The Steves discuss the 1985 blockbuster, Back to the Future, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (On Demand)
Free Guy (On Demand)
Back to the Future Discussion:
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the 1985 blockbuster, Back to the Future, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (On Demand)
Free Guy (On Demand)
Back to the Future Discussion:
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin, and
Stephen:this is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a
Steve:lifetime of how. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy. We'll hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And today
Stephen:we're kicking off a new year by going back to the future or 30 years back in time. So we can get back to the future, or I guess, goodness, it is about 70 years. Now that they're going back, isn't it either way we're discussing back to the
Steve:future. Excellent. My lab, before we get into. Messy timeline. What's been making you happy.
Stephen:So, you know, with social activities and things, being what they are, we decided to have a quieter new year's. And I stopped at Publix and went to Redbox and I was like, oh, we missed that. And we miss that and we missed. And so I brought home some movies for us and we found some pretty good ones. Yes.
Steve:A venom, let there be carnage was a very fun superhero romp. Yes.
Stephen:And it was one, we didn't see the original venom in the theater either. And this was a lot of fun because venom can be one of those gray area superheroes. Yes. And so they did tongue in cheek kind of humor with it. That was really good. It was also nice to see Michelle Williams do a less serious role. Yes. And all in all. It was really good and I hope that there's another venomous. On the way at some
Steve:point, I'm sure there will be there it's being very successful. We also saw at the end of, into the spider verse that there's a chance we'll be having a venom or a symbiosis of some sort coming to the MCU to
Stephen:yes. And But the movie that excited us the most
Steve:was probably free guy with Ryan Reynolds as a NPC and a video game. And as two gamers ourselves, it had tons of nods to online gaming and video games. It was just so well written. I mean, I've, don't think that Ryan Reynolds has made a bad movie and long, long time,
Stephen:and it was really nice. Jody Comber was his co-star and we love her from killing Eve and as villain L and she is absolutely brilliant on there. So it's nice to see her getting some more mainstream recognition. For her ability and this was fun. It was fanciful. It took place in the real world, the game world. So if you're up for. Just a good comedy. Get it. If you're a gamer. Absolutely get it.
Steve:Yes. And even if you like the Lego movie, get it. They were very, like, there were similarities between the two that I liked for good reasons. Not like bad reasons.
Stephen:Well, let's talk about this movie. That I grew up with. And you came to later.
Steve:Yes. Back to the future is a 1985 American Saifai film directed by Robert Zemeckis previously known for romancing the stone, which is
Stephen:such a good movie
Steve:too. He co-wrote the movie with relatively new writer, Bob Gale, who said. Very close to the franchise throughout his career.
Stephen:Yup. And it stars Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. Christopher Lloyd is Dr. Emmett brown, Leah Thompson as Lorraine Bain's McFly Crispin Glover as George McFly and Thomas F. Wilson as. Now Michael
Steve:J. Fox, you know, from family ties. And I grew up with him on spin city while Christopher Lloyd was professor plumbing. Your favorite movie of all time clue as well as uncle fester in the 1993 Adams family values. Yup.
Stephen:And just, it's a really talented cast. Leah Thompson, I grew to love in this and I was, I'm glad that she's. A long career after the, she even had a successful sitcom called Caroline in the city. And Thomas F. Wilson has been in a lot of other things and he even had a long running lead supporting role on ghost.
Steve:Yes. Now, one thing that I found interesting while doing research for this episode was that Michael J. Fox was the first choice of gallons and MCAS to play Marty due to his role in family ties. They approached the producer, Gary David Goldberg about getting him on the movie, asking him to show Fox the script, but because Goldberg feared what might happen to the show in Fox's absence, he did not give him the. And so the filming began shooting with Eric Stoltz as McFly stoles caused problems on set in the name of method, acting, doing things like when he was supposed to punch, if it was supposed to be like a play punch, but he would throw real punches. He would just stay in character offset and be just a general nuisance. And so it wasn't working out. And so Zemeckis went back to Goldberg promising that they do whatever it took to work around Fox schedule on the. And Michael J. Fox accepted the role without even reading the script and ended up working his ass off to make sure that he was able to do both successfully. He would, you know, do things like work, you know, four days a week at one, the other three days a week at the other, he said it was just a very busy time of his life shooting the shows and the movie at the same time. But it all worked out and you, you wouldn't know that he was stressed to the edge of exhaustion with this because he had such character.
