Back to the Future first draft screenplay

The first draft screenplay of Back to the Future was written in 1980 by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It was very different from the final movie version.

Similarities

• The first draft opens similarly to the opening of the Back to the Future novelization, with an appearance by Mr. Arky.
• Doc is here known as "Professor Emmett L. Brown". Marty however calls him "Prof" instead of "Doc".
• Marty wanted to use the time machine for financial gain, as he attempts in Back to the Future Part II.
• Biff Tannen exists in this draft.

Major differences

• The present is 1982, not 1985.
• Hill Valley does not exist, only a place described as a "small Midwestern town".
• The time machine is a refrigerator, and is powered by the "Power Converter".
• Professor Brown lives in an abandoned Orpheum theater.
• Professor Brown has a monkey named Shemp.
• Marty's girlfriend is Suzy Parker.
• Marty is a video pirate alongside an aspiring musician.
• Marty's mother is Eileen Baines and lives in the same house as Marty in 1952.
• Government agents shoot Professor Brown.
• Marty travels back to March 11, 1952.
• Marty's alias is "Marty Lewis", perhaps a reference to Huey Lewis.
• Biff's catch phrase is "A-hole" instead of "butthead".
• The dance is named "Springtime in Paris" instead of "Enchantment Under the Sea".
• George and Lorraine meet in the high school cafeteria where he attempts to ask her out. He spills creamed corn.
• The way Marty returns to 1985 is via a nuclear test in Nevada.
• When Marty returns to 1982, he discovers that his father has become a boxer.

External links

• KristenSheley.com