‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’

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Back In Time (Part 1)

‘Back to the Future’ is one of my favourite movie trilogies ever! 🙂

All three films are directed by Robert Zemeckis and presented by award-winning Steven Spielberg. They also feature a stunning cast starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. These are the adventures of Marty McFly and Doc Emmet Brown as they travel in a 1980s Dolorean car back in time.

These three films are all about time-travel and make up for one clever story introducing the uninitiated into the concepts and responsibilities of travelling through time. This is a movie trilogy you don’t want to miss! Hold on tight and fasten your seat belts! It’s time to go…back to the future!

The first ‘Back to the Future’ film was made in 1985, the same year in which this film is set. This popular film is a story about a typical teenager named Marty McFly who accidentally drives a Delorean car back in time to 1955.

The result has him meeting his parents who are the same age as he is. Marty has to put everything back on the right course of history. It’s a lovely idea of what it’d be like to meet your parents as kids.

The way director Robert Zemeckis and producer/writer Bob Gale has told this story is very clever and fun to watch. Also how Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd play Marty and the Doc is engaging.

I was pulled into the world of ‘Back to the Future’ when my dad purchased the movie trilogy for us before Christmas 2002. My parents and I watched all three films during the course of three nights.

When I saw the first film, I must admit I didn’t know what to expect. Then when we get to Marty joining the Doc who drives his Dolorean car as a time machine and that’s where the story changed.

Michael J. Fox is brilliant as Marty McFly. I heard Fox’s voice as Stuart Little before seeing him in live-action. I like the teenage attitude he brings to Marty and being freaked out by being back in 1955.

Christopher Lloyd is equally brilliant as Doc Brown. The Doc’s a mad scientist who’s created a time machine out of a 1980s Delorean car. Lloyd gets to play two versions of Doc, one in 1985 and in 1955.

Lea Thompson stars as Lorraine, Marty’s mom who he meets as a young girl in 1955. Lea is lovely as Lorriane and it was funny to watch when Marty meets his mom at his age and she fancies him.

Crispin Glover stars as George, Marty’s dad who he meets as a young man in 1955. Crispin’s great as George as he starts being lacking in confidence and insecure before asking Marty’s mom on a date.

Thomas F. Wilson stars as Biff Tannen, a bully who picks on George McFly at school in 1955. Biff tries to win his way with Lorraine and she despises him. Marty manages to find a fight with him at times.

The Delorean car featured in the movie as the time machine is very impressive. I like it when it goes at 88 mph to reach its ability to time travel in time, though it causes Marty stress when he’s in 1955.

The humour is very good in this movie as well as the drama. Some of the jokes and blending of 1985 meeting 1955 as far as Marty was concerned was great and the character moments are very superb.

The music composed by Alan Silvestri is epic and triumphant as I love his ‘Back to the Future’ theme. Also the songs by Huey Lewis and News, including ‘The Power of Love’, are some of my favourites.

The original DVD special features are as follows. There’s ‘The Making of ‘Back to the Future’ documentary, the ‘Making the Trilogy: Chapter 1’ documentary and an audio commentary with director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale. There are also outtakes, deleted scenes and a ‘Did You Know That?’ animated commentary. There are also original make-up tests, storyboard to final feature comparisons, production archives and the original theatrical teaser trailer for the movie.

The 30th anniversary DVD/Blu-ray special features are as follows. There’s an audio commentary with producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton without director Robert Zemeckis. There’s also an audio commentary track which is actually a Q&A session with director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gales in front of a live audience, moderated by Laurent Bouzerau. There are also the first three parts of a six-part retrospective on ‘Back to the Future’ with brand-new behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, including ‘Tales From The Future: In the Beginning’, ‘Tales From The Future: Time to Go’ and ‘Tales From The Future: Keeping Time’. There’s ‘Back to the Future’ Night’; ‘The Making of ‘Back to the Future’ documentary; the ‘Making the Trilogy: Chapter 1’ documentary; a ‘Michael J. Fox Q&A’ and a behind-the-scenes section including outtakes, deleted scenes, original make-up tests and photo galleries including production archives. There’s a music video on ‘The Power of Love’ and the original theatrical teaser trailer for the movie.

