#writer 2: ''We can have Marty just wander off unsupervised again. Things will fall apart immediately!''

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s01ep05 "Swing Low Sweet Chariot Race [AKA Roman Holiday]"

Previous episodes linked HERE

In this episode: Shenanigans abound in ancient Rome, Marty once again demonstrates why he shouldn't be taken anywhere, and Real Doc continues to spiral deeper into. Somethin'. I don't even know.

We begin our episode in 36 A.D. "Rome", where Doc is eating a big ol' plate of spaghetti and talking about how the ancient Romans didn't even know about the dish at that point and wouldn't until 1295.

"What we think of as Italian cuisine is completely unknown in this era. Marty found that out on our previous trip to ancient Italy," he says, all the while twirling the spaghetti around with his fork until it looks like this.

You know how in BTTF II, Old Biff warns his younger self about a "wild-eyed scientist"? That phrase continuously pops into my mind whenever I see Real Doc in these segments. He—he doesn't blink. He always seems like he's 2 seconds away from snapping. Look at all that spaghetti. Something is wrong with this man.

Onto the cartoon!

Marty is once again riding his hoverboard out in the open for all the town to see as he heads to Doc's house. As he approaches, Jules and Verne (who are hiding in their treehouse) use a holographic projector to project an image of Doc standing in Marty's path.

This causes chaos, as Marty swerves to avoid him and then runs into the real Doc. They crash and land in a large pile of junk in Doc's yard. Doc is not happy that his children have stolen and misused the device to pull a prank. He tells them to be on their best behavior as he takes a trip to ancient Rome to return some scrolls he'd borrowed. He mentions wanting to check out the "Roman arcades," which Verne thinks refers to video game arcades rather than an architectural feature. Doc grounds the boys and forbids them from accompanying him, and Jules swipes the holograph projector while his father isn't looking.

Marty wants to go, though, because he can use the trip to write an extra credit report for his history class. "Caesar! The man, the myth, the...salad," he says. Marty is an airhead.

Using the holographic projector, Jules and Verne project their images to make it look like they're still at home and sneak into the DeLorean. The gang takes off for Rome, where the boys promptly sneak off to check out the arcades. Marty, meanwhile, is hungry and wants pizza. He approaches a woman to ask if she knows of any places, and when she replies angrily in Latin, he goes, "Oh. Do they deliver?" *sigh* Marty. Dear, sweet Marty. What have they done to you? The cartoonists opened up your head and shook out your brain cells, didn't they? Poor boy.

Doc provides Marty with a universal language translator device he can wear in his ear that will allow him to understand and speak back to the locals. Honestly, I don't even think that will help him, Doc. Just take the kid back home, buy him some pizza, and call it a day.

A mere 10 seconds later, as Doc is making his way through some crowds of people, he notices that Marty isn't following him and has wandered off. Of course he has. At this point, idk how Doc hasn't decided to put a tracking device on Marty. This would solve like half of their problems.

Doc only has a few moments to worry about Marty's whereabouts because he's then approached by Jules, who needs help rescuing Verne (who has gotten into trouble and is being chased).

Can I point out how much of a trooper Doc is? All of his children are constantly wandering off or getting into mischief and he still manages to hold it together. Although this stress could account for the crazed look in his eyes we see in the live segments. Hmm...

As Doc deals with his sons, we return to Marty, who is still on a quest for food. This guy is hungry. Perhaps that's why he seems so empty-headed thus far; his blood sugar is low and his brain is being starved of glucose. In his disoriented state, he's wandered off in ancient Rome. That's the theory I'm going with for now because the other option is to simply accept that they have made Marty a total doofus in this series.

Anyway, in an attempt to stave off his immense hunger, Marty buys himself "headless fish wrapped in stale bread." Yum.

Here he is debating whether to eat it or succumb to hypoglycemia.

