Doctor Emmett L. "Doc" Brown
|
|
Template:Back to the Future character
Doctor Emmett L(athrop) "Doc" Brown is a fictional character, one of the lead characters in the Back to the Future motion picture trilogy, played by actor Christopher Lloyd in the three films and voiced by Dan Castellaneta in the animated series.
"Doc", as he is referred to by his best friend Marty McFly, was born in 1920, in Hill Valley, California, United States. A scientist by trade, Doc is a "student of all sciences" who spends much of his time inventing. He usually has a pet dog - in 1955, his pet was named Copernicus after Nicolaus Copernicus, and by 1985 he had a dog named Einstein after Albert Einstein. Doc's role models are scientists, as referenced by the names of his dogs.
Doc can be absent-minded at times, and is regarded by many of Hill Valley's townsfolk as strange or crazy. As such he has few friends - the only friends we meet through the trilogy are Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker - and Doc is often seen as a loner. Despite this, Doc cares about the people he is close to.
Doc often works through the night on his inventions and can become obsessed with little things. He will always try and use a big word rather than a small one if one is available - for example, he refers to a dance as a "rhythmic ceremonial ritual." He also likes jazz music, Jules Verne and Westerns, though he does not seem to be a gambling man. Doc does not usually drink alcoholic beverages, since he has a tendency to faint after just one glass.
| Contents |
Pre-Back to the Future
Quite a bit is known about Doc's early life. One draft script suggests that his mother was called Sarah Lathrop, which would explain his middle name (Doc's middle name is revealed in the animated series). His father's side of the family arrived in Hill Valley in 1908, when they were known as the Von Brauns - they changed their name to Brown during World War I. They were persumably from the German Empire of Austria-Hungary. According to the animated series, Doc had an uncle Oliver who lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and young Emmett would go to visit him in the summer.
Arround 1931, at age 11, Doc discovered the works of his favourite author, Jules Verne. From that point he decided to dedicate his life to science. Arround 1932, one year later, Doc tried digging to the centre of the Earth, inspired by the 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. Robert Zemeckis, co-writer/director of the films, has suggested that during the early 1940s Doc worked on the Manhattan Project, though this is never mentioned on screen.
During the 1950s, Doc worked as a professor at Hill Valley University, and according to the animated series also did a bit of sport wrestling, though many fans do not accept the animated series as canon, so they choose to ignore this concept.
Back to the Future
Doc_1955.JPG
On November 5 1955 Doc came up with the idea of the flux capacitor (which is what makes time travel possible) after slipping from his toilet and bumping his head. The idea came to him in a vision he had after being knocked out. The time machine suffered a setback on August 1 1962 when Doc's mansion at 1640 Riverside Drive burnt down, After the mansion burnt down, Doc moved into his former garage (which had been detached from the mansion as as such had survived the fire). There were rumours that he had deliberately burnt it down to claim the insurance money to fund the time machine. Doc moved to his garage and sold the rest of his estate to developers. but he was soon back on track and on May 23 1983, he was commended and won an award.
Doc finally finished installing his time machine in a DeLorean sports car in 1985, using plutonium to power it, and was killed by the Libyan terrorists who had given it to him. In return they had wanted a nuclear weapon. Doc had made a non-working one out of used pinball machine parts.
Fortunately, Marty, who had witnessed the first time travel experiment, was accidentally sent back to 1955, where he tried to warn the 1955 version of Doc about the terrorists. Doc did not want to know too much about his own future and ripped up a warning letter Marty had written him. After sucessfully sending Marty back to the future using the lightning stike on the town's clocktower on November 12 1955 at 10.04pm, Doc taped together Marty's warning letter and discovered the truth about that night in 1985. When 1985 rolled around again, Doc wore a bulletproof vest for protection.
After dropping Marty home, Doc went 30 years into the future. Whilst it is known that he visited October 2015, it is not known exactly how long or what days he was there for. Whilst there, he got an "all natural overhaul" to his body which added 30 or 40 years to his life, and made him look younger. He also got the DeLorean hover-converted. Afterwards, Doc came back to 1985 to pick up Marty (and Jennifer, who happened to be there) to take them into the future.....
