Universal Pictures
The future is now. Oct. 21, 2015, is finally upon us. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you should have some basic understanding of what that means – it’s Back to the Future Day! Today is the date in the what-seemed-like-the-distant-future that Marty McFly traveled to in the second installation of the beloved franchise in 1989. Now that’s heavy, Doc.
While we may not have the promised Hoverboards, flying cars, dehydrating pizzas or even self-lacing Nikes yet, there are plenty of reasons for Back to the Future fans to be thankful in preparation of the big day. Pepsi has released a collectible Pepsi Perfect bottle in limited quantities to commemorate the occasion. A fake trailer for the “Jaws 19” movie depicted in the second film was released, and it’s hilarious. IDW Publishing is releasing a new Back to the Future comic book series. There’s been a recent concert tour featuring the trilogy’s musical score by Alan Silvestri. Lyft is offering free DeLorean rides in New York City on BTTF Day, and there’s an elaborate celebration happening in Los Angeles. I think one of the most mind-blowing revelations I read this week in anticipation of the big day was Huey Lewis almost passed on providing music for the original soundtrack. Can you picture Back to the Future without “The Power of Love” or “Back in Time”? I can’t. Huey Lewis’ voice and the image of Marty McFly kissing his girlfriend Jennifer are ingrained together in our collective memory.
But perhaps best of all, you can watch the entire trilogy on the big screen at your local theater or you can enjoy it in the comfort of your own home with the fancy 30th anniversary Blu-ray box set. Shaped like a flux capacitor, the special packaging includes an all-new original short starring Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Dr. Emmett Brown, an inside look at the 2012 restoration of the DeLorean, a nine-part retrospective documentary from 2009 on the trilogy’s legacy, music videos, behind-the-scenes footage, audio commentaries, deleted scenes, bonus featurettes and even the 1991 animated Back to the Future series. They’ve also released the animated series in its own box set. Great Scott!
Perhaps you’re one of those people not understanding the hoopla surrounding this anniversary date. While I can’t speak for every Back to the Future fan, I can share with you what the franchise means to me and why I’ll be attending a trilogy screening at my local theater at 4:29 p.m. (that’s the exact moment in time Marty McFly set foot in 2015). Back to the Future was one of those first films that captured my imagination as a child of the ‘80s. I’d dare say it was probably my introduction to the realm of sci-fi and time travel possibilities – two sub-genres I very much enjoy as an adult. What self-respecting kid of the era was not in love with this trilogy? Didn’t we all secretly aspire to be as unabashedly cool as Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) being able to do those badass tricks, such as riding his skateboard off the back of random cars or playing loud music with his band The Pinheads? Is there a more relatable movie villain in all of cinema than Thomas F. Wilson’s Biff Tannen? Biff is that sullen, dimwitted childhood bully many of us likely had and feared. And for the hopeless romantics out there, is there a better love story than that of George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson)? I still tear up a little when George lays out Biff with that one swift punch to come to Lorraine’s rescue, and they kiss for the first time on that Enchantment under the Sea dance floor. He was her density … I mean destiny!
I think on a deeper subconscious level, I wanted to be Marty McFly because I always wanted to be able to travel back in time to meet the dad I never knew. My dad was fatally shot when my mom was pregnant with me. What I wouldn’t give to be able to spend just one day with him – to talk to him, to hear him laugh, to find out what interests or secret dreams he had (“Get outta town … I didn’t know you did anything creative!”). Yes, I think that’s why I find myself so personally connected with the story and the concept of being able to see firsthand what your parents were like when they were young. Future ramifications be damned. I’d love to be able to hang out with my dad the way Marty gets to hang out with George in the first film. Everything about that first film is perfect, down to the tender nostalgia of the 1950s and the birth of one of the most enduring partnerships to have emerged during that decade: the American teenager and rock ’n’ roll. Don’t you know Marty invented it at the school dance?
Who hasn’t dreamed of being able to time travel to the future? I love the promise Back to the Future Part II depicted – a bright, shining 2015 where everything was infinitely possible – even the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series because this franchise loves to root for the underdog to defy all odds. To be given the opportunity to know certain things about your future and how certain decisions will have an impact upon it would be a wonderful thing. After all, knowledge is power. And then there’s Back to the Future Part III, which takes place in the Old West. This was actually the first one I saw. I remember being over at a friend’s house, and they were watching it with their family. While it’s a far cry from being the best the trilogy has to offer, it was enough to get me hooked, and for that, I’ll be eternally grateful. I also adored the animated series. Is it campy and does it have hardly anything to do with the trilogy? Yes, but it still holds a certain soft spot in my heart. I was in the right age demographic to care about the plights of Jules and Verne (Doc and Clara’s kids who were seen briefly at the end of the trilogy), and I enjoyed their adventures through time, as well as those live-action sequences with Christopher Lloyd in-between. I can’t wait to go out and buy the animated series for a fun trip down memory lane!
I’m nostalgic for Back to the Future no matter how many times I’ve watched it because I yearn to go back in time to the simpler days of my youth. A time when man thought the most stylish mode of time travel transportation was clearly a DeLorean. A time when a film didn’t have to rely heavily upon CGI to do all of its heavy lifting. A time when the captivating storytelling was still the magic that held it all together. A time when we suspended all belief and accepted a film for what it was – entertainment in its purest form – without nitpicking the plot and finding holes in its logic. Do we really care about all the discontinuities in editing or the props and cultural references that were not authentic to 1955 used in the film? If you do, there are plenty of them humorously listed on sources such as IMDb. I don’t think they screwed up any future events. If anything, Back to the Future gave millions of ‘80s kids like me a hope for a brighter future. A great man once said, “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” Thanks for being such a momentous part of my childhood. Now I just need a bottle of Pepsi Perfect and a Hoverboard.
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