Project Geekology

Back to the Future (1985)

• Anthony, Dakota, Rich • Episode 141

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Great Scott! Some movies don’t just age well, they keep gaining power like a clock tower in a storm. We unpack why Back to the Future still crackles: a script that pays off every setup, characters who change in ways you can feel, and time travel rules that invite geeky debate without derailing the fun. From the Save the Clock Tower flyer to Uncle Joey’s “bars” and the Twin Pines to Lone Pine switch, we map the film’s breadcrumbs and show how tight writing creates timeless rewatch value.

We get obsessive about the timeline, too. Marty’s trip to 1955 unfolds over a week we can actually chart, and the story’s paradoxes: bootstrap loops, butterfly ripples, the photo fade, work together instead of fighting each other. We also talk texture: why the DeLorean is the perfect sci‑fi icon, how Biff’s blundering menace gives the story bite, and why those Hill Valley sets feel alive in both eras.

Then there’s the alchemy of performance and music. Michael J. Fox plays panic as propulsion. Christopher Lloyd turns technobabble into wonder. Crispin Glover’s physical comedy makes George’s punch land like a symphony. And Alan Silvestri’s score glues it all together, blasting heroism during the lightning strike and winking when history pivots. It’s the rare blockbuster that mixes teen comedy, family drama, and sci‑fi puzzle with confidence, reminding us how bold 80s filmmaking could be without franchise safety nets.

If you love film craft, time travel logic, or just want that rush of cinematic joy, you’re in the right feed. Hit play, share with a fellow movie nerd, and tell us: are you Team Twin Pines or Team Lone Pine? If this made you smile, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a friend who needs a 1.21 gigawatt boost.


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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to episode one forty-one of Project Geekology. Yes, you hear that right. Anthony is back. But he's not back from or to the future. He is back from vacation. I am well, actually I already introduced myself. So I don't have to say one half of our host.

SPEAKER_00:

But joining me as always is Dakota, the second third of the host present tonight. Yes. Yeah, we're we're gonna be discussing a very fun film, a film that strangely wasn't a major hit in my household growing up. Um, and maybe we'll talk a little bit about that as we continue.

SPEAKER_02:

But yeah, my name's Dakota, and joining us as always is Rich, the third member of really what looks like if you guys saw the visual podcast, we could be bit actors in the new hit TV series on Netflix, Death by Lightning, a very th rousing, thrilling show about James Garfield's rise to presidency and his undoing. I did get a it's November, ladies and gentlemen, and we are growing out. I don't know if this is accidental. I'm growing out my mustache, I look ridiculous. My wife said I look like I could be in a caucus in the uh late 1800s in New York, and I've never felt so excited. But I'm even more excited this week because little did they know that they have stumbled upon the movie that I have seen more times than any other movie in the history of film. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Back to the Future is the movie I've seen more than any other film in my entire life. And I was so giddy in the text thread, like I didn't say anything, but I was like so excited. I'm like, did they say back to the future? Did they say back to the future? Like, do they have any idea? So, uh, gentlemen, I'm so excited about this. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Back to the Future. It's something that I've kind of I've wanted to do for a while. It's kind of been sitting on my mind for a while. But that and Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is also something that's kind of like sat in my mind for a while. Ghostbusters too. Like some of those like really good, fun, like 80s movies. But yeah, man, Back to the Future, it's actually it is something that that I grew up with. Um, but yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk a bit more about that. You know, we'll hear more about Rich's lore and Dakota's lack of lore with Back to the Future. But um, you know, I I've I've had uh uh I've been away for a couple weeks. I haven't heard anything about what Dakota well, a little bit, but Dakota, what have you been up to?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man, a whole bunch. Uh as you're probably aware, Anthony. I don't actually even know if you checked the stats, but we we did release two episodes while you were away. Both were Avatar themed, and we had a really good time. Uh I introduced Rich to Peak Hollywood films. Uh yeah, we we watched uh Avatar and Avatar the Way of Water. And yeah, we covered Avatar the Way of Water a couple years ago. So this was episode 140 was our first like retread, you know, like revisiting an episode or a a title of something. So that was really fun, uh, especially because one of our hosts had never seen anything Avatar. So that was a that was a fun opportunity. I I mentioned in episode 140 that I had started listening to an audiobook. It's a it's a new audiobook on Audible where they are re-releasing the Harry Potter books with a full cast. It's like over 200 individuals. It's like fully uh it's it's not only fully cast, but it's also fully narrated, so it's not like an audio drama. Like they they do have the narration, and then the actors like swoop in when their lines are supposed to be read. And it's really, really well done. I'm really impressed with it. I've I've listened to I've listened to the first book twice now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I actually heard about that. I think I think that there's some like pretty big names that are attached to it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, uh, I know Hugh Lorrie is uh Dumbledore. Hugh Laurie from House. I hope he can get the British accent.

SPEAKER_01:

