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Netflix Didn't Censor Back To The Future 2, Universal Did
Back to the Future Part II writer Bob Gale tells fans Universal is responsible for the controversial censored version, not Netflix where it streamed. The first Back to the Future premiered in 1985, directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis, and grossed more than $350 million at the box office. The film starred Canadian-American actor Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a boy who travels back in time to 1955. He's joined by his eccentric friend, scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in the now-iconic modified Delorean. Lea Thompson plays Marty's mom in the past and present, thanks to prosthetics, like Crispin Glover in the role George McFly, Marty's dad.
Though initially conceived as a stand-alone film, the popularity led to a franchise that continued with Back to the Future Part II in 1989, which filmed consecutively with the third installment. Back to the Future Part III released the following year, in 1990. Some regard the second film as not only one of Zemeckis' best works, but one of the best sequels of all time. Gale wrote most of the first draft for Part II alone, while Zemeckis completed work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Pre-production set construction and developing convincing aging prosthetics took around two years before principal filming began.
Gale spoke with THR about an edited version of Back to the Future Part II streaming on Netflix. The altered scene appears when Marty finds the French lingerie magazine, Oh La La, within the sports almanac dustcover. In the censored version, the scene is shortened, and the cover of the magazine isn't shown. The almanac becomes a major plot point for the movie, so cutting out two lines that provide context for the film to edit out the magazine cover is a problem.
However, Gale revealed the censorship was the work of the film's original distributor, Universal Pictures, who provided Netflix with that version. Neither Gale nor Zemeckis knew the cut existed until it appeared on Netflix. The writer emphasized that Netflix does not edit films from other studios and did not blame them for the situation. He also explained it was a foreign version of the film, "for some country that had a problem with the Oh La La magazine cover." Gale even took it a step further and asked that Universal destroy that version of Back to the Future Part II.
The edits seemed surprising when first announced, as Netflix isn't known for withholding graphic or sexual content. The truth that the cut came from Universal, used for foreign distribution, and makes far more sense. While one could wrap their mind around editing out the cover to make the film "more family-friendly," removing the two lines which frame the discovery of the almanac and its role in the film is a disservice to the fans consuming Back to the Future Part II for the first time. The experience underscores the control of studios over the work of directors, as well as the ability to alter a finished product and potentially alter its legacy. Netflix now has the original, unedited versions of all three films streaming.
