Magnolia Thunderpussy

Reviews:

The DVD set of the Back to the Future trilogy is as classy and professional as the series. Both new and original materials are included in the plethora of extras, starting with two sets of making-of documentaries. Each disc has material on that particular film, and some features look at the trilogy as a whole. Producer-writer Bob Gale is the star of the extra features, candidly presenting the original ideas and many deleted scenes (a few with doses of crude humor). Much of the inside stuff is repeated in the various pieces, but that's to be expected with such exhaustive materials. Michael J. Fox chimes in with a video commentary presented in a picture-in-picture format (which would have worked better as a straight interview) and the producers tackle the main commentary track, but the highlight audio commentary is a free-flowing Q&A with Gale and director Robert Zemeckis in front of a USC film-school audience. Long or short, the materials are uniformly enjoyable and deft, including segments on advertising, special effects tests, on-screen anecdotes, outtakes, production designs, and more.