Back to the Future: The Animated Series

Back to the Future: The Animated Series is an animated series for television based on the Back to the Future trilogy of feature films. The series lasted two seasons, each featuring 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 14, 1991 to December 26, 1992. It reran until August 14, 1993. and later on FOX from March to September 2003.

Although the series takes place after the films, co-creator of the Back to the Future series Bob Gale has stated that it and the comics take place in their own 'what if' and alternate timelines and not part of the main continuity.^[1]

Premise

Following the conclusion of Back to the Future Part III, "Doc" Brown settled in 1991 in Hill Valley with his new wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne, and the family dog, Einstein. As with the films, time travel was achieved through the use of a modified DeLorean, which had apparently been replaced following the original's destruction at the end of the trilogy. The new DeLorean had voice-activated "time circuits" and can also travel instantaneously to different locations in space and time, in addition to folding into a suitcase. The characters also traveled through time using the steam engine time machine Doc invented at the end of the third movie.

Although Marty McFly and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker made occasional appearances, the show focused primarily on the Brown family, whereas the movies focused on the McFly family. The film's villain, Biff Tannen, also appeared from time to time. In addition, relatives of both the McFly and Tannen families were plentiful in the past or future parallel time zones visited. Unlike the films, which took place entirely in Hill Valley and the surrounding area, the series frequently took the characters to exotic locations.

At the end of every episode, Biff Tannen would appear after the end credits to tell a corny joke, often related to the episode's plot.

Main characters

Characters from the Back to the Future Trilogy

• Marty McFly – The main character of the series. Marty spends a lot of time visiting the Brown house where Doc, Clara, and their sons live. He continues to travel through time alongside Jennifer, Doc and the rest of the Brown family on many of their adventures. Marty and Jennifer become students at Hill Valley College after graduating from Hill Valley High School. Marty is voiced by David Kaufman.

• Jennifer Parker – Marty's girlfriend. Cathy Cavadini voices Jennifer.

• Doc Brown – Marty's best friend and the inventor of the first time machine, which he built out of a DeLorean sports car. He lives with Clara and two sons Jules and Verne. Dan Castellaneta voices the animated Doc Brown, while Christopher Lloyd portrays the live action Doc.

• Einstein – the sheepdog living with Doc, Clara, Jules, and Verne. He is also Marty's friend. Einstein is voiced by Danny Mann.

• Clara Clayton Brown – Doc's wife, who, along with the rest of the family, moved to the 20th century. She and the Browns lived in a farmhouse outside Hill Valley in 1991. Clara has settled well into 20th Century life, and became a teacher at Hill Valley Elementary. She occasionally joins her husband, sons, and Marty on their time travel adventures. She is voiced by Mary Steenburgen, who portrayed her in the third movie.

• Jules Brown – Verne's elder brother. His middle name is Eratosthenes. Unlike younger brother Verne, Jules is intelligent for his age and, similarly to his father, uses long words in his everyday vocabulary. He calls Marty McFly "Martin". Jules is top of the class in his school; however, he is not very popular and has but a few friends. He has a crush on his classmate Franny Philips and enjoys baseball and inventing. Jules is voiced by Josh Keaton.

• Verne Brown – Jules' younger brother. He is a cheerful young man; however, he dislikes losing and doing chores. He likes video games and watching television. He is almost always seen wearing a raccoon skin cap. Unlike his older brother Jules, Verne is quite popular at school and has many friends, including Marty McFly. He also acts his age, unlike Jules. Verne often uses his favorite insult, "skunkhead", primarily toward his older brother. Verne is voiced by Troy Davidson.

• Biff Tannen – Biff is the great-grandson of Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen and is the present day villain of the series, although most episodes feature his numerous ancestors or descendants instead (Marty once rhetorically questioned if there was a "Biff" in every time period and place they visited). Thomas F. Wilson, who portrays the live action Biff, voices his animated counterpart.

Home media releases

Although the show is no longer available on television, nine VHS cassettes and three volumes of the series on laserdisc were released between 1993 and 1994, chronicling 18 of the 26 episodes. The Back to the Future cartoon series is not yet available on DVD.

Intro

The music for the intro is a recreated version of "Back in Time", originally by Huey Lewis and the News (who also recorded "The Power of Love" for the first film). The intro begins with Doc Brown surprised when seeing the time on his watch, before he enters the DeLorean. As he drives away, he heads to May 19, 2015 where he grabs Marty McFly, to June 10, 1885 to collect Clara, and to prehistoric times to collect Jules and Verne, before returning to 1991. The following scene depicts the group sit down to dinner, before noticing Einstein is missing. They subsequently find him driving the steam train time machine to an unknown time. For the second season, the intro replaces the collection of the main characters with clips of the first season, and ends with the same sequence from season one's intro.

Episodes

Two seasons totaling 26 episodes comprise the animated series.

Comic books

A comic book series was published by Harvey Comics detailing further adventures of the animated series. Two mini-series were published, the first being a four-issue run; the second, a three-issue run subtitled "Forward To The Future". A "Special" issue was also released, reprinting parts of the first mini-series' first issue. The comics were written by Dwayne McDuffie with art by Nelson Dewey.

Cast

• David Kaufman – Marty McFly
• Dan Castellaneta – animated Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
• Mary Steenburgen – Clara Brown
• Cathy Cavadini – Jennifer Parker
• Troy Davidson – Verne Brown
• Josh Keaton – Jules Brown
• Danny Mann – Einstein
• Thomas F. Wilson – Biff Tannen {and Biff's ancestors and descendants}
• Christopher Lloyd – Dr. Emmett Brown (live-action segments)
• Bill Nye – Dr. Brown's Lab Assistant
• Hal Rayle – Additional voices

Mary Steenburgen (Clara) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff) voiced their characters from the films. Christopher Lloyd played Doc Brown in the live-action segments which opened and closed each episode. However, Dan Castellaneta provided the animated Doc Brown's voice, while David Kaufman voiced Marty McFly, the main animated character. Josh Keaton (who formerly starred on General Hospital) voiced the role of Jules, the elder son of Doc Brown. In addition, Bill Nye performed scientific experiments during the closing live-action segments in each episode, a spot which later led to Nye getting his own show.

References

External links

• Back to the Future – TV.com
• Official Universal Pictures site advertising the trilogy.
• BTTF.com
• Universal Pictures
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series at TV.com