William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future!

by Ian Doescher

In the iconic film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, teenaged Marty McFly travels back in time from the 1980s to the 1950s, changing the path of his parents’ destiny . . . as well as his own. Now fans of the movie can journey back even further—to the 16th century, when the Bard of Avon unveils his latest masterpiece: William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future! Every scene and line of dialogue from the hit movie is re-created with authentic Shakespearean rhyme, meter, and stage directions. This reimagining also includes jokes and Easter eggs for movie fans, from Huey Lewis call-outs to the inner thoughts of Einstein (the dog). By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be convinced that Shakespeare had a time-traveling DeLorean of his own, speeding to our era so he could pen this time-tossed tale.

Genres: Humor, Science Fiction, Fiction, Plays, Shakespeare, Time Travel, Audiobook

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2019

About the author

Ian is the author of the William Shakespeare Star Wars series and the Pop Shakespeare series, and other books. He's a Portland native, and lives in Portland with his family.

Reviews

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

When thou dost put thy mind unto the task,
Thou mayst accomplish nearly anything.

Back to the Future is one of my all-time favourite movies. I have watched it so many times I could recite entire scenes to you but I know how annoying that is so I won’t. My decades long obsession really helped when I finally picked up this book. Not only could I compare the lines with the original ones but I easily imagined the movie scenes being performed the Shakespeare way.

If ev’ry calculation is correct,
When this - my baby, source of all my hopes -
Doth hit upon the speed of eighty-eight,
In miles per hour, then Marty, verily,
Thine eyes shalt witness shit most serious.

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The three acrostics, which the author mentions in the Afterward, were fun to find. I also enjoyed the Easter eggs I found, although I’m sure I missed a bunch of them. Huey Lewis gets to reference many of his song titles, Marty sings The Pow’r of Love and Marty from Back to the Future Part II stops by. There’s even some Robert Frost. Einstein’s barks are translated and Biff calling Marty a ‘butthead’ is translated to “thou arse-like pate”, which is just perfect.

Kent Barton’s illustrations give well known scenes the Shakespeare treatment. I particularly liked the DeLorean’s side mirrors and being able to see the Flux Capacitor fluxeth.

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I don’t think this book would have been nearly as enjoyable if I hadn’t seen the movie so many times. People who have watched Marty destroy a pine tree as many times as I have and read more Shakespeare than me would probably appreciate this book even more.

Whither we go, we have no need of roads.

The movie I want to see tackled next in the Pop Shakespeare series is Ghostbusters.

Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Scott! The classic 1985 film Back To The Future is given a Shakespearean makeover. Ian Doescher adapts one of my favourite films into a Shakespeare play & it's a blast.
As well as a very amusing adaptation of the film there are plenty of in jokes relating to Back To The Future & Shakespeare's plays to make fans of both laugh. I especially enjoyed the song The Power of Love by Huey Lewis & The News being turned into one of Marty McFly's sonnets.
One of the most fun books I've read in along time.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am such a sucker for Ian Doescher's Shakespeare series. I loved all of the Star Wars Shakespeare books I read so I had to pick this up! This is one of those books where I can't tell if it's amazing or if it was just written for me so it FEELS like it's amazing. I'm such a huge Shakespeare and BTTF fan thatI was literally laughing out loud as I read this (much to my wife's chagrin). I mean, come on, you already know if you're going to love this book and if you're reading this review, I think we both know that you will!

So many wonderful easter eggs for the eagle eyed reader and movie watcher alike. A high recommend!

[Jason Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to four. It would be a solid four+ as a standalone work, but I'm also pitting it against the other eight twelve Shakespearean books I've read by the same author, and I enjoyed some of those more. If this were my first experience with this kind of thing, the novelty factor might even carry it to five stars, but alas, I have a basis for comparison, so 3.5 it is.

(Actual review is marked below after a couple paragraphs of... whatever this is.)

First I must give a "thank you" to Mr. Doescher. (Certainly he's waiting with bated breath to hear what an accounting firm file clerk thinks about his book, so he's sure to see this, right?) Thank you Mr. D... actually, you're just a couple years my senior and practically a contemporary. May I call you Ian?

...

Silence gives consent. Wonderful. Thank you, Ian, for making Shakespeare a little less intimidating. I need to read Othello and Hamlet if I want to do justice to my read-everything-I-was-supposed-to-read-in-school-but-didn't project. After reading this and the others I mentioned above, I feel like I can tackle them now, and I don't even think I'll have to do it grudgingly. I've never enjoyed reading Shakespearean plays. Most of this is due to them being plays, and I don't like reading those. I do really like Shakespearean quotes, words, insults, some soliloquies, lines, and a lot of other fun stuff he's known for, but reading the entire play itself? ZZZZZZZ. The one exception is Julius Caesar, though I haven't read that in... Jesus Christ, has it really been 25 years since I was in 10th grade? Anyway, a quarter of a century has passed since I read that, but I remember liking it. I actually want to read it again, and am willing to do so without any impetus from the aforementioned project. Maybe one day. (Update: That day was 8/31/22-9/1/22 during a couple of very, very slow work days. Thanks Project Gutenberg!)

