Cult Corner: Toast ‘Back To The Future’ Day With The Documentary ‘Back In Time’

When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.

Today’s the day. It’s Wednesday, October 21, 2015. Why does this date matter so much? According to the classic blockbuster film Back To The Future Part II, today is the day that Marty McFly travels forward to in time. And so, today is “Back To The Future Day.”

Obviously, the Back To The Future trilogy doesn’t qualify as a “cult classic.” It’s far too mainstream and embedded in our collective imaginations to be confined to a small, fervent fanbase. Still, the film inspires a rather obsessive following. There are esteemed writers, directors, and producers who insist that the first film is a “perfect” movie. The screenplay is taught at film schools like USC. Even Steven Spielberg thinks the original Back To The Future is the best time travel movie ever made.

With that in mind, we would like to recommend that you celebrate this auspicious day not by merely binge-watching the whole trilogy — which you can do on Prime Video — but by delving into the brand new Back To The Future documentary Back In Time on Netflix. The 2015 film unites the original cast and crew with ardent industry fans to show how the film came to be and how it’s revolutionized entertainment.

Like many great pop culture juggernauts, Back To The Future had trouble getting made. Multiple studios passed because “time travel doesn’t sell” and while Spielberg had worked with Robert Zemekis and Bob Gale in the past, the writing team had yet to produce a box office hit. It was only after Zemekis found success with Romancing The Stone that he was able to make his passion project the right way.

The documentary is full of fun lore about the film like how the story came to be only after co-writer Bob Gale discovered that his dad was a total square as a teenager (and that the two went to the same high school). That revelation led him and Zemekis to brainstorm what would happen if you were stuck back in time and in high school with your nerdy dad and your mom was the school slut? They merged that with their pre-existing time travel caper idea, Professor Brown Visits The Future. The documentary also details the casting process and reveals the debacle surrounding Eric Stoltz’s hiring and subsequent firing from the project — with a tease that one day the footage will be released.

Back In Time features interviews with everyone from Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd to Huey Lewis and Back To The Future super fans like Dan Harmon. The doc also has sit downs with iconic supporting players from the movies like Donald Fullilove (Mayor “Goldie” Wilson) and James Tolkan (Principal Strickland). Decider got exclusive footage of Fullilove and Tolkan’s appearance at New York City retail chain PiQ’s recent “Welcome To The Future” event celebrating the series’ big day (and 30th anniversary).

Celebrate the fact that the future is now by going back in time to where it all began with Back In Time.

[Watch Back In Time on Netflix]

Where To Stream The Back To The Future Trilogy:

[Watch Back To The Future on Prime Video]

[Watch Back To The Future Part II on Prime Video]

[Watch Back To The Future Part III on Prime Video]

Previously On Cult Corner:

Cult Corner: Sleepaway Camp Is The Problematic Slasher Movie That Gets Scarier With Time

Cult Corner: Caprica Was The Battlestar Galactica Spin-Off Too Good For This World

Cult Corner: Season Three of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Just Shimmied Onto Netflix

Cult Corner: Check Out A Young Colin Firth In Another Country

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[Photos: Universal Pictures via Gravitas Ventures]