This first ‘Back to the Future’ movie was amazing and gripping to watch. I was overcome with excitement and emotion by the end of the first movie. I looked forward to see what happens next.

At the end, Doc takes Marty and his girlfriend with him as they ‘fly’ off to the future…

‘Back to the Future’ rating – 10/10

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‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ (NOVELIZATION)

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Back in Time in the Book

I’ve finally read the ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization by George Gipe! 🙂

At the time of this review, ‘Back to the Future’ is celebrating its 40th anniversary! 🙂 It’s amazing to think that 40 years ago, the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie was released at cinemas in July 1985. Who would have guessed the legacy the film has made over the years?

The ‘Back to the Future’ film trilogy holds a very special place in my heart. I first saw the trilogy on DVD when my Dad introduced it to me before Christmas in December 2002. I recall seeing the ‘Back to the Future’ films and the first ‘Spider-Man’ film again and again.

I know the lines off by heart when revisiting the films on DVD and Blu-ray over the years. The ‘Back to the Future’ film trilogy is one that never fails to impress. It contains clever writing, brilliant characters that are well-performed by their actors and amazing visual effects.

I managed to revisit the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy earlier this year and enjoyed each instalment without disappointment. I don’t think you can get an impressive film trilogy like ‘Back to the Future’. I don’t think follow-up films would surpass it, even if it was tried.

I’m looking forward to checking out the ‘Back to the Future’ stage musical sometime in August 2025. How that will work compared to the film is a mystery to me. Sarah Sutton (Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’) and I discussed it when I saw her in Birmingham in March 2025.

I don’t think the stage musical will be as good as the original first film it’s based on, but I’m sure I’ll find it very entertaining and refreshing. I’ve heard good things said about the stage musical, so I’m sure I’ll be in for a fun ride when I actually get to see it in London.

Whilst many people talk about the ‘Back to the Future’ films and the stage musical, it’s easy for people to forget that ‘Back to the Future’ also exists in comics and a TV show. There are also the books for ‘Back to the Future’, including the novelizations based on the films.

For this review, we’re going to check out the ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization, based on the first film, by George Gipe. It’s based on the screenplay by director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale, but of course, George Gipe has fun novelizing the film.

He gets the chance to expand on the movie in the book. I’ve not come across George Gipe as an author before, but I like how he handled novelizing the first film. I enjoyed some of the additions he provided when translating the film script into a book for readers to enjoy.

Sadly, George Gipe passed away in September 1986 after getting stung by a bee, which is sad and tragic. It’s a pity he didn’t novelize the last two films. They were novelized by Craig Shaw Gardner, who later novelized the 1989 ‘Batman’ film as well as ‘Batman Returns’. 🙂

I purchased the ‘Back to the Future’ novelization from Amazon in 2020 with the hope of checking it out whilst we were still living in the Covid-19 pandemic. Sadly, that didn’t happen with things getting in the way and it took a while for me to finally read the book. 😐

I’m very pleased I got to read the book in May 2025 and especially in time for ‘Back to the Future’s 40th anniversary. It’s also good I got to read the book before seeing the stage musical in August 2025. The book has provided me more insight into the story more than ever.

The book was published in 1985, presumably at around the same time the film was released at cinemas. The story is divided into 14 chapters, which means you can read the book over the course of two weeks if you were reading one chapter per day at your leisure.

I took my time with checking out the book, meaning I read it more than two weeks. 😀 Because I knew the film inside out, I knew what to expect in terms of dialogue. Although, it’s so surprising how George Gipe provided new additions to the dialogue when writing it.

Let me share with you what’s different in the book compared to seeing the movie. For a start, there’s a brand-new opening to the story. In the film, Marty visits Doc Brown’s home to find out where he is before he gets a phone call from him and he is soon late for school.

In the book however, Marty gets a phone call from Doc at the school, to which the Doc claims is an ’emergency’. There’s also a follow-up sequence where Marty is put in detention by Strickland and he finds a way to escape in order to get to his band’s audition.

