I know this is gonna be a brain melter here, but I've enjoyed getting into these long debates on BTTF.com about time travel theories, especially in Part 2.

This is basically about the idea that Marty & Doc in 1985-A (the 'Evil Biff' timeline) would still have to somehow travel through time, just like "our" pair did, for the -A timeline to stay on track.

More or less, we agree that 'Swiss Marty' would get sent back to 1955, follow the same path as original Marty, get mom & dad together, etc, then head back to 1985 at 10:04.

Whether or not he'd now remember the A timeline, we don't know, but I think he wouldn't - since our Marty didn't remember the LP timeline at the end of Part 1. :)

Now, Asylum Doc would have to get transported to 2015-A, first by himself, then with Marty-A & Jennifer-A the morning of Oct 26th. Finally, their memories should change back to the normal (Lone Pine 1985) versions once LP 2015 becomes 2015-A - from our POV.

I swear I didn't mean to make it that long :o , but it's hard to explain in short words. Anyhow, what do you think happened, especially in the A timeline during October 26th?

P.S. Here's a quote from QXR37 in this topic, in the middle of Page 2. Most of our discussions are from the end of Page 1 thru Page 2.
http://www.bttf.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb...t=000351#000012

(Whew! It wouldn't let me reply the first three times. It finally did!)

Another possibility is that the ripple effect hadn't caught up yet. But since Biff dissapeared so quickly, the ripple effect would have gone just as fast. But of course, the ripple effect in Part 1 took long, but that was only for the movie.

Okay, forget that and back on topic.

^ Glad you were finally able to log in. :D

Anyway, yeah I know it's confusing, but things like this have always interested me, esp since it's not likely something I'd have thought of myself, yet it makes sense IMHO.

I think if Doc & Marty somehow got stuck in 1985-A (maybe if Biff saw the DeLorean earlier and shot the engine block, disabling it, etc) and couldn't leave -- I think eventually the RE would kick in. Within a week or so, they may get sad memories of the -A timeline being the 'normal' one.

However, I also think that at 1:24 AM way earlier that morning (10/26) Marty appeared in the original DeLorean outside the theatre in 1985-A.

The SPE (self-preservation effect, suggested by the Bobs, as a possible way to keep a new timeline as much 'on track' as possible with the old one) may have still made sure Doc-A went alone to 2015-A, and that later, he, Marty & Jen all went to 2015-A at 10:30 later that morning, just as their LP selves did.

Maybe Marty Jr-A would still have trouble with Griff, and they'd meet in the "Cafe Gamble." :lol:

No, always remember, a time traveller's memory does not change. It would have caussed a paradox in part 3.

^ Yes, normally I'd agree with that, since, for example Marty remembers the ravine being called "Clayton" in Part 3, as well as nerdy George in Lone Pine 2015 in Part 2 ("Look, I happen to know George McFly is no longer a loser.")

However, Paul/WeatherExperiment (from the BTTF.com board) wrote a short fanfic, taking place at the end of Part 1, where Marty was surprised at his new family. In it, he remembered two different things he told Lorraine about his date that night. So it was basically saying that LP Marty himself might not have existed anymore, but he 'merged' with TP Marty, and they were the same person now.

So, we have to assume that the Marty we saw in Parts 2 & 3 (as well as 47 yr-old Accident Marty in 2015) was Lone Pine Marty, just with TP's memories.

When LP Old Biff came back to 2015-A, he disappeared because he became his other self - who was dead. When the newspapers changed, they became their 'new' selves. So, why should it be different for Marty or Doc?

Point being, that when 2015-A came into existance, TP/LP Marty should have become Swiss Marty, but with his same memories.

Before this gets too confusing, I'll go back to WE's point in his fanfic: We don't know how long the Ripple Effect will take to catch up to someone's memories, but all the examples of Marty remembering the TP timeline in 2 & 3 was still fairly short after the events of Part 1.

If we asked 2015 Accident Marty what he remembered about his life, for all we know, the LP memories might've caught up with him, and he could even have two sets of memories from pre 1985 now. :lol:

I still think the ripple effect never caught up with them. It makes the most sense.

Wow, crazy stuff. I can't believe I found a BTTF discussion board! Anyway, if you're really interested in time travel I recommend "Time Travel in Einstein's Universe". Also, "How To Build A Time Machine" is a great book, too. That one's a little shorter. However, both books explain that time travel to a point in time BEFORE time travel was invented is impossible. Crap! That would ruin the entire trilogy! Oh, and if any of you are in the Madison, Wisconsin area, I plan on having a BTTF party this spring. We'll watch the trilogy, drink "wake-up juice" and "Mr. Fusion Fuel" and I might even make some fake BTTF props. I'll give donations to fight Parkinson's disease. It should be a blast. I've been planning on it since I got the trilogy on VHS from Ebay a long time ago. Now that I have the DVDs, it'll rock even more!

Welcome to the board, JRamoneWI! :)

I haven't read those time travel books before but I'll check them out sometime, they sound interesting.

You BTTF party sounds cool! Too bad I don't live in Wisconsin. Maybe some other board members do though. You'll have to tell us about it when it happens (maybe pictures?), I am sure it will be a lot of fun. B)

Wow, Confusing! What I always thought seemed a little bit more easier to understand for me, probably because I was only really little when I first watched it and became obsessed with it.
Anyway, I always just thought that a new timeline was created when Marty and/or Doc changed something in the past and that the old one no longer existed to everyone else, only in Doc's and Marty's memories. But since Marty and/or Doc came from the old timeline originally, they never disappeared from one point in space to instantly arrive at another. Whew I'm glad I finally got that out I had to retype it so many to times to try and make it understandable, and even now I don't think you can.
As an example my mind is set on the fact that Marty never went to Switzerland, and Doc never went to the assylum, but while they were meant to be there, they were still in the original timeline.
You know, this doesn't seem as simple as I thought it was now that I actually write it out. I think I left a few things out, but this is already too much for my 14 year old brain to handle *sigh*. How did I ever think this stuff up when I was in primary school?

So, to end my longest reply since I've joined this site I'll announce that I'm back home from my holiday! School doesn't start again for a few more weeks yet, but I have some school stuff and other things I need to buy. Glad to be back! :jen1:

That certainly was a brain melter for me. I figure that the ripple effect would take some time to adjust the timeline. That could explain why Doc Brown was always pressed for time in the BTTF trilogy. It would all depend on far back history was changed, and the further back the more danger and the longer the change would take place for a time traveller to notice.
I guessed the real reason why when old Biff in BTTF2 returned to 2015 with the time machine, no noticable changed happened yet because of the time span. But when Doc and Marty return to 1985 they noticed the changes because 1985 was closer to the year 1955, and Doc made calculations on how long their own lives would change. That is my best expanation as to why they don't have any memories of their current states in 1985-A (Marty in Switzerland and Doc committed)

Ya agree It would be cool if that happen

I go along with the theory that, as the ripple effect catches up, Marty has two sets of memories - of the TP timeline and the LP timeline. Otherwise, it would be like LP Marty just died, when he went back to 1955. Also, consider how everyone who is close to Marty would feel about losing the Marty that they knew and loved - to be replaced by this pseudo-Marty who looks, acts, and talks like their Marty - but is not their Marty.