Doc and Marty's clock photograph

Doc and Marty pose in front of the clock for the picture they won't be able to show anybody.

The photograph as seen in Back to the Future: The Game.

"The only problem is that we won't be able to show it to anybody."

—Doc to Marty

" Apparently, Marty realized, Doc had forgotten this picture showed up in the history book. Should he remind him? After all, the picture had already been there in 1955. Still, Marty realized, that future picture would show both Doc and Marty. Maybe, he thought, Doc had enough to worry about already. / "Smile, Doc," was all Marty said. "

—From Back to the Future Part III by Craig Shaw Gardner (quote, pages 111 and 112)

"He [Doc] reached for something inside the cab [of the Jules Verne Train]. "Oh, I brought you a little souvenir." He handed Marty a rectangular package, wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon. / Marty tore the paper open. Inside was a framed photograph of Marty and Doc in front of the clock; the same photograph he'd found in the wreck of the DeLorean, except now Marty was in the photograph! / He looked up at his friend. "I love it, Doc. Thanks." "

—From Back to the Future Part III by Craig Shaw Gardner (quote, page 213)

Dr. Emmett Brown and Marty McFly's photograph of the clock was taken on September 5, 1885 by the photographer at the Hill Valley Festival, and was later deposited in the City Archives of the Hill County Courthouse, until Doc and Marty discovered it in 1955.

History

Originally, Doc chose to stand next to the clock alone for a photograph, undoubtedly since he was the only person who witnessed the clock start and stop. However, when Marty joined Doc in 1885, it was actually Marty's idea to have their photograph taken next to the clock, since he wished he had brought his camera.

It is possible that after the photo was taken, Marty's image would have appeared on the picture from the City Archives that he brought with him to the past, but upon his return to 1985, the left half of the photograph had been burned up by the exposed wiring of the smashed flux capacitor when the DeLorean time machine was destroyed on the railroad tracks by an Alco S6 locomotive — leaving Doc posing with only half a clock.

After Doc returned to 1985 in the Jules Verne Train at the site of the DeLorean's destruction, he gave Marty a framed copy of the completed photograph as a memento.

It remains unknown as to whether a copy of the same photograph also ended up in the City Archives as a replacement for the damaged original (featuring only Doc) that Marty took with him back to 1885.

By May 1986, Marty kept the framed photograph on his bedside table.

Behind the scenes

• The closing credits of the 1990 behind-the-scenes television show The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy are rolled over an image of Doc and Marty's clock photograph.

Appearances

• Back to the Future Part III (First appearance)
• Back to the Future: The Game
  • Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 1: It's About Time
• The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy (background for show's closing credits)

See also

• Doc's clock photograph