I Don’t Get It…: Back to the Future

By Brian @ Hard Ticket to Home Video

Today we ponder the question “How did Marty’s parents not recognize their son as Calvin Klein?” Brad argues that they would have recognized him, while Brian defends that they wouldn’t put it together.

BRIAN: She’s not going to remember exactly what that guy she knew for a few days 30 years ago looked like, and she doesn’t know that time travel exists, so why would she suspect anything?

BRAD:  I remember every girls’ face I ever wanted to bone or had a crush on. Plus his name was Marty, (she called him Marty right?) C’mon, its a little hokey. He did impact their lives dramatically.

BRIAN: All he really did was hook them up. If you saw a girl you kissed in 6th grade now at the same age you wouldn’t think, “This must be the very same girl!”

BRAD: Firstly, we’re not talking about 6th grade but Junior or Senior year of high school. Second, Marty did way more than just hook them up. He impacted that whole school! He humiliated Biff outside the malt shop with that epic chase.  And then he fills in for the guitarist for the school dance band and not only plays a solo rock n’ roll song that which the style was completely new but he went so over the top that people not only stopped dancing but stared in disbelief and shock and what they just heard. Are you telling me that you can forget a strange kid like that, even 30 years later? They remembered the name, The Enchantment Under the Sea Dance so the likelihood of them forgetting that odd short kid would be highly unlikely.

BRIAN: I’m not saying Marty wasn’t awesome, I’m saying his mom isn’t going to see him as a teenager 30 years later and think, “Hmm, he must have time traveled.”

BRAD: OK, maybe Lorraine’s substance abuse hindered her memory and judgment but she’s not alone. His dad couldn’t think back a few times and ponder, “Ya know my youngest kid kinda reminds me of that weird kid who said all those weird things to me & for some reason really wanted me to date Lorraine back in high school. He also strangely enough hung out in the school for a few days and then vanished!” “I also wonder what happened to that alien Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan who visited me one night also making me date Lorraine. What’s on TV tonight? Star Wars! Great, hey wait a minute…”

BRIAN: George was a god damn scatterbrain. But yeah you’d think he’d at least remember the Darth Vader/Vulcan stuff when he saw it again. Maybe he just assumed George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry received a visit from the same alien.

IN CONCLUSION: We learned nothing.

29 thoughts on “I Don’t Get It…: Back to the Future”

  1. Today I learned to never eat sausage and potatoes for dinner, have a glass of tomato juice for breakfast and then try and fart in the shower.

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  3. Whew, for a minute when I saw the title I thought this was going to be about not liking Back to the Future and not getting why it’s such a classic movie. I don’t think they would make the connection between a guy they knew for a week in high school versus their own son who they watched grow up and turn into this teenager after 15 years. They’ve been looking at his face for that long and he looked nothing like some weird kid they knew in high school, one day he does, but by then their memory is so fuzzy about him that they would just convince themselves that their memory of how he looks was wrong, especially since they don’t have any pictures of him. Although if George was the suspicious type, he may have some doubts about Lorraine’s fidelity.

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  4. Lorraine and George just weren’t that bright to begin with. But you’ve got to think that when Calvin Klein becomes a household name for fashion years later that they’d be wondering if it was the same guy. And then maybe Lorraine would look at Marty (because he looks exactly like the Calvin Klein of her memories) and make some kind of connection, right?

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  5. George definitely wondered why his youngest son looked much more like some shadowy guy courting his would-be wife from 30 years prior than himself, but he was such a mousy puss, he never would have voiced any concerns. That daughter was probably Biff’s, too.

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  6. But they are together…MARRIED because of MARTY!! ALL because of HIM!! She had a crush on him (the Florence Nightingale syndrome) and even went so far as to throw herself at him and he rejected her (how could she forget that?). Instead George comes to her rescue from Biff and they end up together. While Lorraine had her crush, Marty is trying SOOO hard to get George to date Lorraine (how could he forget that?). After Lorraine and George hook up at the dance, they practically THANK Marty for getting them together and Marty says a lot of weird things like they make a great couple and that a kid of theirs will break a lamp. Even with the altered time & space continuum they STILL named their youngest son MARTY; so he had to have had a good impact. Sure they wouldn’t think that it was the same Marty as he grew up but I’m sure as anything they had to have thought back at that fateful November back in their youth and recalled how their courtship started and that strange and unusual kid Marty and how much more and more their son Marty looks like him. Especially if they lived in the same town and were still friends(?) with Biff!

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      • I may be the exception but I pretty much remember every student in my graduating class’ face. And Marty was an exceptional student for the things he did for that short amount of time in 1955. Also 1985 Biff should remember Marty more so since he has more hatred for him. Sure, they may not remember exactly what 1955 Marty looked like but they should at least acknowledge the fact that he existed and that 1985 Marty’s looks and mannerisms kinda match.

        Sorry about forgetting the living room rug. But you’re proving my point since that incident is way more specific.

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