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B^F: The Novelization Of The Feature Film
In 1984, George Gipe was contracted to write the novelization of the movie Back To The Future. He was supplied with a screenplay still in flux, writing his novelization even as the movie itself was being rewritten and as major roles were being recast (Michael J. Fox was not the first person to play Marty McFly). Partially because of this, and partially because of Gipe's natural writing style, the novelization is coo-coo bananas. It is totally insane. It's... kind of awesome?
I feel like I should mention that after he submitted his manuscript, George Gipe was stung to death by bees.
This book is the page-by-page reading guide to Gipe's novelization of Back to the Future, pointing out where things are different from the movie (often!) why and how they're worse (even more often!) and even when they're better (it happens, like, twice). It is written by Ryan North who writes the online strip Dinosaur Comics and the Adventure Time comic book. There are lots of pictures and lots of jokes and you will have a fun time reading (EVEN MORE SO THAN YOU NORMALLY DO).
I feel like I should mention that after he submitted his manuscript, George Gipe was stung to death by bees.
This book is the page-by-page reading guide to Gipe's novelization of Back to the Future, pointing out where things are different from the movie (often!) why and how they're worse (even more often!) and even when they're better (it happens, like, twice). It is written by Ryan North who writes the online strip Dinosaur Comics and the Adventure Time comic book. There are lots of pictures and lots of jokes and you will have a fun time reading (EVEN MORE SO THAN YOU NORMALLY DO).
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 12, 2012
40 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Ryan North
537 books1,604 followersHi, I'm Ryan! I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1980 and since then have written several books. You can read my Wikipedia page for more, or check out my author site at RyanNorth.ca!
I'm the author of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics (that's the comic where the pictures don't change but the words do, it's better than it sounds and I've also done crazy things like turn Shakespeare into a choose-your-own-path adventure, write a comic for Marvel about a girl with all the powers of a squirrel, or mess up walking my dog so badly it made the news.
I'm working on more stuff as we speak, hopefully it's good
I'm the author of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics (that's the comic where the pictures don't change but the words do, it's better than it sounds and I've also done crazy things like turn Shakespeare into a choose-your-own-path adventure, write a comic for Marvel about a girl with all the powers of a squirrel, or mess up walking my dog so badly it made the news.
I'm working on more stuff as we speak, hopefully it's good
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
June 27, 2013
So basically this book made me appreciate Back to the Future even more than I already did, and also I'm a little bit in love with Ryan North?
I also read the entirety of this book whilst on a Las Vegas trip (LOL-ing muchly even in public, I don't care who saw), so it quite possibly prevented me from losing more money than I would have if I didn't have "Ryan North's Writeup of Back to the Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe based on a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale," on my handy Kindle app, so you can add "MAY PREVENT YOU FROM FRIVOLOUSLY LOSING MONEY AT CASINOS" to its list of many achievements.
filed under: awesome, hilarious, strickland love
I also read the entirety of this book whilst on a Las Vegas trip (LOL-ing muchly even in public, I don't care who saw), so it quite possibly prevented me from losing more money than I would have if I didn't have "Ryan North's Writeup of Back to the Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe based on a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale," on my handy Kindle app, so you can add "MAY PREVENT YOU FROM FRIVOLOUSLY LOSING MONEY AT CASINOS" to its list of many achievements.
filed under: awesome, hilarious, strickland love
July 8, 2014
It happened something like this:
In 1984, George Gipe, whose past bibliography includes sci-fi, memorabilia, sports and screenplay novelization books (his most recent one being Gremlins) is commissioned to adapt a certain time travel movie. He is handed an early draft of the screenplay and brought on board even before a fellow named Michael J. Fox replaces Eric Stolz in the movie's lead role.
A year after publication, George Gipe is stung to death by bees. Yes, bees. Years after that, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame discovers Steven Spielberg Presents: Back to the Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe Based on the Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale buried in his brother-in-law's belongings and goes on to make Tumblr history. The blog is later compiled into a cheaply priced eBook, B^F: The Novelization.
