WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 Welcome back to the deep dive. Today we are firing 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:06.860 up the time circuits and setting the destination 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:09.640 for Well, for a few different years, actually. 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:13.039 We are tackling one of the absolute giants of 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.519 cinema history. It really is a giant. It's hard 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:17.739 to overstate the impact of this one. It's the 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:20.019 kind of franchise that, you know, it just sits 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:22.339 in the collective DNA of pop culture. Totally. 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:24.500 Even if you haven't seen it in 20 years, you 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:26.679 know the visual language, you know the car, you 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:29.660 know the vest. The flaming tire tracks. Exactly. 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:31.739 But, and I want to be really clear about this 00:00:31.739 --> 00:00:33.259 right off the bat, because I know you listening 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:35.820 are sophisticated. We aren't just doing a nostalgia 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:38.780 trip where we quote lines. about roads and 1 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:42.219 .21 gigawatts. We aren't here to just relive 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:44.759 the greatest hits. Those are important metrics 00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:48.340 and we will probably touch on them. But the goal 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:51.200 here is different. It is. The stack of sources 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.700 we have for today is fascinating because it reveals 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:57.719 this massive expanded universe that I think most 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:01.100 casual fans and maybe even some hardcore fans 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:03.859 completely missed. Yeah, I think that's fair 00:01:03.859 --> 00:01:05.790 to say. We're going to unpack the three films, 00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:09.049 obviously, but we're also looking at like a secret 00:01:09.049 --> 00:01:11.829 short film that deals with a nuclear apocalypse. 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:14.890 Which is surprisingly dark. I mean, it actually 00:01:14.890 --> 00:01:17.810 reframes the entire optimistic tone of the series 00:01:17.810 --> 00:01:20.349 into something, I don't know, something bordering 00:01:20.349 --> 00:01:22.390 on dystopia. Surprisingly dark is the perfect 00:01:22.390 --> 00:01:24.689 way to put it. And we have an animated series 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:26.709 that actually launched the career of one of the 00:01:26.709 --> 00:01:29.030 world's most famous science educators. Which 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:31.430 is just a wild piece of trivia. And a video game 00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:34.510 that the creators basically call Part 4 and the 00:01:34.510 --> 00:01:37.390 ironclad, almost aggressive refusal by the creators 00:01:37.390 --> 00:01:40.650 to ever, ever reboot the series. That refusal 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:43.469 is a story in itself. I mean, think about it 00:01:43.469 --> 00:01:45.609 in a world where everything gets remade, where 00:01:45.609 --> 00:01:48.250 we are just drowning in reboots and legacy equals 00:01:48.250 --> 00:01:50.769 back to the future stands almost entirely alone. 00:01:50.909 --> 00:01:53.209 It's a fortress. It is. It's a fortress against 00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:55.530 that trend. So our mission today is to explore 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:59.209 how this 1985 sci -fi comedy became such a cultural 00:01:59.209 --> 00:02:02.549 juggernaut, unpack those complex timelines established 00:02:02.549 --> 00:02:06.150 in all that non -movie media, and really understand 00:02:06.150 --> 00:02:09.210 why the franchise is protected so fiercely. Right. 00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:12.090 We want to understand the mechanics, the philosophy, 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:14.229 and sort of the hidden corners of Hill Valley. 00:02:14.449 --> 00:02:17.129 And to do that... We're looking at a wide range 00:02:17.129 --> 00:02:18.990 of materials. Yeah, we have the production notes 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:21.969 on the original trilogy, a bunch of deep analytical 00:02:21.969 --> 00:02:25.310 essays on timeline theory, details on the 1991 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:28.110 animated series. The telltale video game script, 00:02:28.250 --> 00:02:32.409 which is a story in itself. That 2015 short film 00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:35.009 starring Christopher Lloyd, which is, as you 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:37.229 said, a wild ride, and even the stage musical. 00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:40.169 So let's fire up the flux capacitor and see what 00:02:40.169 --> 00:02:42.409 happens when we hit 88 miles per hour. Let's 00:02:42.409 --> 00:02:44.509 do it. Okay, so let's start with the phenomenon 00:02:44.509 --> 00:02:48.240 itself. Back to the Future, 1985. It wasn't just 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:51.120 a hit. It was the highest grossing film of that 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.639 year. An absolute smash. But looking back at 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:55.860 the production notes in our stack, it really 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.199 wasn't a guaranteed success. I mean, not at all. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.439 It was actually rejected by almost every major 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:02.960 studio. That's right. And the reasons are kind 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.479 of funny in hindsight. It was seen as too soft 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:08.159 for the teen comedies of the era, you know, which 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.319 were all very raunchy like Borky's. Right. The 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:14.120 R -rated comedies. Exactly. But then. it was 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.500 seen as too edgy for Disney because of the whole 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:19.960 mother -son dynamic. Edible undertones, yeah. 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.659 So it sat in this weird middle ground. But when 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:25.780 it landed, it was lightning in a bottle. And 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:27.539 I think when you really look at the plot mechanics, 00:03:27.659 --> 00:03:30.020 you start to see why it resonated so deeply. 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:32.620 It's not just a time travel movie about visiting 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:34.699 history. Right, usually time travel movies are 00:03:34.699 --> 00:03:37.240 about, like, let's go kill Hitler or let's go 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:40.340 see the dinosaurs, these huge historical events. 