De Lorean time machine
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In the Back to the Future trilogy, the DeLorean time machine was the fictional time travelling vehicle used by "Doc" Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) to travel through the history of their hometown of Hill Valley, a fictional city located in Northern California. In the trilogy, the time machine was built by Doc from a regular DeLorean DMC-12 automobile which used various sources including plutonium and biofuels to generate the needed 1.21 gigawatts to power the critical component, the flux capacitor.
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[edit] Operation
The operation of the DeLorean time machine was consistent throughout all three movies. The operator sat inside the DeLorean and turned on the time circuits, activating a LED display which showed the destination, present, and last-departed dates and times. After entering a target date, the operator accelerated the car to 88 miles per hour (142 km/h) which activated the flux capacitor (see below). The car vanishes in a flash of blue light, leaving twin trails of fire; observers outside the vehicle saw it explode and disappear, while occupants saw a quick flash of light and instantaneously arrive at the target date in the same geographical location it was when it departed. Upon arriving at the destination, the DeLorean was extremely cold, with ice covering much of the exterior.
[edit] Equipment
[edit] Flux capacitor
The flux capacitor, which consisted of a regularly squared compartment with three flashing lights arranged as a "Y", was described by Doc as "what makes time travel possible". The device is the core component of Doctor Emmett Brown's fictional time traveling De Lorean DMC-12. The term flux capacitor has become commonly used slang or buzz word for a device whose operation might be too complicated to briefly explain, especially if it fails to operate properly, as in "The file server went down due to a flux capacitor problem."
The device was located between the headrests of the seats and, as the time machine neared 88 mph (142 km/h), light coming from the flux capacitor pulsed faster until it became a steady stream of light. Doc originally conceived the idea for the flux capacitor on November 5, 1955 when he slipped and hit his head on the sink while standing on the toilet to hang a clock. A smaller flux capicitor appears in Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Orlando
[edit] How it works
It is not described in the films exactly how the flux capacitor worked beyond that of a typical plot device or a typical deus ex machina device, though Doc mentioned at one point that the stainless steel body of the DeLorean has a direct and influential effect on the "flux dispersal", though he was interrupted before he could finish the explanation. The flux capacitor required 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to operate.
[edit] Fictional timeline
For most of the first film, the 1.21 gigawatts were supplied by a plutonium-powered nuclear reactor and, with the absence of plutonium, a bolt of lightning channeled directly into the flux capacitor in the film's climactic sequence. At the end of the first film and for the remainder of the trilogy, the plutonium nuclear reactor was replaced by a "Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor" generator acquired in the year 2015. An obvious parody of Mr. Coffee, the prop was built from a Krups coffee grinder. The "Mr. Fusion" device apparently converts household waste into electrical power. Due to a "hover conversion" made in 2015, the car also became capable of hovering and flight, though it lost this ability at the end of the second film.
In order to travel through time, the vehicle integrated with the flux capacitor needs to be travelling at 88 mph (141.6 km/h), and requires 1.21 gigawatts of power (1,210,000,000 watts), originally (from 1985 to 1955) supplied by a plutonium-powered nuclear reactor. However, for the time machine's return trip (from 1955 back to 1985), plutonium was not available, so a lightning rod was connected directly to the flux capacitor and was used while the vehicle sustained 88 mph. Plutonium was used once again for a trip forward in time at least 30 years, and at some point thereafter the plutonium reactor was replaced by a "Mr. Fusion" home energy generator from the future that was fueled by extracting hydrogen atoms from garbage.
The De Lorean once again came back to 1985 and proceeded to travel to 2015, where it was stolen and taken back to 1955 and returned back to 2015 without the Doc's knowledge. When they returned in 1985, they found it was a different present, so they traveled back to 1955 to fix the timeline. The De Lorean was again struck by lightning in the year 1955, this time by accident. The lightning created an overload and destroyed the time circuits, if you watch closely you will see that the 1885 date was already displayed before the lightning hit, after the LED read-outs flashed, this is a reference to earlier in the film when Doc exclaims that he needs to fix them (they also flash a random date before he hits it and they are corrected), contrary to popular belief the 1885 date was not caused by the lightning hitting the De Lorean. It was then hidden in the Delgado mine for 70 years, "... because suitable replacement parts will not be invented until 1947." This is presumably a reference to the invention of the transistor. It was recovered from the mine in 1955 and repaired by Doc Brown's 1955 counterpart, thus restoring it to working order. Since both gasoline and garbage were available, the next trip back to 1885 was performed under the car's own power.
Due to a broken fuel line, the De Lorean's final trip from 1885 to 1985 was partially powered by a steam locomotive pushing the vehicle up to 88 mph while using Mr. Fusion to generate the 1.21 gigawatts required to activate the Flux Capacitor and break the Time barrier. Doc returns to 1985 in a time machine made from a train. This uses a flux capacitor that Doc was able to power using steam.
