1.21 gigawatts.

“What the hell is a gigawatt?”

It was on this day, twenty five years ago, that Marty McFly went back in time to the red letter date in history of November 5, 1955.  October 25, 1985.  Thus began the back and forth journeys of Doc Brown and Marty, making up the Back to the Future trilogy.

Now, if you were unaware, Back to the Future is my favorite movie.  If anyone asks what my favorite film is, there is no hesitation.  There’s no list of two or five that share the first place spot.  Back to the Future.  Hands down.  Favorite.

Sometimes people ask me why it’s my favorite.  It is kind of an odd choice of favorite movie, not shared with many others.  Back to the Future is a movie I grew up watching.  Remember when McDonald’s sold movies – just a few choices at a time – with the purchase of a meal or something?  I think we bought the Back to the Future vhs in a McDonald’s deal for $5.  I remember watching it as a family, specifically with my dad.  He loved the movie and I grew up watching it with him, asking questions about how the pieces all fit together, and quoting parts of the movie.  We used to quote and act out scenes in the tobacco strip house with my cousins, Mike and Kyle.  (I can still picture Mike using a tobacco lathe as his guitar, doing his impression of Marty McFly’s guitar solo at the 1955 Enchantment Under the Sea mating ritual.)  As I grew older and watched the movies more, I loved how they all fit together.  I loved watching it one more time and finding another similarity or something that answered a question from the movie prior.  

It’s a special day – a heavy day, if you will.  (“Weight has nothing to do with it.”)  The AMC theater is playing Back to the Future tonight at 7pm … but I have class.  What may be my one chance to see my favorite movie on the big screen is being trumped by a class on youth culture.  Tonight, we’re talking about body modification … ick.  I guess I’ll drink my Pepsi free in class instead of at the theater watching the digitally remastered classic.  (“If you’re going to have a Pepsi, son, you’re gonna have to pay for it.”) And maybe I’ll wear my brown “life preserver” as tribute to Marty’s red one.  (“Dork thinks he’s gonna drown.”)  And eat peanut brittle from a bowl like George.  Yes.  This will work.

(I don’t actually like peanut brittle.  This won’t work.  I still wish I were at the theater.)