The classic Sci-Fi film Back to the Future celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Artwork by Michael Kutz
After 25 years, arguably the best time travel series is celebrating its anniversary, with everything from a desired theatrical re-release to a card game.
From parodies on Family Guy to a ride at Universal Studios Theme Park, Back to the Future has become a part of pop culture. The tale of a kid who accidentally time-traveled and stopped his teenage parents from falling in love has a special place in the hearts of moviegoers. The trilogy has made such an impression on people that there have been numerous references to the films in current pop culture, including parodies of the skateboard chase and the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in many television shows.
I grew up watching Back to the Future. From the age where I had the attention span to sit through a movie, I watched the trilogy to a near obsessive extent (I’ll admit, it may be a problem). Before I became a middle school student, I had nearly every scene memorized. Due to the Denver Public Library’s collection (which lacked the original), I watched Part II and III more frequently than the first one. Along with many fellow fans, I call the Part II my favorite of the trilogy. There’s always been a certain cinematographically unique appeal of traveling to the future. Seeing a movie where characters travel to the future allows the viewer to see how people twenty or thirty years ago envisioned their future; granted, only some of the directors’ predictions have come true.
Back to the Future added a new dimension to the character of the mad scientist. “Doc” Emmet L. Brown (Christopher Lloyd, Piranha 3D) is a ‘crackpot inventor’ who hasn’t made anything that left his garage. The crazy white hair and wide-eyed expression is by no means unique to a particular scientist, but Doc is a character unlike any other. He has a certain demeanor that is easy for viewers to get attached to. Doc is a man of science, and seems to be absent-minded in the occasional social matters that confront him. However, it isn’t until one in the morning at a mall parking lot that his years of work come to fruition when Doc reveals his time machine.
Back to the Future’s infamous time machine was built from a DeLorean, an early 80’s sports car that looked good, but wasn’t a strong seller. This one of a kind ride of the future has been enamored over the years. Countless references in pop culture have made DeLorean a name synonymous with Back to the Future and time travel. A real car, the DeLorean had a limited production run of around 9,000 cars in two years and featured gull wing doors, a stainless steel body, and a rear mounted engine provided by Citroën, a French car company. It looked decades ahead of its competition. There are a few DeLorean car clubs in the nation, and the Rocky Mountain DeLorean Owners Group makes appearances at car shows like the Denver Auto Show or the Colorado English Motoring Conclave.
What keeps Back to the Future in people’s minds is the references. For example, Fox network’s Family Guy had an episode that parodied the story of the first Back to the Future movie. Another episode had the skateboard chase which came directly from Back to the Future, and Something Something Something Dark Side had an ending which paralleled that of part II so well, they even got the same actor from part II to play a small role. What makes Family Guy’s parodies better than most is that they include the musical score from the trilogy in their show. This adds a feeling of, “Wow, these guys really know what they’re doing.’
Time travel in the series follows the rules set in H.G. Wells’ novel, The Time Machine. Time is a fourth dimension in which people travel (typically only forwards), and a time machine is used to move between this fourth dimension. When the DeLorean travels through time, it does not change its location. This, of course, carries the risk of entering a different time where there is a wall or river where there was once an empty road. This makes traveling backward through time safer than visiting the future, which has a higher risk of failure resulting in injury or death. The way Marty McFly and the DeLorean instantaneously zoom through time is thrilling; accelerating up to 88 miles per hour with the time circuits on and set to the destination time causes a flash of light and leaves trails of fire behind the wheels, and the DeLorean brings the passengers to their selected date.
The Back to the Future trilogy is a classic collection of movies, and Universal Studios isn’t letting the 25th anniversary be forgotten. On October 26th, they are releasing the trilogy in remastered, high definition Blu-Ray for the first time, and on the same day they are releasing a card game based on events in the movies and the timeline of Hill Valley. Eagerly anticipated by fans, Universal is also re-releasing Back to the Future in a select few theaters. Check out Bttf.com, the official source for official Back to the Future news, for information on the show times and theaters that are participating.
There has been an announcement by Telltale Games, a video game developer, that they have the rights to produce a Back to the Future video game. It is currently in production and will feature many of the actors’ voices as their respective characters. There is no official news on what kind of game it will be or where in the timeline of the movies it will take place, but there are rumors about playing as ancestors or descendants of the main characters, and it has been speculated that the game will be released in an episodic format. For updates on the game and other Back to the Future news, head to bttf.com for the latest scoop.
