Back to the Future Monologues

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?

The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?

You know, Marty, I'm gonna be very sad to see you go. You've really made a difference in my life. You've given me something to shoot for. Just knowing that I'm going to be around to see 1985. That I'm gonna succeed in this!

That I'm gonna have a chance to travel through time!

It's gonna be really hard waiting 30 years before I can talk to you about everything that's happened in the past few days. I'm really gonna miss you, Marty.

No! Marty! We've already agreed that having information about the future can be extremely dangerous. Even if your intentions are good, it can backfire drastically!

Whatever you've got to tell me, I'll find out through the natural course of time.

Let me show you my plan for sending you home. Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it.

No, no, no, no, no, this sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.

Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists. They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and, in turn, gave them a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts. Come on! Let's get you a radiation suit. We must prepare to reload.

No wonder your president has to be an actor. He's gotta look good on television.

This is it! This is the answer. It says here that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clock tower at precisely 10:04 p.m. next Saturday night! If… If we could somehow harness this lightning… channel it into the flux capacitor… it just might work. Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!

Now, remember. According to my theory, you interfered with your parents' first meeting. If they don't meet, they won't fall in love, they won't get married and they won't have kids. That's why your older brother's disappearing from that photograph. Your sister will follow, and unless you repair the damage, you'll be next.

Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles per hour, the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine.

I'm sure that in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by.

I, Dr. Emmett Brown, am about to embark on an historic journey.

What am I thinking of? I almost forgot to bring extra plutonium. How do I ever expect to get back? One pellet, one trip. I must be out of my mind.

What is it Einie?

Oh, my God. They found me. I don't know how, but they found me. Run for it, Marty!

Who do you think? The Libyans!

Why, that's me! Look at me! I'm an old man! Thank God I've still got my hair.

Don't you lose those tapes now. I need that as a record.

Let's put this back here. There we go. Whoop! I almost forgot my luggage. I mean, who knows if they've got cotton underwear in the future. I'm allergic to all synthetics.

That's right. 25 years into the future. I've always dreamed of seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind.

I'll also be able to see who wins the next 25 World Series.

Marty, that is completely out of the question. You must not leave this house. You must not see anybody or talk to anybody. Anything you do can have serious repercussions on future events. Do you understand?

Things have certainly changed around here. I remember when this was all farmland as far the eye could see. Old man Peabody owned all of this. He had this crazy idea about breeding pine trees.

Now, if my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles an hour, you're going to see some serious shit!

He's fine! And he's completely unaware that anything happened. As far as he's concerned, the trip was instantaneous. That's why his watch is exactly one minute behind mine. He skipped over that minute to instantly arrive at this moment in time. Come here. I'll show you how it works.

First, you turn the time circuits on. This readout tells you where you're going, this one tells you where you are, this one tells you where you were. You input your destination time on this keypad. Say you wanna see the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

That was the day I invented time travel. I remember it vividly. I was standing on the edge of my toilet, hanging a clock. The porcelain was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink. And when I came to, I had a revelation. A vision. A picture in my head. A picture of this. This is what makes time travel possible. The flux capacitor.

It's taken me almost 30 years and my entire family fortune to realize the vision of that day. My god, has it been that long?

Okay, now, we run some industrial-strength electrical cable from the top of the clock tower, down, suspending it over the street between these two lampposts. Meanwhile, we've outfitted the time vehicle with this big pole and hook, which runs directly into the flux capacitor. At the calculated moment, you start off from down the street, driving directly towards the cable, accelerating to 88 miles per hour. According to the flyer, at precisely 10:04 p.m. this Saturday night, lighting will strike the clock tower, electrifying the cable, just as the connecting hook makes contact, thereby sending 1.21 gigawatts into the flux capacitor and sending you back to 1985. All right, now. Watch this. You wind up the car and release it. I'll simulate the lightning.

This is the exact time you left. Let's send you back at exactly the same time. It'll be like you never left. Now, I painted a white line on the street, way over there. That's where you'll start from. I've calculated the precise distance, taking into account the acceleration speed and wind resistance retroactive from the moment the lightning strikes, which will be in exactly 7 minutes and 22 seconds.

