Clary's Cultural Cwtch #11: Great Scott, Leave My DeLorean Alone!
On reboots, revivals, and the rare magic of doing it right
There we were, row N, popcorn scent clinging to our messy son's hands (naturally finished before the show had even started, and already sneaking a hand into my wife's tub), when the clock-tower curtain lifted and said son, 5-year-old ADHD firecracker (literally – birthday is 5th November), practically levitated out of his seat.
“Mammy, it’s the actual DeLorean!”
Our daughter (then 17, autistic and usually averse to loud noise) even whooped. In that moment, I realised something. Back to the Future: The Musical isn’t a reboot. It’s a love-letter signed in 1.21 gigawatts.
Some stories just feel untouchable, and that isn’t just me being precious. The two Bobs, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, have famously said “over my dead body” to a screen reboot of Back to the Future. And honestly? I get it.
From VHS to View from Row N
I say this as someone who loves a franchise. I’ve stuck with A Nightmare on Elm Street through thick, thin and truly bizarre, but hated the 2010 remake with a passion. And Back to the Future is without a doubt (and in my completely biased opinion) the greatest trilogy ever made.
I even wrote this in my family memoir, Hero to Many:
“My dad, brother, and I spent a lot of time watching sci-fi movies and TV shows together, especially the ones that delved into time travel...
The Back to the Future trilogy was another favourite that we wore out on VHS. I can still recite every line from all three films, and I was even lucky enough to interview Jeffrey Weissman, the actor who played George McFly in parts 2 and 3, on my podcast Mouth-Off (my inner geek was beyond ecstatic!). Every time the DeLorean hits 88 MPH in the first film, I still get goosebumps.”
That nostalgia now comes with a little ache, because my dad’s no longer here. The memories are sweet, but they carry the weight of absence. I think that’s why I feel so fiercely protective of certain stories. They’re more than films. They’re family heirlooms in VHS form.
Reboots That Forgot Their Soul
I binge-watched most of the Quantum Leap reboot on a long-haul flight to China. Not because I was dying to see it, but because I needed something comforting and familiar. It wasn’t awful, but it lacked the soul. And Scott Bakula and the late Dean Stockwell? Lets just say their presence and undeniable chemistry was sorely missed. It lacked that Tuesday-night ritual feeling that got me excited in the first place. The original only showed the future in tiny glimpses (Ziggy’s voice, Al’s jackets, the occasional spacey gadget) and that made it all the more magical. The reboot showed too much and it explained too much. It forgot how to leap with the heart of the original.
Same goes for Ghostbusters (2016). I should have loved it and I genuinely wanted to love it. A squad of funny, supernatural-fighting women is totally my wheelhouse. I do adore Buffy, after all. But it didn’t feel fresh. It just felt like the original with different casting and none of the charm. The problem with nostalgia is that it isn’t enough if you don’t bring something new to the party; and putting women into a man-shaped mould isn’t revolutionary. It’s lazy. Off the back of that disappointment I didn’t even bother to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Reboots That Actually Work (Yes, Really)
Which brings me back to Back to the Future: The Musical. It works because it doesn’t pretend to replace the films, it builds on them and it respects the beats while playing with tempo. It’s tighter, funnier, full of musical surprises — Doc gets to belt out a power ballad and somehow it feels right. It’s a remix of sorts, rather than a reboot.
Cobra Kai is another one that absolutely gets it spot on. Nostalgia is there, but it’s not the main course. It lets legacy characters evolve and it gives new ones the spotlight. It also questions masculinity, pride, revenge. It doesn’t feel like it's purely fan service. It feels like storytelling.
I haven’t watched Karate Kid Legends yet, but from what I’ve read, it builds on Cobra Kai’s world, without trying to rewrite it. That’s the sweet spot for me.
Vampires, Metaphors, and Middle Age
Let’s talk Buffy. We’ve had comic book continuations and we’ve had the Audible series (which I liked, but didn’t love). And now, apparently, we’re getting a continuation around 2026 or 2027. I was wary at first, but now that Sarah Michelle Gellar has confirmed that she is involved, it has gotten me cautiously excited.
A Slayerverse exploring trauma, ageing, and maybe even the weight of being someone’s myth…Now that has got real potential. If the writers dare to go there, it could be magic again.
The Feminist Time Paradox
Here’s the thing. I want more stories about women, but I don’t want tokenism in a boiler suit. And I don’t want reboots that act like swapping genders is the same as evolving a story. We deserve original, weird, wild female characters with agency and arcs of their own. We deserve more Buffys, more Furiosas and more stories that don’t start by handing us a man’s cape and asking us to just “girl power” it up.
That said, I could maybe be talked into a Cobra Kai-style expansion of Back to the Future. A new story set in Hill Valley. Someone stumbles on one of Doc’s old sketches. They try to build it. Chaos ensues. If it’s built on love and curiosity, not cash and clout, I’d give it a chance.
Selective Canon Is My Superpower
The truth is, a bad reboot can’t ruin a good original. I still consider Ghostbusters a brilliant trilogy. I just pretend 2016 and 2021 didn’t happen (sorry Afterlife, that’s not really fair). Same with A Nightmare on Elm Street. The 2010 version? Dead to me. But Freddy Kruger? Still iconic.
If Back to the Future: The Musical had sucked, I would have just quietly filed it away as a non-canon experiment. I’d still have the trilogy, still have my memories and still have my quote-along moments with the kids.
I saw. I disliked. I moved on.
But when something does work and when it respects the past while building the future. That is when I start to believe in the power of a good reboot.
If they put their minds to it, they really can accomplish anything.
🚗 So, what about you?
Everyone’s got one. That pop culture sacred cow. The film, show, album, or universe you’d defend with your whole heart.
Mine? You can probably guess. Back to the Future, Buffy, Peanuts, Kylie, The Manics. (And yes, I do own a Buffy Funko Pop and a Woodstock plush. Zero shame.)
What’s yours?
The story you’d time-travel to protect. The world you’d visit again and again.
Drop it in the comments or send me a reply. You know I live for this stuff.