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Back to the Future

Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com
Back to the Future: Citizen Brown Back to the Future
"Citizen Brown"
Back to the Future: The Game Episode 3
Telltale Games
Written by: JD Straw
Story Consultant: Bob Gale
Directed by: Eric Parsons
March 28, 2011

 

Marty emerges into 1986 in a "utopian" Hill Valley run by an Orwellian government.

 

Read the story summary at Futurepedia

 

Watch the video playthrough by Domstercool at YouTube

 

Notes from the Back to the Future chronology

 

This episode takes place on May 15, 1986.

 

Didja Know?

 

Back to the Future: The Game was a video game produced by Telltale Games in five episodes released from December 2010 to June 2011. The story takes place about 8 months after Marty returns to his own time at the end of Back to the Future Part III.

 

Christopher Lloyd reprises his role as Doc Brown, providing the character's voice. The other characters are mostly different actors than the ones seen in the films. AJ LoCascio does a particularly good imitation of Michael J. Fox's voice.

 

The title of this episode was probably inspired by that of the 1941 drama film Citizen Kane.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

 

Jennifer Parker

Marty McFly

Citizen Brown

Kid Tannen (mentioned only)

Edna Brown

Danny Parker, Jr.

Biff Tannen

George McFly

Lorraine McFly

Leech

John

John's paramour

Burt

Burt's friend

Agnes

Agnes' friend

Lester

Nathan

Nathan's friend

Einstein

Dave McFly (mentioned only)

Linda McFly (mentioned only)

 

Didja Notice?

 

1986

 

In the altered 1986 of Citizen Brown, notice that the symbol of the human figure used on the propaganda of the Hill Valley government is in the same shape as the flux capacitor that Doc never invented in this timeline.    

 

When Jennifer sees that Marty has crashed a DeLorean into a billboard, she asks who he's supposed to be, Luke or Bo? This is a reference to the fictional characters of Bo and Luke Duke, brothers on the 1979-1985 TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, where the boys would frequently jump their muscle car, the General Lee, off of half the hills in the county and crash into all sorts of objects such as shacks and signs.

 

Jennifer, now wearing purple and yellow highlights in her dark hair, tells Marty she uses Helter Skelter brand hair dye. This is a fictitious brand. She also wears a jacket that says "Baby Fist" on the back, with a logo of a raised, baby-like fist.

 

Jennifer calls Marty "Geekzilla". This is a play on the term "geek" (slang term for someone who is overly-obsessed with some hobby or is socially awkward) and "Godzilla" (a gigantic reptilian/dinosaur-like creature appearing in eponymous Japanese film franchise).

 

Though generally sarcastic and insulting towards him in this timeline, Jennifer does congratulate Marty on sticking it to Big Brother by crashing a car through a Citizen Brown billboard. "Big Brother" is a reference to the authoritarian character in George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984. The Hill Valley government of Emmett Brown and Edna Strickland does turn out to be similar to that seen in the novel, though somewhat more benevolent. In "It's About Time", Edna was seen to have a copy of the novel in her apartment.

 

Marty pulls a Permacell 12-volt battery out of the wrecked DeLorean to power the hoverwheel. Permacell is a fictitious brand.

 

Marty leaves the wrecked DeLorean behind outside the city gate when he gets into Hill Valley.

 

Different businesses are seen in this version of 1986 Hill Valley. Hill Valley Bureau of Discipline, All Citizens Bank, Stemmles's Staycations (named for the game's co-writer Michael Stemmle; a "staycation" is taking days off from work and entertaining oneself at home or in the same city), Citizen Reading Room, E. Brown Industries, Soupmo, Combformist, and Ministry of Tourism.

 

Propaganda posters advocating "HILL VALLEY UNITY" and "ANOTHER DAY DRY" are seen in Courthouse Square.

 

Jennifer's father (Daniel Parker, Jr.) is a cop in this timeline, but Marty indicates he was a shoe salesman in the original timeline.

 

Marty learns that in this timeline he is an honor student and Brown Cadet three months running. He is also president of the Junior Brown Brigade and is apparently a terrible guitar player. He is the recipient of a scholarship to Strickland College and winner of the Courthouse Challenge Deportment Award. The Marty who is part of this timeline is currently up at the lake for the Mathemagics Competition "until tomorrow." Leech refers to this Marty as Brown-noser.

 

The Citizen Plus program Biff was subjected to is similar to the Ludovico Technique seen in the 1962 novel and 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. In all of these instances, the subject of the social improvement program is conditioned to feel physically ill when they think of resuming their old vices, such as violence, sex, and intoxicants.

 

Jennifer spray paints "Leech and the Wooshbags" on an alley wall. This phrase sounds as if it's the band of her boyfriend Leech. "Wooshbag" is a slang term that more-or-less means the same as "douchebag", i.e. someone who is more than an asshole.

