Popcorn Unscripted

Rewind to the 80s: Our Take on Back to the Future

Bailey & Dylan Season 1 Episode 1

Send us a text

Join us for the first episode of Popcorn Unscripted, where we take a trip back to 1985 to explore the classic Back to the Future! In this episode, we dive into the time-traveling adventure that made us all fall in love with Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and the DeLorean. From unforgettable characters to epic moments, we’re sharing our unfiltered thoughts and reactions. Whether you’re revisiting this classic or watching it for the first time, grab your popcorn and let’s break down this iconic film!

Support the show

SPEAKER_00:

You're listening to Popcorn Unscripted.

SPEAKER_02:

The podcast where we dive into movies and TV shows with no scripts, no filters, just real talk and plenty of popcorn.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Bailey.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm Dylan.

SPEAKER_00:

We're here to talk about everything we love.

SPEAKER_02:

And love to hate.

SPEAKER_00:

In pop culture. So grab your popcorn.

SPEAKER_02:

Sit back.

SPEAKER_00:

And let's get this show started. Well, episode one, Dylan. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. To be fair, this is kind of the first time we both have done something like this to begin with.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, we've both done streaming before, so it's not the first time we've talked in a mic, per se.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, not into a mic, but at the same time for basically talking into the void and not having something respond back to us.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That is very fair. So, we are doing Back to the Future. So, first things first, what is our first impressions? I

SPEAKER_02:

was going to time it. I was going to try to time it. Where he just paused.

SPEAKER_00:

He's got the record over here. Yeah, I

SPEAKER_02:

forgot that this one dropped slower compared to my other one, so... Beauty of being unscripted, everyone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, very much beautiful.

SPEAKER_02:

You get to hear all of our screw-ups, pretty much. So

SPEAKER_00:

it's like, we grew up with this trilogy, so we are probably going to be a bit biased with it.

SPEAKER_02:

Probably hugely biased, especially me, because that's my favorite movie. The Back to the Future trilogy is my favorite movie of all time. In my opinion, no movie... All three or just one? All three. I love all three. Mom hates the third one. She does not like that one. I love all three perfectly. But granted, I think it's also because Pawpaw used to love watching westerns and I used to watch a bunch of them with him as a kid. So I'm used to the whole western aesthetic for that movie. And it's very... I don't know how to put this... It's very...

SPEAKER_00:

Nostalgic.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, very nostalgic, but also it flows just like an actual western, like the old movies and TV shows.

SPEAKER_00:

Such as Gunsmoke and

SPEAKER_02:

things like that. Yeah, I couldn't think of the

SPEAKER_00:

name for a second. There's so many.

SPEAKER_02:

Gunsmoke and all that

SPEAKER_00:

stuff. So I guess here would be the first question, because we're going to go through the first film in this episode. What would you remember... Your first impressions being when you watched it as a kid. Do you remember what you felt when you were watching it as a kid?

SPEAKER_02:

It's hard to really remember, honestly, because when I first watched it, I was, I want to say eight years old. And that was the very first time I ever got introduced to Back to the Future because of my Papa Jim. He's the one that introduced it to me and I grew up loving the movie ever since because of that. So I would say very invested and very just fell in love with the movie along with all the kind of old school stuff, retro, all that stuff because of it. I think that's why I've stuck so close to the retro equipment and everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, that's for sure. I don't really remember my childhood that much, so I don't remember when I watched it, but I knew that I fell in love with just the whole concept of time travel and stuff because of Back to the Future and just the whole science fiction thing. stuff in general. I just fell in love with it because of Back to the Future. So this is kind of a very big nostalgic thing for us. So I guess we had re-watched the movie yesterday. And so I guess what would be our first impressions now watching it now that we're older and we're able to see new things since we're older and we are wiser and we're able to pick out different things now. So it's like... What did we discover now that we didn't discover when we were kids?

SPEAKER_02:

Let's see. Probably because a lot of the stuff that we didn't recognize as kids. There was a lot of stuff that, looking back on it, it amazes me that some of the scenes we didn't pick out certain stuff. Like, for example, near the end of the movie, the movie theater that Marty crashes into when coming back to 1985... That building is actually already boarded up and not in use. So it's kind of convenient. He crashed into the one building that was

SPEAKER_00:

already abandoned. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That was very convenient.

