1955

"Well, you're safe and sound now back in good ol' 1955."

—Lorraine Baines

Biff Tannen and Lorraine Baines in 1955.

1955 was a year exactly 30 years before 1985. Life was simpler when compared to 1985 or 2015, though as antiquated as 1885.

The Clock Tower functioned until it was struck by lightning on November 12 of that year.

New technology

In relation to 1931

• Brain-wave analyzer
• Edsel
• Practical Television

New locations

• Baines residence
• Bluebird Motel
• City Archives
• Coast Guard Youth Auxiliary
• County Asylum
• Deacon's Hill
• Doc Brown's mansion and garage
• Gaynor's Hideaway
• Hal's Bike Shop
• Hill Valley Airport
• Hill Valley Army/Navy Store
• Hill Valley Town Hall
• Lou's Cafe
• Lyon Estates
• McFly residence (1955)
• Pohatchee Drive-In Theatre
• Sears
• Starting line
• Tannen residence
• Texaco
• Twin Pines Ranch
• River Road Tunnel
• Ruth's Frock Shop
• Western Auto

New culture

New slang

• Daddy-o
• Happy Trails
• Live in the home of tomorrow ... today!
• Slacker
• Square
• Vaya coos

Events

Back to the Future (4 10) Movie CLIP - You're George McFly! (1985) HD

Biff Tannen harassing George McFly in 1955.

• Wednesday, January 26: Future guitarist, Eddie Van Halen is born in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
• Saturday, April 9th: Science Fiction Theatre premieres with the episode "Beyond". At some point, this show becomes a favorite program of George McFly.
• Friday, May 13: Clint Eastwood's first movie Revenge of the Creature is given a general theatrical release.
• Thursday, June 23: The film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is released in theaters.
• Wednesday, August 24: The film Francis in the Navy is released in theaters.
• Monday, October 3: The Mickey Mouse Club (Which Martha and Sherman Peabody bring up as something they could watch when they get television) premieres on ABC.

Timeline 1

• Saturday, November 5th:
• Otis Peabody tries to breed twin pines, at Twin Pines Ranch he grows a pair of Pine tree.
• The Honeymooners episode The Man from Space first air's which would became George McFly's favorite episode.
  • Doc Brown slips off his toilet while hanging a clock, and has a vision of what will become his most successful invention, the flux capacitor. He hurriedly sketches his vision.
  • Biff Tannen harasses George McFly in Lou's Cafe, threatening him to do his homework by monday, and later kicking him out of the cafe, Goldie Wilson tells George McFly to stand up for himself, but he ignores it.
  • George McFly gets hit by Sam Baines's car, while he is was watching his daughter Lorraine Baines McFly get undressed, the two fall in love.

• Monday, November 7: The next day at school, George McFly asks Lorraine Baines McFly if she will accept an invitation to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance with him, which she accepts.
• Tuesday, November 8: Biff Tannen goes to Lou's Cafe, to see if George McFly is still there then they drive off, possibly commenting on a Manure truck, that is parked nearby their car.
• Saturday, November 12:
  • Lorraine Baines McFly along with her friend Babs goes to Ruth's Frock Shop, to pick up a dress for the dance.
  • Biff Tannen and his gang, avoid going to the dance, and spent most of the evening drinking instead.
  • During the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, Marvin Berry and the Starlighters play a set of music such as Earth Angel and Night Train, and take a break at 9:00 pm.
  • While Marvin Berry and the Starlighters are playing their second and final song Earth Angel, George McFly kisses Lorraine Baines McFly, and in that moment she realizes that she will spend the rest of her life with him.
  • Hill Valley Courthouse is struck by lightning at 10:04 pm.
• Sunday, November 13:
  • Biff Tannen drives his grandmother, Gertrude Tannen to Las Vegas, Nevada, to place a bet.

Timeline 2

• Saturday, November 5:
  • Marty arrives in 1955 from the original 1985, on Otis Peabody's farm (a.k.a. Twin Pines Ranch) on the future site of the Twin Pines Mall/Lone Pine Mall. Peabody's son, Sherman, thinks Marty is an alien and Otis chases him out. Marty knocks down one of Old Man Peabody's two pine trees. Peabody later reported that he saw an "alien", but was declared insane and was sent to the County Asylum.
• Marty accidentally prevents the first meeting of his future parents, George McFly and Lorraine Baines.
  • Marty finds Doc and shows him the DeLorean time machine.

