Plotholes/ continuity errors/ anachronisms in the game (spoilers!)

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  • edited June 2011
    Both of these have been addressed ad. nauseum, and in this very thread. However, I shall illuminate you.

    First, the issue of the DeLorean. In Back to the Future 2, when the lightning bolt hit the time machine and sent it back to 1885, there was more than the necessary 1.21 gigawatts needed to activate the flux capacitor. In fact, there was a gigawatt overload that subsequently shorted out the time circuits and destroyed the flying circuits. Because of this overload, an unintended side effect took place. As Doc and the DeLorean were shot 70 years into the past, the flux overload created a duplicate of the DeLorean that was sent 70 years FORWARD into the year 2025. Doc discovered this on a subsequent visit to that year, retrieved it, repaired it, and added some minor bells and whistles over the following years, such as the automatic retrieval system. In the words of Doc, the DeLorean is "for all intents and purposes the exact same machine as the original." This explanation is given in Episode 1 if you question Doc while he's in jail. It's doing this that also gives you his basic reasons for being in 1931, where he's been, and how his family is doing. We also learn that Jules and Verne are teenagers now, getting ready for college. Also, another line that comes when you talk to him about needing booze for the rocket drill reveals that Doc is almost 100 years old.

    Ah OK! Guess I should have talked to the Doc more in episode 1. I pretty much ignored him unless I had to speak to him. Thanks :)
    Now, going off of that tidbit. When Doc invented the time machine and traveled to 2015, one thing he did in the future was go to a "rejuvenation clinic and got an all-natural overhaul." Doing this added a good 30-40 years to his lifespan, hence why he is so old and yet so damned energetic. Now, when young Emmett went down the path of science for the sake of the law, he did NOT invent the time machine in 1985, did NOT travel to 2015 for the all-natural overhaul. Now, if you've seen the BTTF2 deleted scene where Biff fades and have read about it, the reason Biff fades is because at some point prior to 2015, evil Biff was killed by Lorraine. This is the same principle. Now, Doc would have been 71 when he was stranded in 1885. Maybe 72. We add on 10 years for when he arrives at the end of BTTF3 in the time train with his family. Jules appears to be 10, so we'll go with that. Add on another 8 years or so, and Doc is pushing 90. Since Doc is now well past the point where he expected his life to end(He looked at 25 years into the future as being beyond his years in BTTF1), we can assume that First Citizen Brown did not live all the way to the year 2003(if Doc remained in 1985 and lived to his current age). Going by that, since the Emmett Brown of the FCB timeline died well before Doc's current chronological age, Doc vanished and SHOULD reappear once young Emmett is back on his destined path.

    I see. That makes perfect sense. So he would have continued to exist if he'd been the Doc from BttF1 as he would have been the correct age, but as he was older than his alternate duplicate he vanished as he could never have possibly existed. Fair enough.

    Thank you, they have been bugging me for a while. Sorry to ask a question that I was sure had been asked, but they are the only things that have been bugging me and I really wanted to know, lol.
  • edited June 2011
    Not a problem! :D
  • edited June 2011
    Here's an interesting theory a friend just presented to me, and I feel it's worth passing on.

    In episode 3 Doc disappears and the photo of Jen and Marty becomes just Marty, but the notebook detailing time travel remains.
    Why?
    Because Marty writes it.

    Straight A student following the life of Citizen Brown with no hobbies or fun times with friends to take up his time, he takes up inventing, and eventually invents time travel. For the shape of the flux capacitor, he is inspired by the symbol of citizens of Hill Valley. And throughout the years, he keeps his notes in an official "Emmit Brown" notebook.

    When Citizen Brown is shown the notebook, he says it can't be his because it isn't his handwriting. A simple difference in Brown's handwriting from being a lawman instead of a scientist, or could it actually be the handwriting of this timeline's Marty?
  • edited June 2011
    First Citizen Brown probably has excruciatingly precise handwriting because of Edna henpecking him, while Doc's handwriting is probably short-hand and erratic at times.
  • edited June 2011
    When Citizen Brown is shown the notebook, he says it can't be his because it isn't his handwriting.

