Doc & Marty Make It To The Future
May 2, 2021 4:17 PM Subscribe
In the "predictions" article, I think it should be pointed out that the first 3D movie was released in 1953, and the concept of videoconferencing dates to the 1870s (!) with the first actual AT&T Picturephone in 1964 (and waves of "your next phone will have video" marketing all throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s).
posted by Foosnark at 4:31 PM on May 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 4:31 PM on May 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
Actually pretty impressed with how Michael J. Fox has coped with Parkinson's disease. My grandfather had it, and it took him pretty fast. It has to be incredibly difficult to have lived so long with it. Congratulations on making it so far, Mr. Fox, very glad to still have you around.
posted by deadaluspark at 5:00 PM on May 2, 2021 [19 favorites]
posted by deadaluspark at 5:00 PM on May 2, 2021 [19 favorites]
in that same soda shop, an animatronic and frankly, deeply unsettling version of Marty’s dad shows up on a computer screenI don't know whether to be bothered or relieved that the author doesn't recognise Ronald Reagan (THE ACTOR?!?!).
posted by dumbland at 5:34 PM on May 2, 2021 [19 favorites]
I'm a little sad the article at the last link doesn't mention Lloyd's John Bigbooty* character in Buckaroo Banzai.
*Big-boo-tay!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:39 PM on May 2, 2021 [15 favorites]
*Big-boo-tay!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:39 PM on May 2, 2021 [15 favorites]
the author doesn't recognise Ronald Reagan
Are we sure he wasn't meaning Ayatollah Khomeini?
posted by Mitheral at 6:59 PM on May 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Are we sure he wasn't meaning Ayatollah Khomeini?
posted by Mitheral at 6:59 PM on May 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Granted it would probably be the most expensive film ever made, but the special effects exist to make a convincing 4th film.
posted by Beholder at 8:22 PM on May 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Beholder at 8:22 PM on May 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
> Granted it would probably be the most expensive film ever made, but the special effects exist to make a convincing 4th film.
Robert Zemeckis owns the rights to BTTF, and has vowed there will never be a sequel or reboot. And IIRC he said something like when he dies, it will be in his will that the new owners keep the same restrictions.
posted by zardoz at 1:09 AM on May 3, 2021 [15 favorites]
Robert Zemeckis owns the rights to BTTF, and has vowed there will never be a sequel or reboot. And IIRC he said something like when he dies, it will be in his will that the new owners keep the same restrictions.
posted by zardoz at 1:09 AM on May 3, 2021 [15 favorites]
I really appreciate the Twin Pines/Lone Pine thing they did in the first movie.
posted by Chrysopoeia at 1:15 AM on May 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Chrysopoeia at 1:15 AM on May 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
"The earliest confirmed 3D film shown to an out-of-house audience was The Power of Love, which premiered at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles on 27 September 1922."
coincidence?
posted by Bwentman at 2:39 AM on May 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
coincidence?
posted by Bwentman at 2:39 AM on May 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
Curious thing.
posted by box at 6:17 AM on May 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by box at 6:17 AM on May 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
Regarding the point that the films weren't planned as a trilogy, and the gag at the end of the first movie that had Jennifer in the Delorean with Doc and Marty. I don't fully understand why, once they had put Jennifer in the mix, they couldn't roll with that choice and find something for her to do. This leads to the aspect of part II which has perhaps aged the most poorly: the no consent "knocking out" and memory wipe of the merely incidental woman. A lost opportunity.
posted by os tuberoes at 7:31 AM on May 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by os tuberoes at 7:31 AM on May 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
I don't know whether to be bothered or relieved that the author doesn't recognise Ronald Reagan (THE ACTOR?!?!).
The same author has also confused the movie with its sequel and is a little unclear on who the director was (or else decided to credit the movie to one of the five listed producers).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:51 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
The same author has also confused the movie with its sequel and is a little unclear on who the director was (or else decided to credit the movie to one of the five listed producers).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:51 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
It's funny. I was just out of college when this came out. At that time 30 years into the future seemed like 10,000.
Looking back 30+ years later it doesn't feel very far at all.
posted by freakazoid at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
Looking back 30+ years later it doesn't feel very far at all.
posted by freakazoid at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
I don't fully understand why, once they had put Jennifer in the mix, they couldn't roll with that choice and find something for her to do.
I've said the same thing in the past. She and Marty could have made a great team, what if she was the one who bought the Almanac? What if she was the one that "borrowed" the hoverboard and tossed it to Marty? How much more fun would the 1950s section of the story been if it was Marty and Jennifer working together?
She could have been someone who quickly understood time travel, but from a historic perspective rather than a scientific perspective. She'd be the one that really fixates on the potential of using future knowledge for personal benefit, which is why in the end when she and Doc get sent back to 1885 she's the one that really takes to living in the past and doesn't want to be rescued.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:41 AM on May 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
I've said the same thing in the past. She and Marty could have made a great team, what if she was the one who bought the Almanac? What if she was the one that "borrowed" the hoverboard and tossed it to Marty? How much more fun would the 1950s section of the story been if it was Marty and Jennifer working together?
She could have been someone who quickly understood time travel, but from a historic perspective rather than a scientific perspective. She'd be the one that really fixates on the potential of using future knowledge for personal benefit, which is why in the end when she and Doc get sent back to 1885 she's the one that really takes to living in the past and doesn't want to be rescued.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:41 AM on May 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
It's funny. I was just out of college when this came out. At that time 30 years into the future seemed like 10,000.
I was a teenager; I had little conception of what 2015 would be like, and it’s unlikely I could have guessed that in that far off year I would end up working the info booth at a geek con, where I would end up giving Christopher Lloyd directions.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:40 AM on May 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
I was a teenager; I had little conception of what 2015 would be like, and it’s unlikely I could have guessed that in that far off year I would end up working the info booth at a geek con, where I would end up giving Christopher Lloyd directions.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:40 AM on May 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
I don't fully understand why, once they had put Jennifer in the mix, they couldn't roll with that choice and find something for her to do.
Sexism and 'bros,' I assume.
Though I'll note that Mary Steenbergen's character fared better in movie #3, at least.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:53 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sexism and 'bros,' I assume.
Though I'll note that Mary Steenbergen's character fared better in movie #3, at least.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:53 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
This reminds me that I never did a Fanfare BTTF3 post. Might be time to fix that.
posted by hanov3r at 10:07 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by hanov3r at 10:07 AM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
Nthing how terrible it was that they gave Jennifer nothing to do, when the movie absolutely could have been better with her having a more active role. As to why, though,
From the second extra link:
posted by Mchelly at 11:10 AM on May 3, 2021 [9 favorites]
From the second extra link:
"He goes on to say that if he had planned on doing a sequel, he would’ve never put Jennifer in the final scene—hence why in the sequel, the character (recast with Elisabeth Shue) spends most of the film asleep on a front porch.Yep, sexism. Couldn't go on any adventure with a girl around. It's infuriating enough when Hollywood producers eliminate / replace the female lead to give the male lead a new love interest for the sequel, but it's extra juicy when they don't even have that excuse - they just think it won't be fun to include women. That the plot of II requires us to believe that there's nothing wrong with just dumping her unconscious in an alley in the most dangerous version of the future is just icing on the cake.
Said Zemeckis, “I would’ve had only the Doc and Marty be in the car, and then I could’ve put them on any adventure."
posted by Mchelly at 11:10 AM on May 3, 2021 [9 favorites]
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posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:30 PM on May 2, 2021 [13 favorites]