The mystery of Lithium Mode in ‘Back to the Future Part II’
A recurring problem with many modern-day franchises is that they feel compelled to painstakingly explain the minutiae of their mythology in explicit detail, which was never something the seminal Back to the Future trilogy concerned itself with.
Director Robert Zemeckis and writing partner Bob Gale – the dual-pronged Roberts who concocted a classic that no studio seemed interested in making at all until Steven Spielberg got involved – were happy to let their storytelling doing the talking, actively avoiding any need to spell out what these various technologies were, how they worked, and what it all meant in the grand scheme of things.
These days, there would be an exposition-heavy sequence where Character A lays out to Character B what the MacGuffin is for, what makes it so special, and why it will no doubt come in useful either later in the movie or in a signposted sequel. Marty McFly and Doc Brown? Not interested, to the point nobody bats an eyelid when he mispronounces gigawatt as ‘jiggawatt’. Science and accuracy be damned, it’s all about entertainment, which is something the trio of films delivered in spades.
Still, that hasn’t prevented Back to the Future devotees from obsessing over ‘Lithium Mode’, which is mentioned in Part II. In the unimaginable future of 2015, Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly enters his home packed wall-to-wall with cutting-edge technologies, pushes a button, and a disembodied voice responds by saying, “Lithium Mode on”.
Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries for electrical doodahs, including mobile phones, computers, cameras, and latterly vehicles, while non-rechargeable lithium devices can be found in pacemakers, toys, and timepieces. Does that mean Back to the Future‘s version of 2015 runs the majority of its mod cons on lithium batteries? It makes sense, but screenwriter Gale has a much funnier explanation.
Discussing the widely-heralded predictive abilities of the Back to the Future saga, the co-creator knew that aiming for accuracy was a fool’s errand, “so we thought we’d make it entertaining and riff on already-established technology.” However, when the conversation turned to the elephant room, he posed an entirely rhetorical question to Under the Radar.
“When he walks into the house and you hear a voice say, ‘Lithium Mode on’. What the hell does that mean? I don’t know! We just said, ‘Ok, yeah, let’s do that.'” Not to burst any bubbles for those hoping to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, then, but not only does Gale have no clue what it’s supposed to mean, but he never intended it to make much sense, either.
At the end of the day, he and Zemeckis operated under the mantra of “if you show people living that way, the audience will go with it,” which they did. However, such is the way of the world, Back to the Future fans have spent decades concocting their own theories on the mystery of Lithium Mode, only for the guy who helped come up with the entire franchise to admit that it’s nonsensical jargon.
