Back to the Future - Detailed Storyline
It all started when…
Marty: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc, uh... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
Doc: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? Besides, the stainless steel construction makes the flux dispersal- l…….ook out !!!"
Read the plot to Back to the Future in our Blog to the Future post today !
Doc Brown and Marty McFly - Credit to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
It all started when…
Marty: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc, uh... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
Doc: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? Besides, the stainless steel construction makes the flux dispersal- look out!!!"
— Doc and Marty during the first test
The DeLorean time machine was Dr. Emmett Brown's most successful invention, a plutonium-powered time machinecomprised of a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car that had to reach 88 miles per hour in order to time travel.
On November 5, 1955, Doc was standing on the edge of his toilet, while hanging a clock in his bathroom. But the porcelain was wet, making Doc slip, fall and hit his head on the sink. When Doc came to, he had a vision of the flux capacitor in his head, and drew a crude schematic diagram as well as scrawling some hurried calculations. The capacitor was constructed afterward and completed in 1985.
Doc Browns Flux Capacitor - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Hill Valley Telegraph
History
Doc purchased the DeLorean DMC-12 from a seller named Robert, who had advertised it in the classifieds section of the August 11, 1984 issue of the Hill Valley Telegraph.
The first test
Main article: World's first temporal displacement
Doc and Marty stand in the fire trails left behind by the DeLorean on the first test.
Doc Brown revealed his creation to his friend Marty McFly at Twin Pines Mall, in the early morning of October 26, 1985, and for its first test, Doc sent his dog Einstein one minute into the future. The sequence of events that followed were as so; after Doc revved up the engine to 65 m.p.h. while braked, he released the brake sending the car towards Doc and Marty.
Einstein Time Travelling Dog - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
A faint glow developed at the front of the car and then engulfed the vehicle. The coils lit up, internal circuits glowed, and the flux capacitor fired rapidly. Suddenly the car seemed to explode just before it hit Doc and Marty. Fire trails then scorched the pavement where the vehicle would have passed through, completing the temporal displacement sequence.
Marty: "Jesus Christ, Doc. You disintegrated Einstein!"
Doc: "Calm down, Marty, I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both Einstein and the car are completely intact!"
Marty: "Well, where the hell are they?!"
Doc: "The appropriate question is "When the hell are they?" You see, Einstein has just become the world's first time traveler. I sent him into the future! One minute into the future to be precise. And at exactly 1:21 A.M. and zero seconds we will catch up to him and the time machine."
— Doc and Marty after the time travel experiment.
For Einstein, the trip was instantaneous, but to Marty and Doc they had to wait exactly one minute to catch up to Einstein in the timeline. In the meantime, Marty asked why a DeLorean was used.
Doc explained that it needed some style and implied that the stainless steel construction of the car helped it in temporal displacement. But Doc didn't fully explain why because the watch he was wearing at the time beeped, warning him that the DeLorean's return was only seconds away.
The car suddenly appeared where Doc and Marty were standing and screeched to a halt as a frozen shell. Supercooled from traveling through time, the gullwing door was troublesome for Doc to open while using his hands. Inside the car, Einstein was unharmed, much to the surprise of Marty. Doc then showed Marty the interior and its controls.
"First, you turn the time circuits on. This read-out tells you where you're going. This one tells you where you are. This one tells you where you were."
—Doc Brown
While inputting dates on the keypad, Doc used July 4, 1776 (the date the American declaration of Independence was signed) and December 25, 0000 (the date of the birth of Christ) as examples, before inputting "a red-letter date in the history of science, November 5, 1955". From there he left the cockpit of the DeLorean and reminisced about the past, particularly about Old Man Peabody owning the land that is now Twin Pines Mall and his pine tree farm.
"My, things sure have changed. I can remember when this was all open land as far as the eye can see. Old Man Peabody owned all of this. He had this crazy idea... about breeding pine trees."
—Doc talking to Marty
Trapped in 1955
Soon after a new pellet of plutonium was inserted into the time machine, the Libyans who he stole the plutonium from intervened in a Volkswagen and shot Doc dead. Marty ran into the DeLorean to try to escape the Libyans. Marty accidentally turned the time circuits (still set to 1955) on while shifting, and as he avoided being destroyed by a rocket-propelled grenade, he sped up to 88 and entered temporal displacement. Suddenly, Marty went from a mall parking lot in 1985, to a field in 1955, and the DeLorean crashed into a scarecrow and then the Peabodys' barn.
Frozen Delorean - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
VW Camper Chasing DeLorean - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Lyon Estate - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
A radiation suit-clad Marty trips as he leaves the DeLorean.
"It looks like an airplane... without wings."
