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Doc: Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.

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The farm where Marty arrives in 1955 belongs to a man called Peabody, and he calls his son Sherman; both names are a tribute to "Sherman and Mr. Peabody", two cartoon time travellers. See more...

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Mistake Continuity: In the scene where Marty is being chased by the Libyans, a few times they cut away to show the instrumentation in the car. The first time the odometer reads 33064.2 and the trip counter says 88.8; the second time it's goes back a little to 33061.8 and 86.4. A few seconds later we see it as he turns the corner, and it goes down again from 33,061.8 to 32,994.4, the trip counter has gone from 86.4 to 19. In fact it's a completely different set of instrumentation - the bottom of the needle's angled in some shots and flat in others.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty is writing the letter to Doc before he goes into the future, the word "disaster" is the only word in the last line. Yet when Doc shows Marty the letter when it has been all taped up, "terrible disaster" is the last line. Also, the handwritring in each letter is different (i.e. Marty's signature). They are two different letters.

Mistake Continuity: When Doc and Marty are at the Twin Pines Mall and Doc is telling Marty about the car etc, he says "never mind that now, never mind that now..." and Marty has the camera facing the ground, yet later when Doc in 1955 is watching the video, you can see him saying that on the video.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty is standing over his father's bed in 1955 persuading him to date Lorraine, there is a hair-dryer in Marty's belt that appears and reappears between different frames. Really obvious. [This scene was originally longer, including a part where Marty removed the hair dryer from his belt. Still a mistake, but there's the explanation.]

Mistake Factual error: When Bif is chasing Marty (on the skateboard) around the Town Square, you can see sidewalk handicap ramps at the corners. Those didn't come into being until the 70's.

Mistake Continuity: In the Cafe of 1955 Marty goes into the phone booth to look up docs name in the phone book, when he finds it the name is on the left hand page yet when he tears it out of the book he tears out the right hand page. One could say he turned the page to tear it right-handed, however when he is asking the waiter if he knew where the address was, he is reading the address on the same side he tore out - check the tears on the edge.

Mistake Factual error: The electric guitar Marty plays at the "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" is a Gibson ES335 (or 345 or 355). This guitar model debuted between 1957 and 1958 yet he's supposedly playing it in 1955. It would have been more accurate to have him using a Fender Telecaster (1950) or Stratocaster (1954). The Gibson 335 was not made until 1958.

Mistake Continuity: When Lorraine gets George's book out of the package, she has a bracelet on her right arm. When she hands the book to Marty, it is gone.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty's coming home at the beginning of the film, he's watching the discussion between his father and Biff who complains about the wrecked car and his reports. In the two shots which show Marty, there's a glass full of candies near to him. When Biff steps to the glass and lifts the lid, half of the candies are gone.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty is in 1955, he is in shock and walking on the pavement when a car comes by. On the first shot when it comes towards him it has two speakers, on the second shot when it's moving away, it only has one. On the second shot of the car with only one speaker, the A-frame sign is also turned the other way.

Mistake Continuity: After Doc accidentally unplugs the cable and is sending Marty back, he unplugs the cable 15 seconds later and it shows Doc, and the clock's hand change. A split second later the clock's hand changes again.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty is standing over his father's bed in 1955, Marty puts the headphones on George and then puts the tape in the cassette player. If you notice the hairdryer is on the left side of the belt and is touching his left arm but when they cut to Marty holding the tape player out in from of him the hairdryer is on the right side.

Mistake Continuity: When Marty is trying to escape from the van he turns the time circuits on. However, the time circuits were already on - you can see them illuminated when he first puts the car in gear.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where George goes into the cafe to tell Lorraine he is her density/destiny, the people sitting at the bar keep changing with different shots. Best example is just after George refers to his "density" - in the background there's a brunette in a blue jumper at the bar. A blonde woman and a short-haired guy then sit on her left, but then disappear in the shot of Marty sitting at the bar - on the brunette's left there's now another brunette in a pink jumper with a different guy. The brunette's got shorter hair too. In the very next shot the blonde's back with no sign of Marty.

Mistake Continuity: In 1955, when Doctor Brown is watching the video of himself, he sees himself saying that the Libyans are coming. You can hear a significant pause between "They found me" and "I don't know how but they found me." But in the beginning of the film he says the entire phrase without any pauses.

Mistake Revealing: When the De Lorean is struck by lightning near the end of the film, if you look closely, you can see that there is no one in the car. You may have to look closely, but you don't need to zoom in to see it. Also, since they never re-shot this scene, you can see it in all three Back to the Future films.

Mistake Continuity: At the Twin Pines mall during the chase scene with the Libyans, there is one shot were you get a great look at the driver as he's trying to start the engine. Later on you get another look at the driver as the van is moving and it's a totally different person.

Mistake Continuity: When the lightning bolt hits the clock tower in 1955 and sends the DeLorean back to 1985, Doc Brown gets up and looks at the clock tower. What happened to that awful lightning storm of only a few seconds earlier? Not even a trace of wind is present in Doc's hair.

Mistake Continuity: While being chased by the terrorists Marty passes the J C Penny's store, drives a little farther and passes it again. Just before the Libyans aim their rocket at Marty, their van changes from about 100 yards from the store to right in front of it in less than a second.

Mistake Continuity: 1955 skateboard chase scene around town square. Note in this scene a metal device has been added between the kicktail and the back truck of the skateboard to create the sparks, then disappears and reappears thoughout the whole chase scene.

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You may also like: Back to the Future Part II | Back to the Future Part III | The Dark Knight | Titanic | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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