SPEAKER_00:

It is very, very convenient.

SPEAKER_02:

And the fact that the aerobics place was the old diner in 1955. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

we did notice that. We did notice that. It

SPEAKER_02:

took me a second to register. Oh, wait, it's the same place next to Texaco. Why did I not notice that as a kid?

SPEAKER_00:

Because we're young and naive.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, flashing lights.

SPEAKER_00:

Ooh, flashy lights. Okay, so moving forward from that, so how do we feel, how well do we think the movie balanced its action and dialogue and character development? How well do you think the movie had balanced that?

SPEAKER_02:

I think it balanced it pretty well. There's a lot of scenes where it had a good amount of investment of getting you into the scene of what's going on. For example, Doc rolling out the DeLorean and you being in awe just like Marty is seeing it for the very first time since he has not seen this yet. He hasn't even seen Doc yet as of right now at the beginning of the movie.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. He's

SPEAKER_02:

only heard his voice from the phone call and that's it. So it all... It very sets the scene of getting us invested with by showing us also... It puts us in the shoes of Marty of an exact same mindset of what is this? What is Doc showing me? And it's not to worry.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, pretty much. It's pretty much. I honestly think everything flowed very well. It wasn't rushed. It wasn't like, you know...

SPEAKER_02:

Half-assed.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah, it just flowed really, really well, and it's... Especially with the action scenes. It wasn't... I can't think of words. But yeah. I don't really know how else to put that in all honesty. I

SPEAKER_02:

think it balanced it really well, especially when it switches from the points in the story where it wants to get you invested and then it follows up with some kind of small, not even just a large action scenes, but little small snippets of it. Like, for example, Marty trying to get George to ask out Lorraine in the cafeteria, and it ends up with a confrontation with Biff. While there's not really an action, it makes you think that an action scene's about to happen, but it's cut short. That way it can continue on with what's going on.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, that's right.

SPEAKER_02:

While it finds the smallest ways to dive you back in if you're starting to get... uh like starting to tone out what's going on

SPEAKER_00:

yeah yeah so it's kind of like it keeps you engaged

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

it more so it keeps you like entertained like if you were to have adhd and you're just like kind of zoning out it it can bring you back in like fairly quickly

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

it'll it'll suck you back in

SPEAKER_02:

especially the little jokes scattered about especially from doc

SPEAKER_00:

oh yeah god Doc said that. I swear. So speaking of the characters and stuff in general, is there a character that stood out to you the most?

SPEAKER_02:

Doc.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course. I knew that answer before I even asked that.

SPEAKER_02:

Bro, I love Christopher Lloyd. He's the funniest man I've seen when there's not a comedy skit or anything like that. The man knows how to make a joke and also how to set up said joke.

SPEAKER_00:

He really does. He really does. He just has that natural ability to make anybody laugh, I think. He just has that natural... He's kind of like Jim Carrey in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_02:

But he does it in his own special way, and it makes it even funnier. The outtake, specifically, of him being unable to open the door to his shop, or he couldn't remember the line going to Yeah. But the way he does it, it still makes it funny.

SPEAKER_00:

It does. It makes it so funny. So speaking of just characters in general, is there any that... we think was like underdeveloped or just one dimensional. I know that we were talking about Biff a while ago. Yeah. I think Biff is kind of like one of those characters where he's just like, he's just your generic bully, you know, that's just like really wants to be a hot shot and he just wants to be the talk of the town, you know, kind of like one of those kinds of bullies.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. He definitely, uh, That was definitely probably the one downfall about his character is that he was just one-dimensional. And granted, this is just in the first movie. He does get a little better in the second movie, but at the same time, that's only in hindsight because we know of the second.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. The

SPEAKER_02:

first one... He just was so one-dimensional and just felt like the typical, generic, tall bully, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. And now that I'm thinking about it, George McFly is kind of like one of those very generic, nerdy kind of guys, too. Mm-hmm. And it's not like he's really one-dimensional. He's just kind of like annoying. He has his moments. Like, he kind of has that annoying thing about him, especially in the way he talks, too.

SPEAKER_02:

I think it's mainly the adult George, honestly, that I felt kind of annoyed at times. Yeah, I can agree. Especially with...

