Book #179: Back to the Future II by Craig Shaw Gardner

 

Back To The Future II

Craig Shaw Gardner

 Released: November 1st, 1989

My 45th book for 2026 was Craig Shaw Gardner’s Back To The Future II.  

It's funny, I feel like as a child, I put more value into this than I do as an adult.  It's funny to see the ways the films believed 2015 would turn out.  But 11 years after the fact, eh.  The hoverboard is cool.  Throwbacks to the first film.  Exploring other characters.  Seeing future "inventions".  More Biff.  The story works in its own way.  I think I enjoyed the book more than the film.

In this story, we recap the ending to Part 1.  Marty has just arrived back in 1985 after working with 1955 technology to make the DeLorean work.  As he gets used to the new changes in his life, Doc Brown arrives in a flying DeLorean and informs Marty and Jennifer to go to the future to save their son.  Once there, they do some things with Doc's help to fix the future.  As they adapt to all the changes, Marty buys an Almanac with the intention to earn money gambling.  Doc warns him about it and throws the book away.  An elderly Biff discovers the almanac, and a vacant DeLorean.  He travels back to 1955 with plans to enrich himself.  Suddenly everything changes and for the worse.  Biff and Lorraine are married.  Biff is a Donald Trump-style character in terms of richness but is a massive jerk.  Biff abuses the family routinely and even had George McFly murdered decades ago.  Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to stop the Almanac from being used.  This recycles scenes from the first film to build an even more complex plot.  Once successful, Doc Brown gets caught up in a lightning storm, and during one bolt vaporizes.  Marty is overcome with shock and grief as they were supposed to be heading home to 1985.  As Marty laments his loss, a Western Union employee arrives with a letter from 1885.  Doc Brown has been sent back to the Old West and has built out a life there since he is unable to return to the future.  The time travel circuits have fried, and the repair parts would not be available until 1947.  The film ends with Marty celebrating the fact that the Doc is alive.  He runs to 1955 Doc seconds after 1955 Doc sent Marty back to 1985 in the sequence from the first film.  This distorts Doc but ends with a To Be Continued.

The story is very solid.  There are many complex layers to be dealt with here, and it's a lot for some people.  The visuals are what made the film.  The flying DeLorean.  The "2015" effects.  The ideas are what make the book.  I visualized this book a lot clearer than I can sometimes process this movie.  I think it's having them written down with vivid descriptions.

The character development is nice.  I love the growth of the characters.  The struggles of Marty.  The troublemaker McFly's.  Biff and his grandson.  You see all sorts of family traits thrown around in this one.  This one did have a lot of transitions between 1985, 2015, 1985, 1955, and though mentioned in passing (until the next story) 1885.  That's a lot of hopping and time travelling for anyone.  And characters of all ages, and stages of life.

I suppose I just enjoy the more strict-themed ones.  Part 1 was all about 1955.  It's an 80's movie about the 1950's.  And the story is an exceptional one.  

Part 2 sort of criss-crosses time to a point that you could easily get lost.  

The 3rd one tones it back to the feeling of the original story.  Being part of one specific era of time, and honestly a way of life in 1885.  Like where 1985 to 1955 would be shocking to anyone not ready to see the difference in technology and advancements.  Image going back to a time where life was a bit of a demanding struggle.  The struggle was real.  It's a 90's movie about the 1880's.  And honestly, it's an 80's film technically since it was shot back-to-back with Part 2.  

I felt more charm in Parts 1 and 3.  And no that's not a Taylor Swift reference.  

The other part here is the evolution of Biff.  We see Biff young and troublesome.  We see implications of why Biff has had such a difficult life and takes it out on the world around him.  We see what happens when Biff is insanely successful.  We also see him when he's old and grouchy from running a detailing shop.  It shows how it runs in generations.  A deeply struggling life has led to adverse behavior and lament towards the world.  Not even Lorraine's love could turn Biff around.

Part 2 is a good book, but there's just a lot going on in it.  I'm not sure what else to say without going into more depth about the movie and trying to draw comparisons.

Here is what I learned:

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• “The only thing more uncertain than the future is the past.” - Soviet Proverb.

• The Flux Capacitor requires 1.21 jigawatts of electricity.

• The first scene replays the ending of the original story as Doc Brown collects Marty and Jennifer to take them to 2015, 30 years into the future.

• DeLoreans did not exist in 1955.

• Biff runs an auto detailing company.

• Biff drinks coffee.

• The DeLorean now runs on garbage.

• The DeLorean now flies.

• People fly their cars in 2015.

• They arrive on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015 at 4:29p.

• Marty and Jennifer got married, had kids, and settled in Hill Valley.

• Doc Brown went to a rejuvenation clinic where they had wrinkles taken out, his hair replaced, changed his blood, had 30-40 years added to his life, and replaced both his spleen and colon.

• Doc carries pocket binoculars.

• Cafe 80’s is the new soda shop of the future.

• Griff is Biff’s grandson.

• Marty Jr. gets arrested on October 22nd, 2015.

