Jennifer Parker

Jennifer Parker Jennifer Jane Parker-McFly Biographical information Date of birth 1968 Age (1885) Not yet born Age (1955) Not yet born Age (1985) 17 Age (2015) 47 Physical description Gender Female Hair color Brown (Part 1) Red (Parts 2/3) Blonde (Series) Eye color Brown Behind-the-scenes information Played by Claudia Wells (Part 1) Elisabeth Shue (Parts 2/3) Voiced by Cathy Cavadini
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Jennifer Jane Parker-McFly was the girlfriend, and later the wife, of Marty McFly.

Jennifer Jane Parker was born in 1968 in Hill Valley, California. She was Marty's girlfriend, having met him at Hill Valley High School, which they both attended in 1985.

Jennifer and Marty seemed to be "serious" enough for him to introduce her to his best friend, local inventor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown, who was regarded as eccentric and strange by many townspeople.

Jennifer had a mainly positive attitude to life, knowing what to say to Marty if he needed cheering up, and wondering what happy life she might have in the future.

Little is known about Jennifer's life prior to Marty's trip to 1955, other than that she had started dating Marty some time before October 1985.

Jennifer and Marty stroll into Hill Valley High School late.

On October 25, 1985, Jennifer helped cover for Marty, who was late for class, but became caught herself; she was given a late slip by Mr. Strickland. After school, Jennifer accompanied Marty to the Battle of the Bands audition, and when the Pinheads failed to get through, she comforted Marty by reminding him that if he put his mind to it, he could accomplish anything - a saying of Doc's. Jennifer and Marty made plans to go camping by the lake for that weekend, and as they kissed in Courthouse Square, they were interrupted by both the Clock Tower Lady, then by her father. As Jennifer prepared to leave, Marty promised to call her. Jennifer was going to be at her grandma's house that evening, so she wrote down her grandma's telephone number (555-4823) on the back of a "Save the Clocktower" flyer. Because of this, Marty kept the flyer in his pocket, and still had it in his possession after he got stuck in 1955.

Jennifer called Marty twice on Friday night, but had to speak instead to Marty's sister Linda (who made it clear to Marty that she was not his "answering service"). Whether she ever reached Marty that evening is uncertain. The next morning, Jennifer arrived at the McFly house, unaware that Marty has spent a week in 1955 since she had last seen him. Marty now had a truck, thanks to the changes he made in the past, and Jennifer had come for a ride. Just as they were about to leave, though, Doc arrived in his DeLorean time machine. Jennifer accompanied Marty and Doc on a trip "to the future".

The Future

Jennifer, aged 47, in 2015

Jennifer joined Marty and Doc Brown in the DeLorean. Upon entering 2015, Jennifer excitedly started asking Doc questions about her future. Not wanting her to know, Doc used a sleep inducing alpha rhythm generator on her, sending her to sleep. He left her in an alleyway whilst Marty visited the Cafe 80's pretending to be his future son, and while Doc went to knock out the real Marty Jr.

Police officers Reese and Foley found Jennifer in the alleyway, and used a thumbprint scanner on her to find out who she was; and since her thumbprint never changed over the years, they assumed she was the 2015 Jennifer ("47? That's a hell of a good facelift!"). They took her to her future home and left her inside, just as she started to wake up.

Jennifer realized she was trapped in her future home - she did not know how to open the thumb-operated doors - and found out what her future would be. She would hear Marty's parents relate how Marty had gotten himself into a car accident, after a classmate had called him a chicken, and how Marty's life had been ruined. Jennifer was horrified to find out that she and Marty had been married in the Chapel O'Love, rather than the big church wedding she had wanted. She was able to see and hear the two children whom she would be the mother of in 2015, Marlene and Marty Jr.. Worse, she saw Marty at 47, a broken man who could no longer play a guitar, who let himself be manipulated by Needles, and who was fired from his job. Jennifer's final shock was when she used the thumbplate to open the front door; she found herself face to face with the 47 year old woman that she would become, and fainted from the shock.

Doc and Marty take Jennifer to her porch.