Strickland is far nastier in the book compared to the movie, especially as he destroys Marty’s Sony Walkman in a woodworking vise. It was fun to read how Marty applied some gum to the back of a matchbook and shot it up to a smoke alarm on the ceiling to get out of there.

Apparently, from what I’ve read, that sequence was supposed to be in the film but was only filmed with Eric Stoltz who played Marty McFly for a while before being taken over by Michael J. Fox. Interesting to find that difference in the book compared to seeing the film.

In the book, when Marty’s band are auditioning at the Battle of the Bands, a fat man disqualifies them instead of Huey Lewis, who performed songs like ‘The Power of Love’ and ‘Back in Time’ with his band, the News, in the film. This was quite an unusual difference in the book.

Mind you, the book was probably novelized without George Gipe knowing Huey Lewis made a cameo as the teacher who disqualified Marty and his band. It’s not too much to harp upon, but it’s very intriguing to find what could’ve been different in reading the book.

In the book, when Marty arrives in 1955 and is by Lyon Estates where he lives, he hides the Delorean in a model home that will become the McFly residence in the future. Not behind the huge Lyon Estate sign, as depicted in the movie, which is quite strange indeed.

I mean, I suppose hiding it in the garage of that model home will keep the DeLorean time machine safe, but what should happen if someone other Marty and Doc found it in the garage? Also, how come Marty was able to use his 1985 key to open the garage in 1955? 😐

During the period where Marty tries to convince 1955 Doc about the Delorean time machine, he decides to wait till dark and attends a movie at the Essex Theatre, which happens to be the 1954 film ‘The Atomic Kid’, before retrieving the vehicle under the cover of darkness.

I wonder if ‘Marty going to see a movie at a cinema’ was in the original film script or if it was an addition provided by George Gipe. It could be the former than the latter. I suspect they didn’t do it like that in the film as time and money needed to be saved instead of filming at a cinema.

There’s a scene in the book where George McFly tries to talk to his father Arthur McFly about going to college. It’s here where we see that George McFly’s father is just as pathetic as he is, as his dad talks him out of the idea. Not only that, George’s father isn’t fair. 😦

I mean, good parents are to allow their children the freedom to do what they want in their lives when they grow up. George McFly being denied the option of going to college by his father shows how bad his father can be. I’m just glad George changed his mind later in the story.

If you were like me and you saw the ‘Back to the Future’ DVD more than once, including the special features, you’d probably have seen the deleted scenes cut from the film. This includes the Doc’s hairdryer scene as well as the extra High Valley High School scenes for the film.

Most of these scenes are included in the novelization, except for the scene where Marty asks an old lady to ‘pinch’ him when he finds out he’s in 1955. This was omitted due to the fact George Gipe had Marty discovering that he was in 1955 a lot earlier in the story. 🙂

There’s also the omission of Strickland abandoning George in a phone booth at the school, which was a pretty mean thing for Strickland to do. Plus, this was rewritten in the book by having George trapped in the toilets by bullies until Strickland entered the scene.

The scenes where Marty is dressed up as ‘Darth Vader’ in the story to persuade George to take Lorriane to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance are extended in the book, matching to how they would have been in the deleted scenes compilation on the DVD.

There’s more touched upon in terms of George missing a day at school following his encounter with ‘Darth Vader’. This explains why he ‘overslept’ before going to ask Lorraine to the dance at Lou’s Café, which I feel is expanded upon more in the book than in the movie.

I like how George Gipe has Marty exploring his opinion of George and Lorraine as parents when meeting their 1955 selves. This is especially when George is pathetic in 1955 as he was in 1985, and I enjoyed Marty’s reactions to George gaining his confidence in the story.

It was also amusing when Marty is shocked that his mother isn’t what she claimed to be as a youngster when meeting her in 1955 following her claims of not chasing boys in 1985. Plus, in the book, Lorraine happens to be fatter in the original 1985 compared to 1955. 😀

And yes, the deleted scene where Marty sees his mother cheating in class is included in the book. I also enjoyed it when Marty tried to look up for the health warning on the back of the cigarette pack that Lorraine had when driving her in Doc’s car, and it’s not there. 😀

After all, smoking cigarettes would have been recommended highly back in 1955, even by medical doctors, as established in the book by characters like Lorraine. I like how this gets touched upon in the book version of the story compared to how it’s presented in the film.

