It’s the second time I’ve seen the first BTTF on the big screen, but only the first that’s not been off a DVD. The one tiny tiny tiny tiny little criticism I had was that it didn’t seem that the sound had been given as much restorative/enhancing attention as the digital transfer of the picture. Back To The Future has some of the best and, in places, most subtle sound design around. From all the different 1950’s references popping up around Hill Valley through adverts, megaphones, conversations, and jukeboxes…through to Silvestri’s bombastic soundtrack…right the way to my favourite of all film/sound moments – the disappearing hand in the mid-8 of Earth Angel.

You know the bit…everything is going well and Marty is there strumming the chords…”This is for all you lovers out there”…George and Lorraine are dancing and then the annoying guy comes over and pushes George away. Discordant strums begin. Marvin Berry looks a little concerned. Marty looks at the photograph in the headstock of his guitar and sees his brother and sister have disappeared and that he’s next and…oh no….HE CAN SEE THROUGH HIS HAND. This is it. After all that effort it’s all over. And you didn’t even notice that while Marvin is supposed to be singing, “I fell for you, and I knew the vision of your loveliness”, instead the orchestra is going crazily, threateningly, terrifyingly all over the place but then George realises he’s just grown balls and the music all but disappears until he says, “Excuse me” and pushes the guy aside and part of the main theme build-up comes in and then stops as if teetering over a cliff and then George reaches in for a kiss and then you hear it…in the background…”I’ll be the vision of your happiness, Whoah whoah whoah” AND THEN THE WHOLE ORCHESTRA COMES IN and Marty can play the guitar again and everything accompanies that final chorus of Earth Angel…

Holy Smokes.

While writing that I got a massive Proustian rush. My heart rate is still going a bit mad.

It is without a doubt the finest marriage of story, picture, performance, soundtrack, sound design, and song. Something to aspire to. So it would’ve been the icing on the cake for them to really go to town on it…although it was still an amazing experience. Here’s the bit I’m on about…sound without image…

If they can’t dance they can’t kiss and I’m history

I need to calm down. How about these posters by Jamie Bolton that I got sent this morning. Very minimal…very calming…

For one thing, Doc never got to set the clock, so we couldn’t have seen it in the film. That’s why Marty ends up back in time, on the “red letter date” of November 5th 1955 (the day Doc Brown hits his head on the toilet and wakes up with the vision of the Flux Capacitor).

Here’s Doc saying how far he’s going into the future:

See there. Twenty Five Years To Be Exact. Damn straight. But…

Presuming he was going exactly twenty-five years into the future (can we presume that though, can we really?) he would have gone to October 26th. Check it:

That’s from when Einstein (the dog) went one minute into the future. Oh, and even at the end when Doc does go to the future, he’s heading for “about thirty years” which could mean anything. See you there though…

So…right year, wrong date. Fucking cool though. Hopefully I won’t get sued for using these pictures…and if I do, maybe I can pay the legal fees by doing paid public speaking on Why It Might Be Necessary To Ignore The Opening Of Back To The Future Part II In Order To Fully Enjoy The Sequels, And Why In Doing So You’ll Enjoy Them More, You’ll Even Enjoy ZZ Top’s Appearance In Part III When They Were Allowed To Keep Their Twirly Guitars When Huey Lewis Wasn’t Allowed To Keep His Mullet.

“Run For It Marty!”

“Marty! I didn’t invent the time machine for financial gain. The intent here is to gain a clearer perception of humanity – where we’re going, where we’ve been, the pitfalls and the possibilities, the perils and the promise. Perhaps even an answer to that universal question: ‘Why?’”
- Dr. Emmett L. Brown, Back To The Future II, 2015