How Back to the Future’s Uncle Joey Landed Himself in Prison

How Back to the Future’s Uncle Joey Landed Himself in Prison

The Back to the Future film franchise had several running jokes, but one left viewers with an unanswered question: why was Uncle Joey in jail?

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How Back to the Future’s Uncle Joey Landed Himself in Prison

Marty McFly’s adventures in the DeLorean to both the past and future in the Back to the Future film series helped him learn various pieces of information about his family. But his frequent use of time travel still left viewers with an unanswered question about his mother’s younger brother. When Marty traveled back to 1955, he became acquainted with his high school-aged mother — almost too closely acquainted — which is when viewers first met Uncle Joey. Marty and Joey later bonded due to their small age difference and the trouble they both would get into.

Since Joey is 15 years younger than Lorraine, he was in a crib when Marty first encountered him. Once they met, Marty cracked a joke about how Joey should get used to being behind bars in reference to the bars on the crib and the fact that Joey was in jail in 1985. While his arrest was a running joke across all three Back to the Future films, fans never really found out how Uncle Joey earned the title “Jailbird Joey.”

How Back to the Future’s Uncle Joey Landed Himself in Prison

Another running joke across the Back to the Future films was how Joey would be repeatedly denied parole no matter what timeline Marty was in. Lorraine even baked a celebratory cake for his release, but it was all for naught when Joey wasn’t released from prison after all. In the alternative reality of 1985, Biff also threatened to send Lorraine’s kids to prison with their Uncle Joey if she ever thought about leaving him. Even when Biff owned the police, his brother-in-law Joey remained behind bars.

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While Joey was frequently referenced in the Back to the Future film franchise, the reason behind his arrest was never addressed. That is until the 2017 comic Back to the Future: Time Served #1 – Volume 5 by the film’s co-writer, Bob Gale. Although the comics aren’t technically canon to the films, they still address the age-old question of Joey’s criminal charges.

The comic was set 13 years before the events of the first Back to the Future film and detailed Joey’s criminal activity. In 1972, Biff and his gang employed Joey to break into Doc Brown’s (future The Mandalorian star Christopher Lloyd) mother’s home to steal the inheritance Doc received after his father’s death. Doc’s father was rumored to be ridiculously rich, so it would have been a big pay-out if everything had gone to plan. It was a one-man mission for $85,000 for Joey, resulting in his arrest and hefty prison sentence. Biff and his gang got off scot-free since their involvement was never revealed.

Despite his crimes, Uncle Joey was still a huge role model for Marty as a child. Marty would even brag about his uncle’s crimes to his kindergarten class. Somewhere down the line, Marty stopped looking up to his favorite uncle. Unlike viewers, he likely learned the truth about Joey. It’s still surprising that even with three spectacular sci-fi films, the reason for Joey’s imprisonment was never talked about. Although, Marty had bigger problems than his jailbird uncle — like ensuring his future existence.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/uncle-joey-prison-back-to-the-future/

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