[edit] "Jigowatt"
The power required is pronounced in the film as "one point twenty-one jigowatts," (as spelled in the script). This pronunciation of "gigawatt" (derived from the SI unit prefix giga- and meaning a thousand million watts) is one of several accepted variants. [1] Many amateur radio operators from that period pronounced "giga-" with an initial soft g, although it is more commonly pronounced with two hard g sounds as in "gig." Some people consider the "jigowatt" pronunciation amusing.
Regardless of the pronunciation, the only correct spelling is "gigawatt".
[edit] Mr. Fusion
The Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor is the name of a power source used by the De Lorean time machine in the Back to the Future trilogy. It can be seen towards the end of Back to the Future when "Doc" Emmett Brown pulls into the McFlys' driveway after a trip to the year 2015, and is an obvious parody of Mr. Coffee machines, which were very popular at the time of filming. Ironically, the coffee maker from which the prop was made was actually made by Krups.
The Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor converts household waste to power the time machine's flux capacitor and time circuits using nuclear fusion. (It is thought that this is cold fusion.) In the film, Mr. Fusion allows the De Lorean time machine to generate the required 1.21 gigawatts needed to travel to any point in time. The energy produced by Mr. Fusion replaces plutonium as the primary power source of the De Lorean's time travel and flight capabilities. However, as stated in Back to the Future III, the car is still driven by its original internal combustion engine. Just as with the flux capacitor itself, the Mr. Fusion may also be considered a deus ex machina, allowing the characters to sidestep the ardurous power-generation requirements that the plot of the first film hinged upon.
When the De Lorean is parked in a 2015 alleyway, a "Fusion Industries" machine is briefly seen.
[edit] Electronics
The phrase "flux capacitor" has appeared in more serious contexts. U.S. Patent 6,084,285 describes a "lateral flux capacitor having fractal-shaped perimeters". This device is a capacitor, some of whose capacitance exists between two conductors on a single layer (hence, "lateral"), within an integrated circuit. A hyphen in the name, as in "lateral-flux capacitor," would have made the meaning clearer; as it is a capacitor with lateral flux, not a "flux capacitor" that is lateral.
Flux is commonly used in electronics and electromagnetic theory and application, but rarely in the context of a capacitor. In general terms, flux simply means the rate at which some quantity (such as electric charge) passes through a surface (e.g. charge flux). It is speculated that the movie terminology is used fictitiously to represent a new and unknown type of flux.
While it is not generally called a "flux capacitor", the common inductor is a device whose function in many contexts, such as the switching power supply, is exactly that which a flux capacitor would have - it stores electrical energy as a magnetic flux for later retrieval. This way a pulsing current can be converted to a constant voltage higher or lower than the input voltage. Since the 1890s version of the flux capacitor (mounted on the train) is exactly that (a large coil of wire), it appears that this was not lost on the movie makers.
[edit] Translations
- The Spanish (Spain only) dubbing of the film mistranslated flux as the nonexistent fluzo instead of flujo, adding to the exoticness of a condensador de flujos. However the Latin American version doesn't have this issue.
- The Italian dubbing of the film mistranslated the name as "flusso canalizzatore", which roughly means "channeling flux"; however, when Marty reads the letter from Doc in the third movie, it talks about the broken "condensatore di flusso", which is an exact translation of "flux capacitor", but at this point appears to be totally unrelated to the rest of the movies (at least for only-Italian-speaking people).
- In the German-dubbed version, the device was once again mistranslated and called the "Fluxkompensator" ("Flux compensator"). The correct German translation for the word capacitor, however, would be "Kondensator".
- In the French version, the De Lorean needs 2.21 gigawatts instead of 1.21. The flux capacitor was mistranslated to "convecteur spacio-temporel" ("spacio-temporal convector"). The correct French translation for flux capacitor would be "condensateur de flux".
- For the Brazilian version of the movie, the flux capacitor was successfully translated to: "capacitor de fluxo"
- In the Turkish version, the device was called "akı kapasitörü". But correct translation should be "akı kondansatörü".
- In the Finnish subtitled version, the flux capacitor was correctly translated to "vuokondensaattori". However, 1.21 gigawatts was translated to "1,21 jigowattia" instead of "1,21 gigawattia" due to the English pronunciation.
[edit] Other elements
The DeLorean time machine was a licensed, registered vehicle in the state of California, where the films take place. The vanity license plate used in the film said "OUTATIME" (which is too long for the standard 7 characters on California license plates), and when Doc returned from the future, it was a barcode license plate, which implied that by that year license plates have moved to other more sophisticated means of tracking and registering.
