IDW Back to the Future – Tales From The Time Train Review

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time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. Hello, and

welcome to the pull bag. Yes, that's right, Marty.

We can do 90. This is episode 390 here inside

the pull bag. I'm of course, TFJU and Mike. Joining

me is JT from Saskatoon. Hello, sir. Good day.

And we are here to quote unquote finish our Back

to the Future coverage, at least for the main

series. that IDW has. They are currently in the

process of doing Transformers Back to the Future

crossover four -issue miniseries. And I did not

even know this. There was a comic done by Periscope

Entertainment called Back to Back to the Future.

It's written by David Guy Levy. Back to Back

to the Future tells the story of what would happen

if the filmmakers of Back to the Future went

back in the film and made sure Eric Stoltz was

never replaced by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly,

the puppy in the popular film shoot. First of

all, let me just say this. I only ever saw the

Michael J. Fox, Marty McFly stuff. I have seen

since, but back then when I was a kid, I only

ever saw the Michael J. Fox stuff. It was years

later that I found out about Eric Stoltz and

I'm like, I don't care. Whatever, Marty McFly

is Michael J. Fox. Yes, because Hollywood lives

and dies and whether or not you like something

like No, no, but but I'm saying like it's it's

kind of like whether die -hards a Christmas movie

or not It's not but it's one of those things

where It's that thing of oh, it should have been

this guy or it should have been the original

guy or it should have been Well, I didn't even

know there was an original guy at the time. I

thought Alex Pete Keaton was the original guy

Yeah, that tends to happen in productions. I

mean well true the whole the whole thing like

Eric Stoltz is a great actor and I mean I've

seen that stuff too and it's like yeah but you

know we it's just those few scenes that have

survived to this day like it's not like he shot

the whole movie and then they 86 them from the

production it's you know fact of life it's not

unlike you know may he rest in peace Chadwick

Boseman passing you know now they're still going

to go ahead with Black Panther 2 but you know

everyone's saying well you shouldn't recast him

because he was so good but you know they probably

will it's like when Christopher Reeve stopped

being Superman I'm sure there were people that

bitched and complained when Dean Cain became

Superman and Lois and Clark like you just can't

satisfy people so you know Stuff didn't work

out for mr. Stoltz and he went on to do Was it

mask and? So many other things throughout the

years although the first movie I saw him in was

prophecy with Christopher Walken So it's yeah,

I mean it didn't work out and you just imagine

if they got somebody like The guy that played

father Guido Sarducci from SNL to play Doc Brown

instead of you know Christopher Lloyd What the

franchise might look like now So there's an 80s

reference for you kids. Yep, absolutely So back

to the future as I said, this is wrapping up

our main IDW back to the future coverage tales

from the time train I Was very underwhelmed with

this You weren't just whelmed No, very underwhelmed

with this. Yeah, it just, I don't know, it just

didn't, um... It... It's not the Doc story that

I wanted to see. With him and his family going

on a vacation, really, you're gonna go back to

the night? And I get it, the World's Fair, the

New York World's Fair thing was great and whatever

else, but it's on the precipice of World War

II. And then they make the story around. You

know quote -unquote Nazi invaders because they

don't directly say that Bratvia or whatever the

hell the country is called that they use in this

in this trade. They don't directly say it's Germany,

but it's an allegory Well, yeah, I don't know.

I just didn't The greatest thing that this book

did was show us the end of the third film in

comic form yeah now that's what like as we talked

about the last time I was on with time served

and you know how they take off and you know presume

I I think I said presumably they're going to

I thought I misremembered this series because

when I read it you know a few years ago when

it first came out they I thought they're gonna

end the series with Remember them ending dead

dead dead I remember them ending the series with

you know doc and the family Brown going back

to the end of part three and reuniting with Marty

and Jennifer and You know, it's like Doc Brown.

