In one of its earliest scenes,Back to the Futurereverses the most famous time travel paradox when Marty encounters his father, George McFly.Back to the Future’s franchise timelineis messy, but its most egregious complications only arrive in the hit 1985 sci-fi comedy’s sequels. For the most part, the originalBack to the Futureis the fairly straightforward story of Marty McFly using Doc Brown’s souped-up DeLorean to travel back in time and improve the lives of his parents, George and Lorraine. ByBack to the Future’s ending, everything seems to be fixed by Marty.
Back To The Future’s Doc & Marty Friendship Was Weird (But The Best Choice)
As John Mulaney famously noted, it is weird that Doc and Marty are friends. However, Back to the Future did choose the best plot option.
However, Doc and Marty don’t have an easy time getting to this point. The duo face constant problems, both from George’s general cowardliness to Lorraine’s inconvenient crush on her own future son, Marty. The first of these problems occurs when Marty arrives in 1955 and seeks out the younger version of his father, George McFly. Marty’s arrival triggers a clever subversion of what is known as the Grandfather Paradox. A time travel problem helpfully explained bySpace.com, the Grandfather Paradox refers to a logical problem wherein a time traveler kills their grandfather in the past, preventing their own birth.
Marty McFly Flipped The Grandfather Paradox By Saving George From Being Hit By A Car
Marty Saving George From A Car Accident Flipped A Famous Time Travel Paradox
Instead of killing his grandfather before he is conceived,Marty saves his father’s life before Marty himself is conceived inBack to the Future. In an interesting riff on this premise, Marty is arguably also the one to blame for his father’s near-death experience, since George runs away from him and toward oncoming traffic because he is freaked out by Marty.Back to the Future’s many clever detailspay off throughout the trilogy’s knotty, complex time-twisting story, but this scene provides one of the franchise’s earliest instances of flipping sci-fi conventions on their head to offer viewers something fresh.
Marty was almost never conceived due to his intervention in George’s early life.
Marty saves George from being hit by a car after George runs away from him and into the car’s path. Ironically, the effect was the same as the Grandfather Paradox, as Marty was almost never conceived due to his intervention in George’s early life.Back to the Futurecleverly actualizes this threat through a photo of Marty that fades away whenever he has altered the timeline enough to prevent his own conception.Back to the Future’s George McFlyneeds a lot of coaching from Marty before he can save his own future, meaning Marty repeatedly risks accidental self-annihilation.
Marty’s Fortunes Didn’t Improve Despite Him Saving George
Marty saving George from being hit by a car is not enough to ensure his own conception later on, but it is the beginning of Marty turning around his father’s fortunes. InBack to the Future’s ending, Marty has set things right in 1955 and his mother and father are now happier, more stable, and free from the machinations of their high school bully Biff.Back to the Future Part IIthen sees Marty and Doc travel to the future and then back to 1955 again to solve some new problems, ensuring theBack to the Futuremovies never become too repetitive.
