Back to the Future Trilogy 4K UHD (1985-1990)

[mulscul]

It would be interesting if they could get Zemeckis to re edit Part 2 to what he would have liked it to be in 1989 without the pressure of filming part 3 at the same time.

He has said he would have liked more time with it on one of the docs.

[Fendergopher]

Originally Posted by mulscul

He has said he would have liked more time with it on one of the docs.

9/10 directors would say the same thing about their movies, a lot of them consider their projects unfinished in one way or another.

[TXMoviebuff77]

To be fair part 2 seemed to be rushed more than part 3. It doesn’t feel like a complete film & they barely spend 20 minutes in 2015. Given it’s the shortest film in the trilogy, yes it seems like Zemeckis wanted more. Still love the trilogy though.

[MOS3]

Originally Posted by mulscul

It would be interesting if they could get Zemeckis to re edit Part 2 to what he would have liked it to be in 1989 without the pressure of filming part 3 at the same time.

He has said he would have liked more time with it on one of the docs.

Oh the irony

[Alan_Grant]

Originally Posted by MOS3

Oh the irony

I suppose we can say Zemeckis was...OUTATIME

[Mocorongo]

If this is going to be released as planned they should add, if possible of course, in terms of bonus contents NEW material, not just include everything released before, with stuff already available on the internet, like recent interviews, cast reunions *, movie locations, reviews...

* The Fright Night (1985) Blu-ray, for example, has added the "Reunion Panel at Fear Fest 2 in 2008" (54 mins).

Perhaps a new commentary track with some fan like Oliver Harper or relevant people involved with the movie;

- All the Eric Stoltz material (since a few bits were showed in another edition, I see no reason preventing this to be fully released)

- Isolated music score for ALL movies (a real shame this was never done);

And record something new in 2020 with the surviving cast/crew. This time they should also try to contact others that were not main characters / had the same relevance, even people that appeared shortly in the trilogy.

To give you an idea of what I am talking about:

Recently I found this 1994 interview with Jeffrey Weissman:

Jeffrey Weissman (George McFly) 1994 Interview - Back to the Future - YouTube

Sure we can all download this from Youtube (like that 10 minute Marty and Doc appearance from Jimmy Kimmel), still it would be nice if something like this is included in this new edition or an updated interview is recorded.

***
And speaking of Weissman, Crispin Glover mentioned again in a 2019 interview what happened with him and Bob Gale:

Here's Why Crispin Glover is So Angry at Back to the Future Producer - YouTube

It would be funny if this sort of thing could be included, too, to spice things up. *

* Of course that would never happen, the studios prefer to be meek instead of taking risks. Or maybe Gale has the final word, since his version of that story is the only one we saw, until now.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Mocorongo

If this is going to be released as planned they should add, if possible of course, in terms of bonus contents NEW material, not just include everything released before, with stuff already available on the internet, like recent interviews, cast reunions *, movie locations, reviews...

* The Fright Night (1985) Blu-ray, for example, has added the "Reunion Panel at Fear Fest 2 in 2008" (54 mins).

Perhaps a new commentary track with some fan like Oliver Harper or relevant people involved with the movie;

- All the Eric Stoltz material (since a few bits were showed in another edition, I see no reason preventing this to be fully released)

- Isolated music score for ALL movies (a real shame this was never done);

And record something new in 2020 with the surviving cast/crew. This time they should also try to contact others that were not main characters / had the same relevance, even people that appeared shortly in the trilogy.

To give you an idea of what I am talking about:

Recently I found this 1994 interview with Jeffrey Weissman:

Jeffrey Weissman (George McFly) 1994 Interview - Back to the Future - YouTube

Sure we can all download this from Youtube (like that 10 minute Marty and Doc appearance from Jimmy Kimmel), still it would be nice if something like this is included in this new edition or an updated interview is recorded.

Eric Stoltz is not going to authorize any other footage.

Isolated scores require a lot of approvals and payouts.

It's very difficult to do new interviews nowadays. Most of the stars don't want people coming to their homes nor do they want to leave their house to do a documentary for a movie they did 30 years ago. Anything that might have been planned before the pandemic would have been scrapped. The country has been shut down for 4+ months. And no one wants a ridiculously awful looking Zoom video on a 4k disc.

If this is going to be released in October, any new material would have to be sent for authoring within the next month. There's very little time for anything new to be filmed, edited and put into the production pipeline.

The only thing that could be included would be previously produced features along with anything else in the archives.

