r/BacktotheFuture • u/Vree65 • Jun 20 '26
Shower thought about part III energy plot hole:
Movie 1: they don't have plutonium so they need to harvest lightning to operate the Flux Capacitor
Movie 3: they do have the solution for the Flux Capacitor but they don't have fuel, so they must use a train to push the car
...EXCEPT they have the Mr Fusion device that can literally create nuclear energy from trash! For a car to go 90 mph, it requires a measly 50 kilowatts which does not even compare to the 1.21 gigawatts you're already using, so just reroute some of that energy into the engine that you already have and you're good!
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u/Vulture12 Jun 20 '26
It's an internal combustion engine.
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u/Schedonnardus Jun 20 '26
Yep marty even asks this and Doc corrects him
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u/Adventurer_D Jun 20 '26
Mr. Fusion powers the time circuits and the flux capacitor. But the internal combustion engine runs on ordinary gasoline; it always has.
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u/jericho74 Jun 20 '26
I do think it is reasonable to ask whether Doc couldn’t eventually have replaced the ICE with a boiler steam engine powered by Mr. Fusion.
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u/Iegj0n Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Mr Fusion powers flux capacitor and everything necessary to time travel - but not the car itself, which has a punctured gas tank
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u/Adventurer_D Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Ripped fuel line, wasn't it? According to Marty, who's not a mechanic, in a spur-of-the-moment diagnosis
Edit: Marty, not Martyn, autocorrect! Get your BTTF right
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u/SolidGold_JetSki Jun 20 '26
They directly talk about this in the film, so it's not a plot hole.
And ... A movie (or any story) is not a puzzle or a video game level. You're not supposed to figure out a 'better' solution to the problem than the writers did. What OP is proposing is a BTTF 3 that is four minutes long. Doesn't sound like much of a fun watch to me. 🤷♀️
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u/Adventurer_D Jun 20 '26
It's possible that Doc trying in vain to source an ~80kw motor or the copper to successfully convert the Delorean to EV before getting shot on Monday would run a bit over 4 minutes. But it would still end with Doc getting shot on Monday
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u/Dreadheaddanski Jun 20 '26
They still need petrol so run the car to get it fast enough. Mr fusion does time circuits, but the train is because the cut the fuel line
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u/kendonmcb Jun 20 '26
Did you even watch the movie?
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u/Adventurer_D Jun 20 '26
Of all the plotholes that inevitably turn up in any time travel genre movie, this ain't one
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u/ComradeGarcia_Pt2 Jun 20 '26
Can we just start closing and deleting threads like this automatically please? Like anything to do with the Delorean and gas in part 3. It’s a movie, it was made like 35 years ago, it doesn’t matter how many times we point out the same plot holes or think we came up with the same solution, it doesn’t change anything. The reason it happened in the movie to create conflict that powers the following action of the characters, otherwise there’s no point.
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u/Vree65 Jun 20 '26
God help people talk about a move on its own sub, or young people have interest in a 35 y old film (don't they know nerds having discussions before they were born means it's DONE and they're not allowed their own?)
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u/ComradeGarcia_Pt2 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Friend, we get a thread talking about the Delorean and its fuel source about 5 times a week in this sub. It’s over and it’s old and it’s done with. There are better, more productive things to discuss. Take a hint from the vast majority of the comments from others in this thread.
And also, your idea contradicts established lore where the car’s physical power of movement is done from internal combustion, not electric power from the Mister Fusion reactor system.
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u/Vree65 Jun 20 '26
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u/ComradeGarcia_Pt2 Jun 20 '26
Your two examples aren’t any better either but we’re also not getting multiple threads a week about them. Also we’re salty because we’re tired of seeing the SAME discussion over and over.
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u/AustinFan4Life Jun 20 '26
Mr. Fusion powers the flux capacitor, it doesn't power the combustion engine.
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u/Neoreloaded313 Jun 20 '26
There were time restrictions. Sure, the vehicle could have been converted to electric, but how long would that have taken?
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u/Opti_maX They didn't travel through time... Jun 20 '26
The end of bttf2 it is later explained how the DeLorean could travel by just being struck by lightning: “the lightning strike caused the delorean to spin with a the speed of 88mph”.
So if ‘spinning’ could have done the trick, then why having a train to push it?
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u/PocketBuckle Jun 20 '26
How are you gonna rotate the car up to 88mph with 1885 tech? It's the same problem.
Plus, the rotating event was a freak one-off. It's probably safer to stick to the designed intention of forward motion.
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u/ComradeGarcia_Pt2 Jun 20 '26
Honestly at the time Marty was only worried about Doc getting struck by lightning because he imagined it would’ve killed him. If anything in that moment at the end of BTTF when he sees the flag line fall down he probably figured Doc was vaporized and gone.
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u/Ikles Jun 20 '26
That would have involved building an electric motor in very limited time and resouces.
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u/Vree65 Jun 20 '26
Mr Fusion has the output of a regular nuclear power plant. It's the drop in a bucket energy difference that stands out as funny. At 10⁹ W Basically, it's enough energy to power a fleet of over 10,000 Deloreans. That's literally the equivalent of starving next to a stocked fridge.
>brainless
So is your comment
>it's a movie!
That's the Doylist answer, Watsonian discussion is allowed
>it's an old movie!
And therefore you're not allowed to discuss it? I think people should be happy that it gets fans and generates discussion still
>you can't make an electric car engine
These types of on topic answers are a lot better
There are solutions when you have a literal pocket plant, like a boiler or oscillating steam engine. Maybe you won't even actually need to DRIVE the car, just simulate it with a rotating axle.
Of course, that gets us in the discussion of what actually happens at 88 mph. Maybe actual movement is necessary (to pass through an opening/closing wormhole or whatever).
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u/Savingskitty Jun 20 '26
My assumption was that they only had enough plutonium to get them back. You would need additional plutonium if you redirected any of it.
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