Back to the Future is most characterized by three things: ’80s nostalgia, the riveting back-and-forth between Michal J. Fox’s Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, and time travel Easter Eggs. One such comment in Back to the Future Part III doubles up on a couple of these features. After the fallout of Back to the Future Part II‘s ending, Marty prepares to go back in time to the Old West to save a displaced Doc and accidentally changes the name of another local landmark.
Of course, one of the most famous accidental changes Marty made is the name of the town’s mall. Initially called “Twin Pines Mall,” when Marty first goes back in time to 1955, he crashes into a tree, causing the name to be “Lone Pine Mall” when he returns. It is exactly the type of thing that Doc, or at least some version of him, would fuss over, dedicated to maintaining continuity. Doc eventually lets go of this, choosing to stay in the 1880s and start a family, but he seems to unintentionally chide Marty for the Lone Pine incident first.
Doc Brown In Part III References Back To The Future’s “Lone Pine Mall” Easter Egg
Doc Chooses The Drive-In To Avoid Another Lone Pine Mall
In Back to the Future Part III, Marty recruits 1955 Doc once again to travel through time. Once they have found and prepared the time machine, Doc takes them out to a drive-in movie theater that Marty can use for his runway. Marty comments that it will be a very long trek back into town, to which Doc responds that this is the ideal location because it will be undeveloped in 1885: “We can’t risk sending you back into a populated area […] You don’t want to crash into some tree that existed in the past.“
Why Doc Brown Isn’t Careful About Where Marty Lands In The First Movie
Marty Wasn’t Supposed To Go Back To 1955
However, 1955 Doc making this comment suggests that it is something 1985 Doc would have thought of when he and Marty first tested the time machine in the original movie. Presumably, Doc had the car in position so Einstein wouldn’t crash because the car had plenty of parking lot left for its landing.
Doc also says during this scene that he remembers when the area used to be farmland, apparently aware that the lot was once very forested. He only inputs the date in 1955 as a kind of anecdote for Marty, as it was the day he thought of time travel. Doc did seemingly plan to use the lot as his runway to travel into the future, not the past.
However, they are attacked and Marty both goes into the past and veers off course, resulting in the crash and the mall being renamed. The intention of it all, of course, is to be a quirky time-travel adventure with fun Easter Eggs like this. However, for all of Doc’s planning, it does seem like his and Marty’s travels result in a lot of slight alterations like this.
