Back to the Future

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Back to the Future

Post by ShyViolet » September 24th, 2006, 9:42 pm

I love all three versions (I didn't used to like part III but I warmed up to it over the years.) I think my favorite is Part I, even though Part II is very trippy/weird, but cool as well! :)

I love Part I because of the heart/emotion, and SO many great lines! I never get tired of it.

Question: That tunnel where Marty uses the hover board in Part II to chase Biff and get the sports guide--is it the same tunnel they used for Roger Rabbit when Eddie drives into Toon Town? It looks awfully similar.


(Weird: After Part II came out, there was a rumor the filmmakers really invented a hoverboard and were going to market them. I wish! :( )


(I remember the animated series vaguely, but I never got into it. Even back then I could tell that that was NOT Marty's real voice. :roll: )

(It's also funny how in the Soda Bar Marty asks for a Tab and no one knows what he's talking about. No one would know now, either. :roll: Or a "Pepsi Free." Do they still make those?)
Last edited by ShyViolet on September 24th, 2006, 10:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Code Horror » September 24th, 2006, 9:55 pm

Really? I like all 3 films too but as always, the originals are always the best.

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Post by Daniel » September 25th, 2006, 1:05 am

I like the original of course. But the second one seemed odd and very much like the original IMO. The third one I never liked because it was like a western but its ok. And I'm almost postive I heard their considering making a part 4. Though that was a long time ago and they probably scrapped it by now.

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Post by droosan » September 25th, 2006, 5:45 am

The first BTTF stands on its own very well; the other two depend on having seen the first in order to understand anything that's going on. That said, all three are rather enjoyable.

My favorite aspect of Part II is how neatly it 'dovetails' with the first during the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance; like seeing scenes from the first BTTF played out from different angles (especially keeping in mind it was filmed four years after the first movie) ..!

I enjoyed Part III because it was a 'western' .. it was much more in the vein of 'time-travel' than the 'dated-even-at-the-time' vision of 2015 in Part II (even 'way back in 1985, I'd assumed Doc Brown had gone much further ahead in time to outfit his DeLorean with a fusion reactor and hover system). The love story was a bit mushy, but the train sequence made for a great climax.

Ultimately, for me, though .. the first one is the best. A major reason being that I was 16 at the time the first film was in theaters, which was the perfect age to have a maddening crush on Lea Thompson! :twisted: But also because it is extremely well-paced, with lots of 'set-ups' that 'pay off' very well; it is nearly a 'perfect' film in its own right, which really didn't need sequels (though it is nice to have them).
Question: That tunnel where Marty uses the hover board in Part II to chase Biff and get the sports guide--is it the same tunnel they used for Roger Rabbit when Eddie drives into Toon Town? It looks awfully similar.
I'm not positive it is the same tunnel (there are several similar tunnels in older parts of Los Angeles, especially along the 110 freeway and in Griffith Park) .. but after all, Robert Zemeckis directed both films; so it's quite possible.

As an aside, I often eat at the 'Burger King' in Burbank, which Marty skateboards past in the early scenes of the first film. 8)
Last edited by droosan on September 25th, 2006, 7:17 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Post by droosan » September 25th, 2006, 6:20 am

It's also funny how in the Soda Bar Marty asks for a Tab and no one knows what he's talking about. No one would know now, either.
They are making Tab again. It's marketed as an 'energy drink,' and comes in skinny cans similar to Red Bull. And it tastes even more terrible than it did back then. :?

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Post by Ben » September 25th, 2006, 7:43 am

WELL NOW YOU ARE TALKING!! :)

Favorite trilogy of all time for me. I know every line and can watch them all back-to-back-to-the-future anytime.

I once did a fan edit that cut them all together at their overlapping end/front points and it came it at a whopping 5hrs 15minutes!

What I love about the trilogy is that says "hey you better have seen the earlier films to know what is going on". All too often people go to Parts II and III of a series and complain they don't know what the story's about. Well, here's a clue: see the first movies! Not only do they fill you in on plot but they set up the characters and the world.

BTTF was one of the few trilogies to do this, though The Godfather also just got on with it, Star Wars was of course a series of films (even though they had a backstory prologue) and Superman II starts with a re-cap of Part I. Peter Jackson (who'd worked with Bob Zemeckis on The Frighteners, also with Michael J Fox) took a leaf out of this book when he made the Lord Of The Rings. Just as you wouldn't start reading a book from a third of the way in, why go and see a sequel to a movie you have not seen? I just don't get people who do that!