[Geoff D]

Yeah. There's a ton of stuff that Universal have done for these movies, to the point where MJF repeats the same anecdote, literally word for word, in one of the newer featurettes. Of coursh there's other gear that people dream of having on there but I'm kinda BTTF'd out when it comes to extras for these movies. By all means retain everything that was on previous editions but if there's not so much as a minute of new material then I won't shed a tear, the movies are the most important part of the package and Universal need to get them right. I have faith, but also fear.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

There's a ton of stuff that Universal have done for these movies, to the point where MJF repeats the same anecdote, literally word for word, in one of the newer featurettes.

What did he say?

[Jlouisbarrett]

Yeah, these really don’t need further supplements. There have even been third party documentaries about the making of the film at this point. I think it’s all been covered.

I just wanna see the film with all of its lovely, filmic fine detail intact, with a tasteful HDR grade. And grain. All of the grain.

[Hardback247]

I have the Blu-Rays of both "Back in Time" and "OUTATIME."

[The Fallen Deity]

Hell will probably freeze over before we get anymore Eric Stoltz footage.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yeah. There's a ton of stuff that Universal have done for these movies, to the point where MJF repeats the same anecdote, literally word for word, in one of the newer featurettes. Of coursh there's other gear that people dream of having on there but I'm kinda BTTF'd out when it comes to extras for these movies. By all means retain everything that was on previous editions but if there's not so much as a minute of new material then I won't shed a tear, the movies are the most important part of the package and Universal need to get them right. I have faith, but also fear.

The amusing/ironic thing about these documentaries, to me, is that they are always intent on getting the stars/director to repeat the exact same anecdotes they've told every time they're on a talk show. Their name is included for clout and selling points. It helps to legitimize the doc.

However, for movies that are as well-documented as the BTTF trilogy (and, I'd argue, Jaws, Star Wars and the like), talking to the main actors and asking the same questions almost never bears any new fruit. Unless you're able to get them all together (like Josh Gad has done), most of the time nothing new comes out of it. For many of them, this was just another job and the things that fans would salivate over was just another day at work. They wanted to get it done and get back to their families, mistresses, whomever. They didn't memorize every day of filming as fans would love them to have done.

To me, the more you dig on some of these productions, the more interesting the stories can become. For other people, the fact that they worked on a Back to the Future or a Jaws was, if they're LUCKY, one of only a handful of amazing movies they had a chance to work on. They're much more likely to have retained anecdotes and random moments from the set than Michael J Fox. Hell, even the latest Ghostbusters documentary interviewed one of the background actors from it. That's as obscure as you get BUT it also means that you're going to hear new stories as opposed to hearing the same old crap from famous people.

If they're going to do something new, find an aspect that hasn't been covered yet and focus on that. Otherwise, it's regurgitation and a waste of time.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

The amusing/ironic thing about these documentaries, to me, is that they are always intent on getting the stars/director to repeat the exact same anecdotes they've told every time they're on a talk show. Their name is included for clout and selling points. It helps to legitimize the doc.

However, for movies that are as well-documented as the BTTF trilogy (and, I'd argue, Jaws, Star Wars and the like), talking to the main actors and asking the same questions almost never bears any new fruit. Unless you're able to get them all together (like Josh Gad has done), most of the time nothing new comes out of it. For many of them, this was just another job and the things that fans would salivate over was just another day at work. They wanted to get it done and get back to their families, mistresses, whomever. They didn't memorize every day of filming as fans would love them to have done.

To me, the more you dig on some of these productions, the more interesting the stories can become. For other people, the fact that they worked on a Back to the Future or a Jaws was, if they're LUCKY, one of only a handful of amazing movies they had a chance to work on. They're much more likely to have retained anecdotes and random moments from the set than Michael J Fox. Hell, even the latest Ghostbusters documentary interviewed one of the background actors from it. That's as obscure as you get BUT it also means that you're going to hear new stories as opposed to hearing the same old crap from famous people.

If they're going to do something new, find an aspect that hasn't been covered yet and focus on that. Otherwise, it's regurgitation and a waste of time.

That's very much the modern way of doing it with the indie stuff, no? Like with the various VAM outfits getting interviews with the key grip's brother's dog's vet or whoever, and although it can be good stuff it can also be quite dry at times. The notion of collating this material and fashioning a proper documentary out of it seems to be rather old hat, and I guess it doesn't look anywhere near as impressive on a spec sheet to have a single documentary listed versus all these separate interviews.

This is why I already miss Fox so much, they were one of the few majors who gave a damn about producing decent VAM for new movies.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

That's very much the modern way of doing it with the indie stuff, no? Like with the various VAM outfits getting interviews with the key grip's brother's dog's vet or whoever, and although it can be good stuff it can also be quite dry at times. The notion of collating this material and fashioning a proper documentary out of it seems to be rather old hat, and I guess it doesn't look anywhere near as impressive on a spec sheet to have a single documentary listed versus all these separate interviews.

