Back to the Future Part II

[Canadave]

The other night, after discovering that a friend of ours had never seen Back to the Future, I marathoned through the entire trilogy with a few friends. And once we reached the end, we were generally in agreement that the first is an undisputed classic, the third is a solid return to form, and the second... ahh, the second.

One thing we found is that it really gets better the further you get into it. Everything in 1955 is gold, as they work their way around the cleverly reshot events of the first movie. But what absolutely does not work is the opening act. In fact, it's so bad that it nearly ruins the entire movie; it's a real slog to get to the good bits.

I really have to wonder what they were thinking. I mean, did Zemeckis and Gale really think that 2015 would be cartoonish and overacted? I'm pretty sure The Jetsons features a better imagining of the future! I guess I can kind of forgive them for the day-glo-ness of it all—they were extrapolating from the 80s, after all—but the acting is so incredibly cornball! Even though the actors are quite believable in every other time period, in the future they all suddenly become zany. I don't understand the logic behind this at all, and it's really a shame that it's such a blemish on an otherwise excellent trilogy.

 

[Jetfire]

2010 is cartoonish and overacted. I think given how the trilogy as a whole is wonderful...the 2015 portion of BTTF 2 can be forgiven...a little.

 

[RoJoHen]

I love the 2015 stuff because it's so over-the-top! It's some of my favorite stuff from the entire trilogy.

 

[Jetfire]

^
Yeah I enjoy it for what it is...in the BTTF universe it makes sense.

 

[captcalhoun]

oh, thank christ, i thought this was going to be some mad ass thread banging on about the time-travel and alternate timeline business...

i like all three.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

I think they painted themselves into a corner with the ending of the first one... it was just supposed to be a punch line and they obviously weren't thinking they'd actually have to dramatize Marty traveling into the future to help his kids.

They tried to make the 2015 scenes play out exactly like the 1955 scenes, but an imaginary future depicted that way is never going to be as interesting or funny as the real past. And plus it makes absolutely no sense that Doc Brown, after all his paranoia about altering the timeline, would deliberately try to change future events for reasons that are frankly still unclear to me after seeing the movie a few times.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think they painted themselves into a corner with the ending of the first one... it was just supposed to be a punch line and they obviously weren't thinking they'd actually have to dramatize Marty traveling into the future to help his kids.

They tried to make the 2015 scenes play out exactly like the 1955 scenes, but an imaginary future depicted that way is never going to be as interesting or funny as the real past. And plus it makes absolutely no sense that Doc Brown, after all his paranoia about altering the timeline, would deliberately try to change future events for reasons that are frankly still unclear to me after seeing the movie a few times.

You got that right! I remember thinking when the second movie was announced that Marty's kids must've done something like messing with the timeline somehow for Doc to get so worried. I don't think Doc would travel through time and upset the cosmos to stop Marty's kid from going to jail for a few years or whatever.

 

[Canadave]

You got that right! I remember thinking when the second movie was announced that Marty's kids must've done something like messing with the timeline somehow for Doc to get so worried. I don't think Doc would travel through time and upset the cosmos to stop Marty's kid from going to jail for a few years or whatever.

Yeah, that's another bit that makes no sense. Doc's motivation is pretty OOC, and frankly doesn't make a lick of sense. I think that may be why the movie becomes enjoyable again when they leave the future—they're off trying to fix the timeline again, instead of... of... whatever they were doing in 2015.

 

[Trekker4747]

The Bobs never expected to do a sequel and when they did the sequel they were stuck with the coda at the end of the movie of the cast going to the future.

This presented them with two problems, the first one being that they didn't know what to do with Jennifer and the second one being they knew that no matter what they did with 2015 it was going to be wrong. So they, purposefuly, went over the top and phoned it in.

I've no real problem with that, I kind of enjoy Part 2's OOT 2015. Doc's concern about what is going to happen with Marty's kids does seem bizzare even more-so when you consider that, okay, he can save Marty's kids' future by prevented the robbery but he won't save Marty's future by telling him about the car accident that'll ruin his future (which, frankly, I hope has nothing to do with being a rock star)?!

 

[Mr Light]

The future sequence is the best part of the entire trilogy!

 

[Beagleman]

I love the 2015 stuff because it's so over-the-top! It's some of my favorite stuff from the entire trilogy.

This.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I love the future stuff and have no issue with it. The trilogy would be lacking without it.

When I think about it these days, it seems like 2015 was deliberately made to look like an 80s version of the future with Max Headroom, Pepsi Perfect, etc.

 

[Lindley]

You got that right! I remember thinking when the second movie was announced that Marty's kids must've done something like messing with the timeline somehow for Doc to get so worried. I don't think Doc would travel through time and upset the cosmos to stop Marty's kid from going to jail for a few years or whatever.

Or....Marty's kids both end up in jail, so Marty himself dusts off the time machine, and in trying to fix things, screws them up further. Doc decides the only way to undo all of old-Marty's damage is to preempt the first incident with young Marty?

 

[Anwar]

I think the guys in charge made 2015 as over-the-top as they did on purpose, to sort of make fun of how people keep thinking the future will be all Jetsons-looking.

As for Mary's kids, didn't Doc say that he did further future research and found out that it was the once incident of Marty Jr going to jail that snowballed into some major catastrophe that destroyed Marty's entire family down the line?

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yes I believe there was some kind of line from Doc saying that Marty Jr's jail time eventually led to his entire family falling apart. I agree that it was a lousy excuse to travel to the future however one could argue that the anomalous event that took place in 2015 was obviously Marty buying the almanac which then launches the main plot of the film. If 2015 was JUST about Doc and Marty preventing Marty Jr from making a huge mistake then maybe that would have led to a different movie entirely.

That being said I love the 2015 sequences...I wanted a hoverboard when I was a kid probably like everyone else. I even wanted Marty's future jacket. Don't forget too that this was done in like 1989 too so who the heck knew what stuff was going to be coming down the line in the next 25 or so years? LOL

 

[RoJoHen]

Now I want to have a BTTF marathon.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I wanted a hoverboard when I was a kid probably like everyone else.

I wanted one too. I even did some reading on how to make one and ended up doing a science fair project on magnetic levitation.

Now I want to have a BTTF marathon.

As do I. I've yet to see them all back to back.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always thought that the 2015 scenes (which I like to call, "My Little Pony Threw Up") were intentionally gaudy and over-the-top, to represent a dystopian future. Meaning, it's not supposed to be like that - but perhaps Marty, in the new, revised timeline, might be able to do something about it.

And remember Hilldale? We only ever saw it, AFAIK, *after* Old Biff stole the sports almanac. I think the future was already starting to change, right around him.

Also, I'd just like to nip a few things in the bud: No, the movie DID NOT predict that the Florida Marlins would win the 1997 World Series (linky), and HOVERBOARDS ARE NOT REAL. either

 

[RoJoHen]

Now I want to have a BTTF marathon.

As do I. I've yet to see them all back to back.

I have, but only on TV marathons that are edited and full of commercials. It's also been a really long time.

Don't the Blu-Rays come out this year?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Yep. October 26.