I recently revisited the Back to the Future trilogy again with more thoughts.
【Serious spoilers】
The first thing to say is that this is a series of movies that I like very much, even if there are logical loopholes in it, it will not change my love. So although this one is a mistake, I still recommend the movie with five stars. In fact, almost all film and television works involving crossing are difficult to avoid logical loopholes. From the perspective of enjoying the film, we cannot deny the wonderfulness of the plot because of loopholes. It is precisely because of the wonderful plot that we temporarily ignore the loopholes. But as a person who likes to think, it is interesting to analyze the logical loopholes. So this article is purely for fault-finding, not criticizing the film.
First of all, take a look at the number of crossings in the film, there should be a total of five times.
1. The dog Einstein traveled from 1:20 to 1:21 on October 26, 1985, which was the first test. Only traveled forward for 1 minute. It's nothing to say, it's just the equivalent of this dog disappearing from Earth for a minute.
2. Martin accidentally returned to 1955 after the Doctor was shot. Prevent parents from falling in love, and then fix it.
3. Go back to 1985 with the help of Dr. 1955, and find that Dr. did not die under his own reminder, and some changes have taken place in his family.
4. The Doctor travels back to 2015
5. The Ph.D. goes back to 1985
The 1st, 4th, and 5th traversal did not affect the continuity of time and space, so I won't say more.
The focus is on the second and third crossings that Martin completed.
In fact, when Martin just arrived in 1955, history has changed, and this detail is what I found in this review.
Martin went back to 1955 when he knocked down a pine tree, so the twin pines mall in 1985 became the lone pine mall. But this change has no effect. What really affects the future is that he interferes with the love of his parents. The logical chain here is probably like this.
Martin's appearance makes parents unable to love each other - Martin and his older siblings are in danger of disappearing - Martin begins to match his parents - although the match is successful, it obviously changes the process of parents meeting and falling in love - Martin returns to 2015, his family is in But the family environment has changed.
Where are the loopholes here, we can analyze them one by one.
1. The Grandfather Paradox
If Martin's parents didn't love each other, there would be no Martin, and if there was no Martin, then who interfered with George and Loren's love? This is another version of the grandfather paradox. One way to explain this paradox is through parallel universes, where the universe breaks apart under interference. But obviously the grandfather paradox is not explained in this way in the film. In fact, there is no parallel universe in the latter two (this can be discussed later). Otherwise, there is no danger of Martin disappearing, and there is no need to match his parents. All he has to do is to study with the doctor how to return to his own parallel universe, then returning to the future is another film.
The way the grandfather paradox is explained in the film is simple and crude, that is, if you interfere with parental love, you will disappear. In the Back to the Future trilogy, there is always only one timeline, but this timeline will be constantly modified due to travel. Your parents are not in love, and the future you will disappear, that's all.
So, if Martin fails to match his parents, then Martin will disappear out of thin air in 1955, and the time machine in 1955 will also disappear. From Loren's point of view, one day a boy named Martin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, fell in love with him, and then this person disappeared out of nowhere. This may seem absurd, but it is not unacceptable.
2. Photos
If you can accept that a big living person can disappear out of thin air, then there is nothing unacceptable in the gradual disappearance of the person in the photo. But why does the person in the photo disappear slowly instead of instantly? Why did the head disappear first? Martin's brother and sister don't exist anymore, so why does Martin exist?
There is an explanation for this problem, that is, the people in the photos disappear slowly, which means that the probability of parents falling in love is gradually decreasing, and the time of marriage may be delayed because of this. So Martin could be born even without older siblings. We can accept this statement for now.
3. Butterfly Effect
In this film, the butterfly effect is completely ignored. Although Loren and George fell in love with Martin's help. However, the reasons for meeting and falling in love have changed. Because of beating Biff with one punch, George's character has undergone a major change. After such a major change, the two of them still decided to have three children. The three children were born in the same order, and they didn't even change the house they lived in. It really is a series of miracles.
If the butterfly effect is taken into account, the biggest possibility is that even if Martin successfully matches his parents, Martin will disappear. Or even further down the line, the mere fact of Martin knocking down a pine tree has the potential to make a big difference in the course of history.
But we can also believe in miracles for now, regardless of the butterfly effect.
4. Martin's Memory
Throughout the film, Martin, as a time traveler, was in danger of disappearing, but his memory was always continuous. After traveling back in 1985, Martin found that the people around him had changed, and the memories of those around him also had changed. So the question is, if a person can disappear out of thin air and a good photo can be changed, why can't Martin's memory be modified? In Martin's memory, he was born in an ordinary family with a useless father who was always bullied by his boss Biff.
In the film, the danger of Martin disappearing is lifted as George and Loren kiss. After Martin was reunited with his parents, his father's personality changed and he became a successful writer. And these changes will also affect Martin's growth experience, change Martin's character, or at least change Martin's memory.
So according to the logic in the film, should Martin's memory be changed while the crisis of disappearing is lifted? But the truth is that Martin's memory hasn't been altered, otherwise he wouldn't have been shocked when he got home the next morning.
If it is said that in the process of crossing, the crossing person is in danger of disappearing, but the memory cannot be modified. We can also grudgingly accept this setting. But there are still some problems that cannot be explained.
5. Two Martins
In order to save the Doctor, Martin moved forward the time to travel back by 10 minutes. But still did not catch up to inform Dr. Martin once again witnessed the Doctor being "shot to death" by terrorists (later found to be wearing a body armor, but not dead), and also saw himself as he was about to cross. There are two Martins here. These are two different Martins in a way.
Martin A: Born in an ordinary family, the father is useless and the mother is always complaining. My older siblings don't have serious jobs. There is a beautiful girlfriend Jennifer, and a long-term doctor.
Martin B: Born into a wealthy family, his father is a successful writer, and the family is harmonious. Brothers and sisters have decent jobs. There is a beautiful girlfriend Jennifer, and a doctor who has been with him in previous years.
The two Martins, at the very least, have different memories. At the end of the film, Martin A went home to continue his life, and then the second part.
The question is, where did Martin B go? In the film, Martin B is also chased by terrorists after the Doctor falls and then accidentally crosses over. But it was Martin A who traveled back to 1955, so Martin B seemed to disappear out of thin air. This is somewhat unacceptable.
If Martin B went to 1955 and replaced Martin A or "fitted" with Martin A, would Martin, who has a different memory, do the same thing in 1955? If he did a different life that would also rewrite history again, the timeline would become more chaotic and become an endless loop.
finally
Let's talk about the first question here. I will continue to analyze the second part of the problem if anyone reads it. The second part is much more complicated, and everyone is welcome to discuss it.
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