7 Back to the Future Plot Holes & Questions That Were Quietly Solved Years Ago

by

Even forty years later, Back to the Future remains a beloved film for movie fans, widely considered one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. The entire Back to the Future trilogy holds a special place for both general audiences and genre enthusiasts. Its innovative approach to time travel was so effective that most subsequent films dealing with the same concept acknowledge or build upon it. However, despite its popularity, the trilogy isn’t without a few persistent issues that some fans find difficult to overlook.

Most movies have a few unanswered questions or inconsistencies, but Back to the Future is particularly known for them. These range from minor details – like how the flux capacitor actually works (it just does!) – to bigger plot points, such as how Jennifer ended up back in the correct timeline in Part III after being left in an altered one in Part II. While some questions remain, many answers can actually be found within the films themselves.

7) How Did Doc Brown Get the DeLorean Inside the Van?

What really set DeLoreans apart from most other cars were their unique doors – they opened upwards like wings, instead of outwards. While this design is visually striking and contributed to the car’s iconic image, especially as a time machine in popular culture, it also caused a number of practical issues.

A common question among Back to the Future fans is how Doc Brown manages to get the time-traveling car in and out of the van when he first shows it to Marty. There isn’t enough space beside the van for the car to fit, so how does he do it? The answer is actually shown a few seconds later in the movie: Doc uses a remote control to drive the car. He uses this remote to both get the car out of the van and to control it during the initial test run with Einstein, proving that sometimes the movie itself provides the answers.

6) Where Did Marty Get a Hair Dryer for His “Darth Vader” Costume?

A common question from fans of Back to the Future – one that’s even answered on the film’s official FAQ page – concerns a specific prop. Creators Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis address many fan questions about the movie’s plot and rules, and one often asked about is the hairdryer. As viewers will recall, Marty McFly uses a disguise to frighten his father, including a radiation suit and a hairdryer tucked into his belt. Many fans have wondered how Marty had a hairdryer in 1955, since they weren’t available at that time.

Bob and Robert explain that the hair dryer ended up in Doc Brown’s suitcase, which he put into the DeLorean before the Libyans attacked and Marty traveled back in time. There’s even a scene that didn’t make the final cut showing the 1955 version of Doc Brown finding it in his suitcase and asking Marty what it is.

Doc Brown: “What’s this?”

Marty: “A hair dryer.”

Doc Brown: “A hair dryer? Don’t they have towels in the future?”

5) How Come Marty’s Parents Don’t Recognize Him After He Returns to 1985?

Many fans debate why the George and Lorraine of 1980 don’t seem to remember Marty, considering his trip to 1955 drastically altered their lives. However, they only knew him for a few days, and that was thirty years earlier. Over those decades, they built full, happy lives and made countless other memories. They likely haven’t forgotten that Marty helped them, but faces fade over thirty years – it’s understandable they wouldn’t recognize him.

4) Where Is Biff’s Child if Griff Is His Grandson?

When Marty visits 2015, he meets Griff, the grandson of Biff Tannen, who continues the family tradition of bullying – this time targeting George McFly’s grandson. While it doesn’t hurt the story that we don’t know who Griff’s father is, the fact that the films focus so much on the McFly and Tannen families makes you wonder why we never find out about Biff’s son.

Gale and Zemeckis tackle the question of who Griff Tannen’s parents are in their FAQ. They point out the movie never confirms Biff Tannen even has a son – it could be a daughter instead. However, a newspaper update in Back to the Future Part II does refer to Griff as Biff’s son. Ultimately, the filmmakers explain that it doesn’t really matter who Griff’s parent is, as it’s not crucial to the story.

3) Why Does Young Biff Meeting Old Biff Not Create a Time Paradox?

In Back to the Future Part II, Doc Brown warns that if Marty or Jennifer meet their future selves in 2015, it could cause serious problems. Either Jennifer might be shocked into unconsciousness, or – even worse – it could create a time paradox that would destroy the universe. As fans will remember, Jennifer does faint when she sees her future self, but she isn’t the only character to encounter alternate versions of themselves in the movie.

A key part of the second movie’s story is how Old Biff Tannen travels back in time to 1955 and gives his younger self a sports almanac. This allows Young Biff to get rich and change the future. It’s not a quick exchange, though – the two Biffs actually meet several times. Surprisingly, these meetings don’t destroy the universe because Young Biff is simply too clueless to realize he’s looking at his future self. Even when Old Biff points it out, Young Biff doesn’t understand. Basically, the timeline is saved because Biff is remarkably unintelligent.

2) Why Don’t Doc and Marty Get Gas From the Other DeLorean in 1885?

In the Old West, while trying to rescue Doc Brown, Marty damages the DeLorean’s fuel line while driving on the bumpy ground. This leaves the car not only without gas, but also unable to get fuel to the engine even if it had some. Because of this, many viewers have questioned why Marty didn’t simply retrieve parts and fuel from the DeLorean he and Doc previously hid in a cave, instead of going to the complicated effort of rigging the car to be pushed by a train to reach 88 miles per hour.

The time travel complications come up again with the two DeLoreans in Part III. Although there are two cars in 1885, they’re actually the same vehicle. The first DeLorean arrives when Doc Brown is hit by lightning, and he hides it in a cave for Marty and his younger self to find and use to return Marty to the present. When Marty goes back to 1885 to rescue Doc, both DeLoreans are there. However, if they tried to rebuild the second car using parts from the hidden one, it would create a paradox. This is because it would change the first car’s condition, potentially preventing Marty from ever traveling back to 1885 to begin with.

It also suggests Doc Brown anticipated the DeLorean would be hidden in the cave for seventy years. That’s why he removed all the fluids from it. We know this because the 1955 Doc Brown specifically mentions filling the car with gas himself, meaning it had no fuel when they discovered it.

1) Why Didn’t Doc Brown Just Pay Mad Dog Tannen the $80?

Marty travels to the Old West to save Doc Brown after learning about his death in 1885. He discovers Doc was killed by Buford Tannen over an $80 dispute. Tannen claimed Doc was responsible for his horse losing a shoe, costing $75 for the horse and $5 for the shoe itself, and Doc refused to pay.

In Back to the Future Part II, Doc Brown has a collection of money from various time periods, including bills from 1864 and 1875. This means he could easily pay Tannen and avoid being shot, but he chooses not to for two clear reasons. First, Tannen’s claim that Doc owes him $80 is baseless – he’s simply trying to avoid taking responsibility for his own mistakes. Second, and more importantly, throughout the three movies, Doc Brown consistently demonstrates strong principles and a passion for discovery. Giving in to Tannen’s unreasonable demands would have gone against his character.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/4-predictions-back-to-the-future-2-got-wrong-about-2015/embed/#

Read More

2025-11-07 23:41