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Silence, Earthling. My Name is Darth Vader.

Written by Steven Scott

For some, Back to the Future is their Star Wars.

Not me. Star Wars is my Star Wars.

But as far as awesome movie trilogies that defined my childhood go, BTTF is a close second (sorry, Indy).

I’ve had many a relationship that was bonded over a mutual love for those movies. A former co-worker of mine and I would trade BTTF quotes throughout the workday (you’d be surprised at how often “but your kids are gonna love it” and “that’s like a baby’s toy!” can work themselves into everyday conversation).

I honestly can’t remember the first time I saw Back to the Future, but I remember watching it a lot on a VHS tape recorded off an HBO screening. If I remember correctly, that VHS had three movies recorded on it, but instead of Parts II and III it was Teen Wolf and Three O’Clock High (a forgotten 80’s classic).

I wore out that tape pretty quickly.

I do remember the first time I saw Part II. I rented the VHS from my local Blockbuster (man that sentence really aged me), popped it in, and was sucked by into the adventures of Doc and Marty all over again.

Part II often gets trashed, and I can understand why, as it’s not the perfectly crafted movie that the original was.

This was not a pre-planned trilogy, but once Universal had a smash on their hands, the sequels were inevitable. So while II and III may not have been part of the plan, I love them, warts and all, and wouldn’t change a thing.

It was during my time at film school in Orlando that I met the biggest BTTF fan I had ever met, and probably ever will meet. He was determined that he was going to shoot a shot-for-shot remake of the original BTTF, similar to what some kids had done with Raiders of the Lost Ark that was floating around online.

He had been collecting props from the movie for years and had already accumulated the VHS camcorder that Marty uses, the Hazmat suits, a replica Save the Clock Tower flier, and he’d even constructed a replica model of the DeLorean out of clay.

It goes further than that.

He had Marty’s wardrobe which he’d recreated for Halloween (he still wears it at cons to this day) and on his visit to what had stood in for the Twin Pines Mall, he showed off that he had actually shot a scene of himself rolling down the exact same decline and shouted after his friend Doc who had just been shot, a moment that would inspire him to recreate the rest of the movie.

My contribution was an antique alarm clock of my mother’s that was identical to the one that Doc puts on the dashboard of the DeLorean during the movie’s climax that informs Marty that it’s time to accelerate.

I brought it in to show my buddy who immediately began nitpicking it the way only a true geek could. Despite finding minor inconsistencies, he still offered to buy it off my mother for his collection.

Alas, the fan movie remake never came to be, but it was fun to imagine what it would have turned into. I’m actually surprised it got as far into pre-production as it did, but not without the most passionate fan I’ve ever met driving it.

After that, I moved to Los Angeles.

It wasn’t long after this that I took to the BTTF Tour website and mapped out my own site seeing tour of some of the movie’s locations. The first stop was a street that seemed like it was stuck in a time capsule. George, Lorraine, and Biff’s houses were all on the same tree lined street and they had barely changed at all.

It felt literally like stepping back in time.

George McFly’s House, Credit: Tony Hoffarth/Flickr

The next stop was the McFly residence. It took me a minute to identify it as it looks quite different from the outside now, but the telephone lines in the behind it instantly gave it away.

Marty McFly’s House, Credit: Ian Fish/Flickr

After that, the only logical next and final stop was Doc’s mansion, otherwise known as the Gamble House, located in Pasadena.

The Gamble House, Credit: Tony Hoffarth/Flickr

It’s actually a national landmark, which was once the home of Gamble of Proctor and Gamble. But to me it will always be Doc’s.

Living in Los Angeles had its other advantages too. I got to actually go to Hill Valley!

Well, the Universal backlot, but same difference. They still have the Lyon Estates lions on the lot so I got to see those every time I visited.

Lyon Estates, Credit: Roman Soto/Flickr

The backlot look completely different now, but the actual hills in the background look the same as ever. In fact, I lived in the valley during my time in LA, so technically I LIVED IN HILL VALLEY!

I, of course, had ridden the Back to the Future ride several times when I lived in Orlando and you can bet I was going to ride it again at Universal Hollywood. The fact that that ride stuck around as long as it did I think is a testament to the franchise’s staying power. I’ll admit, The Simpsons ride that replaced it is a lot of fun too, and I especially enjoyed the BTTF tribute with the Doc cameo they inserted into the animated intro.

In recent years, I have found other ways to feed my BTTF fandom.

One of the more recent being playing Telltale’s BTTF video game, which was not only a great adventure game that hearkened back to the old LucasArts adventure games of the 90’s, but also had a story by Bob Gale himself, giving it the feel of a continuation of the series. You can really tell the team behind it were die-hard fans as it really comes through in how they respectfully recreated the world we’ve come to know and love from the movies. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re a game of puzzle solving games and want to pay another visit to Hill Valley.

And you can bet I’ll be checking out the BTTF comics from IDW bringing two of my greatest passions together. How perfect is it that the 21st falls on a Wednesday? Gale will also be contributing to those as well so that will help add some weight to it and filling in some backstory and gaps in time in the movies.

BTTF has had an impact on me in a more personal sense as well as a writer. I have managed to sneak some subtle, (and not so subtle) references to Doc and Marty into some of my works, most recently for a time travel heavy mini-series heading to comic shops next month.

I fully credit BTTF for igniting my love of time travel stories and wanting to tell one of my own. I hope that I’ve done it justice.

But if Back to the Future taught me anything, it’s that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

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