User:DennyColt/Back to the Future themes

The Back to the Future trilogy, comprised of the film Back to the Future and its sequels Back to the Future Part II and Part III feature a number of running gags, similar events, catchphrases, and parallel situations that recur in the different time periods throughout the trilogy. The simultaneous production of Parts II and III, resulted in more deliberate themes. The following is a list of these, sorted by the films in which they occur.

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Themes throughout the trilogy

• Marty McFly enters the corner saloon/cafe and orders a drink (coffee/pepsi/whisky) that he never manages to actually drink. It is in this scene that he first encounters the Tannen of that era. In Part I, in "Lou's Cafe" of 1955, Biff says to George McFly: "Hey, McFly, I thought I told you never to come in here." In Part II, that same space is occupied by "Cafe '80s" of 2015, where Biff's grandson Griff says to Marty Jr. (having previously seen him walking in after mistaking his time-traveling father for him inside): "Hey, McFly, I thought I told you to stay in here!" And in Part III, that same space is occupied by the Palace Saloon, where Biff's great-grandfather Buford says to Marty (mistaking him for Marty's great-great-grandfather Seamus): "Hey, McFly, I thought I done told you never to come in here."
• Marty confronts the Tannen of the era in the cafe/saloon, but as he stands up to them and, due to his small stature, he looks up and over their shoulder as they extend to their full height, this is follwed by a chase scene through downtown Hill Valley. In Parts I (1955) and II (2015) these scenes involve variations of a skateboard, which Marty uses to escape. In Part III (1885), Marty has no such transportation aid and loses the chase to Mad Dog Tannen's gang.
• In Part I there is a car dealership in 1985 Hill Valley named Statler Toyota. In 1955, the same store front is occupied by a Statler Studebaker dealership. In Part II, the 2015 store is the Statler Pontiac dealership that sells hover conversions, and in Part III, a horse and buggy business named "Honest Joe Statler" is in the same spot.
• In Parts I and II Biff crashes his car into a manure truck. In Part III, Buford collapses into a manure cart. Both of them say "I hate manure" on one occasion. In 1955, the manure truck displays the name D. Jones. In 1885, the manure cart displays the name A. Jones.
• Towards the end of each film, Marty mourns that he'll never see Doc again, only to discover that he's back.
• The phrase "back to the future" is spoken in the closing scene of all three movies. In Part I the line is used when Emmett Brown Doc comes back from 2015 and tells Marty to come back with him. In Part II, time-stranded Marty rushes up to the 1955 Doc, who doesn't believe what he sees claiming he just sent Marty back to the future to which Marty replies, "Oh, I know you did, Doc, but I'm back. I'm back from the future." In Part III, Doc returns to 1985 with the new time-train and introduces Marty to his new family. Just before Doc leaves, Marty asks him, "Doc, where are you going now? Back to the future?" Doc replies, "Nope. Already been there."
• There is a scene with Marty walking through Hill Valley observing the inhabitants and variations of that current time. The inhabitants are also slightly bewildered by Marty's odd appearance. Additionally, during this bewilderment in all three movies he is almost hit by a vehicle (in the case of Part III, the vehicle is replaced by horse and buggy).
• In each film, Marty is knocked out and wakes up at the house of a relative. In Part I, it is his teenage mother in 1955. In Part II, it's his mother in an alternate timeline, 1985A, and in Part III, it's his great-great grandmother in 1885. Each time, Marty wakes up groggily after several hours, thinking the previous events were only a dream. Each time he is reassured that he is safe and sound by Lea Thompson's character, "in good old 1955", "on the good old 27th floor", or "at the McFly Farm". Each time, the location shocks Marty to full awareness. In Parts I and II, Marty exclaims "Mom! You look so..." and then some attribute of his mother he is not used to (as in 1985A, "Mom! You look so... big!" in reference to her breast implants.)
• The Hill Valley Clock Tower has some kind of role. In Part I, it is a key component in sending Marty back to the future. In Part II, it is the glass court house mall, into which Marty tricks Griff's gang into running into, as well as the building that gets converted to Biff's Pleasure Paradise in 1985A. In Part III, it has just been built and Marty nearly gets hanged on it by Buford. Marty and Doc also take a picture in front of the not-yet-mounted clock, which Doc later gives to Marty as a souvenir.
