History Film / BackToTheFuturePartII

* BadPresent: 1985-A. Hill Valley was reduced to the armpit of the west coast, and as mentioned above, Biff's political clout kept Richard Nixon in office for at least fifteen years. It's so bad that Doc Brown says that hell couldn't be much worse.

* PercussiveMaintenance: When they are about to go back to 1955, the time display of the [=DeLorean=] flashes between 1885 and 1955. Doc punching it twice removes the glitch, but Doc remarks he'll have to fix that thing properly.

* InSpiteOfANail: The only things that have been confirmed not to have been changed in the 1985-A timeline are that Music/MichaelJackson still becomes a famous pop star, ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' still gets made, the Wounded Knee Occupation still takes place, and Lorraine's brother Joey still turns out to be a jailbird.

** While it's not actually pointed out in the film, it's still made clear that Doc made a serious oversight with the design of the Time Circuits: the absence of a recorder or data log to keep track of all the time jumps. This wasn't an issue in the first film, but it now comes back to bite him and Marty in the ass after 2015 Biff steals the [=DeLorean=]. Since the Time Circuits don't keep a record of Time Jumps beyond "Last Time Departed" (and because Doc and Marty FailedASpotCheck when returning from 2015), they don't initially know where and when 2015 Biff gave the Almanac to his younger self. All they know is that it was at some point prior to his 21st Birthday in 1958 (when Biff first used the Almanac), but that also doesn't narrow it down much.

* TapOnTheHead: Marty gets knocked out by Biff's thugs outside the Pleasure Palace and wakes up with no injuries. This is a part of a running gag, as Marty gets knocked out and wakes up perfectly fine in all three movies. Then there are Biff's flunkies in 1955, who get sandbagged (literally) by Marty at the school dance.

* WakingUpElsewhere: Marty wakes up after being knocked out by some bullies. He drowsily assumes that the past several hours have been a bad dream when he finds himself comforted by his mother, [[AssuranceBackfire reassuring him he's safely home with Biff]]. The news [[ThatWasNotADream shocks him awake]] and leads to a brief freakout.

* RequestForPrivacy: In Alternate-1985, Marty confronts Biff about the GraysSportsAlmanac while he's bathing in a hot tub with two bimbos, and he tells them to leave so he can talk to Marty privately about the TimeTravel secret behind his wealth.

* WrittenInAbsence: The movie had its entire plot reworked when Creator/CrispinGlover wanted too much money to reprise his role as Marty's father. Instead of a trip to the 60s (where George was a flower child), we go to an alternate 80s where Biff had become extremely wealthy thanks to [[GraysSportsAlmanac a certain book]], [[spoiler:and George was dead]].

* WhamShot: The scene when Marty realizes that the "almanac" he retrieves after many struggles is a ''decoy'' (an issue of the Oh La La magazine with the almanac's removable dust jacket placed on it by Biff). Especially because, at that point, Marty doesn't have any clues on where Biff (who ''still'' has the real almanac) might be and the clock is ticking. It gets better when Marty sees Biff bullying George and hope is reignited.
-->'''Marty:''' YES!... ''(looks at the pages)'' No! "Oh La La"? "Oh La La"?!

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Doc "borrows" some old newspapers from the closed-down Hill Valley Library in 1985-A.

-->'''Museum Narrator:''' Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Biff Tannen Museum! Dedicated to [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Hill Valley's #1 citizen]], and America's greatest living {{folk hero}}, the one and only Biff Tannen! Of course we've all heard the legend, but who is the man? Inside you will learn how Biff Tannen became one of the richest and most powerful men in America. Learn the amazing history of the Tannen family, starting with his great-grandfather, [[ChekhovsGunman Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen]], fastest gun in the West. See Biff's humble beginnings and how a trip to the racetrack on his 21st birthday [[RagsToRiches made him a millionaire overnight]].[[note]]"Hill Valley Man Wins Big At Races"[[/note]] Share in the excitement of a fabulous winning streak that earned him the nickname "the Luckiest Man on Earth."[[note]]Newspaper headlines like "BIFF WINS AGAIN," "Biff Tannen: Luckiest Man on Earth" flash by[[/note]] Learn how Biff parlayed that lucky winning streak into the vast empire called [[MegaCorp BiffCo]]. Discover how in 1979, Biff successfully lobbied to legalize gambling and turned Hill Valley's dilapidated courthouse into a beautiful casino-hotel! [[note]]'''Biff:''' I just want to say one thing. "God Bless America."[[/note]] Meet [[Creator/MarilynMonroe the]] [[Creator/JayneMansfield women]] who shared in his passion as he searched for true love. And relive Biff's happiest moment as in 1973, he realized his life long romantic dream by marrying his high school sweetheart, [[GuessWhoImMarrying Lorraine Baines McFly]]!\\

