To be honest, I haven't thought too much about Red the Bum - even though I did consider the idea of him being the son of Red Thomas, the mayor of 1955. He's be too young to be Mayor Thomas - and, also, it's two different actors.

Anyway, someone had suggested on the IMDB boards that Red the Bum could be the same person as Mark Dixon from 1955. Now we know Mark Dixon was played by Courtney Gaines, while Red the Bum was played by Buck Flower. When you think about it, though - it would be poetic justice for the red-haired bully to become a homeless bum

On a side note, I don't know if anyone has ever seriously considered this - but it's been joked around a bit that Jennifer's father was Lester the Wallet Guy. I don't think that's true, either - but it would be a very interesting thought.

I don't think he's too young to be Mayor Thomas. I mean, he could be one of those people who always looked old.

Some people, like Blind Spot and Flaming Trails, think Strickland was the Vice Principal. Even if he was Vice Principal in 1955, you would think he becomes Principal by 1985.

I guess I've always just seen him as the principal, but he could also be the vice principal. Others think he might not be either. There are some who think his real first name is Gerald (mentioned in the novel), and that the SS maybe stands for "school superintendent".

I personally don't think Red the Bum is the same as Red Thomas, and I know it was a name that Michael J Fox just happened to adlib.

I don't think anyone would argue against Terry the auto mechanic being the old man who prods Marty to "thumb a hundred bucks". Even if we don't take the deleted scene into consideration, we know it's the same actor.

Whether or not Buford Tannen did shoot Marshall Strickland is more borderline, because it looks like they've changed the explanation about what Buford gets arrested for.

Also, even in the extended Darth Vader scene, it looks like they've changed the part of where Marty blasts music into Geoge's ears a second time to before he announces that he's "Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan."

I always saw Strickland as the principal. I think he's worked at the school since the late '40s. I wonder where Blind Spot gets the idea that Strickland drives a hippie van.

Hmm, that's a good question. He seems like the kind of person who would be against hippies during the '60s. In the novel, I guess the school wasn't built until either the Great Depression or sometime after. I had the high school be around in 1925 in my fics, though.

I can tell by the architectural style that the school was built in the '30s. Maybe he's against hippies, but I don't think it would stop him from driving a hippie van. The Lybian terrorists drove a hippie van and they're the polar opposites of hippies.

Oh, yeah, I guess you make a good point there. In what way would schools look different before the '30s?

I went to wikipedia. Whittier High School was built in 1905. Due to a 1933 earthquake, some of the buildings were rebuilt. I think the main building stayed the same.

Oh, okay! Maybe I could do something like that for my ficverse. How would like to go to Hill Valley High School. I'd like to think that we'd be friends with Marty McFly. He seemed like the kind of person to be nice to everyone.