Continuity mistake: Notice Marty's hair in the scene when he's playing "Johnny B. Goode." It's quite larger than when he says, some seconds later, "I guess that you're not ready for it yet." That's because when he says that, it's a recycled shot from the original BTTF, whereas most shots showing he's playing the guitar are newly made for BTTF2. However, Marty's hair is considerably longer in the new shots. (01:27:19)
Continuity mistake: In the first BTTF movie, when Lorraine and Marty are sitting in the car, Lorraine takes off her coat and then asks Marty why he's so nervous. In this movie, when Marty is crouching down to get past the car, Lorraine looks at 1955 Marty and asks him why he's so nervous without taking off her coat.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Doc Brown is following Biff into the tunnel, as Marty starts to pass between the cars on his hoverboard, one of the wheels on the rig supporting the hovering DeLorean is visible. (01:30:30)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Doc takes Marty and Jennifer to 2015 for the first time, they are descending towards Hill Valley. Doc turns the steering wheel to the left but the car goes right and down. (00:05:53)
Deliberate mistake: When Old Biff and Young Biff are sitting in Biff's car, the car's rear-view mirror vanishes during all shots of Old and Young Biffs together. Presumably this made the split-screen effect easier to do.
Plot hole: If Old Biff changed his past and went back to 2015, he goes back to HIS future, not the bad future, but Doc later tells Marty that if he were to go to the future to stop Biff from taking the almanac, he'd go to the bad future, so Old Biff technically shouldn't have been able to return to "his" future at all.
Continuity mistake: When Marty is at the dance and the Marty of 1955 is on stage is about to sing Johnny B. Goode, you can hear the 1955 Marty saying "this is a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes and try to keep up" through the microphone. In the original, Marty looks away from the mike when he says this and is unamplified. (01:24:25)
Visible crew/equipment: Right as Young Biff starts to chase after Marty through the tunnel, there is a shot of the wheel spinning around, and you can see the camera crew reflected in the hubcap. (01:29:45)
Revealing mistake: When Doc and Marty arrive in 2015 when the car is landing in the alley you can see the mechanism that is lowering the car. Just as the scene switches from the front of the car (right after the headlights go out) to the back of the car, look between the car and the building at the same level as the back bumper. There is something that is moving down with the car. Also, the vents in the back of the DeLorean are different. (00:06:12)
Continuity mistake: In the part where Marty is trapped in Biff's garage, Biff's rear view mirror on his car is at the very top of his windshield. Later on when Marty is holding on to the car with the hover board the rear view mirror is in the middle of his windshield. The rear-view mirror was lowered about six inches or so. (01:10:12)
Continuity mistake: In the Café 80's just after you hear Marty say, "It is Wild Gunman", notice the three people sitting in the second booth from the back wall. When the scene changes to Marty throwing his hat on top of the game, you can see that the people have changed tables. You can also see that they are gone again when it shows a close-up of the two kids. (00:15:18)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the 1985 Jennifer is in her 2015 home and says "I get married in the Chapel-O-Love?" right before she picks up the picture note the Chapel-O-Love picture and frame on the bookcase behind her. After she picks it up and drops it leaving it on the floor she looks for a place to hide. Later on when the old Lorraine and George are in the living room, take another look at the picture on the bookcase; the Chapel picture is set back up. You could argue Lorraine would have had enough time to set it back up. But look at the Chapel picture; it's inserted in the frame upside down. You can tell by looking at the frame stand behind it. Meaning someone physically removed the picture and put it that way. (00:28:18)
Continuity mistake: When Marty is in Mr. Strickland's office trying to take back the almanac, it shows a wide view of the office with two flags right next to each other. After cutting to a close up view of Marty they are apart, then Marty moves them together. (01:19:20)
Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the famous court yard chase scene when Griff and gang crash through the courthouse windows, you can see in plain sight the reflection of cables and the mechanisms that held them in the air. [Corrected in 25th Anniversary edition.] (00:20:55)
