Back to the Future Day Checklist - UPDATED!

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This article has been updated with all the reveals and festivities!

The 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future has been in full-swing all this year, but (for good reason) many of the releases and events have been fixated on the date that Doc takes Marty into 2015 - just two days from now: October 21, 2015. 

With so many product releases, events, videos, and announcements coming in one week, and in some cases one day, I wanted to accumulate a list of all the things that have caught my eye that I'll have to be quick on the draw to either purchase or investigate and absorb. So here's all the stuff I'll be watching when the clock strikes midnight on Back to the Future Day.

IDW

UPDATE: My goodness, where is my head - before I published this the first time I completely forgot one of the most exciting things releasing! The new IDW Comic! Said to take place in between the cracks of the films, telling the side-stories and points of view that you didn't see on screen, the new comic book is going to be fantastic. And it doesn't hurt that it's the same creative team as IDW's Ghostbusters comic which is always top-notch. - 2nd UPDATE: Demand for the comic has been so high that it's already been announced that it's heading to a second printing.

Pepsi Perfect

The Pepsi in super-cool futuristic bottle deemed Pepsi Perfect will be going on sale for a limited run on the 20th. Details on where and when it'll be on sale are still a bit sketchy and everyone has been told to stay tuned to Pepsi's various social media outlets. / Twitter - UPDATE: The Pepsi Perfect bottles flew off the "shelves" of Amazon and Wal-Mart within a matter of 20 minutes. Unfortunately didn't pick one up.

Toyota

Toyota has been running several promos (including a meticulously easter egg filled Statler Toyota ad) that lead us to believe that the Toyota truck that Marty McFly coveted might also be pined after by modern drivers in 2015. Their preview website shows Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd sitting at a diner discussing what the second Back to the Future film got right about modern 2015 and teases a big announcement on the 21st of October. If only it was an announcement that Toyota had purchased the intellectual property rights to DeLorean and the cars might be readily available again. / Toyota - UPDATE: Toyota is using the below short film to help announce their new hydrogen fuel cell inspired by Back to the Future and Mr. Fusion.

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DVDs and Books

A new anniversary set (yes, the fourth or fifth time I will have purchased the Back to the Future trilogy on disc format) is being released this Tuesday that includes a few new bonus features as well as the entire run of the animated series. There will apparently also be a brand-new short film featuring Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown on the set. A great Ultimate Visual History book is also hitting shelves on Back to the Future Day. Both of which I've pre-ordered and can't wait to receive.

We're Going Back

If I hadn't have just plunked down a ton of cash for VIP tickets at the Cinespia Hollywood Forever cemetery screening of the first two films, I'd absolutely have picked up tickets for the festivities that the crew at We're Going Back have been putting together. Enchantment Under the Sea dances, screenings in Clocktower Square on the Universal Lot, and Hoverboard lessons... it would have been an outstanding four day nerd summer camp (in the fall) that would have been great. If only. / We're Going Back

Puente Hills Mall

To that point, apparently the We're Going Back folks have set up a recreation of the Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall in the parking lot of the Puente Hills Mall here in Los Angeles. A Doc Brown Enterprises truck has been parked in the lot for a couple weeks and the Twin Pines Mall signage apparently just went up a couple days ago. Hoping to get out there and snap a photo or two in full Marty regalia if at all possible this week.

USA Today

Apparently USA Today has something special planned for their October 21, 2015 release. Perhaps a lenticular cover for an accident at the Clocktower? Perhaps something else? / USA Today - UPDATE: USA Today's website has been redesigned to mirror its counterpart in the film. Do not believe the print edition has any differences.

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Nike

For YEARS, Nike has been teasing the "Air Mag" release that will include power laces. For a Team Fox charity event, a select number of display collector copies (without power laces) were released several years ago for the 25th Anniversary and still sell for exorbitant amounts on eBay. There was (yet another) leak earlier this year saying that the company was looking to release real retail power lace versions of the Air Mag later in the year, but those have all but disappeared like Marty's siblings in a photo. Stay tuned, maybe an announcement from Nike is coming on Wednesday? / Nike - UPDATE: Michael J. Fox Tweeted out a drawing/letter that he received (see below) from Nike which leads us to believe that a second wave of Nike Mags are on the way (with power laces) to be used as a fundraiser for Team Fox and their research to fight Parkinson's. Details still forthcoming, but safe bet the shoes will once again seek a pretty high price tag.

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On the Front Lines with the Star Wars Battlefront Beta

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Somehow amid the craziness of multiple deadlines, I made a point to at least get an hour or two in with the Star Wars Battlefront beta this week. Apparently I wasn't the only one as EA is reporting nine million people helped them stress test their latest creation over the past several days. And the end result was a whole lot of fun. 

I remember picking up Battlefront II for my PSP several years ago and thinking how much promise it had but how little it delivered on. The control was clunky, the AI was terrible, and the graphics were akin to the Nintendo 64. Fast-forward to this week where a slick graphics package that's incredibly well-designed (but still has some control issues) presents itself and the potential has finally been achieved. Though only two maps and two gameplay modes were available in the beta, it did a great job of demonstrating just how the game can be different from its Call of Duty/Halo/Titanfall competition. Strategic missions with Star Wars flare is really where the game will shine as the AT-AT attack mode showed. 

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The downside? Battlefront's competition still outshines it in terms of the dynamics of gameplay. Titanfall and CoD: Advanced Warfare really got me used to being able to be nimble, constantly on the move, and being able to dodge, slide, roll, even parkour my way out of sticky situations. Unfortunately, Battlefront still relies on a little clunkier of a control system where, at least for the beta, your movement is limited to walk, run, crouch, and jump around like an idiot. Granted, I didn't level up to the point where I could outfit my character with one of the jet packs, so maybe having that strapped to your back at least gains you the advantage of a good double-jump as a last evasive maneuver. But there were several instances where I found myself wishing I was playing Call of Duty or Titanfall with a Battlefront skin.

