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Back to the Future: 2 Biff Changes Time, 3 Marty Changes History

lapis molari

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I'm excited to share my edits of Back to the Future 2 and 3!

The primary goal is to make BttF2 less convoluted. The many twists pull me out of the story repeatedly, breaking my suspension of disbelief. A tighter narrative helps the viewer stay in the movie.

The secondary goal is to trim BttF parts 2 and 3 for back-to-back viewing that clocks in under three hours. I don't merge the movies because so much happens in Part 2, that it's more enjoyable to have a short break before jumping into Part 3 (saner too).

Back to the Future 2 - Biff Changes Time
Original runtime: 1h48m
New runtime: 1h20m
Deleted: 28m
Added: 0

Back to the Future 3 - Marty Changes History
Original runtime: 1h58m
New runtime: 1h31m
Deleted: 27m
Added: 0

See next posts for change lists and covers.

Video is 1080p, audio is AC3 5.1, English subtitles are included (not hard-coded).

The audio is 5.1 surround. I can only playback stereo on my system. If anyone hears issues in my audio transitions, please point them out so I can improve them.
 

lapis molari

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Changes in BttF2:
- Remove opening scene which repeats the last scene from BttF1 with Elizabeth Shue. In the world of acting, one role can be played by different actors. No repeat needed. Or, you could replace this scene into the end of BttF1 and it becomes one of the changes from Marty tweaking history in the first movie (cuts 2m20s).
- Remove Doc's "old" make-up reveal. The joke didn't work for me because the difference wasn't noticeable enough.
- Shortened Marty's walk in the 2015 town square to remove product placements (kept the Jaws 19 holo-shark!).
- Shortened Marty's entry into Cafe 80s to remove Ayatollah vs Reagan reference which didn't age well.
- Trimmed young Griff's lame jokes in Cafe 80s, they didn't add to the story (who will really miss "your shoe's unfelt"?).
- Slight trims in the Hoverboard chase, for pacing.
- Removed old Biff's surprise at seeing a flying Delorean again after 30 years (because that scene is cut). Now he's surprised at seeing 2 Marty's.
- Trimmed cops dialog upon arrival in Hilldale, now they bring Jennifer home without dissing the neighborhood.
- Cut Marty Jr watching many TV channels and Marty Sr walking in on that.
- Slight trims to old Lorraine's exposition and the family's dinner conversation.
- Cut Marty Jr complaining about the metal fruit basket. We saw it in an earlier scene, so we don't need to see it come down to understand that it's there.
- [Non-change] I had inserted the Deleted Scene of old Biff fading out of existence after returning in 2015, because it answers the question of why Biff is hurt / exhausted climbing out of the DeLorean. I took it out again upon realizing that it raised more questions than it answered.
- Small trims in Doc's dialog as they fly back to 1985, for pacing.
- Small trims in Marty's escape from "his" bedroom. Again, for pacing.
