Back to the Future Part II | |
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Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
Screenplay by | Bob Gale |
Story by |
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Based on | |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
Edited by | |
Music by | Alan Silvestri |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 108 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $40 million [3] |
Box office | $332.5 million [3] |
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale; both wrote the story. It is a sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future and the second installment in the Back to the Future franchise. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson, with Elisabeth Shue (replacing Claudia Wells) and Jeffrey Weissman (replacing Crispin Glover) in supporting roles. It follows Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) as they travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty's son from sabotaging the McFly family's future. When their arch-nemesis Biff Tannen (Wilson) steals Doc's DeLorean time machine and uses it to alter history for his benefit, the duo must return to 1955 to restore the timeline.
The film was produced on a $40 million budget and was filmed back to back with its sequel Part III . Filming began in February 1989, after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts. Back to the Future Part II was also a ground-breaking project for visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). In addition to digital compositing, ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement.
Back to the Future Part II was released by Universal Pictures on November 22, 1989. Though the film received mostly positive reviews, it was deemed inferior to its predecessor by critics at the time of release. In the years since, the film has been reappraised and is now considered one of the best sequels of all time. [4] [5] The film grossed over $332 million worldwide in its initial run, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1989. Part III followed on May 25, 1990, concluding the trilogy.
On October 26, 1985, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown arrives unexpectedly in the DeLorean time machine. He persuades Marty McFly and his girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, to travel to the future with him [N 1] and help their future children, with Biff Tannen witnessing their departure. Once they arrive in 2015, Doc incapacitates Jennifer, leaving her asleep in an alley to avoid letting her learn about her own future. Doc explains that their son Marty Jr. will be arrested for participating in a robbery with Biff's grandson Griff, leading to a chain of events that destroys the McFly family.
Doc instructs Marty to switch places with the identical Marty Jr. and refuse Griff's offer, but Griff goads Marty into a fight by calling him "chicken", and a subsequent hoverboard chase ensues. Griff and his gang are arrested, saving Marty's future children. Before rejoining Doc, Marty purchases an almanac containing the results of major sporting events from 1950 to 2000. Doc discovers it and warns Marty about profiting from time travel. Before Doc can adequately dispose of it, they are interrupted by the police, who have found Jennifer incapacitated and are taking her to her 2015 home. They pursue, as does an elderly Biff, who has overheard their conversation and retrieved the discarded almanac.
Jennifer wakes up in her 2015 home and hides from the McFly family. She overhears that her future life with Marty is not what she expected, due to his involvement in an automobile accident, and witnesses Marty being goaded by his co-worker, Douglas Needles, into a shady business deal, resulting in the loss of his job. Jennifer tries to escape the house but faints after encountering her 2015 self. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Marty and Doc, Biff steals the time machine and returns it. Marty and Doc return to 1985, leaving an unconscious Jennifer on her front porch to sleep off the day's events as a dream.
Marty gradually realizes that the 1985 they have returned to is not the one he knows. Biff, having used the almanac to secure a fortune, is now one of the country's wealthiest and most corrupt men. He has turned Hill Valley into a chaotic dystopia, secretly murdered Marty's father, George, in 1973, and forced Marty's mother, Lorraine, to marry him. Meanwhile, this timeline's version of Doc has been committed to a mental hospital. Doc deduces that old Biff took the time machine to give his younger self the almanac, and Marty learns from the alternate 1985 Biff that he received it on November 12, 1955. [N 2] Biff, acting on his future self's advice, tries to kill Marty, but he flees with Doc to 1955.
Marty secretly follows the 1955 Biff and watches him receive the almanac from his 2015 self. Marty then follows him to the high school dance, carefully avoiding interrupting the events from his previous visit, and being forced to intervene when Biff's gang goes after the other Marty performing onstage. Marty finally gets the almanac, but loses it after being again goaded into a fight with Biff. Marty chases after Biff's car on the hoverboard, getting the almanac back as Biff is left to crash into a manure truck for the second time in a week.
