In 1985, a little film called Back to the Future debuted in theaters. Starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the story about a modern day teenager going back in time 30 years to encounter his parents when they were teens was an instantly timeless tale. It spawned two sequels which were shot back-to-back and they too have weathered the test of time and emerged quite favorably. It’s a film franchise that definitely has every right to be in the conversation of best movie trilogies of all-time. And since the basic premise is so relatable in any era, it’s a franchise that lends itself tremendously well to more sequels or even a reboot.

Except that ain’t gonna happen. Creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have taken the stance that there will be no sequels or reboots as long as they’re around. The two wisely retained enough degree of control that they have this kind of sway when it comes to future films. And then there’s the unfortunate reality that Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease making his return as Marty McFly very unlikely if not impossible. I have no idea what happens when Zemeckis and Gale are no longer with us, but for now there will be no Back to the Future Part 4 or a new school reboot like Back 2 the Future.

And that’s fine. Creators should have that kind of sway and if they don’t want to hand over their property to the Hollywood reboot machine then that’s their right. Most fans of the franchise seem to be of like mind anyway, though if you’re disappointed then that’s okay too. Reboots, or long delayed sequels, from my experience are usually not very good. The thing is, their existence doesn’t erase what came before. If a reboot is bad I either don’t watch it or move on after a single viewing. What I don’t do is take to social media and complain about some new movie ruining my childhood or destroying the legacy of Property X. Reboots and sequels do none of those things.

The two Bobs may have said “No” to more movies, but what they didn’t say “No” to was an animated series. That may seem odd, but I’m guessing when the cartoon came up they weren’t sure if they were done with the franchise yet. Plus, what harm can a cartoon do? It’s for kids, it will make some money, maybe sell some toys, and after it’s aired it probably vanishes into the abyss of forgotten media. Only they couldn’t have predicted the Internet and what it would make possible nor the rise of entire shows existing on physical media. The kids of the 80s and 90s were practically raised by television so no show was allowed to be forgotten for very long.

The Back to the Future animated series debuted on Saturday mornings in the fall of 1991 (well, technically late summer, but fall TV programming). Returning from the film franchise is Christopher Lloyd who reprises his role as Doc Brown, only not in the way you may have expected. I guess he didn’t want the voice acting paycheck and instead opted to film some live-action segments introducing the episode and closing it. Usually, he’s working in his garage or something. Bill Nye is also on-hand to do some experiments and inject an educational component as well. For the actual cartoon, Brown is voiced by Dan Catellanetta and he’s the patriarch of the Brown family. The show takes place after the third movie, so he’s married to Clara (Mary Steenburgen who apparently did want that voice acting check) and father to boys Jules (Josh Keaton) and Verne (Troy Davidson). Marty (David Kaufman) is still hanging around and attending school, though he’ll graduate from Hill Valley High and go on to college. Each episode basically takes this crew and throws them somewhere in time where they’re certain to encounter a descendent of Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson, also returning from the films) who is up to no good.

It’s really a solid premise for a weekly show so long as you don’t mind Doc Brown deciding to screw around with time once again. It’s easy to integrate an educational component and we have built-in lore thanks to the film franchise. And unlike cartoons such as RoboCop or Rambo, this one is actually based on a franchise kids might actually be allowed to watch. The show only ran for two seasons with each totaling 13 episodes so no syndication deals for Back to the Future. That meant this one did kind of go away for awhile, but like everything, it’s been found. During that first season we got a Christmas episode. As you can tell by the title, this is going to be a variation on A Christmas Carol, but since we’re talking time travel here, it gets to do something other than a direct parody or adaptation. Instead, think The Real Ghostbusters if you’re familiar with that show’s Christmas episode (and if you’re not, we got you covered).

The show begins with a re-recording of “Back in Time,” so no Huey Lewis for the kids. The opening is composed of what appears to be unique animation as opposed to clips, which is always a plus. It does feature the gang tangling with a dinosaur though which is actually kind of a bummer because the episode is unlikely to be as exciting as that adventure probably was. Full disclosure upfront, I’m watching this online and the pics are going to be bad because it’s not available for streaming officially anywhere. I thought I was going to be able to watch it on Peacock, but apparently not. The episode begins with Doc Brown who is presently working under the DeLorean. I question if this is actually Christopher Lloyd since we can’t see his face. He sets up the episode by remarking about a summer that was really hot and they used the time machine to basically escape it. That’s where our cartoon begins.