• A sleazy bookstore from 1985 was replaced in 1998 by a plastic surgery shop.

• The movie is now called the Holomax, and specialized in 3D films.

• Jaws 14 is the latest film, directed by Max Spielberg.

• George McFly’s book, A Match Made In Space, had been adapted into a film.

• The walls of Cafe 80’s are pastels like Miami Vice.

• Ronald Reagan welcomes guests into the Cafe 80’s with a nod to his “Morning Again In America” political ad for the 1984 U.S. Presidential Election.

• A Pepsi costs $45 in 2025.

• Teenaged Tannens always seem to have a gangs who bullied McFlys.

• Marty used to play “Wild Gunmen” in 7-Eleven back in 1985.

• Marty Jr. drinks Pepsi Perfect.

• “Nobody, but nobody, called Marty McFly chicken.”

• Griff Tannen carries a baseball bat.

• Marty learns to fly a hoverboard.

• A little girl gives Marty her hoverboard.

• Clothes in 2015 come with an instant drying feature.

• In 2015, the Cubs sweep Miami in the World Series.

• Marty purchases Gray’s Sports Almanac (Future Altered).

• Biff sees 2 Marty’s (Future Altered).

• Jennifer’s full name in 2015 is Jennifer Jane Parker McFly.

• Marty and Jennifer live at 3793 Oakhurst Street, Hilldale.

• Jennifer’s birthday is October 29th, 1968.

• The DeLorean is not street legal.

• Officer Foley and her partner Officer Reese take Jennifer home (Future Altered).

• Reese does not think highly of Hilldale.

• In 2015, doors are open by fingerprint.

• George and Lorraine celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

• The kids are named Marty Jr. and Marlene.

• Marty and Jennifer married in the Chapel of Love in Las Vegas.

• George has back problems.

• George got hit by a car on the golf course.

• Marty has an inferiority complex when people call him chicken.

• Marty had some sort of accident with a Rolls Royce in 1985.

• “Pissquanced” means to be insulted.

• In 2015, you can cook an expandable pizza in the hydrator.

• ESPN is on Channel 211-D.

• Marty gets fired for misusing funds.

• Biff steals the DeLorean.

• Doc Brown laments never seeing the Old West.  Foreshadowing the ending and Part 3.

• 1985-A features Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Paradise.

• 1985-A sees Dave as an alcoholic.

• This is also a Biff Tannen Museum.

• Part 3 is foreshadowed in the museum.

• "Learn the amazing history of the Tannen family, starting with the grandfather, Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen, fastest gun in the west."

• Biff went to the racetrack on his 21st birthday and became a millionaire overnight.

• Biff’s empire is called BiffCo.

• Biff married Lorraine in the 1985-A timeline after killing George.

• Marty wakes up and claims to have a dream again.

• Lorraine lives on the 27th Floor.

• Biff is physically abusive to Lorraine.

• George was buried in the Oak Park Cemetery in 1973.

• George’s full name is George Douglas McFly.

• His birthday is April 1st, 1938.

• George’s death date in 1985-A is March 15th, 1973.

• Doc sums up the story.

• "You see, Marty, the continuum has been disrupted, creating a new temporal event sequence resulting in this alternate reality—alternate to us, but reality for everyone else."

• Doc Brown was committed in July 1983.

• President Richard Nixon is running for a 5th term.

• Marty had seen A Fistful of Dollars before.

• Biff lies and tells people he rolled his car in a drag race instead of hitting a manure truck.

• Biff owns a .38 handgun.

• Biff threatens Marty with his gun.

• There is only one Tannen listed in Hill Valley’s phone book.

• Biff lives with his grandmother.

• Biff’s 1940 Ford Convertible was repaired at Western Auto.

• It costs $302.57 to repair.

• Ol’ Jones was paid $80 to haul away the manure from Biff’s car.

• Lorraine shopped at Ruth’s Frock Shop.

• Old Biff proves the Almanac correct over a UCLA-Washington football game.

• Senior halfback Jim Decker hit a 35-yard field goal to win for the Bruins.

• Biff lives at 2311 Mason St.

• Thomas Wolfe once said “You can’t go home again.”

• Strickland takes the Almanac from Biff.

• Strickland sips cough syrup.

• Teenagers did not know CPR in the 1950’s.

• Biff gets revenge on Marty for his car.

• Biff hits another manure truck.

• George McFly’s death is changed and he is honored instead of dying.

• Doc Brown was the professor of physics at the local university.

• Marty calls out on the radio to a Doc who can no longer hear him because he died 70 years prior.

• Doc Brown sent a message 70 years into the future via Western Union.

• The message was to be delivered to Marty McFly on November 12, 1955.

• The Western Union employee is curious as to Marty’s excitement.

• To Be Concluded in Back To The Future Part III.

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Overall, not a terrible book.  It wasn't my favorite, but I'm also not the biggest fan of that particular BTTF film.  Still a good read.

Recommended.

On to Book #180: Back To The Future III by Craig Shaw Gardner.

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Need to catch up?  See previous blog post: Back To The Future.