Review Detail

"Great Scott! I remember this! This is how people used to watch TV. There would be a cliffhanger and you'd wait a week to find out what happened. And they had these teaser trailers right before and after the commercials, to entice you to stay tuned in the hope of glimpsing something new." "You mean there was no binge-watching? And you couldn't skip over the commercials? Heavy!" The Hill Valley Chronicles succeeds in transporting you through time, to your own youth when weekly episodes of star shows influenced the schedules of our daily lives. No re-runs, no pause button. We need to be home in time to find out what happens next to Marty and Doc! The concept of this edit is perfect: feel transported 30 years into your past while watching our heroes travel the same amount of time. For everyone old enough to have seen Back to the Future the first time around, this edit is a delightful double treat of time travel. The hardest part is to muster the patience to watch the series as you would have in the '80s: one episode a week and no fast-forward (I failed, I watched the series over two weeks). There are individual moments where this format feels repetitive, including the elaborate Previously and Next teasers. But that is partially my fault for not waiting a week before watching the next episode! Partially also because there are no commercial blocks between the teasers and the episodes. Visual and audio editing is excellent. Narrative editing stands out on an inspirational level. This has me re-examining my favorite movies with the thought "what can I do with this narrative?". Heartily recommended!