20 Things You Somehow Missed In Back To The Future Part 2
Christopher Lloyd was totally blind while shooting the movie's opening scene.
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00:00 Like the first movie, Back to the Future Part 2 is absolutely crammed with subtle details.
00:05 This is the kind of movie that was made to be rewatched, and rewatch it we have for decades now.
00:11 As such, poring over behind the scenes footage, looking at interviews with the cast and crew,
00:16 and seeing what the fine folks on R Movie Details have picked out over the years, there
00:21 are plenty of things to sink your teeth into that you might not have noticed on the third,
00:27 fourth, or tenth rewatch.
00:29 With that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 20 Things You Probably Missed
00:33 in Back to the Future Part 2.
00:35 Number 20 - Jaws 19 is directed by Steven Spielberg's son, Max.
00:40 At the start of the film, Marty travels back to 2015 with Doc and Jennifer and spies an
00:45 ad for Jaws 19.
00:48 While this gag is fairly obvious and does draw attention to itself, what you might not
00:52 have noticed is the name of the director for the movie, which is Max Spielberg.
00:56 Of course, it doesn't take a genius to deduce the fact that Max Spielberg is one of Steven
01:01 Spielberg's own children, which is exactly the case.
01:05 Max Spielberg is real and he was born in 1985.
01:09 So by 2015, when this portion of the movie takes place, Max Spielberg would have been
01:14 around 30 years old, which is just about the age his father was when he made the first Jaws.
01:20 Number 19 - The "Smoking Required" sign outside Biff's Museum
01:24 Later in the movie, when Marty returns to 1985, it's clear that Biff has remade the
01:29 entire country in his own image.
01:32 There's even a Biff Tannen Museum, which in addition to featuring a creepy waxwork
01:37 of him in the entrance window, has an especially tacky sign for those who wish to come inside.
01:42 The sign says "Smoking Required", which is an obvious joke in and of itself, but it
01:46 gets funnier the longer you think about it because Biff is absolutely the type of dude
01:50 who would insist on someone lighting up a cigarette when they enter one of his buildings.
01:56 Number 18 - The totally insane newspaper stories
01:59 After Marty prevents Marty Jr. from taking part in a robbery in 2015, the USA Today newspaper
02:05 changes its contents to reflect the change in the time.
02:09 However, the rest of the newspaper's wacky stories largely stay the same.
02:14 And these fascinating "blink and you'll miss them" headlines include a gang of thumb
02:18 bandits who are amputating hospital patients' thumbs, a man being killed by litter thrown
02:23 from a hovering car, a Swiss terrorist sect threatening the US, Princess Diana becoming
02:29 Queen Diana, the US having a female president, a baseball pitcher being suspended for using
02:35 a bionic arm, and Jaws 19 being critically panned.
02:39 For something that's only on screen for a handful of seconds, the attention to detail
02:43 here is truly amazing.
02:44 Number 17 - Doc's shirt foreshadows the events of Part 3
02:49 Early on in the movie, we see Doc wearing a shirt with a white, blue, and yellow patterned
02:53 design.
02:54 The shirt, however, actually depicts cowboys on horseback chasing down a train, which is
02:58 very clearly foreshadowing for the events of the western-themed third film where both
03:03 horses and trains play a major part in the narrative.
03:07 But the gag doesn't just end there.
03:09 In fact, in Back to the Future Part 3, Doc actually uses this shirt as a bandana while
03:14 performing a stick-up, though the material's design can only barely be made out through
03:19 the reversed fabric covering Doc's face.
03:22 Number 16 - Rich Biff was inspired by Donald Trump
03:25 It might seem hilariously obvious to us now re-watching this film, but who of us growing
03:31 up watching Back to the Future Part 2 realised the connections between the alternate Biff
03:36 and Donald Trump?
03:38 In a 2015 interview, the film's screenwriter Bob Gale actually confirmed that the comparisons
03:43 were more than deliberate, and he was supposed to be a reflection of how Donald Trump was
03:48 at the time.
