by Ian Doescher
To meet thee hath been educational.
LORRAINE Shall we e’er see thee more within this life?
MARTY Indeed, I guarantee thou shalt, Lorraine—
The picture of the future I can see.
GEORGE O Marty, many thanks for thine advice—
Ne’er shall it be forgotten all my days.
MARTY A pleasure ’twas, brave George. Good luck to ye.
[Marty turns to leave, then stops.
A final word, I pray, ere I fly hence:
If ever you have children—nay, blush not,
Though now ’tis but a glimmer in your eyes—
If one of them, when he is eight years old,
Doth set afire the carpet in your room,
Will ye with mercy look upon the boy?
GEORGE Whate’er these words do presage, we agree!
[Exit Marty.
LORRAINE A pleasant name is Marty, by my troth,
A name to foster loyalty and growth.
[Exeunt, holding hands.
SCENE 6
In the town of Hill Valley, near the clock tower. The storm brews.
Enter DOCTOR EMMETT BROWN.
DOC The time, it is upon us—where’s the boy?
Nine fifty-six, and tell me—where’s the boy?
We’ve fewer than ten minutes—where’s the boy?
The storm begins to brew—damn! Where’s the boy?
Enter MARTY MCFLY.
Th’art late, e’en for a most important date!
Hast thou but little concept of time’s rush?
MARTY Forgive me, for I had to change my garb.
Think’st thou I shall go back in such a suit?
Mine old man did the deed—the plan hath work’d!
DOC Do tell!
MARTY —In just one punch he laid out Biff,
Game, set, and match, all in a single blow.
I never knew he had the inner strength.
Ne’er hath the man stood up to brutish Biff.
[Marty hands Doc the photograph.
DOC The photo is intact. Thus, all is well.
Yet “ne’er,” thou sayest, ne’er hath he done so?
MARTY Nay, wherefore askest thou? What is the matter?
DOC [aside:] What may a man with greater courage do
Than he hath done before? Ah, time will tell.
[To Marty:] Pay it no mind. Let’s get thee back anon:
First, let us set thy destination time.
[They open the door of the DeLorean.
This readout showeth just when thou didst leave.
We’ll send thee back upon the very instant—
’Twill be as though thou never didst depart.
Thou must drive yonder, past the bold white line,
Which I already painted on the street.
It doth demark the starting line for thee.
The distance most precise I’ve calculated,
Giv’n wind’s sharp turns, acceleration speed,
All retroactive to the moment when
The lightning bolt shall strike the tower here—
In minutes seven, seconds twenty-two.
When this alarm doth ring, depress the gas!
MARTY ’Tis well thought out as all thy schemes are, Doc.
DOC My words are finish’d; all is set in place.
MARTY My thanks, sweet Doc.
DOC —Thanks unto thee, my friend.
[Marty embraces Doc.
I’ll see thee once again—in thirty years.
MARTY Thus do I hope, most fervently.
DOC —Fear not.
An thou but hit the wire with this long hook,
Whilst driving eighty-eight in miles per hour,
The instant that the lightning strikes the tower—
All shall be well, all shall be well, yea, and
All manner of things shall be well, forsooth.
[Marty sits in the DeLorean. Doc notices the letter in his pocket.
Wait, what is this? What words are written here?
“Ope not until ’tis nineteen eighty-five”?
What meaneth this?
MARTY —Find out in thirty years.
DOC These works speak of the future, do they not?
’Tis information of our days to come.
O Marty, heard’st thou naught of what I said?
What if the Trojans knew the Greeks’ deception?
How might the destiny of Troy been chang’d?
What if the Hun had known the future, eh?
What greater conquests might he have achiev’d?
What if bold Caesar knew what was to be?
Belike his empire still might reign today!
Did I not warn thee of the danger, lad?
The consequences could be most disastrous!
MARTY The risk is one that must be taken, Doc.
Thy very life dependeth on the risk.
[Doc begins to rip open the letter.
DOC Nay! I’ll bear not th’responsibility.
MARTY In that case, I shall tell thee here and now!
[Lightning strikes a nearby tree. It falls on Doc’s cord, knocking it down.
DOC Great Scott! The cord we need hath come unplugg’d.
No more of future speech: take thou the cable,
And I shall throw the rope to thee.
MARTY —Indeed!
[Doc ascends the clock tower, climbing to the balcony. The storm grows louder.
DOC How high this tower is above the street!
How many gears do work their steady tasks.
I am afeard, yet have no time for doubt.
Upon the precipice I deftly walk—
The lightning bursts—a gargoyle’s face! Alack!
Was ever science frightening as this?
MARTY Canst hear me, Doc? I prithee, throw the rope.
[Doc tosses a long rope to Marty, who ties the cord to it.
DOC Be swift, young Marty.
MARTY —Done! Now, pull it hence!
[Doc pulls the rope, with the cord tied to it, toward him.
E’en if it must be shouted, hear these words:
I must tell thee about the future!
DOC —What?
