Worse, we've got Gungnam Style. Just imagine Marty singing in Korean, dancing like a horse and dives between some girl's legs as he sings.
Back to the Future: Made today.
- Thread starter Trekker4747
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Worse, we've got Gungnam Style. Just imagine Marty singing in Korean, dancing like a horse and dives between some girl's legs as he sings.
Very interesting.
Stuff like Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor.
That the US is (still) in Afghanistan and that 80s allies are 2010s enemies.
That there are Star Wars prequels (that suck).
Overall I don't think it would work that well. The differences between 1985 society and 2015 society are not as big. And the 1950s have a special charm that the 1980s lack.
Stuff like Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor.
That the US is (still) in Afghanistan and that 80s allies are 2010s enemies.
That there are Star Wars prequels (that suck).
Overall I don't think it would work that well. The differences between 1985 society and 2015 society are not as big. And the 1950s have a special charm that the 1980s lack.
Yup, the "future" of 2013 is pretty boring.
New Star Trek movies are still produced and they still feature Khan as the villain (although portrayed by a different actor.. at least Leonard Nimoy does his obligatory cameo in each movie). New Star Wars movies are also being produced and the next ones are probably gonna re-unite the cast from the original films.
And in 2010, a sequel to TRON was released, again featuring Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner.
If we try to compare this to the 1955/1985 gap... that's almost like they had done a sequel to Forbidden Planet in 1985, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leslie Nielsen!
(All of this makes the "Jaws 19" joke from BTTF II seem not so far-fetched anymore... they just picked the wrong franchise.)
New Star Trek movies are still produced and they still feature Khan as the villain (although portrayed by a different actor.. at least Leonard Nimoy does his obligatory cameo in each movie). New Star Wars movies are also being produced and the next ones are probably gonna re-unite the cast from the original films.
And in 2010, a sequel to TRON was released, again featuring Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner.
If we try to compare this to the 1955/1985 gap... that's almost like they had done a sequel to Forbidden Planet in 1985, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leslie Nielsen!
(All of this makes the "Jaws 19" joke from BTTF II seem not so far-fetched anymore... they just picked the wrong franchise.)
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All I get from this conversation is that a lot of people are very unhappy with their present time.
One way that it might work is if you changed the angle somewhat. It wouldn't be about a kid from 2015 going back to 1985 and shocking people with his outrageous behavior and whatnot. It would be about a kid from 2015 going back to 1985 and learning how to live without things like the Internet and social media.
I agree. Very much so.
Marty: Andrew Garfield
Doc Brown: Jim Carrey (love that suggestion)
Biff: Channing Tatum
Lorraine: Emily Bett Rickards
George: Matt Smith (just can't get away from time travel
)
Doc Brown: Jim Carrey (love that suggestion)
Biff: Channing Tatum
Lorraine: Emily Bett Rickards
George: Matt Smith (just can't get away from time travel
)
That sounds pretty lame in my opinion.
A nice short gag would be that his smartphone simply doesn't work and is completely useless in the 1980s.
There was already that USS Nimitz at Pearl Harbor time travel film. And the Terminator, which is all about world-saving. So already back then there were differing opinions about the stakes of a good time travel story.
I think people are underestimating the levels of technology change. My kids who are six don't know how to use a rotary phone, they touch every screen they see before looking for buttons, they are used to watching programs on television whenever they want without commercials.
In 1985, if we wanted to call somebody we had to use a pay phone, home computers didn't have hard drives, "record" stores existed, people still had to watch the nightly news for information, and ask for directions--and Michael J Fox was the biggest comedic actor in the US.
In 1985, if we wanted to call somebody we had to use a pay phone, home computers didn't have hard drives, "record" stores existed, people still had to watch the nightly news for information, and ask for directions--and Michael J Fox was the biggest comedic actor in the US.
I distinctly remember lots of doom and gloom attitudes in the 1980's. Lots of people fearing that nuclear war was going to destroy civilization at any moment, lots of talk about coming environmental disasters (although there was more concern about poisoning the Earth than climate change), lots of fear that computers were taking over. Oh, and I was raised believing that the ultimate goal of the USSR was to take over the world. Also, there were plenty of dark and gritty dystopian and post-apocalyptic science fiction movies at that time, many of which were low-budget ones that have been largely forgotten. I don't believe people are any more pessimistic now than they were in 1985.
No one's denying technology has radically changed but society is more the question.
For example, in the original movie Marty encounters Hill Valley's future mayor (a black man) in the diner. When Marty says the guy will one day the man will be mayor the diner owner dismisses this with a, "A colored mayor. That'll be the day!" In 1955 it was pretty far-fetched and absurd for black people to have a meaningful place in politics.
Now, imagine in our little scenario Marty is in the diner in 1985 and, oh I don't, know he encounters a young man named Barack Obama. Marty realizes who he's talking to and says, "That's right! He's going to be president of the United States!"