Doc Brown and the Time Machine
—Otis Peabody
For a moment, Marty was stunned, and the Peabody family ran from their house to the barn to investigate. Believing that the vehicle was from another world, they screamed in horror as Marty lifted the gullwing door and stepped out, dressed in a radiation suit. Marty was almost shot from the buckshot of Otis Peabody's shotgun, and ran back to the safety of the time machine, floored the accelerator, and smashed through the doors of the barn. After escaping from Peabody's shotgun, the car ran over one of the two pines that Peabody had been growing. This was the first effect of Marty's trip into the past that would alter the future (the "Twin Pines Mall" would become the "Lone Pine Mall").
Marty pulled the DeLorean onto a highway that ran by the future site of Lyon Estates. He immediately stopped and viewed the undeveloped land stretch far out into the distance, questioning whether or not it was a dream. A meter in the DeLorean indicated that it was out of plutonium, and the car shut down. Marty failed to get it running again and decided to hide the DeLorean behind the Lyon Estates sign, covered by a few shrubs, and walked the two miles to town.
"It works! Ha ha, it works! I finally invented something that works."
—Young Doc Brown
After convincing the 1955 Doc that he was indeed from the future, Marty and Doc went back to the site to recover the time machine. Doc opened the door and turned on the flux capacitor which he had envisioned after his fall earlier that day. The DeLorean was driven back to Doc's garage where it was hidden under a tarpaulin until the night of the thunderstorm, November 12.
On the 12th, Doc brought the time machine to Courthouse Square in downtown Hill Valley, and started working on the cable assembly that would harness the impending lightning strike. Arriving late, Marty was briefed by Doc, just as the storm moved in and took down a tree. Marty drove the DeLorean to the starting line at the Bluebird Motel, and inserted a tall connecting hook into the flux capacitor. He then waited for the alarm to go off while Doc reconnected the cable, and decided to reset the controls to arrive 11 minutes earlier than scheduled. With that, the engine suddenly died, and left Marty trying to restart it. Marty finally (and unexpectedly) succeeded in restarting the engine after head-butting the horn in frustration, and took off. The DeLorean reached the cable just as the lightning struck, and Doc made the connection, sending the time machine back to 1985.
In 1985, Red the Bum was awoken by the sonic boom of the DeLorean, followed by the sound of a crash at the Town Theater. Marty jumped out of the icy time machine to check out downtown and to verify that he had gotten back to the future, and back to his normal year of 1985. Returning to the car to save Doc, Marty tried to drive off and the engine died once again. This was the last time in the trilogy that it had done so. The Libyans passed him on the street, and Marty ran back to the mall. There, he saw the first DeLorean make the jump to 1955, with the terrorists' van crashing into a photo booth. Originally believing he was too late, Marty was in grief, then surprise. Doc recovered, and revealed that he was wearing a bulletproof vest, having read the warning letter that Marty had written 30 years earlier.
Doc returned to downtown to start the DeLorean up, and drove Marty back to his home in Lyon Estates. Doc told Marty he would go roughly 30 years into the future, "a nice round number". Doc backed the DeLorean up with enough room to reach 88 mph on the street and vanished in three sonic booms.
While in the future, Doc decided to give the DeLorean a now standard hover conversion. To afford this, he traveled back to 1938, and bought several copies of Action Comics #1. He sold them for $2.5 million in 2015, and flew off in the newly converted DeLorean. At some point, he discovered that Marty's children were destined to accidentally go to prison, which would eventually destroy the McFly family.
biffTo the future
Marty: "Hey Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88."
Where we’re going we don’t need …. roads …. Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Skyway to Hill Valley - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Doc: "Roads? Where we're going we don't need... roads."
— Discussion between Doc and Marty in the DeLorean before takeoff
The DeLorean lifts off, bound for 2015.
Doc returned to the McFly residence, the morning after he left. Marty had discovered that his life had changed for the better. His visiting girlfriend Jennifer Parker, and he, were interrupted by the sonic boom and wind blast. The newly upgraded DeLorean knocked over some trashcans, and a futuristically-garbed Doc emerged from the vehicle. Doc made use of his upgraded time machine by adding garbage to the Mr. Fusion as fuel. Plutonium was no longer needed after the trip to the future. Doc told Marty and Jennifer of their future family, and the trouble that occurred (or would occur) with their children.
The DeLorean lifted off the ground and its wheels folded providing thrust. The rear louver then propelled it forward down the street, and Doc turned the car around to get the speed needed to make temporal displacement. This entire sequence was witnessed by Biff Tannen in the McFly driveway.
The time machine entered October 21, 2015, then descended through the clouds into a busy skyway, nearly in the wrong lane of multilevel traffic. Doc pulled off onto an exit ramp to downtown Hill Valley. He landed the DeLorean in an alleyway, just outside Courthouse Square, then left while Marty completed his mission to save Marty, Jr. After Doc recovered Einstein from a suspended animation kennel, he pulled the DeLorean out into the open, where Old Biff saw it, and eventually put two and two together to realize that they were time travelers.
