#q continuum trilogy

[gurizuring]

what's most compelling about Q is that he's a loner trickster god that is inexplicably obsessed with picard but ok

[theboardwalkbody]

Artificial façade from a fraud of a God All due to the path that we trod We just wanted to heal, but now our nightmares are real And now we'll never wake up, for we've torn apart

We want freedom, freedom Freedom, freedom, freedom (we all fall down) We'll sleep well now, dream dreams knocked out New blooms when Playtime sprouts

[arkon-z]

actually i'm not done talking about the String Theory Trilogy. Basically, it's a set of Star Trek Voyager tie-in novels set between seasons 4 and 5 that I think were trying to fill in some of the discrepancies that popped up in Season 5. But, fuck, what a way to do it. I read them about 13 years ago, and I can't just reread them willy-nilly because my genius ass had to buy the DRM protected ebooks so they're trapped on a laptop that I lost years ago.

So for funsies, I'll try and describe the books based on the plot points I remember! Spoilers, I guess.

the crew have to rescue a colony ship trying to outrun a supernova that's going to destroy their home planet

that home planet is in a weird sublayer of reality or something because when Voyager enters it, weird shit starts happening, including one of the crew members turning into something like maple syrup and melting

B'Elanna and Seven are injured in an accident and the only way to complete their away mission is for Seven to assimilate B'Elanna and create a collective of two. This leads to telepathy and eventually, the two of them switch personalities because of course they do

the colony ship rescue mission literally falls apart when they try to tractor the ship out of that sublayer of space and the alien ship and all the occupants dissolve

Voyager gets trapped in the sublayer too, and the only way out is to blow up the white dwarf star that is somehow connecting the sublayer to normal space. So guess what the crew does next.

when the dust settles and Voyager is back in normal space having reunited with the away team, Harry takes one look at Seven and B'Elanna, who have switched personalities and B'Elanna is now sporting cybernetic implants, and just says, "We didn't get back to the right reality," in the most matter-of-fact tone possible, because nothing surprises this crew anymore.

And that's just the first book.

in the second book, they come across a space station orbiting a black hole. this space station refills all the resources on Voyager, because this was the author's best explanation for why the ship didn't run out of power or torpedoes or shuttles.

Janeway's order to blow up the white dwarf star has, somehow, started a chain reaction that will eventually unravel reality, so now she has to prove that the crew didn't do it on purpose or something

Susperia (the Caretaker's mate), or some other Nacene entity, sneaks onto the ship to take revenge on the crew for fucking up reality, so she poses as Janeway's sister and alters the memories of the crew to think she had always been there.

except there are two people on the ship who aren't affected by her rewrites - Harry Kim and Naomi Wildman - because they are quantum duplicates of their original selves with a slightly different phase signature and she didn't account for them

also the reason they had to go to the space station was because Tuvok stole a shuttle and ran away to it, because something told him to do it

shit happens, tom and harry are kidnapped, tuvok is gone, the doctor is gone, no one knows what's happening anymore and that's the end of book two

Turns out each book has a different author (i looked them up) and it's starting to feel like they're trying do outdo each other.

tom and harry have been pulled into the Q continuum where Q needs their help to catch a rouge Q

catching the guy involves tom winning a race as a microbe inside a cat's digestive system (i'm not kidding), then beat the guy at gambling in a casino, because only in games of chance do the Q feel the thrill of not being in total control

meanwhile, the Doc is thousands of years in the past on the Ocampa homeworld, having possessed a man who was killed in a war, so now he has a living, breathing body

they fight this war with flame swords and psychic powers, in case you were worried things were going to get subtle

janeway is being tried for destabilizing reality and is currently braindead in sickbay while her consciousness is in ghost court or wherever that's happening

tom and harry lose betting game played by the Q and the loss blows up the planet they were trying to rescue those aliens from back in the first book and somehow they learn that it and the sublayer of space were the leftovers of some kind of temporal fuck-up eons ago and weren't actually meant to exist.

