A movie for the cassette generation
January 14, 2015 7:54 AM Subscribe
Back to the Future, Time Travel, and the secret history of the 1980s "...we are now as far removed from 1985, the year the first film premiered, as that film was from 1955, the past it lovingly recreated and gently mocked." By Tim Carmody.
They were spot-on about the 80s nostalgia (Cafe 80"s). But man, did we overestimate the longevity of that Max Headroom shtick.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:04 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:04 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
we are now as far removed from 1985, the year the first film premiered, as that film was from 1955, the past it lovingly recreated and gently mocked
...not until 4:29 P.M. on Wednesday October 23rd 2015
I mean, not that I remember exactly or anything
posted by leotrotsky at 8:05 AM on January 14, 2015 [16 favorites]
...not until 4:29 P.M. on Wednesday October 23rd 2015
I mean, not that I remember exactly or anything
posted by leotrotsky at 8:05 AM on January 14, 2015 [16 favorites]
OK! This is the third time I've posted this, and the threads ALWAYS get deleted. Maybe third time's the charm:
"I really have no other place to share this anecdote. You know in the Cafe '80s, when Ronnie Headroom and Ayatollah Headroom are arguing? Little leotrotsky always thought the Ayatollah was saying 'You must try the Hot Pistachios!' As a result, I filed away in my mind that pistachios must be an Iranian thing. Years later, when it occurred to me to check, I looked it up.
It turns out that they are! The word pistachio actually comes from the Persian name 'Pisteh,' and pistachios are a pretty big deal in Iran. So I was pretty pleased at my little deduction being confirmed accurate, and also pleased at the worldliness of the writers.
So it was pretty disheartening when I finally got a look at the script and saw that he's actually saying "You must try the hostage special!"
I still prefer my line, with the Ayatollah anxious for guests to try a Persian delicacy."
posted by leotrotsky at 8:07 AM on January 14, 2015 [35 favorites]
"I really have no other place to share this anecdote. You know in the Cafe '80s, when Ronnie Headroom and Ayatollah Headroom are arguing? Little leotrotsky always thought the Ayatollah was saying 'You must try the Hot Pistachios!' As a result, I filed away in my mind that pistachios must be an Iranian thing. Years later, when it occurred to me to check, I looked it up.
It turns out that they are! The word pistachio actually comes from the Persian name 'Pisteh,' and pistachios are a pretty big deal in Iran. So I was pretty pleased at my little deduction being confirmed accurate, and also pleased at the worldliness of the writers.
So it was pretty disheartening when I finally got a look at the script and saw that he's actually saying "You must try the hostage special!"
I still prefer my line, with the Ayatollah anxious for guests to try a Persian delicacy."
posted by leotrotsky at 8:07 AM on January 14, 2015 [35 favorites]
Great. Now we have to delete the thread. Thanks leotrotsky. Thanks a lot.
This is why we can'thave nice things talk about Back to the Future.
posted by Naberius at 8:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [22 favorites]
This is why we can't
posted by Naberius at 8:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [22 favorites]
"By saving his own future, Marty ruined ours."
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:12 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:12 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
They have slain the Earl of McFly
And Lady Mondegreen
Back to the Future gets better the older I get. First I laughed at the manure and swearing, then I identified with a regular kid trying to navigate a world of adults-but-equals, and now I find myself identifying with the disappointment of pre-travel George McFly, but still trying to see the world with the wonder of Doc Brown.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
And Lady Mondegreen
Back to the Future gets better the older I get. First I laughed at the manure and swearing, then I identified with a regular kid trying to navigate a world of adults-but-equals, and now I find myself identifying with the disappointment of pre-travel George McFly, but still trying to see the world with the wonder of Doc Brown.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
I completely forgot about the two-tie style. Is it too late to start that as a trend?
posted by surazal at 8:17 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by surazal at 8:17 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Two ties are so 2014.
posted by benzenedream at 8:25 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 8:25 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
"By saving his own future, Marty ruined ours."
The problem with that take on it is, BTTF3 ends with Doc showing up with a hover-converted train. So, while Marty certainly changed the future we originally saw in BTTF2, it clearly did not change so much that hover-converted vehicles were no longer present in it.
