Back From the Future: A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told (Back to the Future Time Travel Facts and Trivia)

By Brad Gilmore

The ideal audience for this book would be the true fans of the Back to the Future franchise as well as any admirers of film, 1980s nostalgia, or pop culture. Those enthralled by Stranger Things, Star Wars, cult sci-fi and Marty McFly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mango
• Release date: Apr 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781642502060

Brad Gilmore

Brad Gilmore is a radio and television host born and raised in Houston, TX. Since 2011, he has been the host of The Brad Gilmore Show which covers the worlds of sports, music, and pop culture. Brad currently hosts "The Hall of Fame" with WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T on ESPN Radio. Brad began his career covering music and worked as a regular contributor to Houston Press and the hip hop blog DayandaDream.com. He hosts a variety of TV shows and podcasts including Reality of Wrestling, Movie Trivia Schmoedown, Schmoedown Rundown, Heated Conversations (featured in the iTunes Top 10 Podcast Chart), and since 2015, Back to the Future: The Podcast. During his career, Brad Gilmore has appeared in print, radio, television and film and always looks to bring his one of a kind view to each of his endeavors and entertain audiences worldwide.

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Praise for back from the future

"Back From the Future by Brad Gilmore is one of the most engaging flights of fancy you will have. Gilmore has given us unique stories and ideas you will love for all time. Be an Earth Angel and give this some time to marinate in your brain. It’s sure to set you on a new time travel adventure."

—Harry Waters Jr., actor (Marvin Berry)

Brad Gilmore has managed to take a magnifying glass to a classic movie series we’re all familiar with and find new, interesting ways to look at why fans around the world connect with it. His love for the franchise is bolstered by depth, insight, and a warm reverence for the films. Great Scott, this is a must-read.

—Ken Napzok, author of Why We Love Star Wars

I can’t think of a more qualified aficionado of all things Back to the Future to write a book celebrating its popularity with fans around the world.

—Jeffrey Weissman, actor (George McFly in Parts II and III)

Brad Gilmore proves you don’t have to be an ‘80s baby to be obsessed with this trilogy. His enthusiasm feels just as fresh as when the movies were released. I’m pretty sure he owns shoes with automatic laces at this point. He knows so much about BTTF, you’d swear he was in the passenger seat of the DeLorean the whole time. So strap in, because when this baby hits eighty-eight mph you’re going to see some serious shit.

—Jenn Sterger, radio and TV host

Brad Gilmore is the constant professional. He brings energy and enthusiasm to everything he works on. And nothing can be more true than his passion and love for Back to the Future. I want to read this book, and I’ll even buy a copy (although I should get one for free).

—Kristian Harloff, creator of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown

"Back to the Future has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it in movie theaters. Brad does a good job of bringing back the feelings of what made the movies so special to me and the entire world. Now can you dig that!"

—Booker T, 2X WWE Hall of Famer

As film franchises go, no one has done more for the dynamics of time travel than Back to the Future. And no one has poured themselves into the mythology, humor, and gravity of the films like Brad Gilmore. If there was a religion of Doc Brown, Brad would be the chief pastor able to teach you everything.

—Brandon Caldwell, journalist

Brad seamlessly straddles the line between Back to the Future superfan and expert, which makes him both the most entertaining and informative source on the subject matter around. His book is as accessible to Back to the Future diehards as it is new fans.

—Kyle Hubbard, critically acclaimed musician

back from the future

A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told

Brad Gilmore

Mango Publishing

Coral Gables

Copyright © 2020 Brad Gilmore

Cover & Layout Design: Jermaine Lau

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Mango is an active supporter of authors’ rights to free speech and artistic expression in their books. The purpose of copyright is to encourage authors to produce exceptional works that enrich our culture and our open society.

