Writer Bob Gale talks about the Back to the Future videogames

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It’s been a quarter-century since that plutonium-powered Delorean first hit 88mph and we saw some serious shit, but even though we’ll never get another BACK TO THE FUTURE movie, there’s more time-bouncing to be experienced with Doc Brown and Marty McFly.

Telltale Games (known for the “Sam & Max” games) is bringing us more of the beloved characters and their continuum-hurtling adventures in five new videogame “episodes”, and the original trilogy’s screenwriter Bob Gale worked on the story with the game developers (Steven Spielberg is also among the producers).

IFC chatted with Gale and got some bits about the digitized duo and their latest flux-capacitor trip:

Where do the games fit in with regard to the events of the movies?

Gale: The game begins about 6 months after the events of the movies. We had a brief conversation about starting the game in 2011 but, as I say, it was brief because it was my opinion that the fans wanted to revisit Marty and Doc as they were in the movies, as opposed to a much older Marty.

Are you getting to fit in stuff (plot ideas or character beats) that might have been left on the cutting room floor for the movies?

Gale: You can see exactly what was left on the cutting room floor in the deleted scenes sections of the DVDs! None of that stuff belongs in the game. We are, however, meeting Doc as a 17-year-old, and that was a concept Bob Zemeckis and I considered early on as a possible focus for “BTTF 2” when we were trying to decide what the sequel would be about.

The first episode, featuring the voice of Christopher Lloyd and a damn good Michael J. Fox facsimile, is due this month. Find out more HERE.