You’ve probably noticed that we’re in one of those periods where the Back to the Future trilogy has been on TV almost non-stop for several months.

Here’s something:

You know that part where Marty McFly and Doc Brown go back to 1985 and it’s that weird, other 1985? Consider Doc Brown’s explanation that once Biff Tannen stole the sports almanac and gave it to himself, history skewed in a different direction. But if that’s true, how come 2015 didn’t suddenly change when Biff Tannen stole the almanac? Why was he still poor? Shouldn’t 2015 have suddenly transformed into the future from the alternate 1985?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been left awake at night worrying about this. As it turns out, a high school classmate of mine, Joe Grunenwald, a real whiz with sort of thing, has an explanation. He suggests that the DeLorean can travel through time but cannot traverse different dimensions.

You see, there’s this theory that suggests each time anyone makes a decision, the universe splits. One universe continues on with the outcome of one choice, the other goes on with the outcome of the other choice.

That, Joe points out, raises an entirely separate issue. If the DeLorean can’t cross dimensions, how did Marty and the doc wind up in the alternate 1985? They should have returned to their own 1985 in their own dimension.

“I suppose from a storytelling standpoint it’s more interesting for them to go back to 1985 to find it different, but still, it bothers me,” Joe tells me, exercising admirable restraint.

I also recently found myself discussing the logistical problems with the flux capacitor with an elitist friend from another radio station here in Dallas. That debate became quite heated and was centered on whether it’s appropriate to even suggest that the events that were altered ever happened. Marty and the doc have valid memories of Biff owning a casino, but then history was altered and to the rest of the universe it never happened.

The following photograph of a napkin should make our arguments clear:

I don’t remember which side of the argument I was on, but I’m positive I was right. These discussions always seem to occur in bars and nowhere else.

Did Biff ever own a casino? Was Crispin Glover ever a push over? According to Joe, there’s a 2015 where Crispin Glover is still a pushover AND a 2015 where Crispin Glover has been dead for more than 30 years!

I am not a crackpot.