Time Doesn’t Fly, It Explodes

The speedometer climbs, 85, 86, 87, 88, flashing beams of light and sparks shoot out in front of the windshield and, BAM! You’re suddenly you’re driving in a field 30 years ago leaving only a trail of fire behind you in the present. The DeLorean has become an iconic image in our minds when we think of time travel. You can chalk all that popularity up to the use of special effects. Without all the flames, explosions, and dry ice the idea of time travel would not have been as interesting. “The rise of effects-centered films, the decline of narrative, the return of the cinema of attractions, the sequels and simulations ad spectaculars—all suggest that we seem to be witnessing is the end of offscreen space(1).” Bukatman speaks about the use of special effects really taking the spotlight over the importance of the narrative in the film and in the case of Back To The Future (Zemeckis, 3 July 1985, USA) I don’t think this rings true to the film. The use of the time machine and special effects enhances the realism and allows the story to really become something believable instead of pushing the narrative aside.

The special effects of the time machine were never created to be this spectacle that was to be looked at apart from the story. Bob Gale (writer) states (in the behind the scenes material of Back To The Future) that the time machine was the most believable way to simulate time travel. When coming up with the concepts of how time travel would look Zemeckis and Gale agreed that it shouldn’t be a huge elaborate process, because that would just detract from the story. “Time travel should be instantaneous; this is a story about people, not about hardware. The hardware is just what we use to make it believable (2),” says Gale. Though they did think that if it was a machine that transported them through time it would be much more believable than a wish or being knocked over the head. Initially a nuclear explosion (a scene that would have cost them $1 million to shoot) was the only way Marty could go back into the future. With this limitation brought about a better idea of using the bolt of lightning that strikes the clock tower be the only way to harness the power needed to transport the DeLorean back into the future (and of course this kept the image of time in the film). It was that kind of creative thinking and low(er) budget effects that kept the story in balance with the visuals.

Although they meant the DeLorean to only function as a means of enhancing the story, you can see how audience members would become fascinated with the machine as there imagination ran wild with ideas of time travel. It was clear that images and the actions of the car would be a huge selling point of the film. It was so popular and intriguing that Douglas Trumbull went on to develop a ride film based on the time machine at Universal Studios theme park. The ride film gave you a first person point of view in driving the time machine in an adventure with Doc Brown. Clearly the time machine had taken on a life of it’s own beyond the film that the Zemeckis and Gale had never intended, but certainly didn’t disapprove of.

1. Bukatman, Scott, “Zooming Out: The End of Off-Screen Space.” The New American Cinema. ed. Jon Lewis. Durham and London: Duke University Press. (248 – 272)
2. Back to the Future. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Crispin Glover. 1985. DVD, Universal