That's not too far fetched of an idea, a black president was a reasonable idea and not entirely far-fetched. It *could* be something that'd happen in 30 years. So there's a joke that couldn't work.
Technology has changed a lot, sure. No one would deny that. but the question is how much society has changed. Which, sure, it has. But as vastly as it did between 1955 and 1985?
Eh, I don't think so.
Like I said above, what music could Marty play to shock the teenagers of 1985? Without having to go completely off the rails and play some of the more bizarre stuff that's hardly accepted today and wouldn't be exactly playable, live, at a school dance with standard instruments.
That was the joke in BTTF movie. Marty played a rock song a few years away from hitting the radio-waves but then he went too far with it into the 1970s/1980s harder rock stuff and shocked even the teenagers of 1955. It'd be hard to find an equivalent today. (Again, without going VERY esoteric and into stuff that's very niche even today.)
Hell, when talking to his father in 1955 his father expresses concern over swearing in their little stunt to win over Lorraine. Now, sure, George was a square but in 1985? I think you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a teenager who had reservations about swearing.
For example, in the original movie Marty encounters Hill Valley's future mayor (a black man) in the diner. When Marty says the guy will one day the man will be mayor the diner owner dismisses this with a, "A colored mayor. That'll be the day!" In 1955 it was pretty far-fetched and absurd for black people to have a meaningful place in politics.
Now, imagine in our little scenario Marty is in the diner in 1985 and, oh I don't, know he encounters a young man named Barack Obama. Marty realizes who he's talking to and says, "That's right! He's going to be president of the United States!"
That's not too far fetched of an idea, a black president was a reasonable idea and not entirely far-fetched. It *could* be something that'd happen in 30 years. So there's a joke that couldn't work.
Technology has changed a lot, sure. No one would deny that. but the question is how much society has changed. Which, sure, it has. But as vastly as it did between 1955 and 1985?
Eh, I don't think so.
Like I said above, what music could Marty play to shock the teenagers of 1985? Without having to go completely off the rails and play some of the more bizarre stuff that's hardly accepted today and wouldn't be exactly playable, live, at a school dance with standard instruments.
That was the joke in BTTF movie. Marty played a rock song a few years away from hitting the radio-waves but then he went too far with it into the 1970s/1980s harder rock stuff and shocked even the teenagers of 1955. It'd be hard to find an equivalent today. (Again, without going VERY esoteric and into stuff that's very niche even today.)
Hell, when talking to his father in 1955 his father expresses concern over swearing in their little stunt to win over Lorraine. Now, sure, George was a square but in 1985? I think you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a teenager who had reservations about swearing.
CumberBiff? 
I can totally hear Cumby do the same lines Tom Wilson did but in a Khan voice.
I can totally hear Cumby do the same lines Tom Wilson did but in a Khan voice.
Oh, the horrors of seeing Marty having to use a map, having to look Doc's name up in the phone book and then having to actually talk to him instead of texting, having to let an attendant pump his gas and then having to decide if he wants regular or unleaded, forced to listen to what's playing on TV or the car radio, oh the humanity!
Other than using the original cast there were plenty of remakes back then. For SF/F off the top of my head there was:
The Thing(82/51)
The Fly(86/58)
Godzilla(84/54)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers(78/56)
The Blob(88/58)
2010(84)/2001(68) (though only a 16 year gap...)
Invaders from Mars(86/53)
Not of this Earth(88/57)
Arguable
Alien(79) vs It! The Terror From Beyond Space(58)
Flash Gordon(80/36)
Buck Rogers(79/59)
Other than using the original cast there were plenty of remakes back then. For SF/F off the top of my head there was:
The Thing(82/51)
The Fly(86/58)
Godzilla(84/54)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers(78/56)
The Blob(88/58)
2010(84)/2001(68) (though only a 16 year gap...)
Invaders from Mars(86/53)
Not of this Earth(88/57)
Arguable
Alien(79) vs It! The Terror From Beyond Space(58)
Flash Gordon(80/36)
Buck Rogers(79/59)
2010 was in fact a sequel to 2010 and it did feature returning cast members (Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain). But other than that, those were all one-shot remakes and not ongoing franchises in the mold of Star Trek or Star Wars.
^ They just weren't successful enough.
Now that I think about it Buster Crabbe did appear in Buck Rogers in one episode.
Now that I think about it Buster Crabbe did appear in Buck Rogers in one episode.
I always thought a Dodge Viper would make a good time machine in a BTTF remake.
You know, if you'd do BTTF today you could try to build a joke around the fact that the current Governor of California was in fact known as the former Governor of California back in 1985.
"Jerry Brown?? And who's president of the United States in the future? Jimmy Carter?"
"Jerry Brown?? And who's president of the United States in the future? Jimmy Carter?"
That would be a great choice.
"No, but Carter is a nobel peace prize recipient"
All of that stuff is still there though, and teenagers who are not stupid also know that. The difference from now to 1985 isn't that huge.
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