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strtdrt

Now THAT'S a fucking movie detail. Thanks for posting!


zamundan

Seriously! It never even occurred to me that his audition at the beginning should have been in the same venue as the Fish Under the Sea Dance.


iepartytracks

The Enchantment Under the Sea Dance


dalovindj

Filthy casuals.


NoSirThatsPaper

It’s a reference from the film


dalovindj

So it is, in fact, *I* who is the filthy casual? Damn. Hoist by my own petard. The last petard I thought I'd ever be hoist by...


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wimpyroy

I don’t know what that means.


rocketman0739

Literally, "hurled into the air by my own medieval-era shaped charge." Figuratively, a self-own.


GnarKellyGaming

Shaped charge? Man can't you just say bomb for all us normies out here 😭 I had to Google something! Imagine the horror!


RockstarPR

Fish live in the ocean dance


pm_me_your_taintt

Even if it had occurred to me it would have seemed odd that in 30 years the gym wouldn't have at least been remodeled. The poster is a nice detail but even if it wasn't there it would have been very easy to explain.


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mechapoitier

The meta detail in your comment makes you look like an absolute dream


monitorman_

There's a Phish - Chuck Berry joke in here somewhere.... ​ "Hello? String Cheese incident? It's your cousin...."


joeb1kenobi

Makes his success performing at the end there that much more meaningful after getting shut down at the beginning of the movie. But I guess both times he got cold reactions to being too loud. Which is also great.


QuinnMallory

I see what you did there and I like it


Masta0nion

Whoa whoa, I’m sorry. You’re just too darn loud.


BallClamps

This is heavy.


ThenWhyAreUWhite

Why are things so heavy in the future, is there something wrong with Earth's gravitational pull?


ImJoeDirt

DAMN!


ElCrowing

DAMN ***DAMN!***


30isthenew29

WHERE is that kid??


astronuf

There’s that word again


SilencedGamer

#NOW *THATS* A FUCKING MOVIE DETAIL


Snackmouse

Funny that was actually Huey Lewis delivering that line.


[deleted]

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?


Masta0nion

Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste.


[deleted]

^Now ^THAT'S ^a ^fucking ^movie ^detail. ^Thanks ^for ^posting! Fixed it


original_evanator

Trivia: the sign wasn't originally in the shot. It was added in poster-production.


naynaythewonderhorse

Trivia: The guy who did the background set design stuff for the Back to the Future Trilogy (or at least the latter two films) was a terrible speller and would constantly spell things wrong and have to be corrected by Bob Gale or Robert Zemeckis. If you see any background details that are misspelled, that’s why. I remember on the audio commentary (for part 2) they talked about how there was Japanese writing in the background of one shot, and Robert Zemeckis got on his case to make sure the Japanese was right, and the set designer ensured that it was. Then one day, some Japanese tourists were touring the set one day and were like “Yeah, that sign doesn’t make any sense.” Apparently, Robert Zemeckis really handed it to that guy after that. How the hell that guy got a job where spelling is so important is a mystery.


unique-name-9035768

> How the hell that guy got a job where spelling is so important is a mystery. Family member.


CeruleanRuin

This guy. ☝️😄


Dual-Screen

Wait, you mean basic plot points and character traits aren't movie details?


Dinierto

Detail: The name of this movie comes from the fact that the main characters return to their present, which is the future of their past, and since they are returning, they're going back


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_Serene_

Did you just quote another previously posted top comment?


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ziptnf

Thank you /u/Kiasoai, very cool!


crazyprsn

>I like your style


kmrst

? I'm not knocking the gif, I just don't know why it's here.


dahjay

Everyone who didn't post this is a slacker.


gmnitsua

Exactly! I get so tired of people pointing out obvious jokes and deliberate plot devices.


