in which Mez is picky

[deird_lj]

So - Back To The Future.

Back in time, groovy car, parents in high school, playing guitar, yada yada yada...

It's extremely fun.

But two things continue to bug me.

1) Instead of having to time it so that the Delorean hits the wire at precisely the right time, while driving at exactly 80 miles per hour, why not just prop the back wheels up on blocks so that they can spin at the right speed while Marty sits patiently in the correct spot? (And no, "it's not dramatic enough" is not a good reason.)

2) Given that the clock tower doesn't have a second hand, how did they figure out the exact moment that the lightning bolt is going to hit it?

Comments

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

1.) Maybe the car itself has to be in actual motion? Like in Speed--I think such an idea was presented, but the bomb still would have went off (and this is before they knew he was watching them via the camcorder on the bus). Eh, I don't know, but it doesn't take me out of the movie.

2.) Really? Um...wasn't it at exactly the top of the hour?

And sometimes, I think the second one is my favorite...or it could be that I love them both equally.

The main thing that ever bugged me was in the third one--why would Marty's great grandparents on his father's side look just like him and his mother? Incestuous...

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I have never considered either of those two questions and I can't say I care. I love this movie to death.

Have you ever seen Brokeback to the Future. You'll never be able to watch the movie again.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

The main thing that bugs me about this movies, which I otherwise love to pieces, is that a skinny white boy "invents" rock 'n' roll in Chuck Berry's place. Hmph.

It's the cultural history swipes, not the physics, that ever trouble me.

[roccondilrinon.livejournal.com]

1) I always assumed that the car, not the wheels, had to be in motion at (or presumably above) that exact speed.
2) I've only seen the movie a couple of times, but if I remember right I think Marty is expressly told the lightning hits at 10:04 precisely. If not in dialogue, you can handwave it by saying the information is in the flyer he's given, but that is a handwave.