Marty burns the almanac, nullifying the changes to the timeline that it had caused, as Doc hovers above in the time machine. Before Marty can join him, the DeLorean is struck by lightning and disappears. A Western Union courier arrives immediately after and delivers a letter to Marty; it is from Doc, who tells him that the lightning strike transported him seventy years in the past to 1885. [N 3] Marty races back into town to find the 1955 Doc, who had just helped the other Marty to return to 1985. Shocked by Marty's sudden reappearance, Doc faints.
Elisabeth Shue replaces Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker and Jeffrey Weissman replaces Crispin Glover as George McFly, though Glover appears in archive footage from the first film. James Tolkan reprises his role as Mr. Strickland, as do Billy Zane, Casey Siemaszko and J. J. Cohen as Biff's cronies Match, 3-D and Skinhead.
Griff's gang in 2015 includes Ricky Dean Logan as Data, Darlene Vogel as Spike and Jason Scott Lee as Whitey. Stephanie E. Williams plays Officer Foley, while Zemeckis' then-wife Mary Ellen Trainor has an uncredited role as Officer Reese. Flea appears as Marty's coworker Douglas J. Needles and James Ishida plays his boss Mr. Fujitsu. Donald Fullilove, who played Goldie Wilson in the first film, makes an uncredited appearance as his hovercar salesman grandson Goldie Wilson III. A young Elijah Wood is one of the two boys Marty teaches to play Wild Gunman.
In the alternate 1985, Al White portrays the patriarch of the family living in the McFly house. Neil Ross provides the voiceover for the Biff Tannen museum while George Buck Flower reprises his role as Red the Bum.
In 1955, Harry Waters Jr. reprises his role as Marvin Berry, Lisa Freeman reprises her role as Babs, Wesley Mann plays a student who mistakes Marty for a thief, and Joe Flaherty plays the Western Union representative who delivers Doc's letter. Charles Fleischer plays Terry, who in 2015 indirectly gives Marty the idea to use time travel to bet on sports, and in 1955 is Biff's mechanic.
Director Robert Zemeckis said that initially, a sequel was not planned for the first film, but its huge box office success led to the conception of a second installment. He later agreed to do a sequel, but only if Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd returned as well. With Fox and Lloyd confirmed, Zemeckis met with screenwriting partner Bob Gale to create a story for the sequel. Zemeckis and Gale would later regret that they ended the first one with Jennifer in the car with Marty and Doc Brown, because it required them to come up with a story that would fit her in, rather than a whole new adventure. [6]
Gale wrote most of the first draft by himself as Zemeckis was busy making Who Framed Roger Rabbit . At first, the film's third act was to take place in 1967 where Lorraine was a flower child protesting the war and George was a college professor at Berkeley, but Zemeckis later stated that the time paradoxes of it provided a good opportunity to go back to 1955 and see the first film's events in a different light. While most of the original cast agreed to return, a major stumbling block arose when negotiating Crispin Glover's fee for reprising the role of George McFly. When it became clear that he would not return, the role was rewritten so that George is dead when the action takes place in the alternative version of 1985. [6]
The greatest challenge was the creation of the futuristic vision of Marty's hometown in 2015. Production designer Rick Carter wanted to create a very detailed image with a different tone from the film Blade Runner , wishing to get past the smoke and chrome. Carter and his crew spent months plotting, planning, and preparing Hill Valley's transformation into a city of the future. [7] Visual effects art director John Bell said that they had no script to work with, only the indications that the setting would be 30 years into the future featuring "something called hoverboards". [8]
When writing the script for Part II, Gale wanted to push the first film's ideas further for humorous effect. Zemeckis said he was somewhat concerned about portraying the future because of the risk of making wildly inaccurate predictions. According to Gale, they tried to make the future a nice place, "where what's wrong is due to who lives in the future as opposed to the technology" in contrast to the pessimistic, Orwellian future seen in most science fiction. [6] Gale has stated that the characterization of the 1985A Biff took inspiration from Donald Trump. [9] To keep production costs low and take advantage of an extended break Fox had from Family Ties (which was ending its run when filming began), it was shot back-to-back with sequel Part III . [10]