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:44.469 Exactly. But here, the stakes are... existential 00:03:44.469 --> 00:03:47.050 and deeply personal. It's not just, oh, no, I 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:49.270 might change who won the war. It's, oh, no, I 00:03:49.270 --> 00:03:51.430 might cease to exist. The fading photograph. 00:03:51.490 --> 00:03:53.449 That is such a brilliant visual device. It's 00:03:53.449 --> 00:03:55.650 perfect storytelling. When Marty McFly goes back 00:03:55.650 --> 00:03:59.169 to November 5, 1955, and he accidentally interferes 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:00.969 with his parents' first meeting, he creates a 00:04:00.969 --> 00:04:03.110 variation of the grandfather paradox or, you 00:04:03.110 --> 00:04:04.870 know, a father paradox, I guess. He threatens 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:07.710 his own existence. Precisely. The entire narrative 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:09.969 drive is purely personal. It's about survival. 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:12.210 And I think that's why it works so well. We all 00:04:12.210 --> 00:04:13.870 wonder what our parents were like before they 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.230 were mom and dad. It's this universal curiosity. 00:04:16.670 --> 00:04:19.449 But Marty actually gets to see it and he realizes 00:04:19.449 --> 00:04:21.470 they were kind of, well, they were kind of losers. 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:24.790 He realizes they were flawed human beings. And 00:04:24.790 --> 00:04:27.089 this leads to the most interesting part of the 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:29.250 first film's resolution, which I think gets overlooked 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:32.709 a lot. How so? We all remember Marty getting 00:04:32.709 --> 00:04:34.550 his parents back together, you know, playing 00:04:34.550 --> 00:04:37.930 Johnny B. Goode, ensuring he is born. But the 00:04:37.930 --> 00:04:41.759 deep dive here. is noticing that he doesn't just 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.199 put things back to the way they were. He engineers 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.899 a better reality. This is a point of debate in 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:50.240 some of the essays we read. I mean, is that ethical? 00:04:50.339 --> 00:04:53.139 He essentially rewrites his parents' personalities. 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:55.800 It creates a fascinating philosophical question, 00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:58.079 right? Is the George McFly at the end of the 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:00.459 movie the same man as the one at the start? But 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:02.879 the film's core philosophy is that the future 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.540 isn't fixed. So when Marty returns to 1985, he 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:09.300 finds a vastly improved situation. His father, 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:12.579 George, isn't a pushover anymore. He's a confident, 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:14.839 published science fiction author. He has self 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:17.339 -respect. Which is a huge upgrade from just getting 00:05:17.339 --> 00:05:19.839 bullied by Biff his whole life. Oh, a massive 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.680 upgrade. And speaking of Biff, the source material 00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:25.079 notes a really interesting detail about his fate 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:28.199 in this new timeline. He's been softened. Softened, 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:30.899 right. He's an auto -detailer now. He's an auto 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:33.339 -detailer working for George, essentially. He's 00:05:33.339 --> 00:05:35.699 still around, but he's not the monster he was. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.819 The power dynamic. Which suggests that by standing 00:05:41.819 --> 00:05:45.060 up for yourself just once, that one punch in 00:05:45.060 --> 00:05:48.699 1955, you can alter the entire trajectory of 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:50.779 a human life. It's the ultimate wish fulfillment. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.379 You go back, you fix your parents, you get the 00:05:53.379 --> 00:05:55.939 truck you always wanted. And the bully who tormented 00:05:55.939 --> 00:05:58.500 you is now waxing your car. It's the perfect 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:01.439 American ending. It absolutely is. And, you know, 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.259 on a technical note, because we love giving credit 00:06:03.259 --> 00:06:05.740 where it's due, the first film actually won an 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:08.139 Academy Award. Oh, really? For what? Sound editing. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.720 It's easy to overlook that with all the pop culture 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.680 focus, but technically, the sound design of the 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.620 DeLorean, the time displacement cracks, the skateboard 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:19.060 chase, it was a marvel of audio engineering. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:21.339 That's a great little nugget. Okay, so that's 00:06:21.339 --> 00:06:23.800 the first movie. Perfect structure. Huge hit. 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:26.810 Then we get to 1989. Back to the Future Part 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:29.149 2. And here's where it gets really interesting. 00:06:29.529 --> 00:06:31.430 Significantly more complicated. This is where 00:06:31.430 --> 00:06:34.529 the complexity just ramps up to 11. The writers, 00:06:34.750 --> 00:06:37.550 Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, they've admitted 00:06:37.550 --> 00:06:40.310 they never planned a sequel. To be continued 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:42.230 at the end was a joke. I always wondered about 00:06:42.230 --> 00:06:43.810 that. So when they had to write one, they had 00:06:43.810 --> 00:06:46.709 to invent a whole new set of rules. Because the 00:06:46.709 --> 00:06:48.509 first movie was a simple loop, right? Go back, 00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:51.449 fix it, come home. Very linear. Very linear. 00:06:51.689 --> 00:06:54.829 But Part 2 introduces this concept of interconnected... 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:59.720 shifting timelines. It feels messier. It is messier, 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:02.959 but intentionally so. The plot mechanics here 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.839 are incredibly ambitious for a mainstream blockbuster. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.579 First, you have the trip to 2015, which is its 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:10.759 own spectacle of flying cars and hoverboards. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.139 Yeah, the fun future part. But then you have 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.720 the creation of an alternate dystopian 1985, 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:20.399 the 1985A timeline. The Casino Biv timeline. 