Biff steals the DeLorean.
"Flying DeLorean? Haven't seen one of those in... thirty years"
—Old Biff
Biff followed Doc and Marty in a taxi cab, and while the DeLorean was parked outside Hilldale, Biff stole it and went back to 1955 to hand the Grays Sports Almanac (that Doc had thrown away) to his younger self, thus altering history. In a matter of minutes, Biff returned the vehicle in the same position; however, he was feeling the effects of changing history.
In pain, he left the silver-colored bag and receipt for the almanac, as well as the top of his cane which broke off in the DeLorean when he doubled over. Getting out of view, Biff slumped to the ground and faded from existence behind a parked car. Doc and Marty, unaware that anything had happened, returned to the time machine with Jennifer and headed back for 1985.
An alternate history
"Imagine that this line represents time. At some point in the past, the timeline skewed into this tangent creating an alternate 1985. Alternate for you, me, Jennifer and Einstein...But reality for everyone else."
—Doc showing Marty 1985A on a blackboard.
Doc Brown - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
DeLorean getting struck by lighting - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
By this time it was too late to prevent the changing of the timeline. Flying at a high altitude, the DeLorean was nearly hit by an airliner in the sky. The time circuits began to malfunction as well, indicating 1885 temporarily. After discovering the truth behind the alternate 1985, Doc and Marty left Einstein in Doc's garage, and Jennifer at her house, where time would alter around them pending a change in the past. They traveled back to November 12, 1955, the date that Biff revealed to have been the day he had gotten the almanac.
Doc parked the time machine behind the same sign that Marty hid it the first time in 1955. Marty notified Doc of his status with Biff, and after some repairs, Doc jumped into the DeLorean to pick him up at Hill Valley High School.
As Doc left Lyon Estates, the car had hooked onto some of the pennants on the sign. Doc and Marty followed Biff in his car, and hovered over him, until Marty thought of using the hoverboard to get closer. Marty grabbed the almanac after some fighting, but was faced with being in the middle of a long tunnel from which to escape.
At the end of the tunnel, Doc dropped the string of pennants that he had hooked onto earlier, and Marty grabbed the rope in time to prevent himself from getting run over by Biff (who crashed, for the second time in a week, into a manure truck).
Returning to Lyon Estates to destroy the almanac, Doc lowered Marty onto the ground, but deemed it unsafe to land the DeLorean in the storm. Marty successfully burned the almanac in an old bucket, reverting all effects that had been created by 2015 Biff. The celebration was short-lived; lightning struck a tree close to Marty, who warned Doc about getting struck himself. In the next instant, however, lightning struck the DeLorean as feared, spinning it up to 88 mph (thus creating the fire trails in the shape of backward 9's), scrambling the circuits, and sent Doc and the DeLorean back to January 1, 1885[1]
Less than a minute later, a man, representing Western Union, appeared on the rainy street and handed Marty a letter. The letter, from Doc, had been held in their possession for over 70 years, with instructions for delivery to that exact position, at that exact moment, to that exact person — Marty.
Marty ran back downtown, arriving just moments after his other self was going back to the future, and after the temporal displacement, he encountered 1955 Doc, who then fainted.
Marty: "OK, Doc, just calm down. It's me. It's me! It's Marty!"
Doc: "No, it can't be you! I just sent you back to the future!"
Marty: "Yeah, I know. But I'm back. I'm back from the future."
— Marty to Doc before Doc exclaims "Great Scott" and faints.
Doc Brown - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Delgado Mine - Back to the Future Part 3
The letter, read the next morning by Doc, stated that the DeLorean was buried in the Delgado Mine, and provided repair instructions on fixing the time circuits with 1955 parts. At the Boot Hill Cemetery, outside the mine, Marty and Doc stumbled onto 1985 Doc's tombstone from 1885. It was now Marty's mission to save Doc in the past, and bring him back to the future as well.
Finding the DeLorean
Doc replaced the rotting tires with new whitewall tires and, working from the schematic diagram provided with the repair instructions, replaced all the broken instruments with 1955-era vacuum tubes and other components. He also put gasoline in the tank, since 1985 Doc had to drain all the fluids from the car, including the gas, before putting it into long-term storage.
1885 - Back to the Future - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
The Old West
The DeLorean encounters a tribe of local Indians.
"Marty, you're not thinking fourth-dimensionally. You'll instantly be transported to 1885 and those Indians won't even be there..."