    That is an Interesting theory, Whereabout does he say it?

    I figured the flux capacitor note existed because FCB had a similar knock on the head, had a "vision, a picture in his head" and wrote this all this down in a rambled manner. Over time the original inspiration was lost and Edna's oppressive influence eventually led him to interpret it differently.
  • edited June 2011
    daeva0123 wrote: »
    That is an Interesting theory, Whereabout does he say it?

    I figured the flux capacitor note existed because FCB had a similar knock on the head, had a "vision, a picture in his head" and wrote this all this down in a rambled manner. Over time the original inspiration was lost and Edna's oppressive influence eventually led him to interpret it differently.
    You can try to give him the notebook to prove your story when you meet him in the office.
  • edited June 2011
    Maybe I'm dense but this one little tidbit of information doesn't seem to have been tied up. its never really explained how Einstein came back with edna's shoe. Anyone care to clue me on on the matter?
  • edited June 2011
    not much to explain, he just grabbed the shoe and jumped into the Delorian before it auto-jumped back to 1986. We see in Ep 2 the Einy hates Edna (as he should, good dog.) so you could possibly theorize that he witnessed Edna burning the speakeasy, and attacked her then. Then Doc gets arrested and Einy being a smart dog just goes back to the time machine.
  • VainamoinenVainamoinen Moderator
    edited June 2011
    Still, zounds! has a point. It's a story part that is never explained and obviously was planned to be explained at one point.
  • edited June 2011
    Hopefully it was omitted in an attempt to remove another "let Einstein sniff something" puzzle. j/k
  • edited June 2011
    Who knows, we may need to wait until season 2 for an explanation.
  • edited June 2011
    Davrix wrote: »
    Maybe I'm dense but this one little tidbit of information doesn't seem to have been tied up. its never really explained how Einstein came back with edna's shoe. Anyone care to clue me on on the matter?

    Didn't Edna say she got attacked by a dog while trying to burn down the Speakeasy?
  • edited June 2011
    ALV910 wrote: »
    Didn't Edna say she got attacked by a dog while trying to burn down the Speakeasy?

    That still doesn't explain how he got in the Delorean.
  • edited June 2011
    I imagine it something like, jumping in a car whose doors are opened?

    It's not rocket science.
  • the delorean part's easy, doc either trained him to go there or while in jail (remember his cell had a windown) told him to go there.


    Or einstein is that smart that he knew stealing something from 1931 would be his way of flagging marty when to go.
  • edited June 2011
    If Doc and Marty have one hour till they disappear, why could Edna live 50 years in the past with no problem ?
  • edited June 2011
    I think doc said 1 hour if the timeline prevets them from existing. It is possible that marty and doc will still exist, though they wont live in hill valley.
  • edited June 2011
    Yeah but the same should happen to Edna. Thus she wouldn't even be in the past to begin with.

    Doc said it would take 1 hour for them to cease to exist (as we know them at least, or worst), but Edna stayed 50 years in the past.

    So it doesn't make sense. I mean, Doc and Marty are not making the "present", you know, each living being is supposed to be equal. I'm not really sure, besides plot convenience, that some kinda of higher power is basing its whole time space continuum on two people.

    If it takes one hour for Doc and Marty, it should have taken one hour for Edna.

    OR we're supposed to believe the change could only take effect on 1931 at the exact same time... But that's hard to believe considering how Marty disappears for no reason everytime a characters related to him is having doubt. (meaning the future is always in motion and not set in stone...)
  • edited June 2011
    The ripple effect is only just now catching up with 1931. It moves slowly. In the first movie, when George and Lorraine looks like they may not kiss at the dance, it has, from his chronology, taken 30 years for it to catch up with Marty. It was Edna from 1931 who destroyed Hill Valley, the ripples doesn't catch up until 1931. It looks instantly for them, because the ripple effect has not yet caught up with them. They all get another short while, because they are from much later, even Edna, who is, from a certain point of view, 1986 Edna. The ripple effect, as we see in the first movie, moves much faster when it is not observed by an outsider, and, if Doc is correct, will reach them within an hour, by which both Edna, Doc and Marty, who is all from around the same time, 55 years after 1931, would probably disappear.
  • edited June 2011
    kinda spoiler i guess if you havent played last episode.
    It kinda was explained. Einstein attacked Edne who was the speakeasy arsanist, thats why she blamed the whole thing on Doc who then got arrested, Einstein took shoe back in the time machine and it when back in time.
  • edited June 2011
    Yeah but there are two contradicting logics right there.

