Recap: "Back to the Future Part III" Intro

Well, here we are. The odd one out. Not “the bad one,” but the one that doesn’t quite fit with the others. But no story’s complete without an ending, so it’s time to take a look at the wrap-up to the beloved Back to the Future Trilogy.

So this is how the trilogy ends. Not with a bang, but with a "whaaaa?"

We’ve seen the then-present year of 1985, thirty years into the past, and thirty years into the future, which is now the present. This one takes place in 1885.

One of these things is not like the others....

Instead of keeping the 30-year time jump tradition, this movie takes place hundred years before Marty McFly’s present, and 105 years before the film was released in 1990. Geez, even the decade the film was released in doesn't match.

Since there’s less than usual to talk about in the way of actual production (since Parts II and II were shot back-to-back after originally being one movie), I’ll go ahead and talk about the choice of setting. Because let’s face it, that’s pretty much all anyone ever brings up is the setting. Apart from the semi-controversial romance, but I’ll get to that in the Recap.

Every time period has one or two places that are considered to be iconic representations of that time, mainly because of the memorable historic events associated with them. During the 1940’s, it’s Europe, especially France and Germany. During the 1770’s, we’re talking the American Colonies. Between 1 BC and 33 AD, we’re talking somewhere in the Middle East. And in the late 1800’s, you have two options: Victorian London or the Wild West.

But this also works the other way around. When you’re writing time travel fiction, your main characters are inevitably going to find themselves in the middle of whatever interesting thing is going on at that moment. I mean, you’re not going to have an episode of Doctor Who where they travel back to July 4th, 1776 set in Japan, right? And since the DeLorean would never actually leave the Hill Valley area, the Wild West was the natural choice. Otherwise, Victorian London might have been an option.

But I think Victorian London has enough people trying to control history, personally.

But my point is this. There wasn’t a lot of choice for interesting time periods involving California. And when Michael J. Fox mentioned that it would be fun to do a Western, the deal was sealed.
As for the rest of the pre-production trivia… well, there was the hiring of Mary Steenburgen as the new character Clara Clayton. But that process went rather smoothly, seeing as how the part was written for her specifically.

Um… Uh…

Well, apart from the stuff I mentioned in the Intro to Back to the Future Part II, that’s pretty much it, other than the few things I’ll cover as I recap.

So the film did pretty well at the box office, although at 87 million dollars, it’s the lowest-grossing of all three films.

But in the end, the first one is considered a classic, the second one is considered either an abomination or fairly good depending on who you talk to, but the third one… well, nobody ever talks about the third one. But that’s exactly what I’m here to do.

Coming up in Part 1! Doc, death, and a drive-thru!