Kira Knightley is, I think, Umbridge.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. She's not in the first book, and only the first book is is you know released thus far. But if you guys have watched Pride and Prejudice, uh with Kira Knightley, or more recently, Succession on HBO. Matthew McFadden, one of the main characters of Succession, is playing Voldemort, and he's perfect. He's perfect. But yeah, we got a lot of actors that we've you know encountered over the years, a lot of like Doctor Who actors, several different actors who played The Master are in this first book. Michelle Gomez plays McGonagall, and yeah, there's uh some really, really cool stuff. The voice actor for Hermione Granger is the child actor that they cast for the new role in the new HBO series. Oh uh, so if you want to get a taste of like what her Hermione is gonna be, it's exactly what is is in this uh in this audiobook. It's really fun, actually. But yeah, there's there's a couple things that have come out since then that I've really been interested in. I I mentioned it last week when we were covering Avatar. They were doing a documentary on Disney Plus, a two-part documentary called Fire and Water, making the Avatar films, where James Cameron basically shows how they made the magic happen. You know, like they made a huge tank where they had actors literally acting underwater for like multiple hours of the day. It's actually insane. Some of the actors were able to hold their breath for up to seven minutes after like diving training. Like they were like mandatory, it was like mandatory diving training for like 18 months, and they were holding their breath for like minutes, minutes, minutes on end. And it's it's crazy the lengths that they went to. So I I highly recommend that two-part series or two-part documentary on Disney Plus called Fire and Water. Um, what else have been up to? I watched the first season of Only Murders in the Building. It's an HBO series starring Steve Martin, Chris Martin, and Selena Gomez. I thought it was really interesting. Uh or not interesting, it was engrossing. You know, it it's kind of a sillier like comedic look at like the life of a a crime podcast. Martin Short. Sorry, yeah. Did I say what I said Chris Martin? Chris Sport. Yeah, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and um Selena Gomez. It's great. Selena Gomez. Who's Chris Martin? Is that the guy from Cold Plunk?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, which is like so different, so different. Because I was like trying to I pictured the reason I had to start, I'm sorry to correct you is just because I pictured them together. I've seen the show, right? And then I pictured like Chris Martin instead of Martin Short, and I was like, that doesn't work, man. That just doesn't work. It's a bad show.

SPEAKER_00:

Um but I like the cast. Uh Selena Gomez is really well too. Enjoyed that. And I feel like there's something. Oh, I watched Predator Badlands. That was really good. Like that that blew me away. It was the first Predator movie I've watched in a while. It's crazy. Like, I usually don't have this much to say uh what I've been up to, but I feel like I have to like gush right now because I have a heck of a lot to say. But yeah, I think that's pretty much it. Predator Badlands, really good movie. Really enjoyed it, and excited to see what else this director, Dan Trachtenberg, who has now directed Prey, Killer of Killers, and Predator Badlands. Apparently he's really deep into Predator right now, and he just wants to keep making Predator movies, so I'm like, go for it, bro. Anthony, I want to throw it over to you because you've been away for a couple weeks, and that's you're really the anchor to everything here. We gotta figure out what you've been up to, where you've been. According to Rich, you've been hunting. You know, I've been in like a Red Dead Redemption type world.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I've been doing, you know, IRL, Red Ed Redemption. No, I I I've been I I spent two weeks up in Tennessee. I was spending time with family and kind of just like enjoying, you know, touching grass, man. You know, I was touching a lot of grass while I was up there. And, you know, ri Rich is shaking his head because he's like, man, I don't even know what what a grass is.

SPEAKER_02:

I didn't have to because guys, Anthony was sending us these bucolic shots, right? And then what was hilarious is like a second later I would be able to send him like the same shot in Red Dead, or like the same shot in Oblivion. And I'm like, is he outside or is he just playing a fantastic video game? Who knows? No, but uh it looked like you were having a good time, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I really got to enjoy a good bit of the fall season, the changing of the leaves, the cool weather, which I kind of brought down, you know, back with me to South Florida because we had a couple days this past the past couple days have been cool. Like it dropped down to the 40s one night. It was on Tuesday. That day was really nice because like the weather was like in the 50s and the 60s. I was like, oh my gosh, man, like Florida's treating us. And so so yeah, that was nice. And uh I did uh there's a day that I went to it was like this fantasy-themed village, it had some Lord of the Rings kind of vibes, like you could stay there, and the rooms were kind of it kind of reminded me a little bit of of Hobbiton and stuff, so it was it was pretty cool. And they had archery and axe throwing, which I indulged in. You know, I I hadn't done archery in a long time, so that was a real treat, and uh axe throwing was really fun too. But yeah, man, I I rode uh four-wheelers through the woods and stuff, man. I was really touching grass these past two weeks, dude. But yeah, no, it was a really good time. I had fun, and it really the speed of it is so so much different than so much more different than South Florida. You know, I know that a lot of people think it's kind of laid back, but it's also kind of hectic in the same because there's so much going on.

SPEAKER_00:

Whereas over there South Florida is essentially, you know, an extension of Miami. So it does it is a little bit faster than your average southern.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It is absolutely you know, it gets insane down here. So, like kind of the slower pace was nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Anthony, you were saying that you got to experience the fall, uh, you know, the autumnal leaves and stuff uh when you were in Tennessee. That's something you don't really get to experience much in South Florida. That's why he said it, Rich. You know, this is something very normal to us. You just don't experience it.

SPEAKER_01:

You get maybe a couple cold days, and yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02:

You live like home alone, you're basically like home alone too. You're like the McAllisters, you know, like just sitting in that hotel room looking at the palm trees in the rain.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, pretty much. You know, yeah. I mean it yeah, it's like it's December 25th and it's just pouring raining. Um but yeah, and so on the audiobook front, I've actually been listening to The Lord of the Rings narrated by Andy Circus.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I've heard those are really good. I listened to The Hobbit.

SPEAKER_01:

So oh, I haven't listened to The Hobbit. Um I mean, I read The Hobbit a long time ago. Wapin?

