Picking Nits
The almanac’s size and butterfly effect; inconsistent time-travel rules; Marty’s chicken trigger; Jennifer’s treatment.
In the discussion (24)
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:40Read transcript
- Fifty years of results seem impossible to fit into the thin almanac; a larger book would not work as a pocket-sized plot object.
- Fox and Elisabeth Shue look too old for teenage roles; advancing Marty to college or young adulthood would help.
- Biff's precise memory of receiving the almanac and Marty's childhood knowledge of the manure crash seem implausible.
- Marty's casual rooftop drop onto the hovering DeLorean requires extraordinary nerve and coordination.
- Doc risks a close encounter with his earlier self despite his strict warnings about others meeting themselves.
- Marty's newly central chicken sensitivity feels invented; loser or a short joke would be a more credible trigger.
- Doc condemns knowing one's destiny despite surviving because he read Marty's letter and wore a bulletproof vest.
- A local robbery should not lead USA Today's front page, even if its real-time updating is appealing.
- Marty could identify himself by fingerprints as Jennifer's husband and retrieve her rather than breaking into the house.
- Western Union preserving and delivering the letter after seventy years is implausibly reliable.
- Biff's growing power should change sporting outcomes and invalidate the almanac, perhaps after his first win.
- Biff's national celebrity sits oddly with building his casino only in his hometown.
- The second manure humiliation might make young Biff violently retaliate rather than leave a repaired timeline.
- Old Biff returns to the same future after changing the past, conflicting with alternate-timeline rules; the fact that young Biff has not yet bet is offered as a possible defense.
- The World Series is implausibly finished by October 20.
- Doc and Marty could address present problems directly, or use their extraordinary invention to prevent major historical tragedies rather than fix their own family.
- Jennifer is unnecessarily brought along, sedated and abandoned; an early exit from the malfunctioning car could remove her more cleanly.
- Doc leaves the time-machine keys in the car.
- Leaving Einstein in suspended animation seems cruel and wastes a potential canine contribution; returning him home would be simple.
- The Libyans from the first movie disappear from the story.
- Biff foolishly exposes the almanac in his winning-race photograph.
- Biff's casino residence is too dark and ordinary for his enormous wealth.
- Why would Griff need clumsy Marty Jr. for the robbery? Using him as the fall guy resolves the objection.
- Marty absorbs punishing blows from Biff while hanging beside the car without being incapacitated.