Two years were needed to finish building the sets and writing the scripts before shooting could begin. During filming the creation of the appearance of the aged characters was a well-guarded secret, involving state-of-the-art make-up techniques. Fox described the process as very time-consuming, saying that "it took over four hours, although it could be worse". [6] Principal photography began on February 20, 1989. [10] Fox was pulling double duty, acting in the last season of Family Ties as filming began on the sequel. For a three-week period near the end of the filming, the crew split and, while most remained dedicated to shooting Part III, a few, including Gale, focused on finishing its predecessor. Zemeckis himself slept only a few hours per day, supervising both films, having to fly between Burbank, where it was being finished and other locations in California for Part III. [11]
The film was considered one of the most ground-breaking projects for Industrial Light & Magic. It was one of the effects house's first forays into digital compositing, as well as the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which enabled them to shoot one of its most complex sequences, in which Fox played three separate characters (Marty Sr., Marty Jr., and Marlene), all of whom interacted with each other. Although such scenes were not new, the VistaGlide allowed, for the first time, a completely dynamic scene in which camera movement could finally be incorporated. The technique was also used in scenes where Fox, Thomas F. Wilson, Christopher Lloyd, and Elisabeth Shue's characters encounter and interact with their counterparts. [6] It also includes a brief moment of computer-generated imagery in a holographic shark used to promote a fictional Jaws 19, which wound up unaltered from the first test done by ILM's digital department because effects supervisor Ken Ralston "liked the fact that it was all messed up." [8]
Animation supervisor Wes Takahashi, who then was the head of ILM's animation department, worked heavily on the film's time travel sequences, as he had done in the original film and in Part III. [12] [13] As Part II neared release, sufficient footage of Part III had been shot to allow a trailer to be assembled. It was added to the conclusion of Part II before the closing credits, as a reassurance to moviegoers that there was more to follow. [14]
Crispin Glover was asked to reprise the role of George McFly. He expressed interest, but could not come to an agreement with the producers regarding his salary. He stated in a 1992 interview on The Howard Stern Show that the producers' highest offer was $125,000, less than half of what the other returning cast members were offered. Gale has since asserted that Glover's demands were excessive for an actor of his professional stature at that time. [14] In an interview on the Opie and Anthony show in 2013, Glover stated that his primary reason for not doing Part II was a philosophical disagreement on the film's message; Glover felt the story rewarded the characters with financial gain, such as Marty's truck, rather than love. [15]
Rather than write George out of the film, Zemeckis used previously filmed footage of Glover from the first film as well as new footage of actor Jeffrey Weissman, who wore prosthetics including a false chin, nose, and cheekbones to resemble Glover. Various techniques were used to obfuscate the Weissman footage, such as placing him in the background rather than the foreground, having him wear sunglasses, and hanging him upside down. Glover would also learn from Weissman that the molds created from his face to make the aging prosthetics for 1985 George McFly in the first film were reused to make the prosthetics for Weissman's portrayal. Unhappy with this, Glover filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film on the grounds that they neither owned his likeness nor had permission to use it. As a result of the suit, there are now clauses in the Screen Actors Guild collective bargaining agreements stating that producers and actors are not allowed to use such methods to reproduce the likeness of other actors. [16] Glover's legal action, while resolved outside of the courts, has been considered as a key case in personality rights for actors with increasing use of improved special effects and digital techniques, in which actors may have agreed to appear in one part of a production but have their likenesses be used in another without their agreement. [17] [18]
Claudia Wells planned to reprise her role as Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker, but when filming coincided with a family cancer crisis, she chose to care for her mother's health. [19] After the producers cast Elisabeth Shue as a replacement, they re-shot the closing scenes of the first film for the beginning of Part II, in a nearly shot-for-shot match with the original. [20] [21]
Wells returned to acting with a starring role in the 2008 independent film Still Waters Burn. She is one of the few cast members not to make an appearance within the bonus material on the Back to the Future Trilogy DVD set released in 2002. However, she is interviewed for the Tales from the Future documentaries in the trilogy's 25th anniversary issue on Blu-ray Disc in 2010. Wells would also later reprise her role from the first film, 26 years after her last appearance in the series, providing the voice of Jennifer for Back to the Future: The Game by Telltale Games in 2011. [22]