In many ways, of course, the first BTTF is the best, simply as it's just such a classic. It never fails to amaze me how fast it steamrolls through. Whenever I get to the scene where George is hanging out the laundry and Marty comes over to go over the plan, it jolts me and I think, "Hey, Enchantment Under The Sea dance and then the end!" - it's a very brisk movie with nothing to trim, and the OTT climax with Doc trying to slot the wires together to make the connection is as comically drawn out as suspence can get!

But for my money you can't beat Part II, perhaps the most subversive piece of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking ever. I mean, GOING BACK TO THE FIRST MOVIE? Having those events seen from different perspectives? Even changing those events AND having them affect what's going on in the new story? That's just genius.

Plus it does what good three-act structures do...it deepens the story. Part II is pretty dark, suggesting what would actually happen if the villain won for a change. That's pretty daring. And then leaving it open with a massive cliffhanger that is SO obvious to sort out when you see the next one...wow, they were firing on all cylinders for these.

Then the effects...coming right at the end of good old proper physical effects and the dawn of motion control and CGI. And these movies had FUN with their effects and never let them lead the story. The first and third films are actually VERY FX light, even though the trilogy is known as this FX laiden thing. Part II is only as heavy as it is with effects really down to the nature of being "in the future" as well as the brilliant way the actors play all of themselves at various ages and incarnations. Again, a phenomenally risky thing to do in such a "dumb Hollywood blockbuster".

I think 2015 was chosen because the first film went back 30 years from 1985 and Doc says in that one that "it's a nice round number". I suspect they wish they'd added another twenty years (at least, how about jumping 100 years from 1955 to 2055?) on to that when they started coming up with their concepts, but the date was set and they had to adhere to that. However, if you're going to have fun with a future setting, you're going to have fun and I'd have hated it if they'd tried to make it a realistic 2015 rather than having all the fun gags (the fact that Jaws 19 is also playing makes a nod that they're not taking things seriously).

Part III also takes some risks, but was basically an excuse for Bob Z to "make a western". But then again, what are the elements you really want to see in a time travel saga? Once you've done the fantastic premisce of going back to your parents' childhood, you're going to need to fill in the two other requirements: a trip to the future, and a trip to somewhere in the past that really contrasts with anything recognisable as our current world, and in American history, that's the old west.

I agree that the train climax is gangbusters and that final shot of Marty just before the Flux Capacitor kicks in really knocks it home that he's not ever going to see Doc again, but at the same time he's happy for him to be where he is. And the build up is staggeringly well played. It's just a great all-round piece of technical filmmaking that doesn't take itself too seriously.

The tunnel, I believe, is the same one (minus the Felix head!). Bob Z remembered it when they needed a "tunnel that went on forever" and uses the same tricks as he did in Roger Rabbit by "extending" it with cutting. Clever and funny.

The Hoverboard story was a publicity stunt, but did you know that they actually "made a Hoverboard"? Essentially, the "stones" in the path that Marty throws the board down onto were really thousands of magnets. On the back of the board are more magnets (the two metallic discs). Switch a magnet around and they don't draw to each other but repel away. Although the board would never hold a person's weight, it was able to be thrown down and appear to hover due to this process. It looked so real in the dailies that Bob Z concocted a story that "Hoverboards really existed but the mother's and safety groups had pressured the toy companies not to make them available". When the press saw the footage of Fox throwing the board down and it staying afloat - for real - it led to the rumor. But it was just a Zemeckis gag!

The real fun thing, over all three films, is the little touches and lines that they put in that most people don't see or pick out. Remember the first one, where Marty gets out of Lorraine's bed to find that she took his pants and put them on her hope chest? Well check it out when Marty awakens 70 earlier in Maggie McFly's 1885 wood cabin. Although it's in the back of the shot, he just takes a little glance down as he gets out of bed to make sure the same thing didn't happen again!

Fantastic stuff, and marred ONLY in that Claudia Wells (now THERE's a crush for ya!) declined to come back as Jennifer, with Elisabeth Shue filling in. Crispin Golver also declined, but they manged with footage from the first and a double who was found working at the Universal theme park! That they didn't have Crispin there only adds to the technical wizardry they pulled off in Part II...not only was it shot four years later, but one of the main actors wasn't even there!

