Back To The Future Writer Explains A Major Plot Hole

Kindly Share This Story

The “5 Perfect Movies” hashtag on Twitter has rekindled the debate around Back to the Future and one of its perceived plot holes. For years, people have wondered why, after Marty returns to 1985 after saving his parents’ relationship, that they do not remember him.

Writer Bob Gale has now closed the plot hole, sort of. He told The Hollywood Reporter that George and Lorraine only knew Marty for six days when they were 17, and they didn’t even see him every day. So it stands to reason that they might have forgotten him in some capacity.

“So, many years later, they still might remember that interesting kid who got them together on their first date. But I would ask anyone to think back on their own high school days and ask themselves how well they remember a kid who might have been at their school for even a semester,” Gale said. “Or someone you went out with just one time. If you had no photo reference, after 25 years, you’d probably have just a hazy recollection.”

Gale went on to say that, in his mind, Lorraine and George might find it funny that their son would grow up to bear a resemblance to the man they met in the ’50s, but “it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“I’d bet most of us could look through our high school yearbooks and find photos of our teen-aged classmates that bear some resemblance to our children,” Gale said.

Director James Gunn weighed in on the Back to the Future debate, saying Back to the Future is not quite the perfect movie because of this plot hole. However, actor Chris Pratt raised a different opinion, offering a take that was similar to what Gale had to say.

Maybe they do remember him tho, not as Marty, as Calvin. When Marty returns to present day 1985, it could have been years since his parents would have perhaps originally noted the uncanny resemblance between their son and that kid from high school 20 years previous. #perfectmovie https://t.co/5S2q2rEtUU
— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) April 22, 2020

Any movie with time travel is sure to feature some plot holes and requirement of suspension of disbelief from the audience, but the way Gale has explained it here does make some sense.

“,”480″:”“}},”siteType”:”responsive web”,”startMuted”:false,”startTime”:0,”title”:”Best%20Shows%20And%20Movies%20To%20Stream%20For%20April%202020%20-%20Netflix%2C%20Hulu%2C%20Disney%2B%2C%20Amazon%20Prime%20Video”,”tracking”:[{“name”:”SiteCatalyst”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”charSet”,”value”:”UTF-8″},{“name”:”currencyCode”,”value”:”USD”},{“name”:”siteType”,”value”:”responsive web”},{“name”:”trackingServer”,”value”:”saa.gamespot.com”},{“name”:”visitorNamespace”,”value”:”cbsinteractive”},{“name”:”heartbeatTrackingServer”,”value”:”cbsinteractive.hb.omtrdc.net”},{“name”:”heartbeatVisitorMarketingCloudOrgId”,”value”:”10D31225525FF5790A490D4D@AdobeOrg”},{“name”:”partnerID”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”siteCode”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”brand”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”account”,”value”:”cbsigamespotsite”},{“name”:”edition”,”value”:”us”}]},{“name”:”CNetTracking”,”category”:”tracking”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”host”,”value”:”https://dw.cbsi.com/levt/video/e.gif?”},{“name”:”siteid”,”value”:”6_test”},{“name”:”adastid”,”value”:”597″},{“name”:”medastid”,”value”:”599″}]},{“name”:”ComScore_ss”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”c2″,”value”:”3005086″},{“name”:”publishersSecret”,”value”:”2cb08ca4d095dd734a374dff8422c2e5″},{“name”:”c3″,”value”:””},{“name”:”partnerID”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”c4″,”value”:”gamespot”}]},{“name”:”NielsenTracking”,”category”:”tracking”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”host”,”value”:”https://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?”},{“name”:”scCI”,”value”:”us-200330″},{“name”:”scC6″,”value”:”vc,c01″}]},{“name”:”MuxQOSPluginJS”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”propertyKey”,”value”:”b7d6e48b7461a61cb6e863a62″}]}],”trackingAccount”:”cbsigamespotsite”,”trackingCookie”:”XCLGFbrowser”,”trackingPrimaryId”:”cbsigamespotsite”,”trackingSiteCode”:”gs”,”userId”:0,”uvpHi5Ima”:”https://s0.2mdn.net/instream/html5/ima3.js”,”uvpc”:””,”videoAdMobilePartner”:”mobile_web%2Fgamespot.com_mobile”,”videoAdPartner”:”desktop%2Fgamespot.com”,”videoAssetSource”:”GameSpot”,”videoStreams”:{“adaptive_stream”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_700,1000,1800,2500,3200,4000,8000,master.m3u8″,”adaptive_dash”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_700,1000,1800,2500,3200,4000,8000,master.mpd”,”adaptive_hd”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_8000,master.m3u8″,”adaptive_high”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_2500,master.m3u8″,”adaptive_low”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_700,master.m3u8″,”adaptive_restricted”:”https://gamespotvideo.cbsistatic.com/vr/2020/04/03/GSU_BestThingsToStreamApril2020_04012020_V2_700,1000,1800,2500,master.m3u8″},”videoType”:”video-on-demand”,”watchedCookieDays”:1,”watchedCookieName”:”watchedVideoIds”}” tabindex=”0″>

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

Now Playing: Best Shows And Movies To Stream For April 2020 – Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video