Stephen:And I honestly couldn't see anybody else in the role. I've seen pictures of Eric Stoltz on set as Marty McFly, and it just doesn't work for me. And so something funny is a lot of people are. Like Michael J. Fox, like why does he have the J in his name? And it's a thing with the screen actors Guild that whenever you're registered with it, only one person can have that name at a time. Like, you know, you don't want six, Nicole Kidman's running around. People are going to get confused. So by the time our Michael J. Fox came around, there was already a Michael Fox and. It turns out. I knew him from Bolden, the beautiful he was Sally Spectra's right-hand man and henchmen on there, but he was known for a lot of B movies back in the day. And they did an interview with Michael J. Fox back in the eighties or nineties. And they were like, what's the J four? And they're like, well, when I started, there was some other guy who was known for like attack of the zombie cannibals from planet. And Michael Fox was like, I actually wasn't in that. But if they had asked, I would've said yes.
Steve:Yes. Well, I'm glad they both had a great career. I would say Michael J. Fox became a little bit more of a household name, but just a little, I mean, this movie alone had a budget of$19 million and achieved a box office of 380.8 and in
Stephen:1985 that's I mean, that's impressive now in 1985, that was even more impressive.
Steve:Yeah. It certainly is it was successful in our to launch not only two sequels, but on multimedia franchise. Yeah. Yes.
Stephen:Now the movie starts out. And it's weird, you know, I've watched the movie so many times, never with a critical eye like this, and I forgot how much buildup there is before things get started. Like there's a good 20, 25 minutes. Of character introduction and story up before we get to anything of what you would call important. So I thought that was interesting because the movie starts with a closeup of a bunch of clocks and a new story about Libyan nationals and missing plutonium. And as we scan across this room, we see the plutonium box under the bed. Marty comes in and gets a call from doc saying you meet him at the twin Pines mall at one 15. In the morning and Marty all the clock start going off and docks. Like my experiment worked, they're all 25 minutes slow. And Marty's like, wait, that means I'm a late.
Steve:Yes. So he rushed us to school while the power of love plays
Stephen:and anybody that grew up in the eighties, the power of love evokes such strong memories, especially of this movie. But it's just such a good song. And I had also forgotten that it plays this early in the movie, for some reason, I thought it was the end credit song.
Steve:It is not. Nope. And he's using his skateboard to hitch rides, holding onto cars. And I'm wondering how many kids your age tried that when they were younger to, to brutal consequences and scrapes, I
Stephen:remember like. Some people even trying it just, you know, holding onto their friend's bikes and having the bike, propel them while they're on the skateboard. I saw that a lot.
Steve:He runs into Jennifer has love interests, and then they go into school and the principal gets up in his face in a way that would not be allowed today in schools. No saying he's just like his father and that no McFly amounts to any. He then after school tries to get into a show, but they are not accepted because they're too loud.
Stephen:Marty, who does want to be a musician, but he's ready to quit after one rejection. And because he has a fear of rejection and Jennifer is even like, you just need to send in your tape to the. Record companies like it's going to be good, but he's like, I don't know if I could take it if they said no. And you know, any X-Men fan knows that Charles Xavier. Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting
Steve:for yes. Thank you. Brought to you by the X-Men. Now after school, I have been on my second watch three. It was like when the woman from the hill valley preservation society is running the save the Clocktower campaign. I'm like, Ooh, they're doing a real good job. Like laying east, like, like little clues and nuggets as to where the movie's going. So that like, it all makes sense and nothing just as coming out of left field
Stephen:and just like it made me think of. Like when we were watching home alone a few weeks ago and how Kevin's plane ticket ends up in the trash. So there isn't an extra plane ticket that the parents wouldn't realize. Like you realize that. People are making sure there's not plot holes. And I appreciate that with filmmaking. And they did that with this
Steve:as well. Yes, they did. Then Jennifer gives Marty, her the phone number to her grandmother's house so that he can call her that night. And that just made me remember, I mean, this, this was very much my middle school experience, but I'm sure it wasn't even longer for you. I mean, what was it like before cell phones? When, like, if someone was somewhere else, you had to give them the number to the place and they had to remember it. Oh
Stephen:no. I had a written down list of okay. This is my friend's house, but they could be at their grandparents house or the, if they were at their cousin's house. And so you have all of these numbers written down for them. And this is before you had like an electronic list to share with you. So it was like on notebook paper tucked up in your room somewhere, or by your phone, if you have. Phone in your room because not everybody got, when I was growing up, had a phone in their room, like not saying we had our own phone line, but just an extension in our room. And I even remember when I got my first cell phone and that was just because long distance calling was so expensive that it was cheaper to have a cell phone in college than to have my parents pay for long distance.