I also liked the English class I read it in and the teacher, Ms. Dix. She often wore a purple dress and we called her Grimace on those days since she was kind of shaped like him. My classmates with younger siblings brought Barney to our attention, so that was thrown out from time to time too. 40-year-old Pierce in 2019 thinks this might be a bit mean, but recognizes that 15-year-olds are assholes whether it's 2019, 1994 (the year I was in 10th grade and, coincidentally, the year Ian punched Josh Hicks in the arm according the acknowledgements at the back of the book), 1985, or 1955. 15-year-old Pierce in 1994 knows that these monikers were hung on her with love in the spirit of good-natured ribbing (she was a good teacher, and a nice lady, to boot). She even laughed with us and slammed us from time to time too, much to the general amusement of the class including the individuals in the crosshairs. It seems like people didn't have their hurty buttons on display as much as they do nowadays. I wonder how she's doing? Oh... She died a year and a half ago. Scary how you can find anything on the internet. Well, since I'm already thanking people who will never read this, thank you Ms. Dix for being one of my more memorable teachers, and for introducing me to a book I love which is probably due for another reread.

Dammit, it looks like the stream-of-consciousaurus has struck again. My apologies.

REVIEW STARTS HERE:

I was trepidatious going into this. The Star Wars stories can naturally handle a Shakepearean treatment, but I wasn't sure about Back to the Future. To some extent, I think I was right, but this was still a load of fun. Ian's quite clever, and his skill at barding things up has grown a lot since his first foray into these adaptations. He also includes a couple of pages to help the layman follow some Shakespearean language and structure. This taught me a couple of things and helped me brush-up on a couple more since I'm hardly a Shakespearean scholar.

There are two prerequisites for enjoying this book. One is a love for Back to the Future and the other is an appreciation for Shakespeare. Enjoyment is enhanced if you can recognize a myriad of additional pop-culture references. I caught a ton, but I would love to know the ones I missed, for I'm sure there are plenty. I bet Ian's hell on Jeopardy!

That being said, I'm afraid I won't be getting Ian's complete collected works since he's also done William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls, and while I have the appreciation for the bard, I have zero interest in Mean Girls, and that one would be lost on me. Sad day. But, Ian and I are both fans of the Back to the Future franchise, and hearing/reading some of my favorite lines in Shakespearese is just as much of a hoot here as it is in his other books.


"Upon what lookest thou, thou arse-like pate?"


"What dost thou wear? Is it a Devo suit?"


(I don't really see the resemblance, myself.)

He also pulls some lines straight from the source material and gives them a slight twist.


"Friends, makers, countrymen, lend me your ears--"

Some characters get full, modified speeches. One example is one of the Libyans tackling Shylock's soliloquy when he starts off with "Hath not a Libyan eyes...," and runs it through to its natural conclusion. But my favorite part with the Libyans was when their substandard equipment started acting up.


"This Russian gun, fie!"


"Foh, this German van!"

He throws other pop culture references into the mix, too. In short, this is a basket full of Easter eggs.


"What meanst thou has watch'd the show ere now?
'Tis new, and not from some past wonder year."

There are song titles and references out the wazoo. A lot are from the 80's...


"Like chariots of fire leave all behind
And in a blaze of glory help me 'scape."

...but not all of them are.


"A crash of drums, a flash of light, my time
Machine flies out of sight!"

You know, that picture is too gay even for me, and I engage in felat... well, never mind.

He reworks a couple of entire songs bard style complete with "hey nonnies" and "heigh-hos" where applicable, but here's the news. The musical reference piece de resistance is the dance committee chairman's (played by Huey Lewis himself, second from the left) soliloquy, and I'm afraid I can't resist the temptation to drop the whole thing on here; it's just that awesome.


"In working for a living, I do strive
To put my heart and soul in ev'ry task.
Today, within this perfect world of ours,
My task, stuck with you, friends, is no more hard
Than to ascend the rung of Jacob's ladder,
As if our group were angels, back in time.
The youth of our age, cruising to new heights,
Did hear our music's shape, said, "That's not me,
I want a new drug for my youthful ears."
They say, "If this is it, we want it not."
Their hearts dislik'd the circles of our songs,
Thus they decided 'tis hip to be square.
They fin'lly found a home in their new sound--
They think it is some kind of wonderful.
It hit me like a hammer when I heard it,
For bad is bad when it doth strike mine ears.
I know what I like, friends, and verily
'Tis not their music, nay. Yet, it's all right--
Don't fight it, so say I. Accept their music,
Give me the keys and beats and instruments!
Do you believe in love? So do our youth,
And thus, the heart of rock and roll we'll hear,
This music that the pow'r of love releaseth."