So yes, BTTF did promise us flying cars, dammit.
posted by tocts at 8:26 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
The problem with that take on it is, BTTF3 ends with Doc showing up with a hover-converted train. So, while Marty certainly changed the future we originally saw in BTTF2, it clearly did not change so much that hover-converted vehicles were no longer present in it.
So yes, BTTF did promise us flying cars, dammit.
posted by tocts at 8:26 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Previously: Did Back To The Future Predict 9/11?
posted by Mchelly at 8:27 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mchelly at 8:27 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
If there really were time machines Zemeckis would have gone back and added one simple throwaway line in BTTF1 pointing out out that Marty doesn't like being called chicken. Parts 2 and 3 are not nearly as good as part 1, but they are passable. Having one of the main motivators in 2 and 3 be an all-encompassing character pathology not even hinted at in part 1 is part of the problem.
I have some head canon that time travel messes you up in unpredictable ways - that's why Marty goes all chicken crazy, why Bif prime is so weird, why Claudia Wells turns into Elisabeth Shue, and why, bewilderingly, Doc falls for Mary Steenburgen.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:28 AM on January 14, 2015 [13 favorites]
I have some head canon that time travel messes you up in unpredictable ways - that's why Marty goes all chicken crazy, why Bif prime is so weird, why Claudia Wells turns into Elisabeth Shue, and why, bewilderingly, Doc falls for Mary Steenburgen.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:28 AM on January 14, 2015 [13 favorites]
still trying to see the world with the wonder of Doc Brown
Aside from being an "inventor" (and presumably stealing money from Libyans), I don't recall Doc having any perceptible source of income or attachments, but he lives in sunny Southern California. I think I'd be pretty upbeat, too!
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:31 AM on January 14, 2015
Aside from being an "inventor" (and presumably stealing money from Libyans), I don't recall Doc having any perceptible source of income or attachments, but he lives in sunny Southern California. I think I'd be pretty upbeat, too!
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:31 AM on January 14, 2015
I love Part 2 for the alt-1985 dystopia, which blew my mind at the time, and the 1955 retcon with Marty back at Under the Sea.
And Doc was lucky to get Mary Steenburgen.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:32 AM on January 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
And Doc was lucky to get Mary Steenburgen.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:32 AM on January 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
and why, bewilderingly, Doc falls for Mary Steenburgen.
Huh? How is that bewildering?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:34 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Huh? How is that bewildering?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:34 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Huh? How is that bewildering?
I think they sell it reasonably well, and I should have been clearer that this wasn't my opinion on Mary Steenburgen, but I didn't buy the character, or the relationship.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:36 AM on January 14, 2015
I think they sell it reasonably well, and I should have been clearer that this wasn't my opinion on Mary Steenburgen, but I didn't buy the character, or the relationship.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:36 AM on January 14, 2015
Steely-eyed, Doc Brown was born to a super-wealthy family (you do remember the Von Braun Brown estate in BttF right?) and saw his family fortune and personal reputation dwindle away until he was seen as a mad scientist living in a converted garage. Most of that was probably his fault as his early bad decisions cascaded, and don't think he wasn't aware of that!
And yet he kept his eye on the prize and found true happiness in the end.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:37 AM on January 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
And yet he kept his eye on the prize and found true happiness in the end.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:37 AM on January 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
Still waiting on my "dot-matrix fax machines in every room future."
posted by stltony at 8:38 AM on January 14, 2015
posted by stltony at 8:38 AM on January 14, 2015
(you do remember the Brown estate in BttF right?)
Somehow I had forgotten. If only we could all be so driven by our of-course-correct theories on time travel.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:43 AM on January 14, 2015
Somehow I had forgotten. If only we could all be so driven by our of-course-correct theories on time travel.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:43 AM on January 14, 2015
To my undying embarrassment, this was me just a few years ago:
SEYMOUR: The hoverboards from Back to the Future II were real! They weren't allowed to sell them commercially because of safety concerns. There was this organization of concerned parents that made a big thing about it.
SKEPTICAL FRIEND: Are you sure? That doesn't sound right.
