[...] To promote the recent release of the Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy on Blu-ray and DVD [...]

Alan: Yes, they answer that. Cars are generally stored drained, and I think there’s a line when they uncover the car that Doc makes about how he must have done that.

Plus, I think there’s something about not wanting to disturb the time stream — once he buries it, he leaves it alone for fear of causing unexpected effects. If I’m remembering it all correctly.

I know the answer to that is, as always, “Because then there would be no movie.” But given how much thought Zemeckis and Gale put into all this stuff, I’d like to think they had a justification in their minds that just didn’t make its way into the finished film.

That all being said, I enjoyed the sequels very much, though like you, the added “chicken” line to the story ALWAYS stood out like a sore thumb. I really wished they could have written around it though, because IMO that aspect of the story keeps this trilogy from joining Toy Story and the original Star Wars in the higher echelon of trilogies.

One last comment. Too bad they couldn’t have placed this set in a unique package. Much like the upcoming Toy Chest package for the Toy Story trilogy or like the Ape Head (The Complete Planet of the Apes) and briefcase (Complete Blade Runner) a DeLorean shaped package would have looked awesome!

Yes, there is discussion of how Biff changes his timeline. I will now spoil some of it. The short answer is: that’s not the same 2015. Which is why he staggers out of the car when he returns — it’s hard to tell (and partially edited out), but he was beginning to disappear the way Marty did in the first movie. These kinds of secrets and background made this set really neat to explore.

I’m excited to hear of the extra talking time-travel with theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. If you haven’t read his books or seen his TV show “Sci-Fi Science” on the Science Channel, he’s himself a SF fan who does these great explanations of what it would take to actually create SF technology, whether it’s a planet destroying machine or an invisibility cloak or a time machine or whatever else. Anything where his name shows up is bound to be interesting, IMO.

Interesting, too, to realize that one of the big deals with BTTF2 and 3 was the special effects wizardry that allowed actors to interact with themselves in the same frame. Old Biff talking to Young Biff in the same frame was state-of-the-art filmmaking 20-25 years ago. Now it’s nothing unexpected. There’s probably a lesson somewhere for today’s moviemakers inasmuch as although the these movies effects were awesome, the reason we’re still talking about them have to do with story, character, plot, and performance rather than their special effects.

But what I want to know is if this set’s extras address the fundamental temporal problem of BTTF2: Old Biff steals the Delorean in 2015, goes to 1955 to give his young self the almanac, then returns to the same 2015 he left from. But if he changed history in 1955, shouldn’t he have created a divergent 2015 (like the divergent 1985 we briefly saw)?

I know, I know. Nitpicky. Write it off to Wibbley-Wobbley-Timey-Wimey as the Doctor would say… But that’s part of the fun of being a fan of time-travel stories.

The big difference between the two trilogy sets is that this one has the new Tales From the Future six-part documentary, which I really enjoyed. I could have paid just for that and been happy.

Keith, you really should try watching the third one sometimes. It gets back a lot of the fun of the first film.

I also used to watch the BTTF Saturday morning cartoon that was produced for two seasons in the early 90s, though it put more focus on Doc and Clara’s kids, Jules and Verne. Mary Steenburgen and Thomas F. Wilson did the voices for Clara/Biff and his various ancestors respectively for the cartoon. Role-wise, Clara’s role wasn’t as big as Doc, Marty and the kids’ roles (though one episode revolves around a trip back in time to meet her Oregon Trail-traveling parents). While it had its own flaws, I’d like to see a DVD set for the animated series, as well.

As for this set, I was wondering how much of a difference there is between the DVD set of this release (not interested in Blu-Ray) and the older (and cheaper) one…

[Sigh] It’s like other sets – I only want Raiders of the Lost Ark, I only want Alien and Aliens… yet they’re only available as sets. (Well, the Indy series isn’t on BrD yet, but you know what I mean from their DVD release..)

I actually liked the second one as it had so much fun time travel complexities. It had a terrific ending with Marty appearing seconds after he’s just left. The Western Union guy showing up the second Doc is hit by lightening was also great stuff. But I agree with most of the criticisms listed above. The future stuff was lame and gaudy.

By the time the third one came out I was kind of burned out on the films. When it was over I remember wishing that the movie had been about Doc and Clara building that awesome time traveling train.

And is it just me or did anyone else have serious problems with Elizabeth Shue’s very strange wig in those sequels? It looked like molded plastic.