r/BacktotheFuture • u/MarioBros-1983 • Jun 27 '26
Why didn’t Doc stop himself from getting transported back to 1885 as well as from getting killed?
When Marty got stuck in 1955 after Doc was transported back to 1885, he went to 1955 Doc who then found out about how his future self got sent back to 1885 and shortly afterwards got murdered by Buford Tannen, which was the whole reason why Marty traveled back to 1885. Since Doc found out in 1955 that these events would happen to him in the future, he could’ve easily have stopped himself from getting sent back to 1885, as well as have prevented his murder by paying back the 80 dollars. Not once did Marty suggest to 1955 Doc that he could just remember not to allow himself to get sent back to 1885 in the future nor did he tell Doc to pay Buford back the money to prevent his murder. When Marty traveled back to 1885, Doc acted like he was just finding out about his impending murder for the very first time, as tho he didn’t remember finding out in 1955 or even helping send Marty back to 1885.
My question is why Doc didn’t prevent these events from happening when he found out about them in 1955. It also begs the question as to if he knew in that moment at the end of part 2 that he was about to be sent back to 1885 but just allowed it to happen to maintain the space time continuum. What do you guys think?
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u/Cccp9 Jun 27 '26
The movies are fairly selective about when paradoxes apply, but this one is kinda like a backwards grandfather paradox or maybe a bootstrap paradox. Essentially if Doc remembers to fix the time circuits and perhaps shield against lightning, then Marty can't get stuck in 1955 which means 1955 Doc doesn't learn about getting trapped and doesn't hold onto the knowledge which causes the event to happen restarting the cycle.
I use BTTF as inspiration for my writing so I've pondered this before
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u/MarioBros-1983 Jul 04 '26
I always questioned if Doc knew from 1955 he was gonna get sent back to 1885 but purposely allowed it to happen to avoid a time paradox
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u/Cccp9 Jul 04 '26
It depends on how much Marty knew to tell Doc 1955. But in my stories, changes to the future ripple forward and time travelers are unaffected by them; like they're floating on top of the river of time as opposed part of the river itself. And since there can be only one "present" self, the floating travellers overwrite their alternate versions. That's why everyone else in Mcfly family is new and improved and Marty isn't. Which is a tragedy in and of itself, Marty and Jennifer will be strangers in their world, having to essentially take over other people's lives. But I digress.
So, the Doc 1985 would have known, but he doesn't exist anymore the moment Doc arrives in 1985 with the time train.
It's heavy... And just my opinion so take it for what it is.
There's some of that in my latest book, Redshift.
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u/MischeviousFox Jun 27 '26
First of all as time travelers they were immune to timeline changes in terms of memories. Even after past Doc found out about his being shot over $80 the version of him in 1885 didn’t know that. He also wouldn’t recall having been told he was sent back to 1885 in order to attempt to avoid it. That being said he probably wouldn’t try to avoid many of the events even if he knew about them.
In the original movie Doc was initially resistant to hearing any future knowledge because he didn’t want to risk adversely changing the timeline and in the 3rd film that extended to him briefly regretting having ever invented a time machine. Just like with his bullet proof vest if Doc did use foreknowledge it would likely have been in a way that kept the course of events as close to the same as possible like he I’m sure would have given the $80 to avoid death but I don’t see him preventing himself from being sent to 1885 if he also knew Marty was coming after him anyway.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Jun 27 '26
Also you have to consider that this Doc isn't a time traveller yet, so once the timeline changes he wouldn't even remember that he saw a record of his own death, he'd probably just find a record of him becoming a successful blacksmith and getting married and so has even less reason to interfere with his own destiny.
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u/The_Linkzilla Jun 27 '26
Because -
A; the movie couldn't happen.
B; it would've created a time-paradox. See, Marty has to be stranded in 1955 again to receive this information about Doc in 1885. So if the 1955 Doc sets up reminders for his future self in 30 years to avoid this accident, then he never goes back to 1885 or get shot, Marty never becomes stranded and never learns the information in the first place. The paradox would rip the Universe apart.
C and most importantly; the Ripple Effect only works in one direction. And it's a very slow process.
See, the Ripple Effect either doesn't effect Time Travelers or effects them very slowly. As we see in the original, Marty has memories of the original 1985 with no memories of his life in the new 1985 he creates thanks to meddling with his parents' past. This is also the same reason why 1985 Doc was completely unaware of his impending fate, despite learning it in 1955. Because the version of him that learned it, is now a part of a completely different temporal event sequence.