Steve:Yes. Now Marty gets home and Biff is an asshole coworker to Marty's pushover father. If he's mad because he got into a car accident driving George Mcflys borrowed car that made Biff spill his beer back when drinking and driving was okay. I guess,
Stephen:question mark. It was never really. Okay. But you do see it more in the eighties and then you also see it for movie villains when they're talking about
Steve:yeah. Over dinner. Then we also learned that Marty's parents met when his mom's father had his dad with a car and they had their first state, the night of the thunderstorm at the enchanted mint under the sea dance where she knew they'd be together after their first kiss. Oh, Yeah. And that like listening to that made me think my parents were very much like it was in the past and we don't talk about the past. You don't care how we met cause you were your kids. Like I have no idea really how they met her, how they fell in love, but I bet you might've heard the story of your mom and dad once or twice. I
Stephen:do. So my parents were out at a dance club and. Mom was there with a friend of hers because mom and her boyfriend had just broken up. I think he was in the service. And so instead of staying together while we went away they decided to break up. And so her friend was taking her out for, you know, cheering her up. And dad was there with some of his friends and dad had gone on some days. With mom's friend and he was talking to the friend and was like, introduced me to your friend. And the woman was like, no, thank you. And so dad went around her and introduced himself to mom anyway, and that was in August. In November they were engaged and January they were married. And not because she was pregnant, even though I like to tease because Barry didn't come along until over a year and a half later. Yes. They just moved quickly. Yes. But, and they've been together for 50 years. Well, I guess when, you know, you know, I
Steve:guess so now Marty falls asleep. He gets a call just after midnight with doc reminding him to pick up his video camera on the way of the mall shortly. You know, around like 1, 1 15 or whenever he said in the parking lot, we see a souped up DeLorean with the license plate at a time, which I love that yes, doc comes out and puts Einstein the dog in the car and premises, Marty, that when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit.
Stephen:The car disappears at that speed. And doc says that Einstein is the first time traveler sending him one minute into the future. As the car is actually a time of. One minute later, the car reappears with like ice covering it, but thankfully for all dog fans out there.
Steve:Okay. Yes. And I forgot. And I was like, oh my God, this has to be okay. Now, one thing, I mean, we saw in the beginning with the clocks, how obsessed doc is with time. And we see it here, even with the license plate that he personalized. I did some research and the obsession with time travel or time in general can be viewed as a mixture of OCD and Cronin. OCD is likely caused by biology and genetics, but can also be a learned behavior. Meanwhile, Corona phobia also known as prison neuroses due to its prevalence in the inmates is also seeing what those with terminal diagnoses and those who have been involved with natural disasters. And so what do you think inspired doc's obsession with.
Stephen:I think that it's more of the OCD variety than chromophobia I think his intelligence and things, and possibly you know, he could be on the spectrum in some way. And, you know, you see sometimes with people that are on certain sides of the spectrum, that they get focused on one thing in particular, like the show parenthood. There, one of the kids knew everything there was about bugs and he only ever wanted to talk about bugs. So doc's thing could be time and he just solely focused on that.
Steve:Yes. And why, and DeLorean my life.
Stephen:Because as doc says, if you're going to turn a time machine into a. Why not do it with some
Steve:style. And I bet after this movie DeLoreans were just the car to have
Stephen:everyone wanted a DeLorean. Like you couldn't get one, but like just the whole thing of the car door opening, like wings was the coolest thing in the world. And like, if you ever saw another car, whether it was Lamborghini or something where the car doors went to the top, It was just so very cool.
Steve:Yes. Meanwhile, doc gives Marty a lesson on exposition and how time travel works with the main power being plutonium that runs on one point 21 gigawatts of power, which is very important. Yes, doc is about to time-travel himself, but the Libyans come back because doc brown cheated them out of their plutonium and they shoot doc repeatedly in the chest. Yes. Marty tries to use the DeLorean to escape, but excellently turns on the time circuit when shifting gears and when he hits 88 miles per hour, he travels back to November 5th, 1955, the day doc brown intended to time travel to in
Stephen:that turns out also be did the day that doc brown invented time travel.
Steve:Yes. And if you could go back in time, when would you choose?
Stephen:So, you know, there's a lot of. Romanticism about certain things in the past. Like, Ooh, if you could go back to medieval times and see nights and things, jousting and stuff like that would be really fun or was it just dirty and like things were gross. And so I then started thinking, what about Elizabethan, England with you know, the pride and prejudice days that might. Exciting and fun, kind of like the Bridger tin era or maybe the Downton Abbey timeline. And then I was like, Ooh, Downton Abbey takes place in a good part in the 1920s hit up 1920s, New York during flapper. And head over to Britain during the twenties and things. I think that might be exciting.
