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It's about Time!
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  • Info: Why this is one of the best trilogies of all time
  • Article: Why Back to the Future: The Game is Part IV
About the Series
Minor Spoilers
Character
Time Travel.
Time Travel. Time travel is a tricky thing to get right in movies. For one, you don't want it to be over complicated for the viewer. But you don't want the plot to be too simple and not to use the concept to its fullest potential. Back to the future wasn't the first to do time travel, but it was the first to be successful with the concept. So let’s travel back in time, or travel back to the future to see what the fuss is about.
Quote Strong characters make for a strong film, and both Marty McFly and Doc Brown have that in spades. Marty Mcfly is a 17 year old teenager, who has troubles at home, and struggles with getting his band noticed. He's an ordinary guy, right up to when he travels in time. Doc Brown is your crazy professor type, who can be brainy and knowledgeable. But doesn't lose the audience around him with his crazy explanations and scientific facts.

Audiences warm up to both characters straight away because of their personalities. Both characters being different, but still manage to be best of friends. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are exceptional, both actors nailing their characters. They both drive the entire franchise, and its no wonder people think Marty McFly and Doc Brown are some of the most popular movie characters ever.

But that’s only half the equation. When you read articles on the best movie vehicles, the Delorean is usually among the best for good reason. The Delorean is cool, and there’s no doubt in my mind its my second favourite on screen vehicle, behind KITT from Knight Rider. As it rolls out of that truck in the first film, to travelling to the wild west in the third film, it's got a certain mysterious feeling about it. Probably down to the fact it has the appearance of being built together in a shed! Oh, and did I mention the "insignificant" fact that it can travel in time?

Oh yes, a time machine… made out of Delorean? (What a great line) It does travel in time and only Doc knows exactly how – so don’t try to get me to explain it. Instead of travelling in Time and Space like the TARDIS, the Delorean only travels in time. This makes it more believable, and unpredictable upon entering the new time period – what was in that exact place in the past or the future?
[BTTF]One of the most iconic movie posters... with three different versions! Which is your favourite? A flying Delorean!
The concept of time travel works and works well on screen. It shows a lot of thought went into the whole concept while the movies were being written… or is that rewritten? Time travel is usually used a way for characters to move from place to place, to move the story forward. It's a little different in Back to the Future. The whole concept of time travel is the central focus of the movies – how can Marty get back to a certain year?

So hats off for not making it complicated, with the films never getting bogged down. With a few key scenes scattered in each film, it's stated to the audience, so one will get lost. Special mention to Part II for this. The story goes places only a true (and an well planned out) time travel movie can do – and it does it perfectly.

A can’t finish my account on Back to the Future without mentioning the score. Remember when I stated about How to Train Your Dragon has one of the strongest movie scores I have ever heard? Well Alan Silvestri has managed that feat. It never misses a beat (no pun intended…) Do you need epic music for an epic moment? Check. What about a calming peace for a heartfelt moment? Check. What about action music for a good old-fashioned action scene? Done!

With a huge orchestral at his disposal, Alan Silvestri has crafted a score that pushes all the right buttons, and complements the acting of the lead characters, the time machine and erm… well… everything (Now and in the future...)


Closing Thoughts
Classic Classic
Back to the Future is one of the best movie trilogies of all time. Its a strong movie series and has excellent acting, stories and score to boot. Back to the Future is so good that you will want a time machine to travel with him, time and time again, even after 30 years that Marty travelled Back to the Future...

My One Big Highlight
Spiderman This is the trickiest big highlight I have done yet, because there's loads of moments I could of picked. The scene at the clocktower in part I where Doc sends Marty back to the future is especially rememberable. Both characters coming full circle in a sense. With a fantastic score and excellent special effects, it sums up the series perfectly.
Elephant In the Room
elephantThere is nothing I don't like about this film. But even if I did write about it, I travelled back in time to remove it before I could write it. Keeping up? If you aren't, why haven't you seen the films yet?
Article
One Thing That is Awesome...
Minor Spoilers
[BTTF Game]So here are Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd's video game doubles. They look pretty good, wouldn't you agree?
I'm a massive Back to the Future fan, but you have guessed that already. While I love the movies, I sometimes wish we would see more adventures of Marty and Doc. The series does feature time travel, so there is lots of story potential there.

Unlike other film series which have made a comeback, continuing Back To The Future isn't possible for numerous reasons. But there is more than one way to continue a story. You could write a novel or a comic book series (which are pretty good by the way, you should also check them out), but there is another medium that is more, interactive.

So if films are out of the question, what about video games? Telltale Games are the masters of a video game genre called Point-and-Click. These Point-and-Click games are interactive movies where you interact with objects and people around you. This genre focuses on story and dialogue first, with fun gameplay elements thrown in.

So let’s hop back into the Delorean once again and see what happens to Marty and Doc this time. The Game takes place in 1986, roughly one year after the events of the original trilogy. After the time machine suddenly reappears, Marty travels back to Hill Valley to 1931, trying to locate Doc and find out what on earth is going on.

It’s a fantastic way to start the game. Think about it: what happened at the end of Back to the Future Part III? Exactly, you wouldn’t think Marty would ever see the Delorean again. But nothing made me smile more when the time machine appears, I thought to myself: YES the Delorean is back baby!

Both Back to the Future and Telltale Games have big fanbases, so for Marty and Doc to go on another adventure, the key to the game's success with fans with the series and Point-and-Click game, is it making it feel like Back to the Future. Not video game adaptation, but a sequel to the original films.
[BTTF]Nothing gets close to seeing the Delorean again. Man, it's still cool after all these years!
One of the ways that the developers did this is heavily involving Bob Gale, one of the main movie writers in the game's story. The story of BTTF has always had a strong use of time travel woven through the narrative in clever and unexpected ways, yet never get lost or bogged down on being overly complicated. Thankfully, because it was originally released in a 5-part episodic format, Telltale Games have plenty of gameplay time to develop the story.

Speaking of which, without going to much into spoliers, the story does have a bigger focus on Doc's life this time round. This is a welcome difference as we knew little about Doc compared to Marty, and know almost nothing about his father. During the course of the game, you meet up with a young Doc, rediscover the Delorean, catch up with real Doc, clash with Tannen, discover new ties with Marty's family and explore Hill Valley in new time periods!

The story is great, so what about the voice acting? Thankfully, there is no horror stories here, as the voice cast for Back To The Future: The Game is fantastic. A.J. Locascio is cast as a near-identical Marty voice. Seriously, it will take a while (if you do actually notice) that it isn't Michael J Fox's reprising the role. The other great fact is Christopher Lloyd reprises his role as Doc, bringing a superb performance, with very little sign that it was over 20 years since he last played the character.


Closing Thoughts
So the burning question: does the game feel like a sequel? Prepare to have a massive grin on your face as Back to the Future fans will grin from start to finish. It feels, looks and sounds like Back to the Future, with a gripping story coupled with an excellent dialogue and terrific voice acting, that add a layer of realism to the script.

With so many things to watch out for including character appearances, easter eggs and loads of references to the movies. It makes it fan filled, nostalgic game, which is really fun to go on other adventure with these characters, and explore the world once again.

It definitely feels like it was something they could have produced if they wanted to make a forth movie back in the day. You won't want to stop playing until you have completed (what effectively is) Back to the Future: Part IV and have all the mystery's and questions answered.