It brought this from the future, you know with

Jennifer with the your fired facts and all that

and But they they do that here and then they

I love the fact that they end this first issue

Of the series where you know, they've gone on

vacation to like the World's Fair, but it's like

the World's Fair 2038 and it's a future where

Professor Irving has become a much more benevolent

purveyor of time robotic Yeah Yeah robotic devices

and I mean just in this first issue where he's

like, okay boys go blow off some steam and Jules

and Vern do that and they create time travel

shenanigans just like the cartoon. Yep. Or at

least it's what we assume is time travel shenanigans

because initially like there's like knights and

mongols and oh my and a dragon and then there's

robots and demons on horseback and we find out

that they're in this basically Rob, it's like

a Westworld except not nearly as violent and

or adult themed. Yeah, as the HBO series and

Claire is giving Emmett kind of the business

the whole time. She's like, you said this was

supposed to be a vacation, let the boys like

Mary stage virgin. I love her as Clara and I

heard her voice coming through where she's nagging

Emmett like this and He does the right thing

he goes to like an information booth and it's

like I believe several of the machines are malfunctioning

and getting sass from like the Acne scarred redhead

that's running the counter. Yeah Although I do

love when they go outside and Clara gets accosted

by these Advertising drones. Yeah, that's hilarious

and I'm just like, oh dear God, that's where

our future is heading, isn't it? I'm surprised

we're not already there, honestly. Well, you

get all those flash ads on, you know, if you

don't have an ad blocker on your browser when

you're surfing the internet, you know, it's just

what the hell. I also have to, I've never really...

And this just goes to me being a fan of the franchise

and being the sort of guy who just wants to understand

how something works. I don't need to get into

the technical nitty -gritty. But it's clear that

the main propulsion drive of the train on the

back there is just hooked on like a normal train

car. So how is this thing not just like... Like

dragging the rest of the train down or you know

hanging down like a certain part of a dog because

like physics Doc Brown has made it his bitch.

Mm -hmm So let me ask you this. How did you we

can curse on here? Okay How did you read this?

Did you read it in single issue or trade? I read

it originally in single issues and then in preparation

for the recording I read it in trade. Okay in

the trade there's the letter from Bob Gale at

the beginning. Yeah. And in the back of the trade

is the it's the actual time travel the time the

time train manual instruction booklet whatever

you want you know blueprints kind of thing I

thought that was really cool that they included

that to basically answer the question you just

had. So you can look at that and see how it's

supposed to work. Yeah, I saw that at the end

there. I just basically read the story and left

it at that. But they go back to the train to

get Einstein and we go to the end of part three

and you see that conversation of Doc's upset

with the boys and Claire is like... Well, you

did tell them to blow off steam and they did.

And, you know, just the inner, inner intercut,

my parents in the positions of Doc and Clara,

my, I can totally imagine my mom saying that.

And then the look on dad, my dad's face was like

Doc Brown, giving her the DIs like that. He's

like, they blew off more than steam, Laurie.

But you know, that's when they decided to take

him. I love the way they highlight certain words

in the comic, where perhaps the boys need a more

controlled environment. And then you see the

look on Claire's face and she's like, oh god,

what is he planning now? Yeah. Yeah, I mean,

I like the art. I like the story up until the

end of chapter three. Mm -hmm and chapter four

to six we have the whole I'm just gonna say Nazi

plot the most threat that the most family -friendly

Nazis you will ever find I Defy you to find a

more family -friendly version of the German the

the German forces of World War two then Pardon

me perhaps Indiana Jones and those were still

some pretty close to being straight -up Nazis

Yeah, and before I get too far into this I should

say that the story was done by John Barber and

Bob Gale John Barber did the script the art was

done by Megan Levens and the colors were done

by Charlie Kirchhoff Letters done by the impressive

Sean Lee as always So Denton J Tipton was the

editor editor along with chase Marantz I I Liked

what the IDW back to the future stuff did to

this point by issue four of this I Didn't want

to finish the story Really yeah, cuz it's just

to me It's just another property taking on the

World War II story in a time where supposedly

the Germans have won because there's all these

rules and whatever else or whatever. Like, that's

what I got from this. And I'm like, really? That's

the time travel story you want to take Doc and

his family on? Like, I get what Bob Gale and

John Barber are trying to do. They're trying

to find a time like at the end of the third film.