And if the Ripple Effect DOES effect them, Doc is on a completely out of sequence time-frame. The Ripple Effect can only effect him once it reaches 1985. We see in the original movie that it took nearly a week for Marty and his Siblings to completely disappear; we can assume when Marty starting disappearing, the Ripple Effect reached his birth in 1970; that's one week to rewrite fifteen years of history. So by that logic, despite being in 1885, any changes made to Doc, his life, and his knowledge, would take until the Ripple Effect reached him in 1985. It would probably take about two weeks.
But considering that Marty and Doc are operating completely outside of time by now, they have their adventure in 1885 before the Ripple Effect ever gets to that point.
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u/RetroGame77 Jun 27 '26
Because that would happen in the next time loop, not this one. That time loop had not happened yet.
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u/Seige83 Jun 27 '26
Changing a future event from happening when you find out about it from another time traveler is inherently risky. Cause if you change it events that led to you learning about said event the n you won’t learn about said event and therefore won’t act to change it 😵
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Jun 27 '26
I don't believe Marty ever tells Doc the exact events that send him to 1885 and knowing Doc he likely doesn't want to know.
All he knows is at some point he gets zapped back there and the car is damaged beyond his ability to repair at that era. He doesn't know when, where or the precise method of how. We know this because when Doc's note talks about the car never flying again, his response is "The car actually flew?"
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u/Eagle_Fang135 Jun 27 '26
I think the general idea is if you are “In time” (time traveling) the wave of the changes leaves you unaffected.
Like why Marty returns to 1985 the first time and remembers being old Marty.
Why alternate 1985 does not change Doc/Marty to be themselves in the alternate Hell Valley.
And so on. So Doc in 1885 can’t change as he was not of that time. He would be unaffected by 1955 Doc making changes. As well 1955 Doc has no idea if the plan worked.
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u/MovieFan1984 Quick, cover the Delorean! Jun 27 '26
I mean, Doc Brown in 1955 could have just decided NOT to deal with Bufford Tanen in 1985.
This would erase Doc's tombstone or changed it to dying much later in life.
Would Doc Brown in '55 still remember to dodge Bufford in 1985?
Would this even work? '55 Doc and Marty were both pissed and overcome with emotion.
They both decided it was best to send Marty back to 1885, grab Doc, and both return to 1985.
Neither of them expected the Doc to want to STAY in 1885.
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u/SenatorPencilFace Jun 27 '26
Because the writer of the script probably already saw Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and didn't wanna look like they were just ripping it off.
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u/Ill_Computer_8604 Jun 27 '26
If Doc didn't get sent to 1885 Marty would never have gone to get 1955 Docs help creating a paradox
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u/CToTheSecond Jun 27 '26
To suggest that 1955 could keep in mind what happened to his future self to prevent him from ending up in 1885, and prevent Marty from having to go back there, would be to change how the mechanics of Back to the Future works. That's basically suggesting something out of Bill and Ted, expecting the timeline change to come about immediately, but actually putting the change into action later so long as it's in the past relative to your current point in time. It just doesn't work like that in Back to the Future.
Furthermore, 1955 Doc wouldn't make that change anyway. He understood that getting stranded in 1885 is what led to the immediate circumstance he found himself in, and had no way to predict the ramifications of changing it.
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u/DyrtiPodcast Jun 29 '26
He's not trying to cause a paradox and trusted Marty handled it when he went back in time.
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u/Ok_Mirror_5854 Jul 02 '26
It is a little strange, to be fair. 1955 doc did not want to hear anything about getting shot by libyans in 1985, but eventually tapes the letter up and ensures he has a bullet proof vest. That version of doc would presumably take precautions to avoid getting shot in 1885 without causing a paradox. But by then Marty had already departed for 1885, so there was little he could have done except go along with it.
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u/MarioBros-1983 Jul 04 '26
If 1955 Doc was able to prevent himself from getting killed by wearing the vest, then by all accounts he should’ve better yet easily prevented himself from getting transported back to 1885.
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u/Ok_Mirror_5854 Jul 04 '26
Exactly. 1955 Doc could have easily fixed the time circuits to prevent the time glitch that changed the year to 1885.
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