• Sunday, November 6: Doc realizes that Marty has interfered with his parents' first meeting and that he and his siblings will be erased from existence unless Marty can get them together.
• Monday, November 7th: Marty, as "Calvin Klein", goes to Hill Valley High School to try and get George and Lorraine together, but she has a crush on Marty instead of George.
• Tuesday, November 8:
  • Marty, wearing a radiation suit and describing himself as "Darth Vader, an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan", visits George in the middle of the night, to try and convince him to take Lorraine to the dance that Saturday.
  • Marty defeats Biff Tannen in a skateboard chase around Courthouse Square, causing Biff and his gang to crash into a parked manure truck.
  • Lorraine tells Marty, "I was wondering if Marty you would ask me to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance".
• Wednesday, November 9: Marty and George come up with a plan for Saturday night that will see George become a "fighter" for Lorraine.

Timeline 3

• Saturday, November 12th:
  • At 6am, 1985 Doc and Marty (Marty B) arrive in 1955 from 1985-A;
  • 2015 Biff arrives with the sports almanac and gives it to his younger self.
  • UCLA wins Washington 19-17 at football.
  • At various times during this day, there were four instances of the DeLorean in Hill Valley, three of which existed at the same time: one hidden at Brown mansion with 1955 Doc, one stashed somewhere by 2015 Biff, one with 1985 Doc hidden behind the Lyon estates billboard, and after the latter was transported to 1885, it reappeared buried in the Delgado mine at the edge of town. (More specifically, most of the 1955 events in Part II are Marty and Doc in "Timeline 6", where Doc had not been in 1885, and there are only 3 DeLoreans, nothing is in the Delgado Mine, and Western Union is not holding a letter for Marty. In "Timeline 7" and "Timeline 8", the DeLorean has been in the Delgado Mine for 70 years by the time that young Marty, old Biff and old Doc and Marty bring the DeLorean to 1955, and -- in the hours before the Western Union man's arrival -- there had been 4 DeLoreans simultaneously in that Timeline's history.)
  • Marty (Marty A) takes Lorraine to the dance, but Biff interferes and George punches Biff, saving Lorraine and causing her to fall in love with him;
  • Marty B also keeps Biff's gang from jumping Marty A, without Marty A noticing;
  • Marty B gets the almanac from Biff and burns it, thus erasing the alternate 1985 and restoring the corrupted timeline back to normal. The 1985 Doc, in the DeLorean, gets struck by lightning and sent back to 1885. A car approaches a moment later with a Western Union man, who gives Marty a letter from Doc in 1885. Marty hurries back downtown, to see the 1955 Doc;
  • At 10:04pm, lightning strikes the clocktower, Marty A goes back to 1985, but Marty B scares 1955 Doc by "returning" seconds after Marty A was sent back to the future.
• Sunday, November 13th: 1955 Doc reads the letter his older self in 1885 has written.
• Monday, November 14th: Marty and Doc uncover the DeLorean from the Delgado mine at the Boot Hill Cemetery, where the 1985 Doc was buried in 1885.
• Tuesday, November 15th: Doc repairs the DeLorean.
• Wednesday, November 16th: Marty leaves 1955 and heads back to 1885 to rescue Doc.

Real world

• Monday, January 3: Hal Rayle (voice of Tannensaurus) is born in Fowler, Indiana.
• Sunday, November 27: Bill Nye (who performed science experiment in the video encyclopedia) is born in Washington, D.C..
• Saturday, December 31st: The Honeymooners episode "The Man From Space" premiered on this day, rather than November 5.

Behind the scenes

• Sunday, March 20: The date that was originally planned for Marty to travel back to in the third draft rather than November 5.
• Saturday, May 14: Director/co-writer Robert Zemeckis turned 3 years old.
• Wednesday, May 25: Co-writer Bob Gale turned 4 years old. In commentary to the first film, Gale noted that his father's birthday is November 5, but that the inclusion in the film script was just a coincidence.

Appearances

• Back to the Future third draft screenplay
• Back to the Future trilogy
• Back to the Future novelizations
• Back to the Future: The Story
• Back to the Future Part II first draft screenplay
• Paradox script
• Back to the Future (video game)
• Back to the Future Part II & III
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series
  • "Go Fly a Kite" (Trilogy footage in the live action segment)
• Super Back to the Future Part II
• Back to the Future: The Game
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 3: Citizen Brown (Mentioned only)
• Back to the Future (IDW Publishing)
  • Back to the Future: Biff to the Future
    • Issue 1: "Biff to the Future Part 1"
    • Issue 6: "Biff to the Future Part 6" (Mentioned only)
  • The Transformers/Back to the Future
    • Issue 1 (Mentioned only)
• Back to the Future: The Classic Illustrated Storybook