Book Review: Back from the Future: A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told

Check out this review of Back from the Future by Brad Gilmore

On most days, I consider Back to the Future my favorite movie of all time. With its 35th anniversary this year, there’s been a wave of new merchandise to collect, including a terrific new book, Back from the Future: A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told. Written by Brad Gilmore, host of Back to the Future: the Podcast, this publication is small in physical size, but not in content.

Gilmore infuses personal stories into the concise history of the franchise, then chooses a few focus areas you don’t typically find in books about Back to the Future. The three chapters in Part 1: Time Circuits On that inform us about the genesis and production of all three movies includes Gilmore’s own history of discovering the movies and becoming a superfan. This includes a statement often repeated in its pages:Back to the Future is without a doubt in my mind the greatest trilogy of films in the history of cinema.

Part II: To Be Continued features a chapter about Future Day (October 21, 2015), the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the future. What did Back to the Future get right about the future? What ingenious inventions never came to be? There’s a chapter about Biff Tannen, whom Gilmore truly believes is “one of the greatest villains in movie history. There’s a chapter about the theme park attraction and the animated series.

Part III: Back in Time contains “almanac” chapters where Gilmore provides lists of the best versions of the Delorean, Doc’s inventions, and supporting or secondary characters. The knowledge of the franchise and Gilmore’s appreciation of it are no more apparent than in his two-page “essay” about the importance of Otis Peabody. Who? Don’t worry if you can’t remember; Gilmore identifies him for you and explains why he’s important.

There’s all this and more! Back from the Future: A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told can easily be digested in a single sitting, yet will leave you thinking about aspects of the movie for days. Warning! Reading this book may cause you to fall deep into a rabbit hole. Luckily, it peeks into it, giving you a good look, but with its list of references at the end, lets you decide how far you want to go.

About the Author

Brad Gilmore is a radio and television host born and raised in Houston, TX. Since 2011, he has been the host of The Brad Gilmore Show which covers the world of sports, music, and pop culture. Brad currently hosts The Hall of Fame with WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T on ESPN Radio. Brad began his career covering music and worked as a regular contributor to Houston Press and the hip hop blog DayandaDream.com. Brad hosts a variety of TV shows and podcasts including Reality of Wrestling, Movie Trivia Schmoedown, Schmoedown Rundown, Heated Conversations (featured in the iTunes Top 10 Podcast Chart), Your Opinion Doesn’t Matter, and since 2015, Back to the Future: The Podcast which just recently surpassed 1,000,000 streams over 50 episodes. During he career, Brad Gilmore has appeared in print, radio, television and film and always looks to bring his one of a kind perspective to each of his endeavors and entertain audiences worldwide.


Back From The Future by Brad Gilmore

Back From The Future

A Celebration of the Greatest Time Travel Story Ever Told

The history of the films, cartoons, toys, and more. The Back to the Future series is a timeless collection that is greatly revered by all audiences. The beauty of this book by Brad Gilmore is that it doesn’t present the history of the film as textbook information. Gilmore discusses these films from a place of passion and so effectively reveals how the history behind the movies is just as engaging as the films themselves.

From a fan for fans. Gilmore, a radio and television host, also happens to be a die-hard fan of the movies. As a fan speaking to fellow fans, Gilmore dives into fan theories and provides the answers to all the questions readers could possibly have—because they are the very questions he himself has asked.

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