MARTY About the future I must tell thee, Doc!
DOC Thou art too far away, I cannot hear!
MARTY Thou shalt, upon the night when I return—
[The clock begins tolling.
DOC O, hear the loud alarum of the bells—
What tale of fright their turbulency tells!
MARTY Doc is affrighted so, I fear he’ll fall.
DOC The clock strikes ten o’clock—thou must depart!
No more of yelling words I cannot hear,
But four mere minutes stands betwixt thee and
The possibility of thy success!
Behold the time and fly ere ’tis too late!
[Marty gets into the DeLorean and drives to the starting point.
I’ll see thee in a trice and then no more
Until some thirty years have wander’d by.
Godspeed! Yet, while I wait, I have a task:
I must connect these cords an this shall work.
Near doth one dangle, opposite the face,
As if it taunted me, just out of reach.
My face and body must traverse the clock
To get the cord connected once again.
Alack, my foot doth slip, I nearly fall!
Pray, get a grip most literally, Doc.
Walk carefully—each step means life or death.
The clock’s face and mine own now face each other,
Two faces join’d together for a kiss—
The kiss of cord to cord and plan to feat.
MARTY Here stand I at the starting line, prepar’d!
The hook I’ll raise to catch the lightning’s pow’r.
Yet how shall I save Doc? What shall I do?
The storm kept him from hearing my report.
Damn, Doc, why d
idst thou tear the letter up?
Why tear thy hopes of living into pieces?
Why tear thy future from a better path?
Why tear my heart, which shall lose thee once more?
If I had but more time—more time, ’tis all.
Yet wait—what words do issue from my mouth?
I have a time machine! I’ve all the time
That e’er hath been, if I but make it mine.
’Tis simple—I shall earlier return,
That I may locate Doc and give him warning.
Ten minutes should be all I need, forsooth—
Whole nations fell in less a time than that.
I shall reset the input, ha! ’Tis done.
The circuits for the time all function well,
The flux capacitor, it fluxeth on,
The engine running, let the plan proceed!
[The engine of the car dies.
Nay, nay, how canst thou fail at such a time?
DOC Alas, I fall again, the ledge doth break,
For ’twas not made for bearing human weight!
First face to face, O clock, now hand to hand:
I take its hands to save myself from death.
[The alarm clock in the DeLorean rings.
MARTY Fie on it! Start, thou damnèd gray machine.
This ringing is Doc’s signal for my start.
If thou work not, I’ll strike thee, by my troth!
[Marty hits his head against the steering wheel, and the car starts.
By Jove, it worketh! Ha! Feet, press the gas,
And start the journey homeward presently!
DOC One cord hath caught my cuff, which starts to rip,
I grab one cord and, hanging from it, grasp—
Now are both cords within my reach at last.
O, link them swiftly, Doc, and all is well.
What newfound thorn is this, deep in my flesh?
They do not reach! By some six inches short!
Pull, pull! Give me the slack I need, I beg!
A-ha! ’Tis done! The span now long enow.
Yet O, the act is not sans consequence—
Forsooth, another pair is torn asunder!
Below me, by the sidewalk, hath the cord
Which first was trapp’d beneath a falling tree,
Unfasten’d from its mate! I must hie down,
To fix a split connection once again.
The clock strikes ten oh two—no more delay:
There is the car, approaching me with haste!
Be firm and resolute, or all is lost.
MARTY The speed to sixty-one, now sixty-two.
Accelerate unto thy destiny!
Into the seventies the car doth fly,
My heart is racing in mine anxious chest,
As if it plann’d to pace the speeding car!
DOC Quick! Fashion I a line to slide upon,
And I’ll slip down to fix the broken spot.
This could be fun, if ’twere not critical.
[Doc hangs a wire on one clock hand and slides down the wire to the ground.
MARTY There’s Doc, and doth he still the cords repair?
Fail not, brave scientist and treasur’d friend.
My eighty-eight in miles per hour achiev’d,
’Tis set! If it be now, ’tis not to come;
If it be not to come, it will be now;
If it be not now, yet it still will come:
The readiness is all.
DOC —’Tis ten oh four!
The lightning strikes, I join the parted cords.
[There is a burst of lightning. Exit Marty in the DeLorean, as it travels back through time.
A crash of drums, a flash of light, my time
Machine flies out of sight! It work’d; it works!
All that remaineth are two fiery streaks,
And of our triumph all creation speaks!
[Exit.
SCENE 1
The year 1985. Hill Valley, near the clock tower.
Enter MARTY MCFLY in the DeLorean, with a DRUNK MAN aside, sleeping. He wakes.
MAN And what’s he then who says I play the drunkard?
For here’s one sodden wholly by his cup,
Who then behind a wheel did choose to ride.
To drive whilst drinking—’tis a madness vile.
[Exit man. Marty opens the DeLorean’s door.
MARTY I see around me all the marks of home.
Redhair, the drunkard, passing by my path,
Our theater which showeth naughty shows,
The whole town fill’d with litter, as I know’t—
Hill Valley, by my troth, my perfect home.