Doc caught Jennifer before she could hit the ground, and Doc and Marty carried her to the car to take her back to 1985. Nobody realized that Biff Tannen had used the DeLorean to change history. Jennifer was left on the porch swing at her home. In the alternate 1985, Marty recognized Jennifer's dad's orange AMC 4WD station wagon he saw on the 25th, but now totaled and sitting on the front yard lawn, apparently crashed into a telephone or power pole. Moreover, he noticed security bars on the windows which he didn't remember seeing before. Marty eventually had to come back in the restored timeline, wake her up, and convince her it was all a dream.

After his adventures through time were over (via trips to 1955 to put history back on track and undo Biff's actions, and to 1885 to save Doc), Marty arrived at the Parker residence on October 27, 1985 to find Jennifer still sleeping. He woke her with a kiss and they went out in his truck.

Jennifer told Marty about her 'dream', when a classmate, Needles, challenged Marty to a race. Jennifer realized that this would cause the accident that ruins Marty's life in the future, and urged him not to do it. At first she was shocked at Marty revving up the truck but was surprised when Marty purposely put the car in reverse and went backward. At the realization that Marty didn't hit the Rolls Royce as he did in the alternate future, Jennifer pulled out a sheet of fax paper from the future with the message "YOU'RE FIRED!!!", just in time to see the words vanishing from existence right off the sheet.

Jennifer was now in on the secret of the time machine, and was with Marty when Doc and his family arrived back from the Old West in their new train time machine. With the proof that they had prevented the events that could ruin their future, Doc told Jennifer and Marty to make their unwritten future a good one.

Back to the Future: The Animated Series

Jennifer is a semi-regular in the Animated Series. Her hair is blonde, reflecting Shue's appearance more than Wells'. Like Marty, she was now in college and often tutored other students if they are stuck. She never time travelled, although she was aware of the time machines' existence (she once saw the DeLorean disappear in the sky and calmly mused that Doc was not going to be letting Marty borrow the car that day, apparently establishing that she took the ending scene of the third movie as reality and not just another dream). Jennifer did not appear in every episode, but she played key parts in the episodes "Witchcraft" and "A Friend In Deed", where Marty goes back to 1875 to stop the Tannen family from getting the deed to her grandparents' ranch.

The canonicity of the animated series as an extension of the films' storyline is unclear.

Behind the scenes

• Director Robert Zemeckis named the character in honor of famed injury attorney Larry H. Parker's daughter as Mr. Parker was instrumental in settling a copyright infringement suit in favor of Mr. Zemeckis.
• The novel for Part I gives her grandmother's phone number as 243-8480.
• The novel for Part II says her birthday is October 29, but that would make her 46 on October 21, 2015 and she is clearly said to be 47 on that date.
• A draft script said that Jennifer (known as "Suzy" in the draft) was seeing a psychiatrist, but no mention of this is ever made in the films or novels.
• There is a theory that she does not get along with her father, by the way she says, "It's my dad" to Marty in the first film, but she could have just been annoyed at her father interrupting her kiss.
• Claudia Wells, who played the role of Jennifer Parker in the first film, was replaced by Elisabeth Shue for Parts II and III when Wells cited scheduling conflicts as the reason she couldn't film those movies.
• Though Wells was the original choice for Jennifer, Wells had been cast in an ABC television series and was unavailable when shooting started. Melora Hardin was cast as Jennifer, to play opposite Eric Stoltz, but before Hardin could even film a scene, Stoltz was let go. Because Hardin was several inches taller than Michael J. Fox, she was let go as well.
  • See also Replacement of Claudia Wells
• Though not referred to in the films or the novelizations, Jennifer apparently was a cheerleader at Hill Valley High School. In Back to the Future Part II, when she is hiding in the closet in 2015, a maroon and white school jacket can be seen, with the name "Jennifer", and an emblem consisting of a megaphone over the "HV" letters.

Appearances

• Back to the Future
• Back to the Future novelization
• Back to the Future Part II
• Back to the Future Part II novelization
• Back to the Future Part III
• Back to the Future Part III novelization
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series
  • "Forward to the Past" (Mentioned only)
  • "Witchcraft"
  • "Solar Sailors"
  • "Mac the Black"
  • "A Friend In Deed"
  • "St. Louis Blues"