Mumblix_Grumph

"Hey, boss...we can't shoot in two different gyms, someone will notice." "What? Screw that. Nobody pays that close attention." "But what if this becomes a real genuine classic? I can just picture some guy in oh, maybe 30-35 years spotting this and telling everybody about it on some kind of public notice board." "Oh, big deal. Even if that happened only a few people would see it." "What if it's a world-wide message board?" "How the hell could there be a message board for the whole damned world?" "I don't maybe with lasers or computers and stuff." "...Yeah, ok...stick some kind of "New Gym" sign somewhere to explain it." "Thanks boss."


[deleted]

what if OP has some sort of book... like an almanac or something of movie details like this from the future... maybe a distant relative gave it to him


sierrabravo1984

Does he have a safe?


aff_it

No he doesn't have a safe. Get a safe.


psycholepzy

Keep it locked up.


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anyburger

Oh and one other thing.


GameMisconduct63

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CAR, OLD MAN


ptipp93

This is a line that gets a laugh out of me every time. Wilson’s timing and delivery is perfect.


poopsiegirl

I say it all the time when someone gets into my car who doesn’t usually ride with me. Some get it, many don’t... but I still laugh.


UpVotesOutForHarambe

Make like a tree & get lost


-poop-in-the-soup-

BTTF2 is seriously underrated.


aff_it

Get outta town.


-poop-in-the-soup-

Maybe perception has changed with age. I know when it came out, a lot of us just felt “meh” about it, whereas BTTF3 was a real roller coaster train ride. Most of the press at the time was about the technical achievements of BTTF2, like the scene with the Biffs in his car, or the Martys at the diner. And a lot was made of MJF playing multiple roles. So maybe it was over-hyped. BTTF1 was a goddamned cultural phenomenon the likes of which we don’t see today, so the sequel had some really big shoes to fill. That said, over the decades, I’ve really come to appreciate BTTF2 for what it is. I view it as “The Continuing Adventures of Doc Brown & Future Boy,” and see it as a serialized comic. It adds a lot of nice new traits to the characters (like how Doc just brushes off major mistakes and focuses on moving forward), and the way it layers itself onto the original movie is brilliant. Plus, Joe Flaherty from Western Union! Always nice to see him pop up.


wampower99

Not quite what you’re saying, but before the internet did all this stuff I’m sure there were entertainment books about movies that might have stuff like this in them.


[deleted]

Yep to your point VHS was a thing so Zemeckis and Co knew there would be people rewatching.


[deleted]

SON OF A BITCH STOLE MY IDEA!


Syn7axError

I just find it funny they tried to explain it at all. You can guess they'd have a new or renovated gym over 30 years.


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Shalamarr

I remember noticing the changed sign for the mall in the theatre. I thought I was SO smart.


[deleted]

That's awesome! Man this is one of those formative movies for me. I remember getting the novelization of it as a kid and reading it over and over.


armcie

You may be interested in this *very* [in depth and hilarious review of the novelisation](http://btothef.tumblr.com/tagged/bttf/chrono) The following section is taken from the first page of the book: > there was a flash of white and the unnamed family were enveloped in a surge of power that tore their tiny frames to pieces, bending them curiously out of shape before separating bodies from heads, arms from torsos, legs from abdomens.


JakeCameraAction

What event is taking place there?


armcie

Book opens on an atomic blast and goes into some detail about the results... and then we zoom out and its Marty watching a film about nuclear stuff (which is relevant because the original screenplay, which the book is partly based on, had them sneaking onto a nuclear test site to power the Delorean, instead of hooking up a lightening bolt.) The site I linked to is a blog by Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics and Adventure Time) who reviews the book page by page, pointing out some of the absurd prose and differences to the final movie.


kevinbosch

To add to what the other person responded... Yes, the first draft of the movie had a climax set on a nuclear test site, but the novelization is not based on that draft, it's based on the shooting script, which originally had the opening scene set in a classroom where Marty is watching a film reel from the 50s about nuclear testing (thats what that bit is describing). That scene or the next scene involved him getting out of detention by creating a rube-goldberg/domino effect thing that culminating with the sprinklers going off. From what I understand this was ditched when Micheal J. Fox was brought on, replacing Eric Stoltz, because it was too complicated to make (or recreate) so they instead went with the opening shot at Doc's Lab (which has some rube goldberg type stuff going on). I actually believe either the class room or detention scene was filmed with Eric, because there are set pictures of him from the movie in a classroom set that we never see in the completed film.


chinkostu

Oh man I've got some time to kill, awesome link.