One thing that surprised me about the book is that dialogue said between Marty and Lorraine in Doc’s car from the ‘Back to the Future, Part II’ recreation of that scene is included in the novelization of the first movie. You know, the dialogue which goes like this:

Lorraine: When I have kids, I’m going to let them do anything they want. Anything at all.
Marty: Yeah, I’d like to have that in writing.

I suppose that dialogue was in the original script for the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie but was cut to save time and money. But honestly, it’s a such a surprise to find it in the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization and that it wasn’t created for the second film.

Apparently, in the book, Sam Baines, Lorriane’s father, was sorry about hitting Marty with his car, which is interesting, as in the movie, he was angry about it. He even prayed to God that Marty would be alright and that he won’t be sued when Chapter Five came to an end.

It was amusing to find Lorraine being naughty with Marty when he fell out of her bed once he woke up to see her for the first time. The dialogue is also rewritten in the scene when Lorraine’s mother called out to her, which was fascinating to uncover as I read the book. 🙂

In the book, 1955 Doc angrily breaks the brain-wave analyser – the device he was wearing on his head when Marty visited him at his house – whereas in the film, he placed it on a desk instead while Marty persuaded him to forget about it and focus on his time machine.

In the scene where George has a sip from his chocolate milk drink at Lou’s Café, he has a brown moustache. 😀 This is different in the book where he wiped his mouth clean before approaching Lorriane. At least the movie version had George make a good impression. 😀

Although, I take that back slightly, since George does attempt to ask Lorraine out to the dance after Marty’s stunt with Biff and his goons in their car and the manure truck. Lorraine rejects George’s offer to join him for the dance since she goes off to follow Marty.

Again, I don’t know if this was in the original film script and it was scrapped to save time and money, but it’s interesting to find George gaining some confidence by this point in the story, whereas in the movie, George simply walks away after Marty had his stunt with Biff.

Lorraine is also a bit unfair to George when he asked her out to the dance, and she becomes aggressively forward with Marty when asking him to take her out to the dance. It’s not like in the film where Lorraine is gentler and seductive when she meets with Marty.

Doc’s semi-discovery of the terrorists killing his 1985 self via Marty’s video camera happens early on in the story before the ‘Darth Vader’ scene with George, I believe. We just have Doc demonstrating to Marty how he’ll return ‘to the future’ before Lorraine arrives.

The chapters themselves are pretty lengthy, lasting for about twenty pages at most. The last two chapters of the book aren’t so long, although they’re generally good in depicting the climactic scenes of Marty travelling forward in time from 1955 to 1985 in the Delorean. 🙂

The scene of Marty discovering that Doc is still alive, thanks to the bulletproof vest, is different in the book, as Doc says more words to Marty compared to the film where he was mostly silent. I do prefer the movie version of that scene where Doc turns out to be alive.

Doc doesn’t give Marty a lift back to his house in the book like in the movie. Did Marty walk all the way back from Twin Pines Mall, oh sorry, Lone Pine Mall back to his house on Lyon Estates? I assume so, otherwise how would he get back unless it was via his skateboard?

As in the film, the book closes with Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer joining Doc in the Delorean to travel into the future where they’ll end up in 2015. Marty seems to know already they’ll be heading to 2015. I wonder if this will be matched in the next novelization.

The ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization by George Gipe is excellent. I greatly enjoyed reading the book from beginning to end. It was fascinating how much matches to the original film and how much is different, especially with the additional scenes and moments provided.

I don’t know if I’ll check out the second and third ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelizations by Craig Shaw Gardner anytime soon, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy them. I’m just thankful I’ve been able to read the first ‘Back to the Future’ novelization since I purchased it in 2020. 🙂

Incidentally, there’s no audiobook reading provided for the first ‘Back to the Future’ novelization, which is a shame. If Michael J. Fox or Christopher Lloyd were chosen to be the readers of the ‘Back to the Future’ novelization/audiobook someday, I’d be very happy.

‘Back to the Future’ (Novelization) rating – 10/10

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