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Back to the Future 2 writer Bob Gale reveals Universal provided Netflix with the censored version of the movie, so the streamer isn't to blame.

Back to the Future Part II writer Bob Gale tells fans Universal is responsible for the controversial censored version, not Netflix where it streamed. The firstBack to the Future premiered in 1985, directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis, and grossed more than $350 million at the box office. The film starred Canadian-American actor Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a boy who travels back in time to 1955. He's joined by his eccentric friend, scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in the now-iconic modified Delorean. Lea Thompson plays Marty's mom in the past and present, thanks to prosthetics, like Crispin Glover in the role George McFly, Marty's dad.

Though initially conceived as a stand-alone film, the popularity led to a franchise that continued withBack to the Future Part IIin 1989, which filmed consecutively with the third installment.Back to the Future Part IIIreleased the following year, in 1990. Some regard the second film as not only one of Zemeckis' best works, but one of the best sequels of all time. Gale wrote most of the first draft forPart II alone, while Zemeckis completed work onWho Framed Roger Rabbit?.Pre-production set construction and developing convincing aging prosthetics took around two years before principal filming began.

Related:What Michael J. Fox Has Done Since Back To The Future

Gale spoke withTHRabout an edited version ofBack to the Future Part II streaming on Netflix. Thealtered sceneappears when Marty finds the French lingerie magazine,Oh La La,within the sports almanac dustcover. In the censored version, the scene is shortened, and the cover of the magazine isn't shown. The almanac becomes a major plot point for the movie, so cutting out two linesthatprovide context for the film to edit out the magazine cover is a problem.

However,Gale revealed the censorship was the work of the film's original distributor, Universal Pictures, who provided Netflix with that version. Neither Gale nor Zemeckis knew the cut existed until it appeared on Netflix. The writer emphasized that Netflix does not edit films from other studios and did not blame them for the situation. He also explained it was a foreign version of the film, "for some country that had a problem with the Oh La La magazine cover."Gale even took it a step further and asked that Universal destroy that version ofBack to the Future Part II.

The edits seemed surprising when first announced, as Netflix isn't known for withholding graphic or sexual content. The truth that the cut came from Universal, used for foreign distribution, and makes far more sense. While one could wrap their mind around editing out the cover to make the film "more family-friendly," removing the two lines which frame the discovery of the almanac and its role in the film is a disservice to the fans consumingBack to the Future Part IIfor the first time. The experience underscores the control of studios over the work of directors, as well as the ability to alter a finished product and potentially alter its legacy.Netflix now has the original, unedited versions of all three filmsstreaming.

Next:Back To The Future: All Three Movies, Ranked Worst To Best

Source: THR

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Maki Zatychies is a freelance writer based in Ontario, Canada, with a BAh in English and an MA in creative non-fiction from the University of Guelph. Alex Trebek is her lord, and she worships at the altar of Jeopardy! Her consumption of media, literature, and pop culture ranges from excessive to compulsive. She lives in a hobbit hole with her mini-Rex rabbit, Sawyer.

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Netflix Didn't Censor Back To The Future 2, Universal Did - Screen Rant

Republican Sen. Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzState Department scrutiny threatens Pompeo's political ambitions 125 lawmakers urge Trump administration to support National Guard troops amid pandemic Parties gear up for battle over Texas state House MORE (Texas) threatened to stop federal agencies from cooperating with Hollywood productions Thursday during a speech he made on the Senate floor.

The senator was introducing a new piece of legislation, the SCRIPT Act, that seeks to hamper the modification of American movies in China.

It is a common practice for major studios to make their films palatable to consumers in the Asian country. However, Cruz called the edits acts of censorship and compared them to foreign propaganda.

The senator said he is vigilant about the Chinese governments attempts to censor and silence elsewhere, including our own nation.

The bill would ban all federal agencies from participating in productions that "censor" or change American films for Chinese consumption. A previous version of the bill only prohibited participation by the Department of Defense.

Filmmakers rely on the government for the use of things like government logos, military bases, aircraft carriers and federal buildings to film content for TV and movies centered on topics like the armed forces and space exploration.