A copy of Gipe's book is not necessary to enjoy B^F: The Novelization, as North's reading guide is an obsessive page-by-page analysis. With every paragraph of the original text either reproduced verbatim or paraphrased, this is effectively a book within a book, an odyssey into the heart of bad writing. It also doubles as a love letter to Back to the Future. By contrasting the finalized movie scenes with Gipe's textual blunders, North successfully paints the Robert Zemickis film as a tightly knit, wonderfully paced and witty '80s gem. It is obvious that North treasures the movie as much as he loves breaking down the awful adaptation.
This is a very different Back to the Future, in terms of both the early draft's idiosyncrasies and Gipe's writing style. The opening scene isn't of a quirky laboratory wall full of clocks but a husband, wife and their small children being graphically melted away by an atomic blast...then we pull back to reveal it's just Marty watching a film strip in class. Fifteen pages after that are spent with Marty and Mr. Strickland in detention, with every description of the iconic principal sounding strangely like erotica. We follow McFly through subsequent scenes familiar or otherwise omitted from the final screenplay, where our old friends George, Lorraine, Biff, Doc and the Libyan terrorists are found alongside talking, exposition, more talking, and did I mention talking and exposition?
The late George Gipe is a master of purple prose and hindered pacing. His interpretations of the characters are generalized at best and he peppers his narrative with what Ryan North flags as 'old man-isms.' Teenagers speak with slang and idioms predating even 1955, and Gipe describes technology (such as what Marty listens to on his Walkman being “stereo rock music”) from the perspective of a man far outside modern culture. It's like in-between writing Gipe went courting and rested his lobes with trips to the dime store.
It gets worse, and by worse I mean heart-threateningly hilarious. Gipe may have written the best worst book to ever sit forgotten on library shelves, and North, with wit and prowess, has turned Gipe's problematic work into a comedic masterpiece. The fun here is limitless, spoiled only by moving the book along too fast. There's a new surprise on every page that often tops the last in absurdity, and North's jokes and observations sail like George McFly's climactic punch, never missing their targets.
Sadly, George Gipe's fateful meeting with the bees left him understandably absent for Back to the Future Part II and III, and as Ryan North points out, the other novelizations are just dry reads that talk down to the children they target. Had Gipe survived the swarm it's possible that North could have done an entire trilogy. Here's hoping he will cover Gremlins.
In 1984, George Gipe, whose past bibliography includes sci-fi, memorabilia, sports and screenplay novelization books (his most recent one being Gremlins) is commissioned to adapt a certain time travel movie. He is handed an early draft of the screenplay and brought on board even before a fellow named Michael J. Fox replaces Eric Stolz in the movie's lead role.
A year after publication, George Gipe is stung to death by bees. Yes, bees. Years after that, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame discovers Steven Spielberg Presents: Back to the Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe Based on the Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale buried in his brother-in-law's belongings and goes on to make Tumblr history. The blog is later compiled into a cheaply priced eBook, B^F: The Novelization.
A copy of Gipe's book is not necessary to enjoy B^F: The Novelization, as North's reading guide is an obsessive page-by-page analysis. With every paragraph of the original text either reproduced verbatim or paraphrased, this is effectively a book within a book, an odyssey into the heart of bad writing. It also doubles as a love letter to Back to the Future. By contrasting the finalized movie scenes with Gipe's textual blunders, North successfully paints the Robert Zemickis film as a tightly knit, wonderfully paced and witty '80s gem. It is obvious that North treasures the movie as much as he loves breaking down the awful adaptation.
This is a very different Back to the Future, in terms of both the early draft's idiosyncrasies and Gipe's writing style. The opening scene isn't of a quirky laboratory wall full of clocks but a husband, wife and their small children being graphically melted away by an atomic blast...then we pull back to reveal it's just Marty watching a film strip in class. Fifteen pages after that are spent with Marty and Mr. Strickland in detention, with every description of the iconic principal sounding strangely like erotica. We follow McFly through subsequent scenes familiar or otherwise omitted from the final screenplay, where our old friends George, Lorraine, Biff, Doc and the Libyan terrorists are found alongside talking, exposition, more talking, and did I mention talking and exposition?
