20 Things You Somehow Missed In Back To The Future Part 2
Christopher Lloyd was totally blind while shooting the movie's opening scene.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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,
00:21 there are plenty of things to sink your teeth into that you might not have noticed on the third, fourth, or tenth rewatch.
00:29 With that in mind then, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these are 20 Things You Probably Missed 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 ad for Jaws 19.
00:48 While this gag is fairly obvious and does draw attention to itself,
00:51 what you might not have noticed is the name of the director for the movie, which is Max Spielberg.
00:57 Of course, it doesn't take a genius to deduce the fact that Max Spielberg is one of Steven Spielberg's own children,
01:03 which is exactly the case. 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 around 30 years old,
01:16 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.
01:25 Later in the movie, when Marty returns to 1985, it's clear that Biff has remade the entire country in his own image.
01:32 There's even a Biff Tannen Museum, which in addition to featuring a creepy waxwork of him in the entrance window,
01:39 has an especially tacky sign for those who wish to come inside.
01:43 The sign says "Smoking Required", which is an obvious joke in and of itself,
01:46 but it gets funnier the longer you think about it, because Biff is absolutely the type of dude
01:51 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,
02:03 the USA Today newspaper 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
02:18 a gang of thumb bandits who are amputating hospital patients' thumbs,
02:22 a man being killed by litter thrown from a hovering car,
02:25 a Swiss terrorist sect threatening the US,
02:28 Princess Diana becoming Queen Diana,
02:30 the US having a female president,
02:32 a baseball pitcher being suspended for using a bionic arm,
02:36 and Jaws 19 being critically panned.
02:40 For something that's only on screen for a handful of seconds, the attention to detail here is truly amazing.
02:45 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 pattern design.
02:54 The shirt, however, actually depicts cowboys on horseback chasing down a train,
02:58 which is very clearly foreshadowing for the events of the western-themed third film,
03:03 where both 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,
03:11 Doc actually uses this shirt as a bandana while performing a stick-up,
03:15 though the material's design can only barely be made out through the reversed fabric covering Doc's face.
03:22 Number 16, Rich Biff was inspired by Donald Trump.
03:25 Now, it might seem hilariously obvious to us now re-watching this film,
03:30 but who of us growing up watching Back to the Future Part 2
03:33 realized the connections between the alternate Biff and Donald Trump?
03:38 In a 2015 interview, the film's screenwriter Bob Gale actually confirmed
03:42 that the comparisons were more than deliberate,
03:45 and he was supposed to be a reflection of how Donald Trump was at the time.
03:49 Though Gale could've never anticipated the full extent of Trump's political bearing in recent years,
03:53 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,
04:05 he runs into an antiques store where 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,
04:14 also directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit,
04:16 and that film also starred Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.
04:20 And just to put this into context, in a five-year period,
04:24 Robert Zemeckis made all three 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 Though Marty Jr. and Griff have different clothes and characteristics
04:41 that separate them from their ancestors,
04:44 director Robert Zemeckis did go one step further to add a subtler visual flourish
04:49 that separated these characters.
04:52 See, Marty Jr. and Griff both have brown-coloured eyes,
04:55 while Marty Sr. and Biff's eyes are both blue.
04:58 It's a clever piece of visual shorthand,
05:00 because even if you don't consciously understand that one eye colour is blue
05:04 and one eye colour is brown,
05:05 something in your brain recognises 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,
05:18 the moment when Griff and his cronies are catapulted out the entrance of the mall
05:22 wasn't as smooth as you might have expected to film.
05:25 In fact, stunt performer Cheryl Wheeler,
05:27 who played the stunt double of the female member of Griff's gang,
05:30 has recounted in detail that she wasn't convinced at all
05:34 of the stunt's safety before shooting it,
05:36 despite receiving assurances from the crew.
05:39 And so, when Wheeler and the other stunt performers
05:41 were launched towards the mall's giant glass window,
05:44 she went off course and collided with one of the pillars.
05:48 To make matters worse, a cable that had to be disconnected
05:50 to drop the four performers onto a crash mat inside the mall
05:54 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,
06:05 but thankfully didn't sustain any lasting damage
06:08 and went on to continue her career as a stunt performer very quickly.
06:12 Number 12, the last Starfighter's star car makes a cameo.
06:16 At the start of the hoverboard scene,
06:18 keep an eye on one of the futuristic cars just parked at the side of the scene
06:22 because it might look familiar.
06:25 In fact, this is the star car from 1984's The Last Starfighter,
06:29 which is the flying vehicle owned by the alien Centauri.
06:33 Considering that both movies were produced by Universal Pictures
06:36 and The Last Starfighter was only made a few years prior to Back to the Future Part II,
06:40 it might just be that this prop was left on the lot
06:44 and when the Back to the Future team came around,
06:46 they 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
06:56 showing up in Marty's front yard to take him on another adventure
07:00 and most importantly, in this scene, he's wearing a pair of silver sunglasses.
07:05 Now, these aren't silver and I look less cool than Doc Brown in them,
07:10 but we do have 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,
07:19 even though there were just like lights at me, 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
07:30 and 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
07:41 and his eyeline 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.
07:53 While it might seem so obvious as an adult,
07:55 for those of us who grew up with Back to the Future Part II,
07:58 it is a mind-blowing revelation when you realize 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,
08:08 yet his soft facial features sell the transformation into a cute teenager quite fantastically,
08:14 even though some adult viewers might have failed to notice Fox himself in the role.
