View source for Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 1: It's About Time

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{{Infobox CVG| title = Episode 1: It's About Time
|image = [[File:BTTF-game-SS-06.jpg|250px|center]]
|developer = [[Telltale Games]]
|publisher = [[Universal]]
|designer = 
|engine = 
|released = '''Windows / Mac OS X'''<br/>[[December 22]], [[2010]]<br/>
'''PlayStation 3 (PSN)'''<br/>North America February 15, 2011<br/>Europe March 9, 2011
<br/>'''iOS'''<br/>February 17, 2011
|genre = Episodic series
|modes = Single player
|ratings = 
|platforms = PC, Mac (download), iPad, Playstation 3,
Playstation 4
|media = 
|requirements = 
|input = 
}}

{{Quote|Legal procedure gave way to old-fashioned vengeance last night, when a mob descended on the [[Hill Valley Police Station]]. The suspect in the speakeasy arson case, a drifter known as [[Carl Sagan]], was pulled from his... Carl Sagan? It's [[Emmett Brown|Doc]]!|[[Marty McFly|Marty]] when reading the headline of "Speakeasy Arsonist Slain"}}

'''Episode 1: It's About Time''' is the first episode of ''[[Back to the Future: The Game]]''.

==Synopsis==
It is Wednesday, [[May 14]], [[1986]]. 6:04 p.m. Marty is coping with life without Doc for six months. [[Doc's garage|Doc's laboratory]] is up for estate sale and is soon to be owned by the bank. Just as Marty has lost all hope, the DeLorean suddenly appears, and Marty is supposed to help Doc who is trapped in the past.<ref name="TTPart1" /> Marty jumps in the DeLorean and travels to [[June 13]], [[1931]]. Young Doc of the 1930s must aid Marty in rescuing his future self.<ref name="TR">[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-back-to-the/708065 GameTrailers.com trailer]</ref>

==Plot==
The game starts out on [[October 26]]th, [[1985]]. Marty and Doc perform the [[world's first temporal displacement|first temporal displacement experiment]], as seen through the [[JVC camcorder]]. The [[DeLorean time machine]] vanishes through time, at 1:20 a.m. as usual, but fails to return at 1:21 a.m.. Doc checks his [[Doc's notebook|notes]] to see what could have gone wrong, but Marty realizes that something is off. Doc realizes that something has gone horribly wrong, and a storm kicks up. The [[Twin Pines Mall]] sign begins to fade in and out of existence, eventually turning into the Lone Pine Mall sign, and Doc himself fades out of existence.

Marty suddenly wakes up to find that it was all a nightmare. He heads down to [[Doc's garage|Doc's residence]] and finds that his father [[George McFly]] volunteered to head the estate sale so that Doc's belongings would be treated with respect. [[Biff Tannen]] is also rummaging through items as Marty investigates the property. Marty notices Doc's notebook hidden within the [[demonstration model]] of the [[Hill Valley Courthouse]] but has to outsmart Biff to get it back. Upon obtaining the notebook, Marty hears the arrival of the DeLorean outside, but it seems to have no passenger. Inside turns out to be [[Einstein]], and a tape recording in the car tells Marty that the car had returned to 1986, at Doc's residence, per an [[automatic retrieval]] feature Doc implemented into the car. Doc's recording does not indicate where he might be trapped, but that it was up to Marty to find out when. Marty finds a shoe in the floorboard of the passenger's seat and has Einstein sniff it.

Marty follows Einstein to [[Courthouse Square]] where an old lady resides. She screams at Marty with a [[bullhorn]] and calls him a "hooligan". She identifies herself as [[Edna Strickland]], the sister of Mr. [[Gerald Strickland]], Marty's vice principal. As Marty is allowed to come upstairs to return the shoe, she continues to shout at troublemakers and vandals, even correcting their spelling. Marty gets her to leave the room and obtains from Edna's collection of the ''[[Hill Valley Telegraph]]'' a copy from [[1931]] that reported a "[[Carl Sagan]]" had been gunned down the day after the burning of a [[Hill Valley speakeasy|speakeasy]]. The pictured "Carl" turns out to be Doc, and after getting a final date, Marty returns to the DeLorean and heads for 1931. Marty heads down a [[four lane highway]] outside of town, and departs at 7:27 pm.

