Arthur McFly

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Arthur McFly Arthur McFly Biographical information Date of birth 1902 Age (1931) 29 Age (1955) 53 Age (1985) 83 Age (2015) 113 (likely deceased) Age (2045) 143 (likely deceased) Physical description Gender Male Hair color Brown Eye color Green Behind-the-scenes information Voiced by Michael X. Sommers
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Arthur "Artie" McFly was the father of George McFly and the paternal grandfather of Marty McFly. He lived on Sycamore Street with George and his wife Sylvia as of 1955. When he was 16, he enlisted in the army and was sent to France during World War I. When the military brass realized how young he was, they immediately shipped him back home without firing a single shot. The humiliation was deep, and Arthur became the laughing stock of the town. His confidence ruined, he never tried to do anything that would make him a success, and had a permanent fear of failure. When Prohibition went into effect in 1920 he started to work for Kid Tannen, the notorious organized crime boss in Hill Valley.

In 1955, when Marty convinced George to talk to his father about attending college, Arthur gave George a number of excuses and reasons not to attend, particularly due to his own inability to be anything. Though for Arthur's part he believed he was trying to protect George from the same shame he endured, despite what he had done was reckless and dangerous. Upon witnessing this Marty was outraged and had very little respect for his grandfather

George referenced his disappointment in his father to Marty in 1986 right before Marty goes back in time to 1931. Upon arriving in Depression-era Hill Valley, Marty walks into the Sisters of Mercy Soup Kitchen where he sees a wimpy Arthur McFly (a dead ringer for 1955-George in looks, voice, and personality) being bullied and harassed by Kid Tannen. After taking Artie’s signature White Fedora with Red Brim, Tannen then orders him back to the Safe House before he can be served a subpoena.

Later, Marty finds that in order to accomplish his mission he will have to help 17-year-old Courthouse Clerk Emmett Brown serve a subpoena to Arthur McFly. It is established that Arthur is the accountant for Kid Tannen's illegal speakeasy business. Recovering the hat from Kid Tannen, who had been using it as a trophy and Peanut Bowl, Marty has Einstein track Arthur down. They discover the Safe House but find Arthur will not come down from the apartment without Kid Tannen's say-so. Marty is eventually able to trick him to come downstairs using a 1980’s tape-recorder, where he is then served the subpoena. Realizing that Kid will surely kill him for talking to the D.A., Artie begins to panic. But Marty and Emmett convince him to go through with it. They give him back his hat and he reports to the courthouse to inform on Kid Tannen.

Soon afterward, Marty and Doc are about to leave 1931 and go back to 1986 when Marty suddenly begins to fade from existence, apparently rather painfully. A newspaper from tomorrow explaining that Arthur McFly was found brutally murdered on the courthouse steps, having been beaten and left for dead a few hours ago as revenge for answering the subpoena. Upon seeing his father’s image beginning to fade from a family picture, Marty realizes that the timeline is quickly catching up to his grandfather’s fatal wounds. Therefore George will never be born and neither will Marty. With Doc’s help, Marty goes back in time several hours, avoiding his other self, and manages to save Arthur, rescuing him from Tannen's trio of thugs and urging him to lay low for a while. Arthur then asks Doc and Marty if they are "G-Men." Deciding to just play along, Marty and Doc declare that they ARE G-Men and tell Artie to look out for a suspect named "Sylvia." "Sylvia" is the name of Marty's grandmother, Arthur's future wife.

Upon returning to 1986, Marty finds that history has been altered and in this new 1986 Kid Tannen was never sent to jail as he was supposed to have been later in 1931. The Tannen crime family now runs Hill Valley and endlessly harasses the McFlys. An old Kid Tannen then reveals that the only reason he didn't kill Arthur McFly was because his girlfriend made him promise not to. After escaping Kid and his goons, Marty and Doc then travel back to August 25, 1931, the night when Kid Tannen was supposed to be arrested. Doc explains that Kid Tannen was originally arrested when Trixie Trotter, his beautiful girlfriend and the singer at his Speakeasy, turned on him and gave Jennifer's grandfather, Officer Danny Parker, some incriminating evidence. But in this new timeline, this does not happen. Marty discovers this is because of two reasons: 1) Danny Parker has been traumatized by his seeing the DeLorean on the first trip to 1931 and 2) Without her smart friend and teacher Arthur McFly, Trixie is not confident enough to turn over the evidence. It turns out that while working for Kid Tannen, Arthur became fast friends with Trixie and taught her many things, including basic accounting. It is Felony Tax Evasion that Trixie has evidence of, but in this timeline she is hesitant and unsure of herself about presenting the evidence because Artie is not around.

Using Arthur's pipe, Marty was able to track down Arthur and convinced him to talk to Trixie. But their meeting was cut short by Kid Tannen, who immediately tried to shot Artie in the head for answering the subpoena. Trixie begged for Artie’s life and made Kid promise to spare it. After that, she didn't feel right about betraying Kid and decided to destroy the evidence she had against him. Realizing the Trixie cared so much about Artie, Marty decided to trick her into believing that Kid had gone back on his word and killed Arthur anyway in order to get her to give Danny Parker the evidence. Marty’s trick worked and Trixie turned over what she had on Kid to the police. Not long after, Kid Tannen was arrested.

Moments after the arrest, Trixie was overjoyed when she realized that Artie was still alive. They quickly began a romance. Marty was concerned about this because Trixie was not his grandmother, Sylvia was. But Doc noted that Marty wasn't fading into nonexistence and concluded that so long as Arthur did meet Sylvia and have baby George by 1938, it should be fine; He said to let Arthur sow his oats in the meantime. Unbeknownst to both of them at the time, Trixie was actually Sylvia.

In the months following the arrest of Kid Tannen and his gang, Arthur found that for the first time in his life, he was popular. For testifying against the gangsters, he quickly gained respectability throughout the whole of Hill Valley. He became so popular that people were practically beating down his door with job offers. As of October 12, 1931, Arthur worked at the Hill Valley Science Expo, and due to interference by Marty was forced into firing Trixie from her role of Techne (due to her being a Canadian citizen). Later that night, he took her to Reno to marry her (5 years earlier than they were supposed to wed), thus making her a US Citizen (and allowing her to return to her role as Techne). His father William McFly was furious at them getting hitched, but had a change of heart upon meeting Trixie.

When Marty was a child, he once refused to take his grandson to the zoo.

In 1931A, Arthur never met Trixie. According to his father, he was unable to talk to girls.

In 1986B, his son George referred to him in the past tense, implying that he had died by then in that timeline. It is unclear if he was still alive in the original timeline in 1986. However, his wife Sylvia seemingly was, given that Marty referred to her in the present tense.

Appearances

• Back to the Future: The Game
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 1: It's About Time
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 2: Get Tannen!
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 3: Citizen Brown (Photograph)
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 4: Double Visions
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 5: OUTATIME

Behind the scenes

Arthur might be visible in the photo of William McFly that Marty finds in the book A History of Hill Valley, 1850-1930. However, if Arthur was born in 1902, William would then only have been 17 years old and a teen father at the time of son Arthur's birth, perhaps confirming the presence of a McFly curse upon the family.

However, it should be noted that Emmett Brown told Marty that Arthur graduated from Hill Valley High School five years before he did, suggesting that he was five years older than Doc. If this is the case, he would have been born in 1909, making him 22 years old in 1931. It would also make it impossible for him to have enlisted in World War I, as was mentioned in the novelization of the first film.