It would indeed appear to be hot, as Doc suggested, as Clara is seen carrying a basket outside. Verne comes running into the kitchen (still wearing a coon skin cap even though it’s oppressively hot) and tries to nab a cookie from the cookie jar. He’s intercepted by his father, who he didn’t notice at first because he’s suspended from the ceiling. Doc tells his boy that he specifically forbade him from consuming more baked goods. He has to sound like he’s of a higher intelligence so he can’t just say “No more cookies.” The kid takes off, disappointed, and Clara comes in with a basket of what Doc thinks are prunes. They’re plums, but it’s so hot they’re basically becoming prunes. Clara snaps at him because it’s so damn hot and also because Doc has left greasy footprints all over the ceiling. He assures her that once he’s finished installing the ozone-friendly, freon-free, cooling device he’ll clean up. The irritated expression on her face suggests to me that she’s heard similar lines before that did not bear fruit. Jules then enters with an egg that has become hard boiled, essentially repeating the plum to prune joke, but now with poultry.

We cut to a monster movie featuring a bootleg Godzilla. The picture is a bit, shall we say thin, and that’s because it’s a projection coming from Marty’s hoverboard. He’s zooming through the streets of Hill Valley on that thing while watching a movie. He’s basically predicted modern day distracted driving, just on a device time has yet to truly invent (those hoverboards they sell at the store should be banned for false advertising). And since he is distracted, and this show strives to be somewhat educational, he crashes. First into Ein who was enjoying a swim in a kiddie pool and then into the home of the Browns apparently destroying the cooling device the doc was trying to install. Everyone starts yelling at each other until Doc calms them down. He notes that they’re “at each other’s trachea,” and Marty reacts with, “Yeah, and soon we’ll be at each other’s throats.” A good language joke, though wasn’t Marty always pretty smart in the movies? Clara remarks it’s because it’s hotter than the dickens, which gives Doc an idea. In order to beat this heat they need a little Christmas spirit!

We’re then whisked away to a snowy cityscape. As the title of the episode implies though, we’ve gone back in time to the 19th century. Some carolers are singing “Good King Wenceslas” on a street corner until the time machine zaps into view high in the sky. They quickly change their line to making a remark about not believing what they’re singing. The Brown family, and Marty, take refuge atop a nearby building. Once out, Doc uses a device to zap some period appropriate clothing onto everyone, though not until he first hits them with period inappropriate clothing for a gag. Once concluded, young Jules requests to look after the keys to the DeLorean, which Doc shows some apprehension about because he’s using an old family heirloom, a watch, as a key fob. Jules insists he needs to demonstrate how responsible he’s become and Doc relents. Obviously, something unexpected is going to occur when it comes to the watch.

Doc then asks Marty if he likes the view and Marty confirms that he does. And that’s because he’s being a little perv and peeking at some girl strolling through the streets. You would think after running into his mother and all of these other descendants that he’d maybe be a little gun-shy about eyeballing a woman in the past. She’s probably a relative. Marty is so keen on getting a closer look that he actually falls off the building. The idiot somehow manages not to die though and the rest of the family find him in the snow-covered street. He ducks into a toy store after the girl and the Browns catch-up just in time to see the girl smack Marty across the face. Doc then spies the toys inside and is captivated. In order to get a closer “gander” he heads inside and picks up one of the toys with glee. The clerk comes over (he looks like a rodent for some reason) to ask if he likes it and Doc replies that he does for he had one as a boy. The clerk is profoundly confused because, as you may have guessed, he just invented the thing that morning.

Outside, the boys are just staring through the window like a couple of creeps when some shady looking character sneaks up behind Jules and picks the watch out of his pocket. Verne notices him almost immediately and alerts his brother. Verne wants to tell their dad right away, but Jules is reluctant to and decides to give chase. Ein notices them run off and lets out a bark which alerts Doc and Marty that the boys have taken off. They too give chase leaving Clara in the store to witness the entrance of the next character. You probably could guess it, but it’s this era’s version of Biff. And it would appear he will be assuming the role of Scrooge, though his name is still Tannen. He apparently has done business with the clerk here who owes him a mortgage payment which is an hour late. The penalty for such? Debtor’s prison! Some cops with this Ebenezer Tannen arrest the man and his wife and as they’re leading them away Tannen takes note of Clara. It would seem he likes the woman, calling her comely, and makes a pass. She shoves him away into a bunch of toys which only enrages him. He starts calling for the police to arrest her too. It would seem Clara has made a powerful enemy and these cops are plenty crooked.