the sublayer comes apart, the space station is ruined and sucked into the black hole, but it's all okay because either the rouge Q learned the error of his ways or the judge of ghost court decided this mess wasn't janeway's fault and all those aliens are saved and sent to space heaven

the Doc altered the course of time on Ocampa, and it means that in the modern day, it started raining again

i forget the actual resolution, but everyone ends up back on Voyager safe and sound, more or less. janeway apparently suffered some brain damage that will make her act angry and out of character sometimes, but they can't tell her why because who the fuck would believe it? (i forget the actual reason why they couldn't tell her)

also, the sublayer collapsing into the black where the space station used to be also sucked up all the light within nine light years, creating the Void, from the episode 'Night'

which means this book/WHOLE TRILOGY was the explanation for why there was no light in that spot in space and why janeway had depression for that episode and why she seemed so angry in subsequent episodes

yeah, those books were a trip. I should read them again.

[dgcatanisiri]

We did get that PS5, and I dove in to Star Trek Resurgence, managing to burn through its story. It does help that it's a Telltale style choice game, so it's shorter to account for the choices.

I'm pleased about this game in general, because I definitely wanted one of these for a while, that I think that the format works well for Star Trek in video games, and I think it's a good standalone story that non-fans could enjoy all the same.

Obviously, as a Trek fan in general, I recommend it, but I am going to throw up a cut for spoilers if anyone is going to seek it out.

I like the use of the Tkon as antagonists - they're among the many underutilized ancient civilizations in the franchise, I think the only other significant time they've appeared since they were introduced was the Q Continuum trilogy, featuring the fall of their civilization dovetailing into the antics of Q's history. So worth revisiting in general, and nifty to see them in action.

I genuinely enjoyed all the characters - Rydek and Diaz are interesting protagonists and it's fun to see their journey. The reason I burned through the game as I did was because I was interested in see their story go through to its conclusion.

On a writing level, I do understand the story choice to put Diaz in the position where he can end up functionally dead, but I was disappointed that my game ended with him not getting a happy ending, and that getting a happier ending involves sacrificing Edsilar.

Speaking of Edsilar, she probably was the standout of the NPCs. Especially with her alternate view on Trill joining. She's the kind of character I absolutely want to see in further Trek adventures, be it a sequel or screen.

I do have to give some knocks to Bedrosian, though, mostly because I think she fails to really accept the reality of being a Starfleet officer, though I'm sure that there's some allowance to be made on her suffering as she does in the course of events. But her resignation over saving the Tkon crystals is one of those things that feels like her putting her personal feelings over the oaths of a Starfleet officer - blind destruction is not the way of Starfleet. Again, I offer some concession about her having been traumatized, probably in a position where she really shouldn't be fit for duty, but the crisis forces her back on her feet early. All the same, it's a character critique I have.

Honestly, I think my biggest complaint really is the whole plotline with Miranda as a possible romance. I mean, we have NO concept of her as a person before she dumps the "I want to be with you" on Diaz all of a sudden, and then you get like one scene afterwards before she's bioformed by the Tkon.

Admittedly, I'm always opposed to heteronormativity in general, so there was never going to be me jumping on board this attempt at romance, but... I had no reason to take that step, and never really felt like the story gave me reason to be invested in the idea of Miranda and Diaz.

I was also kinda disappointed that Chovak and Urmott were kinda non-entities in the course of things - Chovak felt like he should have featured more in Diaz's story, and Urmott in particular should have had more to do, because he functionally disappears between the crisis at the Starbase and the confrontation with Captain Solano. It kinda makes it all the easier to tap Westbrook for first officer, and then makes his complaint about Westbrook getting that promotion come across as petty jealousy instead of a genuine concern.

Still, in the overall scheme, I consider these minor issues and, again, I enjoyed this game. I would eagerly pick up a sequel, and not just because I want more Star Trek video games. Or, if not a direct sequel, then something else in the spiritual successor vein.

It's a good way to start off my PS5 gaming.

