Back to the Future (film): Difference between revisions

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'''Doc Brown:''' "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it [[Rule of Cool|with some style]]?" }}

 

 

[[Back to the Future (game)|A card game]] has also been produced by Looney Labs; essentially a slightly-simplified version of their ''[[Chrononauts]]'' time-travel card game, the players are alternate-timeline descendants of various characters from the movies, who need to change time to make 'their' universes the real one, before stopping Doc from inventing time travel in the first place and thus preventing anyone changing history again. Yes, [[Grandfather Paradox|you need to use time travel to stop time travel from being discovered]]. Roll with it. Adding to the confusion is that Verne Brown, who ''exists'' because of time travel, is a playable character.

 

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{{tropelist|The ''Back to the Future'' films provide examples of:}}

== Series-wide: ==

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Marty McFly, Clara Clayton, Marty McFly Jr., Marlene McFly, Maggie McFly, S. S. Strickland.

* [[All Just a Dream]]: Subverted [[Once an Episode|once in all three films]]. In each one Marty gets knocked out and comes to in a dark room being nursed to health by a woman he thinks is the mother he knows, believing his recent hardships were a nightmare. The woman inevitably reassures him in a way that tells Marty (and the audience) that it actually wasn't a dream.

** Marty didn't do much of that in Part III. Doc, on the other hand...

** In ''Part II'' Marty demonstrates his skill with a gun-based arcade game. This becomes important in ''Part III'', giving him a sporting chance in an [[I Know Mortal Kombat|actual duel]].

* [[Clock Tower]]: Which is used in the [[Race Against the Clock|clock tower finale]].

* [["Close Enough" Timeline]]: There are not too many changes to 1985 when Marty returns there in ''Parts I'' and ''III''.

* [[In the Blood]]: The Tannens.

* [[Intergenerational Friendship]]: Marty and Doc.

* [[It Will Never Catch On]]: Amongst other examples: "Ronald Reagan? The ''actor''?" in ''Part I''; "Clint Eastwood? What kinda stupid name is that for a cowboy?" in ''Part III''.

** Part III: "Run for fun? What the hell kinda fun is ''that''?"

* [[Technicolor Science]]: The lightning bolt.

* [[Techno Babble]]: Lampshaded. "English, Doc!"

* [[Temporal Paradox]]: Perhaps the most tropeworthy ontological example is how there are four DeLoreans present in Hill Valley on November 12th, 1955 - the one that Marty traveled back in time with in Part I, the one 2015 Biff traveled back in time with in Part II, the one Marty and Doc traveled back with also in Part II, and the one taking [[The Slow Path]] sealed up in the mine shaft shown in Part III.

** Averted in that each time the DeLorean makes a trip through time, a new timeline is created, one whose primary difference begins with the appearance of the car itself. This perfectly preserves the Law of Conservation of Matter. Calculating all the trips made in the entire series, there are about nine timelines, with Doc and Marty occupying the ninth one by the third film's end.

*** Of course, he also got himself some surgery in the future that made him 20 or so years younger, physically.

* [[Villain Decay]]: Actually invoked with Biff. In the first film, he goes from being George McFly's bullying co-worker to the family's submissive mechanic, all because of George's punch in the 1950s. [[It Gets Worse|He Got Worse]] in the sequel but went back to being subservient by the end of the third movie.

 

== Part I: ==

* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: Sam Baines.

* [[The Gump]]: Back in 1955, Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry's ''Johnny B. Goode'' when he steps in for Chuck's cousin, Marvin Berry. While Marty is playing, Marvin calls Chuck up so he can listen in on this "new sound." This is arguably more of a [[Temporal Paradox]], though (specifically an example of a "predestination paradox"), as it raises the question of who actually created the "new sound."

* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: Referenced in a deleted scene:

{{quote|'''Marty:''' "What if I go back to the future and I end up bein' -- gay?"

* [[Limit Break]]: George punching out Biff after Biff laughs at him and Lorraine.

* [[Malt Shop]]

* [[Named After Somebody Famous]]: Lorraine [[wikipedia:Lyndon B. Johnson|Baines]] and her family.

* [[Naughty Birdwatching]]: When George was spying on Lorraine in 1955. Lorraine in the original 1985 even refers to the event as birdwatching.

* [[Nerd]]: Marty's father, although Marty's intervention via time travel turns him into a much ''cooler'' class of nerd.

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: Biff pushing Lorraine down and [[Evil Laugh|laughing about it]] gives George the [[Date Rape Averted|resolve he needs]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|to punch him out]].

* [[No Accounting for Taste]]: George and Lorraine in the original 1985, at the start of the film.

* [[Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be]]: Compare the film's portrayal of 1955 with that of 1985.

** On the other hand, the film does a good job in showing both the bright, sunny veneer of [[The Fifties]] and the darker, less pleasant aspects underneath without being bluntly [[Anvilicious]].

* [[Oh Crap]]: "They found me. I don't know how but they found me. RUN FOR IT, MARTY!"

* [[One Head Taller]]: The original actress playing Jennifer, who never filmed any scenes, was fired because she was a lot taller than Michael J. Fox.