Dude, rock on with your bad self!

He worked an acrostic into three speeches which was fun. He tells you about the first one in the prologue, and challenges you to find the other two yourself. My brain has a hard time seeing that kind of thing (which is why I suck at word-find puzzles), but after perusing the entire book twice more after reading it, I found them. I'm not going to tell you what they say because I think you should read this, and I really ought to leave a couple of surprises for you.


"Methinks (this) harsh rejection (will) destroy me..."

Calm down. I will tell you where you can find them. The first is in the scene referred to above, where George is explaining to Marty why he won't let anyone read his work. The second is when "Marty too--or Marty two" takes the stage for a brief moment during the Enchantment 'Neath the Sea dance to explain that he's here on an extra secret mission unknown to Marty one and Doc Brown one, and that he may see us another time.


"So heavy is this matter, by my troth."

So, if you're digging these quotes and references, then do yourself a favor and read this book; it's a scream.

Addendum, 11/6/22:

Lego has put out a larger version of their DeLorean, and I don't know that I'll have another place to show it off, so here it will go. It's a testament to how popular this franchise is that this sold out immediately upon its release. In fact, it was so sold out that I couldn't even get on a waiting list for a few months. Then when I was able to get on the list, I had to wait a couple more months before it was available again. But once I got the e-mail saying it was in stock, I ordered it immediately. Then I got a message saying due to high demand, it might be a couple more weeks before it shipped. That's fine, though. I wasn't planning on getting it for a couple more months anyway, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Anyway, you can alter the model for all three movies. Of course, the first is my favorite so that's the one I'll display.



They even give you a Lego banana and drink can to put in Mr. Fusion which opens up, though you can't see that here.



You have to use a couple of the same pieces to convert from one to the other. E.G. a couple pieces in the part I version are needed in the box on the hood in the part III version, so you can't quickly switch anything out and have to do a minor rebuild. It was just a few pieces, so I don't know why they didn't just throw in the extras, but oh well.



The instruction book had fun tidbits in it, and while I thought I knew almost everything about these movies since I've seen them a million times and have read up on them, I didn't know that the original plan was for the time machine to be a refrigerator! Thank goodness they changed that in pre-production.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was frickin delightful, both as a massive fan of Back of Future and Shakespeare as well. I hope this guy does the rest of the trilogy. By the way, I'd pay good money to see this actually on stage

[Lenore .]

as a Back to the Future fan I need this immediately

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a piece of potential theatre, I am not convinced that Ian Doescher's Get Thee Back to the Future! matches the potential of his original Shakespearean Star Wars Trilogy translations. The straightforward hero's journey of Luke Skywalker is much easier to stage than the time-bouncing shenanigans of Marty McFly, and Doescher does a much better job finding solutions for Star Wars' issues than he does with Back to the Futures (his clever 88 line soliloquies are a game attempt, though).

Those issues, however, should have no bearing on an audio staging of the play. Sound effects and music can compensate for the staging issues in an aural performance -- such as special effects, abrupt changes in time and space, or the overabundance of action -- so I was happy to listen to the audiobook version of this play to see how sound alone could conquer the issues Doescher faced.

The answer is that the audio was mostly pretty good, and the aforementioned issues dissipated within the soundscape. But there was one element of the audio version that was beyond Doescher's control and doesn't actually reflect on his writing, yet it still makes Get Thee Back to the Future! an excruciating listen: Sean Patrick Hopkins, the actor playing Marty McFly.

As Doescher tells us in his afterword, Marty is the single most difficult factor in transferring Back to the Future to the Shakespearean stage because of his ubiquity in the story. Doescher developed his 88 line soliloquies just to conquer that issue, but this clever concept only breaks up the play so someone staging it can get Marty on and off stage, buying time for the practicalities of set changes, costume changes, and entrances and exits. There is nothing he could do about Marty always driving the story's action, which means, as Bob Zemekis discovered when he made half of the original film with Eric Stoltz and felt the need to replace him and reshoot with Michael J. Fox, that the story must have an awesome Marty to succeed. Without that the story is doomed to fail.

And so it is with the vocal performance of Sean Patrick Hopkins. His big mistake was that he didn't play Marty McFly so much as he impersonated -- and quite badly -- Michael J. Fox. His performance is so bad that my twins refused to carry on with the audiobook after the first act. I persevered, however, because I enjoy Doescher's work, but it was difficult in the extreme. I almost wish I hadn't.

So my three star rating is based on what I feel Ian Doescher deserves for this clever but slightly underwhelming reworking of Back to the Future. If I were only rating the audio version, I would give a single star.

