Back to the Future

Last October, to commemorate the day Marty McFly traveled to in the future in Back to the Future, Part II, Nike and Michael J. Fox officially debuted the Air Mag, the self-lacing sneakers promised to us in the film. At the time, Fox had the only functional pair (he showed them off on Jimmy Kimmel Live) and there was a promise that the technology would become publicly available in 2016. Well, it’s 2016, where are our self-lacing sneakers?! Today, Nike debuted a new video of their self-lacing shoes in action, plus some more details.

How was your Future Day? Did you call anyone a bojo? Get into an altercation with bionically-modified street toughs? Get bummed out that the Cubs won’t actually win the World Series this year? Take out a second loan on your house to afford a down payment on some sneakerrs with power laces?

In October 1984, when Back to the Future would’ve been in early-development stages, a producer gave a friendly suggestion to remedy one of the biggest flaws in the project. The script was “terrific”, everything was fine, but that title. Wouldn’t something along the lines of Space Man from Pluto have a smoother flow, make more sense to audiences, and convey what the movie’s actually about much more succinctly?

Just the other day we put together a list of all the Back to the Future II predictions and whether those predictions were accurate or not. Of the Nike Air Mag self-lacing sneakers, we said, “the world is still waiting for the first true pair of power-laced sneakers.” Well, wait no longer. Nike and Michael J. Fox officially revealed the first pair of power-lacing Air Mags today in New York City to commemorate October 21, 2015, the day Marty McFly traveled to in the future.

In news that absolutely in no way connects to Back to the Future, yet overwhelmingly feels designed to coincide with Back to the Future, Lord and Miller will be getting into the time travel game. The Lego Movie pair have begun development on yet another FOX comedy with In Time, in which presumably, at least someone will head back to a future. At some point. I mean, you have to give us that.

Ahh, print media. The Fourth Estate. The last bastion of truth in the reckless slaughterhouse of modern society, the tireless watchdogs of America’s moral compass. Tomorrow, highly reputable publication USA Today will serve the greater public interest by running a jokey one-sheet front page that nods to a popular sci-fi comedy from the ‘80s called Back to the Future, which apparently starred Micha

Today, October 21, 2015, is the so-called #FutureDay, the day in the future that Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to in Back to the Future II. There’ll be a lot of celebrating and commemorating that day today (this year also is the 30th anniversary of the original Back to the Future opening in theaters), and here’s something pretty neat: Doc Brown’s original van is parked outside the real Twin Pines Mall for fans to visit and take pictures with.

In honor of this most holy day for BTTF fans, we’ve assembled the gallery above featuring what we consider to be the 20 coolest pieces of Back to the Future merchandise. Some of them are almost as old as the movies themselves; a few aren’t even commercially available yet. There’s no pizza hydrator, but the list does run the gamut from toys to posters to clothes. (No pizza hydrator? Man 2015 is lame! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a movie on my phone.)

We made it, guys. We made it to the future.

October 21, 2015 is almost here, bringing us closer the destination date Marty McFly traveled to in 1985's Back to the Future II. So far a lot from the Robert Zemeckis classic has already come true. We have hover boards (kinda), we’re obsessed with 3D and sequels, we got a trailer for Jaws 19, and Pepsi is releasing futuristic bottles. But there’s still one thing we’ve never had: the original Back to the Future trilogy film scores available in a vinyl box set. Thanks to Mondo, all of our futuristic dreams will now come true.