I already been to the future. I'm going somewhere

else. Well, how about you go somewhere else that

doesn't involve Nazis? Like, you already mentioned

or you already referenced Indiana Jones. I mean,

there's no better Defeat the Nazi story than

Last Crusade and then later on The Rocketeer.

God I gotta watch the Rocketeer now The whole

series the the German agents that are in America

to kidnap Einstein like this is within proper

historical Confines is this is the World's Fair

in was in 1939 39, you know World War two hasn't

quite kicked off yet or is in the early offing

and This is around the time where you know Germans

because of their actions is like look you guys

aren't allowed in America because the the two

Asians Have that have come here to kidnap professor

Einstein and I love how I Never thought of this

before and then maybe it's also a consequence

of the art here that Doc Brown Is Einstein. Yeah,

he's he's the 80s Einstein in this world and

I guess you could see how what via via but he

saved his mustache Hans Yeah, you know and we

get into the issue too with the doc like putting

GPS Bracelets on everybody. He's like Jules.

Don't trust you verne. Don't trust you Clara.

They're your children exactly And he even gives

it to Einie, and I love Einstein giving that

wine. And he's just like, dude, really? I'm the

most responsible one in this whole goddamn family.

Yeah. And that's the other thing, like the whole

dog switcher. Like, I did not need a side story

with Einstein and Prince Rufio from Neverland.

Did not need that hey, I don't even refer to

him as Rufio anymore Dante Bosco. It's just Zuko

From here till the end of time is like man. I

used to be Rufio. You're Zuko now III that's

part of the story. I didn't like as well like

it I didn't hate it. I didn't think it was unnecessary,

but It's club. I feel like it's narrative clutter,

but I think overall it works in the long run

because I'm not saying would have been boring

but You you need to break up The the like the

the whole Germans trying to kidnap doc because

they think he's you know Einstein I Get that

having this whole Prince and the pauper story

with the you know, the Queen of Baratavia Yeah,

which is one of the things that I mean How a

lot of stories in never mind time trial just

in stories where you have you can't use an actual

country So you create your own country like how

they created Latveria in Marvel Comics for Doctor

Doom which is somewhere in the periphery of Romania

or in that area of the world But it's just like

this You know, what's the size of Rhode Island

or something the cut? Yeah, I don't know if they've

ever actually physically described how big you

know Latveria is So they do stuff like this to

kind of get the story on because they can't if

you use an actual historical character then that

almost needlessly Clutters the story because

then you have to get the facts right and otherwise

you get you know the glass on the tape on the

middle of the glasses I'm actually people complain

that you know for you know story based on time

travel you clearly don't know your history that's

true I just wish Better creative decisions were

made about it though. Yeah, that's my only thing

like somebody even called it brought via and

I'm like, oh, yeah It's brought via it's let

various, you know twin cousin Obviously, that's

not the name of the country. But you know, it

just it's one of those things where I'm like

I Had so many high hopes for the overall back

to the future series from IDW and I think that

between time served and or hard time and time

served and now I was okay with how the main ongoing

ended and like you said you know Doc's gonna

go off and do something else and whatever else

well this is it I just wish this was not Doc

versus supposed German spies well I mean it's

not and I think that's a mistake Thinking that

it's not Doc versus the Germans. It's because

throughout most of the story Doc's very oblivious

As all mad scientists should be and I should

say that as much as as Much as I love doctor

octopus Doc Brown was my first mad scientist

that and that's why I love characters like this

Be they good or bad. It's there they they see

the Big picture they see the little picture,

but they don't see the whole picture, right?

