There are so few classics these days that are left almost entirely untouched by Hollywood, but perhaps one of the best isBack to the Future. From the minds ofRobert ZemeckisandBob Gale,Back to the Futurefollows the time-traveling adventures of a young Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) as he’s transported from his home in 1985 to 1955 due to the invention of his friend Doctor Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd). The first film was so popular that it spawned a trilogy that sent Marty to the future, the past, and into an alternate version of his home time.TheBack to the Futuretrilogy is still one of the best in the movie business, but what if there was another adventure that brought Marty and Doc Brown back together?Well, that’s whereBack to the Future: The Gamecomes in, and it’s a story well worth revisiting if you’re a fan of the original films.
Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
A Traditional ‘Back to the Future Part IV’ Will Never Happen
From the get-go,Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have always said that there would never be a fourthBack to the Future. The story had never gone further than a trilogy, and the screenwriters had no intention of following Marty any further into his now-unknown future. In fact, the pair were so certain that there would not be another film that they proudly displayed anti-Back to the Future Part IVshirts at a trilogy screening in May 1990. “[Robert Zemeckis] and I had one or two fanciful conversations about it,” Gale toldThe Telltale Blogback in 2010. “But once Michael J. Fox revealed he had Parkinson’s disease we never discussed it again.” The screenwriter revealed that the pair had not only never planned a fourth adventure, but without the involvement of Fox, they were adamantly opposed to it. “To make aBTTFfilm without him would just be, well, wrong,” he concluded, sentiments he echoedwhen talking with The Collider Podcast in 2020.
“There will never, ever be, in the most absolutely way, aBack to the Future 4,” Zemeckis himself expressed(viaComicBook). “There will be no moreBack to the Future.” Of course, that hasn’t stopped otherBTTFcontinuations from happening every so often. There wasa short-livedBack to the Futureanimated seriesin the early ’90s that continued Doc’s adventures with Marty and his family followingBack to the Future Part III. There’s alsoChristopher Lloyd’s cameo inA Million Ways to Die in the Westas a Wild West Doc Brown, followed a few years later by the 2015 short film,Doc Brown Saves the World. And that’s not to mention all the other commercials, cameos, andBack to the Future: The Ride, all of which continue the adventure in a new format. There are even quite a fewBack to the Futurecomic books out there (more on those in a second). But despite all of that, there will never be a direct sequel made.
God willing, there will never be a reboot either, at least not quite for some time. ThoughBack to the Future Part IIdidn’t get everything rightabout the then-future world of 2015, it did get more than a few things “sort of right,” in the same way thatStar Trekinadvertently predicted the future. Nevertheless, the hopeful and optimistic look at a potential future world gives theBack to the Futureseries character, especially when we see that any small change in the past can affect said future drastically. Who knows, maybe it’s Marty and Doc’s fault that we don’t have real hoverboards and flying cars and portable nuclear fusion devices already…
‘Back to the Future: The Game’ Continues the Story in a Creative Way
Although there will never be a real, live-actionBack to the Future Part IV, the closest thing we ever got came from Telltale Games before the company shut down in 2018. In 2010, the first of fiveBack to the Future: The Game"episodes" was dropped by Telltale (though they were later collected as a complete game), and fans were immediately transported to 1986 and thrust back into one of the best time-travel adventures.Though Michael J. Fox couldn’t commit to voicing Marty McFly for the entirety of the production, A.J. LocCascio does a phenomenal job with the characterand works wonders opposite Christopher Lloyd, who does return as Doc Brown. Of course, Fox returns for a cameo voicing Marty’s ancestor as well as surprise future versions of Marty, so it’s not like he isn’t involved. “There’s never gonna be aBack to the Future Part IV,” Bob Galerevealed inThe Game’s re-release trailer, coinciding with the original film’s 30th anniversary. “ButTelltale’sBack to the Futuregame is pretty close to what aPart IVcould be.”
The crew behind the video game continuation were smart to include Bob Gale in their efforts to break the story. The filmmaker worked closely with Telltale’s writing staff, includingMike Stemmle,Andy Hartzell, andJD Straw, to craft a narrative that fit into theBTTFtimeline, and didn’t mess with anything they’d already done in the films. Not only did he have some compelling ideas for what Marty and Doc could be up to next, but he actually pulled directly from his and Robert Zemeckis' original plans forBack to the Future Part II. “There were things we discussed for [Part II] which we didn’t use thathavemade it into the game,” Gale explained ahead ofThe Game’s release (viaThe Telltale Blog). “These involved exploring the history of Doc’s family. . . .going back to the days of Prohibition in which Biff’s ancestor would be a bootlegger, and a visit to the 1960s.” As cool as that all would’ve been inPart II, it works much better within the context of its own story.