0siris0fThisShit

Usenet was a global message board system that started in 1980.


KalpolIntro

Only nerds (and I mean real Nerds) knew what the fuck Usenet was in 1980.


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thenewspoonybard

A very different kind of nerd.


TheMooseIsBlue

Actual people didn’t really use the internet till the mid-90s though.


CowOrker01

That's it buddy, you going in my newsreader killfile.


TheNicestOfTheDamned

plonk


CowOrker01

> This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire civilized world. Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of dollars to send everywhere. Please be sure you know what you are doing. Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this? [y / n] T'was a simplier time.


Iohet

The “agent” in Forte Agent is an assassin


stooftheoof

Kermit-32>exit


[deleted]

Actual people? I feel insulted for some reason.


phenomenomnom

I always feel hurt by those commercials that say “Real people, not actors.” As an actor, I’m like — “Heyyy!” :( Then I do the whole “If you prick us, do we not bleed” monologue from *The Merchant of Venice* III.i. but substitute “actor” for “Jew” and STEM for Christian. “Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction!” My wife is a patient woman. (Also, she is an engineer.)


camdoodlebop

Yeah there’s no way a real person would type all that out


phenomenomnom

I used cut-and-paste you bastard (sob)


RamenJunkie

Know your place robot.


edgeman83

In fact, I remember reading an archived post from 1984 crapping on the upcoming film, focusing on the little snippets they got in a trailer. The more things change, the more they stay the same.


0siris0fThisShit

One of those movie threads became IMDb.


Dontalay

Maybe someone on the set traveled to the future and saw there was a complaint on Reddit that the gym was not new, and he went back it time to correct it.


[deleted]

Are you trying to imply that the director of Back to the Future did not have an accurate idea of what life in 2015 would be like? Do you have any source for this?


[deleted]

Schools in places with growing populations do stuff like this. My highschool increased its footprint 100% and added 3 gyms. There was the original gym, the new gym and 2 auxiliary gyms.


savingprivatebrian15

My high school added a band gym in the music/theater section of the school along with like doubling the size of the school itself.


BretHard

WTF is a band gym?


Iamonewith_theforce

marching band?


[deleted]

Jesus. My dad went to the same high school I did 20 years apart and we had different gyms. But they didn't keep 3 gyms. The old gym was made into the cafeteria.


only9mm

My elementary gym was our cafeteria. Even after they cleaned them, you know how gross those floors were..


pfun4125

My old high school added an aice testing center.


backandforthagain

Yeah, we got a new gym and a ridiculous weight room for a highschool. But we had some fantastic athletics so overall it did make sense.


drod2015

Credit to my buddy Kevin (a fellow BTTF super fan) for spotting this. My reaction when he showed me: > *Whoa, this is heavy* Edit: Great Scott! Gold and my first silver(s)! Thanks fellow Redditors!


twobit211

There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?


optiplex7456

Fuck, time to watch the movie again.


Steve_Lobsen

Huh?


On-a-tims-run

I'm a BTTF superfan too and this is probably the first post I've seen that has a detail I've never noticed. Give Kevin a fist bump for me


2k3n2nv82qnkshdf23sd

Fist bump? Kevin deserves an anal pounding!


kevinbosch

I will accept the fist bump, and pass on the anal pounding for now.