SPEAKER_00:

The laugh.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the laugh irritated me. The laugh definitely irritated me because of the way he does it. And it sounds like he's gasping for air because he doesn't have enough. He sounds like a fish out of water

SPEAKER_00:

pretty much. He does. He really does. It's like, why? Do you need some water? He needs some milk.

SPEAKER_02:

Nah, he's already got enough of that. Is Lorraine... I don't know if it counts for Lorraine. Well, hell... Jail? No. I'm going side characters now because I was thinking of Jailbird Joey.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, that's side characters. Mostly main characters is what I was talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Well, heck, even the side characters sometimes can be one-dimensional. Like, for example, the three grunts, basically, of Biff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That's like your usual leader and then pack.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But they're just so... They looked so generic, even though they barely conversated at all.

SPEAKER_00:

Although I did like the guy with the 3D glasses. That was pretty cool. That was actually a pretty neat style choice.

SPEAKER_02:

I do find it funny when he goes to throw a punch, he has to jump up and then hit the person.

SPEAKER_00:

That was very funny.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's see. I'm trying to think. Now, characters that we think were kind of a... 180 compared to their past selves, though.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. Lorraine's definitely was a 180.

SPEAKER_02:

A whole 180.

SPEAKER_00:

Definitely a whole 180.

SPEAKER_02:

It definitely took me until now to realize, Jesus Christ, how horny that girl is. Shit. Bro, the second she saw Marty, she wanted to jump his bones.

SPEAKER_00:

She really did.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my God.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like, watching it now, it's just like, daggum.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, to be fair, in that scene alone, I didn't know whether or not to be uncomfortable for Marty or what.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you don't know, because it's just like, at the same time, you know that's his mother. Yeah, it's his

SPEAKER_02:

mother, so it's like, how do you respond in this situation?

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I

SPEAKER_00:

kind of feel bad for him.

SPEAKER_02:

She looks completely different aside from the hairstyle, but it's like, what the

SPEAKER_00:

fuck? Also the fact that she looked younger.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it's more so her hairstyle didn't look like it changed whatsoever from 1955 to 1985. It looked completely the exact same, but it's like the entire attitude did 180.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I never called a boy or wanted to park with a boy and then proceeds to mention in 855 that she has done this before, or she's parked before, she's drunk before, she's smoked before.

SPEAKER_00:

Being a very hypocritical mom.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. She's probably coming from a place of, I was in those shoes, this screwed me up.

SPEAKER_00:

This screwed me up. I don't want my kids to go through that.

SPEAKER_02:

Because I did notice her attitude after the changes that Marty had done. Her attitude in the future then changed because she was more energetic and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

And she was also thin.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, she was thinner, but yes. But she looked like she had more energy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Compared to her future self, or her 85 original self. Not just because, but then again, they also did a lot of sports.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_02:

Because they

SPEAKER_00:

mentioned about doing tennis. Yeah, they came back in with tennis rackets, and so they were doing tennis.

SPEAKER_02:

So she's actively staying active, so that's probably why she also had more energy. Mm-hmm. Granted, it also makes me wonder what happened between... The past self, original self, and the future self, original self. What happened there to cause such a drain of energy? Was it just dealing with George? It

SPEAKER_00:

could have been just dealing with George or the fact that she had to... do everything herself because you see how George is. He's not very confrontational. He just takes what he gets. He doesn't like to stand up for himself. I would imagine that's why she would drink the vodka in order to cope and deal with all of that stuff that she has to deal with on a daily basis because she knows George isn't going to be there for her. You could see the way their relationship was in the beginning. He wasn't even listening to Yeah,

SPEAKER_02:

he was writing.

SPEAKER_00:

He wasn't even paying attention. He was just writing down whatever he was writing down.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I think he carried on his stories of science fiction, but he never actively wrote it into a book like he did in the past change, in the future change. Because he always didn't want people to look at it or anything because he was afraid of what they would think.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

So while I can understand his point of view with his past self, I can completely understand his past self,

SPEAKER_00:

honestly. Absolutely. It's

SPEAKER_02:

just his future self, not so much.

SPEAKER_00:

Speaking of that, how relevant or impactful were the themes compared to today's world? How do you think the themes in Back to the Future can help us now in this world that we live in, I guess, is what...

SPEAKER_02:

I honestly have no clue.

SPEAKER_00:

I would take it as George would say, if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.

SPEAKER_02:

Even though he just took that saying from Marty.