Zemeckis said on the film's behind-the-scenes featurette that the hoverboards (flying skateboards) used in it were real, yet not released to the public, due to parental complaints regarding safety. [7] Footage of "real hoverboards" was also featured in the extras of a DVD release of the trilogy. A number of people thought Zemeckis was telling the truth and requested them at toy stores. In an interview, Wilson said one of the most frequent questions he was asked was if they are real. [23]
Although the filmmakers researched contemporary predictions by scientists on what might occur by 2015, Zemeckis has said that the film was not meant to be a serious attempt at predicting the future. In 2010, he commented: "For me, filming the future scenes of the movie were the least enjoyable of making the whole trilogy, because I don't really like films that try and predict the future. The only ones I've actually enjoyed were the ones done by Stanley Kubrick, and not even he predicted the PC when he made A Clockwork Orange . So, rather than trying to make a scientifically sound prediction that we were probably going to get wrong anyway, we figured, let's just make it funny". [24] Similarly, Gale said: "We knew we weren't going to have flying cars by the year 2015, but God we had to have those in our movie". [25]
However, the film did correctly predict a number of technological and sociological changes that occurred by 2015, including: the rise of ubiquitous cameras; use of unmanned flying drones for newsgathering; widescreen flat-panel television sets mounted on walls with multiple channel viewing; smart home technology; video chat systems; hands-free video games; talking animated billboards; wearable technology; tablet computers with fingerprint scanners and head-mounted displays. [26] [27] Payment on personal portable devices is also depicted. Although payment by thumbprint is not widely used, fingerprint scanning is in use as security at places such as airports and schools, and electronic payment with fingerprint scanning as a security feature is deployed for Apple Pay. [27]
Other aspects of the depiction of the future would not come to pass by 2015, but efforts were made to replicate those technology advances.
The film shows Marty putting on Nike "Air Mag" tennis shoes with automatic shoelaces. Nike released a version of their Hyperdunk Supreme shoes, which appear similar to Marty's, in July 2008. Fans dubbed them the Air McFly. [28] In April 2009, they filed the patent for self-lacing shoes, and their design bears a resemblance to those worn by Marty in the film. [29] In 2010, a fan named Blake Bevin created shoes that tie themselves. [30] Though Nike had made a very limited quantity of Air Mags in the same style as the movie, they stated in September 2011 that their consumer-line MAG line of shoes would not feature the self-lacing feature shown in it. [31] [32] Tinker Hatfield, one of the shoe's designers, indicated in 2014 that they would introduce shoes with power-lacing technology the following year, 2015. [33] In March 2016, Nike unveiled the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoe, a consumer-market model of the Air Mag which features the same self-lacing technology used for the commemorative Air Mags; these were put on sale in limited quantities in late 2016. [34]
The producers created a futuristic flying car to depict a typical taxi cab in the future world of 2015. This taxi was based on the Citroën DS. [35]
The concept of the hoverboard—a skateboard that can float off the ground—has been explored by various groups since the release of the film. Attempts similar to hoverboats, which blast air at the ground, have been demonstrated, [36] with a 2021 record distance of 275 meters (902 ft). [37] A different type is the MagBoard, developed by researchers at the Paris Diderot University. It uses a large superconductor plate on the bottom cooled with liquid nitrogen as to achieve the Meissner effect and allow it to float over a special track; it was shown capable of carrying the weight of a human in its practical demonstration. However, the requirement to run the superconductor at higher, more ambient temperatures prevents this from becoming practical. [38] [39] In March 2014, a company named HUVr Tech purportedly demonstrated a working hoverboard along with several celebrities including Lloyd, though this shortly was revealed as a hoax created by the website Funny or Die. [40] Self-balancing 'hoverboards' became popular in 2015 even though they do not hover above the ground. [41]