Steve:I think that could be fun too. There's also something to be said about taking your like modern day knowledge and just going back shortly and time, like going back a decade or two, and then just like using your knowledge of the future to like, you know, make pop songs before they end up hitting the radio and like playing the lottery before it hits. I think
Stephen:I need to show you back to the future part two. That's the things you're not supposed to do. Oh,
Steve:okay. Yeah. Well then we can go back and see dinosaurs. Okay. Yeah. As long as I can get back safely. Cause I don't want to be stuck back there. No,
Stephen:because that whole thing you talked about is the plot of. I think
Steve:I vaguely remember that. Yeah. I don't think anything could have gone wrong. No, nothing. Yes. Now Marty crushes his car into a barn and the family thinks he's an alien dude. The hazmat suit he was thrown into. So he drives off, he drives to his neighborhood, but it's not.
Stephen:Yeah. It's like they just, even, they have the sign going in about lion estates. Your future home is here and that has to be disconcerting because he's not sure that he's in the past yet. He doesn't know what's happened. All he knows is he can't, doc's not there. He can't find his parents. Like he's a teenager. Of course. He's going to be scared. Yeah.
Steve:So he hides the car and then walks into town, which has super 1950s.
Stephen:Yeah. And because they have the guys, like somebody pulls up with their car to the gas station and people were coming up to check the air in the tires and check the oil and wash the windows and fill up the car. And this is. What happens?
Steve:Well, it's also, it happens in New York because you're not allowed to pump your own gas,
Stephen:but do they fill up air in your tires and everything while they're there? No, not anymore, but like, and you know, you see the the diner is there and you know, more people are walking, less people are driving and Marty even still, isn't sure what's going on. And then he sees the work in clock to. And that's disconcerting. And then some guy throws a newspaper when he picks it up out of the trash. And he looks at the date and it's November 5th, 1955. And that's when he knows he's in over his head. So
Steve:he goes to the diner to call doc who doesn't answer and runs into his father just as he gets bullied by Beth.
Stephen:And there's a guy working at the diner. His name is Goldie. Well. Annie Goldie tells Marty's dad don't be such a pushover. And Marty's like, you're the mayor. And go. And he's like, I mayor Goldie Wilson. I like the sale to that. And you will have to think, did Marty
Steve:instill on the idea that, that he could become the mayor and that's why he became the mayor, or if he was already going to be destined to be the mayor one way
Stephen:or another. Right. It's interesting to think.
Steve:Yep. And one thing that I miss my first time through was that the owner of the diner starts a running gag of mistaking Marty's vest as a flotation device. I didn't realize why people kept making Navy comments about them. I didn't realize it was because of his jacket, but you're right. Like his jacket is the poofy kind that was very popular back in the eighties. If you didn't know what that was and that it was the fashion of the time, you would think it was some sort of flotation
Stephen:device. It was very much layered. He had on a button down shirt with a denim jacket over. And then the vest on top of that. And like even later, people are like, did you fall off a boat or are you just out of the service? And it was like really interesting. And if you think like say we went back in time to the fifties or at any other time, and we were wearing the clothes we wear these days or fashions from around now. What are the things that you would think like people would be like, what the hell? Like for me genes that have holes in them. Yeah. Oh yeah. I like fashion choice. They're like what happened to your pants? Yes.
Steve:I could see that. Or I would see like, not even so much fashion, but as tattoo. Oh, yeah. Piercings, the way that people have them nowadays, especially tattoos. Like I can just see someone having like a normal, everyday tattoo here, but going back in the past and then being like, were you in prison? Or
Stephen:like nose rings and things, and, or even just simple, like graphic tees with sarcastic sayings on them. I like people back then their casual clothes were fancier than business, casual clothes. Like even the stuff kids wore to school. In the fifties, we're like Sunday clothes, these days type of,
Steve:yeah. Now Marty chases, after his dad, George, to find a little thing that wasn't really mentioned in how he met, how his parents met in the story, which is that his dad was hanging up in a tree, being a peeping, Tom to his mom.
