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Great new villain: Spoilers

alucard0667alucard0667
edited July 2011 in Back to the Future
Now that the series is done, what did everyone think of Edna as the main villain? I thought she was such a compelling and fresh villain, especially since Back to Future villains were always some version of Biff or his relatives. Edna was a villain that I literally went from hating her to feeling sorry for multiple times throughout the game.

There were moments where I truly felt sorry for her and almost understood her actions, but also hated her for all the horrible things she did that were just evil in way not even Biff showed. Running Doc over with the car and Doc realizing that Edna was always warped were the most powerful scenes to show just how evil can Edna go. Great villain and I think the way her story ends was the perfect balance for people who wanted her to be punished for her crimes and people who felt really sorry for her.

Comments

  • NekoiNekoi
    edited June 2011
    I really hated her.. and this make her a perfect villian! If I dislike these much a villian it mean, in my advice, that it was well done and in fact she was!
    She is hipocrit claiming to do bad things for the good sake of Hill Valley and that's was another great hit point for her.
    She is totally different from the the Tannen which are usually clumsy and stupid, she was smart! A very hard villian to go against! :D
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited June 2011
    I had a feeling that she was the Speakeasy Arsonist from the beginning, but I did have a hard time trying to justify her reasoning, but then when you got her confession...man, she sounded, in Doc's words, "batshit crazy."
  • Alstom1995Alstom1995
    edited June 2011
    She was a perfect villain, she fooled everyone and imo she's more evil than Biff!
    The writing and voice acting for her character gave the game a fantastic story.
  • ShadowX81ShadowX81
    edited June 2011
    Way too over the top and cartoony. Especially as an elderly woman. A good villian should be someone we love to hate. Not someone who legitimatly annoys us when she is on screen.
  • R.I.P-BillR.I.P-Bill
    edited June 2011
    I dunno, the one I had the most sympathy for was young Emmet. The saddest part of the game for me was when he started singing "I Don't Care" to himself while Marty climbed the Clocktower in Episode 4
  • lombrelombre
    edited June 2011
    I didn't like Edna much in Episode 3 (and the beginning of Ep 4). Far too exaggerated for my tastes. However, young Edna was a wonderful villain. She truly wanted to do good, and that made her a sympathetic character. She was evil, no doubt about it, but I still wanted things to work out for her.

    Even better in my opinion was the elderly Edna seen in Episode 5, simply because her insanity was a great look at what made her tick and what went wrong with her. Yet, she still thought she was doing good, insisting that is was really Doc and "Yakov"'s fault (loved that Smirnoff bit, by the way :p). Telltale definitely did a great job with her character, certain bits in Citizen Valley aside.
  • 63cohen63cohen
    edited June 2011
    I had a feeling she was the arsinist, especially when Kid kidnapped her and was going to kill her, claiming it was her (or something along those lines) and that Carl Sagan was innocent. How they hooked up, ... ugh. Don't really want to think about it, but at least she is happy like Citizen Brown wanted.

    No doubt I hated her guts, but it was only because she was so obviously trying to cover it up.
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited June 2011
    63cohen wrote: »
    I had a feeling she was the arsinist, especially when Kid kidnapped her and was going to kill her, claiming it was her (or something along those lines) and that Carl Sagan was innocent. How they hooked up, ... ugh. Don't really want to think about it, but at least she is happy like Citizen Brown wanted.

    No doubt I hated her guts, but it was only because she was so obviously trying to cover it up.

    How Edna and Kid hooked up:

    While stuck in jail with Kid as they awaited their respective trials, his personality probably rubbed off on her, but at first she probably just made it her life's goal to reform him, thus leading Kid to "run" into the arms of Biff's mother(don't really have another analogy for it), and when he was recaptured, Edna probably went after him hard. I'd think that eventually some of her righteousness rubbed off on Kid and some of Kid's joie de vive rubbed off on Edna, bringing them to a good middle ground as we saw. And somehow Edna got over her hatred of dogs, which is good news for Einstein. Odds are, after a time, they simply blocked out the memory of the time machine, or they couldn't mention it to Biff in the first place, which is why Biff would still be clueless about it in both 1955 and 1985.
  • Alstom1995Alstom1995
    edited June 2011
    63cohen wrote: »
    I had a feeling she was the arsinist, especially when Kid kidnapped her and was going to kill her, claiming it was her (or something along those lines) and that Carl Sagan was innocent.

    Yeah there's a bit when Matches I think it was says I found dynamite all over this building, and that's when Kid finds Edna planting it and she lies and says she was undercover reporting. I guess not!
  • Alstom1995Alstom1995
    edited June 2011
    lombre wrote: »
    I didn't like Edna much in Episode 3 (and the beginning of Ep 4). Far too exaggerated for my tastes. However, young Edna was a wonderful villain. She truly wanted to do good, and that made her a sympathetic character. She was evil, no doubt about it, but I still wanted things to work out for her.

    Even better in my opinion was the elderly Edna seen in Episode 5, simply because her insanity was a great look at what made her tick and what went wrong with her. Yet, she still thought she was doing good, insisting that is was really Doc and "Yakov"'s fault (loved that Smirnoff bit, by the way :p). Telltale definitely did a great job with her character, certain bits in Citizen Valley aside.

