Back to That Future Part III

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Maybe other lines of dialogue support this theory, but I don't think a scientifically-minded guy who later invented time travel would be out of character thinking fourth-dimensionally at any point in his life.

Watch Back to the Future Part 3 immediately after the first film and see if you think he suddenly has much more confidence and familiarity with the whole thing.  It's hard to explain, but in lots of ways he's essentially Doc Brown 1985 from the second film and the 1885 half of the third film, rather than the helpful-but-flawed buddy Marty had in the first film.

It's not only Doc Brown 1955 saying "You're not thinking fourth-dimensionally"; it's also the role Marty slips into where he behaves as if he's never travelled in time before and needs a quick lecture before going back to 1855.

[mothman]

BTTF2 should have been called Back To The Present, because they're trying to restore/return to the "normal" 1985. And 3 should have been Back To The Past, because they go back in time deliberately.

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There's a line in Back to the Future Part 3 that always bothers me a bit.  It's when trying to tow the Delorean using horses doesn't create the result they're after, and they need to come up with another plan.

Doc Brown says something like "We can't pull the car to 88MPH; maybe we can push it!"  And they suddenly hear a nearby train going "toot toot" and that gives Doc the idea to use a train.  It seems such an unnatural way to reach that solution, to me.  Surely you'd say "Horses can't reach a high enough speed; maybe we could try a train?"  Whether the Delorean is being pulled or pushed makes no difference.

Very silly.

[Bad Ambassador]

There's a line in Back to the Future Part 3 that always bothers me a bit.  It's when trying to tow the Delorean using horses doesn't create the result they're after, and they need to come up with another plan.

Doc Brown says something like "We can't pull the car to 88MPH; maybe we can push it!"  And they suddenly hear a nearby train going "toot toot" and that gives Doc the idea to use a train.  It seems such an unnatural way to reach that solution, to me.  Surely you'd say "Horses can't reach a high enough speed; maybe we could try a train?"  Whether the Delorean is being pulled or pushed makes no difference.

Very silly.

It's worth it for the whole scene being done in one take, with the train pulling in in the background having to be perfectly cued.

[popcorn]

It's worth it for the whole scene being done in one take, with the train pulling in in the background having to be perfectly cued.

But you could do that with the line "We're need something faster" or something rather than the weird push/pull idea, which is irrelevant.

[greenman]

Ah, now, here's the thing.  Somewhere between the first film and the third film, the writers forgot that Doc Brown 1955 is not the same character as Doc Brown 1985.  I'm sure of it.

The first film begins with Doc Brown 1985, who has invented the time machine and understands it.  Marty leaves him behind and ends up meeting Doc Brown 1955 who doesn't have the same confidence, can fudge his way around the concepts and details, but can't lead Marty all the way.  Marty returns to 1985 and then Doc Brown 1985 arrives back from a jaunt around the future and the first film ends.

The second film puts Marty alongside Doc Brown 1985, and immediately Marty is in the passenger seat.  Doc Brown has all the answers, provides exposition, and immediately the sense of trepidation is reduced.  The slight difference here is really interesting, and I'm not sure the writers were entirely aware of it.  Doc Brown 1985 peels off his old-age make-up as if the writers see him and his 1955 counterpart as the same character.  This doesn't become fully apparent until the third film, though.

In the third film, we are reunited with Doc Brown 1955.  But check out some telltale lines of dialogue.  Marty is a seasoned time-traveller, while Doc Brown 1955 hasn't even had a trip in the Delorean yet.  Regardless, Doc Brown 1955 is telling Marty he's not thinking fourth-dimensionally.  He's dropping in lines of exposition and explanation that you should get from Doc Brown 1985, not the Doc Brown 1955 of the first film.

Good at noticing things aren't I; yes I am.

You could argue I spose that 55 doc does gradually becomes more confident as the film progresses though and I think Lloyd does definitely get the less friendly characterisation down rather than playing him as 85 doc, he's working from instructions left by the 85 version as well.

You could argue part of the problem is that the 3rd film doesn't really have as much to work with character development wise. The first film shows us George Mcfly and to a lesser deegre Doc growing in confidence and the second Marty moving past his 80's materialism but 85 Doc just seems to nice and balanced a character to have much drama and the "chicken" plot around Marty always feels tacked on and out of character to me.  They probably would have been better off writing something that uses the 55 Doc across the whole film with more room for building his character and learning about time travel.