03:49 Though Gale could have never anticipated the full extent of Trump's political bearing
03:52 in recent years, the physical resemblance to even an 80s-era Trump does speak for itself.
03:58 Number 15 - Roger Rabbit's cameo in the Antiques Store
04:02 Shortly after Marty's run-in with Jaws 19 in 2015, he runs into an antiques store where
04:07 you can actually see a plushie of Roger Rabbit.
04:10 Now this is significant of course, because the director of this movie, Robert Zemeckis,
04:13 also directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and that film also starred Doc Brown himself,
04:19 Christopher Lloyd.
04:20 And just to put this into context, in a 5 year period, Robert Zemeckis made all three
04:25 Back to the Future movies and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
04:29 That is an insane run of quality.
04:32 Number 14 - Marty Jr and Griff have different eye colours to Marty Sr and Biff
04:38 While Marty Jr and Griff have different clothes and characteristics that separate them from
04:42 their ancestors, director Robert Zemeckis did go one step further to add a subtler visual
04:48 flourish that separated these characters.
04:52 See Marty Jr and Griff both have brown coloured eyes, while Marty Sr and Biff's eyes are
04:57 both blue.
04:58 It's a clever piece of visual shorthand, because even if you don't consciously understand
05:02 that one eye colour is blue and one eye colour is brown, something in your brain recognises
05:08 that there is a difference there.
05:10 Number 13 - A stuntwoman is visibly injured during the hoverboard scene
05:14 As fantastic as the movie's 2015 hoverboard scene is, the moment when Griff and his cronies
05:19 are catapulted out the entrance of the mall wasn't as smooth as you might have expected
05:24 to film.
05:25 In fact, stunt performer Cheryl Wheeler, who played the stunt double of the female member
05:29 of Griff's gang, has recounted in detail that she wasn't convinced at all of the
05:34 stuntman's safety before shooting it, despite receiving assurances from the crew.
05:39 And so, when Wheeler and the other stunt performers were launched towards the mall's giant glass
05:43 window, she went off course and collided with one of the pillars.
05:47 To make matters worse, a cable that had to be disconnected to drop the four performers
05:52 onto a crash mat inside the mall was cut before she made it inside due to this collision,
05:57 causing her to fall roughly 30 feet to the floor below.
06:01 Wheeler was immediately hospitalized due to wounds to her face, hands and arms, but thankfully
06:06 didn't sustain any lasting damage and went on to continue her career as a stunt performer
06:11 very quickly.
06:12 Number 12 - The Last Starfighter's star car makes a cameo
06:16 At the start of the hoverboard scene, keep an eye on one of the futuristic cars just
06:21 parked at the side of the scene, because it might look familiar.
06:25 In fact, this is the star car from 1984's The Last Starfighter, which is the flying
06:29 vehicle owned by the alien Centauri.
06:33 Considering that both movies were produced by Universal Pictures and The Last Starfighter
06:37 was only made a few years prior to Back to the Future Part II, it might just be that
06:41 this prop was left on the lot and when the Back to the Future team came around, they
06:46 were like "this is perfect for this futuristic scene".
06:49 Number 11 - Christopher Lloyd couldn't see through the metal sunglasses
06:53 The film, of course, kicks off with the iconic scene of Doc Brown showing up in Marty's
06:57 front yard to take him on another adventure and, most importantly in this scene, he's
07:03 wearing a pair of silver sunglasses.
07:05 Now these aren't silver and I look less cool than Doc Brown in them, but we do have
07:11 one thing in common.
07:13 Neither me nor Christopher Lloyd could see out of our sunglasses.
07:16 Like I have no idea what's going on, even though there were just like lights at me,
07:21 I don't know.
07:22 So yeah, that's right, hilariously, his sunglasses didn't even work.
07:25 He couldn't see the sun, but also he couldn't see anything else in the scene either and
07:30 effectively had to act blind.
