As he sits in the driver’s seat of his time-traveling DeLorean, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) can barely contain his excitement. Thanks to his flux capacitor — the key component of a working time machine — Doc’s got all of human history at his fingertips. Of all the destination dates he could choose, however, the zany inventor goes with November 5, 1955, “a red-letter date in the history of science,” he explains to his young assistant, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox). “That was the day I invented time travel.”
Inspired by a mental picture of the flux capacitor conjured by his incredible brain, Doc devoted his entire life to making that dream a reality. “It’s taken me almost 30 years and my entire family fortune to realize the vision of that day.” His tone is whimsical, and the device is magical, attached to a flying car with gull-wing doors. Yet its effectiveness is never in question since it lets the viewer ride with Marty as he attempts to set the past right to ensure his future.
