Happy 'Back to the Future Day': A quick guide to the day foretold in 1989

(Image credit: Universal/YouTube)

last updated 21 October 2015

Most sci-fi movies aren't all that specific, so when Back to the Future II was released in 1989, a clock started ticking down to Oct. 21, 2015 — the day the sequel to the 1985 smash hit Back to the Future takes place. In the film, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travel to the future to save McFly's as-yet-to-be-born children — as explained in the original theatrical trailer:

Now that "Back to the Future Day" has finally arrived, fans are celebrating around the world. Universal has re-released all three Back to the Future films, and you can watch them back-to-back in cinemas nationwide (or on Amazon Prime); the town of Reston, Virginia, has changed its name to Hill Valley; companies with tangential (or no) tie-ins with the movie are jumping in with products and promotions; Cubs fans are glumly watching their chances of one of the film's predictions — a Cubs World Series victory — slip away; and people are digging up trivia and comparing Back to the Future II's very specific predictions with the reality of Oct. 21, 2015. It's a mixed bag. CNN runs through some of the hits and misses:

The movie's director, Robert Zemeckis, doesn't have much patience for tallies of what Back to the Future II got wrong and right. "I always hated — and I still don't like — movies about the future," he says in a new book about the trilogy. "I just think they're impossible, and somebody's always keeping score." And that's sort of what Back to the Future Day is all about. If you want to participate, go ahead and watch the movies, the special Jaws 19 trailer Universal put out, and — if you want a darker take on how today stacks up with 1989's vision of today — this animated parody from College Humor (there is a bit of NSFW language).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Finally, before you get too cynical about Back to the Future Day, remember, in the '80s, the future was so bright, you had to wear shades.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.