The late George Gipe is a master of purple prose and hindered pacing. His interpretations of the characters are generalized at best and he peppers his narrative with what Ryan North flags as 'old man-isms.' Teenagers speak with slang and idioms predating even 1955, and Gipe describes technology (such as what Marty listens to on his Walkman being “stereo rock music”) from the perspective of a man far outside modern culture. It's like in-between writing Gipe went courting and rested his lobes with trips to the dime store.
It gets worse, and by worse I mean heart-threateningly hilarious. Gipe may have written the best worst book to ever sit forgotten on library shelves, and North, with wit and prowess, has turned Gipe's problematic work into a comedic masterpiece. The fun here is limitless, spoiled only by moving the book along too fast. There's a new surprise on every page that often tops the last in absurdity, and North's jokes and observations sail like George McFly's climactic punch, never missing their targets.
Sadly, George Gipe's fateful meeting with the bees left him understandably absent for Back to the Future Part II and III, and as Ryan North points out, the other novelizations are just dry reads that talk down to the children they target. Had Gipe survived the swarm it's possible that North could have done an entire trilogy. Here's hoping he will cover Gremlins.
July 4, 2018
Think Mystery Science Theater 3000 but with a terrible book instead of a terrible movie. Also the terrible book is BASED on a movie. It’s a completely ridiculous idea but Ryan North mostly pulls it off. I read the novelization as a kid and I’ll admit I thought it was AMAZING so my credibility here is shot. North dismantles Gipe’s weird book and his criticisms had me laughing out loud in public places. But even he admits to a grudging admiration for it so maybe I wasn’t so misguided.
March 22, 2013
I read almost the whole thing online on Ryan North's tumblr, but I bought this because I wanted to read all of it, and I <3 Ryan North and I will happily buy anything he ever puts out, ever. This is a page-by-page critique of one of the worst movie tie-in novelizations ever written, and that's saying something as movie tie-in novels aren't widely regarded as high art. I read almost this whole book out loud to my partner, at times having to stop because we were laughing so hard I could not continue. The book is best read in bursts, though I dare you to stop at just one "page." You will be cheered up for days.
But possibly the best thing about this whole critique is that it is a valuable learning guide on how NOT to write fiction--how not to write anything! Read it, laugh, and learn.
But possibly the best thing about this whole critique is that it is a valuable learning guide on how NOT to write fiction--how not to write anything! Read it, laugh, and learn.
Read
August 19, 2022It's a fun little read but for some reason it was left completely in blog format. Some "booking it up" would have been welcome. The author also several times overreacts to words that are not exceptionally rare, assuming that because he's never heard them no one else has. It's a bit grating.
May 18, 2013
I'm not sure how this originally got onto my Amazon wishlist--it was years old when I finally read it--and I was unaware or had forgotten it was a collection of posts from a Tumblr by the guy who does Dinosaur Comics. That being said, it worked really well as a short book and a hilarious page-by-page book review.
July 16, 2017
I'm pretty sure i laughed out loud at this book (novel length review?) more than i have at any book ever. people told me to Jesus Christ, Just Shut Up Already Lauren, multiple times, which, as im sure you will agree, is the most desired consequence of reading material.
also ryan north: i want one pls
also ryan north: i want one pls
August 19, 2012
Well that was genuinely awesome, I highly recommend it to anyone who love Back to the Future, time travel, crappy novelisations and/or laughing. Ryan North is a fantastic writer for this kind of material, and I promise you you won't be disappointed.
July 30, 2013
Insane concept but so much fun to read. Ryan North is hilarious, and what's almost crazier is that I feel like I learned a lot about good writing (via the lens of bad writing and North's keen insights.) THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A LEARNING BOOK YOU GUYS.
August 11, 2018
I have now read all the “short” books on my Kindle wish list. These are perfect for reading during a quiet hour at work. Something that is 500+ pages really shouldn’t be for during a work shift, but I decided to download it, to see what it was all about.
