MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future Part II (1989) Discussion > The whole premise to Back to the Future ...

The whole premise to Back to the Future 2 doesn't make any sense.

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (19392)
22 replies | jump to latest

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9rv218/the_whole_premise_to_back_to_the_future_2_doesnt/

When Doc comes back to the present to tell Marty that his son will be in trouble in the future, that is all that is necessary to prevent that from happening. 1985 Marty doesn't need to move forward in time to prevent the future event from happening, he can organically prevent it from happening when 2015 arrives. By going forward in time, he creates the unnecessary mess by clueing in future Biff.

Too bad. It was the best movie of the franchise as a kid.

[–] B1cKsurN (14693) 5 years ago

He did it to prevent Marty from finding out about the accident.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 5 years ago

Why do Marty and Doc go to the future to save Marty’s kids? Wouldn’t it make more sense to alter the past in order to change the future to keep Marty’s son from going to prison?

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/a7h36t/plot_of_back_to_the_future_ii/

[–] captainbucky (15252) 5 years ago

Nope not allowed

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

" Wouldn’t it make more sense to alter the past in order to change the future to keep Marty’s son from going to prison?"

Or just dont do any time travelling , and just make sure your son dosent turn out to be as dick, like the OP said

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 5 years ago

https://www.quora.com/What-are-plotholes-in-great-movies-that-persons-have-given-excuses-for-or-defended/answer/Jon-Mixon-1

The entire film negates its own plot. The premise is that Marty’s family is in trouble 30 years AFTER the ending of the first film, meaning that the events have yet to occur. Instead of just writing down a note or two, Marty, Doc, and Jennifer all go to the future and create a worse situation than what they were trying to fix. There was no need to go to the future to “repair” problems which had not yet happened.

[–] ThrillerTalk (1118) 5 years ago

But then it wouldn't be a back to the future film.

[–] hurricane (1907) 5 years ago

Well, exactly.

It's just a film. Is this really such a big deal for people? They had a time machine, so they decided to go into the future rather than wait 30 years to deal with it.

Why let one infinitesimally minute detail spoil the whole movie for you?

[–] SisterSuzy101 (349) 3 years ago

"But then it wouldn't be a back to the future film."

-Not necessarily. Like someone else said, the writer(s) could've just thought of another reason for them to travel to the future, rather than create one of the biggest plot holes in film history that's difficult to ignore.
The film has plenty of other problems, this is just scratching the surface...

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 5 years ago

https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-most-obvious-movie-plot-hole-of-all-time/answer/Jon-Mixon-1

Here’s the “plot” of the film”: At the end of the first film, Doc Brown arrives in front of Marty McFly’s house in the Delorean time machine and informs Marty that he and his girlfriend need to go with him (Brown) “back to the future”. The reason for this is stated to be that Marty and Jennifer’s children are in trouble, and Marty is somehow the only one who can help them. They then get into the car and travel to the future.

Here’s the plot hole: The first movie already made it abundantly clear that changes in the past will effect the future. In the first film it was demonstrated that Marty’s intervention into his parent’s meeting and pairing created numerous changes in his 1985 “present”. Apparently that entire line of logic is abandoned by Doc Brown and the screenwriters, in favor what was supposed to be the plot of the second film.

There is never any reason for Marty (or Doc Brown, for that matter) to travel to the future. Marty and Jennifer’s children were not born yet, and since Doc knows exactly what the “trouble” is (which, as it turns out, was actually very minor) Marty could simply write himself a note or a journal entry and corrected things before they ever reached that point. Not only does no one even suggest this very obvious solution, the film requires Marty to have forgotten the adventure that he returned from to his “present”.

Back To The Future II only exists thanks to the mega-success of the first film and to create an equally lucrative franchise. It plot’s hole is so large that you drive a fleet of Deloreans through it, side-by-side.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

" It plot’s hole is so large that you drive a fleet of Deloreans through it, side-by-side."
brilliant! and true :(

It wasnt necessary to have the plot hole and do the film anyway cos everyone wanted a sequel ,
They could've just thought of some other reason to go to the future .

[–] hurricane (1907) 2 years ago

I don't see the fact that they didn't wait 30 years to deal with the problem to be a plot hole at all.

Why would they? They have a time machine, and Marty McFly is the spitting image of his son. Surely Doc's solution was far simpler than waiting 30 years to deal with the problem? He had a way of making Marty McFly Jr. sleep for a while, Marty Sr. replaces him, says no and then leaves. Problem solved.

Really the only reason it went wrong was because Doc knocked Jennifer out, so didn't have enough juice to keep Marty Jr out for long enough. (Admittedly, this was a stupid thing for Doc to do.) And because Marty blew up when Griff called him a chicken. Really, other than that, the plan was fairly simple and definitely easier than waiting 30 years to deal with it. It's certainly not the biggest plothole in movie history.

Maybe the one fairly small problem was that Doc spent most of the first movie preaching that a person shouldn't know too much about their own future, before going to 2015 and coming back to tell Marty stuff about his own future. And maybe he didn't count that, because 1985 was his present, so he didn't see that as altering history in any way.

[–] cevoice2 (6) 5 years ago

That fix the future by going to the future plot is the dumbest thing they could have came up with. If anything Doc should have taken Marty to the future because he needed Marty help to get something that hasn't been invented yet in 1985. That way like the first movie we could have spent most of the movie in one time period and seeing more of the cool future stuff.

[–] hurricane (1907) 5 years ago

The thing is, when they made the first movie they never intended for there to be a second one. So the bit at the end with Doc arriving to take Marty back to the future was added more as a humorous ending than anything else. But when they made a second one, they needed to have them start in the future.

I don't think they really did too bad with it, personally. Though the second one does seem more of a bridge between the first and the third one, rather than a movie in it's own right.

[–] cevoice2 (6) 5 years ago

True

[–] Heisenberg (6281) 5 years ago

Then we'll never get to see hoverboards...geesh! Use your brain dude!

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 5 years ago

If Marty got in the time machine in 1985 and traveled forward into 2015, then shouldn't he have landed in a future where Marty has been missing since 1985 after having gotten in a car with Doc and flew into the sky?

[–] BillySlater (4096) 4 years ago

Marty isn´t missing from 1985 when he goes to 2015. Because his future is to always come back from the future and live out 1985 and onwards. Pretty simple really.

[–] strntz (10779) 5 years ago

I'm pretty sure a big majority of people knew the same thing. I remember saying "what??" when Doc said Marty had to go with him to the future to do "something about his kids"..

I mean, the whole point of the first film was to show how altering earlier events greatly affected later events.

To keep a similar story but eliminate the obvious idiotic plot device, what they could have done was simply have Doc bring Marty to the future to see it's wonders (Marty! You won't believe how cool the future is!!! Take a ride with me!!) and *still*l have Biff steal the time machine from Doc.

My best guess is that originally didn't plan a sequel and were trying to tie the sequel to the first film by using the first film's last scene. They could have done better.

[–] hurricane (1907) 3 years ago

One thing I've always thought it, wouldn't Marty and Jennifer remember going into the future? If I travelled into the future, I'd always remember the exact date I landed.

Why would it be such a big surprise that Jennifer saw herself? To either version.