The DeLorean is safe!

It's been a long time since I've spotted a good alternate ending to Back to the Future Part III, so here we go:

"You built a time machine out of a car!"

Goldentusk, who made the Indiana Jones theme song which I featured some days ago, made several other theme songs. Today, I'd like to show you this one about the Back to the Future theme composed by Alan Silvestry. You might want to listen to the original version first:



And now, the parody:



Please (re)watch this Back to the Future rap which I featured last year:

The Netherlands finally discover vanity plates…

As I have a weird interest in number plates, I often visit a Dutch website (nummerplaat.com) in order to keep an eye on the codes that are being given out by the RDW (Rijksdienst Wegverkeer).

By the way, they started the 11-ZX-XX series on Wednesday or Thursday.This means that the code consists of two digits — except for "00" – followed by Z and another letter, followed by another set of two letters. And as I'm sure you don't give a damn about it, let me just waste a few words to add that the letters A, C, E, I, M, O, Q, U and W are not used.

My point was just to show you this piece of news that I found on that very website:

DEN HAAG - Automobilisten moeten kunnen kiezen voor een kentekenplaat met een eigen tekst. VVD-Tweede Kamerlid Paul de Krom gaat dat bij de behandeling van de begroting van Verkeer en Waterstaat voorstellen aan minister Camiel Eurlings.

De Krom heeft dat maandag gezegd in het NOS Journaal. Hij kwam op het idee tijdens een bezoek aan de Verenigde Staten, waar automoblisten al langer een eigen tekst mogen voeren op hun nummerbord, bijvoorbeeld hun naam. Dat komt omdat de kentekenplaat daar aan de persoon is gekoppeld en niet aan het voertuig, zoals in ons land.

Het lijkt de De Krom gewoon een leuk idee om met een eigen tekst op de nummerplaat rond te rijden in een tijd waarin we "bijna niks meer mogen van het kabinet".

It basically means that Paul de Krom discovered vanity plates. Come on! You see them everywhere in American movies! Isn't one of the most famous examples the OUTATIME plate on the DeLorean time machine in Back to the Future? Or we can assume that he discovered how much money could be raised from such vanity plates…

At least, this gives me the opportunity to show you some my collection of Belgian vanity plates, started in July.

I saw this Ferrari in Middelkerke, just on the parking lot near the Casino. It is the only Belgian vanity plate I saw that has three times zero on it. (Normally, "000" is forbidden, except on plates that have the "111.X.1" type or the "1.X.111" type. But three times the letter "O" is accepted on vanity oldtimer plates: I once saw OOO-911.) Let me just add that this number plate cost its owner €874.

I saw this one in Brussels on 21 July. It was on a limo waiting for some VIP next to the Cathedral. It cost €624.

Talking of VIPs, there are two of a series owned by a limo-renting company. (See above and below.) Each of them cost €624.

I guess this one belongs to a French-speaking person named Dominique, for "dom" means "idiot" in Dutch… Or perhaps he/she works for Domo. (Cost: €624.)

A very low serial number, but too new to be an original from 1953 or even a duplicate. This one was seen close to the Flemish Parliament. (Cost: €874.)

This one also cost €874.

Idem.

I saw this one on a brand-new Audi R8 kind of prototype driven by a journalist who had borrowed from the Audi Company, hence the plate. This one was made in 1999. By the way, Audi owns a number of AUD plates, ranging from AUD-100 to AUD-125.

Yet Another Alternate Ending…

Here's another alternate ending for Back to the Future:



Of course, the film would have been about 20 minutes long, and the trilogy wouldn't have existed… But this is the point of a joke.

I also found this rap song summarizing the first movie brilliantly:



Fantastic! If you have never seen the movie, I hope you'll wanna watch it.

A funny thing is the transition from the first episode of BTTF to the second one. At the end of the first, there was a scene where Marty (Michael J. Fox) meets his girlfriend, Jennifer. Then Doc shows up: something has gotta be done about their (future) kids in the future. Then the DeLorean goes away flying.

The fact is that when they started shooting BTTF II in 1989, the actress playing Jennifer in BTTF I (Claudia Wells) wasn't available. So they had to replace her by Elizbeth Shue. This is why we have two versions of the same scene at the end of BTTF I and at the beginning of BTTF II:



This kind of thing had never been done before, and I think it hasn't been done again since then.

