This special Tuesday/Wednesday Edition of Geek Movie Reviews is brought to you by my crappy ISP. Want to lose you internet connection for an entire day? Then go ahead and choose *********. They’ll let you down, guaranteed. (NOTE: Number of asterisks not indicative of the actual name of my ISP.) While you wait, how about some spoilers?

So, where were we? Oh, right…Back to the Future, Part II. Where we’re going we don’t need roads, and all that jazz, BttF II picks up at the end of the first movie, with Doc, Marty, and his girlfriend Jennifer climbing aboard the now flying DeLorean, heading towards 2015 with the intent of saving Marty and Jennifer’s children. However, Jennifer quickly gets knocked out, with Doc explaining that she was merely brought along because he didn’t want to leave her with such sensitive information such as the existence of a time-traveling DeLorean. Unfortunately, they were unaware that Biff, who, in the new timeline created by the events of the first film, works in auto-detailing and seems to be hanging around the McFlys, witnessed the DeLorean fly off into 2015 (that’s right, the car flies now).

The second film, and subsequently the third, weren’t as well received as the first, but then again, the first film was never intended to be followed by a sequel, evident by the absence of Crispin Glover, who played George McFly in the first film. With him not returning, any scenes in which George McFly was needed were filled by a virtual unknown and the shots were intentionally obstructed or unfocused, along with situations such as in the 2015 segment of the film, where George is hanging upside on some anti-gravity device due to a back accident. Part of the story, in fact, is that history has been altered in some form, Biff has become rich and powerful, and George McFly is dead. This was something that was brought about due to Glover’s refusal to return not wanting to do sequels and not getting the offer he wanted (supposedly, he wanted the same salary is Michael J. Fox).

Sorry Marty...your Dad wanted more money so we had to kill him. No hard feelings?

Personally, BttF II is my favorite of the trilogy. Something about how the story of the film intertwines with the events of the first film, as well as the darker tone of the film just automatically wins it a place in my heart. Still, the first act of the film isn’t my absolute favorite, taking place in a highly exaggerated 2015 with flying cars, digital currency linked to your own thumbprint. It’s meant to be one big joke more than anything. And, while funny, the true story doesn’t kick in until the second act, when Doc, Marty, and Jeniffer return to 1985. That said, the first act does set up the plot for the following two acts of the film, as well as plant the seeds for Marty’s character development. In fact, while the first film was more about his parents, BttF II is more about Marty himself. Throughout the course of the film, we wind up learning more about his character traits, including a critical character flaw in which he can pretty much be forced to prove himself if someone so much as call him a chicken, something that gets him into big trouble in the following two films. Marty was already shown to have a temper in the first film, but BttF II shows that the issue is something far bigger than just a bad temper. Also, possibly as a result of the first film, Marty is far more confident in himself, even to the point of being a bit cocky.

When the film begins, Doc and the others arrive in 2015, with Doc explaining that Marty’s son, Marty Jr. got involved in a robbery with Biff’s grandson Griff and got sent to prison for 15 years, with his sister Marlene attempting to break him out and getting hit with a 20 year sentence. Doc’s plan is to stop Marty Jr. from going with Griff to the robbery and therefore changing future history. Marty is essential to his plan, taking the place of Marty Jr., who is the spitting image of his father, although he’s a big wimp and sounds very whiny. At the end of it all, the event is nothing more than a time experiment for Doc. Marty, however, sees a moneymaking opportunity, finding a vintage sports almanac that he plans to use to place bets when he returns to the present. When Doc scolds him and throws the book away, an old Biff appears, having followed the two after seeing what he believed to be two Marty Juniors and attempts to steal the time machine, picking up the almanac that Doc through away. After an altercation in which Jennifer is sent to Marty’s future home, Doc and Marty return home, only to find themselves in a horribly altered 1985, dubbed by Doc as 1985A.

Marty (dressed as Marty Jr.) talking with Biff and Griff, both played by Thomas F. Wilson.