[yaysheppy]

just finished reading q-zone, book 2 from the q continuum trilogy ^_^ hey what the fuck just happened

[therealaves-blog1]

I want the void to see my takes on Star Trek: Coda

I have opted to read Star Trek: Coda, the tilogy that sort of closes out the pre-disco/pre-picard eu novelverse that carried on from the shows and the movies from like the 90s to I think late 10s?

Three dudes put it together and wrote each book. Book 1 (Moments Asunder) is by Dayton Ward someone I admit I am unfamiliar with. Im mostly doing this cause this lil EU has a soft spot in my heart for having read the Destiny Trilogy (Borg War mentioned below) one of the Titan books (Sword of Damocles, fun time nightmare) and the first DTI book ‘Watching the Clock’ (The DTI is basically the Federation’s Time OSHA) Destiny was very cool for teen me (dont know if it holds up but the Aventine is a certified banger of a starship).

 DTI follows fan favorites Dulmer and Lucsly from that one ep of DS9 as they deal with time bullshit, the Temporal Cold War from Enterprise, local DTI counterparts and their superiors/successors from Uptime: The TIC of the 19th Century (Temporal Integrity Commission from Voyager, actually Time Cops kind of dicks) and the FTA from the 31st century (the reformed version of the TIC who are much less angy about everything and more yoda to their mace windu.) 

I bring this up because its a good book (need to read the others) has some fun stuff about how time works and linking different Time Episodes from TNG - ENT and has my favourite detail about the DTI: the entire department hates Kirk for his time crimes (his frequent jaunts through history is stated to be a big factor in the forming of the department) and Janeway for her own time crimes which led to a fun story where Lucsly quit in disgust when DTI and FTA agents stopped them from sending her to time war criminal jail (Uptime agents are by default in charge because) for vague time reasons (listed below)

Fun opener: lists pertinent details of the setting in dot point form like Sisko was in the wormhole for like one year lmao, ds9 got blown up by the breen and so they built another one but federation design and its ds9 2. Ro Laren is in charge because Kira decided to be a Vedek. Some of this is stated, some of this I learned in the few other books Ive read, and some of this is a wiki dive on Memory Beta (its like their official licensed but not canon works wiki, lots of cool ships pictures.) Apparently those weird critters that got into starfleet in early TNG were a trill offshoot from 1000 years back that basically left Trill to make their perfect joined society in space with no normies and then did some genetic fuckery and accidently made them into Goa’ould that are insane and want to do genoicde. They thought they got them all and just erased that part of their history but Dax finds out about it from the big trill that lives inside those caves which is super old and because of political issues its agreed all symbionts will return to the caves following their current hosts death until a sufficient number is reached so that anyone who wants to join can be joined.

Janeway died stopping a Borg attack where they ate Pluto and was then resurrected a year later by Q to help the full circle fleet (federation exploration fleet equipped with slipstream drives that were perfected from Voyagers info, sent to look at how the Delta Quadrant is doing) with a negative space wedgie that she'd solved in the history where she didn't commit crimes against the timeline. It has something to do with the Q and the Omega molucule being like opposite forces and the Q Continuum are creative balances or something to the Omega Continuum’s raw chaos? and a crew member of full circle is like a child of Omega somehow, Idk, these summaries arent great. They figure out how to stop it from blowing up the universe and Lady Q is pissed cause it kills q, but Q understands why it happened and says she’ll forgive Janeway in time. Ensign Omega also dies but she was books only I think. They only lose a few billion years from the lifespan of the universe which seems pretty good all things considered.

Data also was resurrected 5 years after he died in Nemesis (they figured out how to pull his brain out of B4) and so was Lal (they figured out how to pull her brain out of Data and make a body that didnt brain destroy itself). Bashir also dated nice augment lady from those two eps of DS9 which I dont really like as a concept because of the whole power dynamics they acknowledge in that episode. Also hes recovering on Cardassia with Garak after the 31 stuff listed below. Tom Parris and Belana Torres are still together but had to flee with the full circle fleet cause their kid is apparently some Klingon messiah or some shit.

its been two years since the Borg war, where they assaulted the entire alpha and beta quadrant in a 'more trouble than they're worth' attack. It was solved by time bullshit, learning the origin of the Borg (which I admit I liked when I read), and a higher species led by the now functionally immortal Captain Hernandez (archers ex from that one ep of Ent with the Columbia who managed to survive the og event that inspired the Kobayashi Maru Test and limp to a planet with advanced alien leading to a bootstrap paradox deal.) It led to a bunch of bullshit including andoria briefly seceding, the romulans, the gorn, the breen, the tholians and others making the typhon pact which is sort of the federations counterpart in peaceful exploration and expansion but of the bad guy races (of them only the romulans and some gorn are actually trying to do the whole peace in our time thing the rest use it as a military alliance).

