Hello and welcome back to Futuretoons, where we explore the intersection of retrofuturism
and animation by profiling past depictions of the future seen in cartoons.
Today’s episode is a sort of follow up to a video we did a couple months back, looking
at the future according to Back to the Future.
Unlike some other ‘80s movie franchises, Back to the Future has remained, somewhat,
unexploited.
We haven’t gotten remakes, beyond its 30th anniversary, nostalgia for it has not really
been milked dry, but at one time it was one of film’s biggest cash cows.
There were theme park rides based on it, video games, and even a Saturday morning cartoon.
Now I feel like the trilogy wrapped things up nicely.
The DeLorean was destroyed, the one that appears in the series is new, Doc had a family, a
time travelling train, and it’s opened ended.
We were free to imagine where and when they might travel to next.
This series does makes sense though.
Time travel opens a ton of possibilities in terms of episodic television and animation
is a relatively affordable way to send the characters to any place or time.
Like the films, this show was created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
It was produced by Universal Cartoon Studios and Amblimation, Steven Spielberg’s venture
into animation.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit shared a ton of talent with Back to the Future and its success lead
to the formation of Amblimation.
The studio was also responsible for the American Tail sequel, Fievel Goes West, We’re Back:
A Dinosaurs Story, and Balto, as well the American Tails television series.
Back to the Future: The Animated Series has an interesting airing history.
It premiered on September 14, 1991 on CBS, where it ran until December 1992.
26 episodes, spanning two seasons, that would air on ABC from 1993 to ’95, and then again,
over a decade after they were produced, as part of Fox’s Fox Box in 2003.
It also ran on Nickelodeon, from 2003 to 2006.
Its format was similar to the Super Mario Bros. Supershow, with live action bookends
hosted by Christopher Lloyd.
Bill Nye, in his first TV role, starred in a recurring segment where he would demonstrate
easy, at home science experiments, lemon batteries, magnets, that sort of thing.
He also would break down basic science, explain how things work.
Despite more or less hosting the show, as Doc Brown, Lloyd did not provide the character’s
voice.
This honour went to Homer Simpson himself, Dan Castellaneta.
It’s a pretty good impression but when he gets angry you can really hear Homer.
Still a great job.
Mary Steenburgen and Tom Wilson reprise their roles, as Clara Clayton, now Clara Brown,
and numerous members of the Tannen family.
No Michael J. Fox.
Instead David Kaufman steps in as Marty McFly.
Some of you may recognise him from Freakazoid and Danny Phantom.
For some of you younger viewers.
The show is not considered canon, but rather an alternate timeline.
It follows the adventures of Marty, Doc and his family, Clara, Jules and and Verne, who
now live on farm.
As it is geared towards children, Jules and Verne are featured more prominently.
Both are precocious, but the older Jules is portrayed as intelligent, while Verne is more
adventurous.
Like the movies, the series villains are ascendants or descendants from the Tannen family.
Biff, Griff, Ziff.
Most of the episodes revolve around travelling to the past, which makes sense.
It’s easier to find stories or work around events that have already happened.
One episode finds Verne ending up in the American Civil War.
He becomes a confederate drummer.
Another brings them to pre-historic times.
Pirates.
Roman Empire.
All sorts of different periods.
I wouldn’t call this show educational but it is an entertaining introduction to a lot
historical time periods and scientific concepts.
Apparently this was something important producer Bob Gale.
That kids could maybe learn something.
So you do get a lot of factoids, the Bill Nye spots.
I eat a lot of flack on here sometimes for what I dub “retrofuturism”
For some, that means simply past predictions of the future, and people have called me out,
saying The Jetsons were not trying to forecast the future but retrofuturism can be more than
prophecy.
It can be an aesthetic or simply a depiction, from the past, of the future.
Case in point, Back to the Future is full of “futuristic” inventions.
Whether these are made by the family or where picked up on a trip to the future isn’t
always clear but they are based often on convenience.
They are reminiscent of the inventions seen in a lot of older retrofuturism.
Fantastic and absurd.
I’m not going to list everything, but some examples include a camera that dresses them
in period appropriate clothing.
This is temporary, an illusion.
It wears off after a certain amount of time.
Marty, now in college, studies via interactive education, a teacher hologram.
These are from episodes, set in the past or then present, 1991, obviously now the past.
I believe only one episode explicitly takes place in the future, season 1, episode 9.
Solar Sailors.
This is centred around Doc and Clara’s anniversary.
Jules invents a headline machine, which I guess can retrieve headlines from all of human
history.
He sees that 100 years into the future, so 2091, there is a tourist agency known as McFly
Space Cruisers that is expanding their service to include trips to Mars.
Believing this will be a nice romantic getaway for his parents, he gets them tickets but
a newspaper the following day reveals Ziff Tannen sabotages the cruise, and the kids
set out to the rescue.
We get pretty standard futuristic cars and architecture, glass domes, frivolous pointed
structures.
There are several uniquely designed robots that serve different functions, ticket taker,
traffic control.
One robot shrinks the DeLorean.
Pausing on a parking sign, we see an hourly rate of $100 and all day for $1000, which
we are well on our way to, especially around tourist traps, theme parks.
Inflation, obviously.
A newspaper also costs $85.
Cars travel via Tubeway, which is a high speed highway that is automated.
Your vehicle is pulled through a series of tubes that direct you to your destination.
A Dan Quayle Elementary school is mentioned, named after the then-Vice President.
Kids have a field trip to a sort aviation museum, where we see previous models of the
space cruisers, including the MSC Jennifer, named after Marty’s partner.
Like with the Tannens, plots revolves around new characters related to the central characters
from the series, so the Browns and the McFlys.
It’s not explained who in the McFly family started into the star cruise industry but
it is inferred that Marty is a famous musician.
There are impersonators, similar to Elvis.
The cruiser the Browns ride on is MSC Marty, Marta McFly is the captain, but again, none
of this is really questioned or explained.
The show was cancelled due to poor ratings but the network was behind with corporate
tie-ins.
McDonald’s included Happy Meal toys and yeah.
That’s about it.
If you are a fan of the films, I recommend checking this show out.
While it does skew towards a younger audience, it delivers great fan service.
It really opens up the universe.
From a production standpoint, there is some excellent animation.
Tons of variety, lots of different and unique sets and characters.
It’s great.
Let me know what you think.
Feel free to chime in if I missed anything.
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As always, thank you so much for your interest in this channel and thanks for watching.
See you in the future.