Back to the Future Writer Explains Why There Won't Be a Sequel or Reboot

Writer of all three Back to the Future films Bob Gale has made it quite clear for a number of years that he doesn't want to see a new film in the franchise, whether that be a sequel or a reboot of the concept, with the filmmaker recently explaining that there are so many specific details about the overall narrative that make it so special that to attempt to replicate that success will intrinsically alter such an endeavor and be doomed to disappoint. Luckily, fans will be able to relive the glory of the original trilogy when Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy lands on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 20th.

"The thing that people don't always understand about Back to the Future and what really makes it work, because people say, 'Oh, let's do a time travel series.' Well, okay, time travel series are really hard to pull off," Gale recently explained to ComicBook.com. "Back to the Future works because it's the story of this family, and time travel is an element of it, but you are totally with those characters. It's a terrific dramatization of a moment that every human being has in their life, which is the moment when we're kids and we suddenly realize, 'Oh, my God, my parents were once kids, too.' By the time you're five or six years old, you look at your parents and they're these God-like figures, and they don't age, as far as you can tell. They must have always been there, and then suddenly, by the time you're seven, eight, nine, you suddenly start putting it together, that, 'My parents were once kids.'"

He continued, "That is the power of Back to the Future. It's the human stuff. It's not the logistics of traveling through time because, frankly, you look at a time travel series, both things that they've done on television and things that they've done in comic books, and they fall into this trap of using time travel as a plot mechanism."

While various rumors may have hinted that such a sequel or reboot could ever move forward, no substantial reports have emerged, likely allowing audiences to preserve the original trilogy of films as they are. Gale did point out, however, that fans do have access to additional stories within the franchise, even if they aren't feature films.

"IDW did a comic book series that's very, very good," Gale pointed out. "I was a consultant on it. They've all been reprinted in graphic novels now, so for those who want more Back to the Future that really ties in closely with the Back to the Future canon, I would recommend those. Telltale did a Back to the Future video game back in 2011, and again, I was a consultant on that. That's a very, very good Back to the Future [story]. It deserves the 'Back to the Future' name on it."

He added, "We did two seasons of Saturday morning cartoons of Back to the Future, animated, for CBS, so those are out there, and those, for what they are, they're very, very good."

Stay tuned for details on Back to the Future and add the complete trilogy set to your collection on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD on October 20th.

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