 

Empty buckets of Nana's Soy Mud are seen in the alley. This is a fictitious soy product.

 

Jennifer tells Marty that just because she let him tag along to a couple of concerts doesn't mean they're Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are the infamous young lovers from William Shakespeare's 1597 play of the same name.

 

For some reason, there is yellow "CAUTION" tape posted in a Z-pattern over the front door of the McFly house. No reason is stated and it seems as if the McFly family still lives there with relative freedom.

 

George has a box of Sophia Rae Peanut Brittle on the workbench next to him as he monitors various citizens over closed-circuit cameras and microphones in his garage. In Back to the Future, George eats a nearly identical box of peanut brittle with dinner, but the brand there is Sophie Mae. The reason for the altered name is that Sophie Mae is a real world brand of peanut brittle, so the game designers used an altered name.

 

One of the citizens George is spying on remarks, "I tell ya, Burt, this regime is a joke! They're all laughing at us over in Fairfax." Fairfax is a town in California near San Francisco.

 

The guitar Marty retrieves from his garage is the Erlewine Chiquita travel guitar seen briefly at the beginning of Back to the Future and in "It's About Time"

 

Soupmo menu At Soupmo, Leech tells Marty they have scrole ribolini. In "It's About Time", in 1931, Cue Ball told Marty the soup kitchen served "scrole ribollita". Leech says the "mo" (more) in "Soupmo" is for "neatloaf", made with textured wheat protein, and "humburger", made from pressed hummus. "Neatloaf" is an actual term used for vegetarian meatloaf. "Humburger" is a term sometimes used for sandwiches made with hummus as an ingredient.

 

Leech tells Marty that the dog who keeps knocking over the soy dog sample tray is a smart little S.O.B. The dog turns out to be Einstein. S.O.B. stands for "son of a bitch."

 

According to the Developers Commentary on the Back to the Future: The Game bonus features DVD, Leech was originally written to be Needles, but they changed the character when they did not have time to find a voice artist who sounded like the original performer, Flea.

 

Jennifer uses Barf Spray Paint in her graffiti. This is a fictitious brand.

 

When Marty tells Jennifer he's going to see Citizen Brown about fixing the "utopian" government he and his wife have established in Hill Valley, Jennifer sarcastically asks if she can go with him, saying, "...maybe he can give me a heart when he gives you a brain!" She is making a reference to the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, where the Scarecrow wanted the wonderful wizard to give him a brain and the Tin Woodman wanted a heart.

 

When Marty tells his mother about finding Einstein and the dog getting taken away by Edna, she tells him Einstein is probably just on the train to Utah because "all good dogs go to Utah." This may be a play on the 1989 animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven.

 

Lorraine mentions that Marty's brother and sister have left, presumably meaning they moved away from Hill Valley when they became adults.

 

The statues on the clock tower are now a pair of sheepdogs like Einstein instead of the cat statues normally seen there.

 

Citizen Brown reads from Marty's file and says that he's 18 years old. According to "Hard Time" Part 3, Marty's birthday is June 12, 1968, so he still has almost a month before he turns 18.

 

Marty sees the same fish tank in Citizen Brown's office that he had used to grow bacteria as part of his rocket fuel experiment in 1931. The experiment was seen in "Get Tannen". Now, the tank has plants in it, but no fish are seen. 

 

The portrait of Emmet and Edna in front of the clock tower seen in the office is a parody of the classic 1930 painting by Grant Wood, American Gothic.
Hill Valley Gothic American Gothic
Hill Valley Gothic American Gothic

 

Citizen Brown reveals he and Edna went to see the movie The Virtuous Husband on their first date back in 1931 instead of Frankenstein. Frankenstein we already touched on in the study of "It's About Time". The Virtuous Husband is also an actual movie from 1931.

 

A Nemotech FXD 3.5" floppy disc drive and Pepson dot matrix printer are seen on George's workbench. These are fictitious brands, though Pepson is a play on the Epson brand.

 

A close look reveals that the decycling room is the same basement room the El Kid speakeasy was in in 1931 as seen in "Get Tannen".

 

In the decycling room, a stack of automobile license plates is seen. The one on top is 6H 96472. This was the plate on Biff's Ford Super De Luxe Convertible in 1955 as seen in Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II. When Biff sees it, he says, "Sheila?" Presumably, that was the nickname he used for that vehicle.

 

Cases of Wannemaker Beer are seen in the decycling room. This is a fictitious brand.

 

A magazine called Girlie is seen in the decycling room. This is a fictitious magazine, the name being a play on the generic term "girlie magazine", i.e. a magazine aimed at men featuring photos of nude or scantily-clad women. Video cassettes called Stag, Skin, and Smut are also seen on the same shelf.