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For permission requests, please contact the publisher at:

Mango Publishing Group

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Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA

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Back From the Future: A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told

ISBN: (p) 978-1-64250-205-3 (e) 978-1-64250-206-0

LCCN: 2019954689

BISAC: PER004010, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Direction & Production

Table of Contents

Prologue: How the Past Brought on the Future

Part I: Time Circuits On

Chapter 1 The History of Hill Valley

Chapter 2 This Is Heavy

Chapter 3 Lightning Strikes Twice

Part II: To Be Continued

Chapter 4 Future Day

Chapter 5 American Time Story—Old Man Biff

Chapter 6 The Institute of Future Technology

Chapter 7 Animating the Future

Part III: Back in Time

Chapter 8 The Almanac—Doc’s Designs

Chapter 9 The Almanac—Friends in Time

Chapter 10 The Future of Hill Valley

Acknowledgements

References

About the Author

To my grandparents, LV and Jerry Hughes. Although you both are now in the past, I will never forget the unconditional love you gave me. Without the two of you, there is no way I would have become the person I am today. I will miss you both as long as I live but know your memory will last forever within me.

To my parents, Burrel and Marsha Gilmore. Having you both as my parents is the greatest present I could have ever asked for. Every night, I thank God for blessing me with the two of you. I sometimes sit and wonder how I was so lucky to have these two people who are there for me no matter what I am doing in life. You both have given me the best chance at making something of myself, and I love you both more than words can ever describe.

To Farah, it was my density, I mean my destiny, to meet you. Your confidence in me motivates me when I need it most. You are my best friend, and I love you so much. I am excited for our future.

Prologue

How the Past Brought on the Future

June 9, 2019

Great Scott, I can’t believe I am writing a book. A BOOK?! What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton is going on here!? Somebody must have been sitting too close to the Hill Valley clocktower when lighting struck it and made a grave mistake. Never mind that, never mind that—it’s happening whether the space-time continuum wants it to happen or not. I am writing a book about Back to the Future. It’s not just any film franchise to me—it’s the franchise. As I write this today, June 9, the same day as Michael J. Fox’s birthday, I am thinking about how this journey began for me. How did it come to be that I would have the honor of doing a deep dive into a series that is loved around the world? Allow me to provide some background on how this book came to be.

I was hanging a clock in my bathroom in 1999 when I slipped and fell. When I came to, I had a vision, a vision of this… Actually, I could only wish that’s what happened. Here’s the real story. In 1999, I was just seven years old and had just gotten home to start my after-school tradition. That tradition was to change out of my school uniform, take my shoes off, pay no attention to any homework I had, play with my next-door neighbor, Emerson, and then go to my room. My room for some reason had bunk beds even though I had no siblings close to my age, and there’s no way my brother (twenty-three years older than me) would want to take the top bunk. But once I arrived in my fortress of solitude, I would find the remote and turn on the Disney Channel.

Disney Channel was awesome when I was a kid. You had Boy Meets World, Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, and others that I am sure I am forgetting. Anyhow, Disney Channel would always show a movie at seven o’clock Central, but something odd happened with the schedule one fateful evening. Instead of a Disney Channel Original Movie playing, there was a marathon planned for that evening: three time travel films of which I had never heard prior to that day.

Now, let’s take a pause there just for a second. I mean, we have all the time in the world, right? Many fans of Back to the Future will know the famous story that Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis (the cowriters of the film) tell about pitching their idea for a time travel story. The idea they pitched was a story about a boy who goes back in time and accidentally interrupts his parents’ first meeting, which led to his mother falling in love with him and caused him to never be born in the future.

As the story goes, every studio they met with said they were looking for a raunchier 1980s comedy and this film seem to have too much of a soft side. The heads of all the major studios told Bob and Bob the same exact thing: You know what? You should pitch this to Disney! They would love it! So, Bob and Bob took this advice and went to Disney, which told them they were out of their minds if they thought the House of Mouse would ever produce a film with an incestual relationship between a mother and her son. I don’t blame them for this. Back to the Future’s plot could be worrisome if you didn’t see the film that eventually came. Either way, Disney wanted no parts of the odd story Bob and Bob had concocted.

I tell the story because eventually, I experienced the greatest cinematic adventure in movie history for the first time, ironically, on the Disney Channel. I will never forget it, sitting there on the lower bunk when the title card that came across my television screen read, "up next, Back to the Future." From the moment I heard the title, I knew I was locked-in. The idea of time travel was fascinating, and when I saw the DeLorean time machine and Doc Brown and the music and Marty’s life preserver, I had entered a world where I felt at home. That night,