08:19 Number nine, 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
08:36 that says 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,
08:50 Nixon only served one term in the office and was gone by 1974,
08:54 and the Vietnam War ended one year later, this truly is a nightmarish scenario.
09:00 Number eight, 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,
09:10 notice the dates on his headstone.
09:12 It turns out that George was born on April 1st, 1938, April Fool's Day,
09:17 a rather fitting birthday for someone as goofy as George.
09:21 As for his demise, he died on March 15th, 1973,
09:25 and March 15th is historically known as the Ides of March, a date in the Roman calendar
09:30 for settling debts and also the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated.
09:36 Number seven, the manned fundraising for the clock tower also appears in 1955.
09:41 A minor but memorable character in the film is Terry,
09:44 a man who asks Marty for a donation to help preserve the town's clock tower.
09:49 Now, Terry is played by actor Charles Fleischer,
09:51 who in addition to providing the voice of Roger Rabbit,
09:54 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
10:01 to give him the appearance of someone much older,
10:03 as pays off when Fleischer slightly plays the same character in the 1955 portion of the movie.
10:10 So if you ever wondered why they didn't just cast an older dude
10:13 as this character in the first place, this is your answer.
10:15 In fact, he was supposed to feature in more scenes than this,
10:18 which gives it an even deeper explanation.
10:20 Number six, Lorraine's breast implants were foreshadowed.
10:23 One of the most low-key horrifying parts of Bip's alternate 1985 reality
10:28 is not only that he killed Marty's father,
10:30 but also that he took his mother Lorraine as a wife.
10:34 And not only that, but Bip also made her get breast implants.
10:38 What's interesting about this though,
10:40 was that this development was actually foreshadowed earlier in the movie.
10:43 In Marty's home in 2015, the gigantic multi-channel video screen
10:47 displays an ad for two types of futuristic breast implants,
10:51 those being inflatable and headlights.
10:54 Also, when Marty and Doc first arrived in 2015,
10:57 we can see stacks of unused silicone material piled up by the wall,
11:01 indicating that implants in the future moved away from that outdated design.
11:05 Number five, Hill Valley Courthouse became a mall because all lawyers were abolished.
11:10 One of the first sites 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
11:22 now issues a verdict within two hours of someone's arrest.
11:26 And the reason for this?
11:27 Well, in Doc's own words, quote,
11:29 "The justice system works swiftly in the future now that they've abolished all lawyers."
11:33 So this is surely why the courthouse was transformed into a mall with little resistance,
11:38 because who's gonna need a courthouse when lawyers don't exist?
11:41 Number four, laser discs are in the trash in 2015.
11:45 Another hilarious Easter egg in the 2015 portion
11:48 comes from the alleyway that I mentioned earlier
11:50 that housed all of those discarded silicone products,
11:53 because near them is a bunch of discarded laser discs.
11:57 Not laser dicks, which is what I keep saying,
11:59 and have to keep retaking this portion of the video,
12:02 'cause 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
12:10 due to strong competition from the cheaper VHS,
12:12 it was only officially discontinued in 2009.
12:16 In that respect, then, the movie was only a few years out.
12:19 Number three, the wires holding up the DeLorean are just barely visible.
12:23 Now, unlike the previously mentioned hovercraft stunt,
12:25 this was one that went off without a hitch.
12:28 Well, mostly.
12:29 In alternate 1985, Marty memorably jumps off the roof of Biff's Hotel Casino
12:34 to his apparent 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
12:42 that are holding up the DeLorean in this scene.
12:45 Rather than suspend a real DeLorean in the air,
12:48 the production created a double out of considerably lighter fiberglass,
12:52 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,
13:00 you can actually see the fade lines of the wires holding everything together.
13:04 It's a real blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment,
13:06 but once you notice it, you will never unsee it.
13:10 Number two, Biff's curious taste in porn.
13:13 Now, keep an eye on some of the viewing materials strewn around Biff's apartment
13:18 because there is a strange theme linking all of his porno videos.
13:23 While Marty talks to Lorraine and takes in everything that's changed,
13:26 two tapes can be seen around the apartment,
13:29 Black Taboo and Playing With Fire.
13:32 Now, they might sound like made-up titles just for this movie,
13:35 but they are, in fact, or at least my research tells me,
13:38 I don't know this from first-hand experience,
13:40 they are, 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 the Future,
13:53 which had incestuous themes itself
13:56 because Lorraine fancied her own son unknowingly when Marty traveled to the past.
14:01 Number one, 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 change.
14:13 Instead of the usual string of numbers and letters, the plate now contains an identifying barcode.
14:18 Now, admittedly, this was glimpsed in Back to the Future Part 1 as well,
14:21 but it's still 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,
14:28 the authorities can just scan the barcode on the back of every car
14:31 and glean all the information they need to know about that vehicle as well as the driver.
14:36 Upon closer inspection, though, the barcode also has a number below it,
14:40 that being 136113966,
14:44 and though everything in these movies appears to have been done with intention,
14:48 fans still categorically have no idea what this number means.
14:53 Like, for real, if you figure this out, let me know in the comments because I have no idea.
14:57 So, that's our list. 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?
15:03 Or are there some that have 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, subscribe,
15:11 and head over to whatculture.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 you soon.