Stephen:And. Falls out of the tree and that's how he's supposed to get hit by Lorraine's dad. But Marty's there this time and pushes George out of the way. And Marty gets hit by Lorraine's dad
Steve:and he wakes up to his mom. So he automatically thinks he's at home at first. And because I hear her voice, but then the light comes on and we see a young. We thinks his name is Calvin Klein because it's the name on his underwear. She comes onto Marty almost instantaneously. And Marty saved when Lorraine's mom calls him down for dinner. And
Stephen:I love that when it starts, because we're not even sure when it happens because Marty. And you hear it in. We'd already met his mom and his family at the beginning of the movie. And his family was a disaster. Like his mom's an alcoholic. His sister has no, self-confidence no dating. His brother. Can't hold down a job and is currently working at fast food. His uncle is in prison. Like it's not good for the family in 1985, but we know his mom's voice. And so when he wakes up in here, you're safe. Good and good old 19 55, 19 55. And so, but he does go downstairs. And again, like we were talking about another comment about as VAT. Yes.
Steve:Now they're coming as fast. He gets to meet his, his future uncle who's in jail. And he's in the credibly make comments like it used to be in behind the bars. Yeah.
Stephen:No. What do you think your parents were like as teenagers? From
Steve:what I understand, my mom, I believe was like super popular because she was in like the Baton twirling group or whatever at school. And my dad was from what I've pieced together through hints like a stone. And so I don't like, even though they went to the same high school together, they didn't interact with one another. They fell in love like sometime after high school, like girl or after college. But they went to the same high school. They just ran in very different circles.
Stephen:My parents, while they lived 15 minutes apart, lived in different states on either side of the river. And mom was a good girl because that's all my grandparents would allow their children to be. She was really good with the saxophone in the band and good with science and stuff. And dad was a bad boy after high school and things he and some of his friends had a place that everyone referred to as the big house. And I'm sure it was because it was a big house, but also because they figured that they were all going to prison.
Steve:Now, I also loving the scene. This is existing at a time when families rarely even had one TV, that was a big deal that he had just gotten it today and we're setting it up. And there were certainly no such things as reruns. Oh.
Stephen:And it made me even think so. Back in the nineties, Melrose place was my favorite favorite show. And there was one night whenever it was the season finale. And we were having horrible rains for a couple of days. And so things are starting to flood. And the news broke in on talking about the flooding and my only thought was. I'm never going to find out what happened because these people feel that they need at eight o'clock at night. Did you break in about rising floodwaters or something? So I got the phone call, the TV station. I yelled at them and told them get off there right now. Cause I'm never going to be able to see this again because you didn't like over the summer, you didn't get reruns of the shows. And even starting into the new year, you didn't get a replay of the season finale. So if I missed that season finale of Melrose, I was never going to know what happened. There was no streaming, there was no on demand. So like with them having no idea what reruns it. I get that. Like we lived in a world before on demand and stream. Yes.
Steve:Now that he's, Marty's offered to spend the night, but instead he needs to escape from his cock hungry mom and heads off to find doc, doc doesn't believe Marty's from the future until he convinced us, him with his knowledge of DOCSIS flux, capacitor,
Stephen:which doc had invented whenever he fell off. The toilet and hit his head. And when he woke up, that's what he had in his brain.
Steve:Yes. Now, since doc can't get his hands on plutonium in the past, he shares, the only alternative would be a bolt of lightning, which we know will hit the clock tower next Saturday night, giving us a week in the past.
Stephen:And what's funny is docs like it will in the future. I'm sure plutonium's available. The corner store.
Steve:And I wasn't sure whether that was true or not, because I'm not, I'm pretty. And so I looked it up and you can not buy plutonium legally still to this day. No, you cannot. I didn't think it was an albums or man. Okay. Well, I wasn't sure. So yes, doc was wrong about that prediction for the future.
Stephen:So Marty had had a family picture in his wallet and Marty pulls it out to show. And they both notice that his brother's head is disappearing and it's due to his parents not meeting that he has messed with the space-time continuum, which you and I know all about from the X-Men now in the original timeline, Lorraine developed Florence Nightingale syndrome for George while taking care of him after her dad hit him with a car, but now she has that for Martijn instead.
Steve:Yes. So doc posits that have all three disappear, Marty will cease to be. So Marty's new job for the week is playing matchmaker to his parents. He tries to convince George to ask Lorraine out, but just too chicken shit. Although he does learn that his dad is into science. So that night, he appears in his hazmat suit and pretends to be dark Veda, dark blue, the Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan and threatens him to ask Lorraine out or he'd melt his brain.
Stephen:Now what's interesting is George writes Saifai as a hobby, but he won't let anyone read it for fear of rejection. Same reason. Marty doesn't want anyone to hear his music. They're both definitely scared of rejection, like father, like
Steve:son. Yup. Now justice George is about to ask Lorraine out Biff comes into bully him in the diner, but Marty punches bef leading into the famous skateboard chase scene, which ends in Beth, his gang and his car getting covered in mud, newer. Yup. And
Stephen:the whole time in the. Diner. And during the chase scene, Lorraine keeps calling Marty a dream. Oh yeah. Like we know what's going on and. It's just gross for the audience. It's very Oedipus. Yes.