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's the first one he did.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. No, no, I'm listening to The Fellowship now, and yeah, man, that's my boy. I've been enjoying it, so I was like, you know what? Let me take a page out of Dakota's book and you know, listen to an audiobook.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, brother.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome, bro. Rich, what have you been up to?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh let's see. Uh opposite of touching grass, I think. I got Oblivion Remastered, and uh boy, oh boy. I told you guys earlier I'm the uh Archmage of the Mages Guild. Just uh going around and probably like a battle mage build. I mean, I I don't do it on I just I always want to be able to like shock people, uh you know. Ultimate power, right? And then I also heal myself. Like that's really the main thing. And then I just also usually carry a sword. Uh I had a great moment in class the other day. I was kind of talking about how I sometimes I find it very cringy when a work, whether it be a movie or book, like has the title in it. You know, like they just drop it. So this book that we're reading in class has an epigraph, which is a line from uh Albert Camus, and then one of the characters says the actual epigraph, and I just have like a cringe moment. And one of my students it's called In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Yende. Oh, okay. She the line is like in the midst of winter, I found myself whatever, an invincible summer, and then she actually says it at the end, and you're like, Come on, come on, like come on, right? So one of my students goes, Oh, does that bother you like unobtainium? And I was like, What? And she's like unobtanium, and I was like, Did you listen to my podcast? She's like, What do you mean? And because Yo, did you out yourself? I don't know if you remembered. Like, I you know, one of my criticisms of of Avatar was Unobtanium, right? Like, I just was like, This is this is poor, poor right. This is too ridiculous. Yeah, it's too ridiculous, right? And it's just it was just so great that she brought it up. So she's like looked at me like, what?

SPEAKER_00:

And I said, I was like, all right, apparently you probably imagine if you had gotten that comment and you just could not wrap your head around it like two weeks ago, you know. Like had she said that two weeks ago, you would have been like, huh?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no, I it was uh, you know, I mean, I last year I did have one kid who started listening to the show like while I was teaching them. Like as we're doing our recap of like what we're up to, he starts dropping like, hey, so you went to do this the other day, and blah blah. And it was so such an a weird experience to try to teach and realize that somebody is currently listening to you at the same time, but in but not the way they're supposed to be, right? Like he's listening to me, but he's not listening to me because he's supposed to be listening to my class time and not the podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

But so that was what what are the chances that this girl is actually like listening to the podcast?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know, man. I mean they do they love to Google. They love to Google. I'll tell you that. Like if if my name is somehow attached, then my name comes up in random places. So uh, but they uh that's just kind of been taking it easy. Uh have like a little bit of a lull between cross-country season and uh indoor track season. So you know right, that's starting up soon. It's gonna ramp up next week, and uh, we're gonna hit the ground running, is what we're gonna do. Literally.

SPEAKER_00:

And for the track team, baby. But not much grass in that track team. Not much not much scratch to touch there.

SPEAKER_02:

Nope, it's all uh listen, I was built for this, alright? I go to a place that has stadium seating and I sit, and then my job is to root vociferously for the kids to do well and to get excited. And uh I do that a lot, as you guys know.

SPEAKER_00:

So you know what, Rich, Anthony, there's not a lot of grass touching in that. But Marty happens to touch a little bit of grass when he goes back in time. Uh specifically to November 5th. Lion's Farm, is it? 1955. Lone Pines Farm or something, yeah. Or Twin Pines Farm, yeah, it was that's what it was called. Yeah. Yeah. He definitely touches some grass, especially when he has to push his you know DeLorean behind a little billboard and cover it with a couple twigs. But uh let's let's discuss Back to the Future.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00:

So before we jump into Back to the Future, let's discuss a little bit about our past with it. Uh I'll begin because I probably have seen it the least of the trio. Rich, you you shake your head. You just saw Avatar, like the biggest movie of all time, like two weeks ago. Calm down.

SPEAKER_01:

Same thing with Alien. Like, yeah, it was it two franchises that are huge that he never touched. Back to the fact that we're gonna go back to the first time.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, let's roll the tape back. I've always liked the first movie because that's pretty much the only one that I've watched. I think I've watched the second one once, and I don't think I've ever watched the third one. But it's always a pleasure to jump back into this world. And yeah, I know the timeline guy hasn't watched a series that's like very timeline heavy. I get it. No, I I do see the irony inherent. But yeah, it wasn't really ever big in my household. Anthony, you brought up a couple titles that were fairly large in my household. You're wearing a t-shirt that says Star Wars. You know, you're both wearing Star Wars t-shirts. Man, I feel what am I wearing? Oh, this is a Loki t-shirt. Top five MC. Hey, hey, it's kind of topical. I mean, it's it's a timeline series. Anyway, let's see. Yeah, my dad really raised me on Star Wars pretty heavily. Indiana Jones was a big one in my household, as well as Ghostbusters was a lesser one or one that I saw like later in my my childhood years. But yeah. I don't think my parents were fans of the Back to the Future movies. And I don't know why, because they're really good movies, or at least the first one is a really good movie. But uh Anthony, what's your relationship with uh Back to the Future?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, b Back to the Future is yeah, it's definitely one of those like staple classics. You know, my dad, you know, loved the movies, especially I mean, I think he likes them as a whole, but usually when people are talking about Back to the Future, they're mostly talking about that first one. And yeah, no, I I mean I've seen it several times throughout the years. My dad, like I said, he was really big into it, and same with the other two that we talked about, you know, especially Indiana Jones, loved Indiana Jones, and then Ghostbusters. I mean, it was it was the time he grew up in the 80s, so a lot of that stuff was nostalgia. But the Back to the Future is one of those ones that had an impact on pop culture. I mean, dude, come on, Rick and Morty is literally them.

SPEAKER_00:

True, yeah. I I it very much so.

SPEAKER_01:

And so, yeah, Back to the Future, it's just so fun, man. I was literally thinking, whenever I watch a movie like this, or something like, you know, Indiana Jones, or you know, anything really like from the 80s, some some from the 90s also, you don't see movies like these anymore. Like these movies, they feel like risks. You know? It's like they took something that wasn't really based on anything, and they made something out of it, and it ended up, you know, a lot they ended up blowing up, you know, like they ended up being successes. And I mean, they're still like very relevant. I mean, you see stuff that that's always stuff still references back to the future, they're still making Ghostbuster movies, they're still making Indiana Jones movies. So Crystal Sculpt. It's just you know you know, it's just like you don't get anything like these movies, you know, and and it's to me it's kind of sad. I mean, I would say the most recent, you know, one of the the few in the last decade or so is maybe Avatar, but really what Avatar brought to the table was like technological advancements and like really good world building. You already know how I feel about the story. It it leaves a lot to be desired, but there's still really cool action and really awesome things that that series brought. And so, but you know, back to to back to back to the future, you know, back to back to the future. It really is one of those staple series that growing up as a millennial, your parents had you watch.

