Well, I've got a couple of ideas.
The first one is more plausible, which is that somehow, "present" Doc Brown came across the DeLorean somewhere between the the moment where Doc dropped Marty off at his home and the moment he turns up again at Marty's house the next day. Think about it, a LOT of time went by for Doc during that timeframe (which includes getting the hover conversion, installing of Mr. Fusion, Doc getting a rejuvenation treatment, finding out about Marty's children, what caused Marty's music career to not go anywhere, etc.). It's possible that Doc may have accidentally stumbled across it and borrowed it while his "past" self for old times sake (remember, during Part 2, Doc was hellbent on destroying the time machine, but he ends up creating the Time Train to travel around with his wife and children, which if he hadn't met Clara, he never would have even considered on doing it) and just remembered just to get the DeLorean back to the place and time where he borrowed it from before his past self picks it up (remember, with a Time Machine, you can go back in time and do anything and then return back to the future point and the time machine wouldn't even be missed). It could very be that simple, that Doc pulled an Old Biff with intentions of having a moment to himself and was going to return it without his past self not knowing that it was gone. I believe this one is more possible.
The second one, which if you believe the BTTF ride could actually occur in the film's timeline, the DeLorean that Doc uses in the game is, in fact, one from the Institute of Future Technology (the Institute he created to explore the applications of potential breakthroughs in technological advancements). Remember, the reason why Biff from 1955 ended up in the "present" time in the ride is that he hid himself onboard a DeLorean that was being used for a time travel experiment in 1955. So, that means that if that one event happened with Biff, that it's possible that the DeLorean being used in the game happens to be one from the Institute during the time travel experiments being done. If Biff came across it, then surely, the Doc had to come across another one at some point.
Honestly, I believe the first one is likely, as it has the clock that Doc used to set Marty off for his return trip in BTTF, where as the time machines from the Institute wouldn't include the clock (unless Doc decided to have multiple clocks installed into every time machine, to tie into the personal history with the original time machine and the events surrounding it).
But this one's eating my popcorn!
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Fuzzyfoot
13 years ago
Well, one of the major flaws with your first theory, which incidentally is the same problem I have had with Part 2 for years, is the simple fact that the machine tells you where you were.
Old Biff in Part 2 came from 1955, theoretically he shouldn't have been able to travel back to the current 2015 since giving the book to himself would have changed that but whatever, the bottom timeline on the time circuits specifically state that this is where you were. So wouldn't they have seen the giant 1955 staring them in the face when they decided to go back to 1985?
The same concept applies with your first theory. Doc from the films would have seen a different "Where you were" time on the circuits and would have questioned it.
So realistically, although not entirely explained, the concept from the game was their best option.
My 2 cents.
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codebreaker2001
13 years ago
The same concept applies with your first theory. Doc from the films would have seen a different "Where you were" time on the circuits and would have questioned it.
Not unless Doc remembered where he went to before heading to 2015, which was the date that he dropped Marty off (that I'm aware of), a quick pop-in to October 26, 1985, refuel Mr. Fusion and then jumping back to 2015 and voila! Doc from the films wouldn't have known that the DeLorean went anywhere.
Besides, the reason why Doc and Marty didn't realize what Old Biff did was because they didn't pay attention to the display. And the reason why Old Biff got back was because, according to BTTF theory of time, it takes a while before a new timeline comes to be. That's why Marty didn't just disappear after he shoved his father out of the way of his grandfather's car in the first film.
But this one's eating my popcorn!
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McFly_2015
13 years ago
there's a deleted scene where biff disappears after returning to 2015 (this is why he is in discomfort) so it appears he does return to the new timeline.
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fernandez2126
13 years ago
I just saw part two on DVD, and if you look at the time circuits when they get back to the deloreon after rescuing Jennifer it clearly says "November 15, 1955", doc and Marty just never paid attention to it.
Also remember what doc said about jeniffer and einstien in alternate 1985, that time would change around them and if you look closely when biff returns the sign behind the deloreon had graffiti on it where as before it didn't and old biff disappeared after he came back, as time was changing around them.
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leeaf83
12 years ago
It's actually november 12th 1955. I can't remember the exact time but i know it is the evening which did spark a debate of why Biff sticks around 1955 for so long when he drops it off in the morning.
The original script had Doc notice the change of the time display (in that version it was 1967) and he assumed einstein hit the keypad. Also the original script did show houses disappearing in 2015. It's assumed that it did change around Doc and Marty but they are outside so apparently there's no visible changes to the neighbourhood. Or you could argue since Biff is dead in this version, 2015 Hill valley is more similar to the normal version in the alternate timeline.
By the way back to the original post about the second delorean. At no point in the game is it further discussed what happens with this second delorean once it arrives in 2025 or 2026 so it is still in the air.
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MichaelM24
11 years ago
"Also the original script did show houses disappearing in 2015. It's assumed that it did change around Doc and Marty but they are outside so apparently there's no visible changes to the neighbourhood."
In fact, Bob Gale has said this is very much the exacty situation. In writing the script with Robert Zemeckis, they made sure that Marty and Doc, carrying Jennifer, were out of the house before old Biff returned, because the occupants of the house would have changed due to the timeline alteration. By having them outside as they carried Jennifer back down the street, they became unaware of the changes and thus knew nothing was wrong at that moment.
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