- [Major change] When Marty realizes things are wrong, would he really wander into town? No! He runs to Doc's house as fast as he can! Doc is the only person who may be able to fix this, the only person who'll believe him. And Marty has to reach Doc before he destroys the time machine since they'll probably need it to escape this wrong 1985. After many transition try-outs, settled on a hard cut from Marty running to Doc's lab. A) No more Mr Strickland on his porch, now Doc confirms it's 1985. B) No more 80s bikers. C) No more confused stumbling into town, Marty now visits Biff Tower after Doc explains what's happened. D) No more graveyard, so Doc no longer has to wait there for Marty. E) Marty learns George is dead from the newspaper (cuts 3m19s).
- ‎Marty visits Biff Tower only once. He no longer has to get back in after Biff ordered him out. The original first visit is largely retained, now placed as the start of his visit.
- Slight trims to Biff's dialog inside Biff Tower, for pacing. Same for Lorraine.
- When Biff storms out of the room and orders Marty to leave (the end of the original first visit to Biff Tower), we go straight to Biff in the bath (the start of Marty's original second visit). Now, after Marty's initial confusion ("Mom?") and anger (at Biff) he regains his composure and remembers why he came here.
- Small trims to Biff chasing Marty.
- ‎Trim Biff's dialog, removing his claim to murdering George. It's easy script-writing to have all events caused by the main characters, but it doesn't make the story any better. Biff is gross enough for the viewer to cheer against him, without claiming he murdered Marty's dad. This makes George's death less significant in the plot, a symptom of the bad 1985 instead of targeted evil from Biff.
- Small trim in Doc's dialog as they travel back to 1955.
- Small trims to Marty watching Biff's house, following Biff, Biff talking to Lorraine. For pacing.
- Remove Doc meeting himself (from Part 1). Fun in concept, didn't work in execution (cuts 2m28s).
- ‎[Major change] Remove "Oh, La, La" magazine, reducing the misdirection. It does mean we lose most of Mr Strickland. Replace scene of Marty (from Part 1) driving up to the dance with a shorter BttF1 scene of Marty driving up (for continuity). Marty (Part 2) still slips past the car with Marty (Part 1), then bumps into Biff's goons as he turns the corner (cuts 4m18s).
- [Major cut] Marty doesn't run back into the dance, instead he hides from the goons in a classroom. Inserted a wipe to signify passage of time. Now ‎Marty no longer causes the bullies to chase his Part 1 self, and doesn't sandbag them to rectify that. Reliving the song from Part 1 was a fun moment, but it lasted too long. Plus, you watched Part 1 in the past days or even hours, not three years ago. So the song's repeat doesn't have that emotional pay-off anymore (cuts 4m00s).
- ‎Trim Doc's dialog with Marty that referred to cut bits.
- Biff now catches up to Marty when he gets distracted looking at his parents.
- Slight trims to the chase in Biff's car. For pacing.
- Slight trims to the Western Union man's dialog, to remove the misdirection of him starting out creepy.
- Remove the trailer for BttF3. Redundant, because you're going to watch that right after BttF2! (cuts 55s).
- Smoothed out audio transitions throughout. So... Many... Transitions.
- Sped up closing credits by 13 seconds to fit closing FE logo inside BttF2 closing soundtrack.
- Added FE logos at start and end.
- Updated the English subtitles (not hard-coded).
- Added the Director's Commentary. It's shorter than the film and not a scene-by-scene, so no editing required.
 

