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The true story of the Back To The Future guitar


Phil O'Keefe

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Great story. I especially like the part about unlimiited budgets. Now we know a little bit about why movies cost so much to make: No one gives a crap. I'm a science fiction fan and I've been told by a professional editor at a convention that continuity is for hacks. For example, if one movie says Capt. Kirk met Spock at Starfleet Academy when they were both cadets and another says they met when he took command of the Enterprise that's okay as long as you tell a good story. Personally, I think part of telling a "good story" is getting things right.

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Great story. I especially like the part about unlimiited budgets. Now we know a little bit about why movies cost so much to make: No one gives a crap. I'm a science fiction fan and I've been told by a professional editor at a convention that continuity is for hacks. For example' date=' if one movie says Capt. Kirk met Spock at Starfleet Academy when they were both cadets and another says they met when he took command of the Enterprise that's okay as long as you tell a good story. Personally, I think part of telling a "good story" is getting things right.[/quote']

 

Nothing is wasted except the consumer.

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Great story. I especially like the part about unlimiited budgets. Now we know a little bit about why movies cost so much to make: No one gives a crap. I'm a science fiction fan and I've been told by a professional editor at a convention that continuity is for hacks. For example' date=' if one movie says Capt. Kirk met Spock at Starfleet Academy when they were both cadets and another says they met when he took command of the Enterprise that's okay as long as you tell a good story. Personally, I think part of telling a "good story" is getting things right.[/quote']

 

I think there is a difference. And continuity depends on the fiction. In a case like star trek is most certainly important and should be paid attention too. If you don't you risk changing the entire vision of the creator. Which is why in my opinion, anyway....the new star trek movies are complete garbage. They simply fly in the face of everything Roddenberry was about.

 

In other cases it's obvious the writer/director doesn't care and is asking the view to suspend belief. The quality of the story will determine if that is a realistic request or just a stupid movie.

 

 

In terms of the guitar issue in back to the future......doesn't bother me a bit. It's completely irrelevant to the story line and is only something guitar dorks would care about. It's not even really continuity. More just a dating mistake. But since the writers knew that....it's not even a dating mistake. It's simply an artistic visual choice taking precedent over historical accuracy.

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I think there is a difference. And continuity depends on the fiction. In a case like star trek is most certainly important and should be paid attention too. . . .

 

. . . In other cases it's obvious the writer/director doesn't care and is asking the view to suspend belief. The quality of the story will determine if that is a realistic request or just a stupid movie. . . .

 

. . . It's simply an artistic visual choice taking precedent over historical accuracy.

I respectfully disagree. Either you get it right or you don't. It's known that Abraham Lincoln was tall. You couldn't have him played on screen by a dwarf. I do agree that the new Trek movies are pretty bad because they're all bang bang shoot 'em up whereas the original was about something. Each episode had a point to make. George Takei once said the new movies had no business being called "Star Trek."

I can suspend belief with the best of them when it comes to fictional stuff like time travel but I have a harder time when facts are involved. There's a murder mystery novel set in a science fiction convention and the guest of honor writes a series of books about a Conan wannabe called Tratyn Runewind. Fans have made up all manner of explanations as to why Runewind's horse changed color or the length of his sword kept changing. The real answer, according to the book, was "apathy and Chivas Regal." Same goes for Back to the Future. If someone is playing a guitar in 1955, it needs to be a guitar that existed in 1955.

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They should have gone with a Fender Stratocaster with a traditional vibrato system.

 

That reminds me of the Buddy Holly Story - you know, where all the guitars are from the 70s and not the 50s. They even show him playing a late 60s / early 70s era Fender Bronco - a model that didn't even exist when Buddy was alive.

 

 

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buhls_stl_10_h_8x10.jpg

 

 

 

It wasn't a case of "being close" or taking "artistic license" - it's like they didn't know, or if they did, they just didn't care.

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If they really wanted a guitar that would have looked futuristic from the 50's maybe they should have picked a Gibson Flying V also released in 1958.

 

That might have been stretching it a bit too much. While I do agree that those are great "futuristic" guitar designs that were way ahead of their time when they were released in the late 50s, the movie was set in 1955; it might be hard to pass those off to the average viewer as mid-50s era guitars. IMHO, the ES 345 looks more like it belongs to that era, even if it wasn't actually released until three years later.

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That might have been stretching it a bit too much. While I do agree that those are great "futuristic" guitar designs that were way ahead of their time when they were released in the late 50s, the movie was set in 1955; it might be hard to pass those off to the average viewer as mid-50s era guitars. IMHO, the ES 345 looks more like it belongs to that era, even if it wasn't actually released until three years later.

 

I agree. Especially with the chuck berry reference. Most associate him, and that type of music, with a cherry ES345 type guitar.

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That reminds me of the Buddy Holly Story - you know, where all the guitars are from the 70s and not the 50s. They even show him playing a late 60s / early 70s era Fender Bronco - a model that didn't even exist when Buddy was alive.

 

 

 

It wasn't a case of "being close" or taking "artistic license" - it's like they didn't know, or if they did, they just didn't care.

 

thats just bad, buddy holly from a time where electricguitar and the stratocaster just got invented, plays guitars from 15 years in the future....

haven't seen the movie, if everything else is of the same quality it must have been a really bad movie too....

 

 

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thats just bad, buddy holly from a time where electricguitar and the stratocaster just got invented, plays guitars from 15 years in the future....

haven't seen the movie, if everything else is of the same quality it must have been a really bad movie too....

 

 

Actually Gary Busey did a pretty good job in it IMO and it was generally well reviewed... but there are considerable historical inaccuracies beyond just the guitar issues, so if you're bothered by such things, it may bug you.

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