I haven’t read the original novelization in many years, and there were some things that popped up in this that I’d completely forgotten about or glossed over. I didn’t realise that it was originally a Tumblr/blog post, spanning the course of eight months, and dissecting each page, sentence by sentence, and comparing it to the movie.
Despite the author’s continuous nit picking, humorous one liners, and little anecdotes, I found this “book” (quote marks as a nod to George Gipe), quite tedious from about halfway through. Without a copy of the novelization to refer to, I found myself getting quite annoyed by it, but at the same, I was shocked at some of the excellent points that were brought up. Some things I had considered and other things hit me with a sudden realisation.
This “book” does come with its faults though. It’s heavily reliant on people being able to view the images as gifs, which simply does not work on a Kindle edition. Images have obviously been lifted straight from the author’s blog, so occasionally it’s the back of someone’s head, before they turn, to say their line to the camera.
There are also some layout issues, including frequent blank pages at the end of the chapters, where it hasn’t been laid out properly. Quite often, there is only one line or a couple of words on the blank page. Also, some photos/screenshots are repeated.
This book has its faults and I’m a bit on the fence with it, but it’s quite a good read, for fans of the film/novelization and will leave you wanting to watch the movie again/read the novelization again. I don’t regret paying for it, rather than reading it for free on the blog, I just hope the author is seeing a share of the profits. I also think it would have been more enjoyable reading it live, through the blog, dissecting a chapter at a time, before being left hanging on the inevitable cliffhanger.
I haven’t read the original novelization in many years, and there were some things that popped up in this that I’d completely forgotten about or glossed over. I didn’t realise that it was originally a Tumblr/blog post, spanning the course of eight months, and dissecting each page, sentence by sentence, and comparing it to the movie.
Despite the author’s continuous nit picking, humorous one liners, and little anecdotes, I found this “book” (quote marks as a nod to George Gipe), quite tedious from about halfway through. Without a copy of the novelization to refer to, I found myself getting quite annoyed by it, but at the same, I was shocked at some of the excellent points that were brought up. Some things I had considered and other things hit me with a sudden realisation.
This “book” does come with its faults though. It’s heavily reliant on people being able to view the images as gifs, which simply does not work on a Kindle edition. Images have obviously been lifted straight from the author’s blog, so occasionally it’s the back of someone’s head, before they turn, to say their line to the camera.
There are also some layout issues, including frequent blank pages at the end of the chapters, where it hasn’t been laid out properly. Quite often, there is only one line or a couple of words on the blank page. Also, some photos/screenshots are repeated.
This book has its faults and I’m a bit on the fence with it, but it’s quite a good read, for fans of the film/novelization and will leave you wanting to watch the movie again/read the novelization again. I don’t regret paying for it, rather than reading it for free on the blog, I just hope the author is seeing a share of the profits. I also think it would have been more enjoyable reading it live, through the blog, dissecting a chapter at a time, before being left hanging on the inevitable cliffhanger.
August 25, 2018
Part reading guide, part review and part Mystery Science Theater riff track, B^F is a companion piece to the totally insane novelization of Back to the Future by George Gipe and one of the funniest books I've ever read. If for no other reason, I recommend this book to anyone reading the novelization so that when you hit points in the book (literally, every page) and want to ask someone "Did that stand out as totally insane to you too??" but you can't because nobody else you know is crazy enough to read this thing, Ryan North is there for you to be like "Yup, they really did do that and I'm calling him out on it too." So this is excellent and I would give it a clean 5 stars, but I'm docking it one because of all the typos, which normally wouldn't bother me (I'm lying, there is no scenario in which a book I paid for having this many typos wouldn't bother me), except for all the times North rips on Gipe for not having a proofreader. That's just hypocritical.
October 5, 2021
A fun journey through a incomprehensible adaptation
I actually think I read the George Gipe novelization of the film. The intro scene of the family getting wasted by a nuclear explosion sticks out as a vaguely-traumatic memory. It's good to know that the rest of the book nails that same quasi-serious "old guy trying to write a magnetic narrative" vibe. North sums it all up hilariously enough, AND opened my eyes to yet another theory re: the film's use of time travel.