In the 2015 scene, the film imagines the Chicago Cubs winning the 2015 World Series against the fictional Miami-based Gators, referring to the Cubs' longstanding failure to win a championship. In the actual 2015 season, the Cubs qualified for the postseason, their first postseason appearance since 2008, [42] but lost the National League Championship Series (not the World Series) to the New York Mets on October 21, which coincidentally was the same day as "Back to the Future Day", the day Marty McFly arrived in 2015 in the film. [43] Despite losing, one year later the Cubs did win the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians; [44] in congratulations to the Cubs, the official Twitter feed for the Back to the Future franchise jokingly tweeted out that Marty & Doc's time-traveling caused "a rift in the space-time continuum" that led to the 1994 strike (and subsequent cancellation of the 1994 World Series), thus delaying the accurate prediction by a year. [45] In the real 2015 World Series, the Kansas City Royals defeated the Mets to win their first World Series championship since 1985, the year which Marty and Doc time traveled in the film. As for the fictional Miami team, when the film was made, Florida did not have a Major League Baseball team, [46] but has since gained two: the Florida Marlins (now the Miami Marlins) in 1993 and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now the Tampa Bay Rays) in 1998. While both teams have each made two appearances in the World Series (the Marlins winning in 1997 and 2003, and the Rays losing in 2008 and 2020), neither qualified for the postseason in 2015. Another sport mentioned in the film, SlamBall, would indeed become a real sport in 2002. [47]
The film was released to theaters in North America on Wednesday, November 22, 1989, the day before Thanksgiving. It grossed a total of $27.8 million over Friday to Sunday, and $43 million across the five-day holiday opening, breaking the previous Thanksgiving record set by Rocky IV in 1985. [48] [49] On the following weekend, it had a drop of 56 percent, earning $12.1 million, but remained at number 1. [50] Its total gross was $118.5 million in the United States and $213 million overseas, for a total of $332 million worldwide, ranking as 1989's sixth-most successful film domestically and the third-most worldwide—behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Batman . [51] However this was still short of the first film's gross. Part III, which Universal released only six months later, experienced a similar drop. In Japan, it had a record opening, grossing $7.5 million in six days from 153 screens. [52]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Back to the Future II is far more uneven than its predecessor, but its madcap highs outweigh the occasionally cluttered machinations of an overstuffed plot". [53] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [54] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [55]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars. Ebert criticized it for lacking the "genuine power of the original" but praised it for its slapstick humor and the hoverboard in its chase sequence. [56] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film is "ready for bigger and better things" and later said that it "manages to be giddily and merrily mind-boggling, rather than confusing". [57] Tom Tunney of Empire magazine wrote that the film was well-directed, "high-energy escapism", and called it "solidly entertaining", though noting it as being inferior to the other two films in the franchise. [58]
Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader gave the film a negative review, criticizing Zemeckis and Gale for turning the characters into "strident geeks" and for making the frenetic action formulaic. He believed that it contained "rampant misogyny", because the character of Jennifer Parker "is knocked unconscious early on so she won't interfere with the little-boy games". He cited, as well, Michael J. Fox dressing in drag. [59] Variety said, "[Director Robert] Zemeckis' fascination with having characters interact at different ages of their lives hurts it visually, and strains credibility past the breaking point, by forcing him to rely on some very cheesy makeup designs". [60]
In 2018, Bob Gale, who co-wrote the movie with Robert Zemeckis, said the movie received a mixed reception because of the dark aspect of the story: "They [the audiences] were absolutely surprised by it. The whole 1985 stuff... we went places the audience was not ready to go. That is some of my favorite stuff in the whole trilogy". [61]
The film won the Saturn Award for Best Special Effects (for Ken Ralston, the special effects supervisor), the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects (Ken Ralston, Michael Lantieri, John Bell and Steve Gawley), [62] an Internet-voted 2003 AOL Movies DVD Premiere Award for the trilogy DVDs, a Golden Screen Award, a Young Artist Award, and the Blimp Awards for Favorite Movie Actor (Michael J. Fox), and Favorite Movie Actress (Lea Thompson) at the 1990 Kids' Choice Awards. It was nominated in 1990 for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (John Bell, Steve Gawley, Michael Lantieri and Ken Ralston), but lost to The Abyss . [63] [64]
The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc on May 22, 1990, three days before the theatrical release of Part III. It was due to be the first release under the MCA/Universal Home Video banner. [65] Universal reissued it on VHS, LaserDisc, and compact disc in 1991, 1995, and 1998. On December 17, 2002, Universal released it on DVD in a boxed trilogy set, although widescreen framing problems led to a product recall. [66] The trilogy was released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2010.
