There it is, the real thing, Marty McFly’s actual hover board from Back to the Future Part II. Or it’s one of them, at least. The woman staffing the Comic-Con booth full of drool-worthy Hollywood artifacts informed me that the prop department made several hover boards, of which this is only one of several originals. They’ve sold a few before. She seemed confident that the sale would land between the $30,000 to $50,000 estimated cost, if not exceed it.
Sure, it doesn’t actually work as a hover board (my eight-year-old self is still waiting on that one) but it’s still very real, in another way. Comic-Con is truly an adolescent hedonist’s feast, but almost everything is simulated in one way or another. From big-budget Hollywood remakes of classic comics to the scintillating tease of 2-D cleavage displayed on innumerable posters and comic covers, to cutesy bobble-head versions of even the most bad-ass super heroes, it actually came as a surprise to see something genuine. That thing is the real hover board, or at least the real fake one they used in the movie. Oh well.
After the jump, another unattainable Hollywood artifact…
When I first saw the actual Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I couldn’t believe how crude it was! I mean seriously! I could make that prop with three dollars worth of crap from Hobby Lobby! Then I remembered scene… the cup of a humble carpenter, made of wood, and so on… it ended up being a very contemplative moment. Despite that, I still had an urge to smash the glass case, stuff the chalice in my ruck-sack, and swing away on my whip while yelling, “It belongs in a museum!!!!”