This is why I already miss Fox so much, they were one of the few majors who gave a damn about producing decent VAM for new movies.

I'm really only talking about movies that are already heavily documented.

On the opposite end, for example, the new Force 10 disc that came out from Indicator has more secondary people. Now, granted, several of the participants are deceased so there's no getting them to be a part of it. Would I have loved to get Harrison or Carl Weathers on it? Absolutely. Harrison would never do it. He's too expensive and he hated the movie and the experience, from what I know. Others probably have very little recollection of the experience.

It can be dry, depending on the person speaking. Most of them are past retirement age and we all lose our enthusiasm as time goes along, especially talking about productions that happened 30+ years ago for movies that probably weren't very successful in the first place. It all depends on the person and what they think they have to contribute...and how much they'll be compensated for their recollections.

What I find irritating are the indie outlets that do "featurettes" on one person. Unless that one single person has enough to contribute, there's no reason to focus on one person for 20-30 minutes. Going back to the Ghostbusters doc, I can't imagine how many hours of interview footage those creators had to sift through and none of those individuals got 20 straight minutes.

However, these indie producers also don't always have the budgets like they do for more "important" films like Robodoc (43k) and Ghostbusters (54k) and Beetlejuice (34k). That's quite a nice chunk of money to just concentrate on the doc AND they will usually get distributors after the fact as well. That seems to be the best way to go in this day and age and I've pressured some of my more senior producer friends to go that route. I want them to use their contacts to do some incredible docs that are crowd-funded. We'd get great stuff that studios would never touch and they'd be done by professionals. Unfortunately, they'd be taking a major pay cut so it would have to be passion project.

[Geoff D]

That's exactly what I was getting at re: the piecemeal approach that's so popular with the indies. It feels a bit desperate sometimes.

[Mocorongo]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Eric Stoltz is not going to authorize any other footage.

Did he authorize the few seconds that were already showed in the recent releases?

[Show spoiler]

Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future (All Scenes) - YouTube

I don't remember which bonus content showed a few seconds of footage, I have to rewatch them again. I know it was in the context of Gale explaining they fired him. Then long before this all these pictures from him were released to the public.

What I am not sure is this:

- If the studio wanted (for this 4K disc) to release ALL the footage, could they do this regardless of Stoltz and Gale wishes?

- Bob Gale from what I understood did not release until now because... it was a sensitive issue. Unless I am mistaken he didn't do because Stoltz would never allow it, for fear of being sued...

It was probably "we can't release this because we are not comfortable with it".

Like not re-using all the 007 banned commentaries:
https://observationdeck.kinja.com/th...-pe-1574055578

Or some Tom and Jerry cartoon that modern viewers would find objectionable.

We need to be clear on this, if studios can release this kind of stuff if they want, or if it's impossible.

For example, if Universal wanted to put this recent 27 minute livestream:

[Show spoiler]

It's Time to go BACK TO THE FUTURE! | Reunited Apart with Josh Gad - YouTube

They would probably need to ask for Josh Gad's permission. Josh could also provide them with an original tape (let's pretend this was recorded another way), in better quality, without Youtube's reencode.

In Eric Stoltz's case this is entirely different. All the footage is owned by the studio, I don't see how an actor can prevent deleted scenes or a director's cut from a movie to be ever released.

I am assuming Stoltz would have no say in this matter.

There's also another possibility, that every single extra feature has to compensate the people that appear in them, just like a studio has to pay actors that have put their voices in cartoons, when the studio decides to re-release the movie in a new physical media.

At least in my country I read that some voice actors have sued the studios because the copyright law has a provision that forbids the reutilization of said work without authorization from all the involved or a new contract, otherwise all selling of physical media would be stopped or the studio pay damages.

Even if when the actor did the work and voiced the character DVD, Blu-ray or 4K didn't exist.

Note: this would not be similar to what happened to Crispin Glover in the sequels. See explanation below:

************
Replacement of Crispin Glover

Crispin Glover was asked to reprise the role of George McFly. He expressed interest, but could not come to an agreement with the producers regarding his salary. He stated in a 1992 interview on The Howard Stern Show that the producers' highest offer was $125,000, less than half of what the other returning cast members were offered. Gale has since asserted that Glover's demands were excessive for an actor of his professional stature at that time.

