The initiative to write a prequel began in late 1998, when a high school buddy and I were exploring the Internet in a high school computer class. It had been the first time I searched for 'Back to the Future' sites. The very first site I came upon was BTTF.COM, followed by several unofficial websites, several featuring fan fiction.
But it wasn't until several months later that I found the rumors at BTTF.COM, stating that a prelude to the trilogy had been written for television, but was unfortunately never made. It carried the title 'Back to the Beginning', a title that's intrigued me ever since. The following are excerpts of the BACK TO THE BEGINNING rumors, which can be found at www.bttf.com/rumors:
24 Sep 1997
"I've worked for DreamWorks as a writer for the past three years since they started, so I've had access to the Amblin vault room. It's cooler than it sounds: it's actually a copy room with cabinets full of scripts. I was in there one day talking to another writer about a project DreamWorks has on the way called Deep Impact, and he was telling me about how they wanted to change the name, etc. He said, "We have a whole room full of great scripts, and we're doing [stuff] like this". He opened the cabinets, and we went through a [crap] load of material. (We're not supposed to, but it was fun.) We came across the BACK TO THE BEGINNING script, and both of us being huge BTTF fans, we took it and read it back at our office."
"We didn't finish it because we got nervous and knew we had to get it back before the end of the day. Those files are checked once in a while. Believe it or not, Amblin and other studios have bought the same script more than once! It's rare, but it happens. There's a group of people with calculators and notepads that update lists of what we have in stock.
"Anyway, about the BTTB script -- the name page was missing, along with the first three pages of the script. It looked a little roughed up, so I have no idea who wrote it. It did have Walter Parkes' office stamp on it, so it was in the "possibility" stack at one time. It also had the little Amblin TV logo with E.T. on the bike on the back, which means it was floating around that department and was close to being made (I don't know why they didn't)."
"From what I read, the script takes place during Christmas. The early part of the story focused mainly on how Marty was a little different than the other kids, and how he liked strange people for strange reasons. I know Marty befriends a homeless lady in the script, bringing her some of his lunch on the way home from school and stuff. My friend (the other writer) read the whole thing, and told me later the old woman dies.
At some point in the story, Marty is crying about it to Doc, and he says something to the effect of, `You're smart ? can't you bring her back?'. Doc tells him, `No, she's gone'. Marty then says, `I wish I could go back and do things differently'. This may have been a lead into why Doc decides on building the time machine. [Additional details by same anonymous scooper]
19 Sep 1997
"There was a script that was planned as a TV-movie about four years ago called Back to the Beginning. I saw the script at Amblin about a year ago and looked through it. It was going to be about when Doc and Marty first met and became friends. All the kids (around 9 to 11 years-old) in town used to make fun of Doc, and wrap his house and stuff. Then one kid came to his aid - Marty (11 years-old). I didn't read the whole thing but from what I did it sounded like a pretty good TV movie. They never made it though."
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