On November 5th, 1955 Dr. Emmet Lathrop Brown, or Doc. to his friends, was attempting to hang a clock in his bathroom. As he reached over he lost his footing. Dr. Brown slipped from the toilet that he was standing on, striking his head against the side of the sink.
What could have been a tragic accident, or at least worthy of $10,000 from America’s Funniest Home Videos, led to what some observers deemed the greatest invention of the 20th century.
We’re talking of course about the Flux Capacitor, the device that makes time travel possible. Obviously.
Requiring 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power and to be moving at a speed of 88 mph (142 km/h) the Flux Capacitor… flux’s..? allowing one to move forward or backwards in time.
Dr. Emmet Brown, on this day in history, we salute you!
Nine months ago I was at this industry party when an actress came over and struck up a conversation. A couple of minutes in she asked me what my favourite movie was.
“Back to the Future,” I said.
She smiled slightly, took a step back, turned and walked away without saying a word.
Apparently Back to the Future wasn’t a very impressive answer in her books, and really it didn’t come as a surprise. Most people get a look in their eyes when I say it’s my favourite film, a “really?” sort of glazed over in disbelief stare. They usually don’t stop talking to me though.
And I understand, I do, I understand your scepticism.
Back to the Future is not some Oscar winning tear jerker, it’s not some deep allegory on some socio-political issue facing modern Western culture. It doesn’t play with some sort of mind blowing non-linear plot device or throw a bunch of “whoa where did that come from!” plot twists at you. And to be sure there are countless movies that have made me laugh more.
But to me Back to the Future is the one movie I can watch countless times, always enthralled in the adventures of Marty McFly and his retro-active Parent Trap antics.
I’m not entirely sure what it is about this film in particular that has me watching it over any other movie countless times.
I think maybe it’s that Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis wrote each character with such an affinity for them.
Marty and Doc. Biff and George. Even the bit parts like future mayor Goldie Wilson or the slack jawed farmer who thinks aliens are invading… they all just pop from the screen.
It’s this rich world Zemeckis and Gale (and all the actors who inhabit it) created that keeps me wanting to come back and live within it, even if it’s only for a hundred and seventeen minutes.
My Well Loved Copy of the 4th Draft of Back to the Future