Universal re-released the trilogy alongside new features on DVD and Blu-ray on October 20, 2015, coinciding with Back to the Future Day the following day. The new set included a featurette called "Doc Brown Saves the World", where Lloyd, reprising his role as Doc Brown, explains the reasons for the differences between the future of 2015 as depicted in Back to the Future Part II and in real life. [67] A new remaster as part of Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on October 20, 2020. [68]
In May 2020, the trilogy was released for streaming on Netflix. A small edit was noticed to Part II during the scene featuring the fictional soft porn magazine called Oh La La! in which the shot showing the reveal of the magazine cover is cut short, omitting sight of the magazine itself. Gale stated that neither he nor Zemeckis were aware of this change, and believed it originated from a foreign print of the film. Shortly afterwards, Universal provided Netflix with the unedited, theatrical version of the film, [69] replacing the censored cut on the streaming platform. [70]
The soundtrack was released by MCA Records on November 22, 1989. AllMusic rated it four-and-a-half stars out of five. [71] Unlike the previous soundtrack, it contains only a musical score by composer Alan Silvestri. None of the vocal songs featured throughout the film are included. On October 12, 2015, Intrada Records released the complete score of Back to the Future Part II in a 2-disc set including early scoring sessions and alternative takes.
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, it follows Marty McFly (Fox), a teenager accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean automobile built by his eccentric scientist friend Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd), where he inadvertently prevents his future parents from falling in love – threatening his own existence – and is forced to reconcile them and somehow get back to the future.
Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction Western film and the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, and Lea Thompson. The film continues immediately following Back to the Future Part II (1989); while stranded in 1955 during his time travel adventures, Marty McFly (Fox) discovers that his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd), trapped in 1885, was killed by Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Wilson), Biff's great-grandfather. Marty travels to 1885 to rescue Doc and return once again to 1985, but matters are complicated when Doc falls in love with Clara Clayton (Steenburgen).
Hill Valley is a fictional town in California that serves as the setting of the Back to the Future trilogy and its animated spin-off series. In the trilogy, Hill Valley is seen in four different time periods – 1885, 1955, 1985, and 2015 – as well as in a dystopian alternate 1985. The films contain many sight gags, verbal innuendos and detailed set design elements, from which a detailed and consistent history of the area can be derived.
Marty McFly is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Back to the Future franchise. He is a high school student living in the fictional town of Hill Valley, California, who accidentally becomes a time traveler and alters history after his scientist friend Emmett Brown invents a DeLorean time machine. He was created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. In the film trilogy, he is portrayed by Canadian actor Michael J. Fox. Back to the Future established Fox as a film star, such was the commercial success and popularity of the film upon its release in 1985. Marty returned in two film sequels, Back to the Future Part II in 1989 and Back to the Future Part III in 1990.
Biff Tannen is a fictional character in the Back to the Future trilogy. Thomas F. Wilson plays Biff in all three films as well as the Universal Studios ride, and voiced the character in the animated series. Aidan Cutler played him in the original West End production of the first film's stage musical adaptation, and Nathaniel Hackmann plays him in the Broadway production. Biff is the main antagonist of the first and second films, while his great-grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, is the main antagonist of the third.
A hoverboard is a fictional levitating board used for personal transportation, first described in science-fiction, and made famous by the appearance of a skateboard-like hoverboard in the film Back to the Future Part II. Many attempts have been made to invent a functioning hoverboard.