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:22.519 This is the part that always scares me a little. 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.680 It shows how fragile reality is. Me too. It's 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.279 genuinely unsettling. It's the butterfly effects, 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:32.339 completely weaponized. Old Biv Tannen from 2015 00:07:32.339 --> 00:07:35.360 gets his hands on the sports almanac. From the 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:38.279 future. And gives it to his younger self in 1955. 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:42.259 And this introduces the central moral conflict 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:46.509 of the sequel. The danger of profiting from time 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:48.870 travel. And Doc Brown is very, very explicit 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:51.449 about this, right? He warns Marty not to use 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:53.870 the almanac. Oh, he delivers a very stern lecture 00:07:53.870 --> 00:07:56.449 about it. I didn't invent the time machine for 00:07:56.449 --> 00:07:58.569 financial gain. He throws the almanac in the 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:00.930 trash, which, you know, ironically is how Biff 00:08:00.930 --> 00:08:03.509 finds it. Of course. But that theme is so crucial. 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:06.829 When Biff uses that knowledge for financial gain, 00:08:07.069 --> 00:08:10.129 it doesn't just make him rich. It rots the entire 00:08:10.129 --> 00:08:12.649 core of the town. It turns Hill Valley into this 00:08:12.649 --> 00:08:15.250 corrupt wasteland. George McFly is murdered. 00:08:15.449 --> 00:08:18.069 Biff is this grotesque tycoon. Crime is everywhere. 00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:20.329 It's horrible. It's a warning about the misuse 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:22.829 of foreknowledge. It basically says that taking 00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:25.790 shortcuts leads to corruption. And structurally, 00:08:25.889 --> 00:08:28.230 it forces the movie to explain a new theory of 00:08:28.230 --> 00:08:30.389 time travel. The famous chalkboard scene. Yes, 00:08:30.410 --> 00:08:32.529 where Doc draws the line and then the skewed 00:08:32.529 --> 00:08:35.070 tangent that branches off of it. This is the 00:08:35.070 --> 00:08:37.950 branching timeline theory. In the first movie, 00:08:38.129 --> 00:08:41.029 we operated on the ripple effect, changes ripple 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:43.769 forward, and overwrite the present. Like the 00:08:43.769 --> 00:08:46.539 fading photograph. Exactly. In part two, they 00:08:46.539 --> 00:08:49.139 argue that a significant enough change creates 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:51.600 a split. You aren't just changing your future. 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:53.700 You are physically traveling down a different 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:57.279 leg of what Doc calls the trousers of time. Which 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.840 explains why Marty and Doc didn't just fade away 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.320 instantly when Biff gave himself the book. They 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:04.240 were stranded in the wrong branch. Precisely. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:05.860 They were outside of the new timeline looking 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:08.519 in. And the only way to fix it isn't to change 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:11.960 1985A. It's to go back to the point of divergence. 00:09:12.889 --> 00:09:15.570 to 1955. Which leads to the third act, which 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:17.730 I think is just a stroke of absolute genius. 00:09:17.990 --> 00:09:20.230 They revisit the events of the first movie from 00:09:20.230 --> 00:09:22.450 a completely different angle. That was groundbreaking 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:24.850 at the time, seeing the first movie's scenes 00:09:24.850 --> 00:09:27.190 happening in the background, like Marty seeing 00:09:27.190 --> 00:09:29.789 himself on stage playing Johnny B. Goode. While 00:09:29.789 --> 00:09:32.110 the part two Marty is in the rafters trying to 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:34.450 get the almanac back from Biff's goons, it's 00:09:34.450 --> 00:09:38.049 so layered. It created this dense, layered narrative 00:09:38.049 --> 00:09:40.700 that rewarded people for paying attention. It 00:09:40.700 --> 00:09:43.120 turned the franchise into a puzzle box. You really 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.360 have to know the first movie by heart to fully 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:47.980 appreciate the second one. And then, just when 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:49.740 you think you finally understand all the rules, 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:52.840 lightning strikes again. Literally. The ending 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:55.460 of Part 2 is one of the all -time great cliffhangers. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.820 The DeLorean is struck by lightning, Doc is zapped 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:03.200 back to 1885, and Marty is stranded in 1955 all 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.120 over again. Which sets up Part 3, 1990. We go 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.909 from a sci -fi dystopia to... A Western. A total 00:10:10.909 --> 00:10:13.889 genre shift. A complete 180. And a lot of critics 00:10:13.889 --> 00:10:16.250 at the time found this jarring, but looking at 00:10:16.250 --> 00:10:18.070 our analysis, it makes perfect sense for the 00:10:18.070 --> 00:10:19.570 characters. It strips away all the technology. 00:10:19.789 --> 00:10:22.850 No hoverboards, no Mr. Fusion, no digital circuits. 00:10:23.110 --> 00:10:25.269 Just steam and iron. Just steam, iron, and grit. 00:10:25.429 --> 00:10:27.909 And this is where the character arcs really culminate. 00:10:27.950 --> 00:10:30.049 Marty has to go back to the Old West to save 00:10:30.049 --> 00:10:33.210 Doc from Mad Dog Tan and Biff's ancestor. But 00:10:33.210 --> 00:10:35.110 the emotional core here, it really shifts to 00:10:35.110 --> 00:10:37.210 Doc Brown. Yeah, for two movies, Doc has been 00:10:37.210 --> 00:10:40.440 the exposition machine. He is. He's the eccentric 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:43.440 scientist solely focused on the mission and the 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.580 rules of time. The timeline must be preserved. 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:50.059 Don't interact with your past self. All of that. 