Pepsi Free!
I was thinking about Back to the Future II today(it’s much more efficient than actually watching it,) and I realized just how closer we are to 2015 than we are to 1985, and just how totally off-base the writers were. It’s not really their fault, though. It’s hard to predict the future. For example, exactly how Nostradamus successfully predicted the advent of the TripleSteak Burrito continues to amaze and confound.
It is ironic, therefore, that the worst prediction of the future comes not in the movie that deals with the aforementioned future, but in the first Back to the Future movie. When Marty steps up to the counter of the 1955 cafe and is asked what he would like to drink, he requests a “Tab.” When denied(and rightly so,) he then asks for a “Pepsi Free.” The man behind the counter responds with, “If you want a Pepsi, pal, you’re gonna pay for it.”
Maybe this joke worked in 1985. Meanwhile, here in 2008, I find myself in total agreement with the cafe employee. No, Marty, we’re not giving you a tab, and you’re expected to pay for your own Pepsis.