We catch-up with the boys who find themselves in a dark alley. They spy the kid who swiped the watch as he’s heading up a long, rickety, staircase into a dilapidated looking building. The kids race up there, but are soon met by a bearded fellow named Murdock who seems eager to dispose of them. After an act break, we find the boys suspended upside down and bound with rope. The kid who stole the watch seems sympathetic to them while his boss suggests he’s going to dispose of them. The thief thinks maybe these boys could be pickpockets like him, but Verne gives him a “No way, Jose,” channeling his inner Michelle Tanner at the mere thought of being a crook. It takes his brother to remind him that going along with such a thing may get them the watch back. If he’s trying to be discreet he’s doing an awful job, but Murdock appears to not overhear. He asks the two if they’ve ever stolen anything before and Verne just responds with, “Cookies!”

Outside, Marty and Doc collide in the street having been unable to locate the boys. Ein soon follows knocking them over, and when they all get to their feet they discover that they’re back where they started only now the toy shop is closed and there’s no sign of Clara. Doc notices some carolers in the street and asks them if they know what happened to the shop owner. They reply in song to the melody of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as they recount what transpired. Doc is alarmed to hear the name Tannen, but rather proud of his wife when he finds out she clobbered him. He then asks about the boys and it would seem these folks have been keeping a close watch on everything that’s happened as they recount their tale. These folks are a very convenient plot device. Marty then asks if they know where they may find the pickpocket and demands they respond without song. The lead conductor tells him the kid’s name is Reg (as in short for Reginald, or Reggie) and he hangs out at the Hog’s Head Tavern. Doc announces he’ll go after the boys and tells Marty to go see about Clara as he runs off into the night.

We’re taken to the prison where Clara, the shop owner, and his wife are being lead to a cell. The guard tells them it’s semi-private, which is a joke because the cell is jam-packed with people. Clara asks the first old man she sees how long he’s been there. He tells her that when he came in he was wrinkled, drooling, and absent most of his teeth which is true of is appearance now. He then adds that he was a baby and he has a good laugh at his own joke. At least the people in here have been able to hold onto their sense of humor. Meanwhile, Doc has located the tavern in question and with him is Ein. Doc enters with his canine companion to find a rather unsavory looking bunch in attendance. He nearly gets darts lodged in his head when he mistakenly steps in front of a target. The man playing the game is irritated, but when Doc whips out some cash in exchange for information he becomes far more friendly.

It’s time to check-in on the boys as Murdock and his companion have taken them to a shopping district. It’s probably the best place for a pickpocket to be on Christmas Eve and Murdock is giving them a lesson in thievery. He sends Reg out first as a demonstration and the kid nabs what must be a dozen watches with lightning speed. It’s now Verne’s turn and he spies a fellow with a large overcoat. He reaches into the massive pocket, but it’s so deep he falls in. He comes out and the man appears none the wiser, but when Verne returns to the others we find that he only managed to steal a smelly sock. Murdock makes the crack that his first try stinks, and Verne seems to agree. Just then, the guy Verne stole from (I think) has his pants fall down. That’s odd, since no one stole a belt, but he calls for the police and assumes he’s been pick-pocketed. Murdock tells the boys not to worry and act casual, then he has them all run. Way to play it cool, Murdock.

Marty is shown coming upon the debtor’s prison. He knocks on the big door to get the guard, or warden, or whatever’s attention and announces to him that the queen herself just pardoned Clara Brown. The guard is unmoved and informs Marty that the only one who can pardon the folks in here is Ebenezer Tannen. Marty asks how many people has Tannen let go and the guard responds with the expected number: none. Marty concludes he’ll have to sweet talk old Tannen, but the guard just tells him he’s wasting his time and refers to Ebenezer Tannen as a real “Scrooge” – hah, he said it! Hearing that just gives Marty an idea.

Back at the hideout, the boys are being made to scrub the floors while Murdock announces he needs to rest his thinker on account of being the mastermind of the operation is hard work. He then smacks his head on a door frame and is alarmed to see another man has entered the hideout. It’s Wilkins, who is the man Doc paid for information back at the tavern and he brough the Doc with him. He tells Murdock that Doc claims to be a friend of Reggie’s, so Murdock calls for the lad. When Reggie tells him he’s a stranger to him, Murdock accuses Brown of being a cop. Doc seems particularly horrified at being likened to a cop, which is pretty amusing. The two men aren’t buying it though as they eye him with evil intentions as we hit another act break.

