I have to write about this, I apologize in advance.
Two nights ago Back to the Future was on television. It's one of my favorite movies.
And it reminded me of a story from this August. It might have been the happiest day of my life. No, it wasn't August 5th, although that was a very nice day. Nope, on August 17 my buddy Mike wrote me an e-mail to me to tell me that I was right when it came to time travel differences in Back to the Future and it's sequel, Back to the Future 2.
Aug 17, 2006 4:02 PM Subject: Time travel in the Back to the Future trilogy
Okay, so I'm in North Carolina with the family and the other night BttF2 came on. You once claimed that they changed the rules of time travel between episodes one and two. As much as it pains me to say this, you were right.
Five years ago I started this debate with my friends. But either I didn't explain it properly, or they weren't ready to hear my ideas, or maybe they just didn't care. Because nobody listened to me back then.
In the original Back to the Future, Marty's meddling with his parents burgeoning relationship in 1955 starts to affect the future, 1985. At first his brother and sister start to disappear in a photograph from 1985, but then he himself starts to disappear in real life. But when he finally gets his parents to kiss he stops fading away, and all is right with the universe.
In Back to the Future 2 the bad guy, Biff, goes back from 2015 to 1955 to change the future, but instead of everything fading away, it creates an alternate 1985.
Doc Brown explains this on a chalkboard in very simple terms, that you can have divergent, alternate timelines. A parallel world, if you will.
So why are Marty and his siblings fading away in the first one? Shouldn't they have kept existing, just in a parallel world?
Additionally, in the sequel, Doc says that if they go into the future from the altered past they'll end up in the altered future.
"If we travel into the future from this point in time, it would be the future of this reality."
Instead they have to go back to where the timeline diverged.
"No, Marty, our only chance to repair the present is in the past - at the point where the timeline skewed into this tangent."
If this is the case Biff from 2015, who takes the sports almanac back to Biff in 1955, shouldn't be able to return to his 'normal' 2015. He should go forward to the 2015 where he's rich and married to Marty's Mom. But he doesn't. He goes back to the 'normal' 2015.
Back to the Future 2 changed the rules of time-travel.
The week after Mike wrote to me, I had an iChat with my brother about this. At first he didn't get it, either, but after enough discussion he saw my point, too.
Either way, I think this weekend I'm going to create a time machine and go back to before I thought of this and distract myself, thus saving myself (and you all) from all of this pain and anguish.