Marty arrives on [[June 13]], 1931 at 4:00 am in the middle of a gun battle between the [[Hill Valley Police|Hill Valley Police Department]] and mobsters. Escaping both, he hides the DeLorean behind a billboard advertising the upcoming [[Hill Valley Science Expo]], ironically specifically advertising "The Car of The Future", and walks the two miles to town. Upon entering Courthouse Square for the fourth time in another era, he nearly gets run over by a car, is encountered by a young Edna in the square asking his opinion on the speakeasy fire, witnesses his grandfather [[Arthur McFly]] being bullied by the gangster [[Kid Tannen]] in the local [[Sisters of Mercy Soup Kitchen|Soup Kitchen]], and locates Doc in a jail cell at the [[Hill Valley Police Station]]. Doc instructs Marty to locate his younger self, the Emmett Brown of 1931. Marty finds that young Emmett is a court clerk for his father, [[Judge Brown]], but has hidden desires to complete a rocket-powered drill invention. Doc hopes that Marty can get his younger self to build the machine so that Marty can break him out of jail. Marty also asks about the DeLorean, to which Doc revealed that it was a [[temporal duplicate]] that occurred from [[temporal displacement]] during the [[Hill Valley Thunderstorm]]. After convincing Emmett to pursue science, they begin a search for [[190 proof grain alcohol]], banned in the age of [[Prohibition]].

Over the course of the day, Marty and Emmett encounter Kid Tannen and serve a [[subpoena]] to Arthur McFly to testify against Kid. Marty realizes that the soup kitchen is actually a front for Kid Tannen's bootlegging business, and attempts to acquire some of the "soup" that is being cooked. Marty then finds Edna who agrees to have their meeting of the [[Stay Sober Society]] at the [[Brown residence]] and drop off some "soup" for refreshments. With the [[alcohol]] now in their possession, Marty and Emmett distill it into usable fuel for his drill machine. The night of the escape, Marty attempts to drill into the walls of the jail cell, but it breaks down. Furthermore, Doc has already been taken out of the cell by Kid Tannen in an armored van, with the intent to kill him outside of town. Having learned from the passing Edna that the van had just left, Marty reconfigures the rockets to hook onto her [[bicycle]] and chases Kid Tannen down with it. Hooking the rocket bike up to the rear of the van, Marty gets Doc to distract Kid while he grabs the keys with an antenna. Doc remains chained to the floor as Kid shoots at them, but a throw of a [[frisbee|hubcap]] by Marty knocks the gun from Kid's hand. Marty shoots the chains and puts the rockets on full throttle, forcing the van to careen into a [[manure]] truck. Doc and Marty meet back at the DeLorean, and all seems fine, until Marty begins to fade in and out of existence...

==Production==
*Director: [[Dennis Lenart]].<ref name="TTPart1">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VowKICvNxio Behind the Scenes Part 1 video]</ref>
*Writers and designers: [[Andy Hartzell]] and [[Mike Stemmle]]
*Art director: [[Derek Sakai]]
*Lead animator: [[Peter Tsaykel]]
*Lead choreographer: [[Eric Parsons]]
*Lead programmer: [[Randy Tudor]]
*Story consultant: [[Bob Gale]]