• At some point in each of the various time periods, Marty angers the Tannen of the age and usually tries to get out of it with the old gambit of pretending there's something behind him. ("Whoa, Biff, what's that?" while pointing beyond his shoulder.) What's worth noting is that, ultimately, this only works on Biff Tannen specifically: although Biff falls for it in both 1955 and in the alternate 1985 (as do his goons on another occasion), Biff's bioandroid grandson Griff, with futuristic sensors around his wrists that automatically raise Griff's arm, and Buford Tannen never gives him a chance (thanks to his trigger finger).
• In all three movies the Tannen of the era pushes a girl or woman to the ground. In Part I, Biff pushes Lorraine down. In Part II, Biff again pushes Lorraine to the ground in his hotel in 1985A. In Part III it's Buford pushing Clara.
• Every time Marty pushes Tannen's goons and makes them fall on the ground, they always collapse with the same domino-like pattern.
• All three movies show the famous lightning bolt hitting the clock tower on November 12, 1955, at 10:04 PM. The original version, from Part I is shortened when reshown in Parts II and Part III and has a new ending - Marty telling Doc he's back from the future. In Part II there are no clips of Marty driving the DeLeorean in this sequence; this is presumably to avoid confusing viewers who have just seen him receive Doc's 1885 letter.
• In 1985 and 1955, Mr. Strickland (played by James Tolkan) is the high school's principal. In 1885, Tolkan plays Marshal Strickland, Mr. Strickland's grandfather, however his cachphrase in 1955 and 1985 is "slacker". In 1885, it is "discipline". There was also a deleted scene wherein Marshal Strickland is shot by Buford in clear view of his son and tells him to "remember that word, discipline". According to the audio commentary, Marshal Strickland's death scene was taken out by the producers because the scene would have mandated that Marty shoot Buford at the gunfight, something the producers did not want to do for fear that it would alter the course of the Tannen family.
• Doc Brown frequently exclaims, "Great Scott!", and Marty frequently says, "This is heavy!" (a colloquialism which the Doc Brown of 1955 never seems to understand). In Part III, a comedic role reversal occurs when at the instant when Marty realizes that he may be the one dying on September 7th instead of Doc Brown as originally "planned." Marty exclaims, "Great Scott!", to which Doc replies, "I know, this is heavy!"
• The DeLorean had a few modifications done throughout the trilogy. Foremost, its role as a plutonium-powered time machine, activated through engine power at 88 miles per hour. At the end of Part I Doc returns with a hover-converted car, using a "common" fusion reactor to power the flux capacitor. The flying time machine lasted until the end of Part II, when Doc and the car were struck by lightning and sent back to 1885. When Marty and 1955 Doc find the covered DeLorean in a mine during Part III, the tires had rotted over 70 years and microchips had been blown. The flying capability was also disabled due to the lightning strike. Doc utilized 50's era whitewall tires and electronic tube technology to get the DeLorean working again for her last self propelled trip. The lack of fuel in 1885 brought the last conversion: Flanged wheels were installed so the DeLorean could be pushed by a "supercharged" steam locomotive (the filmmakers used a locomotive from Railtown 1897 for this sequence, according to the audio commentary). It was then demolished in a head-on collision with a freight train after Marty successfully arrived in 1985.
• There is either a crash or close call during time travel. Part I has Marty crash into "ol' man Peabody's" barn, then crashes in the "Assembly of Christ" facade. In Part II, Doc travels into cross-hover traffic, then into a jet's flight path. At the end of the film, he ends up being unintentionally sent to 1885 due to the lightning strike. Part III involves Marty encountering Indians and ends up with the DeLorean getting shot by an arrow, creating the conflict for the film. At the end of the film, the last DeLorean time travel trip of the trilogy ends with the car getting demolished by a freight train, and Marty barely escapes in time.
• At the end of Part I Doc seems to have been shot but reveals that he wore a bullet-proof vest. In 1985A, Biff watches A Fistful of Dollars. Marty walks in on the scene where Clint Eastwood uses a piece of metal as a bullet-proof vest during a duel. In 1885, Marty, going by the name Clint Eastwood, uses that same trick to survive a duel with Buford. It is also noticeable that when Marty gets hanged by the Buford gang, Doc Brown cuts the rope at the critical moment with a shot from his sniper rifle, a clear allusion to the same action performed regularly by the character played by Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
• Volunteers from the historical society looking for donations to save the Clock Tower are seen in Part I 1985 and Part II 2015, while in Part III in 1885, a banner advertises that proceeds from the Hill Valley Festival go to Clock Tower construction.

