Doc's family
It Just Bugs Me...(tm)
In BTTF3, Doc arrives in October of 1985 in his pimped-out train with his wife and kids. The kids look to be...what? about 9 or 10? From Marty's perspective, it hasn't been that long since he saw Doc. But Doc hasn't seen Marty for at least 10 years.
In BTTF the Game, the Delorean arrives in 1986. Marty goes back to 1931 and has a conversation with Doc. He says he hasn't seen Doc in "months", and that fits with the timeline, but then asks about the family. Doc comments that Jules and Verne are going to college shortly.
So, two thoughts...
1. Even though Marty saw Doc a few months ago, Doc must not have seen Marty for at least 5 years (given that his kids are at the age to be thinking about college).
2. Doc must be really old. In the game, he's 17 in 1931, which means he's about 71 in 1985 when he invents the time machine. So he's at least 81 when he/Clara/Jules/Verne meet up with Marty in 1985, and 86 due to thought #1 there. And he hung around in the Wild West long enough to set up a blacksmith business. That's not including any other excursions he may have taken, so I'll bet he's in his late 80s or even 90s now. But, in one of the movies he did say there was some technology in the future that allowed him to avert aging.
3. Just curious, where/when IS his family?
In BTTF3, Doc arrives in October of 1985 in his pimped-out train with his wife and kids. The kids look to be...what? about 9 or 10? From Marty's perspective, it hasn't been that long since he saw Doc. But Doc hasn't seen Marty for at least 10 years.
In BTTF the Game, the Delorean arrives in 1986. Marty goes back to 1931 and has a conversation with Doc. He says he hasn't seen Doc in "months", and that fits with the timeline, but then asks about the family. Doc comments that Jules and Verne are going to college shortly.
So, two thoughts...
1. Even though Marty saw Doc a few months ago, Doc must not have seen Marty for at least 5 years (given that his kids are at the age to be thinking about college).
2. Doc must be really old. In the game, he's 17 in 1931, which means he's about 71 in 1985 when he invents the time machine. So he's at least 81 when he/Clara/Jules/Verne meet up with Marty in 1985, and 86 due to thought #1 there. And he hung around in the Wild West long enough to set up a blacksmith business. That's not including any other excursions he may have taken, so I'll bet he's in his late 80s or even 90s now. But, in one of the movies he did say there was some technology in the future that allowed him to avert aging.
3. Just curious, where/when IS his family?
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In the first episode, Doc also said "If I live to be a hundred... and I almost have," so he is likely in his late 90's.
I guess Clara, Jules, and Verne are all back at wherever (or rather, whenever) the Brown family calls home. In the first episode I believe Doc said he went to 1931 to get a present for Clara. As far as the rest of the family is concerned, they're just staying home while he goes shopping.
You're not thinking 4th dimensionally. They are in a lot of times and places.
The question isnt when are they, the question is at what point in time will Doc return to them. (
Actually it seems that poster IS thinking 4th dimensionally. Clara was saying she wanted them to attend college in the 2020's so she has been to the future.
Its never stated when they are. I'd figure the 1800s (or maybe now early 20th century) makes the most sense, that is where clara and the two children are from and doc enjoys that time period.
You're probably right, which is really interesting, because it means something that was done in 1931 rippled backwards to affect events in the past (due to the person affected being a time traveler). If you really want your mind blown, consider that any changes in the past also ripple forward into the future, so the events of Episode 2 screwed up the space-time continuum in both directions, and the changes made in the past will ripple forward yet again. That's some Grade-A insanity, right there.
That means in Ep3, the timeline was restored to the original, God-given one, up until 1931 when Doc travels there in order to get a gift for Clara, who would already have died a spinster. It quickly turns into a paradox.
The only way my brain doesn't explode when I think about paradoxes is by subscribing to a parallel-dimensions theory, as outlined by Doc in BTTF2, and by assuming that the Delorean exists outside of dimensional changes, and that it assigns a similar (but not infalliable) immunity to all time travellers and objects inside. Also, I keep reminding myself that it's just a game/movie.
Isn't this what would have happened?
Not the first time this has happened, part II when they were in the future, the ripple went backwards hence when they went back in time to a different past than they remembered. Also events in 1955 changed the past (1885)
By "died a spinster" I just mean she would have died single and childless, but yes, she would have died by falling into the ravine.
Of course, I say this might have been the case because it's not. We would've ended up with an endless loop paradox, in which Doc doesn't invent the time machine, so he doesn't go back to 1885, so Marty doesn't best Buford, so Kid Tannen isn't captured the same way, so Emmett doesn't end up with Edna, so Doc does invent the time machine, so he does go back to 1885, so Marty does best Buford, so Kid Tannen is captured the same way, so Emmett does end up with Edna, so Doc doesn't invent the time machine...