In all honesty, it is a little weird that a story about a time-traveling teenager who accidentally flirts with his own mom makes for great family entertainment, but weirder things have happened in the world of film. Like, for instance, the fact that Netflix has no problem showing massive, uncut, members like Mark Walhberg’s in the porn epic Boogie Nights, or animated children’s genitalia such as those seen in Big Mouth, but felt it had to censor a certain scene from Back to the Future Part 2 before making the classic picture available on the platform.
For those of you who haven’t seen the Back to the Future films before, they tell the story of Marty McFly, a smooth, suave youngster whose best friend, a genius but loony scientist named Doc Brown, has created a time machine inside of an old DeLorean. Traveling back in time to test if the Doc’s invention really works, Marty accidentally prevents his parents from meeting, and spends three whole movies trying to reverse his butterfly-effect-like mistake before finally returning to his own day and age.
A film franchise that’s managed to jump not one but several generational gaps at this point, Back to the Future contains no nudity, no swearing and no violence – that is, of the non-cartoon variety, at least. No, the thing which Netflix thought too obscene to show concerns a little prop that appears in only a single scene.
In the original version of the film, when Marty gets his hands on the crucial sports almanac, it’s hidden underneath the lewd cover of an adult magazine titled “Ooh La La.” In the Netflix version of the film, though, that magazine has been edited out. But was it really Netflix’s fault?
According to Bob Gale, the movie’s screenwriter, the streamer simply received this tinkered version of the pic from its original distributor, Universal, and they’re the ones responsible for causing the controversy.
“The blame is on Universal who somehow furnished Netflix an edited version of the movie,” Gale said. “I learned about it some ten days ago from an eagle-eyed fan, and had the studio rectify the error. The version now running is the uncensored, unedited, original version.”
He continued, “Apparently, this was a foreign version which neither director Robert Zemeckis nor I even knew existed, for some country that had a problem with the Oh La La magazine cover. I asked that the studio destroy this version. FYI, Netflix does not edit films — they only run the versions that are supplied to them. So they’re blameless. You can direct your ire at Universal, but I think they will be a lot more careful in the future — and with ‘the future.'”
That’s some interesting insight, to be sure. But tell us, what do you think about Back to the Future Part 2? Is it your favorite entry in the series? Let us know in the comments section down below.