Even so, I'd sure like to see this onstage, so long as there was a Marty McFly who was up to snuff it would be a hell of a fun night out.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: Now gentles, pray, your patience for this play./ In heart and mind, let fancy hold its sway—

Premise/plot: At long last readers can finally experience what it would have been like if William Shakespeare had penned Back to The Future!!! This perhaps may be a most excellent example of a book you never knew you needed.

The prologue sets the stage and asks the audience to imagine themselves four hundred years into the future in the New World. “View wonders! On our stage do we arrive—E’en late October, nineteen eighty-five.”

The five acts that follow are delightful both for their familiarity and unfamiliarity. Marty plays the lute, for example. But you’ve never heard Earth Angel or Johnny B. Good quite like this.

My thoughts: I absolutely have to find my copy of Back to the Future now. It’s been too long since I’ve seen it. This was a favorite growing up though I didn’t love all the movies in the trilogy equally. This play was awesome, fun, silly, clever. I loved how the author thought through things as if it was a play that could be acted on stage (players must have time to change costumes) instead of just a gimmicky novelty. I also loved the pops of actual Shakespeare lines.

Quotes:

Do you believe in love? So do our youth, And this, the heart of rock and roll we’ll hear, This music that the pow’r of love releaseth.

It is this power makes the world go round. ‘Tis strong and sudden, sent by heav’n above, It May just save thy life, this pow’r of love.

I parry, dodge, and drive e’en faster yer, To keep their bullets from their target—me! Yet faster,car, drive on, be fleet of wheel, Like chariots of fire leave all behind And in a blaze of glory help me ‘scape.

Surrender, Marty, to this blazing light, That thou mayst live again another night!

Be not so timid, lass. Thou likest me, And wantest Biff to give himself to thee.

I shall—because thou to our school art new—Grant thee, This once, a merciful reprieve. Now make thou like a tree, and thither flee.

O mistress mine, Earth angel mine, O darling of my heart, I’m thine. Shalt thou be mine, this year or next, Why leave my loving heart perplex’d? Sing nonny heigh, sing nonny ho, Earth angel sweet, come dwell below. O mistress mine, Earth angel mine, One I adore, who doth so shine. ‘‘Tis only thee for whom I care, And I shall love thee, pet, fore’er. Sing nonny heigh, sing nonny ho, Earth angel sweet, come dwell below.

Be ready for audacious episodes—Whither we go, we have no need of roads.

[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another fun and quick read! I'm officially hooked on these types of books.

Huge thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book! 💜

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite movie in the style of Shakespeare! Loved it.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny! Love all the Easter eggs and hilarious references. These Shakespeare retellings of classic movies are hilarious. Can you imagine if Doescher did one of Gone With the Wind? (“By my troth, Scarlett, I’ll not give a damn!”)

**read for book scavenger hunt - a book that tells a story through poetry**

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greetings fellow bibliophile, tis I, Pablo Cheesecake with another exploration of all things literary. There art rare times when reviewing the latest manuscript of a wordsmith that gives me the opportunity to flex mine own creative muscles. Today, for the first (and likely only time) I present to you a critical missive appraising the latest tome of one William Shakespeare*, Get Thee… Back to the Future!

Without a shadow of doubt, most amongst the assembled throng will have a passing fore-knowledge of said drama. Amidst the pages of this opus, fantastical readers will still find Marty and Doc Brown, flux capacitors, Libyans, Einstein, Marvin Berry and yonder clock tower. All are well met, the attention to the smallest of details is worthy of the highest praise. I would be disappointed if it were otherwise. The strength of this endeavour boils down to capturing every moment, sight and sound that an audience will most assuredly already be well versed. The location and time period may be wildly different, but the beloved narrative remains reassuringly the same.

Every fiction needs a villain and with a Fie, I say! the scoundrel Biff Tannen continues to be the most unjust of knaves. This prickliest of thorns vexes Marty and the House of McFly at every turn. Truly, I relished the moment his foul countenance didst suffer its ultimate fate when the black-hearted Tannen is finally cast low. A pox on him! (and a large quantity of animal dung if memory doth not deceive me).

Back to the Future hast long been a firm favourite with milady of the manor, here at The Most Eloquent of Pages. When I didst prevail upon her, with regard her opinion, she confirmed said tale does have a timeless quality. ‘Tis proof positive that the best of fictions works in any setting. Kudos to the gentleman Mr Shakespeare, only the boldest of scribes would attempt such a daring feat. I bring you the gladdest of tidings, the author’s gamble has paid off in spades.

Before I go on, I would preface all mine observations with a small pinch of salt. If thou are not a fan of the bard, then this is not the book for you. Be warned the language enclosed doth have the same lyrical flourish that thou wouldst expect from the father of English Literature. Be of little doubt, there art thee’s and thou’s aplenty. Personally, mine heart yearns to see an adaptation of this very story appear on stage. The prospect of Marty availing any audience with a most heartfelt soliloquy doth offer delights unbound.