So Yeah, I do love the story is they go to the

1939 World's Fair and I love Doc's got his little

train remote, you know backs the train up You

know the cops giving him the business and he

goes talks to that one engineer and like one

of those new like high -tech streamlined looking

trains and How the in my head and if I ever met

Bob Geller like to ask him this is that conductor

supposed to be the son or the grandson of The

engineer that they talked that Marty and Doc

talked to in part three is like, yeah Can you

get this thing up to 80 miles per hour? It's

like well I suppose if you get the fires going

hotter and hell you get a great long and straight

enough like that guy I think yes a relative of

him. I kind of love that little bit. He's like,

speed it up. Say what kind of locomotive is that?

You know, and all of a sudden you got these two

guys talking about their quote unquote cars.

And something I mentioned to Mike, one of my

favorite little historical details here, folks,

is Clara and Jules. Almost getting free samples

of like Marlboro cigarettes from this guy's like

here. This will protect your teeth not like those

sweets and Then Claire as you see it's healthy

guaranteed. No throat infection. No cough nine

out of ten doctors and Doc is like nuts to you

come away children. Mm -hmm Yeah, that was a

little And obviously, I'm glad Doc stepped in

there and whatever else but that was yeah, and

I know that that's what happened during that

time period Like I said This was just okay for

me It wasn't like my hope for something that's

called back to the future tales from the time

train my hope was that They would try to maybe

teach Vern some some because let's face it Jules

is the Doc Brown jr. He's the intellectual one

and Vern was always the one that wanted to get

into mischief and trouble What I was hoping for

with this was like Mini adventures like each

issue was a certain time period anything but

1938 to 1945 Yeah, well, I think overall and

I mean we'll we'll get back to the actual story

of the mini here in the sex book I think the

title tales from the time train is very misleading

Because that it retails suggests multiple stories.

Yep We really only got two stories. We got the

first issue With you know all setting up and

dealing with you know resolving the film franchise

and then them going to the World's Fair here

yeah, and I would think tales from that would

suggest something more of an anthology thing

like you can have a through story Like a through

overarching storyline of teaching the boys you

know mind your p's and q's and cross your i's

and dot your t's when time traveling and maybe

a greater overarching story than that about something

the whole family has to come together and deal

with and like each issue could be like going

to a different uh timeline or not timeline, but

a different time period. Time period, yeah. See,

that's what my thinking is as well, because the

first issue, you can leave it alone, it's fine.

The second issue, you can set up where they're

going to be going or how Doc and Claire want

to teach them. And the problem I have with this

is... Is that because Clara is still so new to

time travel and whatever else she's all in this

but in this series She's always oh Emmett. Oh,

that would be so wonderful. I know that's part

of her character But she's a smart lady like

I wish he would have let her in on the time travel

things a little bit more maybe off panel or something

to the point of That she's in on it with him

instead of her still Blake Constantly being surprised

It just I don't know it just this whole book

except for that first issue kind of fell flat

for me Yeah, no, it's Yeah, it's like I said

it's time travel and and as the movie show because

I mean that was the whole Comedy of errors and

time travels like you know being so completely

out of your depth and everything and at this

point doc has basically become like Doc Brown

time guardian almost that like he is literally

the most experienced time travel, time traveler

in the history of the world. Like, I mean, there's

a lot of other stories you get going for maybe

other people besides like Professor Irving could

invent, you know, stuff to travel through time

and then Doc becomes like that that could have

been like a further sequel like doc trying to

prevent the apocalypse of somebody going back

and stepping on a mosquito in the jurassic or

something like that but you know we got this

is a story we got they've gone to the 1939 world's

fair their docs like hey let's go to the wonder

bread pavilion it's literally the most exciting

thing since sliced bread and clare just looks

at them don't they have knives in the future

And just I can imagine the exasperated and sarcastic

look that Mary Steenburgen could have given that

if this was a live -action thing true and We

get back to the Germans and they're like, of

course, he's going to the perisphere. He's a

smart man. I will lay my traps there and For

sign and again, we'd have to talk to who's the

artist on this? Megan Reavins Yeah, I would I

like to ask her if I ever met her and I would

hope to him ask her that the little wormy dude

with the glasses. I wondered if he's his design

was based on taught from Raiders of the Lost

Ark. Like that German torture dude that's face

melts off at the end there when they actually

open the arc because it very much looks like

him. Like creepy little dude be the eyes that's

and and the fear shall live up there for us for

getting us out of this miserable nation and then

Einstein wakes up and sees like the Queen's dog

and he breaks I Love Einstein is Fonzie because

he literally just gives it like a Fonzie pop

and the door like first of all Is Einstein that

smart that he can Fonzie a door open or is Doc

that dumb for not putting a better lock on the

fucking time traveling train? Probably both.

