At the end of the second film, Marty finds himself trapped in 1955,
who better to aid his escape than the younger version of Doc Brown from this era?
They join up in the midst of '50s america with the major headache of trying to get back to 1985 without the use of a time machine, since the 1955 Time machine has just sent Marty 30 yrs ahead in time via the Clock-tower Lightening bolt from the first film, and the other 1955 time machine, in the second film, also struck by lightening, has catapulted Doc back to 1885 by pure mistake.
With no time machine left in 1955 how are they to travel anywhere?
In a quite beautiful mode of temporal genius, they discover that the 1885 Doc has buried the Delorean deep inside a disused cave where it may rest until the 1950's duo can retrieve it for their own purpose. Incidentally, I love the shot of the puppy 'copernicus' trekking down the mine with a little miners helmet strapped to his head, awww, see I have a heart after all.
Had the trilogy followed Perception 3, which is the most straight forward and non-confusing method of temporal causality, then throughout the whole 3 films, a flying delorean would be laying dormant and dusty in 1955 anyway, and if this said time machine was initially discovered by the 1955 Doc and brought forward into 1985, then the original time machine need never be built, creating a wonderous Delorean Jinn which in turn makes my mere head spin.
The film never went this way, but it would have been fun.
Whilst retrieving the cobwebbed time machine from 1955, Marty spies a Gravestone with the name 'Doc Emmett Brown' inscribed upon it. We are to understand from this evidence that the futuristic Doc from 2015, who visited 1955, and was sent back to 1885, was shot and killed by an anscestor of the much feared Tannen family. Marty takes a photo of the gravestone, which plays an important role later in the film, and also manages to fuck up the temporal perception even further, much like the newspaper articles mentioned in the previous film.
After visiting both 1955, and 2015, Marty now discovers that he has to rescue Doc Brown from calamity in the wild west, 1885 to be precise.
Marty manages to get back to 1885, meets up with Dr Brown, and shows him the gravestone photograph. The majority of the film now resides in 1885, and by calculating the date from the gravestone on the photograph, Marty and Doc discover that Doc is to be shot on the forthcoming Monday morning.
As the pair manage to change history, and save the Dr from demise, the photograph changes, at one point only the name changes, but eventually the gravestone vanishes and the photograph is now merely a picture of a bush. This is fascinating viewing as the 'bush' photo, as evidence, now proves that neither Doc nor Marty get killed in the wild west. By its own definition, the original photo that Marty took in 1955, which has now become a bush, presents two problems. As the photo alters state, so should Marty's memory of taking it. This is a confusion between perception one and three, but the second problem being that Marty should now wonder why the hell he decided to take a photograph of an innocent 1950's bush. Prick.
Had the film followed perception two, then as the duo save Doc from a western death, a parellel reality would open up, and the timelines from 1885 would tangent off into a version where the gravestone never existed, as suggested by the metamorphosis of the photograph, but also leaving behind the original timeline where Doc was shot, and the gravestone did exist. This would make more sense, as the photo could still exist as it always had, and the storyboard would also now allow Marty's journey from 1955 back to 1885, with hope of saving Doc Brown, and also avoiding any paradoxical events taking place.
This gravestone definately troubles me, as what follows is a pure mistake in the film despite timelines.
Towards the bottom of the gravestone is inscribed 'beloved Clara'.
"who the hell is Clara?" asks Marty to 1955 Doc.
Doc replies " I have no idea!"
and this is true, since 1955 Doc hasnt yet visited 1885,
he still has not yet met school teacher Clara Clayton,
who turns out to be Doc's love interest in the western years.
However the 1955 Gravestone-existing reality is also one where Clayton Ravine also exists,
as we discover later in the film.
Clayton Ravine is so named because originally a school teacher in 1885, whilst arriving at Hill Valley falls from a cliff and dies. After Marty travels back to 1885, his interaction with western Doc causes Doc to save Clara from the initial accident and they fall in love. Perhaps here you see my criticism.
The name Clara exists on the gravestone in a time before Marty has travelled back to 1885, according to perception one and two. This implies that the original 1885 that Doc belonged to, was a version where Doc met Clara and fell in love, hence 'beloved Clara' inscription. But he didn't ! Doc never met Clara first time around, she fell into the ravine that was named after her.
Marty visits a reality in 1955 where the "beloved Clara" gravestone co-exists with the Clayton Ravine landmark.
Yet Clara Claytons destiny was to fall into the ravine, until Martys interaction into the 1800's past caused Doc Emmett to actually Save and Meet Clara in order to fall in love with her, hence the "Beloved Clara" inscription on the gravestone.
Got a Migraine yet?
Forgetting timeline perceptions and causalities, this is a blatant mistake made by the writers.
Or am I being too harsh?
Okay, enough of the gravestone.
Since despite its temporal failings, it is a nifty character and sub-plot in itself.
Time to praise the film.
In 1955, after 'young' Doc discovers his western destiny, he has a good rummage through the library chronicles and finds a photograph of himself in front of the new-born hall-town Clock, dated September 1885. This is a lovely touch as it implies a strict perception 3 basis to the film, much like the dusty delorean buried deep in a cave awaiting the 1950's duo discovery. I suppose since Marty is not yet in this Clock-photograph it also implies a perception 2 basis, but as I said, its a nice touch.
As is the previously named 'Clayton ravine' changing name into 'Eastwood ravine' much like the subtle 'twin pines mall' sign in Back to the Future One changing into 'lone pine mall' suggesting a perception 2 path.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the biggest SLAG of all.
The ending!
The futuristic Fax message "you're Fired", directed at old Marty, vanishes.
All of this evidence which change as the timelines undo themselves annoy the fuck outta me.
They are clever little touches that bespell mystery and charm,
and also help to verify timeline alterations, but they are each an utter paradox.
Exactly how many times is the Universe going to fail to go BOOM on us?
In addition, whats all this bollocks at the end of the trilogy where Doc Brown tells Marty and Jennifer:
" you're future hasn't been written yet!
No-one's has, you make the future what you want it to be,
So make it a good one, both of you ! "
Jeez, how sloppy is this?
For a minute I thought he was going to drop his pants and shag Mother nature!
Mind you, couple that together with Doc's intimate relationship with Father Time,
and things get a little too Freudian. Apologies to anyone I just offended.
I like a good romance film from time to time, but I thought this was a sci-fi movie?
If the future hasn't been written yet, why the hell have they been travelling around for near 6 hrs?
Also this shabby quote of Doc's is immediately followed by:
Marty: " where you going now Doc? The future? "
Doc: " nope, already been there ! "
I suppose when Doc used the train to visit the future with Clara, he rematerialised into a blank void,
since as he said "the future hasn't been written yet".
Okay mike, calm down.
Despite all my slaggings, I do actually love this trilogy,
Action-packed, great music score, and definately thought-provoking.
Just a shame it wasn't written based on a time perception 3 basis.