SEYMOUR: Of course I'm sure. My 4th grade teacher told us about it back when the movie came out. Plus I think there was a story on it in The Weekly Reader.
SKEPTICAL FRIEND: That's strange because there's this behind the scenes documentary on the DVD that says it was done with wires.
SEYMOUR: Oh.
posted by seymourScagnetti at 8:48 AM on January 14, 2015 [12 favorites]
SEYMOUR: The hoverboards from Back to the Future II were real! They weren't allowed to sell them commercially because of safety concerns. There was this organization of concerned parents that made a big thing about it.
SKEPTICAL FRIEND: Are you sure? That doesn't sound right.
SEYMOUR: Of course I'm sure. My 4th grade teacher told us about it back when the movie came out. Plus I think there was a story on it in The Weekly Reader.
SKEPTICAL FRIEND: That's strange because there's this behind the scenes documentary on the DVD that says it was done with wires.
SEYMOUR: Oh.
posted by seymourScagnetti at 8:48 AM on January 14, 2015 [12 favorites]
This was the one movie I can recall going to and enjoying with both my parents. My dad especially was a sucker for anything 50s nostalgia, though. My mom not so much, and older me, knowing more about how the 50s-60s were kind of shitty for her, understands that in a way younger me could not.
I'm trying to think of an equivalent movie that loves the 80s as much as Zemeckis loved the 50s. Hot Tub Time Machine? I'm not watching that with my kid.
posted by emjaybee at 8:50 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm trying to think of an equivalent movie that loves the 80s as much as Zemeckis loved the 50s. Hot Tub Time Machine? I'm not watching that with my kid.
posted by emjaybee at 8:50 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I completely forgot about the two-tie style. Is it too late to start that as a trend?
posted by surazal at 11:17 AM on January 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
Shut up!! Hipsters are listening.
posted by Fizz at 8:55 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by surazal at 11:17 AM on January 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
Shut up!! Hipsters are listening.
posted by Fizz at 8:55 AM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
I Re-Watched Back to the Future II Because None of You Will Shut Up About It by Lindy West.
(She's pretty brutal but it is also very funny even if you liked the movie.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:57 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
(She's pretty brutal but it is also very funny even if you liked the movie.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:57 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
I fucking love the BTTF trilogy, but I am already really god damned tired of hearing "Back to the Future" and "2015" in the same sentence.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:57 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:57 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've never read Lindy West before. Does she always write in that style? Because it's bone-jarringly terrible. I looked her up and she's not 12, but the way that piece is written is like everything bad about the modern Internet condensed into a single document.
posted by Sangermaine at 9:14 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Sangermaine at 9:14 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, it's not a Jeep, it's a Toyota.
posted by stltony at 9:18 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by stltony at 9:18 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Did not expect the FPP article to finish as a maker-advocacy piece, huh. (My thing about that whole perspective is that it tends to ignore that things made digitally are still things people are making. Made things aren't always tangible, and even though we can't hack and alter devices like in the 80s, we can make a lot more stuff with current devices than we could then.)
What most blows me away about the differences between BTTF 2015 and real 2015, is that teenage me never, ever could have imagined I'd be having a conversation about this movie in 2015, with you folks, through this medium. I guess the biggest changes we don't really see coming?
posted by LooseFilter at 9:22 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
What most blows me away about the differences between BTTF 2015 and real 2015, is that teenage me never, ever could have imagined I'd be having a conversation about this movie in 2015, with you folks, through this medium. I guess the biggest changes we don't really see coming?
posted by LooseFilter at 9:22 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
I completely forgot about the two-tie style. Is it too late to start that as a trend?
posted by surazal at 11:17 AM on January 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
Shut up!! Hipsters are listening.
I run with a decidedly hipster crowd and you better believe they're out there trying to make this happen by the end of the year.
posted by dogwalker at 9:24 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by surazal at 11:17 AM on January 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
Shut up!! Hipsters are listening.