Yeah. And I just love how they go through these

pavilions like they're going to the RCA pavilion.

You know, you see that giant cash register. Vern

is like, they cook the dog. And doc almost goes

into that over eggs like oh no, no, no pigs and

cows and whatever else is right. Just trust me.

It's good. It's good And I love that like is

that the future and you see the One of the things

that never came to pass from the World's Fair

was electro like this robotic man and Don't know

if that was like a legitimate thing or if that

was just like somebody With a script in behind

and there was a speaker in the head of that robot

Could be who knows But also the the whole the

boys like talking shit about the robot and Jules

is like we recently arrived from a time period

where they had real robots Yeah, yeah, like you

elitist snob. Yeah And it's funny, because when

they were in the 2038 timeline, I thought Jules

and Verne's actions caused things to go awry.

So when they got to 1938, I'm like, oh, this

is a 1938b kind of thing, where it's a different

timeline. Because at first, when I was reading

this, and the way the Germans were talking was

like that they had already won. Kind of thing

and I'm like, what the hell is going on here?

Like I got so lost at the end of that Yeah, cuz

the boys wonder off and they're just hanging

out in a tree after talking to the Actually now

they think about this. Yeah. Are you familiar

with team four star? No Okay, so we got German

Napa and the doing the glasses is German Vegeta

Okay For the listeners, they might get that reference

more than you Mike So yeah, the boys wonder off

we swing back to you know, Doc and Clara Just

trying to figure things out Doc's kind of worried

about the future cuz you know You know World

War two and he knows how World War two ends with

the atomic bombs and all that and then we see

Einstein's We get back to the whole Prince and

the popper thing where Prince Rufio escapes after

like the guy it's like Prince Rufio that that

whole thing and with his handler like the the

little blonde guy it's almost like the butler

in the aristocrat aristocats yep where he gets

jealous and he's really doesn't care about the

things like oh well time to get a new dog yeah

And then we get back to the Germans continue

their bumbling escapades to kidnap Doc and Clara

and Doc and Clara walk right by Einstein who's

at the Bratwurst Pavilion. Yes, he's at the Bratwurst

Pavilion. And he gets taken by the guard who

fails to notice his collar is not encrusted with

diamonds, the way Prince Rufio's is. Yes. I mean,

and at the end, this third issue with, well,

we found your sons, and the Germans dress up

like a cop, and Doc and Clara just fall for it.

I thought you were a smart man, Doc. Yeah, really.

I mean, up to this point in the thing, like,

as far... Do you think this would've worked better

as one of those, like, how Marvel and DC do those

direct -to -disc animated movies? For me, personally,

no. It doesn't work that way. Like I've already

said, certain parts of it I enjoyed. But the

overall thing of having to face down the Nazi

stand -ins or whatever, like, the beginning and

the ending of this comic are my favorite parts.

