# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/21 "2011-06-04T15:39:25Z")
I think this is actually the recent-ish thread people are thinking of. It took a little while to turn up because the thread title is **30 years ago now versus 30 years ago 30 years ago** and not something about _Back to the Future_: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13354641](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13354641) I mentioned the linked thread to my mother (born in 1955) at the time, and she agreed with those who’d said the social changes from 1955 to 1985 were much bigger than from 1985 to today. ---
**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, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/22 "2011-06-04T16:03:37Z")
Youse guys could be right about the greater social changes in the prior 30 years than in the most recent 30 years. But could it also have something to do with the fact that more of us \*remember \*the last 30 years, but not the previous 30 years? The fifties are just history to me; the eighties through today are my real life and therefore not so mysterious. ---
**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, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/23 "2011-06-04T16:13:04Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I think this is actually the recent-ish thread people are thinking of. It took a little while to turn up because the thread title is **30 years ago now versus 30 years ago 30 years ago** and not something about _Back to the Future_: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13354641](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13354641) Could be, but **Sam Stone** didn’t post in that one. Either way, no harm in us showing both links. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/24 "2011-06-04T16:51:03Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Youse guys could be right about the greater social changes in the prior 30 years than in the most recent 30 years. But could it also have something to do with the fact that more of us \*remember \*the last 30 years, but not the previous 30 years? The fifties are just history to me; the eighties through today are my real life and therefore not so mysterious. Like I said, my mother was born in 1955 and while she doesn’t remember the '50s well she was an adult prior to the '80s and certainly remembers what the world was like before 1985. One of her examples of how the world has changed is that when her older sister, who was making good money as a fashion designer, wanted to buy her first house in the late '60s then she had to get my grandfather to co-sign all the papers. No one wanted to give a mortgage to a _woman_. If she’d been married then her husband could have handled such things, but since she was still single her father had to do it. Never mind that she actually made more money than my grandfather, a farmer. While a “colored mayor” might have seemed laughable to a white man in the 1950s, I don’t think many Americans in 1985 would have considered the idea of a black president (or a woman president) to be so far-fetched. Many '80s Americans would probably expect this to happen in the relatively near future. An openly gay president or a non-Christian president might be more surprising to them, but that would be surprising even now. Speaking of gay rights, I think my Clinton era teenage self would have been surprised to learn how _slowly_ things were going to move on that front. I wouldn’t have expected that same-sex marriage would be recognized in only a few states as late as 2011. ---
**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, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/25 "2011-06-04T17:26:34Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > I can’t think of a not-yet-dedicated road like John F. Kennedy Drive that he’d ask his grandfather about. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though he had been in a few movies by that point, he still wasn’t that well known and unless you followed bodybuilding, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t even have heard of him. Too bad he wasn’t still governor, though, because it might have made for a good gag: Doc: OK, who’s governor of California in 2011? Marty: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Doc: The bodybuilder??!! Who’s lieutenant governor? Lou Ferrigno? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/26 "2011-06-04T17:34:31Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > Can a Smart Car or a Prius even make it to 88 miles an hour? 😃 Didn’t Al Gore’s son get in trouble for driving his Prius 100 miles an hour? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/27 "2011-06-04T17:35:43Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though he had been in a few movies by that point, he still wasn’t that well known and unless you followed bodybuilding, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t even have heard of him. > > Too bad he wasn’t still governor, though, because it might have made for a good gag: > > Doc: OK, who’s governor of California in 2011? > > Marty: Arnold Schwarzenegger. > > Doc: The bodybuilder??!! Who’s lieutenant governor? Lou Ferrigno? True, but Jerry Brown works almost as well. “Who’s governor of California in 2011?” “Jerry Brown.” "He’s _still_ the governor? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/28 "2011-06-04T17:43:29Z")
> [@2ply](#): > > 2015 is coming up. I don’t see why they aren’t working hard on Back to the Future IV. …complete with Shaky-Cam? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/29 "2011-06-04T17:53:10Z")