It’s time we see what Ebenezer Tannen is up to. He’s in his nightgown and cap and preparing for bed when he hears a voice calling to him. He throws open the shutter of his window to find Marty, draped in a black robe, and atop his hoverboard. He announces to Tannen that he’s the Ghost of Christmas, which just confuses Tannen as he asks which one – past, present, or future? Marty wasn’t prepared for that, but since this is a 23 minute show and we’re past the halfway point, Marty tells him “All of the above.” He then tells him he’s hear to save his soul and he grabs Tannen by the wrist and hauls him out into the night sky. He then politely requests that he keep his arms and legs inside, though since he’s not actually in anything this joke makes no sense.

At the hideout, Murdock is taking that nap he was so looking forward to while Wilkins sleeps nearby. In another room, Reggie and the boys are asleep on the floor, that is, until Reg elbows Jules in the ribs to tell him to pipe down (he was snoring). With all three awake, the boys start asking Reggie about his life with them wondering why his father makes him sleep on the floor. Reggie almost laughs in response at the suggestion Murdock is his dad and explains that he’s just some guy that provides food and a roof over his head so long as he keep stealing watches. When the kids point out that stealing is wrong (they’re so persuasive) Reggie just remarks that stealing is better than being placed in a juvenile work camp and I have to agree. Though the whole sleeping on the floor thing sucks. He should steal a bed.

It’s time to see how Marty is doing as he brings Tannen to one of those mentioned work camps. There they find children slaving away on Christmas Eve and it’s enough to make Tannen cry. No, not because he feels any sort of pity for the children, but because he just remembered an eight-year-old who owes him money. This is going to be a long night, Marty. We quickly jump back to the hideout where Jules apparently has an idea. He informs Reginald (as he calls him because he speaks with proper English like his father) that they may have a way for him to get out of this life he’s leading if he were to only help them retrieve the stolen keys. Reggie apparently needs no convincing and agrees to do so. He retrieves the watch and keys and hands them over to Jules prompting Verne to declare him lucky. I think he really wanted to see his brother get in trouble. As Jules starts walking out assuring Verne he always had the situation under control, he cries out “Father!” when he nearly walks into his old man. It seems Doc was tied up along a rafter and upon hearing his son cry out he wakes up and slams his head into the beam. Jules quickly unties him and when Doc hits the floor with a thud Murdock finally wakes up only to see the kids and the “copper” running off. Wilkins wakes up, slams his head into the ceiling (Murdock did the same), and remarks “We have to find a taller hideout” before too giving chase. I figured all of those head bumps were leading to something, though I don’t know that the payoff was worth it.

In the city streets, a poor family sits crowded around a fire cooking a meager meal of chestnuts. Marty and Tannen happen upon them, but when Marty points out how this family has nothing but a few, meager, chestnuts, Tannen just tackles the father demanding some of the nuts. Marty takes to the sky and grabs Tannen and hauls him off leaving the mother to remark to her little child that Marty is an angel. The father scoffs at the thought for the supposed angel left his nuts all strewn about. I think the writers enjoyed getting to use the word “nuts” so liberally.

Doc and the boys are seen running through the streets with the bad guys hot on their heels. They happen upon the Hog’s Head, once again, only to find it closed. That doesn’t stop them from barging in and when the maid cleaning up the place objects, Doc just hands over a wad of cash to “Cover the damage he’s about to do.” They run off into the tavern while Murdock and Wilkins arrive. The maid is further angered to see more people as Doc taunts them from…the ceiling? Oh yes, those magnetic anti-gravity shoes or whatever they were called just had to reappear. Doc is on the ceiling and preparing to give these scallywags a lesson on Newton’s first law of motion: A body at rest will remain at rest while a body in motion will remain in motion. Doc then unleashes a bunch of pickle barrels from the ceiling which collide with Murdock and Wilkins. The resulting collision leaves them all wrapped up somehow which the police, who soon arrive, appear to enjoy. It’s a good outcome, save for the fact that Doc left shoeprints all over the ceiling and wall. The maid angrily hands him a mop and bucket and demands he clean it up giving Doc a chance to look at the camera with a glum expression.

Marty has apparently had enough as he returns Ebenezer Tannen to his chambers. Marty remarks he’s shown Tannen stuff that would make The Terminator cry getting in a topical reference for its time. Before Tannen can even respond, a device falls out of Marty’s robes and lands on the floor. It’s the projector he had on his hoverboard and it’s still showing the monster movie. Upon seeing the projection of this Godzilla like being, Tannen is immediately shaken! He begs Marty to spare him from the monster’s wrath and Marty informs him only if he releases everyone in debtor’s prison and also clears all debts. Tannen frowns, but agrees, and we cut to a scene of all of the prisoners joyously racing out the front gate. As the former prisoners stream into the streets, the shop owner and his wife come upon Tannen who is now dancing and singing in the streets with a wreath around his neck. They can scarcely believe what they’re seeing, but Tannen instructs them to call him Eb from now on and vows to lead a better life. That monster movie worked way better than I would have expected.