The Gameitself follows Martya year after the trilogy endedas he’s thrust back into the time-streamafter a DeLorean mysteriously appearswith a note from Doc Brown, who has once again gotten himself into trouble in the past. Marty travels to the 1930s to help rescue his friend, but in doing so, inadvertently changes the future… Again. Naturally, as Doc and Marty meddle some more, Hill Valley transforms into a totalitarian dictatorship, ruled by a completely misguided version of Doc Brown himself, now called “Citizen Brown.” Without spoiling too much of it, the game is “an absolute dream.” Not only do Doc and Marty still feel exactly like the same characters we said goodbye to at the end ofPart III, but evenClaudia Wellsreturns as the original Jennifer Parker, which is a delight. The adventure is a non-stop thrill, and doesn’t let up until the very end, which ends in a similar fashion to the original film.As a solid conclusion to theBack to the Futuresaga, this one is a must-play for fans of the original films, if not just because it’s so dang fun.
‘The Game’ Was So Popular, It Was Adapted as a Comic Book
Evidently,Back to the Future: The Gamewas so well-received, that Bob Gale convinced IDW (who held the comic book rights to the franchise at the time) to publish a comic book adaptation of the game’s events titledBack to the Future: Citizen Brown. This five-issue series retells the events of the game and continues the tradition of multiple timelines. “I convinced IDW to go back in time with me to correct a few mistakes we made the first time around,” Gale wrote in the introduction to the collected edition, “as well as to set up some things that pay off cleverly in trueBTTFstyle.“Gale also mentions thatCitizen BrownandThe Gameare both “canon” in the same way thatany time-travel adventurecould technically be canon, though he’s stated elsewhere that only the films are official through and through. AlthoughCitizen Brownends slightly differently thanThe Game, it’s a solid (albeit abridged) adaptation of the events.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the onlyBack to the Futurecomic book adventure that Gale would have a hand in. He was involved in IDW’s plans from the get-go, and, in true Doc Brown fashion, Gale alsorevisited the events ofPart IIIwithBack to the Future: Tales from the Time Train, which chronicles the adventures of Doc, Clara (Mary Steenburgen), Einstein, and their children before they visit Marty in 1985. The wayPart IIIends, Doc reveals that he’s already been to the future, and for Gale, the most important part of an ongoingBack to the Futurecomic book series was answering all the questions fans had for years. “We’ve had people write in for years with unanswered questions they had from watching the movies,” Gale once toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “For example, how did Marty and Doc Brown meet? Why did Doc Brown’s house burn down? These were things, to me, that were good ideas to do stories about, things that fans wanted to know about.” Though IDW is no longer publishingBack to the Futurecomics,Gale’s steady hand on the franchise has always helped it remain relevant and consistent, even all these years later.
‘Back to the Future’ Should Remain Untouched Forever
If recent years of sub-par remakes and legacy sequels have made anything clear, it’s thatBack to the Futureis better left alone. Unlike properties likeGhostbusters,The Karate Kid, orTop Gunwhere that concept can be successful,BTTFis very much its own, self-sustaining production that doesn’t need to move forward. A distinct product of its time,Back to the Futureis still so belovedbecauseof the ’80s quirks inserted throughout it as well as the idealized look at the past.Back to the Future: The Gamefollows those very same rules, and excels at keeping the lead characters (and the world around them) true to who they’ve always been. Even in adding new characters, such as Edna Strickland,The Game(and the subsequent comic book adaptation) manages to do right by the trilogy, serving as a complementary piece rather than a traditional legacy sequel.
While some have hoped for a reboot toBack to the Future, one that would follow a contemporary hero who travels back in time (likely to the ’80s now rather than the ’50s), it’s clear that some things are better off left alone. As Bob Gale once noted,Back to the Futureworksbecause of the unique pairing of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, and this is perhapsthe exact reason thatEric Stoltzdidn’t quite make the cut. Without this trademark chemistry,Back to the Futureis nothing but a brand set to be exploited by the wrong types of Hollywood ideals. Thankfully, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have safeguarded the franchise, and continue to oversee any new additions to the timeline.
TheBack to the Futuretrilogy is now available for streaming on Netflix.
Watch on Netflix