1955 Doc and Marty set up at the Pohatchee Drive-In Theatre, far away from town, so that Marty's arrival would not be noticed by residents in 1885. Doc set the time circuits to the day after his 1885 counterpart sent the letter on September 1. Marty hesitated to drive at the screen because of a wall with Indians painted on it; but as Marty reached 88 mph, the 1955 wall was gone, but was replaced with real, 1885, Pohatchee Indians, who chased after the DeLorean, which Marty hid in a bear cave.
Marty avoided the Indians, and the U.S. Cavalry that was chasing them, but discovered that an Indian had shot an arrow into the engine of the DeLorean. Upon removing the arrow, Marty accidentally tears a hole in the fuel line of the car. He pays it no mind as he is chased out of the cave by the bear living there at the time, and fell down the hill and landed on the property of his Irish ancestors.
The DeLorean was recovered by Doc, but there was no gasoline available in 1885 to replace the fuel that had leaked out. [2]Marty wasn't concerned as he stated Mr. Fusion could refuel the DeLorean. Doc said that was impossible as the engine always ran on gasoline and Mr. Fusion only powered the flux compacitor and the flight circuits. Doc then plotted means of powering the car, including having his horses try to reach 88 mph out in the desert, they only made 30 mph.
DeLorean fuel tank damaged by a arrow - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Doc received a strong alcohol concoction from the town bartender, Chester, that he hoped would have a similar effect to gasoline, but instead, blew the fuel injection manifold out. This left only one available option: pushing the DeLorean up to 88, which came in the form of a locomotive.
Doc and Marty's plan was to hijack, or borrow, the locomotive, and take it to an unused spur that ran to Shonash Ravine, where it would push the car before running off the end of the track. On the night of September 6, Doc placed the car onto the track. There, it awaited the locomotive.
DeLorean being pushed to 88mph - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
DeLorean Destroyed by Locomotive - Credits to Universal Picture Amblin Entertainment
Their plan was successfully enacted on September 7, and though Marty was sent back to 1985, Doc and Clara Clayton remained in the past. The DeLorean reached temporal displacement just before hitting the buffer at the edge of the ravine; however the train crashed through and landed into the ravine in a large explosion.
The DeLorean is destroyed by a locomotive.
Back in 1985, the DeLorean traveled along the railroad tracks for about a mile until it came to rest on the track outside Hilldale. Immediately, Marty was stunned to see a modern locomotive barreling towards him, and escaped from the DeLorean just before it was destroyed by the train. After it had passed by, Marty gazed at the time circuits and flux capacitor in shock just as they flickered on and then off for the last time.
"...Well Doc, it's destroyed... Just like you wanted..."
—Marty standing at the remains of the DeLorean
Marty and Jennifer, who had remained on her porch, both went through the wreckage. Then, peculiarly, the railroad crossing's bells sounded and its gates went down. No trains were to be seen. Just then, the Jules Verne Train appeared, and blew Marty and Jennifer back several feet. This was Doc's way to return without the aid of the DeLorean. After introducing Marty and Jennifer to the two new members of the family, Jules and Verne, Doc handed Marty a gift — the photograph of them standing in front of the clock — and gave some words of advice before leaving to times unknown.
"Your future hasn't been written yet! No one's has! Your future is whatever you make of it. So make it a GOOD one!"
Doc Brown - Your Future hasn’t been written yet
—Doc to Marty and Jennifer
Marty: "Where ya going Doc? Back to the future?"
Doc: "No, already been there!"
— Doc and Marty during the final scene of Back to the Future Part III
Just before its destruction, the DeLorean can be seen to have parts from every time period it has been in. Inside the time machine was also a walkie-talkie from 1985A.
Rebirth of the DeLorean
Note: The following section is considered non-canon or is disputed in canonicity.
Six months after the destruction of the DeLorean, another DeLorean time machine, nearly identical to the one used previously by Marty and Doc, appeared outside of Doc's garage. Upon following Einstein's clues to the source of the time machine, Marty drove it back to 1931, where he found Doc in jail for allegedly blowing up a speakeasy.
Doc told Marty that the DeLorean he had been driving was a temporal duplicate, created when the DeLorean was struck by lightning; the original going seventy years back to 1885, and the other version seventy years forward to 2025. Doc went forward in time with the Jules Verne Train, recovered the second DeLorean, fixed it up, and began traveling again. Doc also installed a program that would activate upon Doc not returning to the vehicle within a certain length of time. This automatic retrieval feature allowed the DeLorean to return to a set time and location of Doc's choosing.[3]
Around 1991, Doc Brown and his family returned to Hill Valley in the Train and settled down in the present. Marty had, by now, been attending Hill Valley College, and he visited the Brown family regularly. The DeLorean was rebuilt with added features, including a new audio receptive series of time circuits, submersible capabilities, a pincer, and having the ability to fold into a compact suitcase-sized box (which still weighed as much as the car at 2,796 pounds[4]). The greatest improvement to the DeLorean was the addition of spatial displacement, which allowed the car to travel not only through time, but through space.
