) Pontiac firebird mk1, and pontiac firebird mk2. Same model of car but different somehow.

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Oh, thank you. I have never seen it until your usage and know very little about cars.

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fair enough.
Relevant topic though, dont you think?

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Oh, yes, it would be an excellent matter to explore, especially through comparison. It's another topic, though.

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Yes, granted but, a better question though than how the Libyans found Doc!

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That is quite a narrow observation. All questions asked for legitimate reasons should be considered valid on a discussion board.

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and yours was answered, but you seem to want to continue on despite it being answered as reasonbly as possible. You also seem to theorize a lot despite there being no in movie evidence to back up your theory. As such I thought the theoretical discussion of what happened to Marty Mk2 would be right up your street.

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I have continued only because my response to your question for me has not originally seemed thorough for you. There is a portion that I have called an alternative possibility, which is the admission that it probably does not happen in the film. However, all of my other points are illustrated though things that I have already referenced, such as the newspapers, the television report, and Doc's words plus what others say about him. You have agreed that there is nothing wrong with hypothesizing as long as you clarify it. I can attest to doing so, and have complimented two of your ideas. Deriding me is unwarranted, and the lengthening of our conversation is fruitless.

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Wow... I must give you, you're a professional troll commited to his trolling. Dude, I would like to be in your head to see how your brain can go in so many different directions deeply.

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TaRaNRoD, regardless of where your perspective lies, you do not have the right to apply names to or produce ludicrous tales about me.  Wanting to be inside my brain while scoffing at its functioning is a very queer contradiction. If a subject does not accommodate your interest or understanding, then you are not required to discuss it.  Your post is highly redundant, has no substantial root, and is almost identical to an earlier message on this thread.  All three say a great deal about your social level.

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K.

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care to respond to the rebuttles?

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I'm afraid that you do not have a rebuttal, mark. The only thing that you have done is restate everything that I have said to you. That is something of mention and prompting me to respond to you a final time. It's obvious that you are more interested in instigation than information.

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ah but you did respond! ( to wearsalan) thats what i was asking for - i just put my last post in reponse to yours so youd get an alert about it . a bad idea on my part as it confuses things further , and lord knows we dont need that.

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What's unfair and also condescending is you saying that we aren't answering your questions. I HAVE anwered them.

"How do the Libyans know the precise time and place to find Doc? Even if they have Doc's hometown on record, I don't see how they could be aware of his plan to be in the mall's parking lot in the middle of the night."

One of the Libyans tracked him down and followed him.

"What immediately tells the scientist that the nationalists are the ones driving the van? It's a typical car, and while Doc has probably seen a vehicle belonging to the group in their country, it obviously wouldn't be in America."

Doc had obviously met the Libyans before IN America.

"Doc has been internationally recognized and at one time rich enough to easily get his word out."

Where in the movie is that suggested?

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The tracking part explained it good

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Why do you keep emphasizing tracking, captainbucky? What, specifically, are you referring to? Plutonium is a radioactive element, not a computer or telephone.

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No but doc explained how they found him

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He has no idea how they find him. He says so just before he tells Marty to run.

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But later he explains it

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I see what you did there!

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I sure did and how!

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They followed him, or had someone follow him.

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I can answer the bit about How does doc instantly know its them - he's met them before (in the US) and they were in the same van.

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That's the problem, mark. The Libyans wouldn't use a vehicle that they know that Doc would recognize. After reading all of the responses, though, I think that the basis of each question is the sort of thing that an audience is supposed to ignore for the sake of a plot. Of course, that won't stop me from pointing it out. As creative as this movie is, it has a very unsteady script.

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The Libyans wouldn't use a vehicle that they know that Doc would recognize.


What? They're Libyans... Plus they had RPGs and assault weapons. And while it may have escaped your notice, the Libyans did in fact find and kill Doc Brown even without having to sneak up on him in a different vehicle! Talk about pumping a dry well..

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Yes, strntz, by now it would be impossible for even the most casual reader to miss the nationality of the terrorists. What is your object, and what does it have to do with my sentence? What does RPG stand for? Since you are focused on my statement, I would expect you to realize that I am merely observing from the sidelines of common sense that there are conflicts with the way that the murder carries out. A lack of comprehension of one's speech is not conducive to making fun of it.

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[deleted]

You have twice made disparaging remarks about my intelligence, strntz, yet cannot be troubled to explain your post. If you think that my topic is senseless, then why are you responding to it? My presence on this forum is your assurance that I am literate, so you need not repeat your sentences.

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Congratulations troll; you managed to get my post deleted. At least you accomplished something in your life - however inane and insignificant. You might think I might now similarly report your posts for abuse but again, you'd be wrong.

I did NOT insult your intelligence other than pointing out the inanity of your logic. If correcting your mistakes constitutes disparaging your intelligence then I guess I'm guilty as would be anyone anywhere you talk to.

Welcome to my very first ignore plonk on MovieChat.

Begone troll.

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Just fyi - the missing post above was not reported by anyone. It was either deleted by one of the moderators on his or her own initiative or it was removed in error.

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Thanks M5, although explanation not necessary.

I didn't even remember this thread, but I do know that I am never abusive to the point that anything I've ever written here or on the old defunct IMDB would be delete worthy.

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[deleted]

"That's the problem, mark. The Libyans wouldn't use a vehicle that they know that Doc would recognize."

Why not? He didn't have any time to escape.

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No time? He had a time machine!

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No good if you're dead before you can use it.

