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So, Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part 2 were on TV yesterday. (Strangely, the movie on after those two was not BTTF3.)
And I noticed something.
1. In BTTF 1, Marty goes back in time, changes things, and comes back to find the future (his present) changed. Makes sense.
2. In BTTF 2, Biff steals the time machine, goes back to 1955, changes things, comes back satisfied with a job well done, and leaves the DeLorean right back where he found it.
3. Then Marty and Doc go back to 1985 to find it changed. Because Biff changed the past. Makes sense.
4. So Marty says maybe they should go back to the future and stop Biff from stealing the time machine. But Doc says that no, it wouldn't work because Biff having changed things created a new, alternate timeline, and they'd just end up going to the future of the new world, where Biff rules. Makes sense. So instead they have go back to 1955 and stop Biff there.
What we have, then, is a very sensible, clearly established rule: If you go back in time and change things, you create a new timeline from that point forward.
So how did Biff return the time machine to the same future from which he stole it?
I know, OMG, a plot hole in a fun and silly movie. The shock!
But for some reason, I don't think I noticed that one before, and now it's kind of bugging me. It can't be that this is a Biff from a different timeline returning the time machine to a future that's changed to him, but it makes no sense for the old Biff we saw in 1955 to have come back to the same 2015 he left. (It makes even less sense than the thick-headed Biff we've consistently seen managing to always win on longshot bets to the point that he becomes one of the richest men in the world, and yet never get caught out or successfully investigated along the way. Or have people stop accepting his bets.)
Oh well.
And I noticed something.
1. In BTTF 1, Marty goes back in time, changes things, and comes back to find the future (his present) changed. Makes sense.
2. In BTTF 2, Biff steals the time machine, goes back to 1955, changes things, comes back satisfied with a job well done, and leaves the DeLorean right back where he found it.
3. Then Marty and Doc go back to 1985 to find it changed. Because Biff changed the past. Makes sense.
4. So Marty says maybe they should go back to the future and stop Biff from stealing the time machine. But Doc says that no, it wouldn't work because Biff having changed things created a new, alternate timeline, and they'd just end up going to the future of the new world, where Biff rules. Makes sense. So instead they have go back to 1955 and stop Biff there.
What we have, then, is a very sensible, clearly established rule: If you go back in time and change things, you create a new timeline from that point forward.
So how did Biff return the time machine to the same future from which he stole it?
I know, OMG, a plot hole in a fun and silly movie. The shock!
But for some reason, I don't think I noticed that one before, and now it's kind of bugging me. It can't be that this is a Biff from a different timeline returning the time machine to a future that's changed to him, but it makes no sense for the old Biff we saw in 1955 to have come back to the same 2015 he left. (It makes even less sense than the thick-headed Biff we've consistently seen managing to always win on longshot bets to the point that he becomes one of the richest men in the world, and yet never get caught out or successfully investigated along the way. Or have people stop accepting his bets.)
Oh well.
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Or, you know, I could just let you find it next time you're in Florida. But that would... take time.
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Guess I'll just have to wait for you to find your copy. Oh well.