Although the DeLorean was destroyed at the end of the trilogy, a new flux capacitor enabled the Doctor's second time machine (fashioned from a 19th century steam locomotive) to travel through time. Unlike its predecessor, the locomotive's flux capacitor was steam-powered and located on the front of the vehicle rather than within the passenger area. The locomotive also has the ability to fly and hover, much like the DeLorean at the end of Part I and throughout Part II, and the future (2015) era cars in Part II.
However, in the animated series, Doc rebuilt the DeLorean, restoring most of its features, including Mr. Fusion and the hover conversion.
[edit] Behind the scenes
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[edit] Development
The time machine went through several variations during production of the first film, Back to the Future. In the first draft of the screenplay, the time machine was a laser device that was housed in a room (like the time machine featured in Deja Vu). At the end of the first draft the device was attached to a refrigerator and taken to an atomic bomb test site. Director Robert Zemeckis said in an interview that the idea was scrapped because he did not want children to start climbing into refrigerators and getting trapped inside. In the third draft of the film the time machine was a car, as Zemeckis reasoned that if you were going to make a time machine, you would want it to be mobile.[2] The specific choice of vehicle was a DeLorean DMC-12 for the purposes of it looking like an alien spaceship[3] due to its characteristic gullwing doors. However, in order to send Marty back to the future, the vehicle had to drive into a nuclear test site. Ultimately this concept was considered too expensive to film, so the power source was changed to lightning.
When the filmmakers arrived at the point where the time machine would be built into a car, the art department was instructed to come up with designs for the DeLorean. The first artist to explore the subject was Andrew Probert, but his original designs were deemed "too perfect" for the look the producer wanted, which was to make it look as if it had been built in a garage by Doctor Brown, the idea was that it had been constructed with parts found on a hardware and electronics store, it couldn’t look too sophisticated, it had to look dangerous as Producer Bob Gale noted [3], so the task was also approached by Ron Cobb. It was Cobb that added the coils to back of the vehicle. The nuclear reactor was also a design choice made by Cobb. This choice proved to be important given the direction the script had taken. Cobb complemented the nuclear reactor with one vent on the back of the car, since it was generally known at the time that nuclear reactors had vents, but to balance the design another vent was added to keep a symmetrical aesthetic. After Cobb made these changes Probert returned to finish the design to its final form. At the end of the first film of the trilogy these vents become the propulsion system for the improved DeLorean, which now had hovering abilities and could reach the time-traveling speed of 88 miles per hour flying. The production design team added other buttons and lights inside the car to make it look more appealing and complex in order for the audience to have something attractive to look at.
Different parts from three 1981 DeLoreans were used in the film. Liquid nitrogen was poured onto the car for scenes after it had travelled through time to give the impression that it was cold. The base for the nuclear-reactor was made from the hubcap from a Dodge Polara. Aircraft parts and blinking lights were added for effect. The production ultimately used three real DeLoreans: one for external drive/race scenes, one with a modified interior for entering/exiting the DeLorean, and one stripped down model for interior scenes only.
[edit] In popular culture
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- In an episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny was tricked into believing he had been sent back into the 1980s and requested someone to 'drive 88 miles per hour so I can get back to my own time!', not at all realizing he needed a flux capacitor to do so.
- In an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Hal tells Lois a painfully obvious lie about having saved his company money on flux capacitors.
- In an episode of Family Guy, Peter recalls the time that he "tried to make a time machine out of a DeLorean." The screen then shows a flashback of Peter in a parking lot similar to that of Lone/Twin Pines Mall, driving very fast and then smashing into the mall, making a hole in the building, and starting a fire. Shoppers then ran out screaming while on fire, to which Peter responded, "Wow! Everybody in 1955 was on fire. I never knew that!"
- In the episode Mind over murder of "Family Guy", Stewie builds a time machine to bypass his teething period and draws up the blueprints on a napkin in Peter's bar after getting drunk. Later some guys are looking at the blueprints and one of them recognises it as a time machine exclaiming "Sure, here's where the "Flux Capacitor" goes."
- In the Stargate SG-1 episode "200" Martin Lloyd incorrectly quotes Samantha Carter on the capacitors in the Stargate, taking notes and mumbling to himself something about the "Flux Capacitor".
- In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep" The Delorean and Flux capacitor are mentioned. Lt. Ford says "Is time travel even possible?" Dr. McKay replies "Well, according to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, there's nothing in the laws of physics to prevent it. Extremely difficult to achieve, mind you -- you need the technology to manipulate black holes to create wormholes not only through points in space but time." Col. Sheppard then says "Not to mention a really nice Delorean". Later in the episode; Dr. McKay says "Well, it's obvious. The Puddle Jumper they escaped in must have been some sort of a time machine; had to have an additional component built into it". Col. Sheppard interjects "Flux capacitor!"
