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In this weeks episode of The Rewatch Podcast, Cory, Nathan and Tom catch up in the Cafe 80’s to discuss “Back to the Future Part II”.
Trailer:
Our Favourite Trivia:
In the DVD extras of Back to the Future Part II (1989), Robert Zemeckis had said that he really did not want the movie to take place in the future. That is because he felt that every time that a movie takes place in the future, it is mis-predicted.
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have admitted on the DVD commentary that they were originally not interested in doing a sequel to their success hit Back to the Future (1985), and that the open ending of the first movie was simply meant as a final joke. However, when plans for a sequel were made by the studio, they chose to remain involved in the continuation of their creation, and even extended it to two sequels. Zemeckis has claimed that if he knew that he was going to make a sequel, he would have made sure that Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer wasn’t in the car at the end of the first film. Since the movie would concentrate on Marty, there was not much for her to do, and she would even get in his way. This is why Jennifer is knocked out by Doc and left behind so early in the movie.
Filmed at the same time as Back to the Future Part III (1990). It was claimed at the time that in the four years since Back to the Future (1985) was made, Michael J. Fox had forgotten how to ride a skateboard. However, motor skills are not so easily lost (as in riding a bicycle), and Michael J. Fox has since stated that this was an early symptom of his Parkinson’s Disease, although the medical diagnosis was not made until 1991.
The film was considered one of the most ground-breaking projects for Industrial Light & Magic. It was one of the effects house’s first forays into digital compositing, as well as the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which enabled them to shoot one of its most complex sequences, in which Fox played three separate characters (Marty Sr., Marty Jr., and Marlene), all of whom interacted with each other. Although such scenes were not new, the VistaGlide allowed, for the first time, a completely dynamic scene in which camera movement could finally be incorporated. The technique was also used in scenes where Thomas F. Wilson, Christopher Lloyd, and Elisabeth Shue’s characters encounter and interact with their counterparts.[4] It also includes a brief moment of computer-generated imagery in a holographic shark used to promote a fictional Jaws 19, which wound up unaltered from the first test done by ILM’s digital department because effects supervisor Ken Ralston “liked the fact that it was all messed up.
Elisabeth Shue was cast as Jennifer, and all the closing shots of Back to the Future (1985) were reshot for the beginning of this film. Claudia Wells (Jennifer in Back to the Future (1985)) was unable to reprise her role, as she had stopped acting because her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to acting for the independent film Still Waters Burn (2008).
Crispin Glover sued the filmmakers, as he had not granted permission to use his likeness in Part II. Crispin’s suit named John Doe 1-100 as defendants, where he did not have to name all of the individuals he was suing. Crispin ended up dropping the lawsuit after the case was settled out of court for seven hundred sixty-five thousand dollars by Universal’s insurance company, who decided it would be cheaper to pay Crispin, than to actually go to trial. The Screen Actors Guild subsequently introduced new rules about illicit use of actors.
First film appearance by Elijah Wood. He plays one of the two video game boys, to whom Marty speaks in the diner, near the start of the film.
The tagline for Jaws 19 is “This time it’s really, REALLY personal”. On the marquee is the name of the Director, “Max Spielberg”, Executive Producer Steven Spielberg’s son. Max was born in June of 1985, the same year the first film in the franchise was released. Spielberg also came up with Marty’s response to seeing the hologram, “The shark still looks fake”, referring to Spielberg’s frustration and doubts about “Bruce”, the mechanical shark in Jaws (1975).
Some of the items displayed in the Cafe ’80s front window: Apple Computer, Black & Decker Dustbuster, Black & Decker clothes iron, JAWS and JAWS 2 VHS boxes, Dragnet 1987 VHS box, Animal House VHS box, Barbie and Ken dolls, NES BurgerTime video game, Roger Rabbit doll, Lava Lamp, JVC Television, JVC Super VHS Video Camera, Perrier Bottled Water, “Trust Me” Jimmy Carter comedy album by Hans Petersen, Bee Gees album, Ronald Reagan “Freedom’s Finest Hour” picture disc LP, Pac Man lunch box, Mendocino box, Jimmy Carter poster, colorful happy faces, Sanyo Orange Phonosphere record player, Jimmy Carter peanut bank, Gray’s 1950 – 2000 Sports Almanac, computer keyboard, J.F.K. bust, rounded white telephone, Magnavox Weekender radio, NES RC Pro AM video game box, and Marty’s denim jacket (with pin)
To commemorate the release of a 30th anniversary Back to the Future Blu-ray box-set, a short movie called Back to the Future: Doc Brown Saves the World (2015) was filmed with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role of Doc Brown. In the movie, Doc tapes a video message, explaining that he travelled to the 2040s in a rebuilt DeLorean, and discovered that inventions such as the Hoverboard and hydrated food will cause people to become massively overweight; even worse, a simultaneous glitch in every nuclear Mr. Fusion device on the planet will cause a nuclear holocaust that decimates the world’s population. He subsequently travels back in time, and successfully prevents such dangerous devices from ever being invented, thus explaining why the future 2015 as seen in this movie did not come true in reality.
Jaws 19 (2015):
What’s Up Next?:
We’re sure you guessed, if only for that trailer at the end or part 2 that gives away A LOT of info about “Back to the Future Part III”
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