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November 22, 1989 was a big day for Back to the Future fans. No, it wasn’t the day that they traveled to in any of the three movies. It was the day the first sequel, Back to the Future Part II, came out in theaters.

Most people seem to agree that BTTF Part II is the better of the two sequels. But, as I learned when I was in first grade and was the only one to order the Sloppy Joe for lunch on the day it was offered as our cafeteria’s platter, I’m not most people. Since first seeing the trilogy as a child, there are three things I’ve known for certain: 1. The future isn’t written yet, 2. Marty McFly has more sexual chemistry with his mom than he does with Jennifer, and 3. Back to the Future Part III is a better movie than Back to the Future Part II. But, since I’m a reasonable man, and had almost nothing happening in my life last week, I decided to revisit both sequels and see if I stand by my controversial preference. So, buckle your seatbelts, dust off your Doc Brown impressions (I’ve been told mine sounds like Seinfeld), and let’s take a trip back to November 22, 1989!!! And also whatever day the third one came out in 1990!!! THE FLUX CAPACITOR, MAARTYYYYY!!!!!!!

[Author’s note: this blog post is meant to be read while driving at 88 miles per hour.]
[Editor’s note: Please don’t do that.]

I watched them both, and, no disrespect to Part II on its 25th anniversary, but I still think 24-year-old Part III is the superior film. Sure, Part II has more bells and whistles — the flying cars, the hoverboards, the Lea Thompson undressing under a waterfall scene… (Oh wait, I might have hallucinated that last one.) But in Part III we see more happen with the characters.

In this one, Marty travels back in time not by accident or because Doc tells him he has to, but because Doc is trapped in 1885 and he can’t stand to leave his friend behind. Once he’s there, we get to see him really confront his fear of being called a coward, and rise above it when he refuses to have a shootout with Biff’s shithead ancestor, Buford “Mad Dog”. We also get to see Michael J. Fox speak in an Irish brogue and wear a poncho. What else do you need?!

Doc has way more to do in this one than he does in Part II, in which his role seems to get reduced to telling Marty what’s going on. In the third one we get to see him be conflicted about returning to the time he was born in, giving us the idea that he was never really comfortable there, which is maybe why he was driven to invent the flux capacitor, WHICH! MAKES! TIME! TRAVEL! Eh, you get it. (Christopher Lloyd’s larynx must have been exhausted after making those movies.) And also in Part III, we get to see Doc work his game! (I’ll address the Steenburgen in the room in a moment.)

And while the vision of the future in Part II is certainly a blast to watch (excluding the Michael Jackson diner bit that’s unfortunately aged horribly), I also really like how Part III handles the old West thing. As a fan of classic Westerns, I enjoy the movie’s homages to Lee Marvin in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, and the cameos by well-known Western character actors Harry Carey,
Jr. and Dub Taylor (man, I am gonna get so laid after this post goes live).

OK, it’s Steenburgen time. We’ve seen Marty show his love for his girlfriend, Jennifer. But in Part III, Doc falls in love with fellow adorable science weenie, Clara Clayton (played by the majestic Mary Steenburgen), and it’s the best. I had forgotten just how fun it was to watch those two dorks flirt with each other, and it brings a sweetness and a fun to the story that I found to be lacking from the second one.

And can we talk about how great the train scene is? Yes, we can. I assert that Back to the Future Part III has the best climax of the entire series (excluding the one George McFly probably has in his pants while watching Lorraine get changed). The speeding locomotive pushing towards 88 miles per hour, the dead end at the ravine, Clara trying desperately to get Doc’s attention and win him back, when Clara finally gets Doc to look back and yells, “I love you!” I get chills. I might even have shed tears if my body was able to produce them.

Now, some people say Part II is superior to Part III based solely on their love of the iconic hoverboard, but let’s not forget: the coolest use of the hoverboard is in Part III! Marty throws it to Doc and he uses it to rescue Clara off the side of the train. In Part II it’s just used to rehash the same chase in the same location as the first one, whereas in Part III it saves the day! The third one has Christopher Lloyd and Mary Steenburgen on a hoverboard. I rest my case.

Back to the Future Part III is the only installment in the series not to end on cliffhanger, and it does a nice job of wrapping things up. Marty’s back in 1985 with Jennifer and has learned how to politely say no to a drag race, and Doc’s found the life he’s been searching for. At the beginning of the series, Huey Lewis tells us about the power of love, and at the end of it, Doc and Clara show it to us. Doc turns his back on a future that makes sense in favor of exploring the space-time continuum with a cute nerd from the old West in a time-dashing locomotive powered by steam, love, and a flux capacitor. A steam-burgen, if you will. A train that, incidentally, you don’t need no credit card in order to ride.

Brendan McLaughlin is a comedian and writer, most recently for Best Week Ever.

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Photos: Universal Pictures/Everett Collection