    - Marty from 1985 prevents his birth by changing things in 1955. He starts disappearing pretty soon after that, in 1955.

    - Edna from 1931 prevents absolutely everything in 1880 (or something, whatever). She wouldn't disappear until 1931 ?

    I'm having trouble finding the logic here.
    I mean, I could understand that it takes more time to "erase" people depending on the length of the gap between two time periods.

    But she lived an awfully long time in the past... If 30 years catch up with Marty in a week (and less according to the game... He disappears within a second actually, in 1931 ... wihch makes it 50 years catching up), how could Edna live dozen of years in the past ?

    It didn't wait for Marty to go back to his time (or to wait for 1985), why should it wait for Edna ?
  • edited June 2011
    Basically, when Edna destroys Hill Valley she should've destroyed her chance of getting the DeLorean in the first place. I mean, if it was Marty that caused the alteration he would have to go through a shitton of work.

    I think the time stream is sexist. Either that or just it doesn't like hooligans.
  • edited June 2011
    The ripples move at the same speed for all of them. By 1931, it has taken 55 years from 1876 to catch up with the changes in the timeline. They are all from 55 years after 1931, so the ripples catches up with them at the same time.
  • edited June 2011
    Another thing to consider, is that Edna while having destroyed the existence of Hill Valley back in 1876, she might not have prevented her own existence. For all we know, Edna was still born as she should sometime after 1876, and for that matter, she may not have been born in Hill Valley to begin with.

    The only difference, is that the "Arsonist Edna from 1931" would have some different memories, and in fact it was shown that she had a hard time remembering what really happened.

    Unlike Marty of BTTF1 who prevented his own existence (by interfering with his parents first meeting), Edna's existence is assumed to have still been intact despite the destruction of Hill Valley in 1876. Marty of BTTF1 had 1 week to fix things, since that was the time up until his parents "sealed the deal" and knew they would spend the rest of their lives together (remember 1985A's Lorraine explaining the story of how George and her fell in love).
  • edited June 2011
    Strayth wrote: »
    Yeah but the same should happen to Edna. Thus she wouldn't even be in the past to begin with.

    Doc said it would take 1 hour for them to cease to exist (as we know them at least, or worst), but Edna stayed 50 years in the past.

    So it doesn't make sense. I mean, Doc and Marty are not making the "present", you know, each living being is supposed to be equal. I'm not really sure, besides plot convenience, that some kinda of higher power is basing its whole time space continuum on two people.

    If it takes one hour for Doc and Marty, it should have taken one hour for Edna.

    OR we're supposed to believe the change could only take effect on 1931 at the exact same time... But that's hard to believe considering how Marty disappears for no reason everytime a characters related to him is having doubt. (meaning the future is always in motion and not set in stone...)

    I assumed that since Marty and Doc weren't fading, that everyone who was left in Hill Valley just moved over to the next town and most everyone still existed, including Doc, Marty, and Edna.
  • edited June 2011
    ALV910 wrote: »
    I assumed that since Marty and Doc weren't fading, that everyone who was left in Hill Valley just moved over to the next town and most everyone still existed, including Doc, Marty, and Edna.

    But edna still would have faded out cos she never went back in time in that timeline.
  • edited June 2011
    ALV910 wrote: »
    I assumed that since Marty and Doc weren't fading, that everyone who was left in Hill Valley just moved over to the next town and most everyone still existed, including Doc, Marty, and Edna.
    Not necessary true. Edna burnt down a town. What if some of their ancestors were killed in it?
  • edited June 2011
    Masta23 wrote: »
    Not necessary true. Edna burnt down a town. What if some of their ancestors were killed in it?