Within Part I

• In 1985, Biff tells George, "Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think! I gotta have time to get 'em retyped. Do you realize what would happen if I hand in my reports in your handwriting? I'll get fired. You wouldn't want that to happen, would ya?… Would ya?" In 1955, Biff tells George, "Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Hey, think, McFly. Think. I gotta have time to recopy it. Do you realize what would happen if I hand in my homework in your handwriting? I'll get kicked out of school. You wouldn't want that to happen, would ya?… Would ya?" In both cases, George then promises to work on it all night and "run 'em on over" to Biff in the morning, to which Biff replies "Not too early, I sleep in…" followed by "Oh, McFly, your shoe's untied—" where he slapped him upside on his head. Afterwards, he would say "Don't be so gullible, McFly!". After both conversations between Biff and George, Biff immediately turns to Marty and asks him "What are you looking at Butthead?"
• In 1985, Marty is scared of sending his audition tape to record companies saying "What if they didn't like it? What if they say I was no good?" In 1955, when Marty asks to read some of George's stories, George refuses, giving exactly the same excuse.
• 1985's Mayor Goldie Wilson uses the same mayoral campaigning tactics as does Mayor Red Thomas of 1955, involving a megaphoned van and many of the same slogans.
• Marty's uncle "Jailbird" Joey is also found behind bars (of a playpen) as his nephew meets him in 1955 ("Better get used to these bars, kid..."). Joey is also wearing a striped shirt, which is often associated in popular culture with those in jail.
• The same episode of "The Honeymooners" plays on TV in both eras.
• The site of Twin Pines Mall in 1985 was, back in 1955, the farm of Old Man Peabody, who had bred twin pines. When Marty goes back to 1955, he knocks down one of the pine trees. When he goes back to 1985, the mall is called the Lone Pine Mall.
• Each time Marty checks his watch (when Doc rings Marty after the opening credit sequence and tells him his clocks are all exactly 25 minutes slow, when 1985 Doc states the time while Marty is filming him at Twin Pines Mall at the beginning of the film, when 1955 Doc and Marty synchronize watches, when Dave reminds Marty of the time at the end of the film, etc), he gives it a slight double-take and shakes his wrist as if the watch is not working. This is amusing because it is such a slight and subtle recurring gag, and the idea that the world's first human - and most active - time traveler (at that point) doesn't even have a working timepiece is quite ironic.

