Not everyone will be clamoring to pick up the “Back to the Future” trilogy on Blu-ray this Fall.
Drewster’s comments on this site shared a thoughtful explanation why the “Future” films can’t be classified as “classic” in the traditional sense.
I’ve always thought that in order for a film series to be good, it has to have an element to its story which may allow the viewer to watch each film as if they were their own stand-alone films.
For example, I can watch ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ without having first watched ‘Star Wars’ and come away having been entertained. Granted when I first saw the films I saw ‘Star Wars’ first, but when you watch ‘Empire’ I think it can stand on it’s own merits.
I’ve never thought that ‘BTTF 2′ or even 3 had this quality of story telling. I enjoy them, but the trilogy needs to be watched as a whole piece and not individually. And I think that’s where it suffers.
['Back to the Future' co-writer/producer] Bob Gale admitted as much in the first DVD release. When you write a story and later the powers that be come to you and say we need a sequel, you may have some problems. I would bet that Gale would have ended the first film differently if he figured it would be as big of a hit as it was.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t understand the last of Drewster’s comment. Clearly BTTF was ended with a sequel in mind and, if not a confidence in being a hit, at least a hope that it would. Hence, Doc Brown returns from Marty’s future and says that he needs them to go with him and a huge “To be continued…” sign at the end.
Sequels usually stink, it’s films that are “the further adventures of” that seem to work best. A story should be able to be told in one film.
The Bond films are a perfect example, perhaps it’s because most were books first. I would argue that movies should be made more like books instead of tv shows.
The first one stands on its own as a classic – in fact, it might be the best adventure film of the 80s. But I have a hard time writing off 2 and 3, just for the opening of 3. The slow pan around Doc Brown’s living room full of mementos, and a sleeping Marty, Doc and Einstein. It’s an extremely warm scene, one that wouldn’t get made today, and one that Zemeckis couldn’t possibly direct as he’s lost his muse to the CGI hinterlands. The sequels don’t quite stand on their own the way the first one did, but the love of the characters by the cast and the director comes through, making them all the more enjoyable. I’ll take that over the sequel/remake dreck of today, by any means.
Another scene that wouldn’t get made, Doc Brown and his revolver standing down Iranian nuclear terrorists. That was a throwaway plot point in what was a very mainstream movie, to insert in a film today would get you labeled a wingnut, pariah and make you a target of CAIR and most of Hollywood and Washington’s cognoscenti.
When the first film came out, it didn’t have the “To Be Continued…” tag at the end of it. Bob Gale says on the DVD features and commentary that the flying car was meant as a joke or something to that nature. It wasn’t until the sequels came out that it was added to the first film. Later when the studio powers that be came to the producers and said they wanted a sequel since the first film was such a hit, they could only begin where the first film left off.
If you watch the first film on DVD you’ll notice that the tag isn’t there. (At least it isn’t on mine)
Again I don’t hate the second and third films, but I feel that they lack the quality of story from the first film. Like Opus states, you can watch almost any James Bond film without having seen the others. They stand on their own merits. If you only watched Part 2 without having seen Part 1, you wouldn’t get many of the interesting things about it (i.e the different angles on scenes and the like). Plus it leaves you with a major cliffhanger, and part 3 wouldn’t make any sense without the other two.
Part 1 was a great film. Parts two and three are interesting, but not as good as part one. (again, my two cents)