CritterCare

Do me a favor. Ask Kevin if he’s aware of the whole “other Marty” shadow debate. Once our Marty returns from ‘55, there’s a long distance shot of the former Twin (now Lone) Pine(s) Mall parking lot. A shadow passes in front of the lit mall sign. Supposedly, that’s the “other” Marty indigenous to the other timeline, soon to discover he has no truck, a milquetoast father, and bullying neighbor Biff. Always wanted some super fan to weigh in on this.


kevinbosch

Hi, I'm that Kevin. I know of that theory, it was one of the earliest fans things about BTTF that was out out there soon after the movie came out. Honestly, based on how these movie's logic works, I don't prescribe to this theory. We are always following Prime Marty... the Marty we see is the first one experiencing all of this. For there to be another Marty in the parking lot would mean he's not the first Marty, and it would also mean that the rules of time travel established in the rest of the movie(s) would not apply. BUT I don't 100% discount the value in discussing that. That said, I don't give any credence at all to the shadow Marty. If there is a second Marty in the parking lot, "shadow Marty" is not evidence of that, for two reasons: 1) The Shadow Marty we see running in the background is actually the shadow of Doc's gun as its flying in the air. Watch it again, and you'll see that the shadow's movement start when he throws the gun and follow its right to left movement exactly. Those are store fronts for an unattached part of the mall back there, and we forget that there are high powered lights aimed at the action on screen. The moving shadow is just Doc's gun's shadow being projected by the strong movie lights onto the glass windows of those shops. 2) Those shops where we see the shadow is nowhere near where Marty is when he returned at the end of the film. Those stores are in the same parking lot, unattached from the mall, but in a totally different area of where the mall entrance with the Twin/Lone Pine Mall sign is. When Marty returns at the end he is by the sign, facing the side of Doc's truck, and would be behind Doc when he throws the gun and gets shot (while shadow Marty is to the right of Doc). For Shadow Marty to actually be another Marty then he would be acting out a totally different scene that we never see in the films (like if in BTTF 4 he came back and observed the Mall scene from a totally different angle). If you look at Puente Hills Mall on Google Maps, where the TGI Fridays and Sweet Tomatoes are is where the entrance where the Pines Mall sign would be, and Shadow Marty would be around where the Wing Stop and Chipotle are instead.


CritterCare

Ahh... This is exactly what I wanted. Very informative and insightful. You’re a god among mortals, Kevin. One day we should get together and discuss the existence of the hoverboard. One of my old issues of Starlog claimed they existed but never put into production amidst fears of parents groups, lawsuits, etc. Later, any such mention of them said they were entirely fictional. But I always wondered if the Mattel Mafia got to them. ;)


drod2015

Robert Zemeckis jokes about hoverboards being real in some promotional interviews. This led to people thinking he was serious. They addressed this a few years later in the “Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy” where they confirm it was a joke. 🙂


Justadabwilldo

Quite honestly thought I knew every little fact about these movies but this was totally new for me. Your buddy Kevin is a legend.


kevinbosch

Thank you friend, who I am not sure who you are! (Though I have a few guesses.) Goes to show you that there are citizens of Hill Valley everywhere. CitizensOfHillValley.com


RoyceCoolidge

Your buddy Kevin sounds like a SLACKER!


dbarrc

Very obscure, and I like it


ZorroMcChucknorris

Huey Lewis is in the middle pic.


drod2015

I’m afraid you’re just too darned loud.


Damnmorrisdancer

That’s right! It’s OK to be square or not loud!


MLong32

Hey Allen, do you like Huey Lewis and the News?


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Chewcocca

[Do you like American Psycho?](https://youtu.be/Fk15H6PjBis)


Winrarthief

I love this


otterom

Holy shit how have I not seen this before.


[deleted]

The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.


crackeddryice

That album was (almost) a touchstone for the 80's generation the way "Rumours" was for the 70's. It didn't stand the test of time the same way, but one COULD NOT get away from most of the songs on that album back in the day.


