FIC (repost): Do Something - Back to the Future

[squonkfan]

Title: Do Something
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~3800
Spoilers: Minor ones for various bits of the trilogy
Other formats: AO3
Disclaimer: This is an amateur, not-for-profit work of fiction. No attempt has been made to copyright characters and/or concepts owned by the Back to the Future people, nor is any infringement intended on existing copyrights.

Comments

[squonkfan]

Hi! My apologies for the delay in replying to your lovely feedback. I'm so glad you enjoyed this!

I could see him being the target of harassment and bullying.

There was some suggestion of this in the (awful) novelization of the first movie, which is where I got the idea. That novelization was based far more on an early draft of the script than it was on the actual film, so it had a totally different, kind of more cynical flavor to it. There was maybe a remnant of it in the film with Doc's line, "I've had enough practical jokes for one evening!"

Marty seemed to be his only friend in the movie, whereas Marty would probably have many friends because he's so popular and outgoing.

It did definitely seem that way in terms of Marty being Doc's only real friend in 1985, although for me it's hard to tell how popular Marty actually is. He has the gorgeous girlfriend for sure and is in the band, and he dresses cool. OTOH, he's short and scrawny and has serious confidence issues (though they seem kind of compartmentalized), and he hangs out with the town nutjob. I wonder if maybe he's actually more of an in-betweener, socially. He doesn't seem to know where he fits in in certain ways, which may be part of what attracts him to Doc.

My favorite scene here is when some of Doc's walls finally come down and he gets in Marty's face

Thank you!!

(and of course, my mind immediately went to slashy thoughts lol).

Hee, well.... ;)

I also hope that you repost "Cling!" And I'd love to read this WIP that you've been working on. Is it Doc/Marty or a friendship fic?

Aw, man, I feel so bad that "Cling" keeps coming up and I keep not doing anything about it. The WIP is slash--but admittedly, my attention has been diverted of late to another fandom. :( Which, I know it sucks when that happens. I can tell you that it's very likely I'll come back round to BTTF eventually--I always do--but in all honesty it's on the backburner for now.

Thank you again, so much, for commenting. It's always such an awesome surprise when you get f/b on an old fic--just a total day-brightener. :)

[ext_224878]

I read the BTTF novelization back in '04 and recall thinking that it was much better than most movie novelizations in terms of writing style (I never read II and III was awful). Please refresh my memory: what in the novel suggested that Doc was often harassed and bullied? As a kid I definitely thought Doc was harassed and bullied as suggested by Strickland's condemnation of him in the beginning. I love that about BTTF-- there's always so much room for interpretation and discussion. And why does Doc suddenly have so many friends in Part III? Another discussion!

[squonkfan]

I read the BTTF novelization back in '04 and recall thinking that it was much better than most movie novelizations in terms of writing style (I never read II and III was awful).

With the caveat that I, too, am just going off my recollections.... I would agree with you that the writing style of the first book is atypically more "novel" than "novelization." The second and third books basically put the scripts into prose form, without bothering to either make them look pretty or give them more heft; the first book definitely had more panache and substance to it in terms of the writing. But it just incredibly missed the mark to me when it came to capturing the sentiment and spirit of the final movie itself, and I know either Zemeckis or Gale (I can't remember which) expressed his displeasure with it as well, saying there was a lot of unecessary "gobbledygook" in there. I still think the majority of the novel's flaws can be attributed to the author's attempting to flesh out a much earlier draff of the script, which does read much differently than the movie we know.

what in the novel suggested that Doc was often harassed and bullied?

The instance I remember most was when Marty first arrived at Doc's house in '55. The movie just does the "I've had enough practical jokes for one evening" allusion, but in the novel Doc goes into this whole longer thing about, like, "What, now I'm getting spied on even in my bathroom? Do I have to be on my guard every time I sit down now?" He definitely talks about it in a more direct way.

As a kid I definitely thought Doc was harassed and bullied as suggested by Strickland's condemnation of him in the beginning.

Yeah, you're right--Strickland's dialogue there is quite suggestive of that, too.

I love that about BTTF-- there's always so much room for interpretation and discussion.

For sure!!

And why does Doc suddenly have so many friends in Part III? Another discussion!

I think that's almost certainly meant to directly contrast his isolation in 1985. Doc feels like he fits in there in a way he didn't in his own time. He feels super comfortable engaging in the social and political life of his community, partially because he's such an aficionado of the time period, also partially because he has a clean slate--and although he seems to suggest that he's done this in order to blend in and not seem suspicious, I think that's mostly bullpucky. (Although having said that, before he meets Clara it is interesting how easily he's willing to just leave it all behind and take off to 1985 again when Marty shows up.)

[ext_224878]

In what context does Doc comment about being spied on in the bathroom? Was Marty doing something that suggested that? Because it could just mean that things that MARTY SPECIFICALLY is doing puts Doc on guard, not other things that other people are doing.

Still... Doc is a great, well-rounded character with so much to interpret! And it doesn't hurt that a great actor like Christopher Lloyd brought him to life. :)

[squonkfan]

Doc was referring to the fact that Marty knew about his falling off the toilet and coming up with the flux capacitor. Whereas in the movie he took that as proof positive that Marty was telling the truth, in the book he was still suspicious and thought maybe Marty had been spying on him. Again, although I'm only going off my memory (I don't think I have a copy of the book anymore), I am fairly sure his response and/or inner dialogue included specific references to having people spy on and otherwise harass him before, and that was part of what prompted him to draw that conclusion.