ALL SCI-FI

[bulldogtrekker]

'Back to the Future Part II': How Accurate Were Its Predictions of 2015 Technology?
Jordan Zakarin, Yahoo Movies

Back in October, a company called Arx Pax launched a Kickstarter to finance development of a new magnetic technology that, among other things, would make possible a semi-functioning version of the hover-boards featured in Back to the Future Part II. Though their invention will only work on certain surfaces, it's a promising development, especially for fans of the sci-fi time-travel flick who have been patiently waiting for director Robert Zemeckis' version of the future to arrive....

Self-lacing sneakers



Earlier this year, Nike announced that it was actually going to manufacture self-lacing high tops, after they started selling the Air Mag design that Marty slips on as he's trying to blend in with the future. Great news for everyone that hates bending over for more than three seconds at a time!

Self-adjusting and drying jacket



Clothes were supposed to be way more convenient in 2015 all the way around, but companies just haven't gotten around to manufacturing jackets that automatically adjust to your size (probably because doing so would cannibalize their business). We don't have jackets that blow dry themselves, either, but there's plenty of new water-resistant fabrics, so at least that's something.

A remote-controlled camera on a wire



The camera used by USA Today (seemingly the only news outlet in the movie's 2015) to cover the crash at City Hall zips above, threaded to a wire strung across the plaza. It is quite reminiscent of the SkyCam, which was invented in 2009 and is now used in many televised sporting events to provide angles impossible by any human-operated camera.

Full story at this link:
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/back-to-the-future-part-ii-technology-104767623357.html

[Bud Brewster]

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Love the movies and love your post, BDT! Thanks.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

Great Scott, Marty! We've traveled to the year 2015!

Yep, we've really done it. We've traveled from the year 1985, when Back to the Future was first release, to 2015, the year Marty and Doc Brown went to in Back the Future II.

On January 1st, 2015 I celebrated the occasion with Bulldogtreker by watching Back the Future II. Even though BDT and I live in two two different states, we used the advanced technology of the 21st Century to share the movie by chatting on Facebook after synchronizing the start of our two Stagevu downloads of Back the Future II.

And during the movie we shared pictures of the film's stars the way they looked back then and the way they look today. So, here's an interesting study of how well Hollywood did in predicting how the characters would age in this popular story about time travel.

Let's start with good old George McFly, Marty's dad. George was about 18 in 1955, so by 1985 he would be 48 years old. Here's George at 48 in 1985, and here's Crispin Glover at about that age today.



This isn't really a fair comparison. The hair style is very different, and the glasses make a difference. For the most part the makeup guys did pretty well.

How 'bout his wife, Marty's mother, Loraine McFly -- played by the lovely Lea Thompson. On the left is Loraine in 1985 near the end of the movie, about 48 years old, having avoided the less rewarding life she had lived with George which turned her into an alcoholic.

On the right is a recent picture of Lea, who was born in 1961, which makes her 54 today! This lovely lady looks even better than the successful and happy version of her character, who was supposed to be six years younger than the real-life Lea!



And she definitely looks better than the version of Loraine we saw before Marty "fixed" the lives of his family.



Doc Brown is the oldest character in the story. Even back in 1955 he appeared to be in his forties.



He doesn't really age much in the stories. He looks pretty much the same thirty years later (in the 1985 scenes from the first and second movies), the producers let him go back to his younger self in the second movie by explaining that he'd gotten cosmetic surgery in the year 2015.

I need to do that, too. I'm really starting to show my age . . .

Anyway, here's a comparison of "old" Doc in the movie (1985, when he was at least 60), and Christopher Lloyd today, age 76 (ten years older than me).



The character we saw the most incarnations of (different ages and different relatives) was Biff Tannen (young, middle aged, and old), along with two ancestors (Griff and Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen).

We see old Biff at the end of the first movie and at the beginning of the second movie. He was supposed to be about 50 (twenty years old in 1955, and fifty in 1985).

Thomas F. Wilson was born in 1959, which makes him eleven years younger than me, or 55 today. The makeup men did a damn good job with Wilson, as we can see from this comparison.



And finally, there's Marty himself. We see him young (about 17) in 1985, and then middle age (about 47) in 2015.