Steve:Meanwhile, doc explains his plans to get Marty back to the future, but doesn't want to hear about the future when Marty tries to tell them about getting shot, Lorraine followed him to doc's house because there's nothing hotter than desperation and stocking so hot. Now, if you could change one thing about the past that wouldn't ruin the space, time, continuum, cease, everything to be, what would it be? Oh
Stephen:goodness. I think if you could do it, I think it would be like finding a way to tell people, even back into the twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties, that about what fossil fuels are going to end up doing to the environment. And so that maybe people can start working on conservation. Early and, you know, deforest, like trying to prevent deforestation and things. I think things like that might be, they wouldn't destroy this face time continuum and could possibly. Help future generations.
Steve:That sounds nice. I would have figured you would have gone back to change the election with Trump.
Stephen:No, because I bet you that would have changed the space time continuum. There was an episode of quantum leap from the eighties. There was about this show where this guy had no control over what body he was sent into. And he just knew that he had to help out with something. And he got sent back to 11 22 63, and he ended up stopping. The JFK assassination. And that ended up setting like super storms and major tornadoes destroying parts of the U S. And so it was like that JFK wasn't supposed to have. Why do you think
Steve:then, like, that's not just the only piece of fiction that deals with people trying to time travel to stop that assassination. Why do you think that that's had such an impact on pop culture and like the idea of. I mean, there were the, you know, the, the buck, like
Stephen:I, so part of me wonders that, you know, America has become the reigning superpower in the world. And before JFK's assassination were, did everyone believe we were inventing? And with the assassination of a world leader, however, it came to be was that what was needed for America to realize that not everybody was going to enjoy politics from both sides and that we were in control of everything. Yeah. So I don't know. Maybe like maybe his assassination was the thing that will. America that
Steve:we're not invincible. Yeah. I could see that. I don't know. History is funny. Yeah. Meanwhile, Marty plans to take Lorraine to the dance, get her upset in the car just as George can come to the rescue and saying, Hey, you get your damn hands off of her punching Marty in the stomach. So they're like, Marty's trying to get his dad to gain self-confidence and is gaining some of himself along the
Stephen:way he is. And because. He's coming up with these plans on his own. And because things aren't working the first time he tries, which is like rejection, he's having to come up with second and third plans, which I think in the long run is going to help Marty realize that just because something doesn't work out the first time doesn't mean you just don't stop. Towards the, your goal, but in a different way.
Steve:Yeah. Which is also what he's doing with doc, trying to save him in the future. Because since doc wouldn't listen, he goes to write doc a letter about his getting shot and leaves it in docs jacket.
Stephen:Now Marty's plan goes south really quickly. And why is that?
Steve:Because Lorraine is Holly DT. Down
Stephen:to park. And she also drinks and smokes. Yes.
Steve:And watching that, I'm like the whole narrative that you've been given your whole life as a mom of such a good girl. Like, could you imagine going back and seeing that mom drinks and smokes and she's like I'll park in the car with any boy?
Stephen:Yeah. I can't see it though. Yeah, no. When she goes into kissing him, This is all wrong. I don't know what it is, but when I'm kissing you, it's like I'm kissing my brother and not
Steve:in the sexy way, brother. Yes. Now Beth pulls Marty out of the car and his friends throw them in the trunk and throw some very racist terms while Beth goes on to rape Lorraine and to attempt
Stephen:to rape Lorraine. Well, he starts
Steve:to try, but like, I'm like, I know one minute it goes like from being like a family-friendly film. And then all of a sudden they're throwing racial slurs and attempting rape. And I'm like, whoa, this turns south real quick. Well,
Stephen:that's like we were watching gremlins, which I was taken to as a child. Yeah. I don't think this was the children's moving, you know? No, not at all. So George comes out as planned, but it's Biff in the car and Lorraine's like, George helped me. He hesitates and he starts to turn away because bef like just close the door and leave and. George decides that he is going to stand up to him and he ends up punching Biff out and he wins Lorraine's heart.
Steve:Yes. They still need to have their first kiss though. But in getting Marty out of the trunk, the bandleader injures his hand and can play some Marty volunteers to play earth angel thing, Joe and George and Lorraine are dancing. Some random ginger puck cuts in
Stephen:and yeah, who reminds me of. The kid from a Christmas story that had like the yellow eyes and
Steve:things. Yeah. Yeah. Georgia's about to walk away as Marty starts to cease to exist, but then George goes back and knocks the guy down and kisses. Lorraine. Yay.