Marty ends up spilling his food on Bifficus Antanneny, who does not take kindly to the embarrassment and challenges Marty to a chariot race. When Marty tries to talk his way out of it, Bifficus calls him a chicken, at which point we get the classic, "Nobody calls me chicken!" line.

Did we not deal with this fully in part III? Didn't Marty learn his lesson about not losing control when people call him names? Why has he taken a tumble backward character-development-wise?

Right. They needed it for ~drama~.

Also, just a little side note: Bifficus's eye color changes randomly over the course of this scene, from black, then to blue for like 5 seconds, then black again.

I have to imagine this is the result of Marty having blue eyes, and whoever was in charge of this scene just automatically made Bifficus's blue for a little bit before realizing and switching back. And then they just shrugged and went, "Whatever. Who cares?" because this cartoon is bonkers as it is, so who's going to notice a character's eyes changing color for a few seconds?

Meanwhile, while Marty is busy making terrible life decisions, Doc is explaining the reality of slavery in ancient Rome to Verne (who had gotten in trouble with some guards for standing up for a slave he'd met). As he speaks, he mentions, "—societal injustice is frequently succeeded by rebellion." Unfortunately, a couple of nearby guards hear this comment and accuse Doc of planning a slave rebellion. He is taken into custody by two massive dudes who could crush him like a bug.

Thankfully, Judah, the slave Verne had helped earlier, witnesses all of this and takes the boys through the catacombs and to a secret tunnel that leads to the cell where Doc is being held. They're able to break him out, which is good considering Doc is supposed to be fed to the lions soon.

We go to the chariot races then, where Marty is informed that Bifficus is going to allow him to sit and watch the "opening act" (the lions being released) before the race. Let's see how Marty is faring, shall we?

There are tumbleweeds rolling around in that boy's head.

Marty does, however, freak out when he sees Doc step out into the arena. (Except, shhhh, it's not actually Doc; it's just a hologram of him! Remember the projector Jules stole before they left?) So, everything turns out peachy-keen. But, uhh, we still gotta deal with the whole chariot race thing. Is this episode over yet? It feels like I've been watching it for a hundred hours.

Doc has made some modifications on Marty's chariot, but they're to help him lose, not win. He explains that Bifficus remaining popular is vital to Caligula becoming Emperor of Rome and leading to the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire. If Marty wins, it would be devastating to the timeline. Doc explains all of this while writing notes and calculations on the wall, and I must share it because it looks so nonsensical.

I very much enjoy the note toward the top that just says, "PASTA."

Marty ends up successfully losing the race, he gives his Chariot to Judah (then revealed to be Judah Ben-Hur), and they go back to the future. We return to Real Doc, who is lounging in a hammock after napping off his big pasta lunch from the earlier segment. He's wearing 2 different socks and still has on like 6 or 7 watches.

Bill Nye shows us an experiment involving air resistance. (I realize I haven't actually included any screencaps or info on the experiment portion of these segments, but that's because they're just not all that interesting? I mean, they're cute little do-at-home science projects; I just haven't felt inclined to detail them here) But here is proof that Bill Nye is, in fact, in this show.

Doc then returns to bid us the usual farewell, ("See you in the future!") but right after he says it, there's this moment where his camera cuts out for a moment, and then he does this bizarre blinking thing and— I had to gif it. Animated series Real Doc is on such a different level of weird than Trilogy Doc. Something happened. Something has happened to him. The additional time traveling post part III and the stresses of family life has taken its toll.

He is not well.

That's the end of the episode. Clara was nowhere to be seen yet again. :(

Join me next week to see Verne single-handedly prevent the discovery of electricity.

#back to the future #bttf #bttf: the animated series #i imagine that when they were trying to come up with episode ideas‚ this exchange happened often in the writers' room: #writer 1: ''Ok‚ how can we spice up the plot and add some conflict?'' #writer 2: ''We can have Marty just wander off unsupervised again. Things will fall apart immediately!''