What happens to the previous timelines?
Let's take BttFI for example. Marty goes back in time to 1955 where he forms a parallel timeline which springs from that point and then he operates in THAT parallel timeline (meaning that the 1985 he returns to is parallel to 1985 he originated from).
What happens to the original timeline? Is it *erased* or is it really *parallel*? Does Marty just disappear in the original timeline and, somewhere/somewhen the McFly family, already suffering enough, takes a tragic blow in form of his disappearance and young Jeniffer never hears him calling back to her? What do you think?
What happens to the original timeline? Is it *erased* or is it really *parallel*? Does Marty just disappear in the original timeline and, somewhere/somewhen the McFly family, already suffering enough, takes a tragic blow in form of his disappearance and young Jeniffer never hears him calling back to her? What do you think?
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
I always looked at it this particular future thing this way: since 2015 is the future of 1985 which has ALREADY happened, Marty goes to the future where in the past (relatively to 2015) he ALREADY had returned from the future and lived till 2015. Kind of like an analog of a photograph, the future is - an indicator of what will happen if the course of actions will continue going as they are now (and, for example, if Marty would learn to not get into fights after someone calls him chicken right in 2015, the future around him would change since in the past that has already happened relatively to 2015 he did not get into car crash, for example... it may seem confusing, but I think of it as a very reasonable and not far-fetched theory).
^^^this.
Well, at least not in the same way, like Marty not breaking his hand or whatever because he avoided the car crash (shown in part 3), thus the new 2015 Marty might actually be a musician instead of what he used to do.
I think every timeline that used to happen still exists till the point it is changed, or else there would have been a time paradox after all.
Has anyone got an idea of what the filmmakers intend was regarding the 2015 version of Marty?
i see it as doc explained in part2 btw., every time you travel back, a new timeline will be created and the old one still exists (but who cares...)
but the problem with this is, who can say if all stuff they already altered will happen exactly the way it already did in the new timelines they changed/created before this last event, maybe they f**ck up even more stuff by traveling back again and have to fix even MORE stuff over and over again..... its a doom loop
and what could you do with an ADVANCED time machine? travel through time EVEN MORE???
well.... he could invent a time machine that could travel to pre-0000...
but wait..... in the cartoon series he already travelled to the time when the dinosaurs are going to extinct, so this already has to be possible in some way....
In the cartoon they also have made a DeLorean which could pack itself into a suitcase.
Yes since the events of part I had already happened prior to marty travelling to the future, we can assume that 2015 marty did have that time travel adventure. Had it not been for the 1885 experience (where marty finally learns not to let name calling get to him), marty would have grown up into that loser. The film makers had already planned part III while part II was filmed so it was their entire intention to have marty and jennifer live a depressing future which gets avoided at the end of the trilogy.
As for the topic of hand, here's how I see it: the timeline ends up a straight line prior to any time travel but every time there is time travel, it forks. So based on the trilogy, here is how the timelines should look
1) the original timeline from the begginning of back to the future part 1. Also keep in mind that einsteins trip one minute into the future does not effect this timeline as it does not make any changes
2) the timeline at the end of BTTF part I and beginning of part II including martys trip to 1955.
3) the timeline between marty sending griff to jail in 2015 and old biff stealing the time machine. We never see this timeline play out other than the newspaper which shows griff going to jail instead of marty Jr.
4)the alternate timeline in the middle of part II where biff becomes rich
5) the timelines between marty destroying the almanac and dog getting struck by lightning. Pretty much the same timeline as #2 that I have listed other than new events occurring on November 12th 1955 due to the time travel (and possibly going forward, biff has crashed into a manure truck again which costs him more money which he could have spent on something else...)
6) the timelines at the end of part II and beginning of part III with Doc in 1885 (without marty) and another interaction with 1955 doc
7) the final timeline that we see including the final events of 1885, a slightly modified 1985 (eastwood ravine) and of course the knowledge that the 2015 that we saw in part II will not come to be due to the rolls royce accident avoided.
So under the current timeline, timelines 1 through 6 are essentially parallel dimensions but can only be travelled to if they are restored- the events which changed those timelines must be avoided similar to how the alternate 1985 was destroyed. So for instance travelling back to 1955 and preventing marty from running into george would restore the first timeline but likely create another new one as doc would be travelling through time once marty returned to 1985 and perhaps under the original timeline, Marty Jr. never goes to jail (remember that marty got in that rolls royce car accident driving his 4x4 which he did not own in the original timeline and with the car wrecked at the beginning of part 1, marty likely would not have been on the road that day. So maybe the 1985 mcflys getting a better life is part of the root cause of the 2015 mcflys having a worse life). Also docs original plan is to travel 25 years into the future, he changes his mind (or in the second timeline always panned on 30) after the events in part 1 so who knows what doc would have found in 2010
Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up