The Federation and Klingon Empire responded by expanding the Khitomer Accords to include the ferengi (now less libertarian and shit, thank you based Rom who immediately accepted entrance into the accords), cardassia (now less fascist and shit, maybe thanks Garak on that one? idk, need to read A Stich in Time still), the free romulan state (the supernova happened and basically split the empire ideologically into the hardliners and the nicer ones, the nice ones were going to join but got forcibly absorbed into the Typhon Pact) and the Talarians (cant place em, think they were in like one ep of TNG?).

Bashir succeeded in taking out Section 31 and their crimes were exposed but it accidentally implicated Picard because he helped remove a corrupt federation president who 31 then had quietly moided. Riker is an Admiral (suck it Picard) with the Titan as his psuedo flagship as he leads exploration efforts in the Beta Quadrant (and Tuvok is there, yay Tuvok!). The Titan is also a certified banger of a starship.Riker was its former Captain but got promoted for the whole ‘helping directly neutralize the Borg forever’ thing. He and Deanna have a kid which the lizard man chief doctor helped deliver (I like him, hes fun and I think makes jokes about being a carnivore). His ex and former XO, Christina Vale, is the permanent captain and im sure she and Deanna have a lot of fun talking shit about the admiral behind his back. Part of why Titan is a banger is that it has the most diverse crew in the Federation, so lots of weird aliens! we start at human plus with Melora Pazla from that one DS9 ep and going way way harder.

I love when they just have weird races, one of the crew members is from a race of like predator shapeshifters who look like gold and have a humanoid form because their bionest mother or whatever decided it would aid in working with humanoid species. There also Ensign Torvig who is from a race cybernetically uplifted by another race and was very emotionally fraught during the borg thing because of depressing existential questions about cybernetic life. Seemed like a good egg from what I remember (not literally, they're like deer-ish if I remember right?).

Bajor is in the federation too now, but further research indicates Quarks is now a bar and embassy so he can keep making money in utopia. Must be nice having your based Union Chad Brother leading your people. also in this eu canon, Sisko got back from the celestial temple a whole year before Janeway got home? which is very funny to me. Also Rom and Leeta had 3 kids and stopped Brunt from couping him with false marriage contracts or someshit (suitable Ferengi). Good for him, glad he and Leeta made it work (and also created a workers paradise Im assuming). The Enterprise E is currently in the Odyssean reach or something, charting space and making friends on the border with the romulan chunk of the Pact States. Yay! Boldly going!

I think that's everything relevant to the starting line? Jesus this is set barely 10 years after Nemesis. Shit hit the fucking fan for a few years there. And now it appears to be again with some kind of weird time nonsense, will our beloved characters be able to stop history going bad? again? again? Will we see some cool ships? Will Captains not named Picard or Riker get to be cool as hell? Will Lt. Cmdr. Nog be promoted from acting Assistant Chief Engineer to Chief Engineer of DS9 2? Wiil Chief O’Brien be brought back from Starfleet Academy just to suffer? Those answers lie in the next post and beyond!

[belovedstars]

i'm reading the q continuum trilogy by greg cox and something delightful he does is address our Q and our female Q with capital Qs, while calling Q jr q, lowercase, because he's little, which i'm pretty sure is something i've done, too, and i love it.

[q-card]

Do you or anyone in the fandom have knowledge of what are all the Q books out there? i have read/listened to "I, Q", "Q-In-Law", "The Gift" and "Spock Vs. Q 2"(couldn't find online the first one yet!) and just now I found about "The Q Continuum"

Those are the ones I know of ("The Q Continuum" is a trilogy).

