Doc Brown himself claims that hoverboards are real
We've all been burned by stories about "real hoverboards" for decades now — but this brand-new "demonstration" of the famed Back to the Future technology comes with a pretty heavy endorsement: Doc Brown himself.
"I'm Christopher Lloyd, and about 25 years ago, I played Doctor Emmett Brown in the film Back to the Future II — a landmark film that, among other things, introduced hoverboards to the world," says Lloyd. Now at the time — as much as we all wanted hoverboards to be real — it was, of course, an impossibility. But I'm proud to announce that thanks to the clever folks with HUVrTech, the technology has caught up with the concept."
Though the HUVrTech video has been available for less than a day, both SlashGear and TechCrunch have declared it a hoax, and it's kind of hard to argue with their conclusions; we've all been burned by stories about "real hoverboards" for decades now, and a real-life version of this technology would presumably be announced with a little more fanfare than a silly, star-studded attempt at a viral video. (It's worth noting that the HUVrTech website has a countdown timer that ends in December 2014, so we might not know what this video is really designed to promote until then.)
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So yes, this purported demonstration of a "real hoverboard" is clearly fake — but if Tony Hawk, Moby, Terrell Owens, and Christopher Lloyd himself are all willing to pretend that hoverboards really exist for the sake of a clever video, maybe we should all fantasize for a little while too. --Scott Meslow
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A leap through the leaves, a typhoon's aftermath, and more
-
Microsoft pursues digital intelligence ‘aligned to human values’ in shift from OpenAIUNDER THE RADAR The iconic tech giant is jumping into the AI game with a bold new initiative designed to place people first in the search for digital intelligence
-
Sudoku medium: November 7, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