SPEAKER_00:

Because Marty

SPEAKER_02:

said it to him first.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he did. But then again, where did Marty get that from? I

SPEAKER_02:

think he just came up with it on himself. Because I noticed throughout the movie, no one else has said that to him either. Not even Doc.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's like one of those things that...

SPEAKER_00:

No, his girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00:

His girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02:

Now I remember. Okay, I'm glad you

SPEAKER_00:

said that. Because she was being encouraging to Marty there at the beginning. She's in... I believe that's where he had... I think that's where he got that from. I'm not 100% sure if she actually said it that way, but... Heck

SPEAKER_02:

in my... No, it is. It is because it was when she was... gave him back to his... I just hit the mic. It's when she gave back to his cassette tape of what his band had done.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because he was afraid that no one's going to take it. Which, ironically enough, said that, ironically enough, it was him saying, God dang, I sound like my dad.

SPEAKER_00:

But, yeah. I think that's probably the biggest... thing of the of the first film is like if you can set your mind to it you can do anything i think that's probably like the biggest message from the first movie

SPEAKER_02:

i can't agree honestly because they're nowadays it's kind of hard for people to put their mind to something and accomplish it And I have no room to talk because I'm the exact same way.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I am also. I'm a very big procrastinator. I can't... I have, like, so many projects at home that are, like, half done.

SPEAKER_02:

You

SPEAKER_00:

know this.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And, hell, I can't say much either because I... I can get the motivation at times, but then it immediately diminishes the second I go to actually do it.

SPEAKER_00:

ADHD, people! Yay!

SPEAKER_02:

Heck, I don't even know if I even have that. I never got diagnosed with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I had gotten diagnosed with ADD, but they have completely eradicated ADD, and it's now just three types of ADHD, apparently. But anyway, we've already talked about how the movie... the pacing of the movie and stuff like that. But let's get into, like, the visuals and the actual cinematography. So, like, how were the visuals in special effects? Did they enhance the story, or did they kind of distract from it?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I think it did really well, especially with making it actually look like a science fiction film. Especially with the fire trail left behind by the DeLorean every time it... transcendent in time. Though, I will say that some of the fire effects, for example, when it first went back in time, or, sorry, when he sent Einstein forward in time by a minute, the fire trail that went between your legs was very obviously not bad, good. Well,

SPEAKER_00:

but you have to think this movie was made in 1985.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I mean, like, the reason I say this is because you can tell that one was definitely a was definitely set up to be, I guess, CGI in a way. Yeah. But the actual ones where, when he was going back to 1985, that one looked like actual real fire.

SPEAKER_00:

Like they actually used fire for that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But they did use, I think they did use parts of fire for when, what, between your legs, but used, like, CGI when it actually was at their feet and stuff. Mm-hmm. but used some parts of it to be actual real fire. But some of it just didn't connect properly, and it very looked jarring. Yeah. And easily to be told, hey, that's not real.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Yeah, I can agree.

SPEAKER_02:

And one other scene that I re-noticed last night was the fire on the wire after lightning struck it. That one you could tell was CGI, but then when it cut back to dark, you could see actual fire. And like just little small pieces across the wire. But when it first ignited, that one you could tell was fake.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, other than that, the special effects did really well in every aspect.

SPEAKER_00:

Which really, there wasn't really much to it other than the DeLorean stuff. There wasn't really much special effects to it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, the green screen with Marty disappearing.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, that too.

SPEAKER_02:

That was... kinda bad, but at the same time, you

SPEAKER_00:

can't really do much on that. You think it's 1985, you know, they can only do so much with the technology they had.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

you gotta cut some slack. So it was probably really good for the time.

SPEAKER_02:

Not to mention, yeah, it's a, I mean, to be fair, it's a green screen. That one you can obviously tell, because it looked like they filmed, like, the background for it of, like, Marty just standing there,

SPEAKER_00:

and then they just took, and then just, like, Lifted up his hand, and it was just in front of the camera.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, that way it could...

SPEAKER_00:

Because it didn't... Because now that I think about it, it didn't look like his arm was connected to his body when they, like, when he lifted up his hand.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it looked off because of the angle it was placed. It did not look like it was actually part of him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But, I mean, there was only so much you could do back then, so it's like they had

SPEAKER_00:

to...