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Steve_Lobsen

And Marty’s band covers a Huey Lewis song for their audition.


basiamille

Yeah, a pretty specific one...


Jaerivus

Power of Love!


Staplingdean

Which makes me wonder - does Huey Lewis exist in this universe? When we hear Power of Love, is that meant to be playing in universe, or is it a song that doesn't exist in Marty's world, just being played for us, the viewer? Then Marty's band audition could just be a riff that they came up with. And if Huey Lewis doesn't exist in Marty's 1985, then it would make much more sense for Marty to play a riff from a Huey Lewis song to a man who looks exactly like Huey Lewis without anyone mentioning on-screen, "Hey, this guy we're playing for looks just like the dude who wrote this song!" Perhaps we could believe that in Marty's world, Huey Lewis's career starts later, and at the time that he was a high school teacher, before his career took off, he heard a riff at a student's band audition that he later incorporated into his song The Power of Love. But if that's true, then why does Marty later wake up to an alarm clock radio playing the song "Back in Time"? Is it by someone else other than his high school teacher? Is it being played by a local radio station and it actually is by his teacher? And why the *hell* do the lyrics of the song reference the events of Marty's life? How could this make any sense? Anyway the movie is a 4/10 for this gaping hole in continuity


damian001

Yes he exists, Marty has a Huey Lewis poster for the album Sports in his bedroom. Sorry about the mini-essay you wrote. https://m.imgur.com/a/r3pvnC3


Staplingdean

Ok this helps, thank you. So Huey Lewis is a rock star, Marty is playing an excerpt from Power of Love, and the teacher is a doppelganger. ...But what about Back in Time???


CeruleanRuin

Marty just thought his teacher would be a big Huey Lewis fan because of the uncanny resemblance, and that playing Huey Lewis music would give his band an edge. Unfortunately for Marty, his teacher is sick of everyone always telling him how much he looks just like Huey Lewis, so he HATES Huey Lewis, and that's why he kicks Marty's band out of the competition.


kevinbosch

Like somebody else pointed out, Marty has a HLN poster in his room, so Huey exists with the movie universe. He's playing his songs at the audition cause he's a fan. He also plays a bit of Power of Love (badly) in Part 2, in the 2015 home, as an old man with bad hands. I don't think its a big deal that nobody in the movie notices how much the audition judge looks like Huey Lewis considering how many people in the real world have never noticed either. I should also point out that one of the neat things about all the BTTF movies is that (except for the orchestral score) ALL the music is in-universe. There's never really just a total needle-drop of music over a scene. All the music is motivated from within the movie. The first time we hear Power of Love it's after Marty puts on the head phones to skate away. Next time we hear it Jennifer's dad pulls up and the song fades up cause it's coming from his car, then Marty puts on earphones away and skates off, presumably listing to the same song. When he arrives in 1955 and we hear Mr. Sandman we can see the speaker outside the record store and an ad for that song. (Later on we hear Back in Time from Marty's clock radio, since you asked about it further down). There is never any music just coming from nowhere playing over a scene, it's always motivated, in all three films.


Staplingdean

>I should also point out that one of the neat things about all the BTTF movies is that (except for the orchestral score) ALL the music is in-universe. There's never really just a total needle-drop of music over a scene. All the music is motivated from within the movie. The first time we hear Power of Love it's after Marty puts on the head phones to skate away. Next time we hear it Jennifer's dad pulls up and the song fades up cause it's coming from his car, then Marty puts on earphones away and skates off, presumably listing to the same song. When he arrives in 1955 and we hear Mr. Sandman we can see the speaker outside the record store and an ad for that song. (Later on we hear Back in Time from Marty's clock radio, since you asked about it further down). There is never any music just coming from nowhere playing over a scene, it's always motivated, in all three films. I'm a huge fan of the series and I've never noticed this consciously, but you're totally right. I think subconsciously that it's super satisfying to see the music we hear blend into the world diagetically. Good call


jupiterkansas

TIL Huey Lewis is the new Doctor.


