A film made a quarter-century ago got quite a few things right about 2015

Great Scott, it’s actually 2015 now — two years and a bit over the deadline for the end of the world according to the ancient Mayans’ predictions! So it may be germane to recall that the 1989 cult film Back to the Future II did get a few assumptions right about this year. Though Jaws is still very far away from its 19th sequel, the US still does not have a woman president and Pepsi still has not achieved vitamin-enriched perfection — highlights of the period that Michael J Fox’s character Marty McFly propels himself forward into — the film’s creators must be complimented for anticipating Google Glass, not to mention Skype and FaceTime. In that context, its inability to predict the invention and spread of smartphones, tablets and even e-papers is quite inexplicable.

While conveniences like hoverboards, self-drying jackets and self-tying shoelaces could well materialise, flying cars —even fuelled by banana peel — might not be such a good idea in this era of drones and perennial traffic jams. However, Marty’s mother’s hydrator, with its ability to turn desiccated edibles into piping hot food, would be a welcome addition to the microwave in any modern kitchen. Hearteningly, since Marty supposedly teleported into the future only on October 21, 2015, interested manufacturers still have time to make what he saw come true.