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The Doc has a big van with Emmet Brown - Scientist written on it. The Libyans drove around until the spotted it.

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Your questions are faulty and mucks up the story narrative.

The Libyans weren't trying to find the "precise" time and place to find Doc... it's that they DO find Doc. The Libyans could have kept tabs on Doc, once they located him in the States...

It would totally be a different movie if YOU forced the writer(s) to give us a terrorist plot film in stead of a time travel adventure. Just makeup your own story to how and why this stuff happened, there are so many possibilities, it's just the fact that they DO NOT and DID NOT happen on screen.

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Only THREE questions?

I have a seemingly endless list of questions about that 'easy explanation' to plutonium.

- How did Doc find Libyans, or know it was THEM that stole that plutonium, or arrange this meeting, or gain their trust or expressed enough credentials to make them think 'yeah, let's give him the plutonium without OBSERVING him at all while he's working with out precious plutonium'?

- Why does Doc think it's ok to use stolen plutonium in his experiments? Stealing dangerous, controlled substance from the government is an offence he could get in DEEP trouble for! No moral qualms about this?

- Why would the Libyans just stop trying and never bother Doc again after first assassination attempt failed, and they didn't get their plutonium back? Would YOU just send two goofy dudes and if they fail, forget it? What? Someone WILLING and CAPABLE of robbing the american government out of something like plutonium would be DETERMINED and POWERFUL and not just stop trying to get it back or kill the Doc or both.. so why?

Yes, I had the same questions about HOW they found him, how they knew he's going to be in the Mall area (let's face it, if you want to find someone in even a small town like Hill Valley, and they're not home, there's not much you can do, there's not much you are going to be able to do - the last thing you're going to do is 'coam the whole damn town' just in case they might be in the mall parking lot..), etc.

But those are not the biggest questions, those are more like 'untold nitpicks' - the other implications and things about those Libyans are more important.

Also, it's not a "typical car", it's a very weird "hippie van" that ordinary people didn't really use much in the 1980s. Also, would Einstein react to a 'typical car'? Would anyone know to be in the mall parking lot at that late time?

To add, have you never heard of 'intuition'? Also, if they hadn't been the Libyans, Doc would've been afraid they MIGHT have been, and still panicked.

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A bigger question is, why would someone that's SHOWn to be meticulous, be SO SLOPPY when it comes to clock eye syncing (the animal clock eyes do not sync, why not?!) and keeping his possessions (like the gun) in working order and loaded..?

There's NO WAY someone like Doc would own a gun and NOT take meticulous care of it, he would probably oil it every week and test it at least twice a month. There's NO WAY that gun would be in such a bad shape it won't fire (or out of bullets), and that he would look at the gun barrel so amateurishly - he'd know every millimeter of that gun intimately and could take it apart and build it again in probably record time.

How could he also 'almost forget to take 'extra plutonium'' - he would've friggin' PRE-LOADED that car with plutonium as soon as he got any, and stored some everywhere, 'just in case'. We've shown this character is METICULOUS, not SLOPPY! Dagnabit..

What sense does it make, by the way, to store the plutonium in his garage, if he's elsewhere at the time, doing the DeLorean experiment? Why wouldn't he have the plutonium WITH him?

So he plans to visit the garage later (to get the plutonium), so he WOULD'VE seen the 'amplifier' and the huge, probably expensive speaker get totally destroyed without Marty ever even mentioning it (let alone apologizing or planning to pay for it).. Why doesn't Doc ever mention this? Isn't he pissed off at all? He seems 100% happy to see Marty, instead of "Hey, why the heck did you destroy my audio equipment?!".




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Thank you, avortac4. Just as you share some of my thoughts, I share some of yours. Doc does not find Libyans, they contact him. They know that they are near him when they steal the plutonium because he has gained fame for his inventions, and that has been aided by the scientist's former wealth. Due to the obvious but unexplained connection between Doc and the laboratory, the Libyans admit to the crime, annunciating that they are the ones who have the element that the man needs for his time machine. We can assume that the nationalists find a way to confess without physically turning themselves in since there is no mention of the plutonium being returned, unless if what they take is not their only supply and the guys who break into the laboratory aren't the same ones who commit the murder. The 'trust' that you refer to is a matter of the inventor being indebted to the Libyans for 'saving' him from prison, and their threatening him over that. I agree that it does not suit Doc to purloin. He has spent years applying extreme ambition to very little money despite growing up rich and is therefore an honest worker. There is great desperation for a latest invention to work, but its creator should consider that he won't get anything out of that if he's dead. A colorful van would appeal to young drivers in 1985. The car approaching the mall could easily be a group of kids fooling around in the middle of the night. Einstein does not react to the vehicle; he barks because he knows that his friend is in trouble. Doc clearly recognizes the van and does not sense danger. He is uncomfortable with guns and just doesn't want to handle one often enough to maintain it. However, that is a childish excuse and a person who has so many enemies should recognize the high chance of needing a weapon sometime, and that one of his giant and heavy ones might not be practical. I'm afraid that I have run out of textual room, so please continue to my next post.

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The scientist is prepared for travelling in the DeLorean, but gets distracted from the thrill of showing off the car. Maybe there is more than one container of plutonium. We don't know how much is stolen. Marty's older friend knows that he has given the warning about the speakers too late, and since the boy using the amplifier is part of a routine, the accident in the garage is probably not the first of its kind. Moreover, I think that the audio equipment belongs to Marty who is allowed to practice at Doc's house so that he doesn't disturb his family.

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