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Claudia-wells-1

The original version with Wells.

Elisabeth-shue-1

The reshot version with Shue.

Noroads-HQ

Part I

Roads

Part II

The scene where Marty McFly finds his new Toyota Hilux in the garage and Jennifer Parker meets him at his house, shortly before Dr. Emmett Brown arrives from 2015 in the DeLorean time machine, was shot twice; for both the end of Back to the Future, and the beginning of Back to the Future Part II.

The cutaway shot of George and Lorraine at the french windows smiling at Marty and Jennifer was reused from the end of Back to the Future. (Crispin Glover filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios in October 1990 when, after he declined to return for the sequels, this and other footage featuring him was reused in Back to the Future Part II without his permission and without his receiving any payment.)

The largest discrepancy between the two scenes was the replacement of Claudia Wells by Elisabeth Shue for the role of Jennifer Parker. There was much attempt made to replicate the scenes as much as possible, however there are slight changes between the original and the reshot version.

Differences between the versions[]

  • Obviously the first is the replacement of Claudia Wells by Elisabeth Shue:
    • Shue appears to be slightly shorter than Wells.
    • Shue's hair is less frizzy and darker than Wells.
  • The background of the next door neighbor's house changes from a peach color to a faint yellow.
  • The camera angle within the garage is wider in the sequel.
  • The truck is slightly different.
  • After opening the truck's driver's door, Marty's right hand goes down faster in the sequel.
  • Marty raised his fist earlier in the original movie.
  • Jennifer and Marty lean in to kiss faster in the original.
  • When Doc is placing the garbage in Mr. Fusion, his glasses are lower than they were in the original.
  • Doc pauses a little longer in the second version before telling Marty that they would turn out fine and their kids needed help.
    • Also, in the first film, Doc says "No, no, no, Marty. Both you and Jennifer turn out fine." In the second film, Doc says "Oh, no, no, no. You and Jennifer both turn out fine."
  • In both films, Doc is fixing some controls in the car ceiling when Marty is saying, "Hey, Doc, we'd better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88." In the original film, he stops modifying the controls in the middle of that line. In the second, he stops when Marty finishes the line.
  • In the original film when Doc says "Where we're going, we don't need roads", Doc uses his hands to bring his glasses over his eyes. In the second, Doc taps the top of his glasses and they fall over his eyes.
  • Marty is wearing a wristwatch in the second version.

Some scenes in movies are shot twice at the time of filming, with the second milder version (which uses different camera angles, omits expletives etc.) being used for television. In the version shown on television, Marty asks "What, do we become jerks or something?" whereas in the movie version of either original or reshot scene, Marty says "assholes" instead of "jerks". In the first version, Doc is quick to respond "No, you and Jennifer turn out fine!" In the second version, Doc thinks about it for a moment, presumably aware of how their life turned out after Marty's car accident. Its also possible that Christopher Lloyd was simply having trouble replicating the timing of his line from the first movie. Also the scene where all three are in the DeLorean has both Wells and Shue sharing the passenger seat with Marty, although Wells is a few inches taller in the car.

Additionally, for Part II, there was an addition to the scene with Biff Tannen emerging from the house with a small box of his newly printed 'Biff's Auto Detailing' matchbooks, intending to show one of these to Marty, whereupon he witnesses the DeLorean taking off, flying up the street and back, and then disappearing in an explosion of light and wind. This scene sets up his motives in 2015.

A comparison of the two versions can be found on a YouTube segment called "Back to the Future: Dueling Jennifers"

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