Watching Back to the Future (The whole thing) again a thought crosses my mind, as it does every time I watch the movies. Why in all those years could they not afford to save the clock tower? Replacing a clock can’t be that expensive. Not only had they been raising money for 60+ years (From 1955 when it was struck by lightning to at least 2015 at which point they were taking in hundreds of dollars in donations per person as opposed to the pocket change they were getting in 1985. If not since 1955, then at least since 1985.) but a clock like that couldn’t have cost that much.
Sure it’s a big clock. It’s about 8 feet in diameter or so, but it’s still the same components as a normal gear-based clock mechanism.
The clock tower was installed in 1885 and struck by lightning in 1955 causing it to stop. Now how did it stop? In 1885 it was probably, most likely powered by a pendulum. No electricity. If they kept it pendulum powered until the 1950’s then logically, could lightning stop the clock? Now, it could have been damaged, maybe a gear was broken by the force of the lightning hitting the tower. If so, a gear would be a lot less costly than a whole clock, right? Now, if they did switch to electricity in the early 20th century, logically couldn’t they still afford to replace the electric motor?
It looks like a fairly simple clock. Nothing special and elaborate. Just a clock with big gears and big hands. If they wanted the clock to stay stopped for historical reasons, there wouldn’t be a fundraiser running to fix it.
The logical answer to this question? Plot device. Still, other than to provide Marty with a piece of paper to write Jennifer’s number on (If she’s his girlfriend, why doesn’t he already have her number?) and give Marty and Doc a means to return to 1985, there’s no reason. Plot device.