In mine humblest of opinions, Get Thee… Back to the Future! is a jolliest of revels. Mr Shakespeare, ably assisted by Ian Doescher, hast revisited a fan favourite and provide larks aplenty. If thou doest yearn for a new exploration of a time-travelling masterpiece with added Elizabethan flavour, thy need look no further.

Regular visitors to my humble scribblings know well that I oft recommend soothing sounds to accompany an author’s literary endeavours. The same is true in this instance. The easiest of options would be to select the finest of madrigals with a hey nonny nonny, but my quest for the perfect match didst lead me in another direction. After much investigation, I did find the perfect tunes to salve all but the most savage of hearts. The soundtrack to Back to the Future by Alan Silverstri was mine only option. The power of love is indeed the most curious of things, I darest anyone to disagree.

Get Thee… Back to the Future is published by Quirk Books and is available now. Much Ado About Mean Girls is also available from the same author.

… Phew, I’m glad this review is over. I couldn’t have kept that nonsense up for much longer. My brain hurts. I’m impressed someone managed to keep it up for an entire book.

*Profound apologies to both authors, old and new. I got excited about the chance to read this book and may have got more than a little carried away. In a weird moment of cosmic synchronicity last week, I saw Back to the Future at our local concert hall with a live orchestra providing the entire original soundtrack, it was quite the spectacle. My attempts at reviewing with a Shakespearean voice are meant only as the highest of compliments. Any crimes against historical grammar, or grammar in general come to that, fall squarely at my feet.

[Daniel Shellenbarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, Ian Doescher has pretty much run out of Star Wars movies to rewrite in Shakespearean play form, so he's decided to branch out, releasing this take on the first Back to the Future movie and a Mean Girls-based book as well. It's a fine addition to his previous works and Back to the Future is actually pretty easy to imagine as a Shakespearean comedy, what with the people pretending to be people they aren't and awkward love triangles, emotionally unstable protagonists, and buffoonish villains. Frankly, compared to the Star Wars books, Mr. Doescher didn't really have to do much in the way of story manipulation to bash this into a coherent play with his few additions mostly having to do with characters arguing whether or not time travel as the story proposes it would actually change history and making snidely comic remarks (but largely non-partisan, to Doescher's credit) concerning the reality of life in 2015 versus the... rather romantic visions people supposed for life 30 years in the future back in 1985 (ah, back when people looked forward to the future rather than fearing it...). So, all in all, a solid and thoroughly entertaining adaptation.

[Mandalorian Jedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

[T]hen Marty, verily, thine eyes will witness [stuff] most serious.

The source material is one of the greatest movies ever made, the writing is styled after one of the greatest playwrights of all time, how could this possibly be anything but a resounding success? Well, the truth is, very easily. Luckily the author, Ian Doescher, knocked this one out of the park; a complete and resounding success!

Get Thee Back to the Future is a really enjoyable ride, with a great heart for the material, and a great sense of humor beyond what’s available in the script. The author takes several opportunities to clearly demonstrate a deep knowledge of both source and style. There were several instances where I had to take a break for a few minutes because I was laughing so hard.

You should definitely check this book out if you are a Back to the Future fan. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is another fantastic play by Doescher. What I really enjoy about here Shakespearean parodies is spotting the subtleties of the work being parodied as well as the Shakespearean references used to portray certain scenes.

For example, in the Back to the Future film, Huey Lewis plays one of the judges for Marty McFly’s band. In the movie he has only a couple of lines such as “You’re just too darn loud.” Yet in the play he has a speech that Doescher fills with the titles of many of Huey Lewis’ hit songs.

As an example of Shakespearean reference, Marvin Berry asks Marty to not leave yet but to play one more song, which leads into the famous Johnny B. Goode scene. Doescher puts the words of Juliet to this scene saying it is not the lark but the nightingale that chirps.

If you are a fan of the movie and appreciate Shakespeare, you should definitely pick this one up!

[Philip Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent adaptation of the classic movie that captures both the spirit of Shakespeare and the original fun of the movie.

The author creates compelling characters with expert use of Shakespearean dialog. All the characters are brought to life with the humor and wittiness of the movie. Overall, an excellent book.

[Jaime]

By all rights, these books probably shouldn’t exist. I mean, who even thinks of meshing Shakespeare with pop culture movies? But they are a lot of fun. Highly recommend to fans of Back to the Future who want a good laugh.

Full review can be found here: https://booksandwafflesblog.wordpress...

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is clever and begs to be read out loud to family members until they plead for mercy, which droppeth like a ton of bricks in this one. I'm still somewhat mystified by why, exactly, someone would put this much effort into this, and how they talked a publisher (Penguin, yet) into putting it out, but hey, if they're game, so am I.

[Bay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet again has Ian Doescher succeeded in mixing William Shakespeare with a popcultural sci-fi classic, and I am again amazed that this juxtaposition works so well together. Such a fun read.
Please don't be intimidated by the Shakespeare-part; it is actually quite easy to understand. Highly recommending this!