I actually think I read the George Gipe novelization of the film. The intro scene of the family getting wasted by a nuclear explosion sticks out as a vaguely-traumatic memory. It's good to know that the rest of the book nails that same quasi-serious "old guy trying to write a magnetic narrative" vibe. North sums it all up hilariously enough, AND opened my eyes to yet another theory re: the film's use of time travel.
July 29, 2017
Had read in blog format some time ago, picked up the ebook to re-read. Had to stop reading in bed because my laughs were shaking our queen-size and my wife's sighs were all the warning I needed. Just as funny on the couch.
July 27, 2018
It's wordy. Of course it's wordy: it's a review of a novelization of the back to the future that is longer than the book it's reviewing. It's funny. It had some nice thoughts about writing, editing and time travel. It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.
April 28, 2025
It's a tumblr blog written by the Dinosaur Comics guy about the novelization of Back to the Future which itself became a novelization. The learner has become the master, I guess. Pretty good if you like 2010's tumblr humor about 1980's films. Which I do.
July 27, 2021
This is very silly and very fun, and it has some solid points to make about craft, too!
January 9, 2019
Excellent and hilarious!
May 22, 2017
A very clever, funny read. It's not exactly the same experience as reading the original tumblr blog that originated this book, which included GIFs in all their animated glory, but still worth keeping around in your e-book reader.
There are some gems in here, and I'm not talking only about the humor. A good example is Ryan's interesting theory about meta-time and how it affects the way time travelling works in the BttF movies.
All in all, this holds great value for the low price you can get it at.
There are some gems in here, and I'm not talking only about the humor. A good example is Ryan's interesting theory about meta-time and how it affects the way time travelling works in the BttF movies.
All in all, this holds great value for the low price you can get it at.
March 26, 2015
Everyone knows you can write a book-length analysis of a serious literary work. If it's portentous enough, you can write an analysis longer than the work you're critiquing.
But who woulda thought you could write a four hundred page treatise on the novelization of Back to the Future -- or to give it it's proper title, Steven Spielberg Presents: Back To The Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: A Novel By George Gipe, Based On A Screenplay By Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
And yet that's exactly what Ryan North has done. Well, to be totally accurate, he did a blog series dissecting the novelization on a page-by-page basis, then turned it into a book which is two hundred pages longer than the work it's critiquing.
What all can you say about a novelization that requires 450 pages? Well, how about the fact that the author was stung to death by bees just a year after finishing this book. Really. Wikipedia says so (in fact, that's practically all it says about the guy beyond his bibliography). Also, the guy wrote like a cranky old man who only has a theoretical knowledge of '80s teenagers (likely based upon the punk rock episode of Quincy), so the entire book is full of hilarious bits about how Marty really digs "sound reproduction".
This books ends up being like a novelization of an MST3K episode, with North giving us just enough excerpts from the source that we can understand how ridiculous it is without having to go through the trouble of reading it (which is nice considering it's long out of print).
Also, book-Marty is a real dick.
But who woulda thought you could write a four hundred page treatise on the novelization of Back to the Future -- or to give it it's proper title, Steven Spielberg Presents: Back To The Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: A Novel By George Gipe, Based On A Screenplay By Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
And yet that's exactly what Ryan North has done. Well, to be totally accurate, he did a blog series dissecting the novelization on a page-by-page basis, then turned it into a book which is two hundred pages longer than the work it's critiquing.
What all can you say about a novelization that requires 450 pages? Well, how about the fact that the author was stung to death by bees just a year after finishing this book. Really. Wikipedia says so (in fact, that's practically all it says about the guy beyond his bibliography). Also, the guy wrote like a cranky old man who only has a theoretical knowledge of '80s teenagers (likely based upon the punk rock episode of Quincy), so the entire book is full of hilarious bits about how Marty really digs "sound reproduction".