Back to the Future Part II
Doc had discovered that Marty's son, Marty Jr., was to go to jail for committing a crime, an event which would end up destroying the McFly family. Wanting to pay back his friend for saving his life with the note, Doc got Marty to pose as Marty Jr. (who resembled his father a lot!), and avoid committing the crime. Doc then discovered that Marty had bought a sports almanac to take back to 1985 with him. Doc lectured Marty about how he had not invented the time machine for financial gain. Unknown to Doc or Marty, Biff Tannen overheard the conversation and later stole the DeLorean whilst Doc and Marty were rescuing Jennifer from the future McFly family house.
The time travelers arrived back in 1985 only to discover that history had been altered. Biff had taken the time machine back to 1955 and given the sports almanac to his younger self, who then became a millionaire by placing bets on the chronicled sporting events. In this version of history, Doc had been committed since 1983 (he was committed on the same day he won his award in the "proper" history) - there is a theory that Doc, having still been visited by Marty in 1955, was aware that history had been altered and that Biff somehow was behind it. Biff, wanting to silence Doc, had him committed. Nothing is ever said on screen though to confirm this.
Doc and Marty headed back to 1955 to correct the timeline, and whilst Marty tracked down Biff to get the almanac from him, Doc made some repairs to the time machine, which kept resetting itself to go back to January 1 1885. Mission accomplished, everything was back to normal when Doc, in the DeLorean, got sent back to 1885 when the same lightning storm that had struck the clocktower sending Marty back to the future in the first film struck the DeLorean. In 1885, Doc set himself up as a blacksmith whilst trying to fix the DeLorean, but had to give up as replacement parts would not be available until 1947. He buried the DeLorean in an abandoned mine and wrote a letter to Marty to be given to his friend minutes after the DeLorean was struck by lightning. The letter ws held by Western Union for the next 70 years, given to Marty in 1955.
Back to the Future Part III
Marty received the letter and ran to 1955 Doc, who had just sent the younger Marty back to the future. Marty and Doc uncovered the DeLorean and repaired it, but Marty discovered that in 1885 Doc would be murdered by Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen, ancestor of Biff. Marty headed back to September 2, 1885, one week before Doc's death, to save his friend.
Marty located Doc, and once again Doc had to make repairs to the time machine after it ran out of gas (hard to come by in 1885). Whilst making a plan to use a train to push the DeLorean to 88mph, Doc saved a woman, Clara Clayton, from falling over a ravine after a snake spooked her horses. They fell in love at first sight, much to the despair of Marty who saw Clara as a distraction. Doc and Clara danced at the town festival on September 5, where Marty managed to save Doc from being shot by Buford Tannen. Doc and Clara had their first kiss that night.
Later, Doc realises he will have to leave Clara behind when he goes back to the future with Marty on Monday, and says goodbye to her, telling her the truth about where he comes from. Naturally, she does not believe him and slaps him. Broken-hearted, Doc goes to the Saloon, where Marty finds him next morning (Monday). Marty and Chester the bartender manage to revive Doc, and afterwards Doc and Marty hijack a train to use to push the DeLorean up to 88. Clara reappears, having seen everything and realising Doc was telling the truth, but nearly falls off the train. Doc manages to save her but gets left behind with Clara in 1885 (Marty manages to get home, but the time machine is destroyed almost straight away meaning he cannot go back to rescue Doc and Clara from the past).
Over the next 10 years, Doc and Clara marry (they marry on December 15, 1885 according to the animated series episode, "Solar Sailors") and have 2 sons, Jules and Verne, named after their favourite author. Doc also invents a new time machine out of a steam train and the Brown family take off to visit the future (to get the train hover converted) and then back to 1985 to visit Marty and Jennifer before heading off to times unknown.
Back to the Future: The Ride
Although the ride is not taken as canon by many fans, it reveals that the Brown family eventually moved back to the 20th Century and that by 1991 Doc had set up the Institute of Future Technology. He has also invented an 8-seater DeLorean, which comes in handy after Biff steals the time machine again and the audience, sitting in one of these 8-seaters, has to help Doc chase Biff through time.
Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Like the ride, the animated series is not considered canon by many fans, but also like the ride it has the Brown family moving back to Hill Valley in the late 20th century. The series starts in 1991 where Doc, Clara, Jules and Verne now live in a farmhouse outside Hill Valley with Einstein. The family, along with Marty, have travelled through time in both the train time machine and the new DeLorean (which looks almost identical to the old one).
Memorable Quotes
"Great Scott!"
"What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton?!"
"1.21 gigawatts!"