Back to the Futuresets up a couple of different problems from the beginning of the film that have repercussions on the decisions Marty makes throughout its course. Several of those decisions hinge entirely on Doc Brown and what he imparts to Marty about time travel. When Marty is in 1955, he is working with the assumption that Brown Doc has just been killed, as well as with the knowledge that Doc thinks that messing withthe originalBack to the Futuretimelinecould have catastrophic consequences.
Over the course of the trilogy, more details aboutthe rules ofBack to the Future’s time travelare revealed. Some of these details are explained by Doc’s theorizing, while others are shown through the consequences of Marty and Doc’s actions. Over time,Doc becomes more lenient about his policy of making decisions that could alter the timeline, and it’s likely that one keyiconicBack to the Futuresceneduring Marty’s time in 1955 led him to restructure his theories about time travel entirely.
Doc Firmly Believed That Messing With The Past Would Ruin The Timeline Forever
Doc Was Worried About The Consequences Of Messing With The Space-Time Continuum
ThroughoutBack to the Future,Doc Brown hammers in how dangerous messing with the timeline could be. This is a large part of the reason why Marty is so careful to hide his true identity; if his parents were to know that he was their son from the future, he could have disrupted the timeline even furtherwith a changed variation of the grandfather paradox. Doc is right to be worried about that risk, as shown by the photo with Marty and his siblings fading from history.
I Never Realized How Dark Back To The Future’s Ending Was Until Now
Marty returning to his time in Back to the Future and discovering his family has had different lives is not as happy an ending as it first appears.
What Doc doesn’t think about at first is whethermessing with the timeline could also have positive consequences. From Doc’s point of view, there isn’t much reason to think about how they could improve the timeline, as his insistence on keeping it intact has led to him not knowing about many of the future’s details. Even if he thought about the idea of improving the future and realized that the timeline was malleable enough to be fixed without destroying it, it makes sense to be careful about just how much you purposefully change.
The Exact Moment Doc Realized The Timeline Could Still Be Fixed In Back To The Future
Doc Learns Of The Timeline Being Saved At The Same Time As He Learns About A Change To It
A post from user amanwhodrinks onRedditgives insight into what Doc’s thought process might be when he realizes thatthe changes to the timeline aren’t as dangerous as he initially thought.Nearthe end ofBack to the Future, Marty fills Doc in on both the repaired photo and his father hitting Biff around the same time, commenting that his dad had never done that before, broadcasting an obvious change to the timeline to Doc at the same moment that he shows that the timeline has been fixed enough to save the lives of himself and his siblings.
Back To The Future’s Ending Is Even Darker Than I Imagined Thanks To The Movie’s Time Travel Rules
Back to the Future’s ending is darker than I thought thanks to Marty’s new family, but one other plot element makes it even more secretly bleak.
When Marty tells him about the punch and shows him the picture, Doc questions him, confirming the change to the timeline by asking, “Never?” to which Marty responds, “No, why?” Doc’s hesitation before responding with “Nothing” might appear to be a minor detail at first, butit could be a key moment for understanding Doc’s thought process during the rest of the film. It’s likely that this is a moment of realization for Doc that Marty might be going back to a slightly different 1985 than the one he originally came from.
The picture fixing itself has shown that the timeline has also been fixed enough to save Marty’s family, and this has happened even while the timeline is changing right in front of them.
The Reddit theory goes on to explain thatthis is the moment when Doc’s outlook on time travel changes. He had been going off the assumption that the space-time continuum was fragile and that they could destroy all of existence if they changed things too much. However, this moment is proof to Doc that the timeline isn’t as fragile as he initially believed. The picture fixing itself has shown that the timeline has also been fixed enough to save Marty’s family, and this has happened even while the timeline is changing right in front of them.
Doc’s Moment Of Realization Explains Why He Taped Marty’s Letter Back Together
George McFly Punching Biff Might Have Saved Doc’s Life
His moment of realization about the photo and the change to the timeline might have been what ledDoc to tape up the letter and wear a bulletproof vest inBack to the Futuretoward the end of the movie. Confirmation that if he’s careful, the timeline could be changed without terrible consequences, might be the motivation Doc needs to check out what it is Marty wanted him to know.
The Real Reason Marty McFly Plays Johnny B. Goode In Back To The Future Completely Changes How I See The Movie
Marty McFly might have been inspired to play Johnny B. Goode in Back to the Future as a reaction to the new timeline settling and changing him.
He doesn’t get into this with Marty, instead just telling him, “I figured, what the hell,” but Doc is careful about the timeline throughout the course of the movie. It’s likely that this is a decision that took a lot more thought than he makes it seem.
Tearing up the letter originally was a decision made in the heat of the moment out of panic over the timeline, but Doc is smart enough to put further thought into the decision and hold onto the letter, even before he tapes it back up again. Every decision Doc makes about time travel inBack to the Futureis thought out carefully, and despite his flippancy, this is likely no exception.