Does anyone else know if there are more Q novels?

[ubuiltatimemachineoutofadelorean]

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Experience one of the most popular movie series of all time like never before with Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy ! Join Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and a time traveling DeLorean for the adventure of a lifetime as they travel to the past, present and future, setting off a time-shattering chain reaction that disrupts the space-time continuum! From filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, this unforgettable collection features hours of bonus features and is an unrivalled trilogy that stands the test of time.

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The Hollywood Museum Goes Back To The Future

Back To The Future: The Musical – Behind The Scenes

An Alternate Future: Lost Audition Tapes

Could You Survive The Movies? Back To The Future

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Tales From The Future: 6-Part Documentary

The Physics of Back To The Future

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Michael J. Fox Q&A

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Number of Discs: 7 340 mins approx

[garakcore]

Hey!! Um 1, 4, 5, 15, 22 and 26? Oops so many, sorry I'm a lil too excited!

Hi! Thank you for the ask! :)

1) What planet would you not want to lead an away team on? This isn’t a planet, but it’s a location- Empok Nor. If you want an actual planet, I would hate to be on the planet with the Quickening, I forget the name of it.

4) Favourite Doctor? Hands down- Julian. I know he’s not easy to like for some people but for some reason he vibed with me like instantly, and I only started liking him better as the show went on.

5) Starship you’d like to serve on the most? Not to get off-topic (since this is my DS9 blog), but I would like to serve on Picard’s Enterprise the most. I would say the Defiant because Deep Space Nine is my favorite series but no. There’s a war.

15)  Worst alien makeup/costume? I just reblogged a picture of this, and I know it’s not technically the worst, but the original Cardassian makeup from TNG. Gul Macet... oh honey.

22)  Do you read Star Trek books? If yes, which ones would you recommend? Again, not to be off-topic, but I would totally recommend the Q Continuum trilogy (Q-Space, Q-Zone, Q-Strike) and I,Q. I haven’t read any DS9 books yet but I am eagerly awaiting the time, opportunity, and money to read the books with Garak. (On a side note, if any of you have any DS9 book recommendations, please let me know!)

26) The character you’d follow into battle no questions asked? Definitely Sisko. I mean, really Picard too, but there’s just something special about Sisko. He’s just awesome. 

[unkillability]

dont u just wanna go apeshit sometimes....return to ur roots.... god these are so hideous i lose my mind every time i look at them. still need the 1st in the continuum trilogy but im happy atm. i opened to a random page in one of the other & q was like *pulls eels out of thin air & ties them together like balloon animals & makes a replica of the enterprise which he then hands to picard whos like 'h ' bc the eels had zero relevance to anything whatsoever he just felt the need to do that*

[tparadox]

I was impressed when The Rise And Fall Of Khan Noonien Singh connected thirty years of real history into a series of moments where the Eugenics Wars leaked out of the shadows. I was impressed when the Q Continuum trilogy drew three godlike entities from TOS into Q's backstory.

But the first Department of Temporal Investigations novel (Watching The Clock) getting in at least a reference to every single time travel and temporal anomaly in all of Star Trek and weaving a story out of it is on an entirely different level. I'm not sure if it's more impressive that the incident in Captain's Holiday (not one that comes to mind when I think time travel) is now a Temporal Cold War incident, or declaring that Spock's idea in Tomorrow Is Yesterday to return people to their right places in time by beaming them into the same space as their earlier counterparts was the invention of the "reintegration" of temporally duplicated people alluded to in Relativity.

[startrekucast]

It's a feedback episode! Here's what we talk about:

*Convincing others to give 'Discovery' a whirl, fun with puns, and Diane Duane's 'Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages' with Bill Reed!  

Novels discussed:  'My Enemy, My Ally', 'The Romulan Way', 'Swordhunt', 'Honor Blade', 'The Empty' Chair' by Diane Duane (collected as 'Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages'), 'Spock's World' and 'Dark Mirror' by Diane Duane, and 'Dwellers in the Crucible' by Margaret Wander Bonanno

* How to head-canon Zephram Cochrane's metamorphosis from the film 'First Contact' to the TOS episode "Metamorphosis" with Randy Christopher!

