Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Barbie needs a real DeLorean

The first time I saw “Back to the Future” was when I was nine years old (in 1985). I fell in love with the story, the action and Michael J. Fox (whom I was already crushing on thanks to “Family Ties”). I started acting out the story with my Barbies, using Peaches and Cream Barbie’s dress for Lorraine’s Enchantment Under the Sea dress. The pink Barbie Corvette turned into a DeLorean. I also made coloring books that tried to capture the whole story. I’m sure I watched it dozens of times on video and cable after seeing it in the theater. I can’t fathom any other way I would have memorized it that easily.
Any time I hear “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis, I’m immediately transported to the beginning of the movie, when Marty is clinging to a truck in order to skateboard more quickly to school. The song just captures the essence of that movie, even though it really has nothing to do with time travel whatsoever.
Ever since I saw “Back to the Future,” I’ve been fascinated by time travel and enjoy watching movies and reading stories about the topic. (This probably explains why “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is one of my favorite books.) I saw the second and third installments of the series, but wasn’t as impressed as I was with the original. It just was about Marty in other time periods rehashing the same lines and scenes with the same people. The one fear I have is that someone will try to remake it in 2015 so that someone travels back to 1985 (which is then 30 years into the past). That will just be wrong. “Back to the Future” is a classic that should not be messed with in any way.
In lieu of “Back to the Future’s” 25th anniversary, I wanted to share a list of my favorite scenes or lines from the movie.
• When Marty plays “Johnny B. Goode” at the dance.
• When Marty first meets his grandparents, aunts and uncles in the 50’s, at their family dinner.
• When Biff gets tricked into driving into the manure truck.
• When George asks Lorraine to the dance by saying it will be their “density.”
• “Hey you, get your damn hands off of her.”
• “Give me - Give me a Tab.” “Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something.” “All right, give me a Pepsi Free". "You want a Pepsi, PAL, you're gonna pay for it".
• How all the things that happened after Marty went back in time affected his present day life.
• “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
• The way Marty slept. It looked so uncomfortable and yet it worked for him.
• “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”
• “Why don’t you make like a tree and get out of here.”
• Hey Biff, get a load of this guy's life preserver. Dork thinks he's gonna drown.
• How Lorraine calls Marty “Calvin” because of the name on his underwear

Please feel free to comment with your favorite BTTF moments or quotes.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm George, George McFly. I'm your density. I mean... your destiny.

lol

Samantha said...

Omgosh.....I just watched a Comic Con panel in London with Michael J. Fox for the Back to the Future anniversary.
Melissa, can you believe how long ago it has been since this movie came out?
It really doesn't seem that long ago to me! Lol.
I remember it being such an amazing film for it's time. Gosh we are getting old!