    I look at old Edna as character development. The first time we see her she's a cranky lonely old woman, and the fact she accuses you of attacking her when you leave her room also shows us that she's sneaky. Which kind of sets the scene for young Edna but she's completely different or so we think! ;) Things did work out for her though, instead of being a lonely cranky woman, her future self becomes more like her younger self and she gets together with Kid lol. I wonder if that makes her Edna Tannen now?
  • Alstom1995Alstom1995
    edited June 2011
    R.I.P-Bill wrote: »
    I dunno, the one I had the most sympathy for was young Emmet. The saddest part of the game for me was when he started singing "I Don't Care" to himself while Marty climbed the Clocktower in Episode 4

    I feel sorry for Hill Valley myself, it's been altered for better and for worse and now it's been burnt down! :D
  • Marty Mcfly IIIMarty Mcfly III
    edited June 2011
    I thought she was a really good villain, especially when she was young. She just seemed really believable. I hate it when villains are over exaggerated and unbelievable.
  • 63cohen63cohen
    edited June 2011
    Marty Mcfly III wrote: »
    I thought she was a really good villain, especially when she was young. She just seemed really believable. I hate it when villains are over exaggerated and unbelievable.

    I am not sure, is she a better villain that Biff? Quite possibly.
  • Alstom1995Alstom1995
    edited June 2011
    Well Biff has done a lot of things in the name of self gain, whereas Edna managed to destroy an entire town, corrupt and use Emmett to do her evil bidding ie create a police state, pervert the course of justice, try to reprogram her husband, and commit acts of arson. Even compared to The Tannen in 1876 she seemed more dangerous than he was, when she was standing there with the burning torch!
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited June 2011
    Biff isn't really evil. He's just an asshole.

    And Alstom, she refers to Biff as her stepson, so yes. She would be Edna Tannen.
  • bttf4444bttf4444
    edited June 2011
    Well, unless she chose to keep her own name - but I assume she would be a Tannen.
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited June 2011
    bttf4444 wrote: »
    Well, unless she chose to keep her own name - but I assume she would be a Tannen.

    Oh lord, I just realized. Poor Mr. Strickland would be related to Biff.
  • zelda42293zelda42293
    edited June 2011
    I really liked Edna! She had soooooo much evil deep inside! I wouldn't mind seeing her in the sequel. (Maybe not as the main villian though!)
  • ryannumber1gamerryannumber1gamer
    edited June 2011
    lets see here we will make a count of the bad stuff biff does and the bad stuff edna does

    Biff and his family,being a bully,forceing george to do his work,trying to act tough (cowboy tannen from bttf 3) and his griff trying to steal money from a bank but the timeline was changed to griff and his gang smashing into a clock tower and kid tannen for tax stuff and as danny parker puts it smelling like a piece of crap

    Edna,burned down hill valley,framed doc,didnt care if kid tannen killed doc,being a complete nutcase and shes just plain crazy ,tricked herself into thinking that she was helping hill valley,tried to kill doc and marty with a shotgun in ep 5,smashing a car into the police station,escaped police capture,turned hill valley into a police state,tried to brain wash everyone into becoming her zombies, tried to brain wash doc, and as danny parker said she was a overall pain in the ass

    so the biggest villan in bttf is EDNA
  • 63cohen63cohen
    edited June 2011
    I sorta wanted to see more of the Biff family trio, one Biff is nice, but three could have been a bit better executed story wise.
  • alucard0667alucard0667
    edited June 2011
    I agree that Edna is more evil than most of Biff's incarnations and relatives, but I think the corrupt and powerful Biff in 1985A could really give Edna a run for her money. He turned Hill Valley into a hell hole that was polluted with his toxic waste from his Industry and invested with gangs that murdered random people. Biff took his evil to the extreme when he murdered George, bought off all the police, and planned to kill anyone who asked about the sports almanac.

    That's really only the start though; legalizing gambling, keeping Nixon in office and prolonging Vietnam, blackmailing Lorraine into marrying and staying with him, abusing her, forcing her to get breast implants, and having Doc committed. This incarnation of Biff was truly pure evil personified; even the directors make note of that in the commentary. So while Edna is a great villain who is incredibly evil and misguided, I don't think anyone can really stand up to the amount of horror, abuse, and tragedy that Biff did in 1985A that not only affected Hill Valley, but the entire world. And he did it all with just a book.
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited June 2011
    alucard0667 wrote: »
    I agree that Edna is more evil than most of Biff's incarnations and relatives, but I think the corrupt and powerful Biff in 1985A could really give Edna a run for her money. He turned Hill Valley into a hell hole that was polluted with his toxic waste from his Industry and invested with gangs that murdered random people. Biff took his evil to the extreme when he murdered George, bought off all the police, and planned to kill anyone who asked about the sports almanac.