* A desire for more 'Star Trek: Enterprise' and a need to see a Romulan Wars mini-series with Dylan Diggs!

*Update on our opinions of the technology in Discovery! --Star Trek Hologram History (Including Discovery): https://youtu.be/Ewjh0lPRQGI --STAR TREK: DISCOVERY EXPLAINS THE LOW-TECH '60S VIBE OF THE ORIGINAL SHOW WITH A WEIRD CANON TWIST: http://bit.ly/2TJxUJX

* Asthmatic turtles, mermaids, and sloths with Bethany Roberson

* The state of Jennifer Lien with Robert Butler

* Instagram questions: Which ship is your favorite? Kirk vs Picard

* Instagram listener @christinehoppe78 recommends "Space Team" by Barry J. Hutchison, "Paradox" and "Paradox 2" by Phillip P. Peterson | Dave recommends the "Q Continuum" trilogy by Greg Cox and "IQ" by Peter David and John de Lancie

* Twitter's @MattVader74 and @yusuku13 recommends and questions if we cover books and comics, and Dave talks entirely too long about books and comics (as if we haven't talked about those enough this episode)

* Twitter's @Nerdytastic and @ChuckCredoIV give us props

Star Trek Universe Podcast #033 - Discovering 'Discovery' + Other Feedback

[the-errant-bard]

In Greg Cox's Q Continuum trilogy, Q says "I never went back because it was a terrible place" Picard replies that the reports said otherwise, and wonders if maybe he should have punched Q years ago. Riker immediately offers to give a crack at it.

I'm sorry, but there will never be any interaction with Q that's funnier than Sisko punching him, and Q never turning up again.

[trekfm]

305: The Nacene Scenes

String Theory, Book 3: Evolution. After incalculable losses, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager continue to battle against the forces of "Phoebe Janeway" and her army of exiles, determined to re-enter Exosia. The effects of the conflict among the Nacene threaten to spill beyond the boundaries of the Monorhan system. The very underpinning of the universe threatens to unravel thanks to the actions of the exiled Nacene, and only Voyager stands in their way!

In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson discuss the third and final book in the String Theory trilogy: Evolution by Heather Jarman. We talk about Tom & Harry's adventure in the Q Continuum, The Doctor's mission to Ocampa's past, the final showdown on Voyager, Janeway's absence in this novel, the plot elements that set us up for Voyager's future, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings.

At the top of the show, we judge the upcoming More Beautiful Than Death by David Mack by its cover, review issue #11 of Star Trek: Year Five, and respond to feedback from The Babel Conference for Literary Treks 304: Vulcans Do Not Cry. News 'More Beautiful Than Death' Details (00:02:20) New Star Trek Comics Schedule (00:10:39) Star Trek Year Five #11 Review (00:12:17) Listener Feedback (00:23:59)

Feature: String Theory: Evolution Tom and Harry’s Big Adventure (00:27:14) The Doctor's Quantum Leap (00:39:11) Showdown on Voyager (00:49:38) Lack of Janeway (00:54:49) Setting up for Season 5 (01:02:42) Ratings (01:09:08) Final Thoughts (01:14:29)

Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson

Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer) Casey Pettitt (Associate Producer)

New podcast episode!

[citizenscreen]

My history with time travel is deep, but it is fraught with confusion. Repeatedly, I have traveled to lands everywhere and across millennia with several Federation crews as a fan of Star Trek and at each turn I have gotten lost. The shame of that is a burden I carry with me always. It was the case when I first watched The City on the Edge of Forever, an episode of the original Star Trek series. In that episode a talking time portal called the “Guardian of Forever” takes Kirk, Spock and McCoy to Depression-era New York where we learn that no matter how painful, one cannot interfere with fate. It happened as I watched Tapestry, an episode of The Next Generation, in which Q allows Captain Picard the opportunity to re-do a decision that can save his life. It was present as I watched Voyager episode, Shattered, when the ship is fractured into different eras of its own history, which poses an enjoyable, but especially bewildering time for this fan. I understand the fascinating ethical and moral conundrums posed by time travel as well as the time and space logistics. It is the simple decisions that alter the time/space continuum that fall well outside my realm of comprehension. In order to correct that after many years of struggling I took a closer look at Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future trilogy, which offers basics for the time travel-challenged like me. Following are my observations.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future

