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« Lost And Being Human Pull... | Weblog | The Visitors Return »
20090126 Monday January 26, 2009

Back To The Future passenger gaffe

Here on SFX we were watching one of our favourite movies, 1985's Back To The Future, when we spotted what appears to be two figures in the DeLorean. Marty is supposed to be travelling back to the future by himself (indeed, we've just seen Doc Brown by the side of the road connecting up the electrical cable).

Are we seeing things? A trick of the light? Was this an alternative shot where there were two people in the car, which got kept in by mistake? If you've spotted this yourself and have an explanation, or if you've read about it before (it might be a well-known gaffe we just haven't come across) do let us know...
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Posted by Dave Bradley [Rants and raves] ( Monday January 26, 2009 )



Permalink | Comments [17]
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Obviously we get a momentary glimpse at an alternative universe. aybeM if you go carefully frame by frame we might even see the Nazi universe.

Time Travel, you never know what you're going to get. Oh Boy.

Posted by Ray (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 05:13 PM GMT #

Maybe it's the scarecrow he knocks over? Those things can fool crows....maybe they can fool SFXperts? ;)

Posted by Hels (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 06:26 PM GMT #

The Internet Movie Database already has this listed in its very extensive "Goofs" section for "Back to the Future". Go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/goofs and about 75% down you'll find:

"Continuity: Right before the Delorean makes contact with the wire to send Marty back to the future, you can see another person sitting in the passenger seat of the Delorean."

Posted by Peter Green (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 07:56 PM GMT #

You think that's crazy? Ask yourself this: in the second film how did old Biff get back to the original 2015? Once he gave his young self the betting book acording to Doc Brown's diagram on the blackboard he should have been stuck in the alternate 2015 where Biff is rich

Posted by -Eyes-onlY- (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 09:16 PM GMT #

Ha! Never noticed that before! It's just added another layer of magic to one of the best films ever :0)

Posted by The Shape (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 09:18 PM GMT #

Good point Eyes-onlY. My friend and I used to love trying to work out all the timey wimey madness in the BTTF's. Does yer head right in. Fun though!

Posted by The Shape (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 09:21 PM GMT #

Hi Eyes-Only

I thought about this once and decided that it was because old Biff returned before young Biff had decided to read the Almanac, and therefore returned before time had split off into the alternate stream.

Posted by Fabricatus (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 09:41 PM GMT #

Isn't it just the illuminated flux-capacitor?

Posted by Jed (127.0.0.1) on January 26, 2009 at 10:38 PM GMT #

me thinks that B2tF is - in an alternate timeline - the precursor to the Exorcist. A testing ground for Linda Blair-wannabes...cos if your head doesn't spin with the complexities/inconsistencies then your the Max von Sydow character. If it does, then you obvious overdose on pea soup.

Posted by jelly bellly bumpkins (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 12:28 AM GMT #

I confess...it was ME in the car. I'd recently been jaunting around the universe with The Doctor in his TARDIS, but due to a run in with the Zygons I got left behind and had to ask Marty to give me a lift home.

Or, as Jed says, it could just be the light off the flux capacitor. Believe what you will!

Posted by unifoon (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 08:51 AM GMT #

I went to see B2TF3 at the cinema with a Japanese friend who hadn't seen the first two. Try explaining the plot of those films to someone who doesn't have English as their first language! I seem to remember I had to resort to diagrams.

Posted by meillion (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 11:47 AM GMT #

It's clearly Top Gear's The Stig.

Posted by Miles I. Hamer (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 11:53 AM GMT #

I have it on good authority that it's actually Hiro Nakamura... all will be explained in Heroes: Vol.7 - Only Fictional Characters Are Still Watching This Show

Posted by jon (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 01:33 PM GMT #

That's nothing. At the end or Terminator 2, they destroy the chip from the first T800 which was the basis for the design of Skynet. No chip, no Skynet. No Skynet, no time travel. No time travel, no John Conner. And now my head hurts.

Posted by Bob (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 02:25 PM GMT #

Bob, for further head-hurtiness consider Minority Report. The murder couldn't have occurred unless the pre-cogs predicted it, otherwise Anderton would never have been led to the victim. But if he hadn't been led to the victim, the murder wouldn't have occurred and the pre-cogs couldn't have predicted it. Aaaargh...

And for Scanner-level pain, try reading David Gerrold's 'The Man Who Folded Himself'. The last line is a jaw-dropper.

Posted by Peter Green (127.0.0.1) on January 27, 2009 at 07:31 PM GMT #

It's probably the quite disappointing answer, that it's the radioactive suit he was wearing when he travelled back in time.

Posted by Matt (127.0.0.1) on January 29, 2009 at 10:35 PM GMT #

This is a good theory -- why don't you get a DeLorean rental from http://timemachinerental.com/ and shoot a picture with 3 people in it!

Posted by Time Machine Rental (127.0.0.1) on February 06, 2009 at 04:08 AM GMT
Website: http://timemachinerental.com/ #

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