I run with a decidedly hipster crowd and you better believe they're out there trying to make this happen by the end of the year.
posted by dogwalker at 9:24 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Two years ago (because films require development time), someone should have decided to reboot BTTF with the characters traveling BACK to 1985 and FORWARD to 2045. (There never was a third movie, right?)
posted by hippybear at 9:28 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 9:28 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
BTTF2 Was ruined for me when it was pointed out that Biff returned to a time that no longer existed (because he destroyed it). Possibly by jumping between realities ala the Many-Worlds Theory. What's up with that?
I didn't pay to see Back to the Other Reality 2.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:28 AM on January 14, 2015
I didn't pay to see Back to the Other Reality 2.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:28 AM on January 14, 2015
someone should have decided to reboot BTTF with the characters traveling BACK to 1985 and FORWARD to 2045.
Someone came up with a great concept in a previous thread.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:34 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Someone came up with a great concept in a previous thread.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:34 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait - I thought the whole trilogy took place in Cameron Frye's imagination?
posted by ericbop at 9:51 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ericbop at 9:51 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
BTTF2 Was ruined for me when it was pointed out that Biff returned to a time that no longer existed (because he destroyed it). Possibly by jumping between realities ala the Many-Worlds Theory. What's up with that?
They actually sorta-addressed it insofar as Biff disappears after returning to 2015, which according to the commentary is because the new future he created includes him finally being murdered in the 90's. So perhaps by 2015 the damage to the timeline is sufficiently healed that the pre and post Biff 2015 are the same? I mean... it's really no less plausible than watching your siblings slowly erase from a photograph.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:54 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
They actually sorta-addressed it insofar as Biff disappears after returning to 2015, which according to the commentary is because the new future he created includes him finally being murdered in the 90's. So perhaps by 2015 the damage to the timeline is sufficiently healed that the pre and post Biff 2015 are the same? I mean... it's really no less plausible than watching your siblings slowly erase from a photograph.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:54 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Another concept for BTTF 4 I read once:
It's 2015. Marty is confused. He's seen 2015, he saw hoverboards, flying cars, weather control, and more with his own eyes, but none of that exists now. Something is obviously very wrong. He knows that his Doc Brown's first trip to the future is arriving soon. One October evening, he heads out to the parking lot of the old abandoned Lone Pine Mall. He hears the characteristic three booms...
posted by Hatashran at 9:56 AM on January 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
It's 2015. Marty is confused. He's seen 2015, he saw hoverboards, flying cars, weather control, and more with his own eyes, but none of that exists now. Something is obviously very wrong. He knows that his Doc Brown's first trip to the future is arriving soon. One October evening, he heads out to the parking lot of the old abandoned Lone Pine Mall. He hears the characteristic three booms...
posted by Hatashran at 9:56 AM on January 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
seymourScagnetti, that was a friend of mine who wouldn't believe it was fake until I specifically asked the dude who directed the NBC special that made the original (joke) claim. (This was pre-DVD.)
posted by infinitewindow at 9:59 AM on January 14, 2015
posted by infinitewindow at 9:59 AM on January 14, 2015
From the Lindy West Article:
I have plenty of issue with this write-up, but the first that jumped out
It's raining outside and Marty is like, "ew," but then Doc is like hold up--just wait five seconds and it'll change, because I have the rain memorized for reasons unexplained.
Well obviously Doc has scouted ahead. He knows what the kids are going to do, when they are going to meet up, he has the newspaper from that day. He would have obviously prepared for the weather that day.
posted by Twain Device at 10:00 AM on January 14, 2015
I have plenty of issue with this write-up, but the first that jumped out
It's raining outside and Marty is like, "ew," but then Doc is like hold up--just wait five seconds and it'll change, because I have the rain memorized for reasons unexplained.
Well obviously Doc has scouted ahead. He knows what the kids are going to do, when they are going to meet up, he has the newspaper from that day. He would have obviously prepared for the weather that day.
posted by Twain Device at 10:00 AM on January 14, 2015
No, Doc is like hold up wait five seconds because the weather forecasts in the future are JUST THAT ACCURATE. It's in the dialog.
posted by ckape at 10:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ckape at 10:09 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Lindy West piece was enjoyably scathing.
Doc and Marty abandon an unconscious-again Jennifer in public for a second time, this time just dumping her limp body on her porch. Marty goes to his house and discovers that a completely different family lives there!