==Appearances==
{{App
|characters=
*[[Clara Clayton Brown]] {{Mo}}
*[[Emmett Brown]]
*[[Judge Brown]] {{C|Voice}}
*[[Jules Brown]] {{Mo}}
*[[Verne Brown]] {{Mo}} 
*[[Hampton]] {{1st}} {{C|Voice}} {{C|Name ungiven and is only known as the Brown family's Butler}}
*[[Cue Ball|Cue Ball Donnely]] {{1st}}
*[[Einstein]]
*[[Mr. Figgins]] {{1stm}}
*[[Jack Thomas|Gentleman Jack]] {{C|Poster}}
*[[Jimmy (1986)|Jimmy]] {{Mo}}
*[[Matches]] {{1st}}
*[[Arthur McFly]] {{1st}}
*[[George McFly]]
*[[Lorraine Baines McFly]] {{C|Voice}}
*[[Marty McFly]]
*[[Sylvia McFly]] {{Mo}}
*[[Jennifer Parker]] {{Mo}}
*[[Edna Strickland]] {{1st}}
*Vice Principal [[Gerald Strickland]] {{C|Photograph}}
*[[Marshal]] [[James Strickland]] {{C|Photograph}}
*[[Biff Tannen]]
*[[Griff Tannen]] {{Mo}}
*[[Kid Tannen]] {{1st}}
*[[Tiffany Tannen]] {{Mo}}
*[[Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen]] {{Mo}}