Stephen:Marty
Steve:fixed the future. Yes he did. But before he leaves, he takes the opportunity to perform Johnny B Goode, Johnny B Goode. It goes a little too far
Stephen:at the end. And now Marvin buried the band leader that wasn't able to play because he hurt his hand. Getting Marty. Trunk calls his cousin on the phone and is playing the song saying, here's that new sound you were looking for? He goes, Chuck, this is your cousin, Marvin Berry. So it's Chuck Berry on the phone, which I love that. Like Marty playing the song. Change the face of rock and roll, which I think is fantastic. And as he's leaving and Marty and Lorraine and George have their nice goodbye after he leaves some rains like Marty, that's such a nice name.
Steve:Yes. Hmm. Maybe she'll use it in the future. Never know. Now Marty says goodbye to Dr. Terrace up the letter. There was some last minute action over a quarter that came on done. Oh
Stephen:my goodness. This whole scene like is so intense. Well on the edge of your seat.
Steve:Yes. It's hard to explain it in words without seeing it. So you should definitely go back and rewatch it, but it involves climbing the clock tower to reconnect it while Marty prepares for the drive, the car stalls doc has trouble connecting the cable, but it all miraculously works out the last second. And Marty gets back to the future. I remember
Stephen:in seeing it in the theater when it opened and. Whenever, like doc gets it connected to the last second as the lightening is striking and Marty is running a driving under the cable and everything happens in the car. Disappears. The whole theater went. Yeah. Like it was one of those like Avengers in game. Cheer things where you have everyone was so invested in
Steve:that moment. Yes. Now Marty gets back 10 minutes before a dock gets shot, but the car is out of gas. So he runs to them all following the Libyans and it appears to be too late as he sees doc get shot and sees his other self going back to the past. But surprise doc is okay. He taped up the letter and read it. So he knew to wear a Bulletproof Fest. Yay.
Stephen:At the beginning of the movie, Marty went to the twin Pines mall. And when he went into the past in 1955 and he was escaping from the farm. Who thought he was an alien. It was trying to shoot him. He ran over one of the farmers, pine trees, and now in 1985, after all that, the model was called lone pine mall. And I think that's fantastic.
Steve:There's a lot of little Easter eggs there for those who are watching. Yes. Now doc goes off to head 30 years in the future and Marty's at home where the next morning he learns things are slightly
Stephen:different. Yeah. The decor in his house is family. Eighties decor.
Steve:Yes. His siblings are more successful with his sister dating a couple of guys. When she earlier couldn't get a date and then her, his brother's dressed for the office. Yeah. And I
Stephen:love when the brother was like so, and either a Greg or a Craig called and she's like, which one was it? Was it Greg or Craig? And I was like, go girl for you. His parents are happy, healthier and more successful. His mother is thinner and. Sober, his dad is fit and they both are doing things. And you can tell that they are
Steve:in love. Yes, bef is servicing the car and his meek, his dad's for a science fiction novels getting published. And Marty has the car of his
Stephen:dreams with the one change. Now, his parents phone love and having such a significant impact on their lives. What would you say has been one of the most impactful moments of your.
Steve:I would say, when you propose to me and I got lost along the way, and it kind of just showed that, that kind of set, I feel like the stage for our marriage, where even if I got a little, even if we went about it, the wrong way, it all worked out and that we'll always find each other. Oh, I really
Stephen:liked that. What about you? I didn't actually think of anything for that because I was like, well, and I. My thought was that, you know, I loved being in Cincinnati, but something in may said that I needed to be in Sarah. So. And so I moved down here and I wouldn't have met you if I hadn't to move down here. So I think my decision to move to Sarasota was probably the most impactful mall.
Steve:Yes. Sounds good. Now, Marty and Jennifer are reunited when doc comes back with a more souped up version of the DeLorean that now doesn't even need plutonium, but can run on garbage. Same. I have to go back to the future to help Marty and Jennifer's kids. And
Stephen:the last two lines of the movie, doc, you better back up. You don't really have enough road to get up to 88 miles per hour roads where we're going. We don't need roads. And then the car goes into the air and they fly away into the future.
Steve:Yes. Setting it up for a sequel and it ends up, there is a sequel. It's actually part of a trilogy with the second and third parts being part two and
Stephen:part three. Now what was great is they filmed them back to back. And so whenever you saw part two in the theater at the end of. Was the trailer for part three. And you were like, oh my God, I'm ready now.