The middle needed so much work. I did not enjoy

the whole German thing. Even Einstein as a subplot,

like... I think the problem is, when you take

Marty out of Back to the Future, it's Doc Brown

and his family. And honestly, until you develop

the character of Clara more, where she is more,

as I already said, in on the time travel stuff,

not just constantly shocked and awed at what

her husband does, don't get me wrong. Husbands

and wives need to keep things fresh and whatever

else, but this is time travel we're talking about

Yes, a little different than you know surprising

your wife on a non birthday or holiday or with

you know some sort of big spectacular thing You

know and it just I don't know it just didn't

It didn't stick the landing for me at all. Yeah,

cuz Like I said, the story of the Germans trying

to kidnap Doc and Doc and Claire trying to find

the boys and the boys just doing whatever it

is they're trying to do because it doesn't seem

like, it just seems like they're these two very

bright, because look at who their parents are,

precocious boys running around. Literally probably

got some thought in their head that we're better

than everybody because we're from the future

and we already know how shit works. Yeah. And

you got the German mustachioed dude trying to

capture them. It's not that the story overall,

like the whole story, like it's there and these

parts can work. It's... It's who the family is

up against that's the problem. I don't think

it's the family. It's not that... You know the

germans like they're not nazis. We we never see

it. They they reference, you know hitler and

Defior and they don't ever you know, do the salute

and hail hitler anything It's they are the bad

guys there. I don't think that's the problem.

I think the series was entirely too long Like

like you said first thing I really think they

should have ended it with them going like having

this escapade and then doc finally going back

to Marty and Jennifer and letting him know that

he's alright and The future is whatever you can

make it like that Every time I went at least

once a year. I'll watch one of the back to the

future movies. Yeah, because Anyone that says

that these movies aren't entertaining or relevant

necessary. Well, you have no joy in your soul

And and this is one of my favorite parts of my

childhood and in the cluster effort fire that

we've had That takes place within a dumpster

of this year. We need something like this I would

have ended the series like that and you know,

I would have cut like two issues out like make

it a four At least a four issue because I mean

the parts are there with the Einstein subplot

and the boys trying to find Doc and Claire and

Claire trying to and Claire trying to find the

boys It's entire I think it's it's convoluted

but only because they keep The the story is okay,

it's it's not confusing but they just keep repeating

beats like the boys almost get caught Doc and

Claire almost get caught. Yeah, you know Stuff

like that chaos ensues Clara almost gets mauled

by Prince Rufio when she finds him at one point

Yeah, and yeah, it's it's a back -to -the -future

story and I Based on that I enjoy it, but I don't

love it Yeah, also I'm pretty sure that dog handler

for Prince Rufio when he just throws a bucket

of cold water on Einstein I was like Oh, dude,

you were going to die so many deaths. Yep. You

don't treat our boy like this, you bastard. Yeah,

I mean, and honestly, though, like, like I said,

I feel like I'm repeating myself, honestly, but

it's one of those things where I did not need

a Dog gone story. I mean if I wanted an all dogs

go to heaven story. I watch the damn movie Yeah,

and I know there's a type there's a name for

the type of story that You know Gail and Barbara

wrote here I just can't remember you like it's

a specific kind of narrative where One set of

characters knows what's going on or at least

they know What's going on? That's the Germans,

but then you have Doc and Claire and the boys.

They really don't know what's going on other

than They don't know where one half of the family

is at any given time Yeah, and then you got like

the the Prince Rufio thing God it's just keep

saying that and I keep expecting Dante Bosco

to show up I mean He's gonna show up in this

podcast at some point. You are a fart factory.

Slug -slimed sack of rat guts and cat vomit.

Cheesy scab -hicked pimple -squeezing finger

bandage. A weak old maggot burger with everything

on it and flies on the side. Substitute chemistry

teacher? Come on, review it in math. Mung -tong?

Math tutor? Pinhead? Prison barber mother lover

near -sighted gynecologist in your face camel

cake in your rear cow derriere lying crying spying

prying ultra pig you loot crude rude bag of pre

-chewed food, dude If I'm a maggot burger, why

don't you just eat me? You two -toned, zebra

-headed, slime -coated, pimple -farming, paramecium

brain, munching on your own mucus, suffering

from Peter Pan envy! You know, it's one of those

things where it's like, you are, you know, we

already made the reference to the fact that,

you know, the dog's name is Rufio, so, and the

only other time I've ever heard that name is

Hook. the great classic Steven Spielberg film

from 1991. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know.

