Editors Intro: Back to the Future returns to the big screen this coming Friday, 1st October. Since this opportunity won’t be coming around again any time soon, we want to make the most of of it. Many of the writers on HeyUGuys.co.uk love Back to the Future and we wanted to bring you some of the reasons why, along with the experiences that we’ve had with the movie, and talk about how it affected us and what is it about this film that makes us all warm inside when we think about it.

Keep you eyes peeled on HeyUGuys for loads more Back to the Future stuff coming up in the next few days.

You can keep track of all the stories and coverage including the new HD re-release trailer here.

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My relationship with Back to the Future has always been a very meaningful one. I’ve always called it my second favourite movie after ‘The Goonies’ but as I get older I’m finding it hard to be disloyal to either of these iconic 80s childhood flicks. The first time I saw BTTF was when I was about 10 years old and that’s when Michael J Fox officially became my first celebrity crush. Which little girl didn’t fall in love with him… that’s what I want to know! Who didn’t want to have an uber-cool friend like Marty McFly to hang out with? And who in their right mind could possibly NOT love Doc Brown and his crazy ways? I bet you can’t find many naysayers about this film.

A friend introduced me to this movie via a dodgy VHS copy. The version I’d fallen in love with didn’t have “To be Continued” at the end… it just simply ended. I often wondered what further adventures Doc Brown and Marty would go onto have and it wasn’t until a few years later when friends started telling me there’d be a sequel – I thought they were nuts! Mental. Complete buttheads! The arguments we had about “To Be Continued” being on their VHS copy versus the one I had…. It was only when I was older that I realised I’d been given a very naughty pirated cinema recording of the movie which ended without those 3 epic words. Thank God for YouTube which later went onto confirm that I wasn’t going mad and that the “TBC” was only added to VHS copies when the film became more and more popular on it’s video release.

Anyway, I digress. In my art class I spent the best part of a whole term perfecting my Michael J Fox artwork. I was besotted with him and had posters all over my bedroom walls. I regularly quoted and still quote the following lines – “What are you looking at, butthead?” and “Don’t be so gullible, McFly”. Not to mention – “Great, Scott!” and “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”. So many perfect lines to use at so many opportune moments.

My fanaticism didn’t really kick in until I was a lot older though (much like my fanaticism of ‘The Goonies’). The first time I visited Universal Studios in L.A I didn’t really twig that there was a BTTF ride (and also discovered the E.T ride too). Oh. My. God! I was in absolute heaven – I can’t count the number of times I rode that ride over and over – off-season at any theme parks always kicks ass! Back to the ride, the actual queue for the line was an adventure unto itself – it was awesome. Alan Silvestri’s score and the movie’s soundtrack played throughout and there were Flux Capacitor replicas, sketches of Doc Brown’s inventions and an actual life-size Delorean parked outside the entrance to keep us fans amused. Universal Studios didn’t disappoint – BTTF fans soaked up every drop of time travel coolness on offer when it came to the ride and for many years was one of the park’s most popular and beloved attractions. When the line finally weaved it’s way into the actual dome building (as it was a Simulator ride), a short film played on multiple TV screens and there to greet us was the ever frantic Doc Brown and the dastardly dim Biff Tannen. Biff was up to his old tricks, and in a nutshell, stole a Delorean, so Doc Brown called on us, his time travellers to get on our own Deloreans and chase after Biff and bump his car back to the future. It was just pure BTTF mayhem and even featured a T-Rex on the big dome screen. A nauseating ride for some, but I flippin’ loved it!

A few years later I then went to the Orlando resort and rode the BTTF ride there too. Last year, I even visited Japan and took 2 of my friends to the Osaka Universal park and went on the last remaining BTTF ride in existence. The rest had sadly been erased…. and replaced with new and improved ‘The Simpsons’ ride in both L.A and Orlando. I feel so privileged to have covered the BTTF ride trifecta. I know I sound like a big kid, but I really feel like I travelled with the Doc and had amazing adventures together.

My movie memorabilia collection was also boosted by my love of BTTF. I have the novel, a viewfinder from the ride, an awesome snow-globe, a miniature Delorean, flask and a bigger Delorean model on display at home too. Add to that a t-shirt and of course the epic soundtrack. My DVD collection now has 2 trilogy DVD sets as well as the VHS one, and I’m not ready to conclude there. I fully intend on getting my mitts on a hoverboard and a BTTF 2 Marty hat. I’m a geek and proud of it. Hell, it’s my love of this movie and other iconic 80s films that helped shape my personality and make me want to be a part of this site and rave about my love of film.

For fans of film conventions, there have also been a number of appearances in recent years at events like Collectormania in the UK where cast have done meet and greets with fans. My friends and I met the actor who played principal Strickland and I kindly asked him if he could yell at us all and call us a bunch of slackers. He was happy to oblige and seem to get a kick out of it too! My dream is to meet Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox someday… that would be heavy.

Seeing the movie on the big screen is a mega big deal. I didn’t see it at the cinema was I was little and can’t express enough how giddy I felt when I saw it last month. It truly is one of the greatest cinema experiences I’ve ever had and cannot wait to go back on Saturday with my friends and fellow fans of HeyUGuys to see it again. I strongly urge any fans of this film to go and see it on the big screen if it’s showing at a cinema near you. You’d be crazy to miss it and I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Anyone who wants to join me at Leicester Square Empire cinema on Saturday 2nd October can do so by visiting our event page for more information.

“Time circuits on. Flux Capacitor… fluxxing. Engine running. All right!”