She neglects to point out that it's a black family, because what else could happen when your neighborhood goes to hell? I didn't notice at the time, but that is a nasty little piece of racism, right there.
Of course, this is the same movie that implies that a white suburban boy had to teach a famous guitar riff to a legendary black musician. So.
posted by emjaybee at 10:12 AM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
Doc and Marty abandon an unconscious-again Jennifer in public for a second time, this time just dumping her limp body on her porch. Marty goes to his house and discovers that a completely different family lives there!
She neglects to point out that it's a black family, because what else could happen when your neighborhood goes to hell? I didn't notice at the time, but that is a nasty little piece of racism, right there.
Of course, this is the same movie that implies that a white suburban boy had to teach a famous guitar riff to a legendary black musician. So.
posted by emjaybee at 10:12 AM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
Also, it's not a Jeep, it's a Toyota.
I've heard this many times and it's obviously a classsic '80s Toyota, but even if you don't know trucks, they make very sure you notice the advertisements for Statler Toyota and the truck earlier.
It's raining outside and Marty is like, "ew," but then Doc is like hold up--just wait five seconds and it'll change, because I have the rain memorized for reasons unexplained.
He looks at his watch-thingy as he says that. We now have watches that tell you the weather forecast. He also notes that the weather service is so wonderful in this new utopia. He didn't have to memorize anything.
And from the OP link: when a 1985 newspaper in Back to the Future II changes its cover story from “GEORGE McFLY MURDERED” to “GEORGE McFLY HONORED.”
This happens a few times and I have to wonder if the Hill Valley Telegraph (and USA Today apparently) have a preset list of "we will have a story about Doc Brown today" and so there will be one no matter what it is. Also, it will be of X importance so the headline font and size will be exactly this regardless of the story.
I could go on and on because I've seen these movies an embarrassing number of times. But for now - sorry, I'm afraid I'm just too darn loud.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
I've heard this many times and it's obviously a classsic '80s Toyota, but even if you don't know trucks, they make very sure you notice the advertisements for Statler Toyota and the truck earlier.
It's raining outside and Marty is like, "ew," but then Doc is like hold up--just wait five seconds and it'll change, because I have the rain memorized for reasons unexplained.
He looks at his watch-thingy as he says that. We now have watches that tell you the weather forecast. He also notes that the weather service is so wonderful in this new utopia. He didn't have to memorize anything.
And from the OP link: when a 1985 newspaper in Back to the Future II changes its cover story from “GEORGE McFLY MURDERED” to “GEORGE McFLY HONORED.”
This happens a few times and I have to wonder if the Hill Valley Telegraph (and USA Today apparently) have a preset list of "we will have a story about Doc Brown today" and so there will be one no matter what it is. Also, it will be of X importance so the headline font and size will be exactly this regardless of the story.
I could go on and on because I've seen these movies an embarrassing number of times. But for now - sorry, I'm afraid I'm just too darn loud.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
and why, bewilderingly, Doc falls for Mary Steenburgen.
Huh? How is that bewildering?
Yeah, really -- the bewilderment isn't BttF3, but BttF2 -- why would Marty's mom would have anything to do with Biff? No way she'd ever marry that creep, and the script doesn't give her any motivation -- it's just weird..
posted by Rash at 10:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Huh? How is that bewildering?
Yeah, really -- the bewilderment isn't BttF3, but BttF2 -- why would Marty's mom would have anything to do with Biff? No way she'd ever marry that creep, and the script doesn't give her any motivation -- it's just weird..
posted by Rash at 10:16 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
So, hey, what's the deal with Zemeckis? Cracked After Hours: Part 1 / Part 2
posted by Sys Rq at 10:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 10:20 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
There's so much wrong with this, linked in the link in the OP, that I don't know where to begin (rap was not anywhere close to an "eccentricity" in 1985 unless you were a white boy from the suburbs). Marty McFly wouldn't pick Straight Outta Compton -- he'd pick It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
posted by blucevalo at 10:21 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by blucevalo at 10:21 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
(rap was not anywhere close to an "eccentricity" in 1985 unless you were a white boy from the suburbs)
Hey, I was one of those! No, not even then.