And that, guys and gals, is why I love the Back To The Future trilogy! ;)

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Post by Dacey » September 25th, 2006, 11:08 am

Gee. Ben makes me want to see these movies ASAP. :D
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Post by ShyViolet » September 25th, 2006, 12:06 pm

Wait, WJ, you havn't seen the BTTF films??????? :shock:


Shame on you!!!!! (J/K) :wink: :) (J/K)


(Well there's a lot of films I haven't seen yet either, so I should talk.... :roll: )

They are making Tab again. It's marketed as an 'energy drink,' and comes in skinny cans similar to Red Bull. And it tastes even more terrible than it did back then
I actually don't think I've ever tasted one, but I remember that in Scrooged Bill Murray drinks them a lot. :)

I mean, GOING BACK TO THE FIRST MOVIE? Having those events seen from different perspectives? Even changing those events AND having them affect what's going on in the new story? That's just genius.


Yeah, that was very, very weird and it just amazed me how they did that. I love weird time travel stuff like that though. But it was so awesome how they set up the whole sports book thing at the begining and then it winds up affecting the whole story.... :wink:

Plus at the time I thought they re-constructed the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance through special effects, but now I guess they just re-shot the whole thing? Wow, that's dedication! :) (It was so awesome how in part II, Biff gets knocked out a THIRD time by the BTTF part 1 Marty as he's leaving the gym!)

I also like how Zemeckis kinda ribs Spielberg with "Jaws 19" and how Marty looks at it and says: "Shark still looks fake!" Ha ha.

Also it was really funny when Old Biff tells young Biff: "If a kid and a wild-eyed scientist every come asking about this book...." If I were Biff I'd be like: "Yeah, like I'm gonna remember that!" But I guess he did... :wink: :roll:

Also love: "Strickland...did that guy EVER have hair?"

and


"It's a screen door in a submarine, you dork!"

BTW, wasn't Eric Stoltz originally supposed to play Marty?? Wow, that would have s*****d big time! :? :roll:
The tunnel, I believe, is the same one (minus the Felix head!). Bob Z remembered it when they needed a "tunnel that went on forever" and uses the same tricks as he did in Roger Rabbit by "extending" it with cutting. Clever and funny.
Plus both films have that awesome Alan Silvestri score during the tunnel scenes! :)


I was lucky enough to go on the Universal backlot tour some years ago and they showed us the ENTIRE SET where they filmed Hill Valley! The clock tower and everything. It looked SOOOOO small compared to what you think it would be. Plus, we have a picture of me and my brother standing next to the real Delorean! :wink:

I still really want a hoverboard though.... :(
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Post by ShyViolet » September 25th, 2006, 12:36 pm

Also, if you've ever watched Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, that's Christopher Lloyd playing the head Klingon! (whom Kirk tosses over a cliff at the end, a scene parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut!)
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Post by Ben » September 25th, 2006, 12:39 pm

I did the backlot tour and have a similar DeLorean pic.

Did you do BTTF The Ride? Absolutely awesome!


Eric Stoltz was Marty for two weeks filming after which Bob Z had to fire him as it simply wasn't working. There are images of him in the role in the making of book and I think the DVD. His costume would have dated it a LOT sooner than the Fox outfit. I think they still stand up now as being pretty timeless, despite the 1985 setting.


And WJ...get thee to a video store and partake in the magic!! Get all three at the same time and do a marathon. You'll thank us later! :)

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Post by ShyViolet » September 25th, 2006, 6:45 pm

Did you do BTTF The Ride? Absolutely awesome!

Oh, yeah. I did it twice in Universal, Flordia (even though we had to wait like an hour each time) and then again when my family went to the Hollywood one. It was INCREDIBLE both times! :D


I love it when it looks like you're going to crash into the clock tower! :) That and the dinosour/hot lava world as well. Also I love the "story" of Biff running off with a time machine and how you have to chase him down! :wink:

Eric Stoltz was Marty for two weeks filming after which Bob Z had to fire him as it simply wasn't working. There are images of him in the role in the making of book and I think the DVD. His costume would have dated it a LOT sooner than the Fox outfit.
Hey, any "deleted scenes" or outtakes of Eric acting as Marty on the BTTF DVD? That would sure be interesting. :)

Funny, the very first BTTF I watched was part III (not intentionally!) because my junior high school showed it in Auditorium before the holidays. :roll: Of course I didn't understand one thing that was going on and hated it! I was like, that s****d! But then I rented the whole trilogy after watching some of the first one on T.V. I loved I and II right away, and over the years I've warmed up to III. :wink:

Also, has anyone ever seen the animated series? I only saw bits and pieces of it and thought it was pretty lame, not worthy of the film at all. :(
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Post by droosan » September 26th, 2006, 12:32 am

Ben wrote:why go and see a sequel to a movie you have not seen? I just don't get people who do that!
Well, I've seen ALIENS, and enjoyed it very much (it's one of my favorite action/suspense films). But I've never seen ALIEN I, III, or IV, and have no interest in doing so.