SPEAKER_02:

Especially with the fact that it got rejected 40 times originally and they had to do so many changes to the actual story

SPEAKER_01:

and everything.

SPEAKER_02:

Because, for example, Bailey over here didn't know about the original sequence to go back to 1985 with dropping a nuclear bomb onto the DeLorean

SPEAKER_00:

and using that to

SPEAKER_02:

go back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I didn't know about that. It's like I told him last night. I was like, I'm glad they didn't go with that because I don't know how they would have done that. Realistically, I don't know how they would have approached doing that unless they would have gotten a fake DeLorean and blew it up.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and not to mention the way it was set up. It looked like it was just a nuclear testing ground just in the center of town pretty much.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so that would have been very odd to have in just a random town in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, not to mention they're dropping it without any precautions or anything. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

because it disintegrates everything around it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, not even that. It killed so many people in the blast. So it's like, was there any precautions? Was this just a mistake or something? what happened here

SPEAKER_00:

yeah

SPEAKER_02:

because i you can tell this was the original way it was supposed to go but it's like what what did they not evacuate the place before doing this test or what was the game plan there

SPEAKER_00:

yeah so it just didn't really make sense at all to me

SPEAKER_02:

yeah so i'm glad they changed it to the way they did it because it makes a lot more sense time why timing and scene sequence. Because the story did not make sense with the arrow. But granted, that's because we're only dealing with a small part of that sequence. We have no clue what led up to it.

SPEAKER_00:

That's very true.

SPEAKER_02:

So, hell, it could make the

SPEAKER_00:

entire story... It could have been a completely different story for that storyboard. It could have been an entirely completely different story.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. It gave me Nuketown vibes.

SPEAKER_00:

It did what?

SPEAKER_02:

Nuketown vibes from

SPEAKER_00:

Black Ops 2. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So let's get into the music and the soundtrack and stuff. So how well did the music complement the story, and did any music feel out of place?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think so. All the music fit very well and was very well-timed.

SPEAKER_00:

And it was very well-written, too, because the person that wrote the soundtrack for Back to the Future, Alan Silvestri, he also wrote the score for The Avengers later on in 2012. So I'm very familiar with his work. He does really good soundtracks.

SPEAKER_02:

And heck, I think the only... Weird part in the soundtrack was literally that one scene when he was auditioning at the talent show.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, that is very true. Because his

SPEAKER_02:

guitar riffs did not match the beat of the song whatsoever. He

SPEAKER_00:

was just wanting it loud.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Though it was very awkward during the Johnny B. Goode scene. Yes,

SPEAKER_00:

that was very, very awkward. It's like, what the heck are you doing, dude? Yeah, it

SPEAKER_02:

was just that end part. If that end part wasn't there, it would have been fine. It's just very exaggerated.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, very, very over-exaggerated. But that's who Marty is. He's like... That's just part of his character, I

SPEAKER_02:

guess. Because I felt like he was about to pull a kiss and start licking his guitar or playing it like that. He

SPEAKER_00:

almost did, I'm pretty sure, because he ended up putting it behind his head at one point. And heck, I'm surprised he didn't.

SPEAKER_02:

That would have been

SPEAKER_00:

funny, honestly. That would have been really funny, actually. It

SPEAKER_02:

gets caught in between the stuff. He's like, ow, ow, ow. Ow,

SPEAKER_00:

ow, ow, ow.

SPEAKER_02:

Can I get a little help? Or, sorry. Can I get a little help?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, but speaking of... of like characters and right in the writing and dialogue and kind of stuff did the writing allow for character growth or did anything feel predictable at all i honestly don't think so i like i said earlier i think it all flowed fairly well i don't think there was anything that felt predictable or anything of that nature

SPEAKER_02:

yeah i feel the same way there wasn't especially with the uh I think it was gigawatts. 1.21 gigawatts scene with Marty showing Doc of how the time travel works, essentially, and him actually being shocked at what that meant. Because it's like at the time you would think, oh, Doc already knows about this because he's already designed the flux capacitor at this point. So he already has this idea. No, he was completely shocked that his future self had set it up like this.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Especially the joke about the plutonium in every drugstore.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that, yeah. Like, oh, I'm sure you get plutonium in every drugstore in your future, but here it's kind of hard to come by.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Grant, he even had a problem. He had to steal it from Libyans.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. He did. He absolutely did. And

SPEAKER_02:

parts of a pinball machine.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

Which is very shocking. They took a pinball machine parts to make the time traveling DeLorean.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it didn't make the DeLorean. That's what he traded to get the plutonium. He gave them the parts thinking that that was the plutonium. Or that was whatever he had invented for them, and then he took the plutonium.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, he wanted... Yeah, they wanted him to make him a bomb out of those things. My bad.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I misunderstood that part.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But anyway, so gonna try to slowly wrap things up here. So what was your favorite scene and why? What made it stand out to you?