[Katelyn Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even in Shakespearean prose it was still amazing. I would say even more than the orginal, can't wait for book two!!

[Rachel Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, quick read!

[H.J. Swinford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun. Some of the "translations" into Shakespearean style are hilarious and clever. Some are just kind of meh. Overall very entertaining.

[Nancy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the creativity!

[Kate Jump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heaven.

[Amelia Saffold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never seen the movie and I think it’s better that way.

[Cameron (Mr. Sage) Kwong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Back to the Future Day! Audiobook was awesome! Perfect for fans of Back to the Future and William Shakespeare! Even if you’re not a fan of Shakespeare, fans of Back to the Future would definitely get a kick outta this! I’m not a big buff of Shakespeare myself, but I know enough about the rules of Iambic Pentameter to catch some of Ian Doescher’s cleverness! Hilarious! Definitely encourage fans of Back to the Future to give it a read/listen!

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew that when I finished Mark Twain that I would need a book to vedge with or I would experience a letdown. Like the author Ian Doescher, one of my favorite movies growing up was Back to the Future. I watched the trilogy so many times and still say great Scott when something is off. I mean, Stephen Spielberg almost predicted when the Cubs would win the World Series and after the 2015 season ended all the predictions began, with, of course, the Cubs winning the next year. I used to joke that I would love to have a time machine to go back to 1945 to prevent the Cubs curse from happening messing with the space-time continuum be damned. To be honest, if the Cubs didn’t win the World Series in Back to the Future II, I don’t know if I would have continually watched it and get my hopes up for a future event. I do wonder if Cubs fans the world over have a similar relationship with these movies as I do. Knowing these movies pretty much by heart, I decided to revisit Ian Doescher’s Shakespeare series. Yes, these books generate more laughs when I read them together with my kids; their favorite in the series is Mean Girls; however, I needed to come off the high I experienced in completing a thousand page book. Doescher setting pop culture to Shakespearean English is just what I needed at that given moment in the space-time continuum.

I have total disconnect with Shakespearean language. Every time I try to read a play, I find the wording tedious even if the narrative is compelling. About ten years ago I discovered Doescher’s Shakespeare Star Wars series. Doescher wrote these books to get high school students accustomed to reading Shakespearean language before delving into the plays themselves. Genius. Where was Doescher when I struggled with Shakespeare in high school? He was in college majoring in English; he is only three years older than me hence his love affair with Back to the Future. My parents and many Goodreads friends have told me that Shakespeare was meant to be performed on stage, not read. There is truth to that, yet, the Bard has been studied in high school English classes for centuries. Also, I have been known to fall asleep at live Shakespeare theater performances. The Bard and I just don’t click, my apologies to Portia, Juliet, Lady MacBeth, and the rest of the strong female personas found in these plays. Marty and Doc set to iambic pentameter? I already know the words by heart. I know the soundtrack and the anecdotes to other pop culture in all three movies. I know that I can separate Doescher’s words with those of actual Shakespearean drama and still enjoy these plays. So I decided to get thee back to the future.

For those unfamiliar with the story, just in case, Marty McFly is a seventeen year old living in Hill Valley, California in 1985. His parents are losers and are bullied by Biff Tannen, the town bully to everyone. Marty is an aspiring musician whose band has just been turned down by the battle of the bands committee, but all is right in his world because he is in love with Jennifer Parker. There one saving grace in Marty’s life is his relationship with Doctor Emmett L Brown, a scientist who has struggled with inventions for the last thirty years. Townspeople call Brown a crackpot; Marty thinks he is a genius. Mental health was not even a blip on the radar in 1985, but Doc Brown acted as a safe adult for Marty, whose family life was not the greatest. On October 25, Doc tells Marty to meet him at the Twin Pines Mall at 1:15 am. He has finally invented something, something big, that finally works. That something is a DeLorean that has been converted into a Time Machine and is now a big part of American pop culture. The scene at Twin Pines Mall is still part of a Goodyear tires commercial now forty years later. We all know what happens next and in case some of you don’t know what happens next, watch the movie. And by the way, “once this thing hits eighty eight miles per hour, you’re going to see some serious sh**”, hysterical.

My disconnect with Shakespearean language not withstanding, Doescher must be as much of a genius with language as the Bard was. He has Marty deliver two soliloquies of eighty eight lines each. He has three acrostics hidden in the play, the first he reveals for us, the other two we have to find on our own. He explains in his afterword how he contrasts Biff and George McFly by using strong or weak language. I wish my English teachers in school would have explained that to me so I would have understood the plays better, oh well. All of the classic scenes and the songs are here. Try setting Johnny B Goode to Shakespeare, had me howling. Doescher also pays homage to Ray Bradbury and HG Wells by using them as names of minor character parts. As I said, genius. Of course, the best is the whole ending sequence when Doc contemplates going thirty years into the future perhaps to find out sports scores and thinking that the Cubs must have won the World Series by then. Ok foreshadowing and yes if you have no idea what I’m referring to, go watch Back to the Future Part II after you finish part I and then part III while you’re at it. Of course, just seeing the scene where Marty goes back to the future set to Shakespeare and envisioning him in Elizabethan garb, classic. If only my real experiences with the Bard’s plays had been as fun and positive as this.