lapis molari

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And the changes in BttF3:
- [Major cut] We open with Doc reading his own letter. No need to recap BttF2, and it removes the Doc's fainting lasting all night and being completely disoriented by Marty being back. Now he's recovered from his initial faint and is curious to find out what happened. We do lose some opening credits, but the closing credits remain intact, so no one is left out (cuts 6m05s).
- Slight trims to dialog when Doc and Marty excavate the DeLorean. Removed Doc praising Jules Verne: of course he's a fan of Jules Verne. This was an unneccesary set-up for Doc's later enthusiasm of Verne's stories in conversation with Clara.
- Removed Doc's pointless countdown and gun from the drive-in cinema scene. If Doc had a gun, why didn't he give it to Marty as part of his outfit?
- Small trims to dialog inside the McFly farm.
- Trimmed Marty's entry into town. Removed focus on the tomb stone. Cut the stage coach almost running Marty over and Marty jumping in horse dung (cuts 1m).
- To maintain continuity after cutting the horse dung, I flipped the shot of Marty looking aside, before he enters the saloon.
- Trimmed Tannen chasing and hanging Marty. The chase is plausibly shorter and the hanging looks less gruesome.
- Slight trims in Doc and Clara dialog. For pacing.
- Trimmed Doc's exposition to Marty of the time travel plan. Redundant.
- Cut Tannen and his gang surrendering their guns to Marshal Strickland. Tannen still pulls a gun on Doc so the scene was pointless (cuts 1m44s).
- Removed Marty's "Far out." and Seamus confused response. Not funny.
- Cut Doc's automated breakfast. For pacing.
- Cut some of the town folks' overly nice greetings to Marty.
- Cut Marty being measured for a coffin. Cut Doc and Marty staring at the tombstone and its 1955 photo. No more 'Did the photograph change yet to what we want?'.
- Cut Doc changing his mind to stay in 1885 and changing it back to go with Marty. It added confusion and wasn't needed: Doc is still obviously conflicted about leaving Clara behind (cuts 1m28s).
- Swapped scenes of Marty riding back to the smithy and Clara getting on the train. For continuity.
- [Major cut] Trimmed Doc's romantic rambling in the saloon. Removed Doc going unconscious from his first sip of alcohol. You can still briefly see Doc passed out in a chair when Marty does his iconic Clint Eastwood looking up from under his brimmed hat. I didn't want to lose that shot and I figure Marty holds the viewer's attention so Doc won't be noticed. (cuts 5m02s
- Removed Tannen counting to 10, to maintain continuity.
- Slight trim to Marty punching Tannen. Removed one punch for pacing.
- Slight trims to Doc and Marty chasing the train, walking across the train, Clara chasing the train. For pacing.
- Trimmed Clara hanging from the train after the last log ignites, to remove special effects that aged poorly.
- Slight trim to Marty driving on the train tracks with people looking surprised, and to Marty jumping out of the Delorean for the oncoming train. For pacing.
- Trimmed Marty and Needles revving for the traffic light.
- Slight trim to Marty and Jennifer seeing Doc's steam train arrive. For pacing.
- Sped up end credits to fit only the BttF Western theme (cuts 2m28s).
- Smoothed out audio transitions throughout.
- Updated the English subtitles (not hard-coded).
 

lapis molari

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Updated DVD covers for BttF 2 and 3, based on the 2015 IDW comic book covers:

Back%20to%20the%20Future%202%20-%20Biff%20Changes%20Time%20(1989,%201h20m%20edit)%20cover.jpg


Back%20to%20the%20Future%203%20-%20Marty%20Changes%20History%20(1990,%201h31m%20edit)%20cover.jpg


If anyone has the IDW panorama-style poster in hi-res, please email me so I can use the higher resolution image for the covers.

Anyone who wants to view the movies, please PM me.
 

jswert123456

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why dont you post some clips/ examples?
let people get an idea of your skills or whats might can be tweaked
before just submitting the edit.
might  help get the edit approved in the long run.
 

lapis molari

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Thanks for the advice. I'll do that. I'll put a few scenes from each movie on vimeo and link them here.
 

Sinbad

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I must be mad wanting to watch this after spending an unearthly amount of time on my tv edit of the bttf trilogy but very intrigued by your cutlist. Be cool to see some samples and check out the full edits.
 

DigModiFicaTion

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lapis molari said:
DVD cover ideas for BttF 2 and 3, based on the 2015 IDW comic book covers:

Back%20to%20the%20Future%202%20-%20Biff%20Changes%20Time%20%281989%2C%201h20m%20edit%29.jpg


Back%20to%20the%20Future%203%20-%20Marty%20Changes%20History%20%281990%2C%201h31m%20edit%29.jpg

Dropbox download links don't work in the image embed function, as far as I have seen. Also, your links used in the image embed are dead.
 

lapis molari

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Here are a few clips from the BttF edits. Enjoy!
Password: fanedit.org

Doc and Marty arrive in 2015 (BttF2 Biff Changes Time, 23sec):
vimeo.com/253557093[/video]
Compare with the same clip from the original BttF2, where Doc pulls off his old-age face mask (66sec):
vimeo.com/253556954[/video]

The opening from BttF3 Marty Changes History. Doc reads his 1885 letter. No Part 2 recap and Doc's fainting doesn't take all night:
vimeo.com/253556942[/video]

In BttF3 Marty Changes History, Doc no longer passes out from one drink. Cutting out several minutes of Doc slapstick, Biff arrives immediately after Marty finds Doc in the saloon:
vimeo.com/253556972[/video]
 

Sinbad

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I'm intrigued so far will give the full edits a watch :)
 

Conrad MacIntyre

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lapis molari said:
- Shortened Marty's entry into Cafe 80s to remove references that haven't aged well.