Overall, to basically put us out of our misery,

I would give this... We should clarify how the

story ends, though, before we do that. Eventually,

Doc is overheard by... Little German dude who

hears them talking about well, that's where I've

been following it. Of course This is not the

real Einstein. So because dogs talking about

tracking the collar docking Clara track him down

But then both dogs run away and the wormy dude

like asshole dark handler blames them and then

a pair of this barata via, you know the Barataria

it's pronounced They've got this German s sounding

country, but their royal guards look like the

beef eaters from England yeah, and They they

almost get arrested the Germans eventually find

the boys the Germans find Einstein's collar which

got loose and all of a sudden the Germans have

advanced future technology And by the thing yeah,

but by the end of it they They all get back together

after this mad cap race and that see, that's

the problem. Again, it, this, the series. It

takes forever to get to that resolution. So it's

just the key. It's not necessarily dragging the

story out narratively speaking, but there's more

here than they need for the story they're trying

to tell. Yep. So, you know, Madcap rushed through

the pavilion. The Germans kind of sort of capture

the boys until they literally run into Doc and

Clara and Einstein as they're running through.

Yeah. And by the end of it, the the Germans are

captured. The dog handler is arrested. And no

one goes home, at least on the bad guy's side,

no one. gets what they want. Absolutely. Although

I do love the final part where Jules and Werner

being chased by a wormy German dude through the

scale model of the city, the future. And Doc

almost has an action hero moment where he busts

out a window and he jumps down to rescue his

boys and goes right through the floor of the

model. Yeah. Without Marty, Doc really, he really

is the absent -minded professor. Really is. Yeah,

and then I love how he gets away from the Germans.

He's like, we're from the future. We're from

the 25th century. And he's like, who do you think

designed everything at this fair? Primitive 20th

century humans? Oh, of course not, but But if

you're from the future, why are you not speaking

German? Yeah, because they just assume that they

won. Yeah, well, because bad guys are arrogant.

And they do love the royal guards. It's like

the masks death scene in the club in Jim carries

the mask where one of the guards is like I can

hear mother calling me And you know, they everyone

gets back together the Germans get taken out

by fair man Who is like this Superman mascot

for the world's fair that they created for this?

And one of the Germans but I tried to tell you

kind of here's the paladin of fair play. He beat

me up earlier Yeah It's little things like that.

There are so many little things here overall

the course of the story They meet the real Einstein

right at the end That's a good thing Yeah, I

mean that the family gets back together and they've

all learned that you know, we got a You know

dad does this mom does that the boys do it like

they all have their parts You know that there

they have that better understanding. It's just

like I said the story a little too long for what

they're trying to do here and I guess again reading

the trade what and then remembering when I originally

read it because they they had their world their

1939 outfits they get back into their 1880s outfits

that we see in back to the future three for some

reason and then they go off into the time stream

and we see you know windows into the time stream

of stuff that we've seen throughout the series

and throughout the series and the films, yeah.

Now, I mean, you talked about Back to the Future

Transformers. I don't think that's necessarily

in canon unless by the end of it they, because

they established that the, it's not like the

Transformers have crossed timelines. Like it's

1985 and the Transformers exist in the same world

as Back to the Future. So it's out of normal

continuity. Yeah, it's not normal continuity.

And honestly, that's fine to me. I'm actually

excited for when we get to Transformers Back

to the Future. It is supposed to be four issues,

not six. This was six issues. I remember when

Tales from the Time Train came out, I had...

I had already bought the trade when the trade

came out. I never actually looked at it. I never

knew. I never knew it was six issues until I

actually looked at it right before we recorded

this podcast. And like you said, honestly, this

could have been shorter. It could have been four

issues instead of six. You could still have that

first issue and then cut out whichever part of

the story you want, either the Germans or the

dog sub story kind of thing and just, I don't

know, do it that way. Yeah, I mean and also flipping

through the trade here Some of the alternate

covers. Oh, they are so good. Yeah, like you

got the pop vinyl one of where Doc and Marty

turn to look through the The flaming tire tracks.