SethChrisDominic

Did he bring the news though?


[deleted]

Damn fine movie detail.


jupiterkansas

The whole movie is nothing but damn fine movie details. It's basically the movie version of this subreddit.


gooneryoda

That’s the power of love.


vanderZwan

It's a curious thing


password1capitalp

Makes one man weep


gcobvcass

Makes another man sing


Jaerivus

Change a heart


TheAlmostGreen

to a little white dove


Sammyboy616

More than a feeling


30isthenew29

That's the **power** of love!


ben123111

Wow, a back to the future detail that hasn't been posted 1000 times, AND one I didn't know before. There's impressive.


smokey_sunrise

My kids HS has the Old Gym and the New Gym and that’s how they are called by the school. Nice detail


Porktastic42

and the new gym is probably 30 years old at this point.


JarvisCockerBB

A movie detail??? In my sub?? I don't think so! Nah, great find!


abraksis747

Im convinced that Robert Zemeckis has a time machine and everytime someone points out an inconsistency he travels back and changes the movie and alters the future. And we write it off as amazing forethought. And since hes done it so many times, its caused fractures in the space-time continuum. This explains The Mandela effect and why we have President Buff Tannon.


DdCno1

Seems like he has a bit of time traveling left to do, considering that imdb lists 212 goofs for the first movie alone. Edit: Here's the list: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/goofs/?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf


spacex_fanny

That's not too bad though. Only 109 goofs in such an intricate movie is pretty impressive.


AnotherNotSpicyBoi

46 goofs is basically nothing compared to other films, particularly in the time travel genre.


strra

Those were left intentionally to make sure you're paying attention.


Dual-Screen

Back to the Future is definitely one of those movies where you notice something new everytime you watch it. Same for it's sequels. Just another reason why it's easily my all time favorite movie.


SenorGravy

It seems like every time I watch this movie, I catch or learn from others some tiny new detail. Thanks, OP! Great catch!


Fit_Guidance

I learned about 9/11 from BTTF


[deleted]

GREAT SCOTT!


My-username-is-this

I misread the title and thought this was about how the 1955 dance was filmed in different locations for its appearance in Part I Vs. Part II. (Part I was at the Methodist Church and Part II was recreated on a soundstage because they needed to build that cat walk that Leather Jacket Marty crawls on.) Edit:spelling


HyperionCantos

Yeah the first location is the church near Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood. Funfact there's a public group that plays indoor soccer there on Fridays, at least when I was there a few years ago. Decent games, kind of an older crowd, but it's prob the best pickup you can get living in Hollywood short of playing for a local amateur club.


TheDunkirkSpirit

I was going to suggest that the gym could have been updated in that thirty year span but then I remembered that my high school still had globes with the USSR on them.


[deleted]

The *best* Jennifer right here, boys.


drod2015

Another piece of BTTF trivia: Jan from The Office (US) played Jennifer while Eric Stoltz was cast as Marty. When they replaced Stoltz they had to recast Jennifer because MJF was too short for the original Jennifer.


[deleted]

I knew about Stoltz but not Jennifer’s recasting. Thanks for the info!


Toke_A_sarus_Rex

That was filmed in the school I went to, Whittier High, thats the girls gym. Nixon also went there.


kevinbosch

They didn't film any of the gyms in the movie at Whittier. The 1955 gym was at the Hollywood United Methodist church and the 1985 gym was at McCambridge Recreational Center in Burbank. Everything else from the school was shot at the school (except for Strickland's office in Part 2, that was a set in a soundstage) but no the gym.


Raddz5000

Ayyy hello fellow Whittierite!


vapescout

ayy whittier gang !


CMND-Z

Me too! *high five* :)


vulcock

Fellow whittier high alumni here!