In Part I and Part II

• Marty buys a soft drink in downtown Hill Valley and has difficulty opening it the first time (at the Texaco gas station in 1955) because it is in an old-fashioned glass bottle, and the second time (at the Cafe '80s in 2015) because it is in a futuristic container.
• Biff hits George on the head while saying "Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh?" in Part I, in 1985 and 1955. In Part II, an older Biff does the same to Marty (thinking he's Marty Jr.) in 2015 (albeit with his cane, and not his fist).
• In Part I, when Marty returns home to see that Biff crashed the family car, Biff tells Marty "Say 'Hi' to your mom for me." In Part II when Marty meets the elderly Biff in the '80s Cafe, Biff says "Say 'Hi' to your grandma for me", thinking that Marty is actually Marty Jr.
• In Part I, Marty checks the newspaper that someone threw in the trash can to check the date shortly after arriving in 1955. In Part II, Marty checks the newspaper that's on Mr. Strickland porch to check the date shortly after arriving in 1985A.
• In both Parts I and II, Doc says, "Damn! Where is that kid?" In Part I, 1955 Doc says it when he's waiting to send Marty back home. In Part II, Doc says it after he arrived at the Tannens' home to rescue Marty.
• In Part I, Marty drives into a family's barn as soon as he travels to 1955. In Part II, Marty walks in another family's home (which is his home in the normal 1985) in 1985A. In both instances, the father defends his family by threatening Marty's life, while his children encourage him. Those are the only two families shown in the trilogy that are not related to Marty, besides Doc's family at the end of the trilogy.
• When Marty returns to 1985 in Part I, crashing the DeLorean into the Assembly of Christ, Red, the homeless drunk on a park bench, comments, "Crazy drunk drivers". Red is still a homeless drunk in 1985A, Marty bumps into him while exploring 1985A, and Red tells him "Watch where you're going. Crazy drunk pedestrian."
• In Part I, when Marty enters Hill Valley in 1955, one of the first signs he passes is for a showing of the Cattle Queen of Montana starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. Later, Doc doesn't believe Marty when he tells him Reagan is president, but comes around when he sees the "portable TV studio" (i.e. video camera). In Part II, in 2015, the Café '80s video-waiter is a Max Headroom-style simulacra of Reagan, and the memorabilia in the restaurant include a Reagan mask and a picture of Reagan. Finally, on the front page of the paper Doc checks in the DeLorean to see the timeline being restored, the news item "Nixon to Seek Fifth Term" gets replaced with "Reagan to Seek Second Term".
• In 1955, Biff chases Marty around the Courthouse square, and Marty escapes on a skateboard. In 2015, Griff chases Marty around the Courthouse square, and Marty again escapes, this time on a hoverboard. As an older Biff looks on, he comments "there's something very familiar about all this..."
• Mayor Goldie Wilson's grandson is seen in an advertisement for hovercar upgrades.
• In 1985, the mayor of Hill Valley is Goldie Wilson, while in 2015, the mayor is Goldie's son, Goldie, Jr.
• In the end of Part I, Biff tries to weasel out of putting a second coat of wax on the McFlys' BMW. In Part II 2015, Griff berates Biff for not putting a second coat of wax on his car.
• In Part I 1955 Biff tells Marty to "Make like a tree and get outta here." In Part II he uses the same phrase again and is berated by Old Biff (his future self) for getting it wrong.
• In Part I, the DeLorean, in a planned scheme, uses a lightning bolt to activate the time circuits (Marty goes back to 1985) but in Part II, a bolt hits the car and disappears, accidentally sending Doc way back to 1885. Both bolts come from the same storm in 1955.
• In Part I, Marvin Berry, leader of the band The Starlighters, who play the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance, places a phone call to his cousin, "Chuck", telling Chuck that he thought this might be "that new sound you were looking for". The song Marty was singing at the time was one of Chuck Berry's hits, "Johnny B. Goode", although Marvin only held up the phone after Marty had already finished singing all the verses and started his guitar solo. Part II shows Marvin getting the inspiration to make that call.
• At the beginning of Part I, Lorraine McFly is verbally negative about her children's activities but states, as Lorraine Baines in 1955 (Part II), that she would be open to her future offspring's decisions, prompting Marty (and his future counterpart, eavesdropping on the same conversation) to mutter he would want that in writing.