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:53.279 But in part three, he breaks his own rules big 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:56.100 time. He falls in love. Clara Clayton. Clara 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.399 Clayton. A schoolteacher who is supposed to die 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.200 by falling into that ravine. Doc saves her, which 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.279 is a huge change to history. He chooses a person 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.480 over the rules. It's a beautiful evolution of 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:08.620 his character. He realizes that a life without 00:11:08.620 --> 00:11:11.200 connection isn't worth living, even if you have 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:14.080 a time machine. Exactly. And let's talk about 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.750 that ending. Because for a trilogy about a car, 00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:19.129 and let's face it, the DeLorean is a character 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:21.690 in its own right, the fate of the car is pretty 00:11:21.690 --> 00:11:24.190 definitive. It is. The DeLorean is completely 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:26.850 destroyed. It's smashed by a modern train when 00:11:26.850 --> 00:11:29.210 Marty finally gets back to 1985. It just, it 00:11:29.210 --> 00:11:31.610 explodes into a thousand pieces. I remember watching 00:11:31.610 --> 00:11:33.389 that as a kid and being absolutely devastated. 00:11:33.629 --> 00:11:36.570 Me too. I was like, no, not the car. But it's 00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:39.669 a necessary death. It symbolizes that Marty has 00:11:39.669 --> 00:11:42.039 grown up. He doesn't need the crutch of the time 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:44.340 machine anymore to fix his life. He avoids the 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:46.500 car accident with needles at the end, using his 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:49.059 own judgment, not time travel. That's a great 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.740 point. The image is symbolic. The time for that 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.399 specific adventure is over. But it's not the 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.960 end of time travel itself. No. And this is the 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.679 moment that always makes me smile. Doc shows 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.600 up in the steam locomotive time machine, a massive 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:05.360 flying train. With Clara and their two sons? 00:12:05.659 --> 00:12:09.460 Jules and Vern. appropriately named. And he delivers 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:12.139 the franchise's final thematic lesson. The whole 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:14.080 point of the trilogy. Your future is whatever 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:15.960 you make it. Exactly. So make it a good one. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:18.740 It moves away from the idea that time is a puzzle 00:12:18.740 --> 00:12:21.240 to be solved and lands on the idea that the future 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:24.269 is an open road of possibility. It's such an 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:27.429 optimistic humanist ending. I love that. But 00:12:27.429 --> 00:12:30.129 as our sources show, the end card on part three 00:12:30.129 --> 00:12:32.610 wasn't really the end, was it? Not even close. 00:12:32.870 --> 00:12:35.509 There are these lost timelines that most people 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:37.649 don't know about or have completely forgotten. 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:40.649 The universe kept expanding. That's right. The 00:12:40.649 --> 00:12:44.210 story continued in ways that are fascinatingly 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:46.570 weird. If you thought a flying train was out 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:48.610 there, wait until you see what happened next. 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.159 So let's talk about the animated series. I feel 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:53.639 like this is a fever dream for some people, but 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:57.039 it was real. It ran for two seasons on CBS in 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:01.360 the early 90s. 1991 to 1992. And what's fascinating 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.139 here is its relationship to the official canon. 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:08.179 The creator, Bob Gale, has stated that this series 00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:11.259 takes place in its own alternate timeline. Okay, 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:13.480 so it's not strictly fitting into the movie timeline. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.360 No, it branches off from it. It's a what if scenario 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.820 where the Brown family, instead of traveling 00:13:18.820 --> 00:13:20.860 forever, they decide to stay in Hill Valley. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.059 And it shits the focus, right? It's not just 00:13:23.059 --> 00:13:25.139 the Marty and Doc show anymore. Not at all. It's 00:13:25.139 --> 00:13:26.960 really about the Brown family. It's like a time 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.480 traveling sitcom with Doc, Clara and the kids, 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:32.500 Jules and Vern. They live in a farmhouse in Hill 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:34.220 Valley, but they're constantly jumping around 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:38.080 time. It's much more episodic and frankly, educational. 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:40.399 And the tech got a big upgrade. The DeLorean 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.370 is back. I thought it was destroyed. It is. In 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:45.970 this timeline, the DeLorean was rebuilt. But 00:13:45.970 --> 00:13:48.330 because it's a cartoon, the laws of physics are 00:13:48.330 --> 00:13:53.289 looser. How so? Well, for one, it has voice -activated 00:13:53.289 --> 00:13:56.330 circuits. But the big one is that it can fold 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:59.070 into a suitcase. A suitcase. A suitcase. You 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:01.529 push a button, and the entire car collapses into 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:04.850 a briefcase. So Doc can carry it around. It's 00:14:04.850 --> 00:14:07.549 delightful cartoon logic. That is amazing. But 00:14:07.549 --> 00:14:09.990 it's not just that. The car can also travel through 00:14:09.990 --> 00:14:12.169 space and time now. They go to asteroid belts. 00:14:12.289 --> 00:14:14.669 They visit other planets. It totally broke the 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:17.090 boundaries of just Earth history. Space and time. 00:14:17.190 --> 00:14:19.230 Okay. And there's a real -world connection here 00:14:19.230 --> 00:14:21.330 that just blew my mind when I read it in our 00:14:21.330 --> 00:14:24.860 sources. The assistant. Yes. This is one of my 00:14:24.860 --> 00:14:27.220 favorite trivia nuggets from this whole deep 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:29.720 dive. The show had these live action bookends 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.299 with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as 00:14:32.299 --> 00:14:34.759 Doc Brown doing little science experiments. And 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.539 his assistant was this guy in a lab coat who 00:14:37.539 --> 00:14:39.340 would set up the experiments. And that guy was? 