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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

225.0. "Back to the Future" by WHOARU::GOUN () Mon Jul 01 1985 13:51

		    [Also posted to SF-LOVERS Digest]

			   "Back to the Future"
		       A film review by Roger Goun

Remember all those time travel stories you gobbled up in Amazing Stories and
Galaxy when you were a kid?  Well, have I got a deal for you!  "Back to the
Future", Steven Spielberg's latest epic, pays fond tribute to almost every
hackneyed skiffy time travel plot ever conceived.  In addition to time
travel, the film has weird devices, silly special effects, a mad scientist,
a nerd, bad science, a love story, a skeptical hero, pseudo-alien monsters,
and a couple of plucky girls, with some foreign terrorists and a DeLorean
sports car thrown in for good measure.  Fortunately, it also has humor,
excitement, rock and roll, and a couple of good performances to rescue it
from the oblivion it might otherwise have deserved.

Marty (Michael J. Fox) is an ordinary kid in a small town who hangs out with
your typical wild-eyed mad scientist.   The M.S. has invented a time
machine, built into the aforementioned DeLorean, in which he intends to
travel into the future.  As fate would have it, though, it is Marty who is
transported, not into the future, but thirty years into the past.  Most of
the film involves his efforts to undo the changes he has accidentally made
to history, and to return to 1985.  He is aided by the scientist, thirty
years younger, but still quite mad.

Fox, who plays the young capitalistic son in NBC's sitcom "Family Ties",
plays Marty strictly for laughs.  He manages to convey the confusion of a
teenager in a strange world, but his delivery is often too glib in the
quieter scenes.  The scientist (whose name I've forgotten), is incredibly
corny, as a proper mad scientist should be.  He overacts so badly that you
can't help but smile.

As is typical of Spielberg, there are a number of references to other movies
scattered throughout "Back to the Future".  A couple of attaboys to the
first person who spots the obscure reference to "Dr. Strangelove" in the
first few minutes of the action.

If you can suspend your disbelief well enough and long enough, "Back to the
Future" will keep you breathing fast and laughing often.  On the zero- to
five-star scale, it gets a three.  Go see it.

					-- Roger Goun
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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225.1VORTEX::LYNCHMon Jul 01 1985 15:483
The M.S. is played by Christopher Lloyd of "Taxi" and "STIII-TSFS" fame.

-- Bill
225.2SRVAX::COBBMon Jul 01 1985 18:0910
     This is a 'FUN' movie, I really enjoyed it. The review (main note) gave
enough of the plot so, lets just say I recommend it. I do think that it should
rate at least 4 out of 5 (on a ten point scale, 9 out of 10). 

     By the way, I am pretty sure I saw S. Speilberg(er) himself in a bit part,
does anyone else agree. 

     I saw "Back to the Future" as a sneak preview Sat. night, it doesn't open
as a regular feature here in Atlanta until Wednesday.
                                                      Ken Cobb
225.3GRAFIX::EPPESMon Jul 01 1985 21:183
Roger, you might also want to post your review in the MOVIES notes file
(BISON::SYS$NOTES:MOVIES).
							-- Nina
225.4AKOV68::BOYAJIANTue Jul 02 1985 14:519
If it will make a difference to the prospective moviegoer, this film was
directed by Robert Zemeckis (sp? Sorry, but I don't have a reference handy),
who directed USED CARS --- a very funny film produced by Spielberg some many
years ago --- and ROMANCING THE STONE.

If Christopher Lloyd can play the Mad Scientist half as well as John Lithgow
played Dr. Emilio Lizardo in BUCKAROO BANZAI, I'll be very impressed.

--- jerry
225.5AVOID::REDFORDSun Jul 07 1985 17:457
Yep, Lloyd does as good a job as an M.S. as Lithgow did in Buckaroo 
Banzai, although Lithgow still gets the prize for Weirdest Accent Ever.

Did anyone else notice that Huey Lewis was the judgein the high 
school rock band contest?  

/jlr
225.6AURORA::RAVANSun Jul 07 1985 22:244
Loved the movie - very entertaining. Just remember to be prepared to
suspend your disbelief!

