Present Day 2015 Has Fulfilled ‘Back To The Future’ 2015 In More Ways Than One

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, is an historic day in cinema, and Back To The Future fans worldwide are finding different ways to celebrate the day. Labelled Back To The Future Day, the iconic date is when time travelers Marty McFly and Doc (Emmet) Brown arrived from 1985, according to the movie trilogy, and they left a lot of high expectations for what the world we live in today should look like. It is a day that many die hard fans have been anticipating, but it does not quite live up to what the franchise said this day would have.

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Social media has practically been dominated by fans drawing parallels to the movie and have found our future 2015 wanting, but that has not stopped the celebration of Wednesday, October 21, 2015. The modern times see to have a very noticeable lack of robot walking dogs, flying cars, hoverboards, self-adjusting sleeves, and 2 hugely disappointing whoppers: no Pepsi Perfect, and no self-lacing sneakers. In fact, Doc and Marty reunited at the Diner to have a little talk about the hits and misses of the current 2015.

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However, there may yet be reason to still celebrate, as Nike and Pepsi are supporting the iconic day by releasing teasers of things to come. Pepsi is actually releasing honorary Pepsi Perfect bottles to make up for not having the product itself ready, and even released an ad for Pepsi Perfect in early October. Of course, they are only available for Wednesday, October 21, 2015 through Amazon.com and Walmart.com, and will be sold for the tune of $20.15 each. Nike also announced that they are working on those revolutionary self-lacing shoes that McFly wore in Back To The Future, and hope to release them before the end of 2015, but the Cubs winning the World series may be a bit of a stretch for 2015.

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Of course, those are actually tame in comparison to things that the movie may actually have gotten right, if not all the way then at least partly, as prototypes for the game changers are underway.

One of the first things to jump out at Marty, literally, about being in the future was when he is swallowed by a holographic projection of the 19th installment of Jaws (though in our reality, only 4 movies were made for that franchise). When it comes to the movie going experience, 3D movies are simply old hat by now, while we are missing the full holographic experience, Forbes reported that Microsoft Hololens has promised an amazing world filled with holograms. There was also a fake Jaws 19 trailer released.

Another aspect of developing technology that aligns with the Back To The Future movie is the idea of a restaurant without any human staff and customer interactions. In Marty and Doc’s 2015, the futuristic Cafe 80s that the Pepsi Perfect is ordered from serves its customers by an automated system and, in 2014, a coffee shop in North Dakota called “The Vault” became famous for not having any staff — customers are expected to adhere to the honor system when ordering and paying for their drinks. There was also a McDonalds where a kiosk is used to order and pay for food, no staff interaction necessary.

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Arguably, one of the things Wednesday, October 21, 2015, seems to miss most about not being the version that Back To The Future predicted is the concept of the hoverboard and flying cars. In the movie Marty simply grabs one of the many, many hoverboards that exist and uses it to escape the guys chasing him. In reality, it is not that simple, as even though numerous attempts were made to replicate that technology, only about two of those companies have actually shown any true promise. Lexus has been making a giant buzz after it released a video showcasing the completion of its superconducting-magnet hoverboard prototype, and riders enjoying it at the park they built. The problem is that riding the board lacks range, as it can only work on specialized tracks. The Hendo Hoverboard is another contender — reportedly, they are using a levitating magnetic set up, but we have yet to see theirs in action.

Watch Lexus' crazy hoverboard in action https://t.co/RvuBrM9dT9

— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) October 21, 2015

Present day 2015 is missing time travel technology and nuclear powered cars, but flying cars definitely exist and are available — if you can afford their staggering prices. They are most definitely still on the rare side, though, and seeing one in person is not something most people can say has happened to them.

Of course, our 2015 is also rife with the ability to engage in videoconferencing — and to an extent that Back To The Future never saw coming. Smartphones are conspicuously absent from the movie’s technological predictions, and so is the Internet. As ABC 7 points out, applications like Skype, FaceTime, and Google Hangouts all prove that the movie was very right about the popularity of that technological advancement.

Hydrating our foods may not be popular or seem very appetizing, but it is a known fact that most astronauts get their meals through such methods, as well, so another point for Back To The Future, technically.

There are plenty of things that those time travelers Marty McFly and Doc Brown got right about 2015, we just have to take a moment to pause and appreciate how far we have come.

[Image via Universal Pictures]