    Doc's ancestors wouldn't have arrived there yet (they didn't arrive until 1908). Neither did the McFlys (Seamus didn't arrive there till the 1880's) and additionally William is still around (did he make any reference to Arthur?). Edna is questionable because her grandfather lived in that town, but since she was still around and I don't recall any dialogue indicating her ancestors were dead, I just assumed they didn't die.

    Now, the Parkers on the other hand, their ancestors might've died considering Danny disappeared.

    EDIT: I just went and played the game again and noticed he did mention Arthur in one of the conversations, and about how he's not married to Trixie. But since in the original timeline Arthur's not married to Trixie until 1936, Marty should still roughly be fine in 1931.
  • edited June 2011
    Okay, THIS doesn't really ruin anything for me, but frankly, Edna would be dead.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mjd2NTJU9g

    ^^^If that's what's left of a DeLorean hitting a brick wall at 40mph, then imagine how little would've been left of the car when hitting the police station at 88mph.
  • edited June 2011
    the delorean part's easy, doc either trained him to go there or while in jail (remember his cell had a windown) told him to go there.


    Or Einstein is that smart that he knew stealing something from 1931 would be his way of flagging Marty when to go.

    This and other things are just maybe possible. It's never really explained how and when the shoe winds up in the car. If i recall Edna's is wearing both shoes through the first episode. And its never explained if she looses one. This reminds me of the time they find the head of old Biffs cane in the car in movie 2. You see that happening, you see when its left in the car. I plan on replaying the whole season through but I never catch a whiff of when or how Einstein winds up in the car in the first place.
  • edited June 2011
    Davrix wrote: »
    This and other things are just maybe possible. It's never really explained how and when the shoe winds up in the car. If i recall Edna's is wearing both shoes through the first episode. And its never explained if she looses one. This reminds me of the time they find the head of old Biffs cane in the car in movie 2. You see that happening, you see when its left in the car. I plan on replaying the whole season through but I never catch a whiff of when or how Einstein winds up in the car in the first place.

    There are several times when Edna references being attacked by Einstein.
  • edited June 2011
    There are several times when Edna references being attacked by Einstein.

    ok great. WE know he does not like her. We know he attacks her and we know he tried to stop her and it caused doc to be framed for the speak easy fire. that still doesn't give us any proof as to how that shoe and the dog wound up in the car at the start of the game.

    You can maybe fill in the plot hole of how he got the shoe when he attacked Edna just after the fire but that still doesn't explain how he wound up in the car. Also as I said Edna looks to be wearing both shoes in episode one at the time Marty and him come back. Also Edna only had the one shoe in the current present time in episode one. This would lead me to assume she only has one pair of shoes.

    And the theory he was trained to go back to the car? I suppose i could believe that if doc ever mentioned he trained Einstein to do that but there is no mention of it, correct me if I'm wrong in this fact.

    If there is any evidence in the game in some quote of dialogue I have missed someone feel free to enlighten me because right now I see no evidence to explain any of this. And this seems like a huge plot hole to have when its the entire basis for the adventure.
  • edited June 2011
    GaryCXJk wrote: »
    I imagine it something like, jumping in a car whose doors are opened?

    It's not rocket science.

    The doors were closed.
  • edited June 2011
    The doors were closed.

    Its not really an error though, we just dont know.

    There are a lot of explantions, most of them dont even require time travel. How about that:
    Doc arrives and while he checks out the speakeasy he leaves Einstein in the car with the door open.
    Edna blows up the speakeasy and Einstein runs out of the car.
    Einstein sees her running away and grabs her by the shoe. She kicks him so he runs away, with the shoe.
    Edna having one of her dog related rages runs after him around the corner.
    She sees him get into the DeLorean, so she just shuts the door. She doesnt like stray dogs.
  • edited June 2011
    Okay, THIS doesn't really ruin anything for me, but frankly, Edna would be dead.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mjd2NTJU9g

    ^^^If that's what's left of a DeLorean hitting a brick wall at 40mph, then imagine how little would've been left of the car when hitting the police station at 88mph.