If you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. Even this did not escape transition to Shakespearean language. The text only took me about two hours to read, the same if I had been watching the movie. As I read I envisioned the movie in my mind and that helped. I am guessing this is what Ian Doescher had in mind when he originally created Shakespeare Star Wars. I don’t know if anything can compare to the destruction of the Death Star set to Shakespearean English although the DeLorean approaching eighty eight set to the same language comes close. To all high school English teachers preparing to teach your annual Shakespearean drama. Do yourselves a huge favor and buy a set of Doescher’s books for your classroom. Your students will thank you. What could be more fun than seeing Biff covered in manure but to the Bard’s language. Or “Darth Vader” visiting George to convince him to ask Lorraine out? Even though the Cubs won the World Series a year after Back to the Future said they would, I watched the movies endless times just to see that scene. It gave me hope and remains a favorite. By the way, 2025 is a nice round number from 1985, I wonder what Back to the Future thinks about the Cubs this year, perhaps another break in the space time continuum. Thank you for the continued fun Ian Doescher. Please continue writing this series from a hopeful Shakespearean language convert.

4 stars

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius. Absolute genius.

[Janine Zachariae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inhalt (in meinen Worten):

„Zurück in die Zukunft“ aus dem Jahr 1985 gemischt mit der Sprache von Shakespeare. Marty McFly und Emmett L. „Doc“ Brown sind ziemlich gute Freunde. Es ist eine eigenartige Kombi: Marty geht zur Highschool, Doc ist ein (alter) Wissenschaftler. Aber ihre Freundschaft funktioniert. Bis zu jenem Zeitpunkt mitten in der Nacht, als Doc Marty zu einem geheimen Treffen bestellt. Plötzlich verschwindet ein Hund mitten im Nirgendwo, um eine Minute später zeitversetzt aufzutauchen und Doc wird erschossen, während Marty um sein Leben rennt und in den DeLorean springt. Ein Auto mit Flügeltüren. Marty beschleunigt, um den Tyrannen zu entkommen und fährt so schnell, dass er eine Art magische Grenze erwischt, die ihn auf mysteriöse Art und Weise durch die Zeit reisen lässt … um in der Vergangenheit seinem Dad und seiner Mum zu begegnen, die so ganz anders sind, als er glaubt und auf einmal läuft einfach alles schief …

Haha, okay. Das musste jetzt sein 😉

Erwartungen:

Shakespeare meets Back to the Future. WIE COOL IST DAS DENN BITTESCHÖN? So etwas gab es schon mit Star Wars, I know. Aber das hier ist etwas vollkommen anderes. Es ist verdammt noch mal mein Lieblingsautor mit meinem Lieblingsfilm. Genau auf so etwas habe ich schon immer gewartet.

Meine Güte, meine Erwartungen waren höher, als der Clock Tower in Hill Valley.

Charaktere:

Oh, bitte. Es sind Marty McFly und Doc Brown. Die zwei coolsten Bros aller Zeiten. Ihre Bromance war schon in, bevor man das Wort überhaupt erfunden hatte.

Dann noch der Hund Einstein, dessen Gedanken man im Buch liest. Ohne Witz, man LIEST Einsteins Gedanken.

Stil:

George: „Yet, I must write. If I say I shall not,

The words are in my heart an ‚twere a fire,

A vast inferno shut up in my bones.

I weary of the holding it inside;

Indeed, I cannot – I am doom’d to write.“

Marty: „If music mark the time of love, play on!“

Genau so! Es ist einfach eines jener Bücher, die so unglaublich sind, dass man kaum glaubt, so etwas erst jetzt zu lesen.

Fazit:

Ich bin Shakespeare Fan seit 1996. Aber Back to the Future war vorher. Um 1991/92 hab ich es zum ersten Mal gesehen und mich direkt verliebt. Es hat einfach klick gemacht und ich liebe es noch immer. Schaue die Trilogie jedes Jahr (mehrfach) und bin immer wieder verzaubert. Mag sein, dass meine Sammlung eher dürftig ist, aber tief im Herzen sind die Filme eingebrannt und bleiben auch da. Genauso wie Shakespeare. Bisher hab ich diese zwei trennen können. Warum auch nicht? Es gab keinen Grund, die zu verbinden, obgleich irgendwie immer schon eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit zueinander bestand.