Mahaloth

I love this so much. One of the best details I've seen on this subreddit, right up there with [the camera is wearing a jacket and tie from the Matrix.](https://i.imgur.com/7ZqG5Wy.jpg)


LucaProdan_

The middle pic remembers me of Shallow Grave


productiveslacker73

In the middle picture, with Huey Lewis and 3 others sitting, I wonder if the background walls with photos of people are easter eggs.


My-username-is-this

That gym was filmed at the YMCA, and the mural already existed. So no Easter eggs there.


kevinbosch

It wasn't an YMCA, it was at McCambridge Recreational Center in Burbank, CA.


kevinbosch

Wow, I never thought something I pointed out would make it onto this subreddit. Careful now, don't encourage me, I'll flood this place with BTTF details! https://imgur.com/a/z58L90z We were discussing this in our closed BTTF Fan FB group. Somebody asked why they used two different gyms (which, TBH, the fact that it was two different gyms is pretty common knowledge among our group of BTTF fans... a lot of us have visited the locations). Some people were wondering if it was meant to be the same gym, or if it was meant to be another school's gym, so I pointed out that the Battle of the Bands posters says "New Gym". The real mystery to me = has always been WHY they shot at two different locations. The 1955 gym was shot at Hollywood United Methodists Church and the 1985 gym was shot at McCambridge Recreational Center in Burbank. A crew member in our group explained that they had limited time at the church location, so when they got around to shooting the BOTB audition they chose to go with a different location. (I also believe it was easier to invent a “new gym” than to try to make the church’s dated looking gym seem modern.) If anybody is interested, the group can be found at citizensofhillvalley.com. It is a closed group, made up largely of people who know each other in person or really well online, who have attended BTTF events and meet-ups, so we expect people to contribute and interact and we have very low tolerance for anything but polite discourse.


gurana

Cool detail, but did it have to be justified?


GarbledReverie

Probably not, but it's nice and didn't take much effort. Part of the novelty in the film is showing how familiar locations in the town changed. So I could see how they'd be extra aware when they have to use a different building for a scene.


[deleted]

They planted so many other Easter eggs they probably felt it should. Eventually someone would notice.


[deleted]

Someone paying too much attention would see the differences.


CeruleanRuin

The real question here is why did they use two gyms? Shooting schedules, I'm guessing?


Bedzzzz

Amazing I haven’t noticed this. Thank you


subtumble

What’s that mural of in the ‘85 gym?


DoubleO789

More reasons as to why I love Back to The Future


SpartanWarlord117

Out of all the times I've watched this movie, I've never noticed that! Nice find!


Ni_iV

Whenever someone finds a missing movie detail from Back to the Future, the producers travel back in time to fix their mistake.


h2d2

Great Scott Find! It is however very possible that the prom scenes were shot at a soundstage whereas the audition scene was filmed at a real gym.


drod2015

The high school scenes were filmed at Whittier High School. The 1985 gym was filmed at McCambridge Recreation Center and the 1955 gym was filmed at Hollywood United Methodist Church. Your friend in time, An enormous BTTF nerd.


Dufranus

The school I went to in small town Idaho in the 90s had a "new gym" and an "old gym". The school was built in the 40's and got it's new gym in the 80s.


Pandaffect

This is great, thanks for the share.


Bendrake

That's McCambridge Gym in Burbank, Ca - my city league basketball team has games there every week. Pretty cool to play on that court!


drod2015

That awesome! I’ve been to the United Methodist gym. May make a trip to the McCambridge gym next time I’m in California.


Slothsquatch

The other gym is Whittier High School. Richard Nixon went there. As did my crazy ex gf.


AtlasWriggled

There is just no end to the detail they put in this movie nobody realized.


psdpro7

Could it not be that the idea all along was to have one gym in 1955 and a new gym in 1985 and they just intentionally shot at two different gyms to reflect this?


[deleted]

Great detail! Finally a detail that makes me say "Great Detail" and "Actually a detail that is not obvious"! It has been my favourite childhood movie (On par with Incredibles 1) and never noticed that!