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:43.480 Bill Nye. The science guy. No way. Yes. Before 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:45.700 the bow tie became iconic. Before he even had 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:48.419 his own sea. This was actually Bill Nye's debut 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:51.139 television appearance. On a nationally broadcast 00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:54.779 show, he was acting as Doc Brown's silent assistant, 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.519 doing visual gags. So in a very real way, Back 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.139 to the Future gave us Bill Nye the Science Guy. 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:04.500 It did. It's like a pivot point in science education 00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:06.720 history happened on a Saturday morning cartoon. 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:09.409 That is incredible. OK, so moving from animation 00:15:09.409 --> 00:15:11.929 to video games, we have to talk about Back to 00:15:11.929 --> 00:15:15.169 the Future, the game. This came out in 2010 from 00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:17.529 Telltale Games. And this isn't just some generic 00:15:17.529 --> 00:15:19.450 tie in where you run around collecting coins. 00:15:19.929 --> 00:15:21.830 Telltale is known for narrative heavy games. 00:15:21.929 --> 00:15:24.230 And Bob Gale, the co -creator of the movies, 00:15:24.330 --> 00:15:26.820 was heavily involved. He has actually said this 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:28.799 game is the closest thing to what a fourth film 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.740 could be like. That's incredibly high praise. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.200 So if this is effectively part four, what's the 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.080 plot? Where do they go this time? It's set in 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:37.879 1986, shortly after the third movie. Doc has 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:39.980 gone missing in the time stream, and a version 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.360 of the DeLorean reappears without him. Marty 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:45.179 has to travel back to 1931. The prohibition era. 00:15:45.740 --> 00:15:48.679 Gangsters. Exactly. He has to save a younger 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:50.620 version of Doc Brown, who was just a teenager 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:54.340 in 1931, and he's in trouble with the mob. And 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:56.480 what's significant is that it explores the history 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.860 of Hill Valley and the McFly family in ways the 00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:01.740 movies never did. Like what? We get to see Kid 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.559 Cannon, Biff's father. We see the origins of 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.419 the town's hierarchy, the speakeasies. It really 00:16:07.419 --> 00:16:09.559 fleshes out the world. And does it play with 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:11.559 the timeline mechanics like part two did? Oh, 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:13.740 heavily. Yeah. There's a section where Morty 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:15.820 returns to the 1980s, but he's messed something 00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:18.220 up in the past. He lands in a timeline called 00:16:18.220 --> 00:16:21.990 Citizen Brown. Citizen Brown? That sounds ominous. 00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:25.009 It is. In this timeline, Doc Brown never became 00:16:25.009 --> 00:16:28.370 a wacky, free -thinking inventor. He became a 00:16:28.370 --> 00:16:30.809 socially conscious civic leader who runs Hill 00:16:30.809 --> 00:16:33.490 Valley like a perfectly ordered, almost sterile 00:16:33.490 --> 00:16:36.549 surveillance state. Wow. It's this utopia where 00:16:36.549 --> 00:16:38.549 everyone is happy, but no one has free will. 00:16:38.750 --> 00:16:41.309 It actually pits Marty against Doc in a philosophical 00:16:41.309 --> 00:16:44.370 battle. Is order worth the loss of freedom? That 00:16:44.370 --> 00:16:47.009 is surprisingly deep for a video game, and the 00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.570 cast list on this is incredible. It is. You have 00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:52.029 Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Doc Brown, 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:55.090 which gives it that instant legitimacy. And the 00:16:55.090 --> 00:16:57.590 guy voicing Marty, a guy named A .J. Locascio, 00:16:57.789 --> 00:17:00.610 does an uncanny Michael J. Fox impression. But 00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:02.389 the real Michael J. Fox is in it too, right? 00:17:02.529 --> 00:17:04.829 He is. In the final episodes, Michael J. Fox 00:17:04.829 --> 00:17:07.490 makes a cameo voicing future versions of Marty 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:10.829 and even a McFly ancestor named William McFly. 00:17:11.470 --> 00:17:14.039 The fact that he came back for this... even in 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.759 a small role, shows the commitment of the original 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:19.220 actors to this lore. They really treat it with 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:21.099 respect. That's awesome. It really bridges the 00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:24.099 gap between the movies and the modern era. But 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:27.019 OK, let's unpack this next source because we 00:17:27.019 --> 00:17:29.119 are about to enter what I'm calling the darkest 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:31.539 timeline. This is a deep cut. I'd wager most 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:33.200 people listening have never seen this. There 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.799 is a short film released in 2015 for the 30th 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:38.119 anniversary Blu -ray set called Doc Brown Saves 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:41.579 the World. And when you say it's dark. You are 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.420 not kidding. No. For a short film included as 00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:47.240 a bonus feature, the plot is surprisingly catastrophic. 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:50.200 It's basically a horror movie set up disguised 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.579 as a comedy. It starts with Doc Brown in some 00:17:52.579 --> 00:17:56.279 undisclosed, like, bunker location. He's recording 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.799 a video message for Marty. And what does he reveal? 00:17:59.059 --> 00:18:01.599 He reveals that the future Marty visited in part 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:04.369 two. the one with the flying cars and the dehydration 00:18:04.369 --> 00:18:06.930 machines. It was all a trap. He reveals that 00:18:06.930 --> 00:18:10.650 on October 21, 2045, a nuclear holocaust occurred. 