-b
225.7RAVEN1::HEFFELFINGERMon Jul 08 1985 04:3312
In re .3:

Will do Nina, just as soon as I return from this little vacation.

					  -  o
					 - -/-->
					-  @~\_

					Roger
					(masquerading as tlh
					 on the road in Greenville
					)
225.8TOPDOC::SAMPATHTue Jul 23 1985 17:264
Were there colour TVs in 1955? The doctor plays the video cassette recorded in
1985 and it comes out in colour. Or did the doctor rig up one by himself?

Sampath.
225.9NANOOK::ALPERTThu Aug 22 1985 16:006
By the way, the reference to Doctor Strangelove noted in the review
is the label "CRM114" on one of the amplifier controls shown in the
beginning.  This was the name of the "discriminator" circuit used
to filter radio reception on the plane in Dr. S.

		Bob A.
225.10SIVA::FEHSKENSThu Aug 22 1985 21:0018
re .2 - yeah, I thought i saw Spielberg driving a jeep-like thing that
Marty hitches a ride from on his skateboard.

re .8 - I don't think there were color tvs in the '55.  I thought the
TV was B+W; it would've worked, as the color system chosen was compatible
with the B+W system.

Did anyone else notice that the Twin Pines Mall became the Lone Pine Mall
as a result of the Delorean's trashing one of the pine seedlings when it

landed in '55?

There's a brief discussion of the significance of the guitar madness when
Marty performs with Berry's band in a recent MUSIC note.  Also, Berry
phones his brother Chuck with the advice that some kid's got "that new
style" he's looking for when he plays Johhny B. Goode before it was written.

Great entertainment.
225.11BEING::POSTPISCHILFri Aug 23 1985 13:035
Why are you worrying about color-compatible televisions in 1955 instead of
the VCR?


				-- edp
225.12WHOARU::GOUNFri Aug 23 1985 14:0426
In re .9:

A couple of attaboys to you, Bob A.!  The CRM-114 label is what I was
looking for in my original review.

In re .10:

> Did anyone else notice that the Twin Pines Mall became the Lone Pine Mall
> as a result of the Delorean's trashing one of the pine seedlings when it
> landed in '55?

I didn't notice this, but I wish I had.  It's priceless!

In re .11:

The VCR was part of the portable color camera which Marty brought back with
him.  The M.S. didn't have to build it.  In fact, he was awed by the
technology needed to build "an entire television studio in that little box"
(not an exact quote).  And I remember thinking while watching the movie that
using a black and white TV was a nice touch of consistency.

					  -  o
					 - -/-->
					-  @~\_

					Roger
225.13IT'S HOWDY BROWN TIME!EDEN::KLAESIt obstructs my view of Venus!Mon Jun 16 1986 22:555
    	They DID have color TV's back in 1955, but not many and not
    cheaply!
    
    	Larry
    
225.14ANY OTHER BTTF INCONSISTENCIES?25725::KLAESAvoid a granfalloon.Thu Sep 11 1986 15:4726
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Path: decwrl!pyramid!hplabs!qantel!lll-lcc!lll-crg!seismo!umcp-cs!cvl!kayuucee
Subject: Re: Time Travel/Laws of Conservation
Posted: 9 Sep 86 12:14:09 GMT
Organization: Center for Automation Research, Univ. of Md.
 
In article <474@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP>, madd@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP (Jim Frost) writes:
> On a lighter side, did anyone else notice that Doc had on velcro shoes
> back in 1955?  This is quite evident when he is hanging from the clock
> tower.  I don't know when velcro came out, but I am pretty sure that
> shoes with them weren't around in 1955.  They looked too well made to
> be a Doc creation, and he didn't appear to care about novelty in clothes
> (except of course when coming back from the future).  Or were they a
> gift from the future brought back in a future movie?
> 
 
	The shoes probably came from the suitcase that Doc put in the car
before the Libyans showed up. Doc in 1955 then probably saw the shoes and tried
them on when they looked like they would fit. This suitcase also yielded the
hairdryer that kept appearing and disappearing from Marty's belt in the scene
where he played Darth Vader in George's bedroom.
 