    That's really only the start though; legalizing gambling, keeping Nixon in office and prolonging Vietnam, blackmailing Lorraine into marrying and staying with him, abusing her, forcing her to get breast implants, and having Doc committed. This incarnation of Biff was truly pure evil personified; even the directors make note of that in the commentary. So while Edna is a great villain who is incredibly evil and misguided, I don't think anyone can really stand up to the amount of horror, abuse, and tragedy that Biff did in 1985A that not only affected Hill Valley, but the entire world. And he did it all with just a book.

    This is quite true. Alt Biff was incredibly evil. And he was the only incarnation of Biff that actually scared me a bit. Well, that and the insane look on '55 Biff's face as he tried to run down Marty. At least Edna had good intentions...
  • ryannumber1gamerryannumber1gamer
    edited July 2011
    alucard0667 wrote: »
    I agree that Edna is more evil than most of Biff's incarnations and relatives, but I think the corrupt and powerful Biff in 1985A could really give Edna a run for her money. He turned Hill Valley into a hell hole that was polluted with his toxic waste from his Industry and invested with gangs that murdered random people. Biff took his evil to the extreme when he murdered George, bought off all the police, and planned to kill anyone who asked about the sports almanac.

    That's really only the start though; legalizing gambling, keeping Nixon in office and prolonging Vietnam, blackmailing Lorraine into marrying and staying with him, abusing her, forcing her to get breast implants, and having Doc committed. This incarnation of Biff was truly pure evil personified; even the directors make note of that in the commentary. So while Edna is a great villain who is incredibly evil and misguided, I don't think anyone can really stand up to the amount of horror, abuse, and tragedy that Biff did in 1985A that not only affected Hill Valley, but the entire world. And he did it all with just a book.

    yes but biff only turned hill valley into a run down piece of crap while edna ACTALLY DESTORYED hill valley
  • chenbaiwanchenbaiwan
    edited July 2011
    alucard0667 wrote: »
    I agree that Edna is more evil than most of Biff's incarnations and relatives, but I think the corrupt and powerful Biff in 1985A could really give Edna a run for her money. He turned Hill Valley into a hell hole that was polluted with his toxic waste from his Industry and invested with gangs that murdered random people. Biff took his evil to the extreme when he murdered George, bought off all the police, and planned to kill anyone who asked about the sports almanac.

    That's really only the start though; legalizing gambling, keeping Nixon in office and prolonging Vietnam, blackmailing Lorraine into marrying and staying with him, abusing her, forcing her to get breast implants, and having Doc committed. This incarnation of Biff was truly pure evil personified; even the directors make note of that in the commentary. So while Edna is a great villain who is incredibly evil and misguided, I don't think anyone can really stand up to the amount of horror, abuse, and tragedy that Biff did in 1985A that not only affected Hill Valley, but the entire world. And he did it all with just a book.

    Well... if it's any credit to Edna... she WAS exporting Citizen Valley's practices to cities across America and to Singapore, now Hill Valley's sister city.
    Shadowknight1 wrote: »
    This is quite true. Alt Biff was incredibly evil. And he was the only incarnation of Biff that actually scared me a bit. Well, that and the insane look on '55 Biff's face as he tried to run down Marty. At least Edna had good intentions...

    You could say that Edna's a good example of a road to Hell being paved with good intentions. Citizen Valley is the perfect counter to Hell Valley.

    But...as for Biff and Edna themselves... well...:

    - Biff, on his own power, managed to ruin the lives of George McFly and his family...
    - Biff is powered by his selfishness.
    - Managed to bring more anarchy into the world with a book.

    - Edna, just managed to ruin her own... and whoever owned all of those speakeasies.
    - Edna's powered by a perverted sense of selflessness.
    - Managed to bring more authoritarian rule to the world with her husband's intellect.
    edit: Or... with a kiss... depending on where you think this all started.
    Personally I think they're perfect foils to for each other.
  • VeryToriVeryTori
    edited July 2011
    I would personally rather have Hill Valley destroyed than Biff Valley. But I would rather not have either of those! Both of them are evil, but keeping their intentions in mind and what they tried to do, Biff is more evil. At first, I thought Edna was more evil. Then everyone reminded me of all that Biff did before They went back to 1955. The Biff Valley is my least favorite part of the trilogy. It is scary! They did a good job in making it as scary as possible. The only thing that could make it worse is there are attack dogs attacking every person in town and a person killed every minute! That is sad.
  • Martin McFlyMartin McFly
    edited July 2011
    Young Edna was the perfect villain. She had such a warped idea of how things 'should be' that she ultimately became what she set out to get rid of. Her character development was well constructed and was definitely interesting to see unfold. I especially liked the way she
    described the burning saloon in alternate '31
    . Very unnerving.

    Doc said it best; she is, without a doubt, "batshit crazy".
  • Magic EmperorMagic Emperor
    edited July 2011
    I always suspected Edna as the arsonist. That unimportant display of self-satisfaction aside! I hate Edna's guts and I wish I could punch her right in the face, which means that she succeeded in being a hiss-worthy villain. I never once felt sympathy for her, even when her feelings were hurt in Episode 4. Guess I'm an 'eye for an eye' kind of guy...
  • Shadowknight1Shadowknight1
    edited July 2011
    Martin McFly wrote: »
    Doc said it best; she is, without a doubt, "batshit crazy".

    Yes indeed.
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