SPEAKER_02:

What was yours? Um... I would say my favorite scene, honestly, is of Doc trying to reconnect the wiring to the lamppost. Just because that whole sequence alone is just... Yeah, I can agree. It's definitely getting intense because DeLorean is getting there. The lightning's about to strike that clock tower at any moment. And Doc is trying to get that plug to go back in and ends up accidentally unplugging it from the other side, too. So it's like there's a lot of high stakes in that scene. But also at the same time, it's a little funny with Doc's expressions and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's just a Christopher Lloyd thing, I think.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it's more so, I think it's specifically the smugness on his face when he finally got loose enough. And it's like, we're about to reconnect this. And it's like, huh? He looks and there's a tree limb holding the other side down where he can't connect it. And it's like... So it's like the face that he makes just because of that once he realized what just happened is what kills me.

SPEAKER_00:

I honestly think mine is probably when he was shocked about how much power it would take to do the power to put in the flux capacitor. I think that part is probably my favorite. It's just funny.

SPEAKER_02:

1.21

SPEAKER_00:

gigawatts! That's

SPEAKER_02:

gross. We're completely ignoring the joke about Ronald Reagan.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, we are. We are. Ronald Reagan!

SPEAKER_02:

The fact that he is so

SPEAKER_00:

joking.

SPEAKER_02:

And then he just proceeds to name all of different actors as the first lady and his vice president. It just kills me.

SPEAKER_00:

It's just so funny. That is very funny.

SPEAKER_02:

That or him using that thing to read his mind, Marty's mind, and he's like, you've come from a long distance. Yes! No, don't tell me!

SPEAKER_00:

No, don't tell me!

SPEAKER_02:

You won't sell me a subscription! No! No! Doc, no! There's just so many good scenes, honestly. It's hard to choose just one single scene, but there's just so many good ones.

SPEAKER_00:

There really is. There really is.

SPEAKER_02:

That's just from the first movie. That's not counting the second or third.

SPEAKER_00:

That's very true. But we've talked about our favorite, but do we have any least favorite moments from the movie? Didn't... Or did it distract from the overall experience?

SPEAKER_02:

To be fair, least favorite, I don't know. But then again, I know your scene is during the dance where George is walking off after Lorraine was taken, swooped in by another guy to dance with her. And he just turns his back and starts walking away. And in the very next clip... He then just shoves the dude off, and it's like, huh?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he just has this random struck of confidence from out of nowhere. And I'm just like, where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the confidence boost with Biff, that made more sense because he's hurting him, but at the same time, he hurts Lorraine in the process.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so that was like a trigger.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was like a trigger. But the other one, what was the trigger?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He's just like, huh, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Because the guy wasn't hurting Lorraine either. She was just kind of trying to get away from him.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I guess that may have been. Maybe. But at the same time, that could have been done a little bit better.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I felt like that was just kind of like cut and then it just went on. It probably had

SPEAKER_02:

a certain amount of time that they had to reach. And they were afraid that if they kept too much of that scene in, that they might go over the lap time that they required.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because there's a lot of long scenes that were cut, like the Darth Vader scene.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

That one. I

SPEAKER_00:

honestly wish they would have kept that whole scene in, because that makes so much more, it made so much more sense to me. To have that whole thing in.

SPEAKER_02:

And

SPEAKER_00:

how Marty got in and out of his house. And, you know, it kind of explained that a bit better. Other than him just appearing and...

SPEAKER_02:

Saying, I'm Darth Vader.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Darth Vader!

SPEAKER_02:

And then the very next scene is George running like a headless chicken to Marty. He's like, I'm gonna get my brain melted if I don't ask her out. It's like, okay... I wish I could have seen that conversation, but at the same time, I can see why it was cut out at certain points. But, for example, the scene I was talking about yesterday with the Lorraine cheating on a test.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That outtake, I think, or, yeah, outtake would have made a lot better for that scene because it just...