* [[Parental Bonus]]: After Marty wakes up from being knocked out in 1955, he learns that his pants are "over there... on (Lorraine's) hope chest". Many people who were born after the 1950s may not understand what a hope chest is. <ref>It's a chest that young girls used to keep in preparation for their marriage. The joke here is that Lorraine was already fantasizing about marrying the young man that she did not realize was her future son.</ref>

* [[Percussive Maintenance]]: Marty bashes his head against the DeLorean's steering wheel when it refuses to start. At this, the ignition miraculously turns on.

** In Doc's lab in the beginning, the amplifier is labeled "CRM 114", which was the code name for a radio device from ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]''.

* [[Slow Electricity]]: Near the end of the film, the lightning crawls down the wire at roughly a walking pace.

* [[Stopped Clock]]: The clock tower stopped after being stuck by lightning, giving Marty and Doc a precise time to use the lightning to time travel.

* [[Time Is Dangerous]]: the DeLorean has to be traveling at 88 miles per hour. Which means that unless you know what's going to be in front of you when you arrive in the new timeline, you're going to crash.

* [[Technology Porn]]: The DeLorean when Doc introduces it.

** Also the opening, showing off various gadgets Doc has at home.

* [[Turn Out Like His Father]]: Played with in every possible way. People tell Marty he's going to be a loser like his dad, then the past changes and his dad is not a loser but Marty is still destined to be a loser, then that future is possibly avoided presumably letting Marty succeed at a creative pursuit like his dad.

* [[Values Dissonance]]: An in-universe example: "A colored mayor, that'll be the day."

* [[Vanity License Plate]]: The DeLorean has the tags OUTATIME.

** What happened to Doctor Brown's remaining plutonium? did he use it all before fitting Mr Fusion or did he just throw it in a bin somewhere? (which given the general recklessness he displays during the Trilogy is not that much of a stretch)

* [[Who's on First?]]: Marty's attempts to get a Tab, and then a Pepsi Free, at Lou's Cafe in the 50's.

 

== Part II: ==

* [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels]]: In 1985-A.

* [[Alternate History]]: 1985-A.

** Biff-A is watching ''A Fistful of Dollars'', and crows when [[Clint Eastwood]] showed he was wearing a stovetop under his jerkin, "A bullet-proof vest! Ingenious!" {{spoiler|Guess how the showdown in ''III'' is resolved?}}

* [[Forced Perspective]]: The Lyon Estates site, and the tunnel.

* [[Futuristic Superhighway]]: The movie begins with Doc, Marty, and Jennifer arriving in the year 2015 inadvertently flying against traffic on a highway specifically designed for [[Flying Car|Flying Cars]].

* [[Gilligan Cut]]: Marty needs to get some Fifties clothes:

* [[Off to Boarding School]]: The alternate Marty in 1985-A.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: "Wallet Guy."

* [[The Paid for Harem]]: Biff-A's harem.

* [[Plot Hole]]: Old Biff heads back to 1955, hands young Biff the almanac, and returns to 2015 where Marty and Doc are. If you think about it, this shouldn't be, as after handing out the almanac, he would have started the chain of events leading to the dystopian 1985, and thusly 2015. Therefore, Marty and Doc would have been lost in time, and Old Biff would have emerged in a future where he was on top of the world!

* [[To Be Continued]]: Audiences were upset they actually ''showed'' scenes from ''III''. Thanks for the Spoiler Alert, Zemeckis.

** [[Invoked Trope|Deliberately done by Zemeckis]] to ensure audiences that the last chapter would be finished in a matter of months, not years.

* [[Trophy Wife]]: Marty's mother has been coerced into becoming Biff Tannen's trophy wife, complete with unwanted breast augmentation. Though Marty is eventually able to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]], the viewer sees that she would have eventually shot him to death.

* [[Uncanny Family Resemblance]]: Michael J. Fox plays all of Marty's future family, [[Crosscast Role|including his daughter]].

* [[Acting for Two]]: Michael J. Fox once again, this time as Marty & his Great-Great-Grandfather Seamus McFly. Also, Thomas F. Wilson portrayed Biff & Buford.

* [[And Starring]]: Lea Thompson.

* [[Back for the Finale]]: George, Lorraine, Dave, Linda, Biff and Jennifer all return for the final scenes.

* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Doc.

* [[Drive-In Theater]]: Featured in a [[Played for Laughs]] scene before Marty leaves for 1885.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: Doc, in the saloon - subverted in that he doesn't actually touch his shot glass. When he finally does gulp it down, he [[Drunk on Milk|passes out instantly]].

* [[Embarrassing Nickname]]: Buford 'Mad Dog' tannen.

* [[Eternally Pearly-White Teeth]]: Averted; Buford and his gang notice and remark on Marty's white teeth.

* [[Train Job]]: Not your typical train robbery, either. They want to steal the locomotive.

* [[Trapped in the Past]]: Doc, after realizing he's stuck in 1885.

{{quote|'''Doc:''' "It's a ''science'' experiment!"}}

* [[The Unseen]]: Joey the "Wake Up Juice" man.

* [[Young Gun]]: Marty; subverted.

* [[You Talkin' to Me?]]: Marty quotes the speech in 1885.

 

== And notably avoids: ==

[[Category:The Fifties]]

[[Category:Hugo Award]]

[[Category:Film]]

[[Category:Film Westerns]]