The senator used the example of actor Tom Cruises character in the forthcoming sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

He noted the characters jacket was missing Japanese and Taiwanese flags in promotional images and trailers, which he believes was done to please Chinese censors.

What message does it send that Maverick, an American icon, is apparently afraid of the Chinese communists? Cruz said. Thats ridiculous.

The bill comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China,as President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump anti-reg push likely to end up in court Biden set to make risky economic argument against Trump Hillicon Valley: Tech companies lead way on WFH forever | States and counties plead for cybersecurity assistance | Trump weighing anti-conservative bias panel MORE has blamed the country for the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump's reelection campaign has also said it plans to make former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden set to make risky economic argument against Trump Hillicon Valley: Tech companies lead way on WFH forever | States and counties plead for cybersecurity assistance | Trump weighing anti-conservative bias panel What does Joe Biden believe about NASA, space exploration and commercial space? MORE's (D) past relationship with China a central pressure point during the upcoming election.

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Cruz threatens to stop federal agencies from cooperating with Hollywood over China 'censorship' | TheHill - The Hill

The editors at the prominent science journal BioEssays recently published an editorial demanding government-mandated censorship of intelligent design. My colleagues and I had expected something like this before long. They singled out Evolution News in particular as a being in need of prejudicial treatment from the huge tech companies that dominate electronic media. If giants like Google or Facebook hesitate, then says biologist Dave Speijer, the government should Make them.

The threat is no joke. You were aware that censors are already at work suppressing other ideas on the Internet that they dont like. Intelligent design was next in line.

What can you do to make a meaningful statement in favor of free speech? Heres an idea: Get a copy of the new book from Discovery Institute Press, Evolution & Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, the most accessible and up-to-date introduction to ID thats ever been released. It goes on sale today on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle formats.

The five authors, led by Thomas Y. Lo, cover the range of evidence for design in under 150 pages. The origin of the universe, the origin of life, the Cambrian explosion, and more theres no subject we cover at Evolution News that is left out, but it is all treated in a way that anyone can understand.

Why is it an effective counter to the bullies at BioEssays who want to shut down views that point to an underlying purpose in the cosmos?

As Dr. Lo writes in his Introduction, shuffling objective evidence of design under the rug is something that science textbooks have been doing for decades. He tells a moving story about his own journey to maturity as a scientist and as a religious believer, how his Christian faith unraveled when he was a young man, only to be regained as he realized what had been left out of his education: cosmological evidence of creation ex nihilo at the Big Bang, the fine-tuning of the universe, the truth about 19th-century German zoologists Ernst Haeckels classic embryo drawings, the puzzle of the Cambrian event that Charles Darwin acknowledged but that the textbooks papered over or ignored altogether.

He recalls one scientist, University of San Francisco biologist Paul Chien, whom he heard give a lecture thirty years ago. Dr Chien explained the challenge of the Cambrian explosion to standard Darwinian accounts of evolution. Today, Dr. Chien contributed a chapter to the Nutshell book that includes his own personal stories of visiting key Cambrian fossil sites.

The textbooks leave most or all of this out. In the same tradition, todays censors are bent on keeping minds closed. But they are more dangerous because of the way technology has turned social media platforms into potential bottlenecks.

So get Evolution & Intelligent Design in a Nutshell for yourself, or share it with a friend, or with a student. The book is just in time because, under an endless lockdown in many places, theres a bull market for studying at home. You might have a high school student in your household, or a college student, who would benefit from the insights and crystal-clear presentation of Lo, Chien, and their co-authors, Eric Anderson, Robert Alston, and Robert Waltzer.

Arguments for intelligent design, conveyed in weighty tomes, can be daunting for the learner seeking an introduction. As chemist Marcos Eberlin quips, evolutionists hope you dont know chemistry. Sometimes it seems that ID proponents assume that you know not only chemistry, but biology, physics, mathematics, computer engineering, and philosophy, just for starters. Thomas Lo has done a service by cutting through much detail to the core of intelligent design.

For more on BioEssays and its call for suppression, see here:

You are not powerless. Stick it to the censors by ordering your copy now.

