Trying to figure out the Mount Rushmore of science fiction actors is a strenuous exercise. Sigourney Weaver certainly has a case, helping send the Alien franchise to the stratosphere before turning her attention to James Cameron’s Avatar films. Arnold Schwarzenegger also has a couple of game-changing franchises in his library, Terminator and Predator. However, having more than one success story shouldn’t be a prerequisite for this conversation because that would disqualify one actor who more than deserves the honor: Michael J. Fox. The Back to the Future movies are the gold standard of sci-fi movies, making a complicated premise palatable and having fun while doing it.
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Fox stars in all three entries of the Back to the Future trilogy as Marty McFly, a high school student who bites off way more than he can chew when he gets in the DeLorean with Doc Brown. However, Fox isn’t satisfied with McFly being his only contribution to cinema. He continues to work, even lending his voice to the recent Disney animated film Zootopia 2. But no project Fox has ever done has been more of a love letter to his claim to fame than a 2019 sci-fi film that not enough people have seen.
Michael J. Fox Gave Time Travel Another Go Three Decades After Back to the Future
In 2018, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Spike Lee and Monty Ross’ production company, began collaborating with Stefon Bristol, who was looking to turn his short film See You Yesterday into a feature-length film. The cast wasn’t going to be full of notable names, as the two main characters were young high school students, but one role presented an interesting opportunity. The kids needed a mentor who knew what he was talking about on the topic of time travel, and there was no better choice than Fox.
In See You Yesterday, C.J. and her best friend, Bash, are working on a time-travel machine for a school project they hope will impress colleges and earn them scholarships. While their science teacher, Mr. Lockhart, is in their corner, he implores them to consider the damage that messing with time can have before moving forward. Being curious kids, they ignore him and end up travelling back in time multiple times, leading to tragedy. Things spiral from there, and the movie ends on a much darker note than any of the Back to the Future movies. However, See You Tomorrow doesn’t forget its inspiration, giving Fox the chance to do some time-travelling of his own.
Mr. Lockhart Asks the Right Questions in See You Yesterday
C.J. requests that Lockhart raise her grade on her end-of-the-year presentation because she doesn’t want the judges at the upcoming science expo seeing anything less than an “A.” But Lockhart doesn’t think C.J. should care as much about a grade as about what she’s trying to achieve. He believes time travel can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and he can’t even wrap his head around the idea of it being real. The conversation goes so far off the rails that, by the end, he says, “Time travel. Great Scott.” While a clear nod to Doc Brown’s iconic line from the Back to the Future movies, Fox’s delivery draws a line in the sand between the two projects’ ways of thinking.
Rather than being excited by the idea of going back to the past, Lockhart seems terrified of it, and his attitude proves to be the right one. When C.J. eventually does time travel, she makes mistake after mistake, leading to the death of her brother and more. Marty goes through his fair share of trials, but nothing on that level, and it’s not like Doc Brown is providing a positive influence. Lockhart is the other side of the coin, with it being hard to watch his words getting farther and farther from the front of C.J.’s mind as the story progresses.
See You Yesterday is streaming on Netflix.
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