Continuity mistake: If you look very closely, after Marty flips on the little girl's hover board and is laying on his stomach, when he goes to get up you can see that he's wearing regular lace style tennis shoes and not the auto-lace high tops that Doc gives him as soon as they get to 2015. You may need to pause it to see them. (00:18:56)
Continuity mistake: When Biff is trying to get Lorraine to go to the dance with him, (the bit when Lorraine is looking at her dress) you see the same extra walking past her about three times. (01:06:07)
Continuity mistake: When Marty avoids Griff and his thugs by jumping in the water off his hover board, his hair gets wet. After his coat dries his hair he rubs his hand through it. It gets all messy and crazy and uncombed. The very next shot shows him talking to the girls with perfectly combed hair. (00:21:33)
Audio problem: When Doc and Marty return to the year 1955, you hear the squealing sound of tyres braking heavily, but the DeLorean is flying. (01:02:25)
Audio problem: After Doc and Marty return to 1955 in an effort to steal the almanac back from Biff, they land the DeLorean. Doc says, "Here's some binoculars" then says "and" but watch his lips as he says "and", it just doesn't match. You could argue that it is a bad angle but even at the angle it's at, you get an OK view. (01:03:05)
Continuity mistake: In Biff's apartment in alternate 1985, while Biff and Lorraine are arguing, he knocks her to the ground and both her shoes come off. After Biff punches Marty in the stomach, it then switches again to show Lorraine's reaction. As it does this, we see her on the floor but her shoes are back on her feet. She could have had enough time to put them back on possibly, but it seems unlikely that she would have done so as she is lying in the same position as when she was knocked down. (00:48:18)
Suggested correction: The effects of the past being altered may not have happened immediately. It is possible that it took time for the timelines to adjust to the changes of events, meaning enough time would have passed to change 1985 when they return, but not enough time could have passed to change 2015. By the time Doc says if they went back to 2015 they would be going to an alternate future, some time has passed, so the effects of the past being altered and taking ahold in 2015 and altering it are more likely to have occurred by then.
Casual Person
Here is what you say: "perhaps it took time for the time lines to adjust." What kind of time would timelines take? Time is time, it doesn't take time to change the timeline. That doesn't make any sense. Some people claim it was the DeLorean itself that came back to its own original timeline and only then reset itself in the new one, but then the new timelines being erased later on wouldn't have happened either. So its a genuine plot hole.
lionhead
It's established in the first film that it takes time for the changes to take effect. Marty and his siblings slowly disappear from the photo, rather than instantly. Although the scene in BTTF2 was deleted, it was filmed showing Biff dying and slowly fading away after his return to his present.
Yet they were restored instantly without any outside influence at the end of the movie. There are a lot of things wrong with this movie and the first one. Old Biff disappearing should mean that Marty and Doc should slowely disappear as well, even the DeLorean. But they didn't, that doesn't make any sense. The point is there is a plot hole, somewhere. To know where all you can do is look at it logically and then you automatically come up with Old Biff going back to the future but not the alternate future. If he did there wouldn't have been a movie, but that's the plot hole.
lionhead
The timeline didn't change until he made his first bet which was some years I think after receiving it. He immediately travelled forward after giving the act, meaning he will still jump forward to the original future.
The timelines would instantly change, and Old Biff couldn't possibly have returned to "normal" 2015. It's just a poorly-thought-out time travel plot hole (or a deliberate error to expedite the storyline).
Charles Austin Miller
Suggested correction: In context, Doc was saying that they couldn't return to 2015 to stop Biff from stealing the time machine, because Biff didn't steal the time machine in the alternate 2015, he only stole it in the original 2015. Marty and Doc didn't stay long enough in 2015 after Biff returned, and that's why they didn't see any differences. Also, though they were unaware of it, Biff was dead in the alternate 2015, so the disasters he caused might have reverted back after his death.