* PreemptiveDeclaration: Doc and Marty watch the newspaper article about Marty Jr.'s arrest, headlined, "Youth Jailed: Martin [=McFly=] Jr. Arrested For Theft" change to the headline, "Gang Jailed: Hoverboard Rampage Destroys Courthouse. Gang Leader: 'I WAS FRAMED'", under a photo of Griff being taken to a police car in handcuffs. Doc looks up and sees Griff being perp-walked down the courthouse steps to a police car in handcuffs as a USA Today camera drone descends from the sky. Griff shouts, "I WAS FRAMED!" at which point the camera snaps his picture.

* SelfDeprecation: Marty mocks the holo-shark from Jaws 19 (This time it's really, ''really'' personal), saying it still looks fake. Spielburg directed Jaws and produced the BTTF trilogy.

* NobodyCallsMeChicken: Marty is the TropeNamer. His biggest BerserkButton is being called a chicken, and thus reacts sternly in front of the one who tells him so. Unfortunately, in some cases this masks his situation even worse.

* NobodyCallsMeChicken: Marty is the TropeNamer. His biggest BerserkButton is being called a chicken, and thus reacts sternly in front of the one who tells him so. Unfortunately, in some cases this maskes his situation even worse.

* {{Megacorp}}: Biffco.

* NobodyCallsMeChicken: TropeNamer.

* NotTheFirstVictim: In 1985-A, while threatening Marty, Biff-A all but reveals that [[spoiler:he's the one who killed Marty's father in this timeline.]]

* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: In the future, we're never told what Marty does at [=CusCo=], or what "the plant" actually produces. His conspiracy with Needles (embezzlement? insider trading?) is ambiguous and left to the imagination, though the dialogue with Needles saying their plan would, "Solve all of [2015 Marty's] financial problems" implies some sort of money transfer scheme. Fujitzu being able to immediately detect Marty scanning his card for Needles to use for it implies it was at least partially done through their company's network.

*** Trick question: [[ForWantOfANail They never considered it.]] They only planned on jumping Marty after he performed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because they ran into Part 2!Marty and chased him into the auditorium.]]

* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: A holographic advertisement for ''JustForFun/Jaws19'', directed by Max Spielberg, with the tagline: "This time it's really, ''really'' personal." All Marty has to say is, "The shark still looks fake." Well, to be fair, the ''very'' first thing he has to say is, "AAAAAAAAHHHH!"
%%** Jaws 6 was made for pure pleasure, Jaws 7 and Jaws 8 featured Cyber Jaws and Robo Jaws respectively, Jaws 9 has the grandson of Chief Brody assemble an elite team to fight sharks, Jaws 11 goes to outer space and Jaws 15 sees the shark battling a Russian shark adversary -- to name a few.

* SurpriseVehicle: The [=DeLorean=] in the above scene.

* AcousticLicense: Marty is hiding in the back of Biff's car while Biff is driving. Marty is talking to the Doc on a walkie-talkie. At first, it seems to be an example of this trope when you wonder how could Biff not hear him, he is talking so loudly. However, it turns out to be an aversion - we are hearing from Marty's point of view, but the car is an open top convertible and Biff would have the wind in his ears.

* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: Hill Valley's alternate timeline of "Hell Valley" is partly characterized as a CrapsackWorld by its infestation with outlaw bikers and trigger-happy gangs.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Doc "borrows" some old newspapers from the closed-down Hill Valley Library in 1985-A.

* ConcealingCanvas: In Biff-A's office.