Soon after, Doc built additional DeLoreans for use by the Institute of Future Technology.
In 1931B
The DeLorean time machine burned out after Edna burnt down Hill Valley.
One version of the DeLorean was stolen by Edna Strickland who took it back to 1876 to light Beauregard Tannen's half-finished saloon on fire, accidentally burning down Hill Valley and the DeLorean in the process. When Doc and Marty arrive at her residence in the newly created 1931B, the vehicle is a rusted hulk of metal on Edna's property.
Non-canon or disputable information ends here.
Behind the scenes
A rack of vacuum tubes and other components strapped to the hood replaces the time control microchip.
In the animated series, the DeLorean is supposedly rebuilt, regardless of what Doc said about the dangers of time traveling.
In the first script of Back to the Future the time machine was shaped like a refrigerator. The idea was scrapped, for fear of kids climbing into and becoming trapped in refrigerators. Because an abandoned refrigerator can become an inescapable trap for a small child, laws in most nations require that the door be removed when such an item is disposed of.
Coincidentally, the final version of the time machine was composed of stainless steel, from which many refrigerators are made of.
At the end of Back to the Future, the alarm clock that the 1955 Doc had placed on the dashboard of the DeLorean could be seen. But in the beginning of Back to the Future Part II, it is no longer on the dashboard of the DeLorean.
At the start of the 1990 behind-the-scenes TV show The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy, host Kirk Cameron arrived in an Old West town in the DeLorean.
Construction of the DeLorean for the films
The base of the DeLorean's nuclear reactor was constructed from a hubcap of a Dodge Polara. The engine sounds came from a Porsche but the engine was never replaced with a Porsche engine and kept stock.[5] Aircraft parts and blinking lights were added for additional effects.
Since all American models of the actual DMC-12 had speedometers that only read up to 85 miles per hour, a modified instrument cluster was installed, with a speedometer that reached 95. (A law from the administration of President Jimmy Carter prescribed that automobile speedometers could not read more than 85 m.p.h. with the intent that if people could not read speeds higher than that, that they wouldn't drive faster than that.)
In popular culture
The Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine defines a "delorean" as a unit of power equal to 1.21 jigowatts, and uses 88 miles per hour as a benchmark for comparing speeds. See: "speed cheetah".
In the game Borderlands there is an achievement on the Xbox 360 version entitled "1.21 Gigawatts" which is a clear reference to the amount of electricity needed for the time travel.
In the game Sonic CD (4th generation iPhone/iPod Only) there is an achievement called "88 miles per hour". Sonic's way of time traveling is similar to Back to the Future.
Similarly to Sonic CD, there is a trophy for the PS3 exclusive game Ratchet and Clank (Future): a Crack in Timecalled 88 MPH, though the action for doing so is by preventing a time travel rather than travelling through time.
In Grand Theft Auto V, there are several power stations which have the label "Danger: 1.21 GW", also referring to the amount of electricity needed.
The DeLorean Time Machine appears in Ready Player One as the vehicle of the protagonist Parzival in the OASIS. Parzival uses the DeLorean to win the race that is the first challenge and then speeds through the battlefield in the car during the final battle. The DeLorean is destroyed by MechaGodzilla during the final battle.
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/3/31/ghostbusters-ecto-1
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/19/back-to-the-future-fashion-te2yx
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/whydiddeloreanmotorcompanyfail
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Appearances
Futurepedia has a collection of images and media related to DeLorean time machine.
The Earth Day Special (Non-canonical appearance)
Back to the Future: The Animated Series (Note: It does not appear in the episode "A Friend In Deed", however, it is mentioned by Marty and Verne.)
The Simpsons Ride (Non-canonical appearance)
Star Trek/Legion of Super Heroes #5 (Non-canonical appearance)[2]
A Million Ways to Die in the West (Non-canonical appearance)
Deer in the Headlights (Music video for artist Owl City) (Non-canonical appearance)
LEGO Dimensions (Non-canonical appearance)
Ready Player One (film) (Non-canonical appearance)
Hill Valley - ‘Back to the Future’ History
Back to the Future - Learn all about the famous town featured in the film called Hill Valley which we seen in 1985, 2015, 1955, 1885
Hill Valley
Is the fictional town in California that serves as the setting of the Back to the Future trilogy.
Hill Valley Clock Towner - Back to the Future set
In the trilogy, Hill Valley is seen in four different time periods (1885, 1955, 1985 and 2015) as well as in a dystopian alternate 1985.