Back to the Future is a sparkling adventure movie that has not lost its charm since its release on July 3, 1985. Perhaps a few of the topical visual jokes, which hit the mark in the 1980s are lost to some today, but one can see why Back to the Future was the highest-grossing film of the year and why is sparked two sequels, Back to the Future II in 1989, and Back to the Future III in 1990. Watching these films in succession not only brought back great memories, but also strengthened my time travel know-how.

Back to the Future begins in 1985, or what I call home base year. Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a teenager from Hill Valley, California whose best friend is lovable, eccentric scientist, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, played memorably by Christopher Lloyd. Doc’s most important invention is the DeLorean he has turned into a time machine. This vehicle serves as the tool by which Marty and Doc travel through time in all three installments of Back to the Future. The time machine is rigged to transport to its pre-chosen year when it hits 88 mph with the place always being a historical or futuristic Hill Valley. I mention that because using the same town in all eras helps people (like me) understand when they are in the story.

Time travel in the original Back to the Future is simple, but each new installment brings transports that are more complicated. Our adventure begins at a shopping mall parking lot where Doc unveils the modified DeLorean, which is powered by plutonium. For details about the technology of Doc’s time machine, you’ll have to watch all three movies in the trilogy because they change depending on era. Anyway, just as Doc is showing Marty how the time navigation works by setting the clock to November 5, 1955, the Libyans from whom he stole the plutonium show up and shoot Doc. Trying to escape, Marty takes off in the DeLorean and when he reaches 88 mph, he transports to 1955.

Doc demonstrates the time traveling DeLorean for Marty

The DeLorean Time Clock Setting in Back to the Future

The fun begins when Marty McFly lands in 1985 and runs into his own mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) and father, George (Crispin Glover). Marty begins to affect his future existence almost immediately because his mother falls for him. Hilarity ensues as Marty’s quest becomes ensuring that his mother and father fall in love with each other or he and his siblings will never be born. There is also fun to be had thanks to Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), the town bully and bane of the McFly existence. In the meantime Doc sets the stage to get Marty back to the future by powering the DeLorean with a lightning strike that’s set to hit the Hill Valley clock tower. They know the exact moment when the lighting will strike because of the future.

Doc and Marty know the exact moment when lightning will strike the Clock Tower by newspaper articles in the future

The story in Back to the Future II begins right after the one in the first movie ends. In fact, it begins on the exact same date in 1985 that the first story does, which means that when you time travel time does not pass in your home-base time/year. That’s a bit confusing, but anyway, Marty has just arrived back to 1985 from 1955 when Doc arrives in the DeLorean and convinces him and girlfriend, Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) to go back to the future to help their future children. The trio arrive in 2015, but Doc immediately knocks out Jennifer so she does not realize what’s happening. In the meantime, old 1985 Biff saw the three fly away in the DeLorean, which means he learns about the car’s time travelling abilities. More on that in a moment. Marty is able to pose as his own lookalike son and refuses to take part in a robbery, thus saving his son from years in prison. By doing this Marty has completed the task, but he makes a grave mistake when he comes upon a sports almanac that lists all the winners of sporting events for the last several decades. Realizing the danger of having such information at hand, Doc convinces Marty to get rid of the almanac and he does, but Biff finds it and by doing so changes the course of history. This is a cautionary tale for anyone who has ever imagined getting his/her hands on lotto numbers in advance and a statement against time travel itself.