SPEAKER_00:

Where was I? Rich, jumping over to you. Why was this such a popular film in your household?

SPEAKER_02:

So the truth is that films were generally not popular by household. My grandparents uh didn't really have any influence. Uh, they didn't really watch, you know, that my grandmother was watching telenovelas, but grandfather really wasn't. And my mother was really more of a horror person, to be honest. She really was into that kind of stuff. And then when I would see my dad, uh, you know, we watched a lot of Star Trek. And we would watch like the Channel 11 like movie of the week, whatever that was on. Back to the Future actually became really big because my friends and I were essentially not allowed. We had a group that was big enough that we were not allowed to be at each other's houses during the summer. And one summer in particular, McDonald's on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, my home neighborhood, aired Back to the Future on repeat all day long. And they had an air-conditioned basement section of this McDonald's. So we would go in with very little money and maybe buy a soda between eight kids and then just use that as a ticket to sit and watch Back to the Future in air conditioning over and over and over and over.

SPEAKER_00:

And we're cool, actually.

SPEAKER_02:

For I think two summers. I know for a fact it was definitely one where it was daily. I mean, it was we met up after lunch and we just walked to McDonald's and and sat down there until we got kicked out, you know. And so I've seen I've seen it so many times. I've seen all of them, I love all of them. There's I mean you can say that you don't like this and you don't like that. I don't care. You're wrong. They're all amazing movies. Every single one of them. I know this movie. Okay. When I went to go search for the movie, for some reason I didn't go to Netflix first, and I went to all my other streaming services, and I and I saw that I have to rent it or something. So I found this other show, which was like looking for the DeLorean or something, like this guy, Josh something, who he goes around and looks for items, I don't know, and uh I stumbled upon this mini-series that was centered on Back to the Future. So I watched that first before I decided to even watch the films. If you get a chance, it's I think it's on Netflix. It's so good because maybe Hulu, but they just randomly drop actors from the movie. So like Goldie, the mayor, is randomly in a scene, but they don't say they're in it. Like they don't go like, oh, it's this actor, right? And the whole premise is that Doc Brown comes back to tell this guy that he needs help getting the DeLorean to not Marty McFly to actually um Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. And then this guy has to go find, like, he finds Christopher Lloyd and explains, like, listen, Doc Brown came to me from the future, and then it's this whole ridiculous premise. But you get they he bumps into a lot of the actors. So, like the harsh Dean, uh, who's always you know calls the McFly slackers, you know, he's he's got a bit part in the show. Like, it really, if you know it's crazy that he was bald for 30 years. It's like just straight bald. Yes, yeah, man. Yeah, that guy that guy was also like master of the.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that Marty mentions that he's like, did he ever have hair?

SPEAKER_02:

I think that guy Lex Luther syndrome. I think that guy was in Masters of Universe as well. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that I think he played like a similar role. Like he was Courtney Cox's like annoying principal in Masters of the Universe. But alright, I will stop because we need to talk about this film.

SPEAKER_00:

But I know it's okay. No, it's um I'm happy that you you have such a strong history with one of the films that we decided to discuss. So one thing I that I wanted to do when I was re-watching this, and one thing that I'm I've just been doing recently in general, is taking like timeline notes of the days that the film or whatever I'm consuming takes place. Like as best as I can manage. You know, like I listened to the Harry Potter book, I can probably date maybe half of the events based on context clues. Oh, this happened a week after Halloween. Okay, I can figure that one out. You know, stuff like that. So with this film, I was very pleasantly surprised. Like, I could probably very easily date 95% of the movie just based on the context clues of like, okay, he spends a week in 1955, this is this day, and then we go to the next day, and then we go to another day, and then finally we're at Saturday. It's the night of the enchantment under the sea. Okay, I can understand. So, yeah, I thought that that was really cool. And not only that, but I did a little I mean, not a lot of research, but I did a little research on the days of the week that these things are supposed to land on, and they do a really good job in the film of noting what day of the week it is, you know, 30 years apart. So in the beginning of the movie, you have Biff tell George to what does he say? He says something like, Don't come too early because I like you know, I like my Saturdays. So you know that the previous day, October 25th, was a Friday. Then Saturday, the day that Marty goes back in time in the morning, is a Saturday on the 26th. Uh-huh. So and then later when he goes into 1955, there's a scene where Biff tells George to do his homework, but don't do it like so quickly because he really enjoys his Sundays, you know, Sunday mornings. And if you look up the dates as they take place, they line up the days of the week perfectly with the dates that they choose in the movie, which is very rare. And those two. It doesn't, it doesn't happen very often. Usually they just choose a random day of the week.

