Back to The Future (cartoon)

"Marty McFly: Is there a Tannen in every century?"

An Animated Adaptation of the successful Back to The Future films, that ran for 2 seasons of 13 episodes each in 1991 and 1992.

The series followed on from where the films left off. Doc Brown and his family (wife Clara, originally from the 1880s, and their sons Jules and Verne) have moved back to 20th Century Hill Valley, settling down in 1991. In addition to their flying, time-traveling steam engine, Doc has built a new DeLorean, and together with his friends Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker, Doc and his family Time Travel backwards and forwards through time in search of adventure, usually meeting up with ancestors or descendants of both Marty and the films' villain, Biff Tannen.


 * Aesop Amnesia: In "Roman Holiday", while visiting Rome, Marty was challenged by Biff's Roman ancestor Bifficus to a race. Marty does refuse at first, but takes up the challenge when Bifficus calls him a chicken. The problem with this is that Marty was supposed to have learned his lesson about using common sense after his showdown with Mad Dog Tannen in the third BTTF film.
 * Action Mom: Clara definitely Took a Level In Badass between the films and this series.
 * Alternate History: What if the Browns accidentally prevented the extinction of the dinosaurs?
 * Ascended Extra: Jules and Verne.
 * Black Sheep: Verne does not have the same scientific interests or intelligence as his father, though he does have the blond hair (and a bit more common sense). His brother Jules likes to tell him he was adopted.
 * Burn the Witch: One episode takes place in Salem, Massachusetts.
 * Catch Phrase: In addition to "Great Scott!", Doc was given more catchphrases such as "Jumpin' jigawatts!" and "Galloping Galileo!"
 * Don't forget his "Ouchamagoucha!"
 * Celebrity Paradox: Michael J. Fox seems to exist in the BTTF universe (see "Shout Out" below).
 * Yet Another Christmas Carol: With a few subversions.
 * They did a good job of sneaking a little Oliver Twist into this episode too.
 * Cool Car: The new DeLorean time machine, which has even more gadgets than the film's DeLorean did.
 * The Ditz: The Flanderized version of Marty McFly.
 * Expospeak Gag
 * Floating Timeline: The present is 1991, but despite 6 years passing since the events of the movie trilogy in 1985, Marty and Jennifer appear to be younger than they should. They at least put them in college even if they were drawn looking like teenagers and seem to have become less mature than they were in the trilogy. Of course, Michael J. Fox still looks like he could play a teenager.
 * For Want of a Nail
 * The Game Come to Life: "Bravelord and the Demon Monstux".
 * Geographic Flexibility: Guess what? Hill Valley has its own college now even though it's supposed to be a small town and no college has ever been mentioned before.
 * Happily Married: Doc and Clara
 * Historical In-Joke: Many.
 * Homemade Inventions
 * Idea Bulb: Parodided in the episode "Forward to the Past"; Doc is standing in front of a lamp when he has an idea.
 * Identical Grandson: Numerous examples
 * I Just Want to Have Friends: Jules in "The Money Tree".
 * Kid From the Future: Jules and Verne have met the past versions of their parents in three episodes.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Marty: "Is there a Tannen in every century?"
 * Named After Somebody Famous: Jules and Verne. This actually proved to be a plot point in the episode "A Verne By Any Other Name" - after being bullied about his name, Verne went back in time to convince his parents to name him something else.
 * The Professor: Doc, naturally.
 * Recycled: the Series
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Doc and Jules.
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Just one example: Verne interrupts Benjamin Franklin's electricity experiment, causing Doc and Marty to have to simulate a storm in order to get Franklin to do it.
 * Shout-Out: Marty sarcastically says in one episode that he's Michael J Fox, who played him in the films. Verne admits that he can see the resemblance.
 * Also subtly Lampshade Hanging the fact that he is not Michael J. Fox in this series.
 * Sibling Rivalry: This is the basis for many episodes.
 * Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying: In the episode "Forward to the Past", the Cretaceous Period is stated to be in 3 million BC. Oh, and apparently there were lemon trees in California during that era.
 * Time and Relative Dimensions In Space: Unlike the films, the DeLorean can now travel through space as well as time, meaning it is no longer confined to Hill Valley.
 * Time Travel: Obviously.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: Every episode was told as a story by Doc.