I tried to resist, but I cannot. What references did not age well here? Max Hedroom? Michael Jackson? Stationary Bikes? Neon? Reagan vs the Ayatollah? Arcade Machines? I mean, it *is* the Cafe 80s after all.
 

lapis molari

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Conrad,

The quantity of references cramped into the scene bugged me more than any one thing. It's sensory overload more than aesthetic offense.

In the end I only cut Ayatollah vs Reagan because I couldn't get a smooth audio transition for other cuts. Using only the existing audio was making it too jumpy, and when I tried to mix in a clean Michael Jackson's Beat It, the Cafe sounds became too suppressed.
 

Masirimso17

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A few things about the covers

In BTTF2 you say you cut Oh La La but the cover still has it... might want to remove it

Also there is "Part" over the cover of BTTF2 while BTTF3 does not. Consistency would be nice :)
 

Sinbad

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[font=Raleway, sans-serif]Changes in BttF2:[/font]

[font=Raleway, sans-serif]- Remove opening scene which repeats the last scene from BttF1 with Elizabeth Shue. In the world of acting, one role can be played by different actors. No repeat needed. Or, you replace this scene into the end of BttF1 and it becomes one of the changes from Marty tweaking history in the first movie (cuts 2m20s).[/font]
Just realised I did this in my alternate original timeline version of Hill Valley Chronicles. As Claudia Wells only appears in the pilot episode in HVC, I switched to Elizabeth Shue in episode 4 for continuity to the next episode. So if you ever need a version (albeit split into 4 parts) that ties in with yours my OTL version does.
 

lapis molari

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Masirimso17 said:
A few things about the covers

In BTTF2 you say you cut Oh La La but the cover still has it... might want to remove it

Also there is "Part" over the cover of BTTF2 while BTTF3 does not. Consistency would be nice :)

Yes and yes. I corrected these and completed the covers. The updated images are posted on the first page.

You'll see the back pages are very sparse. They need more attention, but I haven't yet figured out what.
 

Masirimso17

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Noticed something else, you can see the BTTF3 horses on the BTTF2 cover, and also Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Paradise is visible on the BTTF3 cover.
 

Conrad MacIntyre

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Masirimso17 said:
Noticed something else, you can see the BTTF3 horses on the BTTF2 cover, and also Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Paradise is visible on the BTTF3 cover.

It looks like they're meant to run together. Like they might have been displayed on a video store shelf. 

The art is really terrific -- if you made that, kudos! -- but thematically it feels 'off' to me. Seems like it would fit more with a movie like Scott Pilgrim, or Tank Girl, or something by Marvel maybe. I don't get that comic book adventure vibe from these movies. But hey, that's just me. 

From an accessibility perspective tho, the contrast between the spine text and background isn't high enough. Especially on part 3. Should increase the opacity of the white background maybe 30-50%.
 

TM2YC

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The "Pending" section is for edits already submitted for Academy review, so thread moved to in-the-works.
 

lapis molari

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@TM2YC, yes certainly. I thought I was all set to submit, but the feedback from eagle-eyed (and -eared) FE members has me polishing those transitions that make the end result better. Wow, those last glitches are hard to get right. :)
 

lapis molari

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Masirimso17 said:
Noticed something else, you can see the BTTF3 horses on the BTTF2 cover, and also Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Paradise is visible on the BTTF3 cover.

@"Conrad MacIntyre" guessed it right: the overlap is intentional. I like how it underscores that the movies are really a double-feature.

The covers come from the IDW comic book covers, so the only credit I can take is for putting the elements together in photoshop.

I'll try black-on-white (and white-on-black) text for the spine to improve legibility.
 
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