Back to the Future Part II had a lot to live up to. The first movie was already huge, and by the time the sequel showed up people were ready to see Marty and Doc again. This was not just another follow up. It felt like an event. Audiences had been waiting to find out what happened next, and the movie gave them a future full of flying cars, weird gadgets, and, most importantly to a lot of us, hoverboards.
On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I talk about Back to the Future Part II, starting with the fact that my friends and I really believed hoverboards were real. Or at least that they had been real for a minute and adults had ruined it for everybody. It did not help that Robert Zemeckis was willing to play along. When you are a kid, that kind of thing gets in your head fast, and this movie knew exactly how to make that future feel real enough to believe.
From there I get into the movie itself, its release, and why it hit people the way it did. Part II did not just try to do the first movie again. It went bigger, more complex, and a little darker. You got the shiny future, the nightmare version of 1985, and that great trick where the movie loops back into the first film from a different angle.
I also talk about the cast, the making of the sequel, the music, and how this became one of those movies people kept revisiting. Even if the first film is the one most people call perfect, Part II is one that really fired up your imagination and I believe might have been more influential to other filmmakers.
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Production Notes
This is the 360th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 9 of Season 18.
I can tell I have more patience for this movie now than I did when I was younger. I used to hold it against the first film too much. Now I give it more credit for trying to do something bigger.
I spent a lot of time on the production history, maybe because with this movie it really does change how you see the finished thing.
I kept circling back to how complicated Part II is, and I think that is probably why I like talking about it now more than I did years ago.
The Crispin Glover situation is fascinating and a little uncomfortable. It is one of those behind the scenes stories that changes the whole feel of the movie once you know about it.
I probably could have gone even longer on the future predictions. That is one of those subjects where you start with the hoverboard but they also got flat screens, video calls, and a few other things right
We got the fake hoverboard name, but not the actual hoverboard anyone wanted.
I spent a while on the soundtrack, and I still think the score was the right way to go, even if part of me wanted some giant 1989 pop tie in album just to see what that would have looked like.
This movie is darker and more mechanical than the first one, and I still think that is true, but I am less bothered by it than I used to be.
I keep coming back to the idea that Part II works better for me now because it is a little messy. It is not as clean as the first film, but it has more strange corners to poke around in.
I could probably come back and do more with the music, the merch, or just the whole late 1989 backdrop around the release. This turned out to be one of those movies where every section feels like it could open into another episode.
Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.
