October 21st, 2015 is the main temporal setting of “Back to the Future Part II” (1989). This upcoming future, has made me (and many others) revisit the franchise.

In “Back to the Future” (1985), before Marty McFly travels to the past, “Doc” sends his dog Einstein one minute into the future. “Doc” starts his time travel experiments on a dog, and then Marty accidentally travels to the past.

Was this an accident? Isn’t it possible that “Doc” used Marty as a guinea pig to see if time travel was safe for humans before travelling himself? He seems willing to leave Marty behind. This is first mentioned when he talks about travelling to the future and Marty tells him to “look me up.” He then actually does leave Marty in “Back to the Future Part III” (1990), when “Doc” decides to stay in the past.

It’s usually good to question the motivations in the relationship between an eccentric middle-aged man and a teenage boy.