Extras:
Disc 1:
The Making of Back to the Future, Making the Trilogy: Chapter 1,
Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes,
Original Makeup Tests, Storyboard to Final Feature comparisons,
Production Archives, Theatrical Trailer, Audio commentary
Disc 2:
Back to the Future Part 2 Featurette, Making the Trilogy: Chapter 2,
Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Hoverboard Test, Storyboard to Final Feature
comparison, Production Archives, Theatrical Trailer
Disc 3:
Making the Trilogy: Chapter 3, Outtakes, Deleted Scenes,
Storyboard to film comparisons, Production Archives, ZZ Top Music Video:
Doubleback, Theatrical Trailer, E.T. DVD Trailer
Director:
Robert Zemeckis
(Back to the Future 1-3, Cast Away, Contact, Death Becomes Her, Forest Gump, Macabre, The Polar Express, Romancing the Stone, Used Cars, What Lies Beneath, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
Producers:
Neil Canton and Bob Gale
Screenplay:
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
Original Score :
Alan Silvestri
Cast :
Marty McFly: Michael J Fox
Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown: Christopher Lloyd
Lorraine Baines: Lea Thompson
George McFly: Crispin Glover
Biff Tannen: Thomas F Wilson
Jennifer Parker: Claudia Wells (Part 1)
Jennifer Parker: Elisabeth Shue (Parts 2 & 3)
Clara Clayton: Mary Steenburgen (Part 3)
Mr Strickland: James Tolkan
When you're young, films can have a huge influence on your life.
For me, Back to the Future was one of those films..
The crux of the trilogy's storyline is well-known and doesn't need a great deal
of explaining here. The first film sees Marty McFly (Michael J Fox)
zooming 30 years into the future by accident on a trip that Dr Emmett Brown
(Christopher Lloyd) should've made, except for the fact that Brown
stole some plutonium to make said trips from Libyan terrorists and, well, life
has a habit of catching up with you.
With Marty having travelled back thirty years to November 5th, 1955, he has
to track down the Doc, find a way of powering the car - given that plutonium
is unavailable and reunite his parents - given that an accidental meeting with
both of them individually has caused his mother (Lea Thompson) to fall in love with him, leaving
his father (Crispin Glover, only appearing in this film in the trilogy)
to continue being the same bullied dork he always was. Oh, and there's
also the school bully Biff (Thomas F Wilson) to contend with.
An oedipus complex in reverse.
Having reinstated his life at the end of Part 1, and improving it considerably,
since by Part 2 the Doc has gone 30 years into the future and seen the problem
with Marty's wayward kids. Taking Marty and Jennifer (Claudia Wells in
the first film, but sadly replaced with the ugly-as-sin Elisabeth Shue
for the sequels) back with him, thus follows a convoluted plot that some found
to much to comprehend as Marty buys a Sports Almanac which is stolen by an
elderly Biff.
Marty and the Doc only realise the effect this has had when they return to
1985 and find things rather different, since Biff has taken over the town
and turned into an even nastier shit. It'll take another trip back to 1955
to sort the mess out once and for all, but not only must he avoid his parents
a second time, but he must also make sure he doesn't run into himself doing
things the first time round. The Doc must also ensure the same thing at some
point later in the proceedings.
The Doc is about to have a shocking time...
The third film was shot back-to-back with the second, but released eight months
later in the cinema. At the end of Part 2, the Doc was sent back in time to
1885, a time he always wanted to visit. Marty's about to leave his best friend
be, except that (a) there wouldn't be a film and (b) he learns that the Doc
gets shot in the back and killed by one of Biff's bullying ancestors.
While I loved the first two films, the third was great entertainment but
slightly lacking overall as it largely combines a rehash of the first film
in a Wild West setting, with a love story between the Doc and local girl
Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen), with everything working out perfectly
in the end as they try to get back to 1985, but it had an ending that was rather
too cheesy for my tastes. Just what did happen to Claudia Wells for the
sequels though?
Meet the parents... sort of.
The trouble with watching a film like the first one in the series in January
1986 when you're only 13 is that Marty is so damn cool and the film causes such
a big hit with your teenage mind that you want your dull teenage life to be
that exciting too, and that's just not going to happen. Whether it's skateboarding
along on the back of cars while waving at the girls in the exercise gym, driving
a DeLorean or simply waking up with your arm strangely behind your back with your face ground
into the pillow, you want your life to be like that. Again, it's not going to
happen. However, at least in 2002 you can both watch this trilogy and play
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
to take your mind back to 1986.
The Back to the Future trilogy is an exceptional one. By the end of the third
film, all the loose ends are tied up, the cast have easily proved their worth
(apart from Shue, who was only able to make up for a crap acting past when she
appeared in the superb drama
Leaving Las Vegas)
and upon revisiting the films, you realise the staggering number of paradoxes
that link the future to the past, such as George and Marty's behaviour over
the generations, the clock tower and Mayor Goldie Wilson.
As an aside, the first two films also include Young Guns's Casey
Siemaszko and Titanic's Billy Zane as part of Biff's gang.
Huey Lewis, who provides the first film's theme tune, The Power of
Love, has a cameo early on as he tells Marty his group is "just too darn
loud" in the talent auditions.