SPEAKER_00:

It flowed right into when... Doc was like, which one's your pop?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and the previous scene was of them walking up to the school.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's like, okay, what? What? Because it's like, walking up to the school, doesn't even go into the school yet. And the very next scene is just him already standing up next to the wall, looking down the hallway and going, which one's your pop? It's like, that makes less sense. But with the rest of it, especially with Lorraine walking past Doc, saying that she was going to make an F on that anyway, and then him actually walking up to Marty after listening to that, then it makes sense. It makes that scene flow a little bit better

SPEAKER_00:

instead of just

SPEAKER_02:

a random cut.

SPEAKER_00:

Speaking of things like that, what is one thing that you think could have made the movie better other than what we've just talked about? Is there anything else you think could have made the movie better?

SPEAKER_02:

I really don't know. I don't

SPEAKER_00:

really know either. I honestly think it's a great film for what it is. A

SPEAKER_02:

lot of the scenes that they used did well for the movie, honestly. It made good storytelling and everything. Even though we criticized a lot of some cuts and stuff, the Biff being Biff and stuff like that. The movie went good. The storytelling was great. The science fiction was really good, especially the way it explained everything. Because that's what I wish a lot of movies nowadays would do. Explain your stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Hell, I can't speak. Doug did a better job explaining how the DeLorean works than most of superhero movies now.

SPEAKER_01:

That's

SPEAKER_02:

sad when you have a movie talking about time travel doing a better job explaining that. Something as convoluted as that, that no freaking developer, developer, director can get right now. It's always screwing up something else in the process.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree.

SPEAKER_02:

But here's Back to the Future proving that wrong, that it's easy to just explain the stuff instead of just throwing the shit out there and just expecting you to figure it out on your own.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Expecting you to connect the dots instead of actually telling a story.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Especially with each movie leading into each other and following up directly after the last one ended.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Unlike Marvel. DC ain't freaking ain't director nowadays for some reason.

SPEAKER_00:

For some reason, yeah. Well, I don't necessarily have to ask this question again, but would you watch this again? Why or why not?

SPEAKER_02:

Hell yes. Just to relive childhood, honestly, but also just to enjoy such a great story and great characters, honestly.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, absolutely. I would definitely 100% watch it again. And if you haven't seen the movie, you youngins,

SPEAKER_02:

please give it a watch. At least once.

SPEAKER_00:

At least once. Just give it a try. I know it's old, but just give it a try. You'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, you might criticize it, but at the same time, don't go in expecting anything. That's what one thing that we were talking about earlier. Don't go into a movie expecting shit. Otherwise that is going to set up you hating the movie in the process if it does not meet that expectation.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

I think everyone can agree that that's what ruins movies for a lot of people is having that high expectation and it crumbling massively. aka look at a lot of the games lately

SPEAKER_00:

they get so overhyped and then you know it just crumbles and falls because they're trying to rush because there's so much hype over it and you know and there's and there's movies that end up that way too because i was talking about that yesterday with the fantastic four movie they're hyping it up so much that i'm afraid it's only gonna fall

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and not to mention...

SPEAKER_00:

No matter how good it looks.

SPEAKER_02:

A lot of people have been criticizing the movie for some of the choices in the movie also, but don't expect it to be a copy and paste of the comics. It's going to use some aspects of it, yes. It's not going to take every single little thing from the comics.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Otherwise, you'd be there for probably five hours, maybe 20 hours, trying to convolute everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Hence why I think... While at the same time, you can't expect much from the movies, at least give a little bit of leniency and just not have any expectations. Don't hold off on any criticism or anything and don't listen to critics or the media. Take your mind clear and don't expect anything. Watch the movie and then give your critiques on it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because it's like these days... I don't even know what credit, like, what's the word I'm looking for? I'm not really sure what their criteria is for reviewing movies. Slop. Like, what is their criteria that a movie has to meet in order for them to get a good rating?

SPEAKER_02:

But yeah, what you're saying, criteria, there's not... It's unknown. And not to mention, for example, let's take the Oscars, for example. That is some bull. Because did you know they added a new rule where they had to watch the movies now?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, I did.

SPEAKER_02:

That really just sets up how bad the critics are and don't ever listen to them.