 

Skateboards are also seen among the among the objects that have been decycled. I guess skateboarding is a crime!

 

Biff's middle name is revealed to be Howard. 

 

Back to the Future: Citizen Brown Notes from the comic book adaptation published by IDW

Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #3
IDW
Adapted by Bob Gale & Erik Burnham
Script by Erik Burnham
Based on the Telltale Games video game written by Bob Gale, Michael Stemmle, Andy Hartnell, and Jonathan Straw
Art by Alan Robinson
Inks by Alan Robinson, Salo Farias & Christian Docolomansky
Colors by Maria Santaolalla
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover A by Alan Robinson
July 2016

 

Read the issue summary at Futurepedia

 

Additional characters in the comic not present in the game episode

 

Dave McFly

Linda McFly

Stanford S. Strickland

Goldie Wilson

 

Didja Know?  

 

Back to the Future: Citizen Brown was a five-issue comic book adaptation of Back to the Future: The Game. The Citizen Brown title of the series is borrowed from that of episode three of the game. 

 

Didja Notice?

 

1986

 

On cover A of this issue, the Citizen Plus poster Marty is looking at reads, "DOC EMMET BROWN SAYS YOU COULD BE A CITIZEN PLUS." But in this timeline, Emmet Brown is not a doctor and is known as Citizen Brown, not Doc Brown.

 

When Marty hotwires the hoverwheel and rides it over the Hill Valley wall, he thinks it's more fun than a straight-up hoverboard and maybe he can market the idea in 30 years.

 

Here in the comic, Hill Valley has flying camera drones monitoring the town. These were not seen in the episode; the cameras were all mounted to poles or other staid surfaces.

 

When Marty sees how different Hill Valley is in this timeline, he exclaims, "No Shanerburger? No Hill Valley Video? No record stores?" In "It's About Time", the video store was called Valley Video rather than Hill Valley Video. Shanerburger is a restaurant that appears in "Who is Marty McFly?" Part 1 and "OUTATIME".

 

In the episode, the rear license plate of Citizen's Brown's personal vehicle read "BROWN". Here, we only see the front plate and it readss, "CB 1".

 

On page 8, a propaganda poster in Hill Valley reads, "FEELS GOOD TO STAY IN LINE."

 

Some different Hill Valley businesses are seen here than are seen in the episode: Chastity-R-Us, Knittin Needles, Closet Organizers, Germ Away, Tofu Tacos, and something beginning with Food.

 

In the episode, it's implied that Marty's brother and sister, Dave and Linda, have left Hill Valley some time ago. Here in the comic, they are still living at home.

 

On page 9, Linda says Marty is supposed to be in Sacramento (instead of at the lake as stated by George in the episode). George says Marty's not supposed to be back until next week on page 10 (instead of "tomorrow" as in the episode).

 

Dave seems to refer to the lawn and gazebo in front of the courthouse as Monument Park.

 

On page 10, George has his surveillance office in the house instead of in the garage.

 

George says that a group of citizens broke into a spontaneous round of "Kumbaya" on Main Street a half-hour earlier. "Kumbaya" is an African-American spiritual song.

 

Principal Strickland is Prefect Strickland in this timeline. He's the one who has the misbehavin' Marty sent for a talk with Citizen Brown here instead of Edna as in the episode.

 

On page 17, Marty compares the long hallway in the courthouse to the one in the Wizard's castle and he remarks that he almost expects Citizen Brown to be a giant floating head. These are both references to the aforementioned The Wizard of Oz.

 

On page 20, the Citizen Wilson who rats out Citizen Brown's odd behavior is Goldie Wilson, the mayor of Hill Valley in the normal timeline.

 

Edna has the wrecked DeLorean taken to the Brown Institute.

 

Memorable Dialog

 

can you help me down?.mp3

we've got everything under control.mp3

nightmare alternate timeline.mp3

armies of Biff clones.mp3

a real butthead.mp3

behaviors that excite your privates should be kept in private.mp3

brain-washing.mp3

now I get physically ill if I try to break a rule.mp3

I kind of like you like this.mp3

you strike me as somebody who would turn in somebody like me.mp3

public displays of affection.mp3

I'll stay a Citizen Minus.mp3

couldn't hurt to ask.mp3

happiness is overrated.mp3

a scheduled life is a happy life.mp3

constant supervision.mp3

if you help your old man out.mp3

a toast to Citizen Brown.mp3

we'd all be tempted to follow our own impulses.mp3

a hot lick.mp3

first or fourth.mp3

we don't use words like that in this town.mp3

all good dogs go to Utah.mp3

I don't go in for that new hippity-hoppity stuff.mp3

girlie mags.mp3 

 

Back to Back to the Future Episode Studies