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Back to the Future

Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com
Back to the Future: Biff to the Future (Part 3) Back to the Future
"Biff to the Future" Part 3
Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #3
IDW
Story by Bob Gale and Derek Fridolfs
Art by Alan Robinson
Inks by Alan Robinson & Jaime Castro
Colors by Maria Santaolalla
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover A by Alan Robinson
March 2017

 

Biff becomes the dominant force in Hill Valley of the 1970s.

 

Notes from the Back to the Future chronology

 

This issue opens on December 25, 1970.

 

Didja Know?

 

Biff to the Future was a six-issue comic book mini-series published by IDW in 2017. It tells the story of the alternate timeline created when Old Biff from 2015 gave his teen self in 1955 the 2000 edition of Gray's Sports Almanac, resulting in the dark 1985 discovered by Doc and Marty in Back to the Future Part II.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

 

George McFly (dies in this issue)

Marty McFly

Lorraine McFly

Doug McFly

Linda McFly

Biff Tannen

Councilman Goldie Wilson

Stanford S. Strickland

Jayne Mansfield

Gertrude Tannen (mentioned only, deceased)

Match

Skinhead

3-D

Judy

Stella Baines

Sam Baines

Mr. Keller (government agent, not named until "Biff to the Future" Part 4)

Otis Peabody (on television newscast only)

Jenkins (mentioned only)

Mrs. Blumberg (editor of Hill Valley Telegraph, not named until "Biff to the Future" Part 4)

Mark Dixon

 

Didja Notice?

 

On page 1, notice that on Christmas morning, little Marty gets his first (kiddie-size) guitar.

 

On page 2, Biff enters the Hill Valley council meeting shouting, "The Biffs are coming! The Biffs are coming! I've always wanted to say that. Eat your heart out, Paul River!" He means to refer to Paul Revere (1735-1818), the American patriot who warned the colonial militia the British forces were on the way during his famous ride of April 18, 1775 before the battles of Lexington and Concord. Popular tradition has Revere shouting, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" during his ride, but he had to be much more circumspect than that in his warnings.

 

    On page 3, Biff tells the city council he wants to build a palace for himself and his wife, "...like Barbie and Ken's dream house." Barbie and Ken are fashion dolls made by Mattel. One of the many accessory toys that is also available for the pair is Barbie's Dreamhouse.

    The doll seen in Linda's hands on Christmas Day on page 1 may be a Barbie.

 

Page 3 reveals that Principal Strickland is also on the city council in 1971.

 

On page 4, Biff remarks, "There's more than one way to skin a rat."

 

Also on page 4, Biff tells Mr. Strickland that he's willing to pay for a new gym for the school, called the Gertrude Tannen Memorial Gym. Gertrude Tannen was Biff's grandmother who raised him; she was killed by a loan shark in "Biff to the Future" Part 1.

 

On page 7, Lorraine's father remarks to his wife she could have had her taste of all Biff's wealth if he'd hit Biff with his car instead of that other kid. He is referring, of course, to the incident in 1955 in Back to the Future when he hit "Calvin Klein" (Marty) which ultimately resulted in her falling in love with George.

 

On page 8, Biff has the giant prop check he received for his wins at the racetrack in "Biff to the Future" Part 1 (and also seen in a photo in Back to the Future Part III) framed on the wall of his parlor. There is also a Biff-version of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe diptych of 1962. Biff's is a triptych (Bifftych?).) framed on the wall of his parlor. There is also a Biff-version of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe diptych of 1962. Biff's is a triptych (Bifftych?).

 

The fallout shelter in Biff's palace is decorated in a tribute to Lorraine.

 

Jayne Mansfield leaves Biff in 1971. This means that, like Marilyn Monroe in "Biff to the Future" Part 2, Jayne lived longer in this alternate timeline with Biff than she did in the real world. Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident with her boyfriend Sam Brody in 1967.

 

On page 10, Biff says, "Don't let the window hit ya on the way out!"

 

The unnamed government agent tells Biff, "...Uncle Sam has been watching you, Mr. Tannen." Uncle Sam is a common personification of the United States government often depicted on propaganda and pop culture materials as a man in a star-spangled suit and top hat with white hair and goatee, similar to how Biff describes him.

 

The unnamed government agent tells Biff that if he helps the government with certain "problems", the government will make sure he won't ever hear from the I.R.S. over his non-payment of taxes and he'll have new friends in the Nixon administration. The IRS is the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. Richard Nixon was President of the United States from 1969-1974 and it is seen that he remains president somehow for four terms and planning to run for a fifth in the alternate 1985 of Back to the Future Part II.

 

Biff founds BiffCo Realty sometime in the 1970s, sometime before George McFly's murder in 1973.

 

On page 12, the televised news story about BiffCo is shown on the TV station KHVY. This is a fictitious TV station. The call letters HVY likely stand for "Hill Valley", indicating a local station. The K is the first call letter for radio and television stations west of the Mississippi (W for stations east of it).

 

The newscast states that Otis Peabody sold his Lone Pine Ranch to Biff in the 1970s, sometime before George McFly's murder in 1973.

 

The Hill Valley Telegraph is sold to the Washington Post Corporation to keep it out of BiffCo's hands. The Washington Post Corporation is a real company, though now called Graham Holdings Company, and was owner of the Washington Post at the time (the Washington Post was sold to Nash Holdings in 2013).

 

On page 15, a Mr. Dixon is seen on George McFly's secret committee to stop BiffCo's takeover of Hill Valley. This may be Mark Dixon, the redhead boy who tried to cut in on George's dance with Lorraine at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in 1955 in Back to the Future.

 

Also on page 15, Biff says, "I saw the trees for the forest." This flipping of the phrase actually almost works for the metaphor he's going for though.

 

On page 17, the inside source who calls George for a meeting about evidence against Biff says, "Be there or be a squirrel," an early indication that the "inside source" is actually Biff himself.

 

On page 18, Biff refers to Carjack, "...that detective with the bald head." He means Kojak, the character of Theo Kojak played by the bald actor Telly Savalas on the 1973-1978 crime drama TV series Kojak.

 

On page 19, Biff tells George, "There ain't no harmonica blower turning evidence on me," when he means, of course, "whistle blower".

 

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