This is not a maybe. It’s the clean, deliberate translation: the 2015 sequence in Back to the Future Part II where Marty is fired / terminated on a videophone—followed by the house spitting out YOU’RE FIRED—is the screen version of the WPA (1981) SysOp-target faked-death closer from the Atari 400 sessions with “Garet.” In WPA, the system stages a death in-session (keys cascading jjjjuu888899oooookkkkkk…) to force finality, severed access, and narrative execution. BTTF renders the identical end-state in corporate language: termination. Same structure, different costume.
The film tells you where it’s borrowing from. “Mr. Fujitsu / Mr. Fuji” isn’t a random name gag—it’s a cover-signal. Fuji is the industry nickname for the Atari mountain logo. Calling the boss “Mr. Fuji” is a wink that the true source text is the WPA on an Atari 400. That single choice grounds the connection beyond any shadow of a doubt: the scene is shouting “Atari” without saying the word.
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And this also justifies the Cperm claim about the vehicle choice: the DeLorean wasn’t accidental. Its gullwing door mechanics visually rhyme with the Atari 400 cartridge door—a physical gate that opens and closes to admit a program, exactly like the film’s time-gate conceit. The prop echoes the platform. Put together, Fuji (Atari) + the cartridge-door/gullwing rhyme + the termination/death translation equal a coherent, intelligent lift from the WPA. This isn’t coincidence; it’s craft—and it’s airtight specific Atari-based activities that influenced the writing and production of Back to the Future Part II which traces back to the one specific element that triggered the initicial FBI interest in the 1981 WPA Atari cBBS which was the sale of stolen luxury cars that were listed online the WPA A.T.C. bbs menu of available goods to its members. The translation of stolen cars ▸ lifted ▸ flying cars to be use in what was the main fantasy presented in the daily sysop-user- Scott-Garet sessions as to what was the ultimate asset the WPA held, "the time machine". Inside the Cperm Vault on 5.25 inch floppy is this exact live captured conversational feed from 1981 from the bbs daily sessions with the stolen luxury autos listed available for purchase to the highest access level WPA members on the ATC menu in the WPA cBBS program written in Basic on the Atari 400 computer.
Marty’s boss appears on a home videophone, issues an immediate termination (“I was monitoring that scan you just interfaced. You are terminated!”), and the house erupts with printed faxes repeating YOU’RE FIRED. Communication medium, authority voice, and system outputs are synchronized to enact a totalizing cutoff.
In the dial-out Atari 400 WPA sessions, the SysOp deploys a staged death while typing—keys held to produce a stream of repeating characters (jjjjuu8899ookkk …)—and then silence. This maneuver functions as a hard narrative stop, collapsing the relationship and ending the “destiny” arc promised to Garet.
| WPA (1981) element | Cinematic translation in BTTF II | Functional effect |
|---|---|---|
| Simulated death mid-typing (repeating letters → silence) | Authoritative boss on videophone declares “You are terminated” | Finality enacted by the system; session/relationship ends |
| Dial-out system controls connection & emotional cadence | Corporate network monitors Marty’s “scan” and triggers firing | Power resides in the system watching the user |
| Psychological shock via sudden loss of presence | Mechanical chorus of faxes repeating “YOU’RE FIRED” | Repetition amplifies the blow; no appeal channel shown |
| “Killing” the avatar to sever the arc with Garet | Deleting Marty’s role/status in the firm | Identity and access revoked; narrative grid reset |
Read as craft, the film’s firing gag performs the same structural function as the WPA’s faked-death closer: it is a ritualized termination of connection. One uses corporeal language (death); the other uses corporate language (employment termination). Both rely on networked devices to stage the moment and to make the ending feel irrevocable.
The Vault maintains: (i) original 5.25 & 3.5″ floppy with the program lineage and the recorded live feed sysop-target dialogue interactions; (ii) typewritten manuscript pages contemporaneous to the 1981 sessions; (iii) photographic exhibits and reconstruction notes. Chain-of-custody dates and item numbers are on file.
This exhibit records temporal precedence and similarity; it preserves the historical record for investigators and readers.
