Back to the Future Would Get Canceled for Doc and Marty Today, Says Writer
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future, and while most people are celebrating with nostalgia and hoverboard merch that still doesn't hover, co-writer Bob Gale is here to remind everyone that the movie probably wouldn't survive a studio pitch meeting in 2025.
Speaking to The Guardian alongside co-star Lea Thompson, Gale said bluntly:
"Oh man, the film wouldn't even be made today. We'd go into the studio, and they'd say, 'What's the deal with this relationship between Marty and Doc?' They'd start interpreting problematic stuff. There would be a lot of things they have problems with."
So, yes. In a time where every IP is being rebooted, reimagined, or milked dry, one of the most beloved blockbusters of the '80s would get shut down over... the optics of a teenager hanging out with a reclusive, disgraced nuclear physicist who lives behind a Burger King.
And honestly, Gale may not be wrong. The Marty/Doc friendship has been the subject of internet jokes for years. From Rick and Morty's grotesque parody origins (The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti) to Brokeback to the Future fan edits, the subtext has been mined, mocked, and memed to death. Comedian John Mulaney even turned it into a full stand-up bit, wondering why audiences just accepted that a 17-year-old was best friends with a "weird scientist nobody talks to."
In case anyone still finds it suspicious, Gale did eventually offer a retroactive explanation in a comic book tie-in titled When Marty Met Emmett. The new "canon" says Marty tried to steal amplifier parts from Doc, got caught, and then got roped into becoming his intern. It's... slightly better than the original backstory, which was cut from the screenplay and involved Doc hiring Marty to clean his garage in exchange for free beer.
Meanwhile, Lea Thompson had a more grounded take on why the movie wouldn't work today.
"If you made Back to the Future in 2025 and they went back 30 years, it would be 1995 and nothing would look that different," she said. "The phones would be different but it wouldn't be like the strange difference between the '80s and the '50s and how different the world was."
She's got a point. Teens going back to 1995 wouldn't be horrified by rotary phones or segregation — they'd just complain about dial-up, landlines, and the existence of The Macarena.
Of course, none of this touches on the other red flag in Back to the Future: the part where Marty nearly makes out with his own mom. Repeatedly. Somehow, that wasn't the dealbreaker.
But for Gale, it's clear: it's not the time travel, the incest jokes, or the Libyan terrorists that would sink Back to the Future today. It's the friendship.
And after four decades, a cartoon spinoff, a stage musical, and endless pop culture references, it turns out the one thing audiences still can't wrap their heads around… is two people just being friends.