SPEAKER_02:

What you're talking about there, that scene, which is amazing, is it's almost word for word, exactly the same, except for like, do you want me to go to trouble with a supervisor? Uh and uh and this teacher Sunday, Saturday, right? But like it's actually even the way George takes a beat before he says something, uh, that's one thing I noticed on this rewatch, is just like it's exactly the same. It's perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

It's just yeah, like you wouldn't want me to get kicked out, would you? You want me to you'd want me to get fired, would you? And then George goes like Of course not. Of course not. I love this movie. Oh, it's so good. It's really fun. Anthony, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01:

I think that it's pretty cool. Something that that I always thought was interesting is that the actor that plays George McFly, Crispin Glover, is actually younger than Michael J. Fox. And so he portrays his father. I mean, you could tell that it's younger people that are being portrayed as older people. You could see the makeup and stuff, which it makes sense because when he goes back to the past, it's gonna be what they normally look like. I I just always thought that was interesting that like he was younger, you know, like he he's this younger actor portraying as the father of the main character. Also, I know that Michael J. Fox wasn't the original casting for uh Marty.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was Eric Stoltz.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, terrible. Yeah, he's terrible. There's like some footage of it, and basically it was just Pan. He was just not a good fit for this role at all. He didn't bring any of that fun energy to it, and they very quickly got rid of him. Good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I heard it wasn't it wasn't all that great. But man, something that I really like about this movie, and and it's so it's so easy to like start paying attention to like everything else outside of like the main story when you've seen it a bunch of times, but I really love the the music that's in this, like, and like the sound cues that they use. It's so it's so 80s, but it works so well. Like, I love it so much. You can tell that that you're about to have a good time with the way that like they use music.

SPEAKER_02:

When I lived out and uh I lived out further in Long Island, New York, and uh I would have to take these stretches of highway that were like, you know, two lanes and just completely surrounded by trees, which for a guy who grew up in the city most of the time, it was rare. And I would always blast the theme from Back to the Future when I was like on the road alone at like 6 30 in the morning going to work. Which one? Power of Love? Okay, well, I do have Power of Love, but uh I just uh the uh boom boom boom boom, you know, like the when they're like taking off in the uh car, you know, that I mean and I I I had always thought that Power of Love, I was like, man, this such a movie song.

SPEAKER_01:

And like it's like now I know why.

SPEAKER_02:

Because of Back to the Future and Do you know that Huey Lewis is one of the judges for the musical competition that rules out Marty McFly's band. He's like, uh, next, like he's like too loud or something like that. So like they're playing his song, and he's like, No, that's I don't like it. You guys don't qualify. So I I always always love that part too.

SPEAKER_01:

Man, yeah. Yeah, it's just such a good time, man. And you we have your boy Christopher Lloyd, who is my boy. He's portraying a character that's like well older than like than what he was. I think he was what in his forties back then? And he's portraying a character that's like in his 70s, I think. But he does it so good, man. I love Christopher Lloyd in this movie. Michael J. Fox, too, like the pairing of them are it's just so it's so good and so fun. And like some of the like schlapstick that they have in it is it works so well. But man, Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown is just genius. I love just like some of the gibberish that they say, like, you know, science-wise, but like you believe it because it's coming from his mouth.

SPEAKER_02:

He uh so I I used to watch like reruns of Taxi growing up, so I had seen I had seen him there and before I had seen him in Back to the Future, but I I just thought it was really great. Uh you know, the comedian Brendan Mullaney has a bit where he he says that you know everyone loves back to the future, and we all ignore the fact that Marty and Doc Brown are randomly friends, right? Like, and because at least you know Rick and Morty it's his grandpa, right? But this one it's like it's like this disgraced scientist and this just kind of like ne'er do well high schooler, right? Like, and they have this like very sweet relationship, but it's it is a little bit odd.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, well, you know, it and it makes sense because they're both kind of fringe people, right? You know, he's kind of considered like a you know, like he's an outsider in his family, right?

SPEAKER_02:

His family, they're kind of like you know, a lot of them are kind of like pushovers, but Marty's not like makes no sense because if you know the history of the McFly family by watching the third film, you'd know that the McFly's one amazingly look the same.

SPEAKER_01:

See, this is why we do what we do, Rich. This is why. This is why we say one movie at a time, but you know, we we we couldn't help it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we we we gotta we gotta cut you some slack occasionally.

SPEAKER_01:

But but yeah, no, no, but I mean, at least for the sake of this movie, you know, it is weird that he is outcast though, like he seems like a cool kid. Oh yeah, no, no, like he doesn't seem like a bad kid, it's just kind of classic, you know, like back then it was like teachers didn't really care to know you, or not not all teachers, but you know, like if you just didn't seem like you're interested in what was going on, you know, they wouldn't figure out like okay, you know, maybe there's something else that would, you know, maybe tickle his brain. It's like, no, this kid's a bad kid. You know, he his interest was music, that's what he wanted to do. And Doc Brown made him like to discover crazy things scientifically.

SPEAKER_02:

Um because of the speaker, right? Because at the beginning of the movie, could be.

SPEAKER_00:

Here's my theory. I I was actually gonna reach out and touch like we talked about that. I think because Doc knows that Marty needs to be present for this causal loop to take shape and so that history doesn't rewrite itself further. He has to befriend a young Marty McFly. So he does everything in his power to He's got the candy in the van, so to speak. And his candy in the van is like this huge speaker that obviously a young rock adult child, 17-year-olds, would absolutely love. You know, like let's turn it all the way up, you know? And that's the first thing that we learn about Doc is that he has built a massive speaker that Marty happens to visit before going to school, even which you know it's very weird, but whatever.

SPEAKER_02:

And I just want to go hit some cores before I gotta go to school. And I love I love that, you know, obviously the anecronistic, I mean, for in that time period it works, right? Because now it would never work, right? Like the fact that because all the clocks in the the shop were set forward 25 minutes, you know, he's gonna be late for school now because he had no concept of time. And it's like, didn't you have your own wristwatch, Marty? Like when you left your house, how much time did you give yourself to go hit some chords before you were gonna go to school?

SPEAKER_00:

Also, like how exactly did Doc get all of the clocks to, you know, be wrong? Unless he like just manually like brought them all forward 25 minutes. Did he have some sort of like time travel fun with the clocks in his house?