One twenty-four—I still have time for Doc.
Straight to the mall, where I shall rescue him.
[Marty tries to start the car, but it will not start.
The engine starteth not—O, rue the day!
Enter two LIBYANS, passing by in their van.
LIBYAN 1 To victory, my brother—and revenge!
[Exeunt Libyans.
MARTY The Libyans—alas, I am too late.
I shall unto the mall make way by foot,
And peradventure still may beat them there.
[Marty runs to the mall.
The sign says Lone Pine Mall, not Twin Pines, strange—
Have all my memories chang’d?
Enter DOCTOR EMMETT BROWN, SECOND MARTY MCFLY, EINSTEIN, and two LIBYANS.
LIBYAN 1 [to Doc:] —Justice ’tis.
[Libyan 1 shoots Doc.
MARTY 2 Nay! Bastard base!
LIBYAN 1 —Why bastard? Wherefore base?
[The scene plays out as before, in pantomime, with Marty watching.
MARTY Doc slain again, before my tardy eyes!
Nay! Say it is not so, O Fates unfair.
The scene entire is acted out once more,
Yet now am I become a spectator.
How close I came to death I now may see,
Though in the moment’s rush I knew it not.
How chance did intervene to keep me safe,
Lest I should share a tragic end with Doc.
The time machine, I see it racing off—
I wanted only to escape, and had
No notion of th’adventure I would have.
[The DeLorean disappears in a flash. The Libyans, surprised, crash their van into a photo-processing booth.
The chase is o’er, the car hath disappear’d,
Gone hence in time to nineteen fifty-five.
The Libyans crash in a blazing pyre,
Methinks I am not sad to see them thus.
To Doc now, quickly, so that I may see
If there be signs of life within him yet.
[Marty runs to Doc.
Doc! Doc! O, fie! I was not fast enow.
For thee I ne’er did have the chance to grieve.
[Doc rises, slowly, stunned.
By heav’n, thou art alive! How can this be?
[Doc opens his shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest.
A tunic fashion’d to repel a bullet!
How didst thou know what danger thou wouldst face?
I never had the chance to counsel thee.
[Doc pulls a letter from his coat.
DOC A letter I received, from friend most true,
And sav’d some thirty years to show it thee.
This night, thy words have sav’d my grateful life.
MARTY What of the danger thou hast caution’d me—
The past and future in a dodgy mix,
With grave effect and horrid consequences
On the continuum of time and space—
Of which I did so often hear thee tell?
DOC Methought upon it and said, “What the hell?”
Come now, and I shall take thee safely home,
And finally my future journey take.
MARTY How far ahead imaginest thou’lt go?
DOC A span of thirty years doth have a ring—
MARTY When thou arrivest, look for me, I pray.
I shall be forty-seven by that time.
DOC Of course I shall, my true and constant friend.
MARTY Take care.
DOC —Thou also, Marty. Now, farewell.
MARTY O furry Einstein, keep good watch.
EINSTEIN —Woof, woof!5
MARTY One last thing, Doc, beware of thy reentry.
It giveth one a bump to shake one’s soul.
DOC I shall. Off to the future fly we two!
[Exit Marty.
O Einstein, what adventures we shall have
As we confront two thousand and fifteen.
What shall the world be like in thirty years?
More peaceful, I’ve no doubt, than it is now,
Our country likely unified as one,
With squabbles and disputes political
As rare as poverty, which shall, I’ll wager,
Be seen upon the planet nevermore.
Utopia ’twill be, if I’ve a guess—
Of humankind I do expect no less!
[Exeunt.
5 Editor’s translation: So shall I, Marty, and keep our Doc safe.
My bold and playful canine spirit trust,
For I am man’s best friend—this funny man,
This brave and noble man, this clever man.
SCENE 2
At the McFly house.
Enter MARTY MCFLY, awaking.
MARTY The sleep of seven bodies I have had—
So soundly rested like I never knew
The pleasure of a full night’s sleep till now.
The clock doth tell me ’tis ten twenty-eight—
I’ve slept so late, I near have miss’d the day.
What strange remembrance leaps into my mind:
A sudden jaunt to nineteen fifty-five,
My parents young, my very life at risk,
My good friend Doc first kill’d and then alive—
My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.
[He walks out of his room and sits on a stool in the kitchen.
What is this furniture I see herein?
We do not own such fancy, costly things!
Enter DAVE and LINDA MCFLY, both dressed nicely.
LINDA I prithee, Dave, when Paul doth call on me,
Wilt tell him I work late at the boutique?
DAVE Sweet sister, I am not thy secretary,
And what of Greg or Craig who just hath call’d?
LINDA Thou must be more specific: Greg or Craig?
DAVE I do not know—thy boyfriends countless are.
MARTY Holla! What is this scene ye two do play?
LINDA ’Tis breakfast—nothing more and nothing less.
DAVE Hast thou once more been sleeping in thy clothes?
