Back To The Future

1985viral videoclassic

Back to the Future is a 1985 sci-fi comedy about teenager Marty McFly getting stranded in 1955 after a DeLorean time-machine mishap. The movie's DeLorean, flux capacitor, and "88 miles per hour" catchphrase became endlessly recycled meme material online. YouTube parodies from College Humor and others pushed its imagery back into circulation year after year.

sci fi movie memesmovie quote memesnostalgia memesyoutube viralpre digital memes

Overview

Back to the Future is a 1985 sci-fi comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis in which 17-year-old Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean built by his eccentric friend Doc Brown1. Critics called the film inventive, funny, and breathlessly constructed, and it stuck in the pop culture memory long after its theatrical run ended2.

The film's specific imagery, the gullwing DeLorean, the spinning flux capacitor, the 88 mph speedometer, and Doc Brown shouting "1.21 gigawatts," became internet shorthand for time travel, retro-futurism, and 80s nostalgia3. Countdown jokes about the future date shown in Part II (October 21, 2015) filled feeds every time a calendar milestone approached3.

How It Spread

The film launched two sequels and became embedded in early viral video culture. On March 26th, 2010, College Humor uploaded "Back to the Future Sex Scenes" to its YouTube channel, a sketch riffing on the film's Oedipal subplot that pulled more than 16 million views by March 20143. That October, YouTuber Andrew Vo posted a recreation of the original teaser trailer, timed with Spike TV's 2010 Scream Awards where Fox and Lloyd reunited on stage for the movie's 25th anniversary3.

College Humor returned on June 23rd, 2011 with an alternate-ending video in which Biff kills himself over the "Calvin Klein" name Marty used in 1955, drawing over 570,000 views by early 20143. Improv Everywhere added its own tribute on October 29th, 2013, and the film's official Facebook page passed 2.1 million likes by March 20143. Urban Dictionary entries from the same era described the trilogy simply as "the best movie trilogy ever," a common fan sentiment online5.

How to Use This Meme

References to Back to the Future typically pull from a fixed set of beats: Doc Brown yelling "Great Scott!" or "1.21 gigawatts," the DeLorean hitting 88 mph, and Marty's line "This is heavy"5. Image macros often pair a screengrab of Doc Brown with a bewildered reaction, and countdown edits about the October 21, 2015 date shown in Part II recurred across social feeds through the mid-2010s3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Back To The Future

1985viral videoclassic

Back to the Future is a 1985 sci-fi comedy about teenager Marty McFly getting stranded in 1955 after a DeLorean time-machine mishap. The movie's DeLorean, flux capacitor, and "88 miles per hour" catchphrase became endlessly recycled meme material online. YouTube parodies from College Humor and others pushed its imagery back into circulation year after year.

sci fi movie memes movie quote memes nostalgia memes youtube viral pre digital memes

Overview

Back to the Future is a 1985 sci-fi comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis in which 17-year-old Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean built by his eccentric friend Doc Brown1. Critics called the film inventive, funny, and breathlessly constructed, and it stuck in the pop culture memory long after its theatrical run ended2.

The film's specific imagery, the gullwing DeLorean, the spinning flux capacitor, the 88 mph speedometer, and Doc Brown shouting "1.21 gigawatts," became internet shorthand for time travel, retro-futurism, and 80s nostalgia3. Countdown jokes about the future date shown in Part II (October 21, 2015) filled feeds every time a calendar milestone approached3.

How It Spread

The film launched two sequels and became embedded in early viral video culture. On March 26th, 2010, College Humor uploaded "Back to the Future Sex Scenes" to its YouTube channel, a sketch riffing on the film's Oedipal subplot that pulled more than 16 million views by March 20143. That October, YouTuber Andrew Vo posted a recreation of the original teaser trailer, timed with Spike TV's 2010 Scream Awards where Fox and Lloyd reunited on stage for the movie's 25th anniversary3.

College Humor returned on June 23rd, 2011 with an alternate-ending video in which Biff kills himself over the "Calvin Klein" name Marty used in 1955, drawing over 570,000 views by early 20143. Improv Everywhere added its own tribute on October 29th, 2013, and the film's official Facebook page passed 2.1 million likes by March 20143. Urban Dictionary entries from the same era described the trilogy simply as "the best movie trilogy ever," a common fan sentiment online5.

How to Use This Meme

References to Back to the Future typically pull from a fixed set of beats: Doc Brown yelling "Great Scott!" or "1.21 gigawatts," the DeLorean hitting 88 mph, and Marty's line "This is heavy"5. Image macros often pair a screengrab of Doc Brown with a bewildered reaction, and countdown edits about the October 21, 2015 date shown in Part II recurred across social feeds through the mid-2010s3.

Frequently Asked Questions