The films contain many sight gags, verbal innuendos and detailed set design elements, from which a detailed and consistent history of the area can be derived.
The name "Hill Valley" is a joke, being an oxymoron. However, an early script for Back to the Future Part II mentioned that Hill Valley was named after its founder, William "Bill" Hill.
Production
For Back to the Future, the producers considered filming the town square scenes in the real city of Petaluma, California, but soon realized it would be prohibitively expensive and impractical to alter a real place to suit the different eras.
Instead filming was completed on the Universal Studios backlot, where they had more control.
Hill Valley - Back to the Future set
Gremlins Set
The town square set, once called Mockingbird Square after the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird but now known as Courthouse Square, had been used for many films and television shows dating back to 1948's An Act of Murder.
One notable example is the very first episode of the sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, called "Where Is Everybody?" in 1959.
The Hill Valley courthouse can also be found in the movies Bruce Almighty, Gremlins, Bye Bye Birdie, Sneakers, The Offspring's music video "Why Don't You Get a Job?", an episode of Major Dad entitled "Who's That Blonde" and even in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Gremlins Cinema - (Remember the DeLorean crashing into it !)
The clock tower itself was a removable addition, one of many ways in which the Courthouse building has been redressed over the years to suit the needs of a production.
Many of the cars that appear in the 2015 scenes are either modified for the film or concept cars.
Hill Valley Sign 2015
Examples include Ford Probe, Saab EV-1, Citroën DS 21, Pontiac Banshee Concept, Pontiac Fiero and Volkswagen Beetle. Cars reused from other science fiction films include the "Star Car" from The Last Starfighter (1984) and a "Spinner" from Blade Runner (1982).
Griff's car is a modified BMW 633 (which was notably never in the convertible form seen in the film).
For Back to the Future Part III, Hill Valley 1885 was filmed in Sonora, California. The producers were able to use the land rent-free under an agreement to leave the set buildings on site.
All buildings except the clock tower were left intact after production completed.
! On November 6, 1990, an arson fire on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot destroyed much of Courthouse Square, the setting in which all the other time periods were filmed.
However, the Courthouse itself survived the devastation and other facades were reconstructed.
! Another fire on September 6, 1997 again damaged Courthouse Square. Once again, the backlot facades were then rebuilt, with the exception of the facades used for Hill Valley 1885.
! On February 14, 1999 fire at Whittier High School, California, where some (mostly exterior) scenes were filmed, destroyed the men's gym there.
! On June 1, 2008, yet another fire destroyed part of the rebuilt Courthouse Square backlot and damaged the clock tower.
Real-life locations
Other real-life shooting locations of Hill Valley landmarks include:
Doc Brown House
Doc's house in 1955 is the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. Doc's garage in 1985 was a façade set up next to a Burger King on North Victory Boulevard in Burbank, California.
Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall is actually the Puente Hills Mall in Industry, California.
Lone Pine Mall
Marty McFlys House
Marty's Lyon Estates house in 1985 is actually at 9303 Roslyndale Avenue, Pacoima, California.
The 1955 Lyon Estates field is actually along farmland between the city borders of Chino, California and Corona, California.
Lyon Estates
Peabody on his Ranch
Peabody's Twin Pines Ranch is really at Golden Oak Ranch, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company and used in many Disney productions.
· The houses of George McFly, Lorraine Baines, and Biff Tannen in 1955 are all in South Pasadena, California.
The train that hit the DeLorean and the Futuristic Train was parked in Port Hueneme, California.
· John F. Kennedy Drive is actually Victory Boulevard in Burbank, California.
· The River Road Tunnel is actually Observatory Tunnel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. The actual tunnel is only a fraction of the length of the one depicted in Part II.
The Pohatchee Drive-In Theater where Marty initially travels from 1955 back to 1885 was not a real theater. It was constructed full-scale for the third film in Monument Valley, Utah (near the Arizona/Utah border) and was torn down after that portion of filming was completed.
· Marty's race with Needles was shot on Doris Avenue in Oxnard, California.
According to an 1885 railroad map in Back to the Future Part III, Hill Valley is located in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Dialogue in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III places it in "Hill County", a fictional county in California.
Fictional history
The following information is taken directly from places and events shown or mentioned in the three films:
Early settlement
The town of Hill Valley is depicted as having been first settled in 1850 and incorporated in 1865.
By the 1880s, it was connected by railroad to San Francisco. Construction of a new county courthouse was well underway in 1885, the setting of Back to the Future Part III, in which a new clock was dedicated for the building.
The Shonash Ravine Bridge was completed in the summer of 1886, around the same time the ravine was renamed Clayton Ravine in memory of Clara Clayton, a school teacher who died from falling into the chasm.
