The other week I was wondering around my local MVC store as you do when you’ve completed your entire Christmas buying spree and you’re looking for something for yourself! I was at the ‘something’s bound to inspire me soon’ stage when I spied, in a passing customers’ arms something that instantly grabbed my attention and made me instantly forget how tedious all shops can be in the run up to Christmas. I looked around me, now studying the shelves carefully until I spotted a display near the door… Back To The Future Box Sets. Ok not everyone’s idea of heaven but to own this trilogy has been on my wish list for years. “Aha” thinks little old me to myself, “the perfect gift for ME for Chrimbo”. I take my newly found goodies to the counter, part with GBP 27.99 and it’s MINE.

For those of you who have never seen these films (IS there anyone out there who hasn’t?) I’m going to give a brief rundown of the basic plotline for each one, although as they are a trilogy they do all follow the same theme.

~PART ONE on Disk One~

The year is 1985. Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) is friends with an eccentric scientist by the name of Doctor Emmet Brown (Christopher Lloyd). After years of slightly odd inventions the Doc has finally managed to make something that works…a time machine. But this is no ordinary creation; it’s made from a DeLorean car and runs on plutonium (that he borrowed from some slightly peeved terrorists)!! Trying to escape these mildly irritated lunatics, Marty accidentally passes through the magic 88mph mark, which triggers the time travel circuits and catapults him back to 1955.
Back in the past he encounters his Mum and Dad as teenagers, which causes all sorts of horrendous space-time-continuum effects because his Mum falls in love with HIM and not his Dad. Marty, with the help of Doc Brown of the past has to put things right and back to how they should have happened before Marty himself is obliterated from history; he has to deal with the school bully Biff and then figure out how to get the DeLorian back to the future as plutonium is a tad bit scarce in 1955..

~PART TWO on Disk Two~

Again this starts in 1985 although only for the briefest of minutes. At the end of Part one we see the Doc heading off into the future. At the beginning of Part Two he’s back from 2015 (and now the car can fly!) to collect Marty because ‘something just has to be done about his kids’! The Doc has time travelled to a point where Marty’s son makes a huge law-breaking mistake and basically the whole family disintegrates. The plan is to alter history so that doesn’t happen so the ‘future’ is safe. Unfortunately for them, their attempts at tweaking time backfire on them (or rather Marty’s idea to cheat at the bookies is a catastrophic mistake) and when they return to 1985 it isn’t the SAME as when they left. This 1985 is a hellish society where bully Biff is Marty’s Dad and so rich he owns literally everything…
The only chance to put things right again is to re-visit 1955. But of course that creates a terrible risk. The Doc’s past self is of course there, as is Marty’s time-travelling self. Running into their respective other time travelling selves would create a time paradox and blow the entire universe apart…

~PART THREE on Disk Three~

Marty is stuck in 1955 and the Doc is gone; blown quite literally all the way back to 1885 when the DeLorean was struck by lightening. He has had a message saved for Marty to tell him not to try and find him, that he’s quite happy where he is and gives Marty instructions as to where he’s hidden the car so that he can get back to the future and then DESTROY it as the Doc wants. Unluckily the Doc is also scheduled by old father time to DIE in the past. Well what would you do?!!!
When Marty arrives back in 1885 he finds the Doc is working as a blacksmith but still inventing, he’s managed to create a monstrosity of a machine that…makes ice cubes! Before the boys can make good their escape they save the town’s new teacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) from a rather nasty bottom-of-a-ravine-splat type accident and the Doc is smitten. He now doesn’t want to leave his beloved Clara behind, but that’s the very least of their problems. This is 1885, the DeLorian is out of petrol, the lightening strike wiped out the flying circuits so how the heck are they going to get it up to the required 88mph to enable time-travel??

~DVD EXTRA FEATURES~

All three disks come packed with extra features, the packaging reliably informs me that there’s over FIVE hours worth. However not every feature is on each disk, so I’ll point out which feature is on which disk as I go along…

THE MAKING OF BACK TO THE FUTURE is an interesting little documentary on DISK ONE ONLY showing how what turned out to be Part One was made. You see, part one was originally envisaged to be the only one, parts two and three didn’t come along for some years. This featurette shows how the special effects were created and then put into the film, which appealed to me given the age of the film and technology back then!