In Part I and Part III

• In Part I, Marty gives himself 10 extra minutes when he goes back to the future to save Doc's life. In Part III Doc will wake up in 10 minutes after taking up the Wake-up juice. Marty then remarks "Why do we have to cut these things so damn close?"
• In Part I, Marty & 1955 Doc are present when the bolt of lightning strikes the town clock. In Part III Marty & Doc have their picture taken with the clock when it's first unveiled.
• In Part I, 50s Biff calls George an "Irish bug". In Part III, we learn his ancestors were indeed Irish.
• Marty uses the name of someone famous in his time, but not yet known in the time he's visiting, instead of his own. In Part I (1955), his mother mistakes the name Calvin Klein on his underwear for his and later when he scares his father he calls himself Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan. In Part III (1885), he claims to be named Clint Eastwood.
• In Part I, Marty tells 1955 Doc, "I'm from the future. I came here in a time machine, that you invented..." In Part III, Doc tells Clara, "I'm from the future. I came here in a time machine, that I invented..." Marty and Doc then tell 1955 Doc and Clara, respectively, that he has to get "back to the year 1985".
• In Parts I and III, Marty talks to his relative as a baby. In Part I, he says, "So you're my Uncle Joey..." In Part III, he says, "So you're my great-grandfather..."
• Marty's 80s catch phrases are quite confusing to the inhabitants of other time periods. In 1955, Marty uses "heavy" twice. Once Doc comments that weight has nothing to do with it, and the second time he gets confused by Marty's repeated use of it and asks if there's something wrong with the Earth's gravitational pull in 1985. In 1885, when Marty picks up a pie plate and sees the word "frisbee" in it, he exclaims "far out!", and Seamus and Maggie McFly comment that it wasn't far at all, but in fact "right in front of him". Also, when Marty tells Tannen "Hey, lighten up, jerk!", Buford looks at his cronies for clarification, and they shake their heads, mystified. Tannen is vaguely able to discern that the expression constituted "mighty strong words."
• In Parts I and III, Doc builds an exquisite model to demonstrate to Marty how the time travel will be done. In Part I, Doc shows how the speeding DeLorean will intersect to capture the lightning bolt. In Part III, in 1885, Doc shows how the speeding locomotive will push the unfuelled DeLorean up to 88 mph as it reaches the incomplete bridge. In Part I, Doc apologizes, "Sorry, it's not to scale or painted." In Part III, Doc begins to say "Please excuse the crudity of this model-" and Marty interrupts sarcastically, "Yeah I know, it's not built to scale."
• Part I finds Doc, the inventor, living in his old garage extension, as his grand home had burnt down in the past. Part III has Doc living in a livery stable, as town blacksmith and scientist.
• In Part I, Marty is about to kiss Jennifer when someone interrupts them for donations for the clock tower, and again when her father honks the horn of his car. At the end of that movie, Marty is about to kiss Jennifer again, but is interrupted by the sonic booms that precede entry of the time machine. Towards the end of Part III, Marty and Jennifer finally kiss on the veranda of her family's house.
• In Part I, after waking up in 1955 ("Mom, is that you?") Marty discovers he is not wearing pants, as they are "over there, on [his mother's] hope chest." In Part III, after waking up on the McFly Farm, as he gets out of his great-great-grandmother's bed, Marty quickly checks to make sure he's still wearing his pants before fully rising out of the bed.
• In Part I, after the DeLorean makes its first trip through time, the license plate (OUTATIME) is shown to be spinning on the ground after the car departs. In Part III, upon the DeLorean's destruction after its final trip through time, the new barcode license plate is shown to be spinning on the ground.
• In Part I 1985, Doc tries to fight off the Libyans with an antique pearl-handled gun, but it fails to fire. In Part III 1955, Doc fires that gun (with the pearl handle painted black) repeatedly to signal Marty to start racing towards 88 MPH.
• In Part I 1985 and 1955, George offers to go over a report with Biff, but Biff tells him "not too early, I sleep in". By opposition, Buford wants to duel Marty at 7 AM, because "I do my killing before breakfast".
• In Part I Doc says, "Where we're going we don't need roads." In Part III 1955 Doc says, "Where you are going there are no roads."
• Early in Part I 1985 Biff complains after having wrecked the McFly's car about the cleaning bill from having spilt beer on his jacket. In Part III Buford is angry after being thrown off his horse and breaking a bottle of "fine Kentucky red-eye". In both instances both Biff and Buford want reimbursement. Similarly, Biff seeks reimbusement from "Calvin Klein" for the $300 damage to his car (mostly in Part II).
• Doc is "supposedly" killed twice, the first time at the beginning of Part I by Libyans (although we don't know for sure if Doc is dead considering that he wasn't moving when Marty looks at him before starting to run from the Libyans). The second is represented by the tombstone (in which he was killed in 1885) in the beginning of Part III by Buford Tannen.
• The scene in Part I where Lorraine comes looking for Marty in Doc's garage, and the scene in Part III where Clara comes looking for Doc in his blacksmith shop have several similarities. In both cases, Marty and Doc are working on a plan to get back to the future, when the woman unexpectedly arrives. In both, Doc then cries, "quickly, cover the time vehicle!" Lorraine and Clara both ask Marty and Doc, respectively, to a social function during their visit. Doc's shocked and bewildered facial expressions are also very similar in both scenes.
• In Part I, the mall was originally called Twin Pines Mall, because Farmer Peabody had raised two pines trees on his farmland. By the end of the movie, the mall carries the name Lone Pine Mall, after Marty ran over one of the pine trees as he was driving away from the farm in 1955. In Part III, the ravine was originally called Clayton Ravine, because Clara Clayton originally fell in it in 1885. By the end of the movie, the ravine carries the name Eastwood Ravine (visible on a sign by the track when Marty reaches 1985 after the DeLorean was pushed by the speeding locomotive). One can presume that the ravine is now named after "Clint Eastwood" (Marty McFly) who fell in it with a complete stolen train engine in 1885 and was assumed to have died.
• In Part 1, Doc is suspectedly shot and killed with Marty looking on, but when the same sequence is shown towards the end, Doc was revealed to having worn a bulletproof vest. In Part III, Marty is suspectedly shot and killed with Doc looking on, but is revealed to also have strapped on a bulletproof material.