(He'd pick Fat Boys.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:27 AM on January 14, 2015
Hey, I was one of those! No, not even then.
(He'd pick Fat Boys.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:27 AM on January 14, 2015
Of course, this is the same movie that implies that a white suburban boy had to teach a famous guitar riff to a legendary black musician. So.
emjaybee
No, it didn't. Time travel splits off new timelines, it doesn't change what happened in any one.
In our world Chuck Berry wrote "Johnny B. Goode", which Marty learned in the 80s. When he went back to 1955, he inadvertently exposed Chuck Berry to it, but it was still originally written by Berry. It was just transmitted to the new timeline via Marty instead of being independently written in it by Berry.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:33 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
emjaybee
No, it didn't. Time travel splits off new timelines, it doesn't change what happened in any one.
In our world Chuck Berry wrote "Johnny B. Goode", which Marty learned in the 80s. When he went back to 1955, he inadvertently exposed Chuck Berry to it, but it was still originally written by Berry. It was just transmitted to the new timeline via Marty instead of being independently written in it by Berry.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:33 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Lindy West piece was enjoyably scathing.
I must be old because I found it irritating, starting from when she decided "so let us shall." is a series of words belonging in an article.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:37 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
I must be old because I found it irritating, starting from when she decided "so let us shall." is a series of words belonging in an article.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:37 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Time travel splits off new timelines, it doesn't change what happened in any one.
I admit I have never seen BttF3, and it's been a long time since I saw 2. Do they say this in the movies?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:45 AM on January 14, 2015
I admit I have never seen BttF3, and it's been a long time since I saw 2. Do they say this in the movies?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:45 AM on January 14, 2015
No, Doc is like hold up wait five seconds because the weather forecasts in the future are JUST THAT ACCURATE. It's in the dialog.
I always took Doc's reference to "the weather service" one step further, and understood it as meaning that they didn't merely predict the weather, they scheduled it, down to the second.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:46 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
I always took Doc's reference to "the weather service" one step further, and understood it as meaning that they didn't merely predict the weather, they scheduled it, down to the second.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:46 AM on January 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
I like the circular nature of the guitar riff, but it doesn't really work in the BttF universe. In that universe, the guitar riff no longer had an inventor once McFly visited 1950. Every time someone in BttF visits the past they erase an entire universe, and anything they bring back is a new creation with no antecedents. How many times did Doc and McFly visit the past? Four? They wiped out the entire universe four times. They are the greatest murderers in human history.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:48 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:48 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
They wiped out the entire universe four times. They are the greatest murderers in human history.
Nah, all possible realities exist, and each timeline carries on, unperturbed, once Doc and Marty leave it. They can never, however, get back to their original timeline because by going there they change it to a new one. They don't destroy universes, they create them.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:03 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nah, all possible realities exist, and each timeline carries on, unperturbed, once Doc and Marty leave it. They can never, however, get back to their original timeline because by going there they change it to a new one. They don't destroy universes, they create them.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:03 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Marty didn't "teach" JBG to Chuck Berry. Chuck heard less than two minutes of it, over a 1955-era long distance phone call - and it's not like he could have recorded it - and was able to reproduce it from that.
Presumably, he already had an idea for the song, and hearing this "new" sound helped solidify it.
Although now that I think about it, the fact that Marvin didn't speak to an operator indicates that maybe it was a local call. But still. 1955 telephone network.
posted by Hatashran at 11:04 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Presumably, he already had an idea for the song, and hearing this "new" sound helped solidify it.
Although now that I think about it, the fact that Marvin didn't speak to an operator indicates that maybe it was a local call. But still. 1955 telephone network.
posted by Hatashran at 11:04 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's 2015. Marty is confused. He's seen 2015, he saw hoverboards, flying cars, weather control, and more with his own eyes, but none of that exists now. Something is obviously very wrong. He knows that his Doc Brown's first trip to the future is arriving soon. One October evening, he heads out to the parking lot of the old abandoned Lone Pine Mall. He hears the characteristic three booms...
