Marty McFly must step on a million different butterflies during his trip to 1955 in Back to the Future. The biggest consequences of Marty’s time traveling are revealed by Back to the Future‘s ending – his father’s success as an author, his parents’ happy marriage, Biff waxing cars for a living, etc. Smaller changes are signposted by Back to the Future‘s many Easter eggs, such as Twin Pines Mall becoming Lone Pine Mall.
Still, Marty hardly keeps a low profile in 1955, interacting with a host of people across a variety of locations. According to the butterfly effect principle, Marty’s impact on 1985 is almost certainly more far-reaching than Back to the Future reveals.
7 Did Marty Accidentally Popularize The Skateboard?
An Influential Figure Might See Marty’s Skating Display
One of Marty McFly’s most overt stunts in 1955 involves converting a child’s scooter into a skateboard and gliding around Hill Valley like a teenage Tony Hawk before a crowd of amazed onlookers. To any advertising or toy industry executive in attendance, the potential of the skateboard would have been obvious.
Skateboarding in some form existed before the 1950s, so it would be a stretch to argue that Marty invented the sport in Back to the Future‘s iconic chase scene. Commercial skateboards, however, did not begin appearing until the late 1950s, so Marty’s thrilling demonstration could have easily accelerated the skateboard’s development into a popular toy in the United States.
6 Did The Peabody Family Continue Believing They Saw A Real Alien?
The Peabody Family Might Be One Of Back To The Future’s Hidden Tragedies
One of Back to the Future‘s unaddressed subplots concerns the Peabody family. Lost pine tree aside, Back to the Future never reveals what became of the farming clan after their ordeal on November 5, 1955. As far as the Peabodys are concerned, an alien ship carrying a pilot in a yellow suit crashed into their barn then vanished, never to be seen again.
Farmer Peabody was scared enough to shoot at the “alien,” and it’s fascinating to ponder what the aftermath would have been. Perhaps the Peabodys became alien conspiracy theorists, selling their story to anyone who would listen. Maybe the children were inspired to pursue careers in astronomy. As a darker alternative, maybe Marty McFly scared the Peabody family so badly, none of them psychologically recovered.
5 Marty McFly Changed The Futures Of Biff’s Friends Too
Were Biff’s Friends Redeemed?
Back to the Future never shows Biff’s cohort of followers in 1985, but Marty’s time-fiddling would have unavoidably altered their lives. Per Back to the Future‘s ending, the grown-up Biff goes from a plush office job copying George McFly’s work to waxing George’s car. More importantly, Marty’s influence on the past means Biff’s power is taken away.
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In Back to the Future‘s original timeline, Biff’s friends would probably have continued shadowing him, but Biff’s fall from grace in the second timeline suggests his friends would have drifted away, finding their own identities rather than acting as sycophants. Rumors say one of them even appeared in James Cameron’s Titanic.
4 Doc Brown’s Career Must Have Got Better Thanks To Marty
Doc Went Forward Knowing His Time Travel Experiment Would Work
Doc Brown knew the importance of not acting upon his knowledge of the future. Seeing his future DeLorean in action, however, Doc Brown would have been saved hours of work trying to figure out time travel, as his insight would negate the need for testing new theories and doubting himself.
Both Doc Browns are doing jigsaw puzzles here, but the second is looking at the picture on the box.
Simply knowing the flux capacitor would ultimately be successful must have given Doc Brown more time to develop other inventions. By contrast, his counterpart in Back to the Future‘s unchanged timeline would have been working on the DeLorean with no guarantee of it working. Both Doc Browns are doing jigsaw puzzles here, but the second is looking at the picture on the box.
3 Marty McFly’s Influence Upon Local Politics
Did Marty Push Goldie Wilson Into Politics Earlier?
In Back to the Future‘s 1985, Goldie Wilson serves as Hill Valley’s mayor, but when Marty meets the younger Wilson in 1955, he’s working as a busboy in the local diner. At this point, Wilson is determined to make something of himself, but has a spark of inspiration when a shocked Marty yells, “that’s right, he’s going to be mayor.”
Given that Goldie Wilson is mayor in Back to the Future‘s original 1985, he evidently settled upon that career path even without Marty’s influence. In the altered timeline, however, Marty seemingly planted the idea of entering local politics into Wilson’s mind at an earlier point. Wilson may have started pursuing his dreams sooner thanks to Marty’s intervention, and such a change would potentially cause a chain reaction throughout Hill Valley.
2 George McFly Must Have Realized Time Travel Was Real
George McFly Was A Sci-Fi Fanatic
Marty McFly’s parents overlook the uncanny resemblance between their son and their old friend from high school, but George must figure out time travel is real by 1985. When Marty attempts to scare his young father into facing his fears, he claims to be “Darth Vader” from the planet “Vulcan.” This incident – an alien making threats in his own bedroom – would have seared itself into George McFly’s brain for life.
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When Star Trek first airs during the 1960s and Star Wars premieres in 1977, George would be reacquainted with both Vulcan and Darth Vader, and surely make the connection to his nighttime visitor from 1955. As a keen writer of science fiction, George would naturally consider time travel to explain both the intruder in his room and the sci-fi references. Combine that with how his old friend from school looks awfully like his own son, George is well-placed to figure out what really happened in Back to the Future.
1 Back To The Future’s Torn Phone Book Page
One Small Act Could Have Had Major Consequences
No one can deny that Marty McFly makes a mess in 1955, but he largely avoids leaving permanent destruction upon the past. One notable exception is the diner phone book, which Marty rips a page out of while searching for Doc Brown.
Marty’s influence upon the timeline is potentially far greater than shown.
Marty apparently assumed no one would miss a single phone book page between 1955 and 1985. But if, for example, a teenager in the 1950s needs to reschedule a date with his girlfriend, Emelie Brown, and the page with her number is missing, the sweethearts could break up. Any children they might’ve had would then cease to exist. There are countless other similar permutations of how the torn phone book potentially changes Back to the Future‘s history, proving Marty’s influence upon the timeline is potentially far greater than shown.
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. In 1955, he meets his parents when they were his age, and must step in to make sure they wind up together before he gets back to 1985.
- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
- Release Date
- July 3, 1985
- Writers
- Robert Zemeckis , Bob Gale
- Cast
- Claudia Wells , Christopher Lloyd , James Tolkan , Thomas F. Wilson , Michael J. Fox , Wendie Jo Sperber , Crispin Glover , Marc McClure , Lea Thompson
- Runtime
- 116 minutes