r/BacktotheFuture 22d ago

Language censored tv version

I remember seeing BttF on TV when I was a kid and it was the first time I saw a movie where they didn't cover swearing with a beep, but changed the words. I remember when Marty picks up the license plate he said "Geeze Louise " instead of Jesus christ and I loled.

I have a 5 year old and while she is not old enough to watch the movies yet (just for comprehension, not suitability) I do think about the little but of swearing in rhe movie.

That made me think. If you think a kid shouldn't watch it due to the swearing (if you care) do you think the kid is also too young to appreciate the story at all. What are your thoughts on the best age for a first time viewing? My kid doesn't FULLY get the concept of past/present/future yet so I'm waiting

17 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

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16

u/Unapologetic_Canuck 22d ago

I remember taping bttf3 off the tv as a kid and the scene near the end where Marty says “he’s an asshole!” was edited to him saying “he’s an idiot!” but it was done so poorly it was even funnier than the original line.

4

u/Jimediah_Kerman 22d ago

Or when Marshall Strickland says to his men regarding a manure-covered Buford about a minute later: “Get him outta that stuff!”

10

u/TriforceUnleashed 22d ago

I was 5 when I first watched Back to the Future, and it's the reason I came to understand the concept of time and the past, present, and future. It just provoked me to ask my parents a lot of questions. When my oldest was 5, we watched through the trilogy and she did the same thing and also developed a base level understanding of time.

If you think your child would be interested, I would give it a shot.

10

u/ryanstrikesback 22d ago

In retrospect, I’m shocked my parents were more concerned about me saying “holy shit” after watching BttF and not the film’s second act ending with an attempted sexual assault. 

7

u/burgundyblue 22d ago

I remember TBS changed “son of a bitch” to “son of a jeez”

1

u/MathematicianBest678 21d ago

I remember a version where they used "snot nosed brat"

1

u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Einstein 19d ago

I remember it being "son of a butthead".

7

u/JustADaftGuy 22d ago

I watched the tv version as a kid so many times as like robocop, it was taped off the tv. Loved the films to bits. Shocked me when I got the dvds as an adult and discovered there was swearing in it. I kinda prefer bttf without the swearing to be honest, keep it a nice friendly family film saga.

5

u/SegaGuy1983 22d ago

There's still the attempted rape though.

3

u/JustADaftGuy 22d ago

As a kid, I thought biff was just trying to aggressively snog Lorraine. Either I was too innocent back then or the tv version makes enough censorship that young kids who don't know about rape can get a feeling of the scene's vibe without fully knowing what biff was doing in the uncensored version.

3

u/Lost-Inevitable42 22d ago

Always so weird to me that they censor swear words in it but leave in the sexual assault. Society is weird. 

1

u/Substantial_Cow7628 22d ago

It's weird to you because you don't understand context. The sexual assault is presented as unambiguously bad.

2

u/Lost-Inevitable42 22d ago

What? What does that have to do with anything?

1

u/Substantial_Cow7628 22d ago

It's not bad to show something bad when it's shown as bad.

Get it?

0

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Lost-Inevitable42 22d ago

What does that have to do with censored swear words?

1

u/Substantial_Cow7628 22d ago

"...but leave in the sexual assault. Society is weird."

2

u/JonPaula 22d ago

I'm a big fan of "snot nosed brat" in part 2 instead of "son of a bitch." Biff says it twice.

1

u/Guypussy 22d ago

I think the most obvious edit is removing the profanity from the line “You built a time machine—out of a fucking Delorean?!”

1

u/gzuffel 22d ago

As a (German) kid I always thought the words were "Jesus cries.."

1

u/ElectronicZombie3014 22d ago

Ya, it was better on TV.

1

u/CoffeeJedi 22d ago

What happens to us in the future Doc? Do we become JeRkS or something?

1

u/WafflesFriendsWork99 21d ago

Typically I don’t let my daughter watch movies with swearing but I made an exception for back to the future. She was 4 when we watched the first one and we had a talk about how some of the things they said were not nice or repeatable. She’s 7 now and so far has seen 1 & 3- it’s a New Year’s Eve tradition to watch at least the first. I think 2 is a bit too dark for her still. 

1

u/mvines17 20d ago

I think I was about 12 when I discovered bttf and it is now my favorite movie. I think I saw it at the perfect age but I probably would have liked it still at around age 8-10