Did Doc plan the DeLorean's Destruction in the end of Part III?

edited September 2011 in Back to the Future
I've been watching Back to the Future Part III for some time now, and I may have come to conclusion that believe it or not, Doc may have actually planned for the DeLorean to be destroyed when Marty came back to 1985.

Doc had been talking to Marty the night before, and told Marty that "As soon as we return to 1985 we shall destroy this infernal machine." So could Doc have secretly known about the train scheduled to come around 11am, and not have told Marty about it, who would have tried to talk him out of it.

Plus, why did Doc come back to 1985 about 2 hours AFTER Marty had come back, after the DeLorean had been destroyed? And why did he not question the wreckage of the DeLorean? As well as arriving in the EXACT spot where the DeLorean was wrecked? If Doc would have known the DeLorean was Ok, he would have likely reappeared in 1985 further back on the tracks.

Seems like Doc may have planned the DeLorean's destruction.

But that's my theory. What do you guys think?

Comments

  • edited August 2011
    I think that if Doc had known there'd be a train there so soon, he wouldn't have sent Marty there at that time. If Doc had knowledge of the train schedule, he would have given Marty more time to get out of the car, since it would be basically stuck on the train tracks anyway.

    When Doc shows up in the time train, he's already been to the future, so this probably isn't the first time he's met Marty since he left the old west, from his perspective. So he probably knows about the crash anyway
  • edited August 2011
    You've gotta remember, Doc is great with plans, but he does sometimes forget the small details. It was his forgetting to put the plutonium in the DeLorean's trunk that stranded Marty in 1955 in the first place.

    Here's my thing. Marty doesn't quite understand the need to destroy the time machine. He might have tried to talk Doc out of it, or even changed the destination time at the last second if Doc had told him that the machine was going to be hit by a train as soon as they got back. I think Doc deliberately kept Marty in the dark to avoid Marty trying to talk him out of it, but when Clara showed up, things began happening in rapid succession. Remember, Doc was planning on being in the car when they arrived in 1985. And considering that the time machine coasted for a bit, Doc would've had ample time to tell Marty, "Get out of the car, now." However, Doc didn't go back, so Marty had no warning.

    Though, consider this. Had that NOT been Doc's plan, and he and Clara had made it to the DeLorean safely, would all three of them have been able to leap free in time?
  • edited August 2011
    Its an interesting theory but I really don't buy...I really don't believe Doc would put his and Marty's life so blatantly at risk. And I think when Doc spoke about destroying the time machine, he meant dismantling the thing (which was what he was planning to do in BTTF2, before he realised that 1985 had changed for the worse).

    As for why Doc didn't question Marty about the wreckage...its obvious...Doc had already been to the future in the train. He probably met future Marty there are learnt all about the wreck. He also learnt that Marty DIDN'T race Needles and that his life turned out much better, which is why when Jennifer asked him about the note being erased he simply said "OF COURSE its erased!", as if it was completely obvious to him why that had happened. Hell, future Marty probably told him about how he was worried sick about Doc for years, and so Doc decided to visit Marty in 1985 (future Marty probably told him what time he and Jennifer were near the tracks).
  • i dont think the plan was to destroy the Delorean, he was likely just going to dismantle the time circuits (it's an expensive car).

    There's no way doc would have known that. Getting back to the future via train tracks was an idea he came up with in 1885. And his only revisit to 1985 in the normal timeline since leaving for 2015 was very briefly at the start of part II. Doc couldnt have known the train schedule.
  • edited August 2011
    i dont think the plan was to destroy the Delorean, he was likely just going to dismantle the time circuits (it's an expensive car).

    There's no way doc would have known that. Getting back to the future via train tracks was an idea he came up with in 1885. And his only revisit to 1985 in the normal timeline since leaving for 2015 was very briefly at the start of part II. Doc couldnt have known the train schedule.

    He wouldn't have known the train schedule in a city that he's lived in all his life?
  • edited August 2011
    He wouldn't have known the train schedule in a city that he's lived in all his life?

    Doc doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who spends his days studying train schedules...
  • The train schedules are not normally constant are they (and this isn't an L-Train or C-train). And yes why would doc ride one?


    OT; i dont know a whole lot about trains but the delorean gets hit in 1985 head on by a train coming in the opposite direction. I realize that it was 100 years but i guess they changed the direction trains are supposed to go in on those tracks.
  • edited August 2011
    My question would be is this, how did doc in 1885 find all the parts and track necessary to get another train up to 88 miles per hour. More over, if he could build all the necessary parts for the time circuits and flux capacitor, wouldn't he have been able to formulate a gasoline product that would have fueled the delorean?
  • silence42 wrote: »
    My question would be is this, how did doc in 1885 find all the parts and track necessary to get another train up to 88 miles per hour. More over, if he could build all the necessary parts for the time circuits and flux capacitor, wouldn't he have been able to formulate a gasoline product that would have fueled the delorean?

    well for one thing Doc basically spends 8 months trying to fix the time circuits in the delorean in 1885 before giving up on it. He gives up on it because he realizes it is important to get the DeLorean to marty in 1955. And of course in this timeline he gets shot 3 days later.

    It looks like it takes doc about 10 years to build the time train which runs on steam so seems he used a different way to get to create time travel. Perhaps the train does not need to reach 88 to travel through time.
  • edited August 2011
    How would Doc know the train schedule in 1985 when he had been in 1885 for 8 months and intended for Marty to bring the Deloreon from 1955 back to 1985 and not to 1885.
  • edited September 2011
    MrRich909 wrote: »
    How would Doc know the train schedule in 1985 when he had been in 1885 for 8 months and intended for Marty to bring the Deloreon from 1955 back to 1985 and not to 1885.

    because he lived there his whole life. As a previous person stated. If you live near tracks you have an idea when the train come by..
  • edited September 2011
    silence42 wrote: »
    My question would be is this, how did doc in 1885 find all the parts and track necessary to get another train up to 88 miles per hour. More over, if he could build all the necessary parts for the time circuits and flux capacitor, wouldn't he have been able to formulate a gasoline product that would have fueled the delorean?

    well all i can say about the gasoline substitute is this: they had only a few days so they were trying the whisky for fuel... obvisouly the closest thing to gas in town..blows the injector

    doc said it would take him a month to rebuild the fuel injection manifold.

    heres my point. Why would he want to rebuild a fuel injection manifold if he didn't belive he could a find a substitute fuel?

    which we have to assume he could, it wouldd just take more time to aquire it than they had.
  • ELB1985 wrote: »
    well all i can say about the gasoline substitute is this: they had only a few days so they were trying the whisky for fuel... obvisouly the closest thing to gas in town..blows the injector

    doc said it would take him a month to rebuild the fuel injection manifold.

    heres my point. Why would he want to rebuild a fuel injection manifold if he didn't belive he could a find a substitute fuel?

    which we have to assume he could, it wouldd just take more time to aquire it than they had.

    Doc only spends 8 months and 7 days in 1885 in the original timeline before getting shot. He also seems to give up on time travel at that time. As of september 1st 1885 he wants the time machine destroyed once Marty gets back to the future. Well after his original death on september 7th he decides to create a second time machine either due to new ideas or Claras inspiration.
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