Likewise, I've seen THE KARATE KID PART II, and liked it a lot .. but never had any desire to see I or III ..

I've also seen CHARLIE'S ANGELS II and SCARY MOVIE 2, both of which discouraged me from seeing any of the other chapters in either series .. :wink:

I also saw POLICE ACADEMY II before seeing the first one (had to wait a few years, because the first one was rated R) ..

Another out-of-order experience was seeing INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM in theaters before seeing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK on video .. but that actually turned out to be the correct order, since TEMPLE was set a year before RAIDERS .. 8)

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Post by Ben » September 26th, 2006, 9:11 am

Aliens works as a story as they kind of fill you in on Ripley's past as she wakes up. But I'd certainly recommend Ridley Scott's original.

If you've seen Karate Kid II, then you HAVE seen I and III. Really, they're all the same film! Even "The Next" is the same, but with pre-Oscar Hilary Swank as the new kid. Same story, same outcome!

I would say you were unlucky on Charlies Angels and Scary Movie IIs. The first ones were infinitely better. I would bother seeing any more Scary Movies other than the first.

Indy Jones...yeah, I saw them that way too. Perhaps that's why TOD is still my favorite of the bunch...?

Nevertheless, I don't get people who go to sequels before seeing the previous entries in a series! You were lucky that those films were based around concepts rather than ongoing storylines, otherwise you could have had a Violet-type reaction and wondered what the heck was going on!

--------------------

Vi...I didn't much care for the BTTF cartoon either. Now THAT was just a cash-in, though it remained obscure enough not to dilute the film series I think. Best thing about it were Chris Lloyd introducing each show as the Doc.

As far as I remember there are no deleted Stoltz scenes available anywhere. I think they were hoping to include some, but thrashed out a deal with him and eventually agreed not to, mainly to save any embarrasment. The guy wasn't right for the role and that's that. Why rub salt in the wound? The couple of pictures out there explain enough that he didn't look right. BUT, there's one shot left in the movie, when "Marty" jumps into the DeLorean to escape the terrorists that is reportedly a Stoltz shot. I've never bothered to check it out myself, but it's apparently him.

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Post by ShyViolet » September 26th, 2006, 1:35 pm

Best thing about it were Chris Lloyd introducing each show as the Doc.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that! :D Ah, memories....

Also I remember this really corny way they used to promote it on the credits of whatever show it was they had before (prior to the split-screen thing they do now on T.V.) they always used to have a voice-over saying: "Don't go away, so-and-so is next!" So they'd be like: "Hang on to your Flux Capacitors, it's another adventure with Doc and Marty, Back to the Future is coming up!"


:)
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Post by ShyViolet » September 26th, 2006, 1:48 pm

Dumb trivia question: How many gigawatts of electricity does it take to get the Delorean to travel through time? :)

About sequels, I was originally afraid to watch the original Fly movie (the remake) so I watched the Fly II first. It wasn't too big I deal, so then I watched part 1.

BUT, there's one shot left in the movie, when "Marty" jumps into the DeLorean to escape the terrorists that is reportedly a Stoltz shot. I've never bothered to check it out myself, but it's apparently him.
I'll have to check that out next time I watch it! :wink:

Also, how about a new "Hoverboard" BTTF ride at Universal! You can really feel like you're Marty riding it! (in addition to the Delorean one.) They can use either machanics/SFX or a "movie screen" to make you feel like you're on it. Wonder why no one has thought of doing this before?

But I'd certainly recommend Ridley Scott's original.
Yeah it's totally better and way scarier. I don't why some critics are always pointing to Aliens as "that rare sequel better than the original."
Right. It was all the usual James Cameron overkill as far as I'm concerned. :roll:

Although it had good moments too--no offense Droosan! :)
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