The two opportunities that I had to pilot a vehicle I found myself a little underwhelmed. Vehicles are also a little clunky from the moment you access them - wouldn't it have been great to have a Warhawk or Titanfall method of hopping into an X-Wing or a TIE Fighter docked in a launch bay? Instead, your character walks over a token, kneels down, then radios for air support, and suddenly you're in a TIE Fighter. Oh well. Control of the vehicles is going to take some serious getting used to as both opportunities I had to fly overhead, I crashed myself into an obstacle like a 14-year old driving in a parking lot.

The good news is that with a little bit of practice, a little bit of seasoning, and perhaps some of the advancements and improvements to the game that will come out of the beta test, it's going to be a whole lot of fun. And really time consuming come November.

Even if I end up being the Dak of every match I'm in.

In a Store Near You: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Two Declassified!

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About this time last year, I had the incredible experience of writing my first behind the scenes book for the amazing television show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its first season. I consider myself so thankful and lucky that they asked me back to write a follow-up for the second season, and didn't want to let them down (nor fans of the first) by not making the second book bigger and better than the last.

Once again, there's so many people to thank that helped me out, dedicating their time and providing assets and amazing conversations that make the book what they are. And the problem is that once you start naming names, you inevitably always leave someone incredibly crucial out. So a very heartfelt thank you to anyone and everyone at Marvel, in front of and behind the camera on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and to all those that have supported both books.

Thanks to everyone that contributed, there isn't a doubt in my mind that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Two Declassified is a definitive look behind the scenes of the show's second season: episode synopsis and analysis, behind the scenes anecdotes and details, artwork, storyboards, visual effects breakdowns, and incredible photography from some of the best unit photographers in the business. Even if you aren't a fan of the show (which you should be, but it's okay, I'll forgive you) hopefully the book is a great look into what it takes to create such an elaborate show on a week-to-week basis.

Once again, I kind of felt like Young William from Almost Famous - I was the uncool kid getting to hang with the super-cool rock stars and getting to tell their story. But where William's mandate was just to "make the band look cool," I didn't have to work too hard in order to convey the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s coolness. 

You can order the book here through Amazon, head to your local bookstore like Barnes and Noble or comic shop and purchase it, or buy it from that creepy guy with the gym bag that always offers you watches and "new movies." Wait, on second thought - scratch that, don't buy it from that last guy, it'll probably have the Declassified cover but be a bunch of takeout menus inside or something.

Wet Hot American Summer's Netflix Series - Best Sequel Since Gremlins 2

Before you jump to the comments to immediately express outrage like, "You're insane! Is that a cynical insult? Are you serious? What about Godfather Part II? Empire Strikes Back? Terminator 2: Judgment Day?" calm down. Hold on. Let me explain that headline, which could absolutely read as the clickbait I so loathe.

The cult-film Wet Hot American Summer was not only the first starring vehicle for some of the most successful present day actors and comedians, it was also a commentary on the tropes of camp films. The whole sequence where Michael Showalter's Coop rallies Camp Firewood for their big softball game against their rival across the lake only for it to end with everyone agreeing that it's a trite concept that's been played out in too many other films was indicative of the tone and approach the film took. It's only fitting that its eight-episode "sequel" currently on Netflix, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, took that tone and cranked it to 11.

It occurred to me this morning on my (always) lengthy drive into work that the latest installment of Wet Hot American Summer isn't just another mirror on the camp film, it's also a mirror on the prequel as a whole. 

Looking back at the series, without delving too much into spoilers, the new mini-series not only explores origin stories, it explores EVERY origin story. Even things that you didn't think had or needed an origin story like the "Higher and Higher" song used in the original film. The radio broadcast? Here's the origin story for it. Beth becoming the camp director? Here's the origin story for that. Christopher Meloni's Gene having a torrid love-affair with a fridge? Yup, here's the origins of that. By the eighth episode of the series, you realize that it's not a storytelling device, it's a comedic device that's poking fun at a prequel's need to detail the origin stories of anything and everything, leaving nothing to mystery. Much like the Star Wars prequels where we get the origins for anything and everything like C-3PO (wait, Anakin Skywalker built him from scratch? Huh?), Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp follows the same pattern by giving us backstory to many things that we didn't even think needed a backstory.

And that's where the comment about Gremlins 2: The New Batch comes into play. 

The oft-maligned sequel to Joe Dante's dark-humor Christmas film usually gets a bad wrap. So many of the critiques of the film is that it "just rehashes everything from the first movie" and is way too "silly." Those criticisms aren't without merit, both of those statements are true but the film is purposefully a commentary on sequels, especially those in the late-1980s. The movie takes the exact same premise, rehashes it on a larger scale in a different environment (Gremlins: In Space!) and pokes fun at the tropes that sequels often fall into that everything has to be bigger, better, heightened, and the same beats from the first film have to be hit no matter the cost or the placement in the second film. Phoebe Cates reiterates her hatred of certain holiday because of a bad memory associated with it. Gizmo sees a television broadcast of a larger than life hero and chooses to imitate it to save the day at the end of the film. All the while, this very pointed commentary on what sequels have to be and achieve continues on a runaway train.

Taking that same logic, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is to prequels as Gremlins 2: The New Batch was the sequels. A very biting satire on the formula that I think I'll only appreciate more and more with follow-up viewings.