Back to the Future
Just to reiterate, the main principal at work here is that every time one of the characters in BTTF travels in time, they create a copy of themselves which theoretically is then part of that particular period in time forever. When we join Marty he has no ability to time-travel. Hes at a fixed point in time where no one has yet conquered time. Well refer to this Marty as Marty Prime as during the adventure, he is the only version of the character that sees events occur in the correct order. However, the moment Marty Prime travels back to 1955 at the end of the first act, the Marty left behind in time becomes Marty I; he existed from birth, right up until that very moment and could theoretically be revisited and observed by Marty Prime at any time. Hence technically there are now two Martys in existence. And dont forget the Doc! Emmet Brown is killed by Libyan terrorists just as Marty escapes through time but hell soon factor in to the equation thanks to Marty Primes wanton time-meddling. Throughout the first Back to the Future though the Doc remains largely in the timeline hes supposed to although its certainly not for lack of trying. After he has successfully pre-united his parents prior to his own bung up in causing them to never meet in the first place, Marty Prime teams up with Doc. Prime in order to repair the DeLorian which if you remember wont power up. After the nail biting Hill Valley Clock scene, Marty Prime is able to travel back to 1985. By the laws of the franchise, this leaves a version of Marty forever reliving his time spent in 1955. Thats three Martys in total: Marty Prime of course; Marty I whos presumable still recreating the video to Blurs Song 2 in 1985 with the giant amp at the Docs house and a new copy, Marty III, who now lives forever in 1955. This already seems like too many Martys for one simple timeline to sustain, no matter how infinite it may or may not be. You could argue that because of events that occurred in the past with Marty and his youthful parents which ended up shaping Marty Primes version of 1985 for the better, that Marty I has been erased from the timelines all together. But that doesnt quite reconcile with the movies prescribed logic. If the rest of the McFly children had been born and existed in this new 1985 then it stands to reason that Marty I would have also still have been born. Hed have been wildly different than our Marty Prime sure, but hed exist nonetheless. Meaning that for a moment at the end of Pt. 1 there are two Marty Mcfly's existing in the same time simultaneously and if they were to ever meet each other (which they surely would, what with living at the same address and such) then its the end of all things Im afraid.
Back to the Future Totals: 3 Martys.
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