Steve:Yes, that is, that is awesome. The second one had a budget of 40 million as did the third, the second one with a box office of 332.5 million and the third with a box office of 246 million. So all three movies together made almost a billion dollars. And now what are your hot takes on the sequels? Besides the fact that I need to go rewatch the second one so I can learn my last set.
Stephen:Yes. The second one is my favorite because it dealt with the future and what everybody wanted in the future of flying cars, flying things holograms fun fashion, neon colors and stuff. Like it was everything you wanted, like, and what we were all promised for the future. And the third one was entirely different because of. It takes place in the old west. Yes. And so like I love Leah Thompson and I loved her roles in these. So it was a little different for me that part three was definitely just Marty and doc focused. We mainly had a cameo and Jennifer was barely in it as well. Whenever she had had a bigger part in the second one. So It felt a little different. It's still a great movie. And I can see why, you know, on the third they wanted to focus on their main two stars. I get that. Yeah.
Steve:Now in the age of remakes and reboots, we have not heard anything new about back to the future and it ends up that's gone. Yeah. And it's because Robertson, meccas has final rights to all the films in the franchise. And as stated he will block any and all attempts to remake or reboot the franchise ever saying that trilogy is perfect as it is. Bob Gale has other half a grease feeling like there's no back to the future without Michael Jason. And with his health conditions that makes it impossible. And I would be like cooking a steak dinner, but holding
Stephen:the beef agreed. And for anyone that has seen the end of the third, it really is a perfect fellowship. It's a perfect trilogy. And it's open-ended and because it, you get to make the future's, what you make of it is what they're saying, and it doesn't need any more. And. For those of us that grew up in the eighties and nineties, we did have a cartoon. Yes.
Steve:And that was ran from September 91 through December 92 with a total of 26
Stephen:episodes. Yup. And it was a continuation after the third movie. Yeah. Wasn't that great? No I kind of didn't really enjoy it that much at all. Yeah, but I watched it just.
Steve:For you not how like something, it must've been pretty bad cause you like everything.
Stephen:I know it just wasn't that great. And there was also
Steve:a short film title. Doc brown saves the world, which was included in the 2015 Blu-ray and DVD released to commemorate the franchise's 30th anniversary.
Stephen:And that was, that was it's fine. And I also anybody that used to go to universal studios in Orlando. Or California back in the day they had back to the future, the ride where you got to ride in your own eight person DeLorean. And it was one of the best rides I've ever, ever been on. And I don't know how they did it because you were in a stationary point on a thing that just pivots, but it made you feel like you were flying follow. And it was incredible. We went, so I went to space camp in sixth grade and afterwards we went to Orlando. So the us kids could go to Nickelodeon studios and watch a taping of one of the shows and stuff. And I wanted to be slimed so bad. I did not get to be slimed, but we went on the back to the future ride and. My friend Laura's dad was sitting on one side of my mom and my dad was on the other. And on the ride, she embedded her claws into their legs. She was scared, left marks on poor Robbie's legs. I will always like, that was such a good ride. And it became the Simpsons ride.
Steve:Yeah. Yeah. And in addition to being a theme park ride, there are also iterations in comic book, versions, novels, video games, and there's even a musical that's currently playing in the west end of London.
Stephen:I could go with that. That sounds like something really fun. And especially if you did a mixture of songs that sound like they're from the eighties and the fifties. Well, it's all
Steve:original songs except two songs, the
Stephen:power of love. And back in time, What's the other one, the one that he sings at the oh, Johnny be good.
Steve:Yeah. So yes, that is our thoughts on the franchise. Any final thoughts on back to the future? In my life, it
Stephen:holds up extraordinarily well. Like I've seen it well over a dozen times over the years. And it's just really, really good that. Writing was fantastic. The direction was great. There are no plot holes as we've seen the Easter eggs. That all makes sense from the things he's changed. It
Steve:all really works. Yes, it certainly does. Out of all the movies from before I was born, that you've made me watch. This is probably one of my favorites of them. Oh yes. And while this trilogy itself is perfect, you know what trilogy could use a reboot. What,
Stephen:what does that
Steve:scream? Because next week we're covering scream four in preparation for a scream fives release in the current timeline,
Stephen:I'm very, very excited for us to cover scream four, which I think does not get the recognition it deserves. And I'm also very excited and we already have articles. For scream five on the night
Steve:it opens. Yes. So we'd love to hear what you thought of back to the future, as well as what your hopes are for screen five, you can get in touch with us by emailing us@happylifepodatgmail.com.
Stephen:And you can also get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tik TOK at happy life.
Steve:Yes. And until next time everyone stay happy.