07:32 And watching the scene with this in mind is totally hilarious.
07:36 Lloyd clearly uses the DeLorean to steady himself while running towards Michael J. Fox
07:40 and his eye line doesn't even nearly match up with Fox's face.
07:45 So yeah, knowing this will probably make you appreciate this scene even more.
07:49 Number 10 - Marty's daughter Marlene is played by Michael J. Fox
07:52 While it might seem so obvious as an adult, for those of us who grew up with Back to the
07:57 Future Part 2, it is a mind-blowing revelation when you realise that Marty's daughter Marlene
08:03 is actually played by Michael J. Fox.
08:06 Fox is layered under heaps of makeup to play the part, yet his soft facial features sell
08:10 the transformation into a cute teenager quite fantastically, even though some adult viewers
08:15 might have failed to notice Fox himself in the role.
08:19 Number 9 - Nixon was elected four times and the Vietnam War is still going on in the 1980s
08:25 In Biff's alternate 1985 dystopia, we see an updated version of the Hill Valley Telegraph.
08:31 Among a bunch of other information, this paper also features the incisive headline that says
08:36 that Richard Nixon is looking to pursue a fifth term as president.
08:41 And worse still, it says that he vows to end the Vietnam War by 1985.
08:46 Now considering that in our slightly less terrible reality, Nixon only served one term
08:51 in the office and was gone by 1974 and the Vietnam War ended one year later, this truly
08:58 is a nightmarish scenario.
09:00 Number 8 - George McFly was born on April Fool's Day and died on the Ides of March
09:05 When Marty visits his father George's grave in alternate 1985, notice the dates on his
09:11 headstone.
09:12 It turns out that George was born on April 1st, 1938, April Fool's Day, a rather fitting
09:18 birthday for someone as goofy as George.
09:21 As for his demise, he died on March 15th, 1973 and March 15th is historically known
09:27 as the Ides of March, a date in the Roman calendar for settling debts and also the day
09:32 on which Julius Caesar was assassinated.
09:36 Number 7 - The manned fundraising for the clock tower also appears in 1955
09:41 A minor but memorable character in the film is Terry, a man who asks Marty for a donation
09:46 to help preserve the town's clock tower.
09:49 Now Terry is played by actor Charles Fleischer, who in addition to providing the voice of
09:53 Roger Rabbit was also only in his late 30s when the film was being shot.
09:58 As such, Fleischer was piled under extensive old man makeup to give him the appearance
10:02 of someone much older, as pays off when Fleischer slowly plays the same character in the 1955
10:09 portion of the movie.
10:10 So if you ever wondered why they didn't just cast an older dude as this character
10:13 in the first place, this is your answer.
10:15 In fact, he was supposed to feature in more scenes than this, which gives it an even deeper
10:19 explanation.
10:20 Number 6 - Lorraine's breast implants were foreshadowed
10:23 One of the most low-key horrifying parts of Biff's alternate 1985 reality is not only
10:28 that he killed Marty's father, but also that he took his mother Lorraine as a wife.
10:34 And not only that, but Biff also made her get breast implants.
10:38 What's interesting about this though was that this development was actually foreshadowed
10:42 earlier in the movie.
10:43 In Marty's Home in 2015, the gigantic multi-channel video screen displays an ad for two types
10:49 of futuristic breast implants, those being inflatable and headlights.
10:54 Also when Marty and Doc first arrive in 2015, we can see stacks of unused silicone material
10:59 piled up by the wall, indicating that implants in the future moved away from that outdated
11:04 design.
11:05 Number 5 - Hill Valley Courthouse became a mall because all lawyers were abolished
11:10 One of the first sights that Marty happens upon in 2015 is the Hill Valley Courthouse,
11:15 which is now being transformed into a futuristic mall.
11:19 Hilariously, Doc explains that the United States justice system now issues a verdict
11:23 within two hours of someone's arrest.