Michael J. Fox was born in 1961, so he was 24 when he played Marty, and he's 54 today.

So, how does middle age Marty compared to Michael J. Fox at that age?



Despite the tragic disease poor Michael is battling, he still looks pretty good at 54 today.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rocky Jones]

Well, one thing the BTF flicks got right it how Chris Lloyd would look 30 years later-- pretty exactly.

[bulldogtrekker]

So where are all the remaining "Back to the Future" DeLoreans?

Daniel Strohl, Hemmings Daily

As mentioned in our recent story about the restoration of the Back to the Future A car, film crews used seven different vehicles over the course of all three films. The "hero" car is now ensconced in a clear display case in Universal's theme park, but what happened to all the rest of them?

Back to the Future III off-roader car. Photo courtesy Profiles in History.

Fortunately, Joe Walser gave us the rundown. All seven are accounted for — none have gone missing over the last 30 years — though only four remain. Of the three built for the first movie, the aforementioned A car has never left Universal's possession. The B car — used for most of the driving scenes and fitted with flamespitters near the wheels of the car — was destroyed during the filming for Back to the Future Part III; and the C car — a cutaway car used for filming interior scenes — still remains in Universal's possession, though not as an entire car (more on that in a minute).

While the A and B cars were brought out of storage for the second and third movies (which were filmed back-to-back), Universal ended up building another for Part II and three more for Part III. The fiberglass mockup built for Part II — intended to be hung from a crane for the flying car scenes — was destroyed by Universal after filming. And for Part III, Universal built the so-called "Oxnard car", fitted with train wheels for use in the rail scenes, along with two DeLoreans on sand rail chassis and with Volkswagen engines and transaxles for the off-road driving scenes. The Oxnard car remains in Universal's possession and on display at Universal Studios Florida. One of the off-roader cars sold at auction in December 2011 for $440,000 ($541,200 including commission), making it the only screen-used car in private hands. Finally, the other off-roader car was combined with parts from the C car to be displayed at Universal Studios Japan.

As far as the rumors that one of the cars was fitted with a Porsche engine, Walser said that all the cars retained their original PRV V-6s; only the sounds of the De Lorean engines were replaced with those from Porsche engines. BDT: What about those VW engines?

Getting your hands on an original one may prove nigh impossible, but replicas of the three major versions (nuclear, Mr. Fusion, whitewall) seem to be all over the place these days.

- See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/03/13/so-where-are-all-the-remaining-back-to-the-future-deloreans/?refer=news#sthash.szFDMTjy.dpuf

[Bud Brewster]

What a great article, BDT! Thanks for sharing this with us.

We watched BTF II together (chatting on Facebook from two different states) on New Years day, two and a half months ago, but I'd like to do all three sometime soon -- like on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Think is over.

And if anybody else has (A) a DVD or download of the movies, (B) Facebook, and (C) a computer located near your TV -- you're welcome to join us. It's fun!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

When this movie came out, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the Atlanta Journal gave it a very negative review. She ridiculed it's stars — Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd — because they were TV sitcom actors. This seemed to degrade the quality of the movie in her eyes.

And yet, in this movie (and the sequels) we see some very talented actors playing multiple roles. For example, Crispin Glover displays his talent by playing three versions of his character.

1. middle-aged looser George McFly

2. middle-aged winner George McFly

3. high school teenager George McFly





Michael J. Fox shows his acting range admirably in four separate roles.

1. high-school age Marty McFly

2. middle-age Marty McFly

3. teenage-daughter Marlene McFly

4, 1800s Irish farmer Seamus McFly





Lea Thompson is very enjoyable in five different roles.

1. middle-aged and alcoholic Lorraine McFly

2. middle-aged and successful Lorraine McFly

3. middle-aged and abused Lorraine Tannen

4. young and sexy Lorraine Baines

5. 1885 farmer's wife, Maggie McFly





But the actor who impresses me the most is Thomas F. Wilson. The guy is amazing. Consider the range demonstrated by his performances. In the course of the series he portrays seven distinctly different characters!