SPEAKER_01:

I think so. I think that that was like maybe the initial the initial test, and then that's where he kind of moved with the the dog was like the next step. I think Marty was also going to his house like kind of I guess like take care of the house while like Doc was away because he was like he was away like doing experiments essentially, and that's why he was like calling him. Remember, he like calls him in the house.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right, yeah. And and he's like away and been there for like at least a couple days. There was a pile up there. That was so gross.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That was juicy, you know, like it was like such a pile of like juicy dog food. You know, it was it was so juicy that it made me think about you guys. It made me think about you guys and how like you have not given us a five-star juicy review. And I think that that's kind of messed up. And I think that we can rectify that you and I, and the rest of our hosts here, by you know, asking very kindly for a juicy five-star review, just like that big pile of juice uh that was in Einstein's plate in the very beginning of this movie. Uh, we think you can do better we could we think you could do better than that, actually. So, yeah, I I've passed it to you, listener. What are you gonna do about it?

SPEAKER_01:

So so yeah, Dakota, as the person that has seen this the least, you know, that didn't really grow up on this too much, you know, tell us about your thoughts. Like, you know, like I know that you said that you like it, but I I want you to to kind of go into a little bit more of you know your likes, maybe your gripes.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's a very well-written movie, first and foremost. I can't say past this point because I don't know much about the second and third film um in terms of like how well they are written or how tight the timeline is, but as someone who does actively study like fictional timelines for fun, this was a very fun one to jump into. There's a number of like paradoxes and stuff that this film kind of explores in like weird fun ways. There's the bootstrap paradox where it's almost like a causal loop where you know at the end of the movie we have Marty playing Johnny B Good, and that is then shown to Chuck Berry over the phone, the you know, the person who is supposed to write that song, and it becomes a bootstrap paradox where no matter what, it will always happen. Um, so I thought that that was kind of cool. We also have like the butterfly effect going on where like he changes minute things back in the past that have major influences on the future. I liked the idea that there's a great line from Doc where he Marty goes, Yeah, I never saw my dad, you know, step up to Biff like that. And but I didn't know I didn't know he had it in him, and then Doc goes, Never? Like with like a really serious, like, uh-oh. Yeah, yeah. Like I love this reaction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like never uh the butterfly effect going on. We have like the nightingale paradox, which is he meets his own mother and she becomes a caretaker in a way that doesn't mesh with his own understanding of this person. So she's taking care of him as something other than what he understands her to be. So that was pretty cool. You have the grandfather paradox where like he becomes a kind of uh he becomes the matchmaker for his own parents, and without him, he cannot be placed into reality. You know what I'm saying? Like it's like it's it's a weird there's a whole bunch of weird paradoxes in this movie. You can even go into like predestination and all that, but it's very well written, and they all kind of gel with each other. I don't know if they jump into like multiple timelines or anything in future films, but as of this movie, it's all a singular timeline that he is messing up slightly or fixing and or slightly messing up in unique and subtle ways. Like I love the he hits one of the pine trees in that guy's farm, and then later in the movie, the Twin Pines mall becomes the Lone Pine Mall. Uh very just a clever little little thing going on there. I again I I think the movie's very well written. You know, going back to the the whole grandfather paradox and the nightingale effect with his mom, it's it is a weird situation that he you know enters in on where uh oh my mom is hot and she likes me a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

My mom has the hots for me. That's I know I know it's like this is a nightmare.

SPEAKER_00:

That is a nightmare, yeah. And I'm thinking to myself, like, wow, she's like actually very, very pretty. Just like this is so stupid.

SPEAKER_02:

That's the Howard Duck Girl, man. You know, uh Sliya Thomas. Um true.

SPEAKER_00:

I for I I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so she uh I mean she was fantastic in this movie. She's gonna be she does reprise her role to an extent in the second movie as well. She's kind of like a superstar in this one. I mean, she plays you know the present day and the past versions of herself, and I mean I think the makeup works well. I kind of believe her as his mom, and then I can believe her as the young version. I love the the Marvin Berry. I mean, there was a small uh pot at a time where uh if you called me and I was in a lad place, I'd be like, It's your cousin, Marvin, Marvin Barry. I just love that scene. They reprise that scene where they kind of uh it's like it's a your cousin, and I I just love that. On my phone I actually have Johnny B good and it's the version from the movie. So it's it's I have it, I have the artist as Michael J. Fox. It's my favorite. The one thing I don't understand about him disappearing is why is it that he if he's the youngest, right? Because he's the youngest, he disappears last. Shouldn't he disappear first? They could have just made him the oldest like sibling, and then they like escape that problem. But to me it's like the first sibling disappearing means that the other siblings don't happen, right?

SPEAKER_01:

I guess the way that I think it's almost like a cascade effect, I guess like it's going like by the year, which one, you know, which sibling, you know, the first child would be the first one to go away, and then the then the second, and then and then yeah, the youngest being like the furthest one from that timeline or down the timeline is the one that's being affected. Uh but I I did think it was interesting. Yeah, like Dakota said, there's a lot of paradoxes that were introduced, and that paradox where you know, with him or his siblings and him disappearing, it's always a fun one. I've seen it before. I'm pretty sure that I've seen it I think like after this movie. Like I think this movie has inspired other like time travel movies with like the same kind of paradox. So it's yeah, it it's it's really fun. Like, you know, a lot of the stuff they had. I like that George McFly was like really into uh science, like science fiction, like kind of fan fiction, and then he ends up doing that like in the alternate timeline.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I thought that was fun. I mean, I think like shout out to like just the uh the classic cars and like the setup of Hill Valley and the way they had Hill Valley like age, right? Which I thought was really cool. I mean the clock tower bit and how she writes her phone number on on the flyer, and then he puts that away, and and that's why he knows the exact time of when it strikes. It's so much and I mean when he like creates the first skateboard, basically, and then Biff falls into the manure is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00:

Biff falling in the manure is a beautiful moment. Um I actually really liked the actor who plays Biff. You don't really have bullies like that in movies anymore. You know, like 80s bullies were just different, you know, like give me your lunch money. You never really get that anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

And he played it so good, and he's probably like normally a really good, like awesome guy, but he plays that bully so good. Hey, McFly, make like a tree and get out of here. That's my Yeah, he has that dumb, that dumb bully um stigma just like down to the down to the T. I like when they go to like when when they're they go to like crash in that truck with manure and they like yell it out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

But like as a reaction, but it's like, oh yeah, they're about to like crash into manure. They are, they are I love that where was the Dark Browns like 1.21 jigga watch and he's like running around the house like what was I thinking?