Marty goes into a retro '50s diner and orders a Pepsi Free. Bartender: “WHAT?!? You want a Pepsi, free? Why should I give it to you for free? I work for a living!” Marty: “No, I want a _Pepsi Free_.” [points to the advertisement on the wall] Bartender: [sheepish] “Oh, right. Sorry, those just came on the market, I keep forgetting.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/30 "2011-06-04T18:44:08Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Marty goes into a retro '50s diner and orders a Pepsi Free. How about a play on “Pepsi One” or “Coke Zero”? Marty: “I’ll have a Pepsi One.” Waiter: “Okay, that’s one Pepsi…” Marty: “No, a Pepsi _One_.” Waiter: “Yeah, I’m only going to bring you one, don’t worry.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/31 "2011-06-04T19:19:52Z")
Hmmm, when did people stop smoking openly on the Tonight Show? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/32 "2011-06-04T19:42:10Z")
Lamia-I bet the reason people in the '80’s would’ve been unsurprised by an African-American or female President is because people like: Liz Dole, Jesse Jackson, and Geraldine Ferraro were on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/33 "2011-06-04T19:51:18Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I mentioned the linked thread to my mother (born in 1955) at the time, and she agreed with those who’d said the social changes from 1955 to 1985 were much bigger than from 1985 to today. Your mother is right. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/34 "2011-06-04T19:57:59Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > He’d win and then lose the students at the dance with a White Stripes song when he takes off on the solo. The White Stripes are hardly a new sound. If anything the kids would think he’s playing some sort of 60s psychadelic rock. Even hip hop would have been popular since 1979 (Rapper’s Delight by The Sugerhill Gang). I say say he would sing “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga. Then some girl would be on the phone with her cousin Madonna. Also, you people seem to forget Rev Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1984. The idea of a black president wasn’t that far fetched (at least not because he was black). ---
**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, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/35 "2011-06-04T20:23:40Z")
“You people”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/36 "2011-06-04T20:32:52Z")
“War in Iraq? But they’re our _friends!_” Or a suspicious 1981 authority interrogates the time-tossed 2011 teenager: Authority: “How do you know these things? Are you a spy? Right outta East Germany?” Teenager: “What the hell is an _east_ Germany?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/37 "2011-06-04T20:35:25Z")
Replacing the Delorean with a Prius or Tesla would cause problems with part III: One of the challenges Doc faced in the 1880s was that while the flux capacitor was powered by Mr. Fusion, the car itself still needed gasoline to get up to 88 MPH. With an electric or hybrid car, though, it wouldn’t be hard at all to hook the Mr. Fusion in to the drivetrain electrical system. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/38 "2011-06-04T20:49:48Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > . > Also, you people seem to forget Rev Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1984. The idea of a black president wasn’t that far fetched (at least not because he was black). See post #32. ---
**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, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/39 "2011-06-04T21:41:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Replacing the Delorean with a Prius or Tesla would cause problems with part III: One of the challenges Doc faced in the 1880s was that while the flux capacitor was powered by Mr. Fusion, the car itself still needed gasoline to get up to 88 MPH. With an electric or hybrid car, though, it wouldn’t be hard at all to hook the Mr. Fusion in to the drivetrain electrical system. You could say that the time circuits needed to draw _all_ the power of the nuclear reaction/lightning/Mr. Fusion, which barely provided enough as it was…though I admit, if I was doing this as a remake, I’d want to add some further twist of my own. (Maybe move Part III up to 1915, and have to mount the Prius/Tesla with a damaged chassis up to the only aircraft that could lift it and make 88 mph in a dive…an early zeppelin. Yeah, that’s lousy and full of holes, but I came up with it in 30 seconds. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280/40 "2011-06-05T01:10:33Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also, you people seem to forget Rev Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1984. The idea of a black president wasn’t that far fetched (at least not because he was black). > [@etv78](#): > > See post #32. Heck, see post #24: > [@Lamia](#): > > While a “colored mayor” might have seemed laughable to a white man in the 1950s, I don’t think many Americans in 1985 would have considered the idea of a black president (or a woman president) to be so far-fetched. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-back-to-the-future-were-made-today-and-marty-went-back-to-1981/584280.md?page=1) [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=3)