This books ends up being like a novelization of an MST3K episode, with North giving us just enough excerpts from the source that we can understand how ridiculous it is without having to go through the trouble of reading it (which is nice considering it's long out of print).
Also, book-Marty is a real dick.
May 3, 2013
OMG THIS BOOK. SERIOUSLY. THIS BOOK. OMG.
Lowdown: Before the script for Back To The Future was finished, they handed an unfinished version of the script to this author - George Gipe (btw, stung to death by BEES?! RIP GIPE) - to write up the novelisation. Problem, Gipe is like the worst author ever and the script itself doesn't make sense most the time. HILARITY ENSUES
Our hero then, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame, finds this novelisation and quickly realises how bizzare it is (INCORRECT SPELLING OF BIZARRE: 100% INTENDED). What is originally intended to be a review of the highlights soon becomes a page-by-page review of the book in absolute detail. The result is a book longer than the novelisation that it is reviewing. The closest other example to this would be RedLetterMedia's 90-minute review of Star Wars Episode 1 that you should go watch if you haven't seen it before.
ANYWAY, since Gipe is terrible and North is hi-liar-i-ous, this book is pure fun. I read it in e-book form on my sparkling new Kindle but you can read it for free over at http://btothef.tumblr.com/ if you enjoy things that are free and also good. You also get all the GIFs and youtube links to work. Still, MY REGRETS: ZERO
Often, books are described as "laugh out loud funny" but it's never true. Like who laughs at a book AM I RIGHT. But in this case I actually was laughing OUT LOUD you guys. Maybe it's just because I love North's style so much (it's basically CAPS and CRAZY GRAMMAR) but I think anyone can recognise the crazy stuff he's pointing out. Like Gipe will just throw in references to pre-Depression Era movies as if a time-travelling 80s teen would naturally say things like that. It's nuts.
IN CONCLUSION, GO READ IT. OMG
Lowdown: Before the script for Back To The Future was finished, they handed an unfinished version of the script to this author - George Gipe (btw, stung to death by BEES?! RIP GIPE) - to write up the novelisation. Problem, Gipe is like the worst author ever and the script itself doesn't make sense most the time. HILARITY ENSUES
Our hero then, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame, finds this novelisation and quickly realises how bizzare it is (INCORRECT SPELLING OF BIZARRE: 100% INTENDED). What is originally intended to be a review of the highlights soon becomes a page-by-page review of the book in absolute detail. The result is a book longer than the novelisation that it is reviewing. The closest other example to this would be RedLetterMedia's 90-minute review of Star Wars Episode 1 that you should go watch if you haven't seen it before.
ANYWAY, since Gipe is terrible and North is hi-liar-i-ous, this book is pure fun. I read it in e-book form on my sparkling new Kindle but you can read it for free over at http://btothef.tumblr.com/ if you enjoy things that are free and also good. You also get all the GIFs and youtube links to work. Still, MY REGRETS: ZERO
Often, books are described as "laugh out loud funny" but it's never true. Like who laughs at a book AM I RIGHT. But in this case I actually was laughing OUT LOUD you guys. Maybe it's just because I love North's style so much (it's basically CAPS and CRAZY GRAMMAR) but I think anyone can recognise the crazy stuff he's pointing out. Like Gipe will just throw in references to pre-Depression Era movies as if a time-travelling 80s teen would naturally say things like that. It's nuts.
IN CONCLUSION, GO READ IT. OMG
September 22, 2016
Hilarious.
Ryan North does a tremendous job of guiding readers through a novelization of the hit movie, Back to the Future. I own a copy of the original novelization, though I never got very far before I gave up on it. Ryan North did not. He went through the whole thing, several times, and noticed just how insane it was. In this ebook, he goes into depth, picking through the bizarre word choices, the oddness of the early first draft of the movie, and just how charmless it can be without the actors to put energy and life into the lines.
I haven't laughed this much while reading a book in years. At some points I actually had to put my kindle down for a bit, because I was laughing too much. I'm not sure which was funnier - the over-the-top extremes the book goes to, or Ryan North's descent into madness that comes along with it.