Michael J Fox was actually born Michael Andrew Fox, in Canada on June 9th 1961,
but changed the middle initial to "J" as a tribute to character actor Michael
J Pollard. He's had a few duff films along the way such as The Smell of My
Success, but has been fantastic in comedic roles for both Doc Hollywood
and The Hard Way, not to mention a first-rate appearance in 1988's
Bright Lights Big City as he gets hooked on drugs and has to cope with
the impending death of his terminally-ill mother. I just hope he can overcome
his condition with Parkinson's disease, as diagnosed in 1991 and which forced
him to quit his role in the US TV sitcom Spin City. He's still managed
to come back with voice roles in a number of films such as both
Stuart Little films.
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture is does have a slight
problem. At times it appears a bit on the grainy side. This isn't a massive
problem but you do feel that maybe Universal could've remastered it just that
little bit better.
The extras that appear on each disc may not be too copious, but they still
allow enough room on each of the three DVDs for both a Dolby Digital 5.1 and
DTS 5.1 soundtracks. I always go for the latter and it's well worth it.
The special effects are best used for when the car comes into its own,
not to mention the opening twang of Marty's guitar in the first film,
while dialogue and other ambient moments, plus Alan Silvestri's memorable score.
The Back to the Future Trilogy DVD boxset.
Three discs - three sets of extras.
Disc 1:
The Making of Back to the Future (14½ mins, 4:3):
This was made in 1985 alongside the film, showing how Fox juxtaposed his film role
with his TV role in Family Ties and how the DeLorean was turned into a
time machine and includes chat from Zemeckis, Fox, Lea Thompson, co-executive
producer Steven Spielberg and others.
It's rumoured that the entire first film was shot with Eric Stoltz in
the Marty McFly role, then Zemeckis decided he was wrong for the part and
this version was never seen again. There's no mention made of this here though.
Making the Trilogy: Chapter 1 (15½ mins, 4:3):
Another feature, made more recently and mostly containing chat from co-screenwriter
Bob Gale as he talks about the story.
Outtakes (3 mins, 1.85:1 non-anamorphic):
Including a Hispanic turn on the Marty character, and an accident that's bound
to happen with the chocolate milk glass.
Deleted Scenes (9 mins, 1.85:1 non-anamorphic):
A 1955-Doc gets to check out his personal belongings from 1985 and there's
an extended appearance from "Darth Vader".
Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes:
Extra text
information applied throughout the film, adding trivia and facts about the
production and cast as you go.
Original Makeup Tests (2 mins, 4:3):
Featuring Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F Wilson and Lea Thompson, only the latter
two in 'old' makeup.
Storyboard to Final Feature comparisons (7 mins, 4:3):
A look at the Skateboard chase and the Clock Tower sequence as Marty tries
to get home..
Production Archives:
The Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind-the-scenes photographs, plus DeLorean
and Time Travel designs.
Theatrical Trailer (80 seconds, 4:3):
Featuring footage entirely separate from film content.
Audio commentary: from director Robert Zemeckis and co-screenwriter
Bob Gale.
Disc 2:
Back to the Future Part 2 Featurette (6½ mins, 4:3):
A much shorter featurette shot at the time, this takes a look at the new 2015
set and the make-up used to create the older versions of the main characters,
but it's too short to be of any major significance.
Making the Trilogy: Chapter 2 (15½ mins, 4:3):
Another feature, like the one from the first disc, again with too much Bob Gale,
and talking for at least a third of it about the first film rather than its
sequel. They reveal that Crispin Glover's demands were too big to appear
in the film so they wrote him out, but no mention is made of the change in
girlfriend.
Outtakes (50 second, 1.85:1 non-anamorphic):
Marty swims on his hoverboard in one of the brief clips.
There must have been more than this, surely?
Deleted Scenes (3 mins, 1.85:1 non-anamorphic):
We see an elderly Biff in pain in 2015 as he disappears because of the events
that take place, plus Marty goes back to his old school and sees it war-torn.
Why is that scene silent though? I've seen it before and he was shown saying
"This is nuts!" but here there's no voice at all.
Hoverboard Test (60 seconds, 4:3):
Silent and too short.
Storyboard to Final Feature comparison (3 mins, 4:3):
Marty on the Hoverboard early on in the film.
Production Archives:
The Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind-the-scenes photographs, plus Futuristic
designs and Vehicles of the Future.
Theatrical Trailer (2 mins, 4:3):
A reasonable trailer but nothing too exciting.
Disc 3:
Making the Trilogy: Chapter 3 (16 mins, 4:3):
As the disc number increases, so do the extras shrink. This featurette
is more of the same with more chat from Zemeckis, Gale and Fox, mostly,
and tells briefly about the problems of shooting a third film while still
putting the finishing touches to the second, since they were shot back-to-back,
save for a three-week holiday between the two.
Someone couldn't quite tell what the subtitles should say when "as the post
civil-war era" becomes "as opposed to the war era" about setting the film in
1885.
Outtakes (1½ mins, 4:3):
The Doc brings a brief and Marty has trouble with his flies.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