** {{Lampshaded}} by Doc, who ponders why Old Biff chose to travel to November 12, 1955 to give himself the Almanac, the same day and night of the school dance, the huge storm, and Marty's original return to the future. He wonders if there's some cosmic significance to the date, as if it was a junction for the entire space-time continuum--or if was all just one huge coincidence. It's possible that Old Biff chose that particular date because of the football game he shows Young Biff to prove that the Almanac is for real, given that it was a very close call. If Old Biff had called the answers to a game where one side won by a huge margin, Young Biff would say it was just a lucky guess. More likely he views that night -- when George stood up to him for the first time and got the girl Biff was obsessed with -- as the night his life went wrong.[[note]]A deleted scene has Terry in 2015 mention November 12, 1955 as the date of the lightning storm - and also that he had fixed Biff's car on that date, as later seen in the movie. It was meant to be the reasoning behind Biff choosing that particular date.[[/note]]

-->'''Biff:''' He told me one more thing: He said, "Someday, a kid or crazy wide-eyed scientist might show up asking about that book. And if that ever happens..."
-->(''Biff pulls out a pistol and cocks it, making Marty nervous'')

-->'''Marty:''' What about the police, Biff? They're gonna match up the bullet to that gun.
-->'''Biff:''' [[IOwnThisTown Kid, I own the police!]] Besides, they couldn't match up the bullet that killed your old man.
-->'''Marty:''' [[YouMonster You son of a-]]
-->(''[[CurseCutShort Biff cocks his pistol]]'')

* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: Doc Brown chooses to go thirty years into the future specifically because "it's a nice round number", but at the end of the film the time machine gets struck by lightning and goes back to 1885, which is 100 years before the start of the first film.

** Jennifer also has [[DoubleTake a similar reaction]] to the sight of her future boyfriend/husband, Marty - he is ''[[JadedWashout unbelievably]]'' [[FutureLoser different]] than the guy that she's in love with in 1985. Marty himself never sees his future self, [[spoiler:[[CharacterDevelopment but he learns enough]] in ''Part III'' to avert the accident that sent him down that path]].

* HalfIdenticalTwins: Marty Jr. and Marlene, possibly. Some scripts have both children mentioned as being 17, and both were played by Michael J. Fox - so they're commonly believed to be fraternal twins.
* HandWave: To avoid Christopher Lloyd having to put on the "1985 Doc" make-up for the two sequels, an in-universe explanation was provided for a slightly younger-looking Doc: He had extensive plastic surgery and organ replacements in 2015. They also replaced his spleen and colon, and extended his life by "thirty or forty years" - [[spoiler:also meaning he can have a long and happy life with Clara after ''Part III''.]]

* JadedWashout: 2015 Marty Sr. is a sour {{salaryman}} who gave up his guitar dreams when [[CareerEndingInjury he injured his hand]] and was targeted with a lawsuit after a car accident. Driven home by him busting out his guitar after being fired and strumming a few chords - he's not rock-star level, but he plays decently. It's likely he gave up more out of lack of confidence than the hand being a serious problem.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Fujitsu was in the right to fire 2015 Marty - while the latter knew that going into Needles's illegal scam was wrong, he went along with it.

* StealthPun: The scene where 1985 Doc meets 1955 Doc is one. At that moment, they are a pair of Docs - a paradox. Fittingly, the soundtrack that plays during the scene is named exactly that: "[[https://youtu.be/Tlox-FlYmS4 Pair O'Docs]]"

-->'''Doc:''' Better that I devote myself to study the other great mystery of the universe - women...

* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: In 1985-A, there is a biker gang in the square outside the casino.

* AscendedFridgeHorror: If you look carefully at the ''USA Today'' issue, you see a reference to the "Thumb Bandit". Recall that people make transactions with their thumbprints. A criminal who [[BorrowedBiometricBypass steals people's identity by chopping off their thumbs]]? WordOfGod confirms that this is, in fact, the case.

* BigBad: With Doc's improvements making time travel easier, Biff graduates from antagonist into Big Bad with his villainesque alteration of the timeline.
** One could also make a case for the Gray's Sports Almanac itself being the big bad. After all, it isn't getting the book away from Biff that fixes the future, but [[spoiler:burning it]].

* CassetteFuturism: The 1980s nostalgia store is an in-universe example.

* DrowningMySorrows: Lorraine-A is a bigger alcoholic than in the original 1985 from the first film. It's understandable, since the Lorraine of the original timeline had a dysfunctional marriage to George, but certainly not an abusive one like Lorraine-A.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: The picture of Buford Tannen from the museum video was an early makeup test, which is why he looks different than when we finally see him in ''Part III'' (Buford is pictured with a BeardOfEvil instead of a moustache). WordOfGod said that if they had the time, they would have replaced that picture with one featuring his final look.

