Shaun Watson reviews�

Movie Poster from the Internet Movie Database Back to the Future dir.: Robert Zemeckis Starring: Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly Leah Thompson as Lorraine Baines McFly Crispin Glover as George McFly Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmitt L. Brown Claudia Wells as Jennifer -and- Billy Zane as Match -featuring- Huey Lewis as the High-School Band Audition Judge

Of the movies I've seen, this one holds the most memories. I didn't see it in theaters or look for the "See You Next Wednesday" reference; I watched it for that which intrigues me most about science fiction. That one thing is changing the past to shape the future. It's been covered in movies and TV shows and explained many different ways(alternate dimensions, radio transmissions, etc.) The easiest way to explain time travel to an 8-year-old(as I was when I first saw Back to the Future) is not to explain it properly. Weird, but effective. Allow me to further explain why this works.

Ok, so you're a teenage dude living in Hill Valley named Marty(Michael J. Fox, Spin City[TV], Family Ties[TV] and Doc Hollywood) who wants to be normal and a rock star. His non-affluent upbringing at the hands of his parents George(Crispin Glover, Willard[2003] and Charlie's Angels: the Movie) and Lorraine(Lea Thompson, Howard the Duck and Red Dawn) hinders both aspirations, as does the crap that his family endures from the local entrepreneur Biff Tannen(Thomas F. Wilson, Action Jackson and the cartoon "Stripperella"[TV]). The only real friends that Marty has are his girlfriend Jennifer(Claudia Wells, Still Waters Burn) and the crackpot inventor Dr. Emmitt "Doc" Brown(Christopher Lloyd, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Suburban Commando and "Taxi"[TV]).
You hang out at Doc's place a lot and listen to him ramble on about the Flux Capacitor, which makes time travel possible. He lets you borrow his place to jam, so no harm in humoring the old man about the impossibility of time travel. Still, you wonder: what if time travel WAS possible? You could fix everything that went wrong in the past and all would be great in the future! No fuss, no muss! So imagine your drive to change the past when on the eve of Doc's time machine--a DeLorean--actully working that he's gunned down by Libyans and the only way to escape is in the time machine. Such is the opening of the true adventure of Back to the Future.

Thirty years in the past is where we find ourselves--November 5, 1955 to be exact. After an extraneous situation, Marty ends up walking to Hill Valley as it was in 1955. His parents hadn't met yet and were destined to meet at a certain place at a certain time; eventually date, marry and have children, namely Marty. Due to his interference, Marty exchanged places with the younger George and the young Lorraine fell in love with "Calvin Klein"(don't ask). In addition to dealing with a young Biff Tannen, Marty has to find the younger Doc Brown to help him get back to the future(hence the title) after he gets his parents togeher before he blinks out of existence for not ever being born, thus causing a paradox and erasing everything he did in 1955 up unitl that point--oh dear, Ive gone cross-eyed. Ok, so the time travel rules of Back to the Future(call it "B2TF") are a bit sketchy and loose, but this is what it is: science FICTION.

Not many people know that the production budget of DeLorean Motorcars was partially financed by drug money. I wonder if the terrorists who shot Doc know that the good doctor was a sponsor for terrorism in one form or another? Who cares! It's the 80's!

There are many who don't really know a lot about science who say that it can't happen--most commonly, "It's stupid"--and won't patronize the movie for that fact alone. Others may know a great deal about science and say that they won't see the movie because it's unbelievable "junk science". That's not respectful of the FICTION material and tells you that the person who says either of those things should never see another movie again, due to their inability to suspend their disbelief. Hell, if reality was such a big thing that people wanted to see, then don't go to the movies. Don't watch TV. Don't read the news, magazines or books. Don't EVER get on the Internet/IntraWeb. It's all fiction to a degree.

B2TF made me think for a very long time about the practical application of time travel(more on that in time-travel movies based on the H.G. Wells book "The Time Machine" made in 1960 and 2002). I once thought, "Wow, I wish time travel was real. Then I could go and fix all the mistakes I made." More time travel movie came out over the years and my ideas toward time travel changed from wanting to change the past to not wanting to ever set foot near a time machine. The best thing about time travel is the fact that you can THINK about it and achieve desired reults. It's ultimate fantasy; not bound by the science of shooting an Uzi with one hand or the pangs of irrevocable social failure. It's a mental exercise in chaos theory�and I like it!

• Every time a person, place, thing or idea made itself present in Hill Valley 1985, its proto-ancestor was brought to fore in Hill Valley 1955.
• So, Marty's dad ended up writing sci-fi novels.
• Wow, young Miss Lorraine is rather randy, isn't she?
• Look for Huey Lewis and a young Billy Zane(The Phantom, Titianic) in his screen debut.
• I always thought the DeLorean was a cool-looking car.
• It's a shame that the only people who really helped Marty out in a pinch were Black people, feared as reefer addicts.
• There are four fecal references in this movie. Find them!

PRICELESS QUOTES:
Lorraine(Lea Thompson) kisses Marty aka "Calvin Klein"(Michael J. Fox), looks at him weird and says:

"When I kiss you, I feel like I'm kissing my brother."

Wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
Precisely.
Whoa, this is heavy.
There's that word again; "heavy". Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?

Hey, you! Get your damn hands off her!

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