The crown for best sci-fi trilogy is a tough one to award, but one franchise has always been a contender. Starting November 1, the iconic Back to the Future trilogy starts streaming on Netflix. Premiering in 1985, the time travel film became a classic in the genre, combining teen comedy and sci-fi. While Michael J. Fox had already reached moderate success due to the sitcom Family Ties, he became a bona fide star in the role of teenage Marty McFly. Marty is the youngest of three siblings and a ne’er-do-well who, in his spare time, has befriended the eccentric scientist, Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). One night, he meets Doc at the local mall only to experience tragedy.
Doc had made a time machine out of a DeLorean, but used stolen plutonium to do it. The terrorists he stole it from came in hot, and Marty is devastated to watch his best friend gunned down. With only one option left to him, he speeds off in the DeLorean, traveling back to 1955 in the exact same location. Back to the Future was the rare gem that ensnared a generation, spawning two more sequels. Trilogies were more common than the extended universes of modern franchises, but the sci-fi series had something those didn’t. All the Back to the Future movies were practically perfect.
Back to the Future had everything going for it. The first film used a healthy combination of humor and sci-fi technology to make a genre-defining film. The rules of Doc Brown’s time travel were easy to understand and had real stakes in the world. When Marty travels back to the time his parents were in high school, he has to make sure not to interact with anyone he knows, or it could impact the current timeline negatively.
Naturally, Marty violates these rules. He almost immediately interacts with his mother, which develops into an unfortunate Oedipal fixation. Lorraine (Lea Thompson) falls in love with Marty instead of Marty’s father, George (Crispin Glover). It is then Marty’s role not just to find a way back to his own time but to ensure that his parents fall in love so he can be born. This setup allowed for many hilarious set pieces but also some of the most emotional aspects of the film. Marty secretly needs to find a way to save Doc from dying in the present timeline, even though his friend stresses he can’t learn anything about the future.
These emotional tentpoles exist in future films and make the universe even more enjoyable. Throughout Marty’s time travel excursions and use of the sports almanac, he travels to see his future, then back to 1955 again, and has to avoid interacting with himself. The final film could have been the most divisive when Doc and Marty travel to the wild, wild West in the next sequel, but Back to the Future never lost its endearing nature. At its heart, the sci-fi films were always about the dynamic between Doc and Marty, and in the final film, their roles are subverted. Marty has to be the one to remind Doc of the rules while the scientist is swept away by love. There have been sci-fi trilogies since then, but nothing can hold a candle to Back to the Future, which never falters. Viewers can catch the trilogy on Netflix starting November 1.