In case you missed it (or weren’t born back then), the Back to the Future trilogy is three movies about the time-travelling misadventures of high-school kid Marty (played by Michael J. Fox) and his genius friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). The first movie takes us to the 1950s, where Marty almost stops his parents from ever meeting. The next features were produced simultaneously and take Marty and the Doc to the Wild West, 1950s, the 1980s (Marty’s present) and the *cough* far future, otherwise known as 2015. The plot mostly revolves around the main cast trying not to screw up the timeline or their own lives, and making a hilariously hamfisted job of it in the process.
It has been 30 years since the first Back to the Future movie came out. So long ago, in fact, that the ‘future’ depicted in parts two and three is in fact the here and now. The franchise’s two main appeals are that of a nostalgic past and a wild future. The fact that Back to the Future itself now benefits from nostalgia has now become part of its appeal. The first movie was a huge hit and it’s easy to see why; Michael J. Fox’s easy charm compliments the comedy, and the 1950s presented in the movie is fun and exotic at the same time. Back to the Future is as much a part of geek culture these days as Star Wars or Ghostbusters. Heck, these films have even directly inspired other geeky projects, such as Rick and Morty.
These new Blu-ray and DVD sets are crammed with special features. For a start, we get some insight into the casting of Michael J. Fox – turns out that though Fox was the choice the moviemakers wanted, he wasn’t available when production started. They cast Eric Stoltz instead, who didn’t work out. The story of how they got Fox into the role and what happened with Stoltz is the subject of one of the many extras on this collection.
Of particular note is a fun little short movie that has Christopher Lloyd reprise the role of Doc Brown. It revolves around the various cool pieces of technology that existed in the movie (such as hoverboards and self-lacing shoes). The Doc explains (in detail) why we don’t have these things in our 2015. This is not only quite fun, but it’s a great item to file away for your next geeky pub quiz. The collection is crammed with these sort of things; little bits of attention to detail that will delight a big fan of the movies. We also get some commentary and the like from director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale. The two seem to have fun doing all the audio bits, though they do lose focus quite often.
Overall, this a must-have for Back to the Future fans, and an artefact of interest to any of you who are really into Ricky and Morty.
BACK TO THE FUTURE 30TH ANNIVERSARY TRILOGY / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: ROBERT ZEMECKIS / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT ZEMECKIS, BOB GALE / STARRING: MICHAEL J. FOX, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, LEA THOMPSON, THOMAS F. WILSON, CRISPIN GLOVER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