Now that all of the wrongs have been righted, it’s time for a merry Christmas! The Brown family (and Marty) are celebrating with the toy store owners. Reggie has been adopted by them and he’ll be able to work in the store now. As for the poor, downtrodden, family that had nothing but a few chestnuts to eat, well, we don’t know. I guess they’re still in the gutter because they are no where to be found. Everyone seems happy though, and even Tannen comes barging in with a Christmas goose, but upon seeing Marty he realizes he’s been tricked. Marty runs and Tannen gives chase only to collide with a cart full of figgy pudding (I guess we can’t do manure jokes on Saturday morning network television) and is left laying in the street. The carolers return to basically tells us what happened and Tannen ends it by saying he hates it, it being the pudding he’s covered in. Or Christmas. Or both! I would have thought he was going to say “Bah! Humbug!” but maybe that was too obvious? The camera pans to the sky where the DeLorean is passing by. Doc gets to finish the song by singing “And a happy new year,” only for Verne to correct him that it’s actually an old year. “Not for long,” cries his dad as the DeLorean jumps forward in time, back to the future!

That ends the cartoon portion. The episode goes back to Doc under the DeLorean who tells us the family still returns to London each year to see how everyone is doing. He sets up an experiment about potential and kinetic energy which is demonstrated by a young Bill Nye. When that’s done, we return to Doc for one final gag where it seems he’s been stretched out some how. It’s at this point we finally see his face and I guess it is Mr. Lloyd. He makes a crack about the car being a stretch DeLorean and then tells us he’ll see us again in the future. A very un-Christmassy conclusion.

Back to the Future the TV series is a pretty mediocre cartoon from the 90s. Well, I am judging it on this one episode which is admittedly unfair, but I also did watch it a bit as a kid and that was pretty much my opinion then too. I didn’t stick with this show week in and week out and I fell off pretty fast. I’m not sure I even made it to this episode, though I did get a few of the Happy Meal toys. As such, I couldn’t justify buying this thing on physical media hence the awful screen caps. This blog isn’t monetized, after all. The video I watched was cropped and rotated slightly in addition to just being kind of lousy quality. It could be a VHS rip, as the show was released on VHS, which would explain the quality. Or it was intentionally made to look bad so as to avoid a copywrite strike.

As a Christmas special, this is merely okay, just like the series as a whole. I give it credit for taking Dickens and putting a different spin on it. Scrooge-Tannen was pretty easy to see from a mile away, but his part of the story was really quite minimal. In fact, there was just too much going on for this episode to really land in any meaningful way. The boys had their story wrap in surprisingly simple fashion while Marty and Tannen only had three brief scenes. The episode didn’t bother to keep tabs on Clara once she was locked-up which is probably for the best considering the one joke from the jail was pretty bad and there was just no time. There wasn’t even enough time to give that homeless family a happy ending. I can’t think of a children’s show where such a family was just left to dangle like that. Doc is running around tossing money around like it’s nothing and he can’t find time to give those people some of that cash?

If forced to say something positive though, I will say I enjoyed the voice cast. Thomas Wilson, in particular, is great in the role of Tannen. Actually, I liked all of the Tannen scenes and I wish we got more of them. The resolution was actually clever, not so much the monster movie thing (though that was clever too), but I just liked how he didn’t really learn a lesson. He only cleared the debts because he thought he was about to be consumed by a giant beast. Once the fraud was revealed, he was clearly back to being the same asshole he always was and probably returned to being. At least for one Christmas everyone involved got to enjoy themselves debt free.

Despite that, the more I ponder this one the more I dislike it. It’s not that funny, though not offensively bad with the material. The stakes never feel that high even though they probably should given the plight everyone finds themselves in. We don’t spend enough time with the store owners or Reggie to really care about them and their ending. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened at Christmas. The animation is average and I’m not a fan of the character designs. Despite my somewhat negative take, if you want to watch it for yourself then you have some options when it comes to physical media. The show is available on its own, in seasons, or as a massive set with the film trilogy. If you don’t own the film trilogy, then hey, maybe go for that? Or you could watch some bad quality options online in the usual places. I felt like the one I watched was the best, but there are more available which all do their own thing to the audio and video. Those are probably your best options as you don’t need a time machine to know that this thing isn’t likely showing up on a streaming platform, officially, anytime soon.