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:13.400 Hold on. I need to pause you there. You're telling 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.819 me that the official canon written by the original 00:18:15.819 --> 00:18:19.119 creators states that the charming, slightly goofy 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.519 world of Back to the Future ends in a nuclear 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:25.819 firestorm. That feels so tonally wrong. It's 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:27.460 definitely jarring. But when you look at the 00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:29.579 source material, it's actually a really scathing 00:18:29.579 --> 00:18:32.380 piece of social satire. It's not a war that ends 00:18:32.380 --> 00:18:34.599 the world. It's convenience. Convenience. Yeah. 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:37.240 Doc Brown's message is that the gadgets we all 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:39.200 coveted in part two, the hydrators, the self 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:41.740 -lacing shoes. They essentially infantilize the 00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:43.839 human race. So it's a WALL -E scenario. He became 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.359 too lazy to survive. Precisely. And it's grimly 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.839 logical. Doc explains that because everything 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:51.960 was automated, people stopped moving. They became 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:54.500 obese and wasteful. Then you have the hoverboards. 00:18:54.779 --> 00:18:58.440 Those led to hovercars. And because people were 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:00.039 just floating around in hovercars, they started 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:01.960 throwing trash out the windows. Which created, 00:19:02.140 --> 00:19:04.369 what did the source call it? The great trash 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.289 storm of 2021. The great trash storm of 2021. 00:19:07.369 --> 00:19:09.430 I think we missed that one in the real world, 00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:11.890 thankfully. We dodged a bullet there. Yeah. So 00:19:11.890 --> 00:19:15.490 to solve the trash problem, they mass manufactured 00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:20.190 100 million Mr. Fusion units. Remember, Mr. Fusion 00:19:20.190 --> 00:19:22.490 is that device on the back of the car that turns 00:19:22.490 --> 00:19:24.569 garbage into energy. Right. It's a home energy 00:19:24.569 --> 00:19:27.410 reactor. It's nuclear powered. Exactly. Tiny 00:19:27.410 --> 00:19:30.690 nuclear reactors in every home and car. And this 00:19:30.690 --> 00:19:32.849 is where the villain steps in. Griff Tannen. 00:19:33.369 --> 00:19:36.109 Biff's grandson? The guy with the bionic implants 00:19:36.109 --> 00:19:39.210 from 2015? Very same. The short explains that 00:19:39.210 --> 00:19:41.809 Griff founded a company called GriffTech, and 00:19:41.809 --> 00:19:44.069 he created a social network called ThingMeme. 00:19:44.509 --> 00:19:46.730 ThingMeme. You can't make this stuff up. It sounds 00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:49.410 like a parody of Facebook and Instagram. It is. 00:19:50.190 --> 00:19:53.910 ThingMeme was a scam. It supposedly allowed inanimate 00:19:53.910 --> 00:19:56.670 objects to post selfies, but it actually gave 00:19:56.670 --> 00:19:59.910 Griff access to hack every single connected object 00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:02.829 on Earth. And on the 30th anniversary of his 00:20:02.829 --> 00:20:06.690 arrest in 2015, he uploaded a virus. And this 00:20:06.690 --> 00:20:08.369 is the part that makes me laugh every single 00:20:08.369 --> 00:20:10.049 time I read the source material, even though 00:20:10.049 --> 00:20:11.950 the stakes are literally global annihilation. 00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:15.430 What was the virus designed to do? The virus 00:20:15.430 --> 00:20:18.470 was intended to flash the word butthead on every 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:20.910 screen and device in the world. Butthead. The 00:20:20.910 --> 00:20:24.009 classic Tannen insult. But the virus had a glitch. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:26.700 It short -circuited the 100 million Mr. Fusion 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:29.599 units. They all detonated at once. Nuclear holocaust. 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.380 All because Griff Tannen wanted to prank the 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:34.640 world with the word butthead. That is, it's dark, 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:36.799 but it's also hilarious. It's the ultimate butterfly 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:39.380 effect of stupidity. It's peek back to the future 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:41.799 logic. The highest possible stakes, the most 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:44.720 absurd possible cause. The writers are basically 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.700 twisting the knife, saying you wanted the cool 00:20:46.700 --> 00:20:48.579 future. Well, the cool future makes you fat, 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:51.599 lazy, and eventually dead. So how does Doc fix 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:54.059 it? What's the point of the message? He travels 00:20:54.059 --> 00:20:57.240 back in time to erase the inventions. He ensures 00:20:57.240 --> 00:20:59.359 the hoverboard and the self -lacing shoes are 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:01.500 never invented. That's why we don't have them 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:04.640 in our real 2015. He effectively prevents the 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.779 cool future to save us from the nuclear butthead 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:10.339 apocalypse. So when people complain online, where 00:21:10.339 --> 00:21:13.049 is my hoverboard? The canonical answer is Doc 00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:15.470 Brown took it away to save your life. Exactly. 00:21:15.490 --> 00:21:17.930 We should be thankful we are still walking on 00:21:17.930 --> 00:21:19.710 the ground. That actually makes me feel better 00:21:19.710 --> 00:21:22.410 about still tying my own shoelaces. Speaking 00:21:22.410 --> 00:21:24.910 of 2015, let's talk about when the real world 00:21:24.910 --> 00:21:26.990 actually caught up to the movie. October 21, 00:21:27.289 --> 00:21:30.869 2015. Back to the future day. This was a massive 00:21:30.869 --> 00:21:33.630 cultural moment. It's rare for a movie date to 00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:35.970 cross over into real life with this much intensity. 00:21:36.349 --> 00:21:38.509 Usually dates in sci -fi, you know, they pass 00:21:38.509 --> 00:21:41.140 without a blip. But this was different. It felt 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.180 like every single brand wanted a piece of this. 00:21:43.220 --> 00:21:45.440 It wasn't just fans posting online. It was corporate 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.119 America. They absolutely did. Pepsi released 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:50.819 Pepsi Perfect. The Soda Marty orders in the cafe 00:21:50.819 --> 00:21:53.839 80s. It came in that futuristic cylinder bottle. 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:56.579 It sold out instantly online. And Nike, they 00:21:56.579 --> 00:21:59.099 had the biggest shoe to fill, literally. Nike 00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:03.240 actually made the mag shoes. For decades, these 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.859 were the holy grail of sneakers for so many people. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:09.619 They created a version with actual working power 00:22:09.619 --> 00:22:12.099 laces. That's incredible. But, and this ties 00:22:12.099 --> 00:22:14.660 back to the goodwill of the franchise, they didn't 00:22:14.660 --> 00:22:17.000 just sell them for profit. They auctioned them 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:18.859 off to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:21.619 for Parkinson's Research. That's fantastic. So, 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.119 life imitated art for a really good cause. And 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.500 Universal got in on the joke, too. They released 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:30.880 a fake trailer for Jaws 19. Jaws 19. This time 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.420 it's really, really personal. They poked fun 00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:36.220 at the idea of endless sequels, which is deeply 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:38.740 ironic given this franchise's whole stance on 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:40.859 sequels. Yeah, that's a good point. And USA Today 00:22:40.859 --> 00:22:44.299 even recreated the movie's front page, wrapping 00:22:44.299 --> 00:22:46.940 their actual newspaper in the fictional one from 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:49.099 the film. They even replaced the little blue 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:51.339 dot in their logo with a drone camera, just like 00:22:51.339 --> 00:22:53.720 in the movie. And Toyota got involved too, right? 00:22:53.859 --> 00:22:57.710 With the truck. Toyota went big. They recreated 00:22:57.710 --> 00:23:00.349 Marty's dream truck, that black Toyota Tacoma 00:23:00.349 --> 00:23:03.329 4x4. They made a concept version that looked 00:23:03.329 --> 00:23:05.529 exactly like the one in the movie. And they did 00:23:05.529 --> 00:23:07.390 a commercial with Michael J. Fox and Christopher 00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:09.690 Lloyd sitting in a diner discussing hydrogen 00:23:09.690 --> 00:23:12.589 fuel, using Mr. Fusion as the comparison point. 00:23:12.769 --> 00:23:14.869 It wasn't just commercials, though. People actually 00:23:14.869 --> 00:23:17.289 went back to the movies. They did. Our sources 00:23:17.289 --> 00:23:21.150 say nearly 2 ,000 theaters worldwide re -screened 00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:24.920 the trilogy. It earned $4 .8 million in a single 00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:28.000 day. Wow. Think about that. A 30 -year -old movie 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.599 making nearly $5 million on a random Wednesday 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.319 in October. It just shows that this isn't a movie 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.220 people like. It's a movie people love. And the 00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:37.660 civic pride. I read that the town of Reston, 00:23:37.660 --> 00:23:39.859 Virginia actually changed its name. They did. 00:23:40.269 --> 00:23:41.769 They temporarily changed their name to Hill Valley 00:23:41.769 --> 00:23:43.769 for their film festival. The map changed. The 00:23:43.769 --> 00:23:46.309 signs changed. It's a testament to how this fictional 00:23:46.309 --> 00:23:48.470 town feels like a real place to people. Now, 00:23:48.509 --> 00:23:49.890 with all this hype and all this money on the 00:23:49.890 --> 00:23:52.089 table, I mean, five million dollars in one day. 00:23:52.170 --> 00:23:54.589 The big question, the question every fan has 00:23:54.589 --> 00:23:57.769 asked for decades is, will there be a part four? 00:23:57.950 --> 00:24:01.069 And this is where we get to the core of the franchise's 00:24:01.069 --> 00:24:04.279 integrity. If you look at the sources, the answer 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:07.200 from the creators is a definitive, aggressive 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:10.799 no. It's not just no, it's absolutely not don't 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.980 ask again. It's more than a blockade. It's practically 00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:16.579 a restraining order filed by Robert Zemeckis 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:19.339 against the entire film industry. He and Bob 00:24:19.339 --> 00:24:22.259 Gale control the rights with an iron fist, and 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:24.839 they have stated... repeatedly that as long as 00:24:24.839 --> 00:24:27.900 they are alive there will be no reboot no remake 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:30.619 no part four and they are not subtle about it 00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:32.700 bob gail the co -writer has the most colorful 00:24:32.700 --> 00:24:35.359 way of putting it he really does he was asked 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.740 about doing a sequel or a reboot without michael 00:24:37.740 --> 00:24:40.680 j fox given michael's health condition with parkinson's 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:43.460 disease and gail said making another movie without 00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:46.759 michael j fox would be Quote, like saying, I'm 00:24:46.759 --> 00:24:48.359 going to cook you a steak dinner and I'm going 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:50.900 to hold the beef. Hold the beef. That's such 00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:52.839 a great analogy. You can't have the meal without 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:55.000 the main ingredient. He's saying that the franchise 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:57.920 isn't the car. It's not the time travel. It's 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.259 the chemistry between Michael J. Fox and Christopher 00:25:00.259 --> 00:25:03.140 Lloyd. You cannot swap that out. It's irreplaceable. 00:25:03.259 --> 00:25:06.099 And as recently as February 2025, which is very 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:08.839 current in our source, Stackgale's response to 00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:12.240 questions about part four was simply, F you. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.210 Wow. OK. So he's really tired of being asked 00:25:15.210 --> 00:25:17.109 that question. I think it's safe to say the door 00:25:17.109 --> 00:25:20.329 is closed, locked, and welded shut. But Christopher 00:25:20.329 --> 00:25:22.069 Lloyd had a slightly different take. He seemed 00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:24.710 a little more open to it. A little. In 2015, 00:25:24.910 --> 00:25:27.410 Lloyd said he'd consider it if, and it's a huge 00:25:27.410 --> 00:25:29.769 if, the original cast returned and the story 00:25:29.769 --> 00:25:32.490 was truly worth telling. But given the creator's 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:34.509 stance and the reality of the situation, I think 00:25:34.509 --> 00:25:36.369 we have to accept that the Telltale game and 00:25:36.369 --> 00:25:38.970 the comics remain the closest things to a canonical 00:25:38.970 --> 00:25:42.589 continuation. So no movie. But that doesn't mean 00:25:42.589 --> 00:25:45.369 the legacy is dead. As we've seen, the franchise 00:25:45.369 --> 00:25:47.430 has found all these other ways to stay alive 00:25:47.430 --> 00:25:50.410 without diluting the film trilogy. Far from it. 00:25:50.450 --> 00:25:52.829 That no reboot rule has actually forced the franchise 00:25:52.829 --> 00:25:55.349 to be creative in other mediums. Like the musical. 