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Here's How to Fight Censorship In a Nutshell - Discovery Institute

Video sharing platformTikTok doesnt have a good track record when it comes to censorship. The app has previously come under fire for banning LGBTQ+ content in certain countries, blocking a user who criticised China, and suppressing posts by users it deemed ugly, poor, or disabled. Now, users are fighting back and standing in solidarity with black creators, who are unfairly penalised by TikTok.

Yesterday (May 19), TikTok users partook in a one-day black out on the app, in which they changed their profile pictures to the black power symbol, only followed and liked content from black creators, and urged non-black allies to avoid posting videos that day.

Dubbed the #ImBlackMovement, the idea came from Black Lives Matter Utah founder, Lex Scott, who posted a video on May 7 calling on creators to participate in the protest. Scott urged black users to create at least one video that brings awareness to the racism on TikTok. She added: This video can speak about how black creators are banned, how videos are being taken down, and how white racists are allowed to flourish.

TikTok users have frequently complained that their For You pages which offer a stream of content based on your previous activity rarely include creators of colour. But on Tuesday, the app was flooded with black power fists and videos from POCs, all hashtagged with#blackout2020,#blackvoicesheard,#iamblack, and more.

Speaking toCNN, Scott said: Watching the entire feed filled with black creators and artists is beyond emotional. This is powerful. Today is a moving day. It is beautiful beyond words. Users were also commenting on videos, proclaiming that their feeds were almost entirely dominated by creators of colour.

TikTok previously addressed criticisms of its moderation policies which the app admitted does censor certain users explaining that the rules represented an early blunt attempt at preventing bullying.

Watch some of the videos from yesterdays black out below.

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TikTok users protest the unfair censorship of black creators - Dazed

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company's board.

On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a "new independent director" with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google's image if news broke about the company's work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China's censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

When she took the helm of Google's new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan "stay true to our founding mission" and said that "China has awakened." In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

Caption reads: "Li Fei-fei returns to the motherland to take charge of the Google AI Chinese team: Stay true to our founding mission, China has awakened." (Screenshot of Weibo post)

A week after Li joined Twitter, a Chinese writer who goes by the handle Caijinglengyan (), discovered that four of his accounts were simultaneously deleted on May 18. He did not receive an explanation until May 23, when he was told his accounts had been taken down for violating Twitter's rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts.

He countered that he had only posted content on one of the accounts and used the other to retweet the original post. He pointed out that Twitter does not have a policy precluding a person from having more than one account.

The writer stated that he believes the real reason for his account cancellations was that, on May 17, he tweeted that Twitter's new board member has a "red background." In the post, he alleged that she is a member of a student association affiliated with the CCP's United Front and has close ties with "Second Generation" and "Third-Generation Reds."

Caijinglengyan claimed that many other Twitter accounts used by Chinese dissidents were suddenly suspended without notice. After he contacted them, he found that they had also criticized Li or started commenting about Li just before their accounts were banned.

The writer listed @beacon__news () and @kevinheaven9 (Calvin) as other Twitter users who found their Twitter accounts suddenly shut down. He claimed that one Twitter user simply wrote "Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run," and soon found that both his primary account and secondary account had been suspended.

French-based Chinese dissident Wang Longmeng () wrote that Twitter's ban on those who criticized Li and exposed her background "was undoubtedly related to Li Feifei's appointment as a director, because criticism and negative information were banned, which is Beijing characteristic," reported Liberty Times. He believes that Twitter was quickly "dyed red" after Li took charge.

On May 20, a petition was created on the White House website titled "Call for a thorough investigation on Twitter's violation of freedom of speech." The creator of the petition wrote that Twitter is suppressing criticism of the CCP and suspending dissident accounts while pro-Beijing accounts remain unscathed.

The petition listed May 18 as a date when many "anti-CCP" Twitter users found their accounts permanently suspended. The author of the document pointed out Li's involvement with Project Maven and alleged that she was engaged in extensive military-technical programs while running Google's AI center in Beijing.

The document then alleged that Li continues to have "close ties with top leaders of the CCP." The petition closed by calling on the U.S. government to investigate "Twitter's violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. FeiFei Li's collaborations with the CCP, a threat to national security."

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Petition calls for investigation into Twitter... - Taiwan News