However, in a revised timeline where Doc Brown saved Clara's life, the town renamed it Eastwood Ravine after Marty McFly's persona when it is believed that "Eastwood" fell into the ravine while trying to stop some train hijackers (who are really Marty and Doc).
Town square
By 1955, as seen in the first two Back to the Future films, the area around the courthouse has developed into the downtown of Hill Valley.
In front of the courthouse is a grass-covered town square, with stores, two movie theaters (Essex and Town), and cafés on the surrounding streets.
A key moment in the town's fictional history takes place on Saturday, November 12, 1955, at 10:04 p.m. PST, when lightning strikes the courthouse's clock tower, freezing the clock at 10:04.
Hill Valley lighting strike
The clock is never repaired and becomes a local landmark, left in its non-functional state at the behest of the Hill Valley Preservation Society.
Hill Valley Preservation Society
The broken piece of ledge from Doc Brown's successful attempt to channel lightning from the clock tower is likewise never repaired, as can be seen when Marty returns to 1985 and in 2015, but not in the Alternate 1985.
In Marty's original timeline, many of the town square businesses have moved or closed down by 1985.
The new businesses which replaced them include a second-hand shop, a yoga studio, and an adult book store.
The Essex movie theater now shows porno movies while the Town Theater is used for church services, and the courthouse is in a state of disrepair, and at night at least one homeless person (called "Red" by Marty) sleeps on the town square park benches.
The grassy park outside of the courthouse has been converted into a parking lot. "That was always one of the major elements of the story even in its earliest incarnation," screenwriter Bob Gale says in The Making of Back to the Future, "was to take a place and show what happens to it over a period of thirty years.
What happened to everybody's home town is obviously the same thing. They built the mall out in the boonies, and killed all the business downtown, and everything changed.”
By the 21st century, the downtown area has experienced a revival as the courthouse has been converted into the Courthouse Mall.
Hill Valley 2015
Businesses have begun to move back into and around the town square and the parking lot has been replaced by a pond.
The clock on top of the courthouse is still preserved at 10:04, and the mall's logo is an illustration of a lightning bolt striking the clock tower.
The Town Theater / Assembly of Christ building has been converted to an art museum with a mural painted on the front side of the building above the marquee.
Signs that say "Welcome to Hill Valley" are seen in 1955, 1985 and 2015.
Welcome to Hill Valley
Both 1955 and 2015 signs have symbols representing the Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs. In addition, the 1955 sign has the logos of the YMCA, Jaycees, and Future Farmers of America while the 2015 sign has those of the Neighborhood Crime Watch eye logo and the 4-H Club clover logo.
The "Welcome to Hill Valley" sign in 1985 does not contain any signage representing any clubs and mentions the name of Mayor Goldie Wilson.
In the alternate 1985 Marty is seen walking over the sign, which has been knocked down and an 'E' has been spray painted over the 'I' in HILL VALLEY making the name HELL VALLEY.
Welcome to Hell Valley
This sign does not display the name of the mayor but instead the words "A Nice Place to Live" as also seen in 1955. A sign referencing US Highway 395 is also shown next to the Town Square in 1955.
Hill Valley 1955
Hill Valley 1955
Twin Pines Mall (Lone Pine Mall)
Twin Pines Mall is a shopping center located outside Hill Valley, where Doctor Emmett Brown first tests his time machine, making his dog Einstein the first time traveler in the world.
Lone Pine Mall
The site where the mall was filmed for the movie is actually Puente Hills Mall, located in City of Industry, California. The J.C. Penney location seen in the movie had been shut down, and is now occupied by a 24 Hour Fitness center.
The mall's name changed to Lone Pine Mall after Marty went back to 1955, because he accidentally destroyed one of the two baby pine trees for which it was named as he fled an irate Old Man Peabody whose barn the DeLorean had crashed into upon arriving in 1955.
Peabody DeLorean
Peabody Pine Trees
Time Machine on Peabody Farm
Time Machine lands in Peabody farm
Alternate history
In Back to the Future Part II, a nightmarish alternate version of Hill Valley (dubbed 1985A by Doc) is depicted complete with a partial history. Due to the influence of the powerful and corrupt Biff Tannen, gambling was legalized in 1979. Tannen's toxic waste reclamation plants were built downtown, polluting the air and leading to pollution alerts to be issued.
All of the local businesses in the downtown area closed or relocated and were replaced with strip clubs, porn theaters, and brothels. Tannen also bought off the police.
Hell Valley Biff Tannen
Consequently, crime increased and biker gangs settled in the city. Hill Valley's public schools burned down and the courthouse was converted into Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino and Hotel. The clock on the courthouse still remains at 10:04 although despite the damage the Doc did to the tower's platform in 1955, for whatever reason, it now seems to have disappeared.