In an interview on the Opie and Anthony show in 2013, Glover stated that his primary reason for not doing Part II was a philosophical disagreement on the film's message; Glover felt the story rewarded the characters with financial gain, such as Marty's truck, rather than love.

Rather than write George McFly out of the film, Zemeckis used previously filmed footage of Glover from the first film as well as new footage of actor Jeffrey Weissman, who wore prosthetics including a false chin, nose, and cheekbones to resemble Glover.

Various techniques were used to obfuscate the Weissman footage, such as placing him in the background rather than the foreground, having him wear sunglasses, and hanging him upside down.

Glover filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film on the grounds that they neither owned his likeness nor had permission to use it. As a result of this suit, there are now clauses in the Screen Actors Guild collective bargaining agreements which state that producers and actors are not allowed to use such methods to reproduce the likeness of other actors.

Glover's legal action, while resolved outside of the courts, has been considered as a key case in personality rights for actors with increasing use of improved special effects and digital media, in which an actor may have agreed to appear in one part of a production but have their likeness be used in another without their agreement.
************

Had the producers only used his images from THE 1ST MOVIE they would NEVER be sued. Because in the context of BTTF II that part of the movie really showed something that happened before, in 1955 (I mean the scene where George punches Biff, the only moment we clearly see his face).

They were because to this date there are people that really think he participated in the sequels, including BTTF part III (in there we also see Jeffrey Weissman in the end, pretending to be Crispin Glover).

Regardless of the fact Crispin asked for more money or was inconvenient for disagreeing with the script, it was a cheap move to make everyone believe he was still doing those movies.
**********

I am not a legal expert and I have no idea what is the definitive answer to all these questions.

It also appeared to me they (the studio/producers) were just teasing us with this possibility, because if they had released all this footage we wouldn't buy the trilogy again.

I know 4K is something totally new for BTTF, that's not what I mean (if you didn't get my point): I am talking about the fact every 5 years they give us a new release, and for many years with the same transfer, they weren't improving the image/audio every single time.

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Isolated scores require a lot of approvals and payouts.

Isolated scores are very interesting! I love them!

Even better if they manage to create a 2nd track with the sound effects PLUS the music, so we would not have to sit and watch the moments where there's no score silent.

I mentioned the banned 007 commentaries - among them Criterion put for two of the movies the music + effects track: https://www.the007dossier.com/2011/0...-commentaries/

I already have all the albums from the trilogy, that's not the reason I asked for this. What I can say is that watching these movies only with what I consider one of the finest scores ever created would certainly be a great experience.

If it's not possible to isolate the sound effects then fine...

This idea also makes me question if they could do this work with the sound from the movies or this is technically impossible and they need to utilize material from the albums already released. If the latter is the only way, it's not ideal (I believe the albums don't sound 100% the same to what we listen in these movies), however it's still a great idea.

******
Since I mentioned isolating the sound effects, did you know the first movie won for Best Sound Effects Editing, and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing? If this sort of track isn't widely available in physical media, then at least it should be for movies like BTTF!

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

It's very difficult to do new interviews nowadays. Most of the stars don't want people coming to their homes nor do they want to leave their house to do a documentary for a movie they did 30 years ago. Anything that might have been planned before the pandemic would have been scrapped. The country has been shut down for 4+ months. And no one wants a ridiculously awful looking Zoom video on a 4k disc.

They should have done what I suggested already. Of course now it's a little late.

Even so there's enough disc space to get creative. Provided this doesn't get expensive and delay the boxset release more than expected.

In case you want two good examples from franchises that received the treatment I am asking for BTTF:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Alien...y/5090/#Review
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-U...y/1089/#Review

There's always room for improvement, and if this is the last time BTTF is going to be released in physical media, then they should do the best job possible.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Mocorongo

Did he authorize the few seconds that were already showed in the recent releases?

I'm sure. They'd have to do it for legal reasons, if not professional courtesy.

[Boland]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

By all means retain everything that was on previous editions but if there's not so much as a minute of new material then I won't shed a tear, the movies are the most important part of the package and Universal need to get them right. I have faith, but also fear.

I know we can't judge anything based on the new Netflix transfer (of part 2) at this point, but I will say that the vistaglide shots stand out like a sore thumb now.

Unless they get re-composited, they're not going to look pretty in 4K.

[reanimator]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

the movies are the most important part of the package and Universal need to get them right. I have faith, but also fear.

Yeah, I would temper expectations on these. And for once, I'm not putting it at Universal's feet -- they're on a fantastic winning-streak with catalog 4K, and have earned the benefit of the doubt. However, I think many of us are aware there are other forces at work surrounding these particular films, and Universal may be at their mercy.