SPEAKER_00:

It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And no. I also like that he like dreamed of the of the uh the flux capacitor. Yeah, the flux capacitor, yeah. Like he dreamed of it when he was in the bathroom and like hit his head and everything, and then like Marty like goes back to that time. It's so awesome. Like, like you said, they were pretty good when it came to the time stuff, you know, and when you think about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you think he called it the flux capacitor because he accidentally flushed the toilet? Like flux flush when he hit his head on the toilet.

SPEAKER_02:

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that works. I don't know. I just made that up on the spot. But food for thought, eh? I love the whole bit in the beginning with the Libyans. It's just like there's just like a random group of Libyan terrorists who were stealing nuclear weapons or just plutonium.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that he like ripped off.

SPEAKER_00:

He ripped them off. And they're just they're just catching up to him in like a VW minivan. I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like the So they're in that parking lot, right? And I I I guess you know, it's a small town and everything, but I love how he's like immediately sees the car and he's like, oh boy, right? Like, like this, this can't be good. And it's uh you know, it couldn't have been someone out going for a burrito late at night or something like that. Like he immediately knew something was up.

SPEAKER_00:

Here's the thing is it possible that at that point Doc had already known that the Libyans were coming because of the causal loop of Marty having written that note to Doc?

SPEAKER_02:

So I always get confused with these, right? Like Terminator as well, right? Like John.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's the same basic premise.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, like what happened first type of thing. So I mean I don't think that he knew the first time.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, so you do you think that this is the first instance moment or whatever you want to call it? Yeah. You think this is like it's not necessarily a chicken and an egg sort of thing. This is the egg that's hatching. Yes, we're watching. This is the first instance of him sending someone back in time and then they change the future. Yeah. I understand what you're saying. Okay. I mean, that's a following.

SPEAKER_02:

The same thing happens in Terminator, right? Like we see John Connor send his you know, lieutenant back, and then the lieutenant impregnates his mom, and then he's born. Like, like, like it happens, like that's the egg moment in that movie. In this movie, this is the egg moment because the second time he has the body armor.

SPEAKER_00:

The xenomorph in his body armor.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So I I think they c I think they very clearly want us to know that this is the egg moment. Got it. Very cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Very cool. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Speaking of very cool, that car looks very cool because apparently time travel, you know, going through the fabric of time is is is just chilling.

SPEAKER_01:

I like Marty's reaction to the time machine. He's like, You built a time machine?

SPEAKER_02:

I have a Dean. And a DeLorean? Yeah. Yeah, it's a really good one.

SPEAKER_01:

He's like, Yeah, if I'm gonna time travel, it um I thought it'd be better to do it in style.

SPEAKER_02:

So apparently they didn't have the DeLorean at first, and the reason they went with DeLorean was because the owner of DeLorean had actually just been in court because he had been like accused of being involved in this cocaine distribution ring or something.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, with a car company like a DeLorean, like the make and model of that vehicle kind of breeds that kind of lifestyle, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, basically he was running out of cash or something, and then basically he went ahead and and did and and uh and got himself involved in some nefarious endeavors and Libyans. That's what yeah, well, so like all jokes aside, they picked a DeLorean because it was like in the news. Like, it's like if the movie was made now, they'd pick they'd pick the uh the stupid Cybertruck, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Like the Cybertruck. Yeah, exactly. I was saying the exact thing, dude. Like nowadays, the DeLorean probably would have succeeded. Like if the DeLorean came out nowadays, it probably would have succeeded. Because yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Yeah, if the movie came out nowadays, like what what car would they use? They would use the Cybertruck because it looks crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Kind of futuristic and weird.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, I really liked some of the characters. I liked all the characters really. I think Michael J. Fox did a great job as Calvin Klein.

SPEAKER_02:

