Now for the slow reveal. For though we told you, quite rightly, that there were no cards for the first film, and that the first cards were by Topps, for the second film, there were stickers for the first film, and here is one of them.
These were by Panini, and were issued in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the U.S.A. Oddly Panini were only the distributors of the American version - Minicards Ltd had ours, Scanlens Confectionery had Australia, and the O-Pee-Chee Company had Canada. This information comes from the official album, with thirty two pages, in which you peeled the front from the back and stuck the sticky side into place next to or above its description. That is why there are no descriptions on the reverses. The subjects were a mixture of stills from the movie and and photos taken behind the scenes during filming.
The stickers were bought from newsagents and other suppliers, in a packet of ten, which had the same front cover as the album, Marty McFly looking at his watch
The album cost 20p, and has a bit of a cult following with car collectors too, because the centre spread is all about the DeLorean. It shows the car as a blue picture with the gull wings extended upwards - and then there is a two card spread showing the back of the car, and a four card spread showing the same shot of the car except the cards are in colour.
Anyway, now a warning, because in the year 2000 the album and cards were reprinted. The reprint was only available in America, Australia and New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and it appears that it was sold as a complete item with the cards. I say this because though those cards are loose, there were also other items as part of the package, these being brochures and thicker larger colour plates. And most of the time all these additional items are sold with the reprint. Now if you had needed to collect those separately I do not think so many would have survived in such good condition. But if anyone disputes this please tell us the truth so we can pass it along to all.
Luckily these stickers were issued when they were, as they just squeeze inside the scope of our British Trade Index part III, RB.31, published in 1986. In there they are listed as :
Back to the Future. 76 x 54. Nd. (180) Dated 1985.