Back to the Future

About

Back to the Future is an American fantasy comedy film about a teenager who travels back in time. It is the first film in the time traveling trilogy.

History

Back to the Future was released on July 3rd, 1985.^[1] The film stars Michael J. Fox as the teen time traveler Marty McFly, Christopher Lloyd as his friend Dr. Emmett Brown, and Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson as his parents George and Lorraine McFly.

Premise

Marty McFly is an average teenager who likes to hang out with his scientist friend, Dr. Brown. One night Dr. Brown shows him a time machine he’s made out of a Delorean. The two get in and travel back in time to 1955. There Marty meets his parents as teenagers, and realizes they’re not close. A photo of Marty and his siblings he carries begins to fade, and he realizes he has to fix his parents up. This proves difficult at first, because his mother develops a crush on him, and his father is shy, but Marty eventually convinces his father to save his mother from the school bully at the school dance, and ensures they’ll dance together by getting up on stage and playing with the band. He and his siblings return to the picture, and he knows he was successful. After some difficulty getting the time machine to work again, Marty returns to present day, where his parents are much happier and more successful than in the reality he left. Just as he’s getting ready to head out with his girlfriend, Dr. Brown returns, insisting they go to the future to help Marty’s kids.

Reception

Upon its release, Back to the Future was a critical and commercial success. The film earned a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a score of 86 on Metacritic.^[3] During its theatrical run the film grossed more than 380 million dollars worldwide.^[4] The success promoted two follow up films Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990).

Accolades

The film was nominated for four Oscars, winning one for Best Effects Editing, and nominated for four Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical), Best Original Song, Best Screenplay, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical Motion Picture (Michael J. Fox).

Online Presence

As of March 2014, Back to the Future’s Facebook page^[5] has over 2.1 million likes. The film is available to watch in its entirety on YouTube for $2.99 through Universal Movies’ official YouTube channel.^[6]

Fandom

In addition to the branded social media presence, there are numerous fan sites for the film such as the Back to the Future channel on Fan Pop^[10] and hillvalleycity.^[11] There are several Tumblr blogs dedicated to the film such as fuckyeahbacktothefuture^[8], backtothefuture^[9], and bttffandom.^[10] As of March 2014, the Fanfiction.net^[7] page for the film has more than 700 submissions.

Related Memes

Back to the Future Day

Back to the Future Day refers to the date October 21st, 2015, which the characters Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown travel to in the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The date is commonly changed in photoshopped images (like the one shown below) used to trick others into thinking the date from the movie has arrived.

Viral Videos

On March 26th, 2010, College Humor uploaded a video to their official YouTube channel^[13] titled “Back to the Future Sex Scenes” which imagined what would have happened if Marty had had sex with his mother’s past self (below, top left). As of March 2014, the video has over 16 million views. On October 13th, 2010 YouTuber Andrew Vo^[15] uploaded a recreation of the original Back to the Future teaser trailer that Michael J Fox shot as a promotion for Spike TV’s 2010 Scream Awards, an awards show that honored sci-fi and fantasy films (top right). The show celebrated Back to the Future’s 25th anniversary with Fox and Christopher Lloyd. As of March 2014, the video has over a million views. On June 23, 2011, College Humor posted a video featuring an alternative ending for Back to the Future that revealed Biff committed suicide because of “Calvin Klein,” the name Marty was given in the past (bottom left). As of March 2014, the video has over 570,000 views. On October 29th, 2013, Improv Everywhere uploaded a video to their YouTube channel^[14] which showed their latest improv prank, which involved recreating a scene from Back to the Future in downtown Manhattan, with the actor playing the doctor warning the actors playing Marty and his girlfriend they might run into their future or past selves, with the actors’ identical twins showing up shortly after (bottom right). As of March 2014, the video has over 2.9 million views.