Shakespeare meets McFly und Doc. Es ist ein Traum, absolut, durch und durch. Doch es liegt nicht nur am Stück selbst. Sondern an den Easter Eggs. Ich bin mir zwar nicht sicher, ob ich wirklich alles entdeckte, aber einige schon. Manche waren offensichtlich, andere versteckt. Vielleicht auch nur für jene, die danach ausschau halten. Es sind Szenen in diesem Buch, welche mich einfach nur total überrascht haben. Eine Unterhaltung, beispielsweise, zwischen zwei Policemen, die die Geschichte irgendwie auf verzwickte Weise Revue passieren lassen. Es sind zudem noch andere Kleinigkeit, ein komischer Crossover, der zeigt, dass auch Teil 2 (und 3) in dieser Art erscheinen werden und ach, was rede ich hier so viel. Lest es selbst. Wirklich. Es ist so cool.

„Zurück in die Zukunft“ konnte übrigens tatsächlich die Zukunft voraussehen. Im Jahr 1985 hatte Hill Valley einen schwarzen Bürgermeister. Damals nicht wirklich vorstellbar. Doch hatten „wir“ (okay, die Amis, aber whatever) lange Barack Obama (besonders 2015 😉 ), Biff wurde absolut und offensichtlich Trump nachgeahmt. Ganz genauso und nicht anders.

Ich bin Fan von diesem mashup und liebe die Vorstellung, dass Shakespeare für junge Leute oder für „Back to the Future“ Fans ein wenig schmackhafter gemacht wird …

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian Doescher, you are a genius.
I do use this word slightly indulgently in my reviews, but here I mean it sincerely: bravo.

This book is exactly what it says on the tin: the iconic classic Back To The Future written in the script of the iconically classic Shakespeare. But the reason why this is so ingenious is because it is not just that alone: it contains so many literary allusions to Shakespeare’s real plays. Here are a few of my favourites (these can be found in the author’s note at the end):

- It contains a “Chrous” prologue foreshadowing the action, similarly to Romeo and Juliet.

- Five acts, as was the custom.

- Each scene ends in a rhyming couplet, again as was the custom.

- All the Shakespearean pronouns are there, ‘thou’ and ‘thee, etc.
The author’s note told me something I didn’t know: the dated pronoun ‘ye’ is plural! The phrase often used in films, ‘Prepare Ye’, when addressed to one person, is therefore WRONG. (If I’m not very much mistaken.)
‘Prepare Thee’ is the correct address for one person.

- Back To The Future differs from a typical Shakespearean plot in the sense that our protagonist, Marty, dominates the beginning and end of almost every single scene. In Shakespeare’s plays, the actor speaking last in a scene was rarely the character to speak first in the next one, so as to give all participants a breather backstage. (You notice this in several of his plays: at the beginning of a scene, either one character will have a long soliloquy or two characters will have a long conversation before any of the ‘action’ happens, so as to give the main protagonists time for a quick rest before they are called back onstage.)
Doescher has done that in Get Thee Back To The Future. A non-Marty character will often start or end a scene with a long speech so as to give the protagonist more time. (Marty is an exhausting role to play in any version of this story!)
Almost every character in this play gets at least one long Shakespearean speech to deliver onstage: Marty, Doc, George, Biff, Lorraine, Huey Lewis (the cameo auditioning Marty at the beginning), Pa Peabody (whose son has hilariously been called ‘Sherman’, in reference to another time-travel film), and even one of the Libyan terrorists. (!)

- Lines from Romeo and Juliet are used word-for-word in the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance scene.

- Acrostics. I’m not entirely sure if Shakespeare used them that frequently, but this play has three.
(For reference, an acrostic is a poem where the first letters of each line spell a word or phrase, usually relating to the character or subject.)
This play has three hidden ones. Two are obvious, admittedly the third I had to look up.

To end the review, let me present you with evidence of this author’s outstanding ability to replicate Shakespeare’s words. I give you the Prologue of Get Thee Back To The Future:

CHORUS
Now, gentles, pray your patience for this play.
In heart and mind, let fancy hold its sway-
Ne’er has there been such whimsy on the stage,
E’en when Andronicus was all the rage.
To wit: we shall transport ye these two hours,
Enablèd by our keen dramatic pow’rs.
Ere ye depart, we’ll proffer such surprise,
Not one of ye, my friends, shall trust your eyes.
Eyes - yea, and ears - attend unto our tale,
In which we’ll carry ye beyond the pale.
Go with us, prithee, past your common sense,
Herein we’ll voyage years four hundred hence.
Time travel! Such is our agenda bold-
Yea, from our author’s mind shall this unfold.
For this endeavour, England we must leave,
In far America our tale we weave.
View wonders! On our stage do we arrive-
E’en late October, nineteen eighty five.


I’d pay good money to see this onscreen! We need Baz Luhrmann and Robert Zemeckis onboard as directors; it would be a masterpiece. :)