The it's he's just so his uh his inflections. I mean, I I know I I loved him on Family Ties before he got this role, and uh he like plays like this young you know, he plays like kind of the outsider in his family in that movie as well, almost. Uh kind of a little bit He's just so excellent. The just the little things. It doesn't even feel like it's all scripted. Like the I love the scene where they're sitting to dinner with uh his mom's family, and he sees the uh what is it, the not the Ed Sullivan show, uh the Gleasons, and he's like, Oh yeah, this is a classic episode, you know, and they're like, What are you talking about? This is the first one. Or he's talking about like having two TVs in their house.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they're like, What are you talking about? This is brand new. And then yeah, like the two TVs, it's like, oh, you must be rich.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it's and I love it. There's there's uh my favorite, I think probably my favorite line in the movie. I forget exactly how it's like uttered, but he sees the the baby in like the cage, basically. I forgot what the baby's the the cradle, and he's just like, get used to being behind those bars, buddy. Yeah, yeah, his uncle Joey.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, because at the beginning it's a nice throwback because at the beginning of the movie, the mom slams down a cake that was supposed to be the celebratory cake for the Uncle Joey getting out of prison.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a very well-written it's so tight.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like look, as an English teacher, I'll tell you that like Great Gatsby, right? I don't love the characters. I won't even tell you that I love the book, but it's just so tightly well written. Yeah, that it's it's tightly knit. You know, it's so it's it's a pleasure to teach because you can clearly like look grab the strands, like look at the strands. And I think this movie, like they do a really good job to make even like the smallest throwaway things matter, you know, and and I will say that like I you know, like I'm gonna kind of jump the gun here. I'm gonna I recommend go watch the entire thing, it's just fun, you know, it's fun. Like you can you can say I don't like this, and this is a little hokey, whatever, but I man, I think it's really a fun franchise. It calls back on itself a lot and it does it very well. You know, I think it's really well executed. Look, did they have to go to the Wild West? No, no, they didn't, but did I still love it? Yes, I did. I did. It's because I think that Anthony said it very well over an hour ago almost. He said movies don't take chances like this anymore, you know, and it just took a stupid, silly chance. And I even love that the end of the movie is telling you like we're gonna do another one where we're going.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's it's very clear what is being set up.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like you know, at the end. Which is, by the way, um, it's a lie. That's I I feel like they fibblo it. He's like, Oh, it's your kids, Marty, it's your kids. And I'm like, eh.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, so you're you're suggesting that like the what they set up at the end of this movie isn't necessarily what they deal with in the second one.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I think Anthony can can can uh agree with me, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Like it's really like they Well's oh there's a lot that happens in the second one, but that movie actually had uh well so this movie had its 40th anniversary, I think, in July, but they just had like a 40th anniversary re-release in the theaters recently, and the second one ten years ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Probably specifically because it's the the week of November that this film takes place in the 50s.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, that was yeah, it's true. And then the second one takes place October 15th, 2015. Yeah, and so that was 10 years when that date came up ten years ago, like it was pretty big. Um they were talking about the second movie. This film touches on it's a big franchise. They haven't really done much about it, you know, with it recently, but it's still it it holds a lot, man. I mean, you we wouldn't have something shouldn't be touched. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, so yeah, I I agree. You know, we would Brick and Morty wouldn't exist if this series didn't exist, so guys, final thoughts on Back to the Future.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll start with Rich.

SPEAKER_02:

I start to finish in terms of length of the movie, the writing, the effects still holding up. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_00:

We didn't talk about the effects at all. Like when when the DeLorean like hits eighty-eight miles per hour, that's a beautiful effect.

SPEAKER_02:

It's still like I mean, like like Anthony said, the music, right, the casting. I mean, it's so perfect. You can watch it with anyone, you're right, you can watch it with your kids, you can watch it with your parents. It's just a rip-roaring good time. I really can't tell anybody like this. Is if you don't like movies, this is a movie that you're gonna like. I think it pulls in from every aspect. I don't know. For me, it is almost a perfect movie. There's almost nothing you can tell me that would that would dissuade me. I I love this movie, I cherish it, and it's definitely MCU top 6-7.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no more, no more 6-7. What was I gonna say? Yeah, so you you touched on the music, and that's something that I I noticed when I was watching this. Alan Silvestri did such a good job with this. It's basically, in my opinion, one of the closest times he comes to like John Williams' level of just like composing genius. Some of the big like swells that are so epic, and it just you feel like you're on a time-turning adventure, but then like it's the little stuff too. That you whenever something changes, like in the future.

SPEAKER_01:

The sound cues, I love them.

SPEAKER_00:

When something changes in the future, you hear the it's almost like a little jingle in the background, and and you could tell like something's different now, and it's like, oh, this is cool. Just doing stuff like that is so genius. I love that. Um, guys, yeah, I also really enjoyed this movie. I would probably put it right right underneath the Avengers in terms of no, I would put it above the Avengers, in terms of like top Alan Silvestri scores for me. He actually did score the the Avengers, guys. I'm I'm not I'm not joking. This isn't this isn't me making an MCU top movie. No, no, no. But it is in my top five MCU films too.

SPEAKER_01:

I you know, I I I I score this above Loki in uh multiverse films, you know. But yeah, no, I it do Back to the Future, such a good time. Really, it really is a as rich as Rip Roaring good time. It it's always like always revisit it from time to time. And and like I'll watch the entire trilogy when I do. And that's exactly what I did, you know, this time around. And it it's the second one, it dude, it it does it go it has callbacks to the first movie. It it's it's a good time, Dakota. You need uh to go and watch the second and third films. Dakota it's time for you to do it.

SPEAKER_02:

So as a uh Florida guy, right, I just want you to know that in Back to the Future 2, there is a reference to the World Series being between Chicago and Miami. And as you may know, as a Florida resident, the Marlins started their franchise, the Florida Marlins, in 1993. Well, at some point, the Florida Marlins changed their name to the Miami Marlins, and we got one step closer because technically Miami can't play Chicago, the Cubs, right, in the World Series because they're in the National League. But I'm telling you, man, we keep getting closer to somehow like that.

SPEAKER_00:

They're gonna change over to the American League or something.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, oh my I'm telling you, like, like when you know Anthony was talking about uh 2015 and when the day came, dude, I was so excited that day. Like I was like, November 5th, 2015! I'm like, we're here!

SPEAKER_00:

Like, you know, we did it, we made it. Guys, thank you so much for listening to us here for our 141th one our 141th episode of Project Geekology. I'm just gonna roll with that. Uh, we we enjoyed it, we had a good time talking back to the future. Guys, if you want to check out any of our socials, be sure to click down into our show notes and and you can find us wherever you know we uh jabber on online. Uh, but please, please, I cannot stress this enough. Please be sure to give us a juicy five star review. I think that's the most important aspect of you engaging with our podcast at this very moment. Uh because if you don't, there may not be a 140 second episode. Food for thought.

SPEAKER_01:

Food for thought.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks, guys. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye.

SPEAKER_00:

Long live the timeline, guys.

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