11:26 And the reason for this?
11:27 Well, in Doc's own words, quote "The justice system works swiftly in the future now that
11:31 they've abolished all lawyers."
11:33 So this is surely why the courthouse was transformed into a mall with little resistance, because
11:38 who's gonna need a courthouse when lawyers don't exist?
11:42 Number 4 - Laser Discs are in the trash in 2015
11:45 Another hilarious easter egg in the 2015 portion comes from the alleyway that I mentioned earlier
11:50 that housed all of those discarded silicone products, because near them is a bunch of
11:55 discarded laser discs.
11:57 Not laser dicks, which is what I keep saying and have to keep retaking this portion of
12:01 the video because I can't just say laser discs, it's like a Freudian slip.
12:06 Though laser disc failed to pick up mainstream traction after launching in 1978 due to strong
12:10 competition from the cheaper VHS, it was only officially discontinued in 2009.
12:16 In that respect then, the movie was only a few years out.
12:19 Number 3 - The wires holding up the DeLorean are just barely visible
12:22 Now unlike the previously mentioned hovercraft stunt, this was one that went off without
12:27 a hitch.
12:28 Well, mostly.
12:29 In alternate 1985, Marty memorably jumps off the roof of Biff's Hotel Casino to his apparent
12:34 death before landing on the DeLorean being piloted by Doc.
12:38 It's a great moment.
12:39 So great in fact that you probably didn't even notice the wires that are holding up
12:43 the DeLorean in this scene.
12:45 Rather than suspend a real DeLorean in the air, the production created a double out of
12:49 considerably lighter fiberglass, which Christopher Lloyd then sat in and Fox stood atop.
12:55 And just above the left-hand side of the door, for but a few moments, you can actually see
13:01 the fade lines of the wires holding everything together.
13:04 It's a real blink and you'll miss it moment, but once you notice it, you'll never unsee
13:09 it.
13:10 Number 2 - Biff's curious taste in porn
13:13 Now keep an eye on some of the viewing material strewn around Biff's apartment because there
13:18 is a strange theme linking all of his porno videos.
13:23 While Marty talks to Lorraine and takes in everything that's changed, two tapes can
13:27 be seen around the apartment - Black Taboo and Playing With Fire.
13:31 Now they might sound like made up titles just for this movie, but they are in fact, or at
13:36 least my research tells me, I don't know this from first-hand experience, they are
13:41 in fact real porn movies.
13:43 More so than that, again my research tells me, that they both share an incest theme.
13:49 Now this is an interesting choice if you look back on the story of the original Back to
13:53 the Future which had incestuous themes itself because Lorraine fancied her own son unknowingly
13:59 when Marty travelled to the past.
14:01 Number 1 - The 2015 DeLorean has a barcode license plate
14:05 In the 2015 timeline, the DeLorean has a very identifiable, yet easily missed license plate
14:12 change.
14:13 Instead of the usual string of numbers and letters, the plate now contains an identifying
14:17 barcode.
14:18 Now admittedly this was glimpsed in Back to the Future Part 1 as well, but it's still
14:21 worth noting here because you see it a few more times in this sequel.
14:26 So it's easy to assume that in this future, the authorities can just scan the barcode
14:29 on the back of every car and glean all the information they need to know about that vehicle
14:34 as well as the driver.
14:36 Upon closer inspection though, the barcode also has a number below it, that being 136113966
14:44 and though everything in these movies appears to have been done with intention, fans still
14:49 categorically have no idea what this number means.
14:53 Like for real, if you've figured this out, let me know in the comments because I have
14:56 no idea.
14:57 So that's our list.
14:58 I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
15:00 Did you notice all of these Back to the Future Part 2 details or are there some that have
15:04 blown your mind and will get you re-watching immediately?
15:07 Let me know and while you're down there, could you also please give us a like, share,
15:10 subscribe and head over to wotculture.com for more lists like this every single day.
15:14 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching and I'll see