Yeah from that image from the film I love the

enchantment 20 ,000 leagues under the sea both

first film reference and Jules Verne reference

I think my favorite overall was the one where

he almost flies into another DeLorean, which

was created by, you know, it's an Irish car company.

So, you know, just an Irish car after all, boy

-o. Yep. I know. What was your favorite alternate

cover? It has to be the Funko Pop one, because

it's so cool. I love when classic scenes are

pop. Converted to pop style. Yeah, I will say

it's the Irish one and then the Number one favors

the Irish one two and three kind of interchangeable

But there's the great the two great Scott covers

the one where it Einstein and Docker face -to

-face and then the one that's like a mock -up

of like an artist sketching out the designing

the covering it's implied that Doc's fading away

when he yells great Scott and you see him he's

in like the middle of his time lab stuff like

that and then we got that bit at the end that

Mike mentioned earlier folks like the design

and such like that of the the time train like

I said I'm not I'm not saying I'm an expert in

temporal metaphysics or anything it's just I

mean clearly you see lit like anti -grav units

Underneath the car when it's flying. It's just

the hell Yeah, exactly Yes, so Like I said before

going by the GCR Universal rating scale is zero

to five You can put in half points if you want

for me personally. This is a two and a half or

three at best Story wise and plot wise the art

is at least a three and a half to a four for

me But overall it would be a three in total I'm

giving it a three and a half. It's Not bad. It's

not great. It's middle of the road that you know

for all like the excitement and the Excitement

and the adventure and everything that we got

through the movies and the comics before this

you know And it's not like Doc can't carry a

story and is on like, I, we don't always need

to have Marty involved because, and I think that's

something that proves this. Like you can get

a fairly entertaining, you know, family friendly

adventure store, time travel adventure story.

Like we got here with the Brown family and, but

it only goes so far. And like I said, it's couple

issues too long. They drag out some of these

subplots way longer than they should have. And

yeah, you know, Einstein's the best boy, but

you know, it took too long for them to really

resolve that. And I don't think it really contributed

a whole lot to the resolution of the story that

they were going for. And the point five is really

just the little Nods to both the franchise history

and the history in general like, you know, we

got the resolution to part three We got that

the whole like here cigarettes will protect your

teeth better than chocolate. Well kids and Doc's

literally I and I would ask Gail and Barbara

again if this was a nod to the comics, but bubble

bursting in the 90s of buying multiple copies

of a comic and planning to invest in your kids

futures because it's 1939 we don't know exactly

what copy or what comic doc you know he picks

up like a six -inch tall stack of comics and

he's like no no no these are going back to the

train and they are not going to be touched Yeah,

and that's obviously a reference to what he did

earlier with the debut of Superman Yeah, like

action one could have been Marvel Comics number

one You know where or Captain America comics

number one night looking at the because you don't

get any hard details But looking at the very

basic design of that I would almost say it's

Captain America punching Hitler and I love Lee

And just to skip over to the MCU for a moment

when the end of Captain America First Avenger

They have that moment where the kids have painted

up a garbage can lid look thing and you see like

they did like That's what comics look like like

those dimensions. They were super thick like

that Not just because of the page count because

of how thick the paper actually was back then

and yeah Captain America slugging Hitler in the

jaw so Yeah, overall, 3 .5. Again, like I said

last time I was on for the comics, this isn't

necessarily the end of the story, it's just the

end of this chapter. Well, as far as I can tell,

it's the end of IDW's run with it because, like

we've been saying, Transformers Back to the Future,

the current miniseries that's going on, this

was published two years ago. Tales from the Time

Train. And there hasn't been any other Back to

the Future things until this new crossover that

they have, so I don't know what they're doing

with the Back to the Future license, if anything.

Also, with something they could do, and I forget

if I mentioned it last time, we need a three

-way crossover of Back to the Future Ghostbusters

and Transformers just so Ektotron and Gigawatt

can meet each other. Yeah, that would be funny.

Because that's essentially a robotic race stance.

meeting a robotic Doc Brown. Absolutely. And

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