Christopher Lloyd reprised his iconic Back to the Future role in a forgotten sequel show, and the project revealed something very interesting about Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his temporal adventures. The original movies are still considered one of the most consistently great trilogies of all time, but the show that followed it never quite lived up to the high standards of the feature-length efforts. That being said, the sequel show did at least manage to pull Lloyd back to the franchise, so there was at least a sense of continuity.
The show is set after the Back to the Future movies and arguably carries on the saga. Having said that, there has been some debate through the years about whether it’s part of the main canon. Either way, it still uses the original trilogy as a reference when it comes to the world’s rules and lore. So, one of the best time travel movies of all time did play a huge part in the show’s creation. As such, it adds to the enjoyment of the movies rather than serving as a proper sequel.
Back To The Future’s TV Show Called Out How There’s Always A Biff In Any Period
Thomas F. Wilson played several members of Biff’s family
Back to the Future: The Animated series ran for two seasons between 1991 and 1992, totaling 26 episodes. It was largely a way to further explore the original trilogy’s concept and take the characters to periods not visited in the movies. During the show, several ancestors and descendants of Biff Tannen appeared – a villain originally played by Thomas F. Wilson. This wasn’t an original gag, of course. Instead, it was an extension of a joke from the movies that always had Marty running into members of Biff’s family – and they always hated him.
Christopher Lloyd only plays Doc Brown in the show’s live-action segments, and the character is otherwise voiced by Dan Castellaneta.
This could have been left as something of a coincidence in the show, and something that only ever really needed to be a wink to the audience. However, Marty McFly – voiced by David Kaufman in the animated series – openly ponders whether every period they visit has its own past or future version of Biff Tannen. Either way, there’s very often one of Biff’s relatives who just happens to look exactly like Thomas F. Wilson – who also reprised his role in the animated project.
Why Marty McFly Kept Running Into Different Versions Of Biff In Back To The Future
What was a funny Back to the Future joke actually raised an interesting question
There was never any real high-concept reason why Marty kept encountering Biff’s relatives so often. It didn’t happen with any other character, so it felt a little coincidental. This is because it was intended to be little more than a running gag made technically possible by the show’s sci-fi premise. Just giving Wilson’s likeness different costumes and makeup was intentionally lazy, and it worked well from a comedic standpoint. However, it was at least very interesting from a canonical perspective how Marty’s complex timeline always seemed to tie into Biff’s Back to the Story family.