And yet, despite the humor, there's actually a lot of depth to the book. Ryan North takes a look into the lore of the series as a whole and debates the logic and consistency of time travel in the BttF universe (including offering his own theories, which, whether they were tongue in cheek or not, were actually pretty fascinating). Going in, I expected something that poked fun at an old novelization of a movie series I love. By the end, I got that, and a bit more, as well as a deeper understanding of the BttF-verse as a whole.
Plus, if you love the character of Strickland, then this is DEFINITELY the book for you.
Ryan North does a tremendous job of guiding readers through a novelization of the hit movie, Back to the Future. I own a copy of the original novelization, though I never got very far before I gave up on it. Ryan North did not. He went through the whole thing, several times, and noticed just how insane it was. In this ebook, he goes into depth, picking through the bizarre word choices, the oddness of the early first draft of the movie, and just how charmless it can be without the actors to put energy and life into the lines.
I haven't laughed this much while reading a book in years. At some points I actually had to put my kindle down for a bit, because I was laughing too much. I'm not sure which was funnier - the over-the-top extremes the book goes to, or Ryan North's descent into madness that comes along with it.
And yet, despite the humor, there's actually a lot of depth to the book. Ryan North takes a look into the lore of the series as a whole and debates the logic and consistency of time travel in the BttF universe (including offering his own theories, which, whether they were tongue in cheek or not, were actually pretty fascinating). Going in, I expected something that poked fun at an old novelization of a movie series I love. By the end, I got that, and a bit more, as well as a deeper understanding of the BttF-verse as a whole.
Plus, if you love the character of Strickland, then this is DEFINITELY the book for you.
April 5, 2016
I love Ryan North. I've been reading his Dinosaur Comics for years, and following his writing projects for about as long(the Machine of Death anthology being one of my favorites of all time). His style of humor is perfect for pointing out the absolute ridiculousness of the subject of the book, the novelization of Back to the Future, as written by George Gipe.
I don't have much to say about this other than its hilarious and you should get it if you're even remotely familiar with the Back to the Future franchise (Don't tell anyone, but I've never seen the movie; this is my second time reading the book and I loved it even more than the first). North obviously writes this out of love for the series, and through the ineptitude of the novelization you can see the mastery in the final script for the movie.
My one complaint is that originally, each section of the novel started out as a Tumblr post, all of which were then packaged up in book form. On Kindle the links are still clickable, however many of them are no longer active since he book was published. Also, the gifs at the top of some chapters don't play.
Still a great book though.
5/5 stars, recommended for anyone who likes Back to the Future, Film in general, or fun times with a fun guy.
I don't have much to say about this other than its hilarious and you should get it if you're even remotely familiar with the Back to the Future franchise (Don't tell anyone, but I've never seen the movie; this is my second time reading the book and I loved it even more than the first). North obviously writes this out of love for the series, and through the ineptitude of the novelization you can see the mastery in the final script for the movie.
My one complaint is that originally, each section of the novel started out as a Tumblr post, all of which were then packaged up in book form. On Kindle the links are still clickable, however many of them are no longer active since he book was published. Also, the gifs at the top of some chapters don't play.
Still a great book though.
5/5 stars, recommended for anyone who likes Back to the Future, Film in general, or fun times with a fun guy.
November 6, 2013
The creator of Dinosaur Comics, Ryan North has managed to write a page-by-page review of the novelization of Back to the Future. Astonishingly, Ryan North Presents A Review Of Steven Spielberg Presents: Back To The Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe based on a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale is actually longer than Steven Spielberg Presents: Back To The Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe based on a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
It is very thorough, and very funny. Gipe's novel is, indeed, quite insane, and this is a pure exercise in massively overthinking about Back to the Future, which is great for me since I love the movie. If you love Back to the Future, and you're a huge nerd, you'll enjoy this book, even though sometimes it gets a little slow (largely when the novel does.
