Back to the Future Day may have come and gone on October 21, but fans of Back to the Future still have reason to celebrate. Bob Gale, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter who co-created the beloved time travel franchise with director Robert Zemeckis, has released a new annotated edition of the original Back to the Future screenplay. Meanwhile, an alternate version of Back to the Future Part II is available through The Stunt List, offering a glimpse at a very different adventure for Marty McFly and Doc Brown.
The alternate screenplay takes an unexpected detour: although the story still begins in 2015, it eventually travels back to 1967, sending the characters into a timeline filled with hippies, motorcycle rides, and some unusual experiments from Doc Brown. It’s a fascinating what-if for fans who have spent decades wondering about the adventures that never made it to the screen.
Back to the Future Part II Almost Took Marty and Doc to 1967
The alternate Back to the Future Part II screenplay is now available through The Stunt List, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting screenwriters and showcasing their work.
While the finished Back to the Future Part II takes Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) into the future, back to 1955, and into an alternate 1985, Gale’s alternate version charts a different course. The story still opens in 2015, but then the adventure shifts to 1967, bringing a very different cultural backdrop into the mix. And the changes go well beyond the setting. George and Lorraine McFly appear as hippies, Doc Brown rides a motorcycle and experiments with LSD, and Mr. Strickland has a new connection to Biff. Goldie Wilson, meanwhile, serves as Marty’s attorney, while Dave and Linda McFly and Old Man Peabody take on larger roles in the story. It’s quite a departure from the sequel audiences know and love.
And there’s one more intriguing detail: Doc Brown’s destination at the end of the story isn’t the Old West.
Bob Gale’s Annotated Back to the Future Screenplay Is Available Now
The alternate sequel script isn’t the only reason for fans to revisit the franchise this week. Gale’s new book, Back to the Future: The Complete Screenplay, was released on October 20, just one day before this year’s Back to the Future Day. The hardcover edition features the screenplay for the original 1985 film, annotated by Gale himself, along with an introduction by the screenwriter and a foreword by Zemeckis. The book also includes film stills, concept art, and other visual material that helps bring the production’s history to life.
The book runs 348 pages and is available in a trade hardcover edition. It also includes two officially licensed pocket calendars, for 1985 and 2027. Fans can order Back to the Future: The Complete Screenplay through the official Back to the Future store.
Back to the Future Day may be over for another year, but between Gale’s newly published annotations and this alternate sequel screenplay, there’s still plenty for fans to discover. The book revisits the script that started it all, while the other script offers a glimpse of a timeline in which Marty and Doc’s adventures took a different turn. Will you be reading them? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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