Doc and Marty return to 1985 to find decadence and degradation the orders of the day in Hill Valley. As it turns out 2015 Biff steals the sports almanac and using the DeLorean goes to 1955, gives the almanac to his younger self, and by doing so becomes a millionaire by betting on sports. Not only does Biff become owner of every establishment in Hill Valley, we learn he has killed George McFly and married Lorraine. In short, this 1985 Hill Valley is a complete nightmare. Doc and Marty reach the conclusion that the only way they can fix the future 1985 is to go back to 1955 to the exact moment when 2015 Biff gives 1955 Biff the almanac in order to prevent it.

Old Biff gives Young Biff the sports almanac

Biff wins big on sports betting by knowing the winners beforehand

Recognizable adventures greet Marty in 1955 this time as he tries to recover the sports almanac from young Biff. The freaky part of this trip to the past is that the Marty in this second Back to the Future installment witnesses the happenings of the Marty that went to 1955 in the first movie. This is confusing because in all my previous experience with time travel alternate universes never meet. I think. These are clever scenes with an element of danger. Doc warns Marty to avoid running into himself or the time-space continuum will be irrevocably altered, but…huh? I’m not sure I understand how two Martys can share the same time and space in two separate realities while one can observe the other even though that happened in Star Trek too.

At the conclusion of the exhaustive conundrums Marty faces during his second trip to 1955, he and Doc go to their rendezvous point by the entrance of the Lyon Estates sign to execute their return to their base year of 1985. Marty burns the sports almanac thereby saving his family’s future from degenerate Biff and awaits Doc and the DeLorean to land. However, a problem occurs just as Doc attempts to land the time machine. Lightning strikes making Doc and the DeLorean disappear from sight. Marty is understandably bewildered and saddened at the idea that Doc is gone. As he stares at the sky where Doc was just a moment ago a car drives up the deserted road. A man gets out and hands Marty a letter. This is a “what the heck?” moment that took me a bit of time to digest. The man works for Western Union and tells Marty that they’ve had the letter in their possession for seventy years with specific instructions to deliver it to him at that exact time and place. Marty opens the letter and is immediately exhilarated as he reads the letter from Doc Brown dated 1885, the year to which the Doc is sent when lightning strikes the DeLorean. If I were Marty at that moment I would be very worried about being stuck in 1955 without a means of transporting back to home base year 1985, but this young man proves he has learned a lot from his friend and doesn’t miss a beat in recognizing where he needs to go for help. Doc in 1955.

At the end of Back to the Future II Marty knows he can find Doc at the end of Back to the Future

You may remember that it was on the night of the lightning storm that Doc sent Marty back to 1985 in the first movie. Well, this is the same night and Marty remembers that at the same time that he receives Doc’s letter from 1885, the scientist is by the clock tower just having sent him home. Therefore, in order to go back to the future he has to go back to the past. Maybe that actually makes sense to somebody.

I’m not going to get into the details of Back to the Future III, but it follows the same formula as the others. III begins just as II leaves off and includes an enjoyable trip to the Old West where Doc Brown landed after the DeLorean disappeared from the sky due to lightning. The third movie in the trilogy adds Mary Steenburgen to the mix as Doc’s love interest and brings back the regulars from the other two in earlier incarnations. This one also features some terrific action sequences with a special ode to a classic train, the kind that was central to Old West travel and communications.

In Back to the Future III the DeLorean gets a little help from a train

While Back to the Future II and III don’t quite live up to the original, which was chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress in 2007, the trio still offers a joyful time. It is definitely worth taking the trips back and forth through history with characters we care for. In addition, there are important lessons to be learned. For instance, I have often thought about what it would be like to go back in time and meet my parents as youngsters. Maybe even lighten their loads in life, but after watching the Back to the Future movies I’ve decided that may not be a good idea as it could easily result in my own non-existence. Knowing the lotto numbers in advance also doesn’t seem like that great of an idea anymore. Perhaps the greatest lesson of all, however, is a warning that I caution you all to heed. This is a simple lesson that if learned could save you a lot of time and grief. That is, if it is written that you should be covered in manure; there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

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Be sure to visit Silver Screenings and Wide Screen World for many more time travel adventures in the Time Travel Blogathon.

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