The BACK TO THE FUTURE FEATURETTE is on both DISKS TWO and THREE. It’s basically the same as the previous one, only shows how parts two and three were constructed. Once the decision had been made to turn Back to the Future into a trilogy, both parts were made with only a couple of weeks break between the two.

MAKING THE TRILOGY has interviews with the cast and crew. Interesting to hear from the various actors how they perceived the characters they played. This has been split into three parts so it covers ALL THREE disks.

There is of course the obligatory FEATURE COMMENTARY that allows you to watch the film with comments from the director (Robert Zemeckis). I say ‘film’ because unfortunately this is only available on PART ONE (and therefore disk one).

OUTAKES and DELETED SCENES feature on ALL THREE disks. Always funny to watch the famous mess their lines up and Christopher Lloyd does feature quite heavily in most of the outtakes. The amount of outtakes/deleted scenes is different for each film, for example there are hardly any outtakes for Part Two, but I think only one deleted scene for Part Three, proving that they almost got that one right first time round!

The PRODUCTION ARCHIVES show all the original storyboards and pre-production stuff and allow you to see how the films were conceived right from the outset. This is on ALL THREE DISKS. The STORYBOARD TO FINAL PRODUCTION featurettes (again on all THREE DISKS) show how the various storyboards changed from initial thoughts through to final production.

The HOVER BOARD TESTS feature is only a few minutes long but shows how the hover board concept was created and filmed. This is on DISK TWO only.

The ZZ Top video DOUBLEBACK is available to watch on DISK THREE as the song was featured in this particular film.

~MY THOUGHTS~

Despite Part One now being almost twenty years old (it was made in 1985); all three films really do seem to be standing the test of time. The concept of making a film about time travel wasn’t new even back then, but these movies have been made in an imaginative, creative and hilarious manner. What could have been a very confusing concept (repeated journeys to the same place) has been made into a very enjoyable and simple affair, which can’t have been easy to pull off.

In my mind Christopher Lloyd is the one actor who turns the Back to the Future trilogy from a great set of films into an EXCELLENT trilogy. His face is so expressive I’m sure he could have cut out most of his dialogue and you’d still understand exactly what he meant! His faces especially near the end of Part One never fail to make me howl with laughter and I must have seen that particular film almost into triple figures by now…

The three films, although not originally intended to be a trilogy all ‘hang’ together extremely well and all have certain consistent elements which tie them all in together very nicely. The skateboard theme is constant as is Marty’s dislike for being called a ‘chicken’ (which is one cause of a lot of their problems..) The DeLorean’s unreliability as a car let alone a time machine is as consistent as Biff’s attraction to poop!

In these films Michael J Fox shows his versatility as an actor by playing not only Marty McFly but many of his relatives both in the pat and the present; including his own daughter! Believe me, the site of him wearing a skirt, once seen is NEVER forgotten…not even if you want to!

In short, these films are in my humble opinion still right up there amongst the best in this genre. The comedy is both hilarious and gentle with elements for an audience of all ages. Each film of course stands alone so it’s not necessary to have to watch all three together although it is a really lazy way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

The extra features are a perfect way to enhance each film and it’s really interesting to find out things that you never spotted just from watching the movies through. Even I learnt new things and I’m a BTTF connoisseur! Although time may well have surpassed the special effects used in all three films I have yet to see any film done BETTER than these were. I think this proves that huge budgets and an abundance of computer-generated effects don’t necessarily make a more watchable sci-fi film.

~OTHER INFO~

All three films are rated PG and are all directed by Robert Zemeckis. All are of course available with subtitles in English for the deaf/hard of hearing.

The films are sold together in a folder style DVD wallet with a protective card sleeve 'over' covering. The artwork for the covering sleeve is very distinctive and features the Delorean car with it's fire streaked tracks on a black background. Each disk has an original artwork poster picture on it which is a nice finishing touch.

Part One run time – 111 minutes
Part Two run time – 104 minutes
Part Three run time – 113 minutes