** While it's not explicitly stated, it's also not hard to imagine that Doc's realized he screwed up just as much as Marty and bears his share of the blame. Old Biff would never had gotten access to the Time Machine if not for the chain of events set off by Doc bringing 1985 Jennifer to 2015 in the first place. More, Doc was in such a rush to get back to 1985 that he completely missed the obvious signs that someone had used the Time Machine while they were rescuing Jennifer.

* FakeShemp: [[WordOfGod Word of Bob Gale]] says that Creator/CrispinGlover got an ego and started making outlandish demands for his return in the sequels. Gale and Zemeckis decided to forget Glover and get creative by using a double actor and some nifty tricks with stock footage and computer effects. It backfired on the producers and Glover sued. The suit was settled out of court and the Screen Actors Guild revised their rules on stock footage use. It should be noted that Glover is still listed in the film's credits as "George [=McFly=] in footage from ''Back to the Future''".

** Doc tells Marty that his visit to the rejuvenation clinic "added a good 30-40 years" to his life; WordOfGod said this ensured he could [[spoiler:start a family with Clara and be around long enough to see their sons grow up in ''Part III'']].

* GenreBlindness: In retrospect, 1985-A Biff should've pulled out his pistol and shot Marty the minute he mentioned the Almanac instead of going through a JustBetweenYouAndMe.
** Similarly, Marty and Doc didn't expect that 2015 Biff would also warn his younger self about the Partners in Time and what to do if anyone matching their description showed up knowing about the book. Justified, as Doc and Marty are used to dealing with the younger, dimwitted Biff and not one who's OlderAndWiser.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: When future Biff gets back to 2015 from the past, he hits himself in the chest with his cane while getting out of the [=DeLorean=], and apparently dies. WordOfGod is that this was because in the bad future that was created after Biff gave himself the Sports Almanac, he gets shot by Lorraine sometime in the [=1990s=]; Biff's collapse was supposed to be the beginning of the altered past causing him to fade out of existence.

* IRememberBecause: In a DeletedScene, the historical preservation society member says that he remembers the day lightning struck the clock tower because it was also the same day that Biff Tannen stiffed him out of a repair bill for cleaning a truckload of manure out of Biff's car.

** Nike did make a limited line of self-lacing shoes, and all money paid for went to Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Foundation.

* MaleGaze: While trying to keep track of Marty, Jr. through some ''Franchise/StarWars''-esque binoculars, Doc Brown's line of vision constantly shifts to the very busty women that passed by him. Although this may just be the auto focus feature of the binoculars, the trope still applies on a meta level.

* ShownTheirWork: The college football scores Biff hears on his car radio are the actual scores of actual college football games played on Saturday, November 12, 1955 -- except, oddly, the Texas A&M-Rice matchup, which the radio announcer says A&M won 20-10 when the actual score was 20-12. Bob Gale said he personally researched the scores of that day to avoid the wrath of sports fans who would call him out if they weren't accurate. The UCLA game the Biffs listen to also correctly notes the Bruins played at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum; although it opened in 1922, the Rose Bowl wouldn't be the home of UCLA football until 1981.

* TilMurderDoUsPart: According to WordOfGod, after giving his younger self the Sports Almanac, Old Biff was erased from existence because Lorraine-A shot Biff-A at some point in the mid-1990s because he was such an awful husband.

* TimeTravelingJerkass: 2015 Biff to a T. He takes Grey's Sports Almanac back to the 1950s and gives it to his past self along with the idea to get rich, which results in 1985-A, a dystopia where Biff [[MurderTheHypotenuse murdered George]] and married Lorraine, who can't get away from him thanks to the power he has. When Marty tries to nab the almanac, he discovers that 2015 Biff also warned his past self about that possibility and he barely escapes with his life. Fortunately, WordOfGod claims [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudiniWarranty he gets shot and killed by Lorraine in the '90s]].]]

* {{Trumplica}}: WordOfGod says the 1985-A Biff was inspired by UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. The portrait from Biff's office is even based on an actual Trump portrait.

** Similarly, Marty and Doc didn't expect that 2015 Biff would also warn his younger self about the Partners in Time and what to do if anyone matching their description showed up knowing about the book. Justified, as Doc and Marty are used to dealing with the younger, dumbass Biff and not one who's OlderAndWiser.