    Marty seemed fine after crashing into the cinema in the first film just after travelling through time.
  • edited June 2011
    SPOILERS obviously

    I'm predominantly a fan of the films, though I've grown to quite like The Game (though not so much as a game as much as a sort of 'pseudo-sequel' to the BTTF trilogy), and I've registered on this forum specifically for the purpose of being able to contribute to the discussions here on time travel issues within the movies and the game, as well as other aspects of the game regarding the movies.

    That said, here are some observations I have about the effect of this Game on the events of the previous films-

    1. It appears that the Doc who comes back in the latter half of Episode 5 to get back Marty is clearly the future self of the younger Emmett Brown whom Marty has been hanging around with in 1931, and who was briefly dating Edna. Also, he does recognise Marty as his old friend from 1931 (though that's mainly due to the newspaper article, or so we're told). However, this does, to my mind, raise an interesting question-in 1955 of this new timeline, when Marty first arrives from 1955 and knocks on Doc's door, claiming to be a time traveller from the future, then wouldn't Doc's reaction be somewhat different to him? This is a Doc who's met a mysterious teen named Marty, who appeared out of nowhere and disappeared 24 years ago, who gave him a newspaper telling him not to look at it till some event occurs in the future...and now he meets someone identical who claims he's come in a time machine that he (Doc) invented, who ALSO leaves him a message telling him to read it in the future...I find it hard to believe Doc doesn't put two and two together and realize that Marty WAS his old friend from 1931 right then in 1955...after all, it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to realise that Marty, at some point in the future, Marty does make a trip to '31. Though of course, he might not mention anything for fear of screwing up the space-time continuum.

    2. Similarly, I feel that Doc, at least by around 1955, should have realised he resembles the mysterious 'Carl Sagan', suspected speakeasy arsonist, and the guy who abducted him and held him captive, who also happened to own a futuristic looking car. When he learns about time travel, it should be pretty evident to him that Carl Sagan WAS him! Which of course, would make him wonder why he would scheme against, well, himself! Also, wouldn't Doc, having realised that he HAS already met his future self 'safely' now no longer have any notions of the universe getting destroyed if the two selves meet?

    3. Okay, so I'm a little confused about the effects of the changing timelines on the previous time travels. In BTTF2, when Biff brings the 1985-A timeline into existence, and prevents Doc from inventing (or at least completing) the time machine (and thus preventing the original experiment at Lone Pine Mall), and yet, Marty's original trip to 1955 still happens (as we see in the 1955 segments of BTTF2, and also when 1985-A Biff mentions the manure truck incident)...in the Game, in Episode 2, we have another alternate timeline with the Tannen Mob and Marty apparently fled town 2 years ago in this timeline (again making the original temporal experiment at the Mall impossible), and yet it appears that AT LEAST Marty's interference in '55 is still intact in this timeline, because Biff mentions the manure truck and George punching him, and the crippled George we see here is obviously based off the Lone Pine version. Yet, somehow, in the Citizen Brown timeline, it appears that ALL previous time trips have been erased-Marty's interference in 1955 never happened because George and Lorraine are pretty much their sad and unsuccessful Twin Pines versions (albeit living under vastly different circumstances of course), Marty even mentions that George never did anything to Biff in this timeline, and the ravine is called Clayton Ravine (rather than Eastwood Ravine) so the 1885 trips didn't happen either. Yet the 1931 trips stay intact. So I'm a little confused about how this works. Is it that the FCB timeline was the only one that changed DOC'S life so drastically that all the time trips were erased, but the 1931 ones were intact as the FCB timeline was dependent on them? Or was it that the trips made with the original Delorean (from the films) was erased and the trips to '31 made in the 'duplicated' Delorean remained intact?
  • edited June 2011
    You know, I never truly understood all the "paradox" babble in the films, so I've been doing research to get a grasp on this. I think I get it now, but this has raised questions about Episode 3. Here's the rundown:

    Emmet got together with Edna ultimately because of Marty's meddling, which resulted in a timeline where Emmet became a vastly different person and, most importantly, never invented time travel. So in that case, Marty COULDN'T have gone back to 1931, so Emmet and Edna should never have gotten together. Isn't this a pretty big paradox? Shouldn't reality have unraveled? This is never brought up in the game, the only given reason Marty and Citizen Brown go back in time is to simply prevent this bad future from happening.
  • edited June 2011
    Good parts...bad parts...and illogical parts. Consider this a request for someone to possibly explain the illogical ones.

