Minor BTTF Part Two question

[Trekker4747]

tighr wrote:

---

I bought the DVDs the day they came out.

I bought the Blu-Rays the day they came out.

Bar none, my favorite film trilogy.

Same here. I loved the trailer/teaser for the Back to the Future DVD set. Really gets one pumped for the series!



One thing I've always found interesting about the movie is how it seemed Zemeckis knew to "over-do" the 1980s in the same manner he "over-did" the 1950s. The '50s are shown pretty much in that over idyllic way, much how people claim to remember it (when reality it was likely less Wally and the Beaver and High Schools being out of Grease.) With over-obvious nods to the time in advertisements and set dressings and such. But even the 1980s were a bit "overdone." Showing the aerobics studio, the blight of "Reaganomics" around the town square, Marty's clothing involving a lot of denim and a goose down vest, hell, even with the use of the DeLorean.

It's humorous just how 80s the movie is.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

2015 was even worse.

[Trekker4747]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

2015 was even worse.

Well, in Zemeckis' defense he didn't really want to do a movie in the future but his hands were tied based on the joke-ending he made for the original movie (where no sequel was intended otherwise he wouldn't have had Jennifer in the car.) So he went over the top with the future which, obviously, will be nothing like the real 2015 even if we overlook things like portable fusion devices and flying machines.

[GalaxyX]

Trekker4747 wrote:

---

Well, in Zemeckis' defense he didn't really want to do a movie in the future but his hands were tied based on the joke-ending he made for the original movie (where no sequel was intended otherwise he wouldn't have had Jennifer in the car.) So he went over the top with the future which, obviously, will be nothing like the real 2015 even if we overlook things like portable fusion devices and flying machines.

The 2015 sequences were my favorite part of all 3 movies. The movie really bogs down with the Alternate 1985 though, and retreads in the 1955 sequences horribly.

As for FX, there are literally like 20 seconds worth of FX I would say need fixing, particularly scenes which are clearly badly done model shots. Practically any CGI would do better today, and would cost them thousands. Pocket change compared to how much they would sell the enhanced Blu-Rays.

[Trekker4747]

There are a few poorly done (by today's standards, at least) compositing shots between the models and the live-action shots. There's also some well done shots. But, really, if they fix just one thing I'd like it to be seeing the "real wheels" you can see driving the "hovering" DeLorean in pursuit of Biff's car in 1955.

[theenglish]

Trekker4747 wrote:

---

One thing I've always found interesting about the movie is how it seemed Zemeckis knew to "over-do" the 1980s in the same manner he "over-did" the 1950s. With over-obvious nods to the time in advertisements and set dressings and such. But even the 1980s were a bit "overdone." Showing the aerobics studio, the blight of "Reaganomics" around the town square, Marty's clothing involving a lot of denim and a goose down vest, hell, even with the use of the DeLorean.

It's humorous just how 80s the movie is.

I don't know about this. I remember watching the movie in the theatre and not even thinking that it was out of place compared to the other teen movies of the time. Really, look at the eighties parts of BTTF and compare them to the Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Once Bitten, Drive My Car or other teen movies from the era. Are they really that different in tone and visuals?

[JarodRussell]

GalaxyX wrote:

---

So fix up the scenes with real models then!

If they want to keep repackaging the same 3 movies over and over again, at the least fix the stuff that was wrong with them.

I buy blu rays for higher definition, and not because they fucked with the originals.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I'm sick to hear of CGI used for the sake of it, especially to change mistakes excessively. Movies are relics of the time and place they were made. I give tribute to the idea that they clever with all of the techniques to make the car fly, that it wasn't one single technique, and that makes me almost happy to be able to see the "flaws" mentioned now, some years on. I'm not against a minimal of mistake correcting in films (like digitally removing the pane of glass separating Harrison Ford from deadly snake in Raiders) but I love how films back then required a mixture of techniques instead of the CGI one solution fixes all panacea!

[tighr]

Practical effects are definitely the way to go. Far superior than CGI. Alwyas appreciate when a director goes the extra mile these days and actually films something rather than let a computer do it.

[Ethros]

Maybe while they're at it they should CGI out Marty's cassette walkman and replace it with an iPhone, because hey that looks a bit dated too

[tighr]

Ethros wrote:

---

Maybe while they're at it they should CGI out Marty's cassette walkman and replace it with an iPhone, because hey that looks a bit dated too

And in Part III, they can CGI out all the guns and replace them with walkie-talkies.

[Trekker4747]

Ethros wrote:

---

Maybe while they're at it they should CGI out Marty's cassette walkman and replace it with an iPhone, because hey that looks a bit dated too

I know you're joking, but this sort of "advertising" has been suggested and proposed before by companies. Adding in modern day products to reruns of old shows, for example.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Of course they can always say that Doc Brown will eventually go to the future and introduce these devices (like iPhones) into the 80's and the 50's.

Oh wait, in order for that to work, we'd have go with the Bill and Ted theory of time travel where all future interference happens in one single timeline!

[Trekker4747]

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

---

Of course they can always say that Doc Brown will eventually go to the future and introduce these devices (like iPhones) into the 80's and the 50's.

Oh wait, in order for that to work, we'd have go with the Bill and Ted theory of time travel where all future interference happens in one single timeline!

Which, really, is how it'd probably "really work" because we ARE in one timeline. Anything that's happened in the past has already happened even if it involved stuff that HASN'T happened yet. Which actually can fuck with the mind when it comes to free-will. Of course this brings into some question about the future's motivations for "saving" Bill and Ted since they'd likely know how time travel works, unless they knew Rufus had to go back to help them to ensure things, but... Bah!

Anyway, the key to how Bill and Ted treated this comes both with the stuff with Ted's father's keys and the stuff at the Circle-K. There's a minor plot thread in the beginning of the movie with Ted's father looking for his keys, we later discovered that Ted stole them by going into the past at some point in the future, stealing them, and hiding them for him and Bill to use to save the historical figures. Then, of course, we see Bill and Ted arrive at the Circle-K and the interaction there before Bill and Ted have left, or even realize what is going on.

It's really a very, very, beautiful use of time-travel.

[tighr]

Trekker4747 wrote:

---

Which, really, is how it'd probably "really work" because we ARE in one timeline.

I respectfully disagree. What proof do you have that there is and always will be only "one" timeline?