- In The Chaser's War on Everything, Craig Reucassel dressed up as Emmett Brown and with a DeLorean automobile attempted to get the then Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, to 'come back with him' so that he could 'go out on top', referring to recent speculation about whether the Prime Minister should have retired at the last election. The DeLorean was however only slightly modified to resemble the one in the films and was right hand drive.
- The Fairly OddParents showed the DeLorean from Back to the Future II for a brief moment in the episode "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker" when Timmy Turner traveled to the 1980s.
- In Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, the DeLorean is hidden in the mines in the western level. Upon finding it, Duke makes a random reference to the movie, usually about leaving his flux capacitor at home.
- Russell Brand frequently mentions the flux capacitor and gigawatts on his radio show.
- Wrestler Frankie Kazarian calls his finisher the "Flux Capacitor", a move which sees him perform a moonsault side slam from the top rope.
- A flux capacitor is mentioned in the popular song "Year 3000" originally sung by the British band Busted which is commonly heard in the U.S. being sung by the American band Jonas Brothers.
- The Kanye West song "Good Morning" off of the album Graduation used the line "Look at the valedictorian scared of the future, while I hop in the Delorean."
- A Flux Capacitor is mentioned in episodes of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The flux capacitance of an artificial lifeform is briefly mentioned in Star Trek: Voyager in the episode "Prototype".
- In episode 33 of the web series Will It Blend?, Tom Dickson blends some Ceramic Magnets (incorrectly described as neodymium magnets), after he dumps the blended magnets out on the table, he makes a reference to Back to the Future saying "Hey, I could use this as fuel for my flux capacitor."
- In issue 46 of Cable & Deadpool, Deadpool and Bob, Agent of Hydra are sent spiraling through time because of a malfunction with Weasel's Pene-Traitor Armor. They end up in the past in the Baxter Building - Home of the Fantastic Four. While in the present, Weasel and the New Fantastic Four have to go back in time to retrieve both Deadpool and Bob. While Weasel explains what the F4 are supposed to do, The Human Torch simply states, "Just hit whatever button sends the DeLorean back in time!"
- In the animated music video "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" by Lemon Demon, when the chorus is sung, the DeLorean is seen approaching Santa then launches Santa in the air as the Delorean time travels.
- In the online comic xkcd, a discussion on the use of lasers as propulsion includes a reference that it would take about 1.21 gigawatts of power to lift a squirrel a foot within Earth's gravity field. This is the same amount of power the flux capacitor needs to operate.
- In a cutscene from the PC game Freespace, two scientists are able to activate a prototype of an energy shield generator (reverse engineered from captured Shivan technology), the device is quoted to be consuming "1.21 gigawatts" of power.
- In one episode of Transformers: Cybertron, after Hot Shot is injured during a race, Red Alert tells him to not use second gear, or his flux capacitor.
- In episode S04E04, "Escape Velocity", of Battlestar Galactica, Chief Tyrol's distraction causes a Raptor to malfunction when he forgets to replace a burned out flux capacitor.
- In the Adult Swim internet game, Amateur Surgeon, a secret operation involves making repairs to a car called the De Lirium (an obvious pun off of De Lorean). Before the surgery, Alan mentions a flux capacitor, and says that it looks like what people from 20 years ago might consider a car from the future. After the operation is complete, an offscreen conversation occurs between someone named Morty (slight change of the name Marty), and someone whom he refers to as "Doc" (a counterpart to Dr. Emmett L. Brown). After seeing that the car has vanished (due to a button Alan pressed labelled "5 minutes into the future"), Morty is hit by the car that appears in a warp through time and his ribs are broken.
- In the comic Boondocks, the grandfather is repairing his car and goes to his grandson for advice. His grandson lies and tells him to fix the flux capacitor, which the grandfather believes to be true.
- Brent Barry, after hearing that the NBA had admitted to a missed foul call committed by Derek Fisher at the end of Game 4 of the 2008 Western Conference Finals, remarked:
"That's awesome because Doc Brown is waiting for me outside, and we're going to get in the DeLorean and fire up the flux capacitor and we're going to go back and shoot a couple of free throws."
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ giga-, prefix, Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition 1989 (lists four pronunications: "dʒ-, ˈgaɪgɘ; dʒ-, ˈgɪgɘ")
- ^ Zemeckis, Robert; Gale, Bob. (1985). The making of Back to the Future [VHS]. Universal Pictures.
- ^ a b Zemeckis, Robert; Gale, Bob. (2002). Back to the Future: The Complete Trilogy DVD commentary for part 1 [DVD]. Universal Pictures.
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