Back to the Future Part II

                 This is the film that sparked the Chicago Tribune article that led me to revisit the Back to the Future trilogy.  In it are the predictions the 1989 film makers made as to what the year 2015 would look like.  It is completely different from reality, but I’ll get into that later.  First I’ll talk about the film itself.

                Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has just returned to 1985.  He’s ready to get back to life as normal and is excited to be going on a trip with his girlfriend, Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue).  Doc (Christopher Lloyd), however, changes their plans when he arrives to let them know they need to save their future children.  He packs Marty and Jennifer in the time machine and whisks them away to the year 2015.

                Doc warns Marty and Jennifer to not spend time investigating their future or to run into their future selves as it will result in unknown repercussions.  This is not exactly an easy thing to do since Marty needs to pretend to be his own son in order to keep his son out of trouble.  Doc thinks he has the solution to this, but it doesn’t work and Marty does briefly encounter Marty, Jr. (Michael J. Fox).  He also meets an elderly Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) and Biff’s grandson Griff (Thomas F. Wilson).  Griff is trying to get Marty, Jr. to do something he shouldn’t.  Standing in for his son, it is up to Marty to get Griff off his son’s back and keep Marty, Jr. out of trouble.

Marty is able to save his son, and is now ready to go back to 1985.  Unfortunately, there is a glitch in that plan.  When Jennifer started asking questions about her future, Doc sedated her and left her in an alley while he and Marty took care of Marty, Jr.  The police have found Jennifer and taken her home thinking she is the Jennifer of 2015.  Doc and Marty cannot return to 1985 without her, so they have to figure out how to get Jennifer back and do it before she encounters too much of her future.

                As Doc and Marty are trying to save Jennifer, Biff steals the time machine.  He goes to an unknown time and is back before anyone realizes what has happened.  Marty, Doc and Jennifer return to 1985 not knowing they are going to a drastically different world. 

                At first nothing is too different.  Marty does notice some bars on a window that he doesn’t remember being there before, but he doesn’t think much of it.  Then he goes to his house and finds another family living in it.  When he is chased out, Marty realizes the 1985 he has come back to is not the same as the one he left.  As he wanders through the city, he finds out how drastic the changes are.

                Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) has taken over the city.  He is rich and powerful and is able to do whatever he wants.  While this is bad enough, Marty discovers things in this new 1985 that are even worse.  His mother (Lea Thompson) is married to Biff and his father (Crispin Glover) has been murdered.  Marty cannot figure out how any of this happened.  It isn’t until Marty meets Doc at his father’s grave that he gets an explanation.

                In 2015 Marty bought a sports almanac as a “souvenir”.  He thought he would make a few bets, make a little money, and everything would be fine.  Doc, however, does not like this thought as the time machine was not made for people to make a profit.  He takes the almanac and throws it in the trash not knowing the elderly Biff has been nearby listening the entire time.  Biff takes the sports almanac out of the trash, steals the time machine, and gives the almanac to a past self.  The past Biff then gambled based on the information in the almanac and became excessively wealthy and powerful.

                Marty and Doc know they have to stop Biff from being able to gamble and obtain his wealth, but they don’t know when he received the almanac.  The only way to find out is for Marty to ask him.  This is not a pleasant thought, but it is what Marty has to do in order to save the life he has always known. 

                It almost costs him his life, but Marty does find out when Biff gave the almanac to his younger self.  The day is the same day in 1955 that Marty left and went back to 1985.  Marty and Doc now have to return to 1955, get the almanac, and avoid everything that happened the last time they were there.  Add again getting back to 1985, and Doc and Marty have a lot to do in a short amount of time.

                There is a lot of time travel in this film and being so close to the year 2015, it is really funny to see how it was imagined in 1989.  Most things have not happened or we have far surpassed it.  The fax machines all over the house are definitely something we have passed by.  Yes, fax machines are still used, but they are not used as strongly as they are in the film.  Some things that haven’t happened are the flying cars and the hoverboard.  I wanted a hoverboard as a kid, but so far one has not been released, despite a plea for it on Psych.  The flying cars I am perfectly fine not having.  If cars flew, that would just give the driver more directions to have to pay attention to.  How is someone supposed to see a car is above or below them?  Are the roof and floor transparent?  Hopefully I will never have to worry about that.  I would, however, love to have the weather report that is accurate to the second and the auto-fitting clothes.  Those would be really nice.  Unfortunately neither of these things exists yet, so I guess I’ll just have to watch them in the movies.