|creatures=
*[[Dog]]
*[[Cat]]
|events=
*[[Hill Valley Exposition]] {{1st}}
*[[Prohibition]]
*[[World's first temporal displacement]] {{C|Nightmare}}
|locations=
*[[Hill Valley]]
**[[Courthouse Square]]
***[[A1 Liquors]] {{1st}}
***[[Bank (1931)]] {{1st}}
***[[Billiards Parlor]] {{1st}}
***[[Eastern Auto Sales]] {{1st}}
***[[Essex Theater]]
***[[Gazebo]] {{1st}}
***[[Hill Valley Apartments]] {{1st}}
****[[Arthur McFly's residence]] {{1st}}
***[[Hill Valley Police Station]] {{1st}}
***[[Hill Valley Stationers]]
***[[Lamont's House of Ermine]] {{1st}}
***[[Law Offices of Gale, Zemeckis, and Fine]] {{1st}} 
***[[Majestic Arms Inn]] {{1st}}
***[[O'Malley & Sons Barber Shop]] {{1st}}
***[[Sisters of Mercy Soup Kitchen]] {{1st}}
***[[Starbase Zero]] {{1st}}
***[[Town Theater]]
***[[Valley Bakery]] {{1st}}
***[[Valley Video]] {{1st}}
**[[Doc's garage]]
**[[Four lane highway]] {{1st}}
**[[Future parking garage]] {{1st}}
**[[Hill Valley Orphanage]]{{1st}}
**[[Saint Francis Xavier Ranch for Unwanted Children]] {{1st}}
**[[Foggy Mountain Home for the Incurably Insane]] {{1st}}
**[[Shady Acres Rest Home]] {{1st}}
**[[Twin Pines Mall]]/[[Lone Pine Mall]]
***[[JCPenney]] {{C|As JCPinney}}
***[[Robinson's]] {{C|As Rubarbison's}}
*[[Washington, D.C.]] {{1stm}}
**[[Washington patent office]] {{1stm}}
|organizations=
*[[ADODS]] {{1st}}
*[[Berkeley Physics Department]] {{C|Name on printout}}
*[[D. Jones Manure Hauling]]
*[[Hill Valley Police]]
*[[Stay Sober Society]] {{1st}}
|vehicles=
*[[1984 GMC Value Van]]
*[[Bicycle]]
*[[DeLorean time machine]]
*[[Streetcar]]
*[[Police van]]
*[[Skateboard]]
|technology=
*[[Automatic dog feeder]]
*[[Automatic retrieval]] feature {{1st}}
*[[Barcode license plate]]
*[[Clock]]
*[[CRM-114 amplifier]]
*[[Dog translator]] {{1stm}}
*[[Fire extinguisher]] 
*[[Erlewine Chiquita|Marty's Guitar]]
*[[JVC camcorder]] {{C|Footage}}
*[[LED stopwatch]]
*[[Brain-wave analyzer]]
*[[Mr. Fusion]]
*[[Rocket-powered drill]] {{1st}}
*[[Spatial displacement]]
*[[Time circuits]]
|miscellanea=
*[[1871]] {{1st}}
*[[1891]] {{C|Year shown on police station sign.}}
*[[1905]] {{C|On Valley Bakery sign.}}
*[[1931]] {{1st}}
*[[1937]] {{1stm}}
*[[1985]]
*[[1986]] {{1st}}
*[[2011]] {{1stm}}
*[[2025]] {{1stm}}
*[[October 26]]
*''[[Accountant Weekly]]'' {{1stm}}
*[[Barrel]]
*[[Beef stew]] {{1stm}}
*[[Bulletproof vest]] {{Mo}}
*"[[Butthead]]" {{C|As "Chuck Butthead"}}
*[[Cabbage soup]] {{1st}}
*''[[Cat Lovers Quarterly]]'' {{1stm}}
*[[Chicago overcoat]] {{1stm}}
*[[October 28]] {{Mo}}
*[[Clock radio]]
*[[Calvin Coolidge|Coolidge Administration]] {{1st}}
*[[Demonstration model]] {{1st}}
*[[Doc and Marty's clock photograph]]
*[[Doc's fishtank]] {{1st}}
*[[Doc's notebook]] {{1st}}
*[[Down vest]]
*[[Dr. McCoy]] {{1st}}
*''[[Frankenstein]]'' {{1st}}
*"[[Mixed metaphor|Flux catheter]]" {{1st}}
*[[George McFly's photograph]] {{1st}}{{C|Appears in inventory}}
*''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' {{1stm}}
*[[Great Scott]]
*[[Hamiltonian Operator]] {{1st}}
*''[[Hill Valley Herald]]'' {{1stm}}
*''[[Hill Valley Telegraph]]''
*[[Hooligan]] {{1st}}
*[[It's a fact. Look it up.]] {{1st}}
*[[Ivanov's Conundrum]] {{1st}}
*''[[Jules Verne: Collective Works]]'' {{C|First edition}}
*''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' {{Mo}}
*[[June 13]] {{1st}}
*[[June 14]] {{1stm}}
*[[Kiwi]]
*[[Lightning]]
*[[May 14]] {{1st}}
*[[Mario Brothers]] {{1st}}
*[[Plutonium]]
*[[Merv Griffin]] {{1stm}} {{C|As "Merv"}}
*''[[Miami Vice]]'' {{C|Poster}}
*[[Manure]]
*Marty's 1931 alias
**"[[Harry Callahan]]" {{1st}} {{C|Option}}
**"[[Michael Corleone]]" {{1st}} {{C|Option}}
**"[[Sonny Crockett]]" {{1st}} {{C|Option}}
*[[Paradox]]
*[[Postcard]] {{Mo}}
*"[[The Power of Love]]"
*[[Carl Sagan]] {{C|First heard}}
*"[[Carl Sagan]]" {{1st}}
*[[Space-time continuum]]
*[[Speakeasy]]
*''[[Shark!]]'' {{1st}}
*[[Shoe]]
*[[Shoe shining]]
*[[Slacker]]
*[[John Steinbeck]] {{C|1stm}} {{C|As Steinbeck}}
*"[[The Streak]]" {{1stm}}
*[[Subpoena]] {{1st}}
*[[Tambourine]] {{1stm}}
*[[Temporal duplicate]] {{1st}}
*''[[The Time Machine]]'' {{1stm}}
*[[Tire Iron]] {{1st}}
*''[[Weird Science]]'' {{C|Poster}}
*''[[Go ahead, make my day]]
*"[[What in the name of Thomas Alva Edison?]]"
*"[[What the hell is that?]]"
*[[Wild Gunman]] {{Mo}}
}}

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

[[pl:It's About Time]]
[[Category:Back to the Future: The Game episodes|1]]