History Film / BacktotheFuture

* RockersSmashGuitars: Marty ruining the mood of his song by acting like a HeavyMetal singer.

* CaptainObvious: "You got a backdoor to this place?" "Yeah, it's in the back."

* CouldSayItBut: Doc's reluctance to spill the beans on Marty's future.

* TakeALevelInBadass: 1985A Mr Strickland. Living in a crapsack world infested with trigger-happy gangs doesn't help.

* DrowningMySorrows: Doc, in the saloon - subverted in that he doesn't actually touch his shot glass. When he finally does gulp it down, he [[DrunkOnMalts passes out instantly]].

* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: You can't run a fission reactor on pure plutonium.
** You also can't run a fusion reactor on garbage (well, maybe on organic matter and/or water if you have a way to extract the hydrogen, but Doc threw a metal can in there too). It's a good thing that "Mr. Fusion" is just a brand name, and a play on "[[BlandNameProduct Mr. Coffee]]."

* CoolTrain: The [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Time-Travelling Hover-Train]] at the end of ''Part III''.

* AllJustADream: Subverted once in all three films. In each one Marty gets knocked out and comes to in a dark room being nursed to health by a woman he thinks is the mother he knows, believing his recent hardships were a nightmare. The woman inevitably reassures him in a way that tells Marty (and the audience) that it actually wasn't a dream.

!!The ''Back To The Future'' series is the TropeNamer for:

In June 2010, Universal and TelltaleGames announced plans to develop an episodic ''VideoGame/BackToTheFuture'' PointAndClickGame; [[AndTheFandomRejoiced the fandom rejoiced]] at the news that Bob Gale and Christopher Lloyd would be involved. The first episode, which begins a new chapter in the ''Back to the Future'' series, was released on PC and Mac in December 2010 to solid reviews, and subsequent episodes have been equally well received. Its plot revolves around working with a teenaged Emmett Brown to save Doc from Prohibition-era Hill Valley and how Marty's efforts accidentally create a new timeline.

In ''Back To The Future Part III'', Marty and the 1955 Doc exhume the [=DeLorean=], mothballed by the 1885 Doc Brown in a closed mine. To their horror, Marty discovers 1885's Doc Brown's tombstone, learning that he was shot by Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, [[IdenticalGrandson Biff's ancestor]]. Originally told to go to his proper time and let him be, Marty instead goes back to 1885 to rescue his friend, but the fuel line is damaged in the trip. Since the [=DeLorean=] can't time travel unless it's accelerated to 88mph, both Marty and the Doc are now trapped in 1885 (high-octane gasoline being hard to come by in those days). They only have a few days to find a way to go [[TitleDrop back to the future]], before Doc Brown's appointment with death - but things get complicated when Doc Brown accidentally saves and almost immediately falls in love with school teacher Clara Clayton who was supposed to have fallen into the ravine, going against his stance on not changing history.

* RidiculousFutureSequalisation: A holographic advertisement for ''Jaws 19'', directed by Max Spielberg, with the tagline: "This time it's really, REALLY personal." All Marty has to say is, "The shark still looks fake."

-->"I think it's terrible. Girls chasing boys. When I was your age I never chased a boy, called a boy or...sat...in a parked car with a boy."

* [[ImMrFuturePopCultureReference I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference]]: "Clint Eastwood," "Calvin Klein," "[[StarWars Darth Vader]]," [[ETTheExtraTerrestrial an extra-terrestrial]] from [[StarTrek Planet Vulcan]].

* VillainDecay: Actually invoked with Biff. In the first film, he goes from being George [=McFly=]'s bullying co-worker to the family's submissive mechanic, all because of George's punch in the 1950s. [[ItGetsWorse He Got Worse]] in the sequel but went back to being subservient by the end of the third movie. [[OrIsIt Or Was He?]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original time machine was a modified refrigerator, changed because it would have been a very stationary prop and StevenSpielberg had images of children locking themselves in the fridge to the horror of their parents. (That's right, [[IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Steven Spielberg didn't want characters climbing into refrigerators]].) They also would have driven into the blast of a nuclear bomb to fuel the flux capacitor, changed because that alone would have doubled the production costs and the clock tower lightning strike made a fairly simple and stationary location. In the script written for this kind of time machine, the original timeline's Biff became a cop that kept "borrowing" stuff from George and had a daughter. With the change in the timeline, Biff became a security guard working for George, who became a boxing champion in that script.
** The sequel originally had Doc and Marty going back to the 60's after Biff's interference and seeing Marty's parents as pseudo-hippies, and part of his goal would have been to ensure that he is conceived. About mid-way through writing this part, they realized that there was nothing really stopping them from revisiting the events of the first movie. In that version, George was already dead in 2015 (and it was NOT 2015-A). It was mentioned that, at some undisclosed moment, George's life had been saved at a hospital that had previously survived an attempt from the town to demolish it. In the timeline where Biff became wealthy, the hospital had been demolished.
*** You can read about this version and its associated tropes [[Script/NumberTwo here]].
** Eric Stoltz was [[TheOtherMarty originally cast as Marty]]; apparently only stills exist of his work on the movie except for one scene that made it into the final cut -- Stoltz running away from the terrorist van, entirely covered in a radiation suit. Footage of this has recently been released.
*** When initially casting Marty, the producers narrowed it down to two choices: Stoltz and [[TheOutsiders C. Thomas Howell]]. Zemeckis and Gale preferred Howell, but the [[ExecutiveMeddling executives]] preferred Stoltz, so Stoltz was cast. However, the execs told the Bobs that if Stoltz didn't work out, then they could go back and reshoot with another actor. Except no one expected it to ''actually happen''...
** Also, JohnLithgow was considered for the part of Doc Brown.
** RonaldReagan as the 1885 Mayor. Given the CrowningMomentOfFunny dropping his name in ''Part I'' and the MaxHeadroom {{Expy}} that appears in the 80s Cafe in ''Part II'', having him appear in ''Part III'' would have neatly tied things together in a RuleOfCool way.
*** And ''Part III'' was TheWestern, a genre Reagan worked with.
** If Crispin Glover had signed on to the sequels, he would've played Seamus [=McFly=] in ''Part III''.
** According to Bob Gale, ideas proposed for ''Part II'' included a visit to Doc's family (with Christopher Lloyd playing his mother), and going to the days of Prohibition when Biff's ancestor was a bootlegger.
*** The last bit was retaken for the first episode of the newly released (as of 2010) game. And yes, Bob Gale worked on it.
** JeffGoldblum was another consideration for the role of Doc Brown.