						Star-Lord
 
They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Naturally they became heroes.
225.15Theatre MarqueeTOLEDO::WILLIAMSMon Feb 23 1987 12:526
	Something else of note is the theatre that Marty crashes into at the 
	end of the movie.  Before,it says on the marquee "ORGY AMERICAN
	STYLE" and  After,it says "ASSEMBLY OF CHRIST".
				***John***

225.16DECvoice in BACK TO THE FUTURE IIRENOIR::KLAESN = R*fgfpneflfifaLFri Sep 15 1989 21:0160
        [Many forwards deleted.]

From:	NAME: Bob Bowen @IVO                
	FUNC: CSS                             
To:	See Below

    We have a movie star here in CSS just waiting for its debut.
DECvoice has been discovered by Hollywood. 

    Recently I was contacted by Electronic Melody Studios a firm that
makes special effects for films, mostly futuristic innovations. They
have dubbed such movies as Star Trek (all 5 movies), Temple of Doom,
Nightmare On Elm Street 5. They heard about DECvoice and needed a
talking computer in Back To The Future 2. 

    After the discussion with him I felt that because his requirement
required some software development and I didn't have the resource to
develop any we couldn't fill his request. In stepped Art Cohen a
Software Specialist in the San Diego office. Art like the idea and the
challenge. 

    Through Art Digital reacted. Art spent a considerable amount of
his own time coaching DECtalk the lines. After a couple of days Art
delivered an audio cassette of the dialog requested by EMS. This was
only an audition for DECtalk. The contracting studios (I believe
Paramount) didn't care if it was an actual computer talking for a
computer ten years in the future. Paramount experimented with
Electronically altered voice and other computer voice products and
even people that could sound like a computer. 

    Yesterday I received a call from EMS with the good news that
DECvoice got the part. When the movie is released lessen for the
following dialog..... 

            " House Computer Talking... Radon Level Normal....Lithition
                Level Normal..."
            " Welcome Jennifer  ....Welcome Ms McFly....Welcome Marge..
                Welcome Marty O Master of the House King of the Castle"
            " Jacket Adjusting to Size 36....Size Adjusted....Dryer Mode
                on.....your Jacket is now Dry"

                       ... and other dialog.

    For our involvement we will receive the following credits at the
end of the film... 

    "Computer Voice Courtesy of Digital Equipment Corporation's  DECvoice".
     (They may include Arts name.)

   There is even more good news, during the filming of BTTF 2 they
also completed Back To The Future 3 and will start dubbing in the
spring, so there may be a sequel for our star. 

   My thanks again to Art Cohen for his undying support...See both of
you at the Oscars. 

    Regards, Bob

    To Distribution List: [deleted]

225.17RUBY::BOYAJIANWhen in Punt, doubtSat Sep 16 1989 06:1013
    According to a presentation at the San Diego Comic Con a month ago,
    BTTF 2 finished principal photography at the end of July, and will
    be released (hopefully) around Thanksgiving. And, after a couple
    of weeks break, they were about to start filming BTTF 3 for release
    in the spring. The back-to-back productions were mostly to accomodate
    Michael J. Fox's schedule.
    
    Most of the original cast will be back. The notable exceptions are
    Crispin Glover (who apparently wanted too much money) and <I forget
    her name> who played Marty's girlfriend. She's been replaced in
    both sequels by Elizabeth Shue.
    
    --- jerry
225.18STRATA::RUDMANPledged To Protect Us All.Tue Sep 26 1989 17:474
    re: .16  I hope someone in Sales notices and arranges BTTF2 (&3)
    posters for the force.  In these trying times, every bit helps. 
              
    							Don
225.19TRUCKS::BUSSINK_EDon't Ask, I Didn'tMon Sep 09 1991 13:305
    OK, it's been a long time, but this is still one of my two best film
    ever made. I've got an question ! what does the L in Emmett L Brown
    stands for ?
    
    								Erik
225.20FSDB00::BRANAMSteve @DLO, DTN 486-6585Tue Sep 10 1991 19:501
Lunatic? 8^)