There is an unspeakably evil part of my mind that wants to joke that, in this scenario, Marty learns that time travel causes early-onset Parkinson's. Luckily, the less evil parts of mind are prevailing, and therefore I will not make that joke.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:10 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
There is an unspeakably evil part of my mind that wants to joke that, in this scenario, Marty learns that time travel causes early-onset Parkinson's. Luckily, the less evil parts of mind are prevailing, and therefore I will not make that joke.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:10 AM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Time travel splits off new timelines, it doesn't change what happened in any one.
I admit I have never seen BttF3, and it's been a long time since I saw 2. Do they say this in the movies?
Yes, Doc Brown draws a diagram on a chalkboard explaining how Biff created an alternate 1985 timeline by giving Gray's Sports Almanac to his younger self.
The way the movies seem to handle changes in time is sort of like ripples through space-time. Instead of Marty poofing out of existence, he notices that his older brother disappears from the photo, then his sister, and finally he begins to fade, as the ripples catch up through time.
There was a bit of footage cut from BTTF 2 where you see Old Biff collapse and fade out of existence after he returns to the future. Old Biff disappears from the Shiny Happy 2015 timeline because his past self has been shifted into an alternate timeline.
posted by Fleebnork at 11:38 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
I admit I have never seen BttF3, and it's been a long time since I saw 2. Do they say this in the movies?
Yes, Doc Brown draws a diagram on a chalkboard explaining how Biff created an alternate 1985 timeline by giving Gray's Sports Almanac to his younger self.
The way the movies seem to handle changes in time is sort of like ripples through space-time. Instead of Marty poofing out of existence, he notices that his older brother disappears from the photo, then his sister, and finally he begins to fade, as the ripples catch up through time.
There was a bit of footage cut from BTTF 2 where you see Old Biff collapse and fade out of existence after he returns to the future. Old Biff disappears from the Shiny Happy 2015 timeline because his past self has been shifted into an alternate timeline.
posted by Fleebnork at 11:38 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Lindy West does point out the Jennifer Problem in BTTF2, which is that having set up the "she has to come too!" opening, the script then has so little for her to do that she spends 90% of the movie knocked out by Doc's sleep-ray.
The doubling back through the Enchantment Under The Sea dance is really well done though.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:54 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
The doubling back through the Enchantment Under The Sea dance is really well done though.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:54 AM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yeah, really -- the bewilderment isn't BttF3, but BttF2 -- why would Marty's mom would have anything to do with Biff? No way she'd ever marry that creep, and the script doesn't give her any motivation -- it's just weird..
Actually, that moment when young Biff harassed her in the street before Old Biff showed up, when he said something like "You're mine!"? On a rewatch years ago, it suddenly struck me that if Biff was that obsessed with her, he probably wouldn't have just given up because she went to the dance with George. Biff was ready to rape her in the parking lot at the dance - in the original non-Marty timeline, he would have gotten away with it. So, did he? It makes more sense to me that she'd marry George after that trauma than if it was just the Nightengale effect. And it explains why she's so sex-negative about in the beginning of BttF 1 compared to how frisky she is at the end.
That doesn't really explain why she would have married Biff in the dead-George timeline, since she was no longer a vulnerable 1950's teenager, but she was a financially vulnerable widow, so I guess that was enough for Biff to get his hooks into.
posted by oh yeah! at 11:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Actually, that moment when young Biff harassed her in the street before Old Biff showed up, when he said something like "You're mine!"? On a rewatch years ago, it suddenly struck me that if Biff was that obsessed with her, he probably wouldn't have just given up because she went to the dance with George. Biff was ready to rape her in the parking lot at the dance - in the original non-Marty timeline, he would have gotten away with it. So, did he? It makes more sense to me that she'd marry George after that trauma than if it was just the Nightengale effect. And it explains why she's so sex-negative about in the beginning of BttF 1 compared to how frisky she is at the end.
That doesn't really explain why she would have married Biff in the dead-George timeline, since she was no longer a vulnerable 1950's teenager, but she was a financially vulnerable widow, so I guess that was enough for Biff to get his hooks into.
posted by oh yeah! at 11:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yes, Doc Brown draws a diagram on a chalkboard explaining how Biff created an alternate 1985 timeline by giving Gray's Sports Almanac to his younger self.