Michael Robert Gale is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, film producer and director. He is best known for co-writing the science fiction comedy film Back to the Future with his writing partner Robert Zemeckis. Gale co-produced all three films of the franchise and later served as associate producer of the animated TV series. Actor Michael J. Fox has referred to Gale as the "gatekeeper of the [Back to the Future] franchise".
Back to the Future is an American science fiction franchise created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The franchise follows the adventures of a high school student, Marty McFly, and an eccentric scientist, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown, as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of the fictional town of Hill Valley, California.
Back to the Future is an animated science-fiction comedy adventure television series for television based on the live-action Back to the Future film trilogy. The show lasted two seasons, each featuring 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 14, 1991, to December 26, 1992, with reruns until August 14, 1993. Citing low ratings, CBS cancelled the show after two seasons. It was later rerun on Fox as a part of the FoxBox block from March 22 to August 30, 2003.
Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown, commonly referred to as "Doc Brown", is a fictional scientist in the Back to the Future franchise. He was created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. First appearing in the 1985 film Back to the Future, he is an eccentric mad scientist and friend to the protagonist Marty McFly. In the franchise, he invents a time machine using a DMC DeLorean. He is portrayed by Christopher Lloyd in all three films and in the television series and was loosely inspired by Leopold Stokowski and Albert Einstein. He is also voiced by Dan Castellaneta in the animated sections of the television series.
Back to the Future: The Ride was a simulator ride located at several Universal Destinations & Experiences locations. The first installation opened on May 2, 1991, at the World Expo area of Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. A second installation opened on June 12, 1993, in the Hollywood Lot area of Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. A third installation opened on March 31, 2001, in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. Based on the Back to the Future franchise, the ride is a first person adventure that takes place after the events depicted in Back to the Future Part III. Riders engage in a race through time in pursuit of Biff Tannen, who has stolen the DeLorean time machine.
Back to the Future Part II is a 1990 action game based on the 1989 film of the same name. It was developed and published by Image Works for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Master System, and ZX Spectrum. The game has five levels based on scenes from the film, and was criticized as a poor conversion of the film. It was followed by Back to the Future Part III.
In the Back to the Future franchise, the DeLorean time machine is a time travel vehicle constructed from a retrofitted DMC DeLorean. Its time travel ability is derived from the "flux capacitor", a component that allows the car to travel to the past or future. This occurs when the car accelerates to 88 miles per hour and requires 1.21 gigawatts of electricity.
Back to the Future: The Game is an episodic graphic adventure video game based on the Back to the Future film franchise. The game was developed and published by Telltale Games as part of a licensing deal with Universal Pictures. Bob Gale, the co-creator, co-writer, and co-producer of the film trilogy, assisted Telltale in writing the game's story. Original actors Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd allowed the developers to use their likenesses in the game for the lead characters Marty McFly and Doc Brown, respectively. Although Lloyd reprises his role as Doc, A.J. LoCascio plays the role of Marty, while Fox later appeared to voice two cameo roles in the final episode, reprising his role as future versions of Marty McFly in addition to playing his forefather William.
The Nike MAG is a limited-edition shoe created by Nike Inc. It is a replica of a self-tying shoe featured in the film Back to the Future Part II. The Nike Mag was originally released for sale in 2011 and again in 2016. Both launches were in limited quantities. The 2011 release was limited to 1,510 pairs, while the 2016 release was limited to 89 pairs.
Back to the Future: The Musical is a musical with music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard and a book by Bob Gale. It is adapted from the 1985 film Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis and Gale. The show features original music, as well as songs featured in the film.
Back in Time is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Jason Aron. The film explores the production, impact, and legacy of the Back to the Future film series, and includes interviews with members of the series' cast and crew, including Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, as well as fans of the franchise.
The music of the Back to the Future franchise is composed in conjunction with the development of several feature films and a stage musical, within the Back to the Future franchise created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. All music in the franchise was composed by American composer Alan Silvestri, with The Musical being co-written with Glen Ballard.