# What if Back to the Future were made today and Marty went back to 1981? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280 "2011-06-04T03:04:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/1 "2011-06-04T03:04:32Z")
Kind of inspired by this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610702&highlight=mcfly](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610702&highlight=mcfly) People would be making fun of him for wearing dual polo shirts and newsboy cap. He would show Doc video of his future self recorded on an iPhone. You might even be able to work in a gag involving Barack Obama. In the early 1980s Obama was a student at Occidental University in Los Angeles. Supposing Hill Valley is in the vicinity of L.A., Marty could run into him at the cafe and say “Barack Obama! You’re going to be president!” to which, of course, the cafe owner would say “A colored president? Pfft, that’ll be the day.” I’d be really curious to hear any ideas on what car would be used in place of the Delorean. You’d need something looked somewhat exotic (that has style, as Doc would put it), but also utilitarian. The Delorean, with its stainless steel finish, fit that bill perfectly in the '80s, but I can’t think of any car today that would seem appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/2 "2011-06-04T03:11:35Z")
2015 is coming up. I don’t see why they aren’t working hard on Back to the Future IV. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/3 "2011-06-04T03:11:57Z")
What does James Bond drive these days? Aston-Martin? One of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/4 "2011-06-04T04:37:15Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I’d be really curious to hear any ideas on what car would be used in place of the Delorean. You’d need something looked somewhat exotic (that has style, as Doc would put it), but also utilitarian. The Delorean, with its stainless steel finish, fit that bill perfectly in the '80s, but I can’t think of any car today that would seem appropriate. One of those [new Thunderbirds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thunderbird_%28eleventh_generation%29)? Or a [Tesla](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors#Tesla_Roadster)? [Plymouth Prowler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Prowler), maybe? Anyways, make sure to throw in a line about the Soviet Union no longer existing, and Doc Brown immediately assuming Reagan nuked them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/5 "2011-06-04T05:45:11Z")
The car would be a Smart Car or Prius. Marty wouldn’t carry any cash. He would ironically be wearing tight jeans and Chuck’s, and his out of place “life preserver” would be replaced with a keffiyeh. He’d be a snowboarder, and he’d improvise one in 81. He’d scare his father with a smartphone playing Two Girls One Cup. He’d win and then lose the students at the dance with a White Stripes song when he takes off on the solo. I can’t think of a not-yet-dedicated road like John F. Kennedy Drive that he’d ask his grandfather about. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/6 "2011-06-04T06:36:10Z")
Never mind the answers; this question is brilliant! The amazing fact is that 1981 feels like it is a lot closer to today, than 1955 seems as compared to 1985. I wonder why that is? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/7 "2011-06-04T07:24:54Z")
> [@2ply](#): > > 2015 is coming up. I don’t see why they aren’t working hard on Back to the Future IV. Be glad they aren’t. Setting aside the fact that Michael J. Fox isn’t exactly in prime movie-making shape these days, if they wrote a sequel now it would be a piece of utter crap starring Shia LaBeouf as Marty’s hapless nephew. With aliens shoehorned in somehow. > [@Tim R. Mortiss](#): > > The amazing fact is that 1981 feels like it is a lot closer to today, than 1955 seems as compared to 1985. I wonder why that is? By the time we get out of the eighties, the nineties are going to make the sixties look like the fifties. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/8 "2011-06-04T10:34:43Z")
delorean -\> hummer johnny b goode -\> rap. possibly soulja boi or dougie also heavy -\> banging life vest -\> grill reagan -\> schwarzenegger goldie wilson -\> tiger woods (a black golfer? that’ll be the day) skateboard -\> scooter ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/9 "2011-06-04T10:39:11Z")
> [@2ply](#): > > 2015 is coming up. I don’t see why they aren’t working hard on Back to the Future IV. Because it’s already coming out in a [videogame](http://www.telltalegames.com/bttf) version. The first episode is free. And using CGI gets rid of the problem of recasting. There’s one person who was recast, but I bet you can’t even tell who it is without outside information. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/10 "2011-06-04T10:59:48Z")
Goldie Wilson wasn’t famous, he was the Mayor of Hill Valley. He has to be someone who Marty is likely to encounter locally. Maybe if he (or she) was a different minority in an unlikely position, such as a [transsexual Mayor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgina_Beyer). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/11 "2011-06-04T12:22:31Z")
