Dad... Dad... Daddy-O

My friend told me the other day that they may be remaking Back to the Future.  Wow!  Is it already time for that?  My first thought was: How do you find someone as great as Michael J. Fox?

  

Then, this friend said that he had watched Back to the Future with his 12 year old daughter and she thought it was a stupid movie.  How is that even possible?

Back to the Future had everything in it.  It had the fifties.  It had the eighties.  It had Michael J. Fox.  It had Doc Brown.  It had a DeLorean.  It had cool science.  Or science fiction.  It had those gigantic speakers at the beginning.  It had George McFly.  It had Lorraine.  And Biff!  Skateboarding!  Nostalgia.  Mr Sandman.  "George!  Did you ever think of running for class president?!"  Mayor Goldie Wilson!  1.21 Jigawatts.

And there I sat thinking about how much was achieved with this movie.  It really coincided with what was important to us back then.  For some reason, in the eighties, the fifties were very interesting to us.  Perhaps that had to do with Reagan being in the White House and old family values being at the forefront.  Hard to say.  The look of the fifties corresponded to the eighties somewhat.  Rolled up jeans and flat tops.  Not sure about poodle skirts.  All I know is that when he goes back, I was fascinated with the time period.

Marty McFly is beyond cool.  He rides around on a skateboard and he has access to a camcorder.  He has the hot girlfriend and is an assistant to this crazy professor.  He is in a rock band.  And he loves the 4 wheel drive Toyota.  He has all these dreams, but yet he is slightly hampered by parents who never really got out of their rut.

"He's a peeping Tom."  "Get used to these bars, kid."  "Just make like a tree and get outta here."

They really did a great job of capturing a lot of great fifties nostalgia and incorporating it into the eighties, making it relevant.

But there ya go.  It was great, because it worked with the eighties and what was important back then.  If they redid it, it would have to be now going back 30 years to... uh oh!  The eighties.  But would that work?  It could.  But it seems like it would be cheap.  Or at least more cheap.

"Give me a Pepsi Free."  "If you want a Pepsi, pal, you're going to have to pay for it."

I think I need to set my kids on a program which eventually ensures that they will love Back to the Future as I did when they are old enough to see Doc Brown get mowed down by machine gun toting Libyans.  Perhaps that program will include lots of fifties music like Chuck Berry and time travel movies.  We will have to watch Family Ties.  Also, throw in some Huey Lewis and the News.

I can't fail my children on this mission.  It is too important.  Otherwise, Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan will melt my brain...