Universal
"25 years into the future. I've always dreamed of seeing the future, living beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind... I'll also be able to see who wins the next 25 World Series!"
–Dr. Emmet Brown, October 26th, 1985.
Exactly 25 years have passed since Doc Brown first spoke these words in 1985's Back to the Future. If Doc Brown's original plan hadn't been interrupted, he'd be arriving today to learn about the countless things he'd missed over two and a half decades: the fall of the Berlin Wall; the rise of the Internet; and (perhaps most improbably) two World Series wins by the Boston Red Sox.
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The 25th anniversary of Back to the Future has reignited popular interest in the franchise. Earlier this week, digitally remastered versions of all three movies were released on Blu-Ray for the first time. Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson reprised their starring roles for an Entertainment Weekly cover shoot . And Telltale Games is preparing a hotly-anticipated video game sequel to the series, with fan favorite Christopher Lloyd returning to voice Doc Brown.
Though the film series would eventually extend into the future, the first Back to the Future invites us to look at the past. Much of the film's comedy comes from the cultural dissonance between 1985 and 1955—the year Marty ends up in after a trip in Brown's time machine; characters mistake the DeLorean car for an alien spacecraft, recoil at rock 'n roll music, and marvel at Marty's "invention" of the skateboard.