Alternate Endings: Back to the Future Trilogy

Alternate ending to Back to the Futue:



I think that the bit when we see the living room changing comes from a movie about time alteration called Frequency

Alternate ending to Back to the Future II:



Note that "Idiot" was translated by "Crétin" in the French version.

This one was a crossover between the said movie and the end of Die Hard I.

Alternate ending to Back to the Future III:



This was a crossover between BTTF III and Face-Off, with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.

I'm gonna post other alternate endings to famous movies in the next couple of days. Stay tunned!

PS. If you are worried about Marty McFly stuck in the DeLorean time machine, watch this, it'll show you the actual ending. (Well, it's not the very end of the movie, but still.)



I always wondered why Marty had to put his hat on. And also why he has to grab the steering wheel even though the car is on a railway… Mystery…

I admit I'm sad for that poor DeLorean who felt it was gonna die and decided to explode just before the train hits it. (Freeze at 00:58)

And why did the train never stop after the accident, by the way?

Bonus: there's something tricky about the locomotive's shadow as it approaches. Can you spot it?

PLEASE DROP A COMMENT!

No Man's Land

We had decided to go on a trip to Baarle-Hertog, a very peculiar Belgian village in the Netherlands… We were going there because we had planned to go to an American cars gathering in Antwerp.



Here, my parents are one foot on the Belgian ground, and the other on the Dutch territory. If you wonder why they're laughing, that's because my brother — who was also on both lands simultaneously but behind me — just said: "J'ai une couille aux Pays-Bas et une en Belgique". What a silly ass!

We walked in the village, crossing the borderline several times. We even didn't know in which land we were walking… We could only guess by keeping an eye on road signs: Belgian ones are quite different from Dutch ones. After this relatively short walk in this peculiar village, we headed for the car, and drove to Antwerp.

Half an hour later, we arrived in the east suburds of the city. We wanted to go to the Cokerillkaai (Cockerill Quay), more to the west. We had to drive through the city. What a bad idea: today is Saturday, the day Flemish people go shopping around. There was a long traffic jam, mostly due to overnumerous traffic lights. But in the end, we arrived in the neighbourhood of our destination: a gathering of American cars.

Only my brother and I bought a ticket: it cost 16 € for both of us; my parents didn't feel like going there, they'd better walk instead. We walked on the quays where 300 to 400 American cars were parked, mostly coming from Belgium and the Netherlands, but also from Germany, France and Luxemburg.

The most popular car among owners seemed to be the Chevrolet Corvette, from the first model from the 1950s (the "Sting Ray") to the most recent one. There were cabrios, vans, coupés, trucks, ambulances, police cars, taxis, limos and other American stuff you coudn't even imagine (even a couple of funeral cars with a coffin inside them…). Everything. Everything but what we were coming for: not a single DeLorean!! Oh no! Last year, ten DeLoreans had gathered on the occasion of this American cars festival. But after all, maybe they'd come tomorrow… Oh no!

We were a bit disappointed, but it let us more time to look at vehicules that we don't usually see on the roads. We took a look on various cars, among which a brand-new Ford GT, attracting lots of people, but also that car which looked so amazingly like that of the character of Roy Neary (played by Richard Dreyfuss) in Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Spielberg. It even had a licence plate from Wyoming on the front bumper, even though it had a Belgian oldtimer plate at the back.

To conclude, I won't say much about the public: people trying to live in the American way. I mean the redneck way of life…

A Good Reason To Buy A DeLorean

You wanna know a reason to buy a DeLorean? Well, it's more convenient if you're in a parking lot where cars are close to each other…



Of course, I'd fear for my car when the other car's owner opens his own door to get in his/her car…

The DeLorean: "Live the Dream"

I told you last Wednesday that I was going to go to Brussels in order to meet Christopher Lloyd at the BIFFF. I did. I met one of my favourite actors. But I haven't uploaded the pictures yet, so that I can write a post about it. Meanwhile, I will briefly give a preview of what you're going to read in one week's time or so.

I went to Brussels with my parents on Thursday 12 April. We went eating crisps at the Atomium's fritkot, and then we went to Tour & Taxi, where the event took place. It was 6 o'clock, and Mr. Lloyd was to arrive at 8 pm. Round 7.30, a DeLorean arrived!!! My favourite car!!! The one that, precisely, we see in the Back to the Future trilogy!!!

