Back to the Future documentary

Back in Time (2015) / Jason Aron. Documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Back To The Future." The technique of the film is the usual talking heads with interspersed clips. Your interest in it will be determined by your interest in the making of BTTF and in its fandom, a phenomenon that continues to this day. In the early going we get an entertaining overview of how BTTF got made. The main sources are the Two Bobs (Gale and Zemeckis) who co-wrote and co-produced with Zemeckis directing. They tell us how the script was rejected by every major studio One at a time the various studios told the men “Take it to Disney.” When they finally did take it to Disney, the people there were horrified at what they perceived was a story about incest. The story of the Eric Stoltz firing gets told in full with some footage of Stolz as Marty that I had not seen before. Gale tells us that someday – but he can’t say when – all of the Eric Stolz footage will be released. Most of the cast makes an appearance as they are today. Eric Stolz was NOT there and I didn’t expect him to be. As far as I know he has never said a word about the experience. Crispin Glover was also conspicuous by his absence. But just about everybody else showed up either as an interview or in an appearance at a fan function. Donald Fullilove (Goldie Wilson) laughs and says, “I wish I had a penny every time someone asked me to say ‘MAY-or!’” Almost the last two-thirds of the doc takes place in the world of today and, while there is some good material, we just see too many people who are into BTTF Cosplay and too many people who own DeLoreans that they have customized into time machines. Best of all are people whose lives were changed by this film. There is a guy working in the technical side of the film industry, another who is customizing cars, another a cartooner – all inspired to their professions by their experience seeing this classic essential 1980s film. My own son became an avid and accomplished skateboarder during high school because of Marty McFly. During the credits we see where all of the interviewees were asked: what would be your choice if you could go back or forward anywhere in time? What would be your choice if the trip were one way and had to stay were you went? Hmmm. Personally, I agree with the fellow who says, “I will stick with Now. I’ve always been an In The Moment guy.” How about you?

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Trust me. I’m The Doctor.