Why did Marty McFly need to look up Doc Brown's address in 1955?
At the beginning of Back to the Future, it is clear that in 1985 Marty McFly knows where Doc Brown lives.
Why then did he look up Doc Brown's address in a 1955 phone book? Doesn't he already know where the Doc lives?
Best Answer
In the beginning of the movie, when we see all the clocks, there is a shot of framed newspaper clippings (the mansion burned down on August 1, 1962). Marty has probably read this at some point.
Doc's address in 1955 is shown as 1640 Riverside Drive:
Doc's house we see in the beginning of the movie, in 1985, seems to be the garage of the mansion:
Notice the number on the fence:
It seems like in 1985, Doc is living in the garage of his former mansion, with the house number "1646", instead of "1640".
Also, by 1985, Riverside Drive has been renamed John F. Kennedy Drive (this is mentioned in the scene where Marty has Dinner with the Baines family), which is why Marty doesn't recognize that it's basically the same address.
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What is Docs address in Back to the Future?
Emmett \u201cDoc\u201d Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Said to be located at 1640 Riverside Drive in Hill Valley in the movie, the Gamble House can actually be found at 4 Westmoreland Place in Pasadena. The three-story, 6,100-square-foot structure was built in 1908 by brothers Charles and Henry Greene.Does Doc remember Marty from 1955?
2) The 1955 Doc suffered a memory loss sometime after his adventures with Marty (maybe it was from the drugs he took in the 60's as Reverend Jim!). 3) Doc actually did remember everything, but he still did all the same things he "remembered" because he didn't want to risk disrupting the space-time continuum.How does Marty convince Doc Brown in 1955 that he did in fact travel back in time?
Marty, being the \u201cred-blooded American teenager\u201d he was, wanted to go see what it was all about for himself. He snuck into Doc's lab and was fascinated by all his inventions. When Doc caught him, he was glad to have someone who liked his work and their friendship started there.Why Are Marty And Doc Brown Friends?
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Answer 2
He knows where Doc Brown lives in 1985. There's no guarantee that he lived in the same house 30 years ago. Indeed, it seems that he didn't, because once Marty finds his address, he has to (try and) ask for directions to it.
Marty: Do you know where 1640 Riverside--
Lou: Are you gonna order something, kid?
He wouldn't need to ask where 1640 Riverside was if that was still Doc's address in 1985.
Answer 3
Adding to the previous answer which is essentially correct that Marty didn't knew the previous address. It may be because of following reason:
The 1985 Doc Brown lived in a house which was way smaller than the mansion which Doc has supposedly owned back in 1955.
Maybe Marty knew that the mansion was burnt down and Doc who was once wealthy went broke.
Although initially wealthy because of his inheritance, he spent his entire family fortune on his time travel project. When the Brown mansion was destroyed by fire in 1962 and the property sold to developers, Doc subsequently resided in the mansion's garage. Once broke, he established a privately owned business to offer 24-hour scientific services, building ingenious devices for his customers.
But back in 1955 he owned a mansion and hence Marty sought phone book for Doc's address.
But most importantly Marty was shell-shocked by the different/transformed(not yet developed) Hill Valley and didn't know where to look for Doc Brown.
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