This Fan Theory About Marty’s Parents In ‘Back To The Future’ Is WILD

The implication of time travel proves to be one of Back to the Future‘s biggest talking points.

How does it work exactly? Doc Brown warns Marty McFly to not mess with the past too much, because it could have a serious impact on the future – and that makes sense on a surface level. Let’s say Marty prevented his parents, George and Lorraine, from ever meeting in the past. That would have had cataclysmic consequences for him, because he wouldn’t have existed at all, right?

Having said that, Marty still tinkers in the past. He brings the future from 1985 to 1955, which might alert his parents to his time-traveling escapades, according to a Reddit theory. The Redditor and commentators go back and forth about the possibilities, but everyone appears to be in agreement that Marty’s parents must have known he was a time traveler in Back to the Future!

Reddit thinks Marty McFly’s parents knew he was a time traveler in ‘Back to the Future’

The Reddit theory from r/FanTheories says, “Clearly they knew Marty time-traveled. There’s too much his parents know about the future. There’s too many things that happened which would’ve clued them in when it shows up later in the timeline.” The Redditor cited a number of examples such as references to Star Wars, Star Trek, and Calvin Klein. In addition to this, Marty played “Johnny B. Goode,” a song from Chuck Berry which was only released in 1958. Marty tells them what re-runs are and who will set the rug on fire. According to the original poster, these are far from coincidental occurrences, resulting in his parents discovering the truth, or at least forcing Doc Brown to come clean about it.

In the comments section, other commentators expand upon the initial points and debate other examples of how Marty’s parents may have known. Some even suggest that George McFly’s sci-fi novel was inspired by his encounter with his time-traveling son. It’s all fascinating, really, and it’s highly recommended that you check out these fan theories, because some of them are good and highly plausible.

At the same time, there are some who think that most people don’t remember much from their high school days, so it’s unlikely that Marty’s revelations would have stuck with George or Lorraine for that long. In fact, certain scientists may agree with this point-of-view.

Quantum scientists argue that the butterfly effect has minimal influence

Most sci-fi stories suggest that someone changing a tiny aspect of the past could result in bigger consequences for the future. This is known as the butterfly effect – a strong and debated aspect of chaos theory. In 2021, quantum scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory conducted a study using an IBM-Q quantum processor to see if minor changes to the past could radically alter the current world, as much as Hollywood wants you to believe. As per the press release of their findings:

“To their great surprise, the scientists found that the damaged qubit [a two-level quantum system], once returned to the present, was actually in its original state (the ‘before time travel’ state), modified only by some small background noise. The same was true of all the other qubits. As long as the circuit is complicated enough to produce significant entanglement among the qubits, the potential damage is curtailed; any information damaged in the past is recovered in the present.”

In simple terms, a small change to the past didn’t impact future events. Essentially, this pokes a hole in the Reddit theory about Marty’s parents knowing about their son’s time-travel adventures in Back to the Future, since his actions didn’t have major consequences. No one died or was prevented from following the trajectory of their path. Sure, he might have mentioned future brands like Calvin Klein, Star Wars, and Star Trek, but these are more than likely to feel like déjà vu to his parents rather than moments where they feel like they met a time traveler. It’s similar to the feeling we get when we think we have met someone or watched a movie before, but we haven’t – well, in this timeline, at least.

Look, it’s a good theory, and Redditors present a compelling argument, but science suggests otherwise here. Sorry, but Marty’s parents didn’t know their son went back in time in Back to the Future.