It is very thorough, and very funny. Gipe's novel is, indeed, quite insane, and this is a pure exercise in massively overthinking about Back to the Future, which is great for me since I love the movie. If you love Back to the Future, and you're a huge nerd, you'll enjoy this book, even though sometimes it gets a little slow (largely when the novel does.
October 17, 2012
Really all you need to know about this book is from the description:
"In 1984, George Gipe was contracted to write the novelization of the movie Back To The Future. He was supplied with a screenplay still in flux, writing his novelization even as the movie itself was being rewritten and as major roles were being recast (Michael J. Fox was not the first person to play Marty McFly). Partially because of this, and partially because of Gipe's natural writing style, the novelization is coo-coo bananas. It is totally insane. It's... kind of awesome?
I feel like I should mention that after he submitted his manuscript, George Gipe was stung to death by bees."
I laughed out loud a lot while reading this. Ryan North is hilarious. And I learned a few things about one of my favorite movies.
"In 1984, George Gipe was contracted to write the novelization of the movie Back To The Future. He was supplied with a screenplay still in flux, writing his novelization even as the movie itself was being rewritten and as major roles were being recast (Michael J. Fox was not the first person to play Marty McFly). Partially because of this, and partially because of Gipe's natural writing style, the novelization is coo-coo bananas. It is totally insane. It's... kind of awesome?
I feel like I should mention that after he submitted his manuscript, George Gipe was stung to death by bees."
I laughed out loud a lot while reading this. Ryan North is hilarious. And I learned a few things about one of my favorite movies.
January 8, 2016
Ryan North wrote a page-by-page commentary on the novelization of the Back to the Future film. The novelization, based on an early script and written by a somewhat insane author, is definitely the kind of thing you'd want to go through page by page. North had originally posted these on his Tumblr feed, but they were compiled into book form to make them easy to read.
The B^F book has its hilarious moments, and North makes the most of them. There were a lot of LOL moments in his comments. But the book definitely dragged at times when the source didn't provide any rich material to mine.
I enjoyed this book... not nearly as much as those who posted rave reviews, but it was definitely a solid read. Don't be afraid that it's listed at 400 pages - there's a lot of pictures.
The B^F book has its hilarious moments, and North makes the most of them. There were a lot of LOL moments in his comments. But the book definitely dragged at times when the source didn't provide any rich material to mine.
I enjoyed this book... not nearly as much as those who posted rave reviews, but it was definitely a solid read. Don't be afraid that it's listed at 400 pages - there's a lot of pictures.
June 15, 2014
This is so excellent. I'm glad I waited to see the trilogy before reading this (yes, I know, I live in a cultural time warp), even though the live blogging with gifs would have also been a great experience. Aside from some typos here and there (which I'm sure were also on the original tumblr), I am so very happy about this. I wish I could have it in physical book form so I could pull it out during takeoff and landing on airplanes, just to show off my sweet reading tastes.
so good
very much old man itis in the original novelization
such wow
#strickland4lyfe
so good
very much old man itis in the original novelization
such wow
#strickland4lyfe
July 6, 2014
This is a lot of fun - it covers a little bit of film theory at the same time as deconstructing a dull novelization in a hilarious way. It's cribbed directly from the blog written by the author, so it's written in a very blog-like prose. Lots of run on sentences and SUDDENLY BREAKING INTO CAPS BECAUSE OMG YOU GUYS!! Still, worth persevering through that, especially if you love BTTF, because it'll give you a whole new appreciation for that film too.
November 15, 2012
I was aware of this blog while it was happening, but decided not to read it at the time. I was happy to see it come out in Kindle format so I could read it all at once, and it was really a lot of fun.
August 18, 2014
An excellent guide to how not to write a novelization, with interesting attention paid to the weird byways and incarnations Back to the Future took on its way to the screen. Honestly, the main thing it could use is more of those! Still, fascinating.
January 24, 2016
A page by page breakdown of how crazy weird the 1985 novelization of "Back to the Future" isn't something for everyone. But Ryan North makes it interesting and funny and it works pretty well as a "what not to do" for aspiring writers.
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