Now, George McFly is dead, Biff Tannen is a rich, corrupt owner of his own corporation who has the entire city in his pocket and the husband to widow Lorraine McFly, making him Marty’s step father. Biff is abusive and ruthless, much different than he was at the beginning of the film, at one point, going so far as to try to kill Marty when he inquires about the almanac which Old Biff traveled back in time to give himself, setting into motion the events that triggered this new timeline. Realizing Biff killed his father and finding out exactly when Young Biff received the book, Marty and Doc reunite, punch in their coordinates to the time circuits and speed off towards November 12, 1955. That’s right, the date of the Hill Valley lightning storm in which lightning struck the courthouse clock tower and sent Marty back to 1985 at the climax of the first film.

The third act of the film revolves around Marty stalking Biff, attempting to retrieve the almanac after witnessing the meeting between Old Biff and Young Biff. The situation leads him back into the events of the first film, with Marty risking running into himself at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in order to retrieve the book from Biff. After many foiled attempts, including one foiled by his past self, Marty manages to burn the almanac, thus correcting the timeline. Unfortunately, lightning strikes the DeLorean with Doc still in it, leaving Marty stranded in 1955. Luckily for him, a letter from 1885 that was left with very specific delivery instructions is delivered to Marty, revealing that Doc survived the lightning strike, having been transported to 1885. Rushing off towards the courthouse, Marty confronts the 1955 version of Doc who just finished sending the other Marty back to 1985, thus ending the film.

"You did send me back to the future. But I'm back. I'm back FROM the future!"

As I said before, one of my favorite things about the film, aside from the darker tone of the film as compared to the first, is the fact that the film intermixes with the events in the first film. It adds a new dimension to the first film, seeing many of the events, including reliving the moment where George knocks out Biff, from a different point of view. Sure, we’re still seeing the events from Marty’s eyes, but this is a different Marty, a bit older, slightly wiser, though I use the term “wiser” loosely. Maybe it wasn’t as well received as the first, but seriously, the attention to detail that was used in recreating certain events (not everything was done by using archived footage from the first film), is certainly worth watching in and of itself…if you’re a film student that is. Doc and Marty’s friendship is as tight-knit as ever, especially given the events of the first film. And both Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox definitely do not disappoint, with Lloyd’s delivery of Doc’s dialogue as hilarious as ever.

Next week, we hit the old west for the resolution of the trilogy with Back to the Future, Part III.

Fun Facts: Crispin Glover wasn’t the only cast member replaced. Claudia Wells, who played Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer, was replaced by Elizabeth Shue after she had to pull out of the film for personal reasons. Wells would not return to Hollywood for 10 years.

A young Elijah Wood can be seen in the Café 80s in 2015, expressing disappointment at the Wild Gunman arcade cabinet for having to use his hands to play it.

Flea, from Red Hot Chili Peppers, appears as Douglas J. Needles, 47 year-old Marty’s coworker. He would later reprise this role at the end of BttF III.

The hoverboard Marty gets in the future was thought to have been real after a joke director Robert Zemeckis made about them actually existing and that they weren’t available in stores due to mothers worrying about safety issues.

Crispin Glover wound up suing Universal after they used archived footage of him from the first film without his consent.

Doc having gone through a rejuvenation clinic in the future was done in order to have Christopher Lloyd avoid having to go through a lengthy make up process to make him look older than his 1955 counterpart, especially since the 1985 version of Doc played such a huge role in the film.

In a Deleted Scene from the film, Old Biff is shown fading just as Marty almost did in the first film after returning to 2015. It’s implied that he changed the past so drastically that he was no longer alive in 2015. In fact, Zemeckis explained on the DVD that sometime in 1996, Lorraine shot Biff, possibly finding out that he murdered her husband George.

An earlier version of the script, before it was expanded and split into two films, had the DeLorean taking damage over the course of the film to the extent that Marty and Doc had to fly into an array of power lines over the Grand Canyon to generate enough power to get to 1985. The idea could be seen as a precursor to the DeLorean being struck by lightning, which sent Doc to 1885, setting the stage for BttF III.

BttF II and III were filmed back to back, with only a few weeks downtime in between. In fact, BttF II ended with a teaser trailer for the final film, which was released 7 months later.

(From Left to Right) Marty Jr., 47 Year-Old Marty, and Marlene sit around to eat pizza, all three played by Michael J. Fox.

In the above scene, which takes place in 2015 where Marty’s future family is having dinner, Old Marty, Marty Jr., and Marlene are all in the same shot, and all played by Michael J. Fox.