    Ok, in order:
    1. Purpose of the CGI version of BTTF 1 with the "you're gonna see some serious..." and the whole nine? Dream sequence? Doc fading out was not relevant to the game, in other words?
    2. Einstein shows up in a DeLorean. How'd he get in it? Better question: why did Doc take Einstein in the first place instead of leaving him with Clara and the kids given later questions?
    3. Why did Einstein take Edna's shoe? For what purpose?
    4. If Edna Strickland was an arsonist - a criminal act, BTW - then why did James Strickland turn out to be so righteous?
    5. You've got the DeLorean that Marty took back, and presumably the one that was there (1931). Marty intercepted Einstein presumably before going back to 1986. So what happened to the other DeLorean?
    6. Doc's scientific future hinges on a tech expo that happens in the past. HIs father, the judge, disapproves. The reconciliation only happened when Marty went back and played mediator. So doesn't that basically mean that the movie could never have happened because the father would not have allowed the work/tech expo success? <<< This one REALLY gets me
    7. If we're looking at this whole "time lag" and " timeline decay" and all of this, doesn't that mean that the moment Edna disappeared from Parker's sight, Hill Valley would have disappeared?
    8. If Edna burned down the saloon before Marty had a chance to meet Buford and spill spittle on him, doesn't that mean he would not have been near hanged, never saved by Doc, etc?
    9. Better question: If Edna burned down the town 9 years before Doc met Clara, doesn't that mean he could not have met her, because she would have had no reason to take a train to a station that doesn't exist, therefore he would not have been there to meet her since there was nowhere to meet, therefore there was no map to see Shonash Ravine, etc.?
    10. Shouldn't Marty and Doc have faded from existence given she burned the town down BEFORE Doc got there? Which means Doc/Marty would have no train station to set out from, no blacksmith shop for tools to fix the DeLorean, etc.?
    11. Edna had the blacksmith sign and Saloon sign. Given they're wood, wouldn't they have burned away, too?
    12. In BTTF3, Doc said " I set myself up as a blacksmith as a front while I attempted to repair the damage to the time circuits." Him setting up as a blacksmith implies that there wasn't one prior to his arrival. So where'd Edna get the sign from?
    13. If the town burned down in the 1870's where'd William get his vehicle from in 1931?
    14. The changes in the storyline by the beginning of Episode 5 would seem to indicate that the Doc that was in prison in the first episode should have reappeared, and still in prison. That didn't happen...why not?
    15. What happened to the Einstein that was in the back of Kid Tannen's place?


    My head hurts. Help?
  • edited June 2011
    revelated wrote: »
    [*]Doc's scientific future hinges on a tech expo that happens in the past. HIs father, the judge, disapproves. The reconciliation only happened when Marty went back and played mediator. So doesn't that basically mean that the movie could never have happened because the father would not have allowed the work/tech expo success?

    I assumed that Citizen Brown went to tell the Judge about Emmett at the expo in a last ditch effort to prevent Emmett from doing his presentation. He had plenty of time if you did the
    save Emmett
    puzzle first.
    revelated wrote: »
    [*]What happened to the Einstein that was in the back of Kid Tannen's place?

    He faded from existence after dying of old age, similar to Doc. I assumed that original Einstein had had similar treatment to Doc, extending his life.

    You other points, namely the ones relating to the 'delayed ripple effect' in Part 5 are indeed somewhat purplexing.
  • edited June 2011
    Ok, so heres the deal....

    When Doc first arrives with the news paper in 1931 with Marty..he asks Marty what on earth is he doing in 1931.

    Then...at the end....Doc reveals he was in 1931 looking up Martys ancestors. ...Marty says.."So THATS why you went to 1931". and doc doesn't bat an eyelash. shouldn't doc be like.."how did you know?"
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