Image Description: The Back to the Future II movie poster. It has Michael J. Fox
and Christopher Lloyd as Marty McFly and Dr. Emmit Brown. They are stepping out of the DeLorean and checking their watches. The tagline reads: Getting back was only the beginning.
Earlier this year, I posted an article with fun facts about the original Back to the Future. I figured I should do the same with the rest of the trilogy. So, let’s talk about Back to the Future Part II.
1. Let’s start with some things the movie actually predicted:
- The fall of laserdiscs (The DeLorean lands in an alley with laserdiscs in trash bags).
- Video phone conversations, like on Skype and FaceTime.
- 80’s nostalgia.
- Pepsi Max (it debuted in 2007). Still waiting on Pepsi Perfect.
- TVs with more than one screen (We call it “Picture in Picture”).
- Nike has announced self-tying shoes, just like the ones Marty wears in the movie.
2. Crispin Glover sued Robert Zemeckis, resulting in his being replaced.
3. Marty’s sister was going to be in the movie, but the actress was pregnant. There was a cut scene featuring his brother Dave which is still accessible on the DVD. (I actually think the scene should be in the movie, especially because of its foreshadowing. He asks Marty: “Since when were you and your mother on speaking terms?”)
4. Elijah Wood made his acting debut in the movie. He’s one of the kids watching Marty play Wild Gunman.
5. In another cut scene, Biff was erased from existence after he changed history. This was included in a test version of the movie, but when it confused the audience, they cut it out. (You can access it on the DVD version. Yes, this scene should’ve stayed too)
6. At the school dance, Biff spiked the punch. George is shown drinking the punch prior to the scene where he punches Biff. Could George have gotten “liquid courage”?
7. The date on the USA Today newspaper that Doc Brown shows Marty reads 10/22. This is Christopher Lloyd’s birthday.
8. In the newspaper from the alternate 1985, we see that Richard Nixon has been elected president for a fifth term. What other story taking place in an alternate universe has Nixon serving five terms? Watchmen! (Wonder if Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale read it?)
9. Marty’s shirt he wears in 2015 depicts cowboys and a train. Foreshadowing the next movie, perhaps?
10. Charles Fleischer, the original voice for Roger Rabbit (he was later replaced by Jessi Harnell in the shorts that were made after Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), plays the old man who gives Marty another “Save the Clock Tower” flyer. In the antique shop, you can actually see a plush Roger Rabbit in the window.
11. Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in the first movie, was replaced by Elizabeth Shue in parts 2 and 3. This is because Wells quit acting because her mother was diagnosed with cancer and she wanted to take care of her.
12. While the scene where Michael J. Fox is playing 2015 Marty, Marty Jr, and Marlene (Marty’s future daughter) was being filmed, an earthquake occurred. Amazingly, the props were unaffected!
13. When 2015 Marty is playing his guitar after he is fired, he is playing the opening riff from the Huey Lewis and the News song “The Power of Love”, which was in the first movie.
14. On the marquee of the theatre in 2015 Hill Valley is the movie Jaws 19. It has the tagline “This time, it’s really, REALLY Personal!”, parodying the tagline for Jaws 2, “This time, it’s personal.”. It is advertised as being directed by Max Spielberg, Steven Spielberg’s son. Max was actually born in 1985, when the first movie came out, oddly enough.
15. One of the screens in Café 80’s shows Taxi, the sitcom where Christopher Lloyd played Reverend Jim. Another screen shows Family Ties, the sitcom where Michael J. Fox played Alex P. Keaton.
Aspie Catholic 