The two sci-fi stories with the biggest influence on ‘Back to the Future’
“88 miles per hour!” “Your kids are gonna love it!” “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” These are just some of the myriad of quotes that can be found in one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made: the unconquerable Michael J Fox movie Back to the Future.
Released in 1985 by director Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future sends hapless teenager Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) 30 years back in time, thanks to a special DeLorean built by the eccentric Dr Emmet Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Not only must he find a way back to his present, but he’s also got to get his parents together, defeat a bully, and accidentally invent the concept of rock ‘n’ roll.
Back to the Future, which spawned two sequels, is such a touchstone of culture that it’s hard to imagine it never existing. And yet, there was a time when its creators had to draw on their own influences to put it together. That’s exactly what co-writer and producer Bob Gale talked to HeyUGuys about when the movie was re-released on Blu-Ray back in 2010.
The interviewer pointed out to Gale how much the first film felt like The Twilight Zone, to which he replied, “Oh, Bob Zemeckis and I were both huge Twilight Zone fans. That experience you had watching Back to the Future when you were a kid, I was having those kinds of experiences watching The Twilight Zone every week and Zemeckis too.” Another story that Gale says played a big part in inspiring the movie was The Time Machine, a 1960 movie by George Pal inspired by H. G. Wells’ classic novella. “I was a huge science fiction fan,” the producer admitted.” “So, it’s really cool for me to hear from people who say that my work did for them what The Twilight Zone or what Ray Bradbury or Robert Heinlein did for me.”
If you look closely, you can spot these influences all over Back to the Future. For example, the colour scheme on the DeLorean’s dashboard is exactly the same as the titular device in The Time Machine. Also, in an early version of the script, Marty name-drops The Twilight Zone in the scene where he convinces his father that he’s “Darth Vader from the Planet Vulcan”.
Gale was also asked how excited he was about his creation returning in a new format. “I tell you,” he said. “I saw the movie projected eight days ago and it looks so good, so much better than it did in 1985.” Well, you’d hope so, what with 25 years of technological advancements and all. “When they did the remastering for the Blu-Ray they spent over 400 hours doing dirt cleanup, and almost another 200 hours doing colour correction,” he continued. “So the movie looks better than it ever did. You have the print going through the projector, it picks up dirt, gets scratched and with the digital technology these guys fixed almost all of that stuff, and it just looks breathtaking.”
In addition to being involved in the three movies, Gale also served as executive producer for the Back to the Future animated series, which ran between 1991 and 1992. Christopher Lloyd returned to voice Doc Brown, and each episode featured a live-action appearance from Bill Nye, who would explain the real-life science.
