A recent eagle-eyed fan spotted a peculiarity in the cut of Back to the Future II currently streaming on Netflix. Before fans get out the pitch forks, screenwriter Bob Gale says that the blame rests with Universal Pictures for releasing the cut.
The interesting thing about the edit of the film is that the minor change completely changes a major future plot point in the film. The edit in question removed the cover of the Oh, La, La magazine from the movie. Marty McFly places the magazine inside the cover of the Sports Almanac.
The reveal of the switch is a big part of the plot and makes the Neflix edit a bit confusing.
The streaming version of the film’s since been replaced with the original theatrical cut. Glad spoke with THR about the change, saying that this mistake can never happen again because the studio destroyed the edited copy:
“The blame is on Universal who somehow furnished Netflix an edited version of the movie. 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.
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’.”
Back to the Future II isn’t the only film to stream edited from the original. A number of streaming services ran into the same issues. The most famous situations involved are the Splash CG shaggy booty moment and the Disney+ Star Wars Maclunkey line.