Hasn’t this been done? Wasn’t it called Hot Tub Time Machine? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/12 "2011-06-04T13:27:28Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > …to which, of course, the cafe owner would say “A colored president? Pfft, that’ll be the day.” No, colored went out in the late 60s. Archie Bunker was one of the few people saying “Colored” by the 70s. He’d say black. Even the Billboard charts changed from R&B to Black. Which was odd when Hall & Oats went to the top of the Black Charts 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/13 "2011-06-04T13:33:39Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > The car would be a Smart Car or Prius. Can a Smart Car or a Prius even make it to 88 miles an hour? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/14 "2011-06-04T13:54:38Z")
What was that recent thread we had about the difference of 1955-85 and 85-2015? I think we established way more change(culturally) from the 50’s to the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/15 "2011-06-04T14:14:28Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Never mind the answers; this question is brilliant! > > The amazing fact is that 1981 feels like it is a lot closer to today, than 1955 seems as compared to 1985. I wonder why that is? We had a thread on this once and I believe it was \*\*Sam Stone \*\*who explained, in pretty substantial detail, why “Back to the Future” worked for 1985-1955 but would not work today. I can’t remember all his arguments but it basically amounts to the fact that the delta between how society changed from 1955 to 1985 was more obvious than from 1981 to 2011. Furthermore, people’s expectations of the future in 1955 were perhaps a bit more idealistic and out of this world than they would have been in the more jaded, post-Vietnam America of 1981. You could still do it but it’s unlikely you’d capture the sheer magic of the original. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/16 "2011-06-04T14:22:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We had a thread on this once and I believe it was \*\*Sam Stone \*\*who explained, in pretty substantial detail, why “Back to the Future” worked for 1985-1955 but would not work today. > > I can’t remember all his arguments but it basically amounts to the fact that the delta between how society changed from 1955 to 1985 was more obvious than from 1981 to 2011. Furthermore, people’s expectations of the future in 1955 were perhaps a bit more idealistic and out of this world than they would have been in the more jaded, post-Vietnam America of 1981. > > You could still do it but it’s unlikely you’d capture the sheer magic of the original. Yeah, this is the thread I can’t seem to find. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/17 "2011-06-04T14:44:19Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Kind of inspired by this thread: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610702&highlight=mcfly](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610702&highlight=mcfly) > > People would be making fun of him for wearing dual polo shirts and newsboy cap. People wear that today? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/18 "2011-06-04T14:50:55Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > The amazing fact is that 1981 feels like it is a lot closer to today, than 1955 seems as compared to 1985. I wonder why that is? I agree and I think the answer is the amount of documentation the two eras have. As video becomes cheaper and easier and more pervasive, there is more available to see which makes you feel like that era never fully went away. I would say this started in late 60s early 70s and rose experientially and now, with everyone having a video camera in their pocket, it has probably reached saturation levels. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/19 "2011-06-04T14:51:07Z")
> [@Number](#): > > Be glad they aren’t. Setting aside the fact that Michael J. Fox isn’t exactly in prime movie-making shape these days, if they wrote a sequel now it would be a piece of utter crap starring Shia LaBeouf as Marty’s hapless nephew. With aliens shoehorned in somehow. > > By the time we get out of the eighties, the nineties are going to make the sixties look like the fifties. My guess the movie would star Justin Bieber. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/20 "2011-06-04T14:58:31Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yeah, this is the thread I can’t seem to find. > **[Back to the Future reboot](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=584629)** > > Seeing as how so many movies are being re-imagined or re-booted, I can’t help but think that sooner or later there will be a Back to the Future reboot. If it were to be made today, who would play the main characters? I have to admit, there are a... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280.md?page=2)