When this alarm goes off, you hit the gas.

Ah! What did I tell you? 88 miles per hour! The temporal displacement occurred exactly 1:20 a.m. and zero seconds!

Calm down, Marty. I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both Einstein and the car are completely intact.

The appropriate question is, "*When* the hell are they?" You see, Einstein has just become the world's first time traveler! I sent him into the future. One minute into the future to be exact. And at precisely 1:21 a.m. and zero seconds, we shall catch up with him and the time machine.

You'll have to forgive the crudeness of this model. I didn't have time to paint it or build it to scale.

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious stuff.

Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.

Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?

So you're my Uncle Joey. Better get used to these bars, kid.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?

I g-guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.

No, wait, Doc. Doc. The-the-the bruise on your head, I know how that happened. You told me the whole story. You were standing on your toilet and you were hanging a clock, and you fell and you hit your head on the sink. And that's when you came up with the idea for the flux capacitor,

which is what makes time travel possible.

If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

What happens to us in the future? Do we become assholes or something?

Oh. One other thing. If you guys ever have kids, and one of them, when he's eight years old, accidentally sets fire to the living room rug... go easy on him.

Dear Dr. Brown. On the night that I go back in time, you will be shot by terrorists. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this terrible disaster. Your friend, Marty.

Hey, hey, I've seen this one. I've seen this one. This is a classic. This is, uh, where Ralph dresses up as a man from space.

This is heavy-duty, Doc. This is great. Uh, does it run, like, on regular unleaded gasoline?

Lorraine. Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you had to act a certain way, but when you got there, you didn't know if you could go through with it?

Of course! The Enchantment Under the Sea dance! They're supposed to go to this. That's where they kiss for the first time.

But the car, Dad. I mean, he wrecked it. He totaled it. I needed that car tomorrow night, Dad. I mean, do you have any idea how important this was to me? Do you have any clue?

What if I send in the tape and they don't like it? I mean, what if they say I'm no good? What if they say, "Get outta here, kid. You got no future"? I mean, I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection. Jesus, I'm starting to sound like my old man!

My name is Lord Vader. I am an Extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan.

"Too loud." I can't believe it. I'm never gonna get a chance to play in front of anybody.

All right, okay, Jennifer. What if I send in the tape in and they don't like it? What if they say I'm no good? What if they say, "Get out of here kid. You've got no future"? I mean, I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection. Jesus, I'm starting to sound like my old man.

Check out that 4x4. That is hot. Someday, Jennifer. Someday. Wouldn't it be great to take that truck up to the lake? Throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back. Lie out underneath the stars.

No, get out of town. My mom thinks I'm going camping with the guys. Look, Jennifer, my mother would freak out if she knew I was going out with you, and I'd get the standard lecture about how she never did that kind of stuff when she was a kid. I mean, look, I think the woman was born a nun.

Look, Marvin, you gotta play. See, that's where they kiss for the first time on the dance floor. And if there's no music, they can't dance. If they can't dance, they can't kiss. If they can't kiss they can't fall in love, and I'm history.

This is uh... this is heavy duty, Doc, this is great. Does it run on, um, regular unleaded gasoline?

Look at this picture, my brother, my sister, & me. Look at her sweatshit, doc. Class of 1984

So, anyway, George, about Lorraine... she really likes you. She told me to tell you that she wants you to ask her to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

Look, George. I'm telling you, George, if you do not ask Lorraine to that dance, I'm gonna regret it for the rest of my life.

Damn it, Doc! Why did you have to tear up that letter? If I only had more time.

Wait a minute. I got all the time I want. I got a time machine! I can just go back early and warn him.

Tell her destiny brought you together. Tell her that she is the most beautiful girl you have ever seen in the world. Girls like that stuff.

Well, because, George, she wants to go with you. She just doesn't know it yet. That's why we gotta show her that you, George McFly, are a fighter. You're somebody who's gonna stand up for yourself, somebody who's gonna protect her.