Every single Back To The Future fan has at one point in their life pined for a fourth installment to the seminal franchise to be created. You can’t help it. Forget about how despicably average Back To The Future 3 was. There’s surely still enough plutonium left in the flux capacitor to generate another great adventure that revolves around Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown traveling through time. However, the film’s co-writer and producer has now provided a rather stellar reason for why it obviously won’t happen. And even though it makes perfect sense, you can’t help but hate him for saying it.
Bob Gale, who co-wrote and co-produced each of the Back To The Future films, spoke to Yahoo Movies about why there will never be another big-screen instalment to the series.
"Let’s face it, we’ve seen a lot of sequels that are made years and years later and I don’t think I can name one that’s any good, that lives up to the originals. I don’t think you can recapture it."
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bob? Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the three Star Wars prequel films were sterling additions that in no-way ruined the stellar reputation of their franchises. Can you tell I’m being sarcastic? Good. In fact just writing out Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is depressing. Try it. The title is so long and pointless, like the film itself, it gives you enough time to think about where it went wrong for Indy. There’s even a spare couple of seconds to get genuinely upset over George Lucas’ refusal to shoot Frank Darabont’s allegedly superb script for the series too.
Back to Back To The Future though. Bob Gale also went on to confirm that alongside Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote and directed each of the films, the pair have taken the rather honorable stance of deciding not to go back to change the appearance of Back To The Future in order to cash in on a director’s cut or a 3D version.
"We’re not going to do Director’s Cuts or make a 3D version or change the special effects. People love them the way they are, we think they’re really good. Let’ s not mess with it."
While I once again totally agree with Bob Gale’s sentiments, you have to admit that seeing George McFly punch Biff Tannen in the face in 3D would probably make the greatest scene in movie history even better. But there is still something for Back To The Future fans to get excited about. Gale admitted that the original writers are currently hard at work on a musical that was originally due to come out in 2015 but has now been delayed, which they believe will be more satisfying than a reboot or sequel.
"I don’t know when that’s going to be ready. It was announced to come out in 2015 – it won’t come out then. We’re not going to put it out there until we absolutely love it ourselves. We decided to do that, rather than reboot the movie, or do another sequel."
He’s right too. There’s no point in jeopardising Back To The Future’s cinematic notoriety. Plus, it’s safe to say that when the musical’s version of Johnny B Goode is played the world will probably stop spinning. Especially if Michael J. Fox turns up for a special guest appearance too. I’m salivating over the possibilities already.