In Part II and Part III

Because Part II and Part III were written and filmed together, it was easier to introduce new commonalities and themes, and do their best to relate them back to Part I.

• Marty McFly is called "chicken" in Part II by both Griff and Needles in 2015 and Biff in 1955, and replies with "Nobody calls me chicken!" He's called "Yella" (yellow) by Buford in Part III and replies the same way with the same dramatic music cue. It should be noted that Needles calls Marty "chicken" at the end of that film without the traditional reaction and cue because Marty has learned that allowing himself to be provoked can lead to disaster.
• In Part II, after 1985-Jennifer and 2015-Jennifer pass out, Doc is saddened because after he thinks he'll destroy the time machine, he'll "never get a chance to visit my favorite era: The Old West. Better to devote myself to that other great mystery of the universe: women." Later, the DeLorean gets struck by lightning and Doc actually winds up in his favorite era and, ironically, encounters "that other great mystery of the universe", Clara Clayton.
• Marty shows off his expert shooting skills. In Part II it's in the '80s Cafe on the Wild Gunman arcade game, and in Part III it's at a demonstration booth for the Colt Peacemaker. In Part II, one of the 2015 boys declares that the Wild Gunman is "like a baby's toy", while in Part III, the Colt Peacemaker salesman tells Marty that his gun is so easy even a baby could use it, then taunts him with, "Surely you're not afraid of something a baby can do?"
• Parts II and III have Marty throwing something with a Frisbee technique at a Tannen. In Part II it was a tray at Biff when he was Marty's step father. In Part III it occurred at the party when Mad Dog was going to shoot Doc and Marty uses an empty pie pan from "The Frisbe Pie Company".
• In Part II, in 1985A, Marty finds his father's grave in Oak Park Cemetery. In Part III, in 1955, Marty finds Doc's grave in Boot Hill Cemetery.
• In Part II 1955, Mr. Strickland's office door has the word "discipline" written under his name. In 1885, Marshall Strickland tells his son to "Remember that word: 'discipline.'"
• In Part II 2015, Lorraine and Marlene are heard talking about how, 30 years ago, Marty tried to prove he wasn't chicken and ended up in an automobile accident with a Rolls-Royce. That single event ruined his life — the driver pressed charges, and Marty broke his hand, forcing him to abandon his dream of a music career. In Part III 1885, Doc warns Marty not to lose his judgement every time somebody calls him a name, as "that's exactly what gets you into that accident in the future." Finally, in Part III 1985, Needles calls Marty a chicken to push him into street racing. Marty keeps his cool and doesn't race Needles, then looks on to see that, had he raced, he would have hit a Rolls-Royce.