Back to The Future/YMMV

Series-Wide:

• Awesome Music: Robert Zemeckis said in an interview that he felt the story wouldn't stand up on its own, so he told composer Alan Silvestri to make the music as big and memorable as possible to make up for it. And you know...he may have been right.
  • "Back In Time," "Power Of Love," and especially "Doubleback" deserve special mention!
    • And "Johnny B. Goode" too. "Earth Angel" as well: or is that Heartwarming Music?
    • It's both.
  • Alan Silvestri's score for the train sequence in Part III is nothing short of brilliant. It uses the standard BTTF leitmotifs as a baseline; it throws in a drum beat that sounds like a train chugging; it intertwines the action themes, the tense themes, the love themes, the Western themes; and it ends with pure power.
• Better on DVD: Parts II and III actually make greater sense when watched back-to-back.
• Crazy Awesome: None other than Doc Brown.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: "CPR Guy" from Part II. And for a short time in the fandom, the scarecrow that Marty runs over in Part I.
• First Installment Wins: The first is iconic. The second and third are good, but definitely not remembered like number one.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the Biff to the Future miniseries, Lorraine shoots Biff in the chest only to discover that he has a Pocket Protector. What does Biff then say? That Lorraine should have aimed for the head.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: Played straight by the infamously awful games released for the NES and Genesis. Averted by the Telltale game and Super Back to the Future Part II for the Super Famicom, which sadly was only released in Japan.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Time Machine itself, from the fire trails to taking off into the sky at the end of the first film. The second movie pioneered a computer controlled camera to make complicated panning shots with Michael J. Fox playing three roles at a time, and you can't tell any difference.

Part I:

• Acceptable Ethnic Targets: The Libyans.
  • Considering it was 1985, and Qaddafi was a serious threat, it makes perfect sense.
• Big Lipped Alligator Moment: The change back to 1985 is heralded by a helicopter flying low over the clock tower, swinging a searchlight around.
• Ending Fatigue: The film appears as if it is going to end at least twice before it actually does.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: "Gimme a Pepsi Free."
  • That whole exchange is also a good example of Who's on First?.
• Memetic Mutation: ONE POINT TWENTY-ONE JIGAWATTS!?
  • What the hell's a jigawatt?!
  • November 12, 1955. NEVER FORGET.
• Special Effect Failure: The Bobs were never thrilled with the effect used to show Marty's hand fading from existence.

Part II:

• Nightmare Fuel / Mood Whiplash: In the space of a few minutes we go from their colorful, Zeerusty vision of the future to an utter Crapsack World where presumably all of America has become a Wretched Hive out of Mad Max.
• Complete Monster: In a way, 1985-A!Biff. The guy's much worse there than anywhere else.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Part 2, the USA Today in 2015 talks of the U.S. preparing for Queen Diana's visit. Unfortunately, in 2015, she will have been dead for 18 years.
  • Then again, that also assumes Elizabeth II isn't around in 2015. As of 2011, she still is.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Even though Japan Takes Over the World by 2015, the Toyota (formerly Studebaker) dealership bizarrely now sells Pontiacs. Pontiac folded in 2009.
  • However, before Pontiac went under, they did the Matrix/Vibe crossover car project... with Toyota. Zemeckis was in the ballpark...
  • When Marty first arrives back in the alternate 1985, he tries to enter his bedroom through the window and crawl into his bed, only to find out that an African-American family is now living in his house and is none too pleased with their bedroom intruder. This was kind of funny originally, but has become absolutely hilarious due to the similarities between it and the recent memetically mutated bedroom intruder incident.
  • Also, one of the newspaper's "Newsline" items refers to a female President. The way things are shaping up, that can only mean one thing...
    • Hillary Clinton?
  • Borderline example: a broadcast has the Cubs finally winning the World Series. The adversary is the "Florida Gators", as Florida was the biggest state outside the MLB... and now they have 2 teams!
  • As of 2012, just three years before the fictional setting in the movie, there IS now an MLB team that adopted Miami into its name.
• Magnificent Bastard: Biff. He may not be too smart, but with one simple plan from an older (and more experienced) Biff to help his younger self, he starts an empire from successful "gambling" that allows him to start several companies (most highly nuclear power plants that generate enough pollutant to require a waste reclamation sub-industry; hmmm). Considering how he claims he "owns the police," he can certainly manipulate a lot, and he's definitely a bastard.
• Newer Than They Think: Although it seems like hoverboards should be a staple of sci-fi as old as jetpacks and flying cars, which have both been in stories since at least the 1930s, this is actually what introduced them.

Part III:

• Genius Bonus: When the Colt salesman tries to get Marty to shoot the Peacemaker, he forces it into his left-hand (causing the first shot to miss completely, being Marty's weak hand) The Colt Single Action Army was actually originally designed to be fired left-handed while riding a horse. It's minor, but this gun-nut appreciated the attention to detail.

Telltale Game:

• Accidental Aesop: The ending of Episode 5 is sort of the logical conclusion to the entire series and films. Screwing around with the timeline keeps fucking things up til you have three older Marty's begging young Marty for help, all from different timelines. At that point, Doc just shrugs and tells Marty to ignore them. Now is important.
  • It's actually brought up several times throughout all five episodes.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced: So Michael J. Fox won't be voicing Marty...but his voice actor is spot on. Now we're at the last episode and...wait...WHAT?! Michael is gonna come back after all?!
  • Plus, he DID end up voicing Marty... sort of.
• Broken Base: There is a certain friction that occurs between those who are longtime fans of the Back to the Future franchise and those who are longtime fans of the Telltale Games company.
• Jerkass Woobie: Even after everything, it's hard not to feel kinda bad for 1931!Edna when Marty breaks her up with Emmett.
  • And then Crazy Mary!Edna. Humorous Insanity aside, it's hard not to pity exactly what The Slow Path, guilt, and loneliness have done to her.
• Just Here for the Plot: Many non-gamers have taken interest in the game strictly for the Back to the Future story line -- much to the chagrin of the more avid gamers who are, overall, disappointed with the game play of the series.
• Magnificent Bastard: Marty shapes up into a heroic version through the game.
• Moral Event Horizon: (Episode 3) Edna Strickland could have passed for an extremely obnoxious Well-Intentioned Extremist until she has her husband, Citizen Brown, tortured and brainwashed at the end of Episode 3.
• Player Punch: Citizen Brown's possible Face Heel Turn.
  • Seeing Citizen Brown die after being ran over by Etna.
• The Scrappy: Edna Strickland, though this is intentional.
• World of Woobie: The Citizen Brown timeline in Episode 3. Everyone seems on the verge of a nervous crackup due to the Dystopia of alternate Hill Valley, Marty seems like he's panicking about 86% of the time, and the only halfway normal person is a Delinquent who would probably be a child psychologist's field day. Even Brown himself comes off as a Tragic Hero.