Review Detail

A very well done edit, Back To The Future works great as a half hour serial. [Spoiler warning] The first episode is a particular highlight, with viewers sharing Marty's confusion at how his world has changed. But the restructuring of the narrative does introduce problems. To me it appears that Marty suffers from temporary amnesia as a side effect of the time travel, and the lack of dialogue acknowledging this is unfortunate (I wonder if suitable voiceovers could be pieced together from other sources?). Or if there is no amnesia, concealing what he knows from the audience is an odd choice. And the concern over Doc's future during the 1955 scenes doesn't work well at all when we've already seen multiple episodes in which his future self is just fine - it might have been better to cut out that subplot entirely. Otherwise, the combined 1955 scenes are brilliantly done. And none of that is an issue in the last few episodes, which are pretty much flawless, albeit less experimental. The final "next time" teaser is nicely non-spoilery.

Overall, it's a enjoyable novelty for fans, but not recommended for first time viewers.