Some movie ideas are so familiar it is impossible to envision them any other way. Back to the Future has one of those ideas: the DeLorean as the time machine. In the film, the car is transformed into a machine that can take you anywhere in time, including the wrong decade. But the finished film hides the decision-making process that leads to the screen. Before the infamous, stainless-steel car became famous for its film role, the writers thought of something with a lot less curb appeal.
Today’s Trivia Question
According to co-writer Bob Gale, an early version of the Back to the Future time machine resembled which household appliance?
Bonus if you know the speed the DeLorean must reach for time travel (in the films).
| A Few More for Fun… |
The type of vehicle wasn’t the only thing changed before the film hit the silver screen. Even Doc’s animal companion had an earlier version, and the score needed a special person, too.
Who composed the familiar orchestral score for the film?
| A Few More Trivia Questions Before You Go… |
The film provides imaginary engineering, but some of the details lead to real history and science. There is also one more McFly worth an introduction.
Doc’s power requirements involve gigawatts. How many watts are in just one gigawatt?
Which U.S. president quoted Back to the Future in his State of the Union address in 1986?
Besides Marty, which other character does Michael J. Fox play in Back to the Future Part III?
Answers
| TODAY’S QUESTIONAnswer: B. A refrigerator. Gale said the early “time chamber” resembled a refrigerator and would be carried in the bed of Doc Brown’s pickup. The DeLorean came much later, and parked a lot easier than a fridge! Bonus points if you knew the speed necessary to activate the machine was 88 mph. | |
| 01 | Answer: D. A chimpanzee. Gale recalled that a studio executive objected to the chimpanzee idea, and the film ended up with a canine companion for Doc instead. |
| 02 | Answer: B. Alan Silvestri. He wrote the score, and it’s interesting to play some of the time-travel scenes without the sound; the music does a lot of work in supporting the rush of time travel. |
| 03 | Answer: A. One billion. The metric prefix giga- means one billion. A watt measures power, not an amount of stored energy. The prefix is real science, even though adding it to a car isn’t. |
| 04 | Answer: D. Ronald Reagan. He borrowed the film’s famous line: “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” It’s an unusual turn of events for a science fiction comedy to end up in a presidential script, but that’s Hollywood! |
| 05 | Answer: A. Seamus McFly. He plays Marty’s great-great-grandfather in 1885. So, the DeLorean got the part, the chimp got the boot, and the fridge didn’t make the final cut. Movie history is full of decisions that seem obvious only after someone makes them, and as Doc Brown says, “Your future is whatever you make it.” |
How did you do? Score 1 point for each correct answer and 1 point for the bonus if you knew it. Perfect score: 7.
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