Back to the Future was released all the way back in 1985, and follows a small-town teen,
Marty McFly as he’s thrown into the 50’s when an experiment by his scientist friend
Doc Brown goes awry.
Allowing him to travel back in time.
The film was a hit -- and has remained a fan favourite even to this day.
So -- as you would expect, there have been many, many fan theories surrounding the movie
-- and answers to the questions we all had.
So today on Beyond the Screen, we’re going to be counting down the Top 10 Dark Back to
the Future Movie Theories.
Lets jump in.
10 The Parents One theory man fans have about Back to the
Future is why Marty’s parents never recognized him when he grew up -- however, in this theory,
they did.
The theory states that George figured it out slowly by building evidence; finding out his
visit from an alien involved two of the largest space franchises of all time, coming home
to a burned carpet, and the words of Calvin echoing his head to “go easy on him”.
Apparently, George never told Marty because he knew his son needed to go back in time
the exact same way.
Oh, George.
What a guy!
9 Depression This is a dark one, but hear me out.
Many fans have often questioned why Doc Brown would put himself and Marty in the path of
the DeLorean going 88mph, after he explicitly stated that his inventions never work.
Well, some have explained this away with quite a dark theory -- stating that Doc Brown was
depressed from his failure as an inventor, and had chosen to take his life through one
of his inventions.
If that wasn’t dark enough, the fact that he forces Marty to participate makes the entire
thing even darker -- leading some to consider it was a murder-suicide attempt.
Bloody hell.
8 What Happened To Jennifer?
Did you ever wonder what happened to Jennifer?
Played by Claudia Wells, the first Jennifer was unable to reprise her role due to her
mother becoming ill -- so the studio was forced to recast, hiring Elisabeth Shue for Back
to the Future II and III, and reshot the final footage of the first Back to the Future with
Shue instead of Wells for the opening scene of the second film.
However -- have a very content-driven theory about the entire situation.
According to some, when Marty went back to 1955, something he did messed with the timeline
of Jennifer’s parents.
As a result, the circumstances surrounding her birth weren’t the same -- hence why
she ended up looking slightly different.
7 Marty Is Dead Say it ain’t so!
Is our favourite teenage time traveller really dead?
Well, according to some fans, yes.
Some theories floating around online say that Marty actually died in that tunnel, trying
to get the almanac book from Biff.
Distraught by Marty’s death, Doc Brown goes back in time to save him -- which explains
why Doc dropped the rope at the exact moment Marty needed saving.
6 The Paradox Complex Any good fan of Back to the Future knows that
paradoxes but always be avoided.
Knowing this, fans have come up with quite the interesting theory about the DeLorean
-- and that it in fact broke down to avoid paradoxes.
In this theory, fans believe the DeLorean is sentient, or at least sentient enough to
break down at the perfect time to avoid a paradox, including breaking down where no
one in 1955 will find a car from the 80’s.
5 Marty Is A Martyr We’ve got yet another dark theory here.
According to some fans, in an effort to stop the potential paradox of Marty meeting himself,
Doc does something very, very dark.
Instead of Marty watching Doc send himself off to the past, fans think Doc sends the
second Marty to his death.
And in some theories, Doc convinces Marty to die and in others, he never tells him.
Geeze.
Dark.
4 Doc Brown Is A Timelord That’s right, some fans out there believe
that Doc Brown is a timelord, and not just any timelord -- THE TIMELORD.
At the end of the third movie Doc says he’s already been to the future, implying that
he is much older than he actually appears -- just like Doctor Who.
Not only that, but Doc’s love of bow ties, his pet dog, and his ability to get into and
out of very sticky situations, has made some fans certain that he is in fact the doctor.
3 Where Are Our Hoverboards?
It’s the question we have been asking ourselves for years --screaming into the void, WHERE
ARE OUR HOVERBOARDS?
We’ve waited patiently, but still no dice.
However, fans have explained this by stating that we’re actually in the alternate timeline
created by Marty and Doc.
One theory goes that the man Marty hit while racing was actually going to a meeting about
hoverboards -- and that if Marty had hit him, he wouldn’t have made the meeting, and wouldn’t
have been able to turn down hover technology -- causing the boards to be made.
However, since Marty changed history by not racing, the man was never hit and went to
the meeting, turning down the invention.
Another theory suggest that Doc actually created the hoverboards -- but now that he’s living
in the past with Clara, he never invented them.
Sad times.
2 Donnie Darko Apparently, there’s a Back to the Future
reference in Donnie Darko that we all seemingly missed.
Yup, that’s right -- Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko is a huge fan of Back to the
Future --- and fans believe that the film is actually fan fiction written by Kelly.
If you replace Donnie with Marty, the rabbit with Doc, and Gretchen with Jennifer, it all
makes sense.
Crazy.
1 The Lockard Theory Now this theory was coined by Robert Lockard,
hence the name, and theorizes that the Back to the Future franchise is one big chiasmus,
meaning that it’s perfect symmetry.
He states that the first and third movies are symmetrical and the 2nd movie mirrors
itself.
An example being that the first movie starts with Marty being blown back by Doc’s amp
and talking to him on the phone, and the final movie ends with Marty and Jennifer being blown
back by Doc and talking to him once more.
YUP -- you can check out the full theory in the description box.
It’s worth the read.
Well, there we have it!
What did you guys think about these dark theories?
Were there any that we missed?
What film do you want us to cover next?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below.
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And until next time, see ya later.