SPEAKER_00:

Everybody that has to vote has to watch all of the movies in that category in order to vote. Which, honestly... I think it's kind of fair, but also, that's a lot of content to watch, and that's a lot of somebody's time.

SPEAKER_02:

At the same time, they're named critics for a reason. That's what they get paid to do. It's watch movies, write a review, that's it. That's their job. So if they can't even do the bare minimum of watching the movie and just immediately doing a review and giving it negative, or giving it positive for whatever it was... That just says a lot about what they expect out of movies compared to what us as normal customers and viewers go to see.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And that's the thing, too, is everybody has their own interests. Everybody has their own clicks and their own things. So it's like you can't really go off what the critics say. And many movies have proved that so many times. A good example is the Five Nights at Freddy's movie that came out. what, in 2023? I think so. 2024? Yeah, I

SPEAKER_02:

think it was 2023.

SPEAKER_00:

The critics bombed that movie, but the audience absolutely loved it, and rightfully so, because they put so much work into it.

SPEAKER_02:

Especially the fact that they actually made the characters like Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica, they actually made them into animatronics that can switch from animatronic mode to... costume mode, pretty much. It can be doubled for certain scenes, so that way making it easier for recording and also making you remember, hey, that's a robot that's supposed to be there. But that's also possessed by a child. So it's like one of them things. We might know a lot of the stuff for it. The critics don't know anything.

SPEAKER_00:

Because they don't care. If they actually cared, they would actually do... their homework on said community and actually give it a fair shot and not just be like, oh, we just didn't like it.

SPEAKER_02:

But I will admit that's kind of unfair to ask someone to, if they're going to see a movie, to look at what the source material is all the time. Like, say, Marvel movies having to say, if you want to enjoy this movie, go read the comics of that certain character. That's very ingenuous to do because not a lot of people are going to be interested in the same thing. But at the same time, don't just go blindly hating the movie just because it's not something you don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

For example, it's a Fantastic Four movie. There's a lot of people hating on the changes that they've done. And some, yes, can be rightfully so. It's jarring. But at the same time, there's not... This might be pulling from the source material of what's going on. And you just never know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Hell, I didn't even know there was a female silver surfer. But then again, I've not been ever invested in the silver surfer as a character or anything and be invested in the comics of that character because it's not something that interests me.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

But I can see where a lot of people enjoy the character. I just don't. It's not my cup of tea.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

But then again, I'm not used to the whole Fantastic Four to begin with. I will admit that. Because I never really... But

SPEAKER_00:

you've watched the Sony movies.

SPEAKER_02:

I've watched the Sony movies, yes. But a lot of them, I have not watched a lot of the superhero movies that they put out. Grant, I love the Spider-Man movies of Tobey Maguire. I love those. I've watched Andrew Garfield's. And I've watched Tom Holland's. I've watched all versions of Spider-Man for the movie-wise. Mm-hmm. Grant, I'm biased. I like Tobey Maguire's better, honestly.

SPEAKER_00:

Which I do, too.

SPEAKER_02:

Grant, Tom's is just annoying to me because he doesn't feel like Spider-Man.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's a multitude of different things, honestly, that can be taken with a grain of salt. People's opinions, honestly. But at the same time, it's an opinion.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the moral of the story.

SPEAKER_02:

What you enjoy, someone else is not going to enjoy. And that's perfectly fine. Everyone can agree to disagree, which I think everyone needs to learn in this day and age. Because it's always, if you disagree with this opinion, I hate you or anything like that. No. Take it with a grain of salt. Enjoy what you want to enjoy. Let them enjoy what they want to enjoy. It's not mutually exclusive.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's all for today's episode of Popcorn Unscripted.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks so much for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00:

If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to follow us on Twitter at PopUnscripted.

SPEAKER_02:

And let us know your thoughts or any suggestions for future episodes. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any future episodes.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you'd like to support the show, check out our donation page.

SPEAKER_02:

Your support means a lot and helps keep the conversation going. Until next time, keep your popcorn close

SPEAKER_00:

and your movie critiques closer. Thanks for listening to Popcorn

SPEAKER_02:

Unscripted.

People on this episode

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

The Watch Artwork

The Watch

The Ringer
The Big Picture Artwork

The Big Picture

The Ringer
Unspooled Artwork

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson | Realm
Film Theory Artwork

Film Theory

Film Theory