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Oct 23, 2016

Podcast Audience!  You gotta come back with us!  Where you ask?..BACK TO THE FUTURE!  This week, in honor of Back to the Future Day 2016 (October 21st-The Day Marty and Doc land in the future) we decided to take a look back at the franchise that introduced us to hover boards, self lacing Nikes, and Donald Trump....I mean Biff Tannen.  So grab your Gray's Sports Almanac and refuel your Mr. Fusion as we gun this podcast up to 88mph and explore the world of Back to the Future!  

Movie News!
Tommy Wiseau, Director of cult classic, The Room to star in new film, Best F(r)iends
The Back to the Future Trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990)

Back to the Future (1985)

Written by both Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale and centered on the idea of "what if you could go back and see what your parents were like as teenagers."   
No studio wanted this film.
Disney did show interest until they saw certain incestual tones in the screenplay (ie. Marty and Lorraine McFly).
Zemeckis directed Romancing the Stone which was a huge success and ultimately led to his directing Back to the Future.
Eric Stolz originally was cast as Marty McFly.
However, Stoltz portrayed a very morose Marty that ultimately was counter to the vision that Gale and Zemeckis had.
Michael J. Fox was brought in and brought a lighter and comedic tone to the character of Marty.
The shooting schedule was grueling for Fox who would shoot Back to the Future at night and Family Ties during the day.

Back to the Future-Take Aways

Film is more about George McFly's transition from doormat to self confidence rather than Marty's journey.
One of the biggest issues with the film is that it creates plot points for Marty yet fails to deliver.

Marty never is shown gaining the confidence to send in his demo to the record company.

Robert Zemeckis is not that great at diversity.

Mayor Goldie Wilson is a corrupt politician.
Rock and Roll is gifted to Chuck Berry by Marty McFly.

Back to the Future: Part II (1989)

Centers on Doc and Marty travelling 15 years into the future to stop an incident from occurring with Marty's kids that would destroy his family.  Ultimately, they are success and create a secondary plot in which future Biff steals the time machine and changes the past and creates a dystopian 1985.
Cartoon version of the original film.
Relies on goofy future tech and style as well as a goofy Donald Trump-esque dystopian present.
Light on plot.
Does the job that a sequel should do by expanding the mythos of the original.
Plot starts to focus more on Marty and the repercussions of his short temper.
This movie is full of plot holes- See John's extensive list at 52:17
Plot holes can be resolved with the application "SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF."
Also, IT'S A FUCKING TIME TRAVEL MOVIE.

Back to the Future: Part III (1990)

Dumbest of the three.
The plot centers on Marty and Doc Brown being stuck in the old west after the events of the 2nd film and their journey to get back to 1985 before Mad Dog Tannen, an ancestor of Biff's, shoots and murders Doc over a matter of 80 dollars.
Secondary plot, deals with Doc falling in love with school teacher, Clara Clayton.
The time machine is ultimately destroyed after Marty makes it back to 1985.  Doc Brown stays in 1885 with Clara.
Doc Brown then comes back from 1885 with a brand new time machine made out of a train----which is completely counter to his "I should have never invented that infernal time machine" logic.
The guess is that this was tacked on to lead into the Back to the Future cartoon.

Final Thoughts

First film is a near flawless movie.
Sequels are ok, but not great and definitely do not hold up nearly as well as the original film.