It's Back to the Future!
Great Scott! Today is 21st October 2015, Back To The Future day!
The 21st was the day (in the future) Marty McFly arrived in the movie Back To The Future II.
Here are 15 questions to celebrate, and some links to BTTF fun in answer 16.
You can also read about which gadgets in the film exist today in the real 2015 - assuming the time line has not been altered at some point.
Q 1 Back To The Future was released in 1985. What years were the two sequels released?
A 1989 & 1990
Q 2 Marty visits 1955, 2015 and what other year?
A 1885
2 September through to 7 September to be exact.
Q 3 What time does lightning strike the clock in 1955? Be precise - you need to know this in case you need 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to power your time machine.
A 10:04pm
Q 4 What was the number plate on the Delorean?
A OUTATIME
The Delorean featured in all three movies is probably the most well-known prop car in movie history. In early drafts of the film, the time machine was made out of a refrigerator.
The original car still exists today and has been fully restored.
NB: There were several versions of the car, including one cut on half for filming.
John DeLorean (who designed the car) wrote to writer/producer Bob Gale after the movie came out saying, "Thank you for keeping my dream alive."
Q 5 Who was originally cast as Marty McFly?
A Eric Stoltz
Michael J. Fox was offered the part first but was too busy filming the Family Ties TV series. After about four weeks of filming it was decided that Stoltz wasn't funny enough and Fox was offered the part again. He worked during the day on Family Ties, and on BTTF at night.
And here are some of Stoltz's and Fox's scene spliced together:
Q 6 What was the name of the actor who played Biff Tannen?
A Thomas F. Wilson
He also played the roles of Biff's grandson Griff Tannen and his great-grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen.
Wilson is a comedian and musician. He was asked so many questions about BTTF that he wrote a song to answer them.
Q 7 What was the name of the mall where the first time-travel experiment took place?
A Twin Pines Mall
If you pay attention at the end of the first film when Marty goes back early you'll see that the mall is called Lone Pine Mall. When Marty was escaping from the Peabody's farm he ran over a pine while driving away. At the end of the scene Peabody can be heard yelling, "You space bastard, you killed our pine."
Mall signs from the beginning and end of the movie Photo: SUPPLIED
Q 8 Which actor from the Lord Of the Rings trilogy also appeared in BTTF?
A Elijah Wood
He had a bit part in BTTF II as the kid in the 80s bar (he's the one in orange). He was eight at the time.
Q 9 What is Marty's address in 2015?
A 3793 Oakhurst Street
In BTTF II the police find Jennifer in the alley unconscious and look up her address based on her DNA.
Q 10 Where was Back To The Future filmed?
A Mostly in California.
A number of lists of locations are available, this one is probably the most comprehensive, and there is also a whole site devoted to them.
This video shows scenes from the film, and what those locations look like today.
Q 11 How many actresses played Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker?
A 3
Claudia Wells was originally cast for the role, but had to give it up due to changes in shooting dates for the film. She was replaced by Melora Harden, who played opposite Eric Stoltz, and then Stoltz was replaced with Fox.
Harden was then replaced by Wells (who was available again) because "it was not a good image to have Marty's girl be taller than he was."
Elisabeth Shue then replaced Wells in the second and third films.
That's show business!
Q 12 Which famous musician has a cameo in the film?
A Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis contributed two songs - The Power Of Love and Back In Time - to the soundtrack. He appears at the band auditions and tells Marty (through a megaphone) that he's "too darn loud". Yeah right!
The band ZZ Top appear in the third film, at the Hill Valley dance. They did not have to grow beards for the film.
Q 13 Can Michael J. Fox actually play the guitar?
A Yes.
He didn't in the film, but he can play Johnny B. Good and here is the proof (Chris Martin is on vocals).
This was shot at the 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinsons' gala in 2013. Fox established a foundation to research a cure after he developed Parkinsons Disease.
Q 14 Which US president referred to the film in his state of the union speech?
A Ronald Reagan
In his 1986 state of the union speech he said, "Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement. As they said in the film Back to the Future, 'Where we're going, we don't need roads'."
Ronald Reagan was mentioned in the film. In response to Doc Brown's question about who is president in the future, Marty replies that it is Ronald Reagan. Doc's response, "Then who's vice-president? Jerry Lewis?", is because Reagan was an actor during the 1950s.
Reagan was offered the role of Hill Valley mayor in BTTF III.
Q 15 On what date did Doc Brown invent time travel?
A November 5, 1955
He recounted the story in 1985 to Marty, who then used that information to convince Doc in 1955 that he was from the future. Marty arrived on that date because Doc had entered it into the time machine as an example of when he could travel to.
Q 16 How many websites feature BTTF trivia?
A We have no idea, but Google reports 4,800 results for the phrase "back to the future trivia".
Here are some of the best ones (in our humble opinion).