That was the preview.

Now a little bit more about DeLoreans, or, more precisely, the DeLorean DMC-12. Here's a fine video that explains the main lines of the phenomenon.



I'd like to have one of them. Ok, I first have to have the money. So, I have to get a good job. That's why I'm working hard. Unfortunately, they're scarce in Europe, and their importation is nearly impossible, due to bureaucratic fuss — don't worry, I'll tell you about it.

There are only 21 DeLoreans in Belgium. Here's another, broadcast on VRT (Flemish television) in the summer of 2006. It's a shame I discovered it two days ago…



As an exercise, I decided to transcribe it… The fact is that they talk a bit too fast, but I could pause and transcribe what they were saying. But when who have a speaker who hesitates and overuses "online planning" device in order to "fill in the air" just the time he's thinking about what he's gonna say, then you're in trouble if Flemish is not your mother tongue… That guy named Andy is hardly understandable. Hence the "???" for the words that I don't understand or that I can't even deduce from context. Please help me, if you do understand it!!! Or if you find mistakes, I'd be glad to correct them.

Terug naar de toekomst

Andy:"Ik moest erkennen … tijdreizen … eigenlijk wat dacht er rooslicht is erg, denk ik heel zo belangrijk, denk ik, ik vind het meer belangrijkere van…van euh… vooruit te kunnen gaan en stilstaan en …??, ja."

Zondag is Poperinge the place to be voor de trotse eigenaars van een oldtimer. Frederik, Andy en Benny hebben er een van een heel speciale soort: een DeLorean van 1981 wa namelijk de ster in de film Back to the Future.

Frederik: "Het was allemaal begonnen toen ik was klein manneke toen ik voor de eerste keer Back to the Future zag. Het was al spectaculair op zich. Ik dacht dat de auto eigenlijk speciaal voor de film was gebouwd voor de film zelf. Maar dat bleek niet het geval te zijn."

Andy: "DeLorean heb ik leren kennen toen ik een videobank kreeg van een vriend waarop een film stond; ik heb naar die film gekeken, en die film had blijven doorlopen. En op het ??? daarop … stond een andere film achter eigenlijk, en toen heb ik die voor de eerste keer de DeLorean gezien."

Frederik: "Er is die beroemde scène waar die… waar een vrachtwagen stond op een parking, de Twin Pine Mall, en die deur gaat open, en die DeLorean is voor de eerste keer uitgereden. Het eerste wat ik dacht: "Als ik later groot ben, ?? ook zo één."

Andy:"Als ??? toekom, ik parkeer de wagen, en zwaai die deuren open. Het eerste wat de mensen meestal vragen is zo van een typische vraag: "Kan je ook tijdreizen?", of "Kan je ook vliegen?". Dat zijn meestal… dat was eigenlijk op die tijd een optie op deze wagen, dus…"

"— Die film Back to the Future nooit gezien?"
— O, ja, ja, ja!
— Dat is 'm. Dat is 'm.
— Ja, Bake to die Fjutch, ja…
— Vleugeldeuren…
— Ja.
— … Inox.
— Ja."

Frederik:"Het is 'n heel plezant gevoel met die auto te rijden: het is een betaalbaar wagen, hij valt sowieso alop."

Andy:"Ik denk dat het… een soort van, een soort van ziekte is die wagen, da's toch een gezonde ziekte van maar zijn."

Benny:"Die eigenaars van DeLoreans, die zijn wel op zij mi … gelijk zielen te zoemen, omdat we praten toch altijd over hetzelfde…"

Frederik:"Het is een deel van de autocultuur, zowel als de Amerikaans als de Europese markt, en daarenbovende dankzij de films van Back to the Future is het op een film gekomen."

Frederik:"Als ik zo kunnen terugkeren naar de tijd, zal ik proberen terug te gaan naar de jaren waar de DeLorean gebouwd werd en al de brochures en al de informatie die toen op de markt was, bij mij houden, want die halen fortuinen op internet."

Benny:"Als je naar de toekomst wil gaan, in tijd… in tijd reizen, da moet je met 'n DeLorean, dat kan nie me 'n andere wagen…"

Keikoptreffen: nu zondag in Poperinge.

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I also like monster trucks (it's sooo stupid). Look, a DeLorean-Monster Truck does exist!!



I think the owner's got a combover…

That's all, folks.