Almost 30 years ago, Back to the Future Part II provided a glimpse of the future that seemed
funny and utterly fantastical at the time — but has actually come true in a number
of surprising ways.
Here's how Back to the Future accurately predicted current events.
Movie magic
While walking the streets of Hill Valley in the future, Marty gets a taste of some futuristic
advertising at the local cinema.
(screams)
While 3D movies in theaters have actually been around since the 1950s, the trend didn't
truly become a mainstream standard option until James Cameron's Avatar wowed audiences
in 2009.
Since then, just about every new major release has a 3D showing to go along with it.
Of course, no matter how far we go with cinematic magic, some folks will always be disappointed.
"The shark still looks fake."
Can you see me now?
Older Marty McFly suffers the ultimate indignity when his boss, Mr. Fujitsu, fires him while
he's at home via video chat on his wall-mounted video screen.
"Read my fax!"
"No, please, I cannot be fired.
I'm fired!
Ahhh…"
That's not so crazy today!
Not only are flat, wall-hung TVs commonplace, but employers can fire their underlings via
video all they like with software like Skype and FaceTime.
But then, whatever points you give the movie might be negated by its prediction of a house
filled with fax machines.
Total tech necks
When Marty's kids sit down to dinner wearing tech-infused glasses, it seemed like a pretty
good gag.
"Dad, telephone.
It's Needles!"
"Dad, it's for you."
Google Glass launched in 2013.
And while smartglasses haven't quite broken into the mainstream yet, gadget obsession
certainly has.
Everyone's had dinner with someone who can't stop playing with their smartphones.
Don't be this guy.
Robo reporters?
When Griff and his gang of future flunkies get arrested, a USA Today drone snaps a picture.
While the majority of today's journalists and photographers are still actual human beings,
this was still surprisingly accurate.
These days, drones outfitted with cameras are becoming pretty commonplace, and growing
more so by the day.
It's only a matter of time before E! News has its own flying, robotic paparazzi to catch
naked celebs.
Garbage gas
When Doc goes back to 1985 to bring Marty and Jennifer to the future, he needs to refuel
the DeLorean.
But instead of heading to his friendly neighborhood plutonium repository, he heads for the garbage
can instead.
"Wait a minute.
What are you doing Doc?"
"I need fuel."
"Go ahead, quick!
Get in the car."
We're still pretty far off from using Mr. Fusion in place of nuclear materials, but
a method for using trash as fuel has actually found its way into some countries.
When organic matter — like leftover food and biological waste — breaks down, it releases
methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen.
All of that can be combusted as fuel.
These days, a few countries in Europe have started adopting this technology.
In fact, Sweden has had a biogas train since 2005.
And in 2007, approximately 12,000 vehicles used biogas fuel, most of them in Europe.
It's only a matter of time until we're all taking a more, um, active role in powering
our cars.
Flying Fords
Invariably, whenever people take a look back at yesterday's movies predicting tomorrow's
technology, they always go back to one iconic moment:
"Roads?
Where we're going, we don't need… roads."
"A flying DeLorean?"
That's right.
We're still not all driving flying cars.
But that doesn't mean we can't!
Since the mid-2000s, a company called Terrafugia has been working on making flying cars a reality.
Sure, it actually looks more like a fold-up plane than a car that can fly, but it's street-legal.
All you have to do is figure out how to fly the thing.
And if that has you excited, the company has plans for more flying vehicles to hit the
roads and the skies in the next few years.
Meanwhile, in September 2015, Toyota filed a patent for a flying car of its own.
Now that companies are competing to make flying cars a reality, it's only a matter of time
before we complain about rush hour from 30,000 feet.
Hoverboards
Of course, if people aren't complaining about not having flying cars, that probably means
they're just complaining about not having this.
The amazing — and entirely fictional — hoverboard became an instant sensation as soon as it
appeared, and '80s and '90s kids have spent decades demanding that science find a way
to catch up to the fantasy.
And while 2015 saw the popularization of dumb devices called hoverboards that didn't actually,
y'know, hover, there's still hope.
In August 2015, Lexus — yes, the car company — picked up the torch and created a hoverboard
that actually hovers.
The catch is that it needs a specially designed track and won't be mass-produced, as it was
only created for a commercial.
Then there's the startup Arx Pax, which created the Hendo Hoverboard.
While videos of the ride show that the board doesn't perform as well as the ones in the
movie, it's enough for us to say that hoverboards do, in fact exist.
Just don't take it on the water.
Cubs win!
Yes, in the '80s, the thought of the Cubs actually breaking their decades-long World
Series drought was only slightly less absurd than them actually doing so in the movie's
futuristic setting.
The gag about the Cubs finally taking the title in 2015 got a lot of laughs, but it
very nearly came true.
In 2016, the Cubs won the World Series in dramatic fashion, taking Game 7 into extra
innings before squeaking out a one-run victory over the Cleveland Indians.
The fact that it all happened a year after the movie predicted was noted by none other
than Michael J. Fox, who added a couple of sly callbacks when he congratulated the team
via Twitter.
President Trump
When Back to the Future Part II was released, businessman Donald Trump had accrued a certain
measure of success, but he was mostly known to people in the New York area.
Most of them watched the movie without ever suspecting that the future version of Biff,
who uses his ill-gotten wealth to build a casino empire that serves as a springboard
into political power, was based on the mogul.
In an interview with The Daily Beast in 2015, the movie's writer, Bob Gale, explained his
intentions:
"We thought about it when we made the movie.
There's a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there's a huge portrait
of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there's one moment where Biff kind of stands up and
he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait."
Of course, Gale wasn't totally on point with his prediction.
Donald Trump has yet to make out with everybody's mom.
Probably.
"Noooooo!!"
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