Is it explained how none of the sporting outcomes are changed by this same logic?
posted by the christopher hundreds at 11:58 AM on January 14, 2015
Is it explained how none of the sporting outcomes are changed by this same logic?
posted by the christopher hundreds at 11:58 AM on January 14, 2015
Is it explained how none of the sporting outcomes are changed by this same logic?
I imagine that some of Biff's bets lost, but since most sporting events probably wouldn't be too affected by a slight time disturbance, he won a proportionally larger number of bets than he lost.
posted by Twain Device at 12:05 PM on January 14, 2015
I imagine that some of Biff's bets lost, but since most sporting events probably wouldn't be too affected by a slight time disturbance, he won a proportionally larger number of bets than he lost.
posted by Twain Device at 12:05 PM on January 14, 2015
Forgot to add:
And only his HUGE wins would be televised or reported on, as in the documentary outside his megabuilding.
posted by Twain Device at 12:05 PM on January 14, 2015
And only his HUGE wins would be televised or reported on, as in the documentary outside his megabuilding.
posted by Twain Device at 12:05 PM on January 14, 2015
The doubling back through the Enchantment Under The Sea dance is really well done though.
Best part of the trilogy, for me.
I was just about to turn 13 when the original BTTF was released, and wow is it seared into my brain. I read the novelization (twice), listened to the soundtrack constantly, and saw it in the theater more than a few times. The release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off the following summer cemented my young teenage self's ambition to be an adventure-having awesome slacker, some combination of Marty and Ferris.
I still love time travel stories. (My long-standing favorite.)
posted by LooseFilter at 1:03 PM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best part of the trilogy, for me.
I was just about to turn 13 when the original BTTF was released, and wow is it seared into my brain. I read the novelization (twice), listened to the soundtrack constantly, and saw it in the theater more than a few times. The release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off the following summer cemented my young teenage self's ambition to be an adventure-having awesome slacker, some combination of Marty and Ferris.
I still love time travel stories. (My long-standing favorite.)
posted by LooseFilter at 1:03 PM on January 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
That was a great piece, thank you.
One small correction, though: Universal was the plaintiff in the Universal vs Sony case.
posted by mmrtnt at 2:23 PM on January 14, 2015
One small correction, though: Universal was the plaintiff in the Universal vs Sony case.
posted by mmrtnt at 2:23 PM on January 14, 2015
... we are now as far removed from 1985, the year the first film premiered, as that film was from 1955 ...
Let that sink in.
I'm not sure I want to let that sink in.
"Only" 39 in three weeks.
posted by ZeroAmbition at 3:00 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Let that sink in.
I'm not sure I want to let that sink in.
"Only" 39 in three weeks.
posted by ZeroAmbition at 3:00 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Congratulations! Now you can be 39 forevermore, just like Jack
Benny.
posted by notyou at 5:20 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Benny.
posted by notyou at 5:20 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I first starting hearing about this apropos of BttF-- "do you realize that in two years, we'll be as far from 1985 as 1985 was from 1955??" -- I was stunned and dismayed. But I must say, only a few years later, it doesn't seem very shocking at all. 1985 now feels like a really long time ago. True, it's not on the opposite side of a huge transition like the 60s, but still -- culturally, historically, technologically -- a lot has changed. To enumerate it all would edge into Billy-Joel-song territory [which I grant somewhat undercuts my point, given that he's still playing monthly at the Garden] but it would be a damn long list. Possibly a couple steps back for every three forward, and certainly lots of twirling-twirling-twirling [1989/1996 -- again undercutting my point], but nevertheless. It seems particularly recently that 1985 has become a long time ago.
posted by chortly at 5:33 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chortly at 5:33 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Billy Joel's last album of new material was in 1993, the 30th anniversary of which will be on us before we even realize it.
posted by hippybear at 5:51 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by hippybear at 5:51 PM on January 14, 2015
I always assumed Lorraine was pressured into marrying Biff in 2. She didn't look happy in that wedding video.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:40 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:40 PM on January 14, 2015
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posted by jonmc at 7:58 AM on January 14, 2015 [13 favorites]