1. high school bully, Biff Tannen

2. middle-age and verbally abusive Biff Tannen

3. middle-aged gangster Biff Tannen

4. middle-aged and hyper-active "alternative lifestyle" Biff Tannen

5. senior citizen Biff Tannen (in the futuristic year of 2015)

6. young psychopathic descendant, Griff Tannen

7. infamous outlaw ancestor, Mad Dog Tannen





Ironically, Doc Brown is seen as a middle-aged man in 1955 and a senior citizen thirty years later in 1985. But he doesn't look very different in either time period!

In fact, the second movie toys with us by having "senior citizen Doc" from 1985 reveal in 2015 (thirty years later) that he now looks like the 1955 "middle age Doc" — again, because of cosmetic surgery and advanced medical procedures he received in the "future" of 2015 —

— which for us is now the present!





And if that doesn't mess with your head, let's talk about Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer. Her situation is exactly the reverse of the others! Here she is in the original Back to the Future. (Played by Claudia Wells).





And here she is in the sequel at the same moment in time! (Played by Elisabeth Shue.)





Which means that instead of one actress playing two fictional characters, she's one fictional character playing two factual actresses!

(I know, I know — but it sounds funnier that way.)
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Ten Things Back to the Future II Got Wrong!




Ten Things Back to the Future II Got Right!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I just found this. Pretty cool, but I'm not sure what it's advertising.

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_______ Back to the Future 4 Trailer 2016 - Parody


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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You're gonna love this special treat from YouTube by a fan of the movie and his family, in which they scouted out the shooting locations of all three Back to the Future movies and made a wonderful video!

It will seem a bit rough at first, but wait 'til he starts inter-cutting between shots of the film's locations and scenes from the movie, with audio from the film blending into both his shots and the movie's.

Brilliant stuff!

And his adorable little boy does a stellar job of filling in for characters in the film while imitating their actions and delivering their dialog!

Hysterical!
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_Back To The Future - Filming Locations 30 Years Later


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And these two krazy kool guys do basically the same thing in a very glitzy way at many of the same locations.

Both videos are highly enjoyable and make me want to watch the trilogy again. Soon!
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__Back To The Future - Revisiting The 1985 Filming Locations


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One year later the same two guys do it again, this time with the locations for Back to the Future II!

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_____Back To The Future Part 2 - Filming Locations & Secrets


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

It seems that any film that tries to predict to a definitive date falls far short.

2001- Hardly came close, but could have if the space frenzy of the 60's had survived.

1984- Well, aspects are with us today, but 1984's vision may have been true in the USSR. Technologicly, no.

Metropolis- Thankfully, no; but it did foreshadow aspects of Nazi Germany.

Extrapolations of present tech to a future date always seem to fall short.

What DOES seem to happen is---if it's a good idea someone makes it happen.

The dream foreshadows the reality.

[Bud Brewster]

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Will the Cubs win the World's Series just one year after Back to the Future II predicted they would?

If they win game 6 of the National League Series tonight, they'll play the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, starting October 25th. And if they win that, they'll have fulfilled the Back to the Future prophecy only one year later than predicted!

Even though I rarely watch baseball games, I'm watching the National League Series game #6 tonight to see if Back to the Future II might fulfill it's unlikely prophecy about the Cubs.

And until the game starts at 8:00 pm, I've been watching Back to the Future I and II.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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The Cubs won the Pennant, and they play the first game of the World Series on Tuesday. If they win the World Series, this could be the prediction that Back to the Future II made which actually came true!





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I found a reasonably large and somewhat readable jpeg of the newspaper from Back to the Future II.

There are some funny articles whose titles I've posted below. For example this big one, located right under the photo.

Cholesterol may be cancer cure

On the left, under NEWSLINE, there are several funny article titles.

THUMB BANDITS STRIKE after amputating thumbs of hospital patients.

MAN KILLED BY FALLING LITTER thrown from a hovering vehicle.

PRESIDENT CLINTON SAYS SHE'S TIRED of reporters asking the same questions. (Okay, I added "Clinton". )

PITCHER SUSPENDED FOR BIONIC ARM USE without calibrations.

And of course, this one in the upper right corner is funny.

WASHINGTON PREPARES FOR QUEEN DIANA'S VISIT.

This article made me wonder if Princess Diana could actually have become Queen of England. I found a websites that said this:
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If Prince Charles had become King during their marriage then she would have been his consort with the title Queen Diana.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]