00:25:55.470 --> 00:25:57.230 We mentioned it earlier. Back to the Future, 00:25:57.430 --> 00:26:00.190 the musical. It premiered in Manchester in 2020, 00:26:00.430 --> 00:26:02.910 then went to the West End and Broadway in 2023. 00:26:03.509 --> 00:26:06.269 And crucially, it was adapted by Zemeckis and 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:08.730 Gale themselves. So it has that authentic DNA. 00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:11.519 Totally. It features the hits like... The Power 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.559 of Love and Johnny B. Goode, but with new songs, 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:17.500 too. It allows a new generation to experience 00:26:17.500 --> 00:26:21.099 the story live without trying to replace the 00:26:21.099 --> 00:26:22.980 film. And for a long time, there was The Ride. 00:26:23.259 --> 00:26:26.119 I still miss this ride so much. Back to the future. 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:29.480 The Ride. For a generation of fans, this was 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:32.859 the sequel. It opened in 1991 at Universal Studios. 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.059 It was a simulator ride where you chased Biff 00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:37.980 through time. You went through the Ice Age. You 00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:40.000 went through the future to stop him from changing 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.849 history. It was a major part of the lore for 00:26:42.849 --> 00:26:45.230 decades. Until it was replaced by The Simpsons. 00:26:45.250 --> 00:26:47.289 Right. But for a long time, that was the only 00:26:47.289 --> 00:26:50.690 place to get new footage of Doc Brown. And finally, 00:26:50.809 --> 00:26:53.190 the comics. This seems to be where the deep lore 00:26:53.190 --> 00:26:56.660 nerds really live. IDW Publishing has done a 00:26:56.660 --> 00:26:58.960 lot of heavy lifting here. They've filled in 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:01.059 narrative gaps that the movies just hinted at. 00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:03.380 They have story arcs like Biff to the Future, 00:27:03.539 --> 00:27:06.819 which details Biff's rise to power with the Almanac. 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:09.880 It explains exactly how he took over Hill Valley. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.480 And they adapted the game. Yes. The Citizen Brown 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.279 storyline adapts the game. And they even did 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.190 stories about how Marty and Doc first met. which 00:27:18.190 --> 00:27:20.670 is a huge question the movies never answer. Why 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:23.630 is this teenager hanging out with a disgraced 00:27:23.630 --> 00:27:26.470 nuclear physicist? The comics give us the backstory. 00:27:26.829 --> 00:27:28.470 And did I see something about Transformers in 00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:30.789 the notes? You did. There's a crossover comic 00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:33.509 series, Transformers Back to the Future. The 00:27:33.509 --> 00:27:36.369 DeLorean literally transforms into an Autobot. 00:27:36.430 --> 00:27:38.710 His name is Gigawatt. Gigawatt, of course it 00:27:38.710 --> 00:27:40.730 is. It's the mashup you didn't know you needed. 00:27:41.099 --> 00:27:43.039 But it shows that while the films are sacred, 00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:44.880 the brand is willing to have some fun in other 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:46.920 sandboxes. So let's summarize where we've been 00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:50.660 today. We've gone from the really personal existential 00:27:50.660 --> 00:27:54.200 stakes of the first film to the complex timelines 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.160 of the second, the Western conclusion of the 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.980 third. And then we plunged into this massive 00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:03.319 expanded world of animation, games, and nuclear 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:05.500 preventing short films. It really highlights 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:07.880 that the core of this franchise isn't just the 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:10.970 time travel gimmick. It's the characters. The 00:28:10.970 --> 00:28:13.630 reason the creators refused to reboot it, the 00:28:13.630 --> 00:28:16.130 reason they say hold the beef, is because that 00:28:16.130 --> 00:28:19.109 chemistry between Doc and Marty is so unique. 00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:21.670 You just can't manufacture that again. The lightning 00:28:21.670 --> 00:28:24.269 in the bottle. Exactly. And by refusing to make 00:28:24.269 --> 00:28:26.579 a part four. They've preserved that original 00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:29.299 trilogy as this perfect standalone artifact. 00:28:29.579 --> 00:28:32.859 It hasn't been diluted by a subpar modern sequel. 00:28:33.099 --> 00:28:36.440 It hasn't been content farmed into oblivion. 00:28:36.539 --> 00:28:38.859 Which brings us to our final thought for you, 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:41.500 the listener. We live in an era of cinematic 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:44.240 universes where every movie is just a commercial 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:46.519 for the next three movies. Back to the Future 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:48.759 is practically the only major franchise that 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.859 has just said, no more. We told our story. We 00:28:51.859 --> 00:28:54.200 are done. So here's the question for you to mull 00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:57.019 over. Is Back to the Future actually more valuable 00:28:57.019 --> 00:28:59.259 to us because it refuses to give us a part four? 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:02.299 Does its scarcity make it better? It's the one 00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:04.460 toy on the shelf that you can't buy a new version 00:29:04.460 --> 00:29:07.559 of. Exactly. Or, if we look at Doc Brown Saves 00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:09.140 the World, maybe we should just be grateful. 00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:11.839 Did we actually dodge a bullet by not getting 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.240 the hoverboard future we all wanted? Maybe the 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:16.160 fact that we don't have hoverboards means we 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:19.079 saved the world from Griff Tannen's butthead 00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.019 virus. I think I'm okay with regular shoes if 00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:25.430 it means no nuclear apocalypse. I'll tie my own 00:29:25.430 --> 00:29:27.849 laces. Thank you very much. I agree. Sometimes 00:29:27.849 --> 00:29:31.049 the future is better left unwritten. Thanks for 00:29:31.049 --> 00:29:33.230 taking this deep dive with us. See you in the 00:29:33.230 --> 00:29:34.269 future. Or the past.