Hill Valley Clock Tower
Biff also murdered George McFly (Marty's dad) in 1973 so that he could marry George's wife Lorraine (Marty's mom) therefore making him a corrupt family man as well as town ruler. He also helped Richard Nixon remain President of the United States until at least 1985. Biff's effect on history affected the whole world – in this version of history, the Vietnam War was also still ongoing by May 1983.
According to the original script for Back to the Future Part II a partial view of the alternate 2015 was also to be depicted. By this time Biff now owns half the state of California with his influence having gained his son, Biff Jr., the seat of governor and they uphold their power and corruption with an army of large, powerful cyborg police officers.
Hill Valley Business
Many family businesses are passed down from generation to generation in Hill Valley. As a result, the city changes but remains similar from one generation to the next, as businesses are updated but rarely change. These recurring elements were a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers.
The production designer of Back to the Future Part II, Rick Carter, is quoted in a DVD extra as saying, "The future is built on the present." Director Robert Zemeckis adds that the continuity between the different eras in Hill Valley's history is an example of the adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
The following is a list of such places. When a place is not seen or mentioned in a movie, it is marked unknown. Some buildings shown in 1885 scenes are actually located further down the street in an area not shown in the first two movies.
List of filming locations :
www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk
This is a list of known filming locations used in Universal Studios' Back to the Future trilogy.
Hill Valley location Real-world location
McFlyResidence (2015) 3793 Oakhurst Street, Hilldale 3793 Oakhurst Street, El Monte, California 91732 PRIVATE Gated community
McFly residence (1955) 1711 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Baines residence 1727 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Tannen residence 1809 Mason Street 1809 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Strickland residence (1985-A) 12511 Bailey Street, Whittier, California PRIVATE
Parkerresidence (1985A and 1985) 161 N. Magnolia Avenue, Monrovia, California 91016 PRIVATE
Doc'sgarage and Burger King (1985) 535 North Victory Boulevard, Burbank, California PUBLIC
Courthouse Square Universal Studios Backlot PUBLIC
Universal Studios offers tours, most of lot burned
Lyon Estates entrance - (1955) Chino-Corona Road, Chino, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Gate access open only on weekends - Lyon Estates entrance (1985 and 1985A)
Sandusky Avenue and Kagel Canyon Road, Pacoima, California 91331 PUBLIC
Audition location for Battle of the Bands McCambridge Park Recreation Center, 1515 Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank, California PUBLIC recreation center
Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall Puente Hills Mall, 1600 South Azusa Avenue, City of Industry, California PUBLIC mall parking lot
Twin Pines Ranch Golden Oak Ranch Place Canyon Road, Newhall, California PRIVATE property of Walt Disney Company
Site of DeLorean Time Machine's destruction - South Ventura Road at Shoreview Drive, Port Hueneme, California PUBLIC street, best photos before 3:00 p.m.
Stairwell of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel Universal City Hilton - 555 Universal City Parkway,Universal City, California 91608 PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Access for hotel guests and paid parking only
5401 Olympic Los geles filming location C A 90036 PRIVATE
Hilldale (1985) Doris Avenue and Oxford Drive, Oxnard, California PUBLIC
Public street, best photos before 3:00 p.m.
Hilldale (2015) Oakhurst Street and Somerset Avenue, El Monte, California 91732 PRIVATE Gated community with NO TRESPASSING signs
The desert (Pohatchee Drive-In) Monument Valley, Utah, Navaho Nation Indian reservation PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Filming took place off roads in protected area
Hill Valley High School, Whittier High School, 12417 Philadelphia Street, Whittier, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Public high school, no access allowed during school hours
The exterior of Delgado Mine and Boot Hill Cemetery China Flat, Santa Monica National Recreation Area, Oak Park, California PUBLIC
Involves 40-minute hike to location from King James Ct in Oak Park (CA)
River Road Tunnel Observation Tunnel, Griffith Park, Hollywood, California PUBLIC In park
The exterior of Doc's Mansion and garage (1955) The Gamble House, 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, California PUBLIC Public tours available
The door and interior of Doc's mansion (1955) The Blacker-Hill House, 1777 Hillcrest Avenue, Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Private residence (rare 10-year tour possibly organized)
The interior of Hill Valley High School's gymnasium for Enchantment Under the Seadance
Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, California PUBLIC
Church usually public, but always ask permission first
The starting line, Griffith Park, across from the Greek Theatre PUBLIC street in public park
McFly Farm (1885) China Flat, Santa Monica National Recreation Area, Oak Park, California PUBLIC
Involves 40-minute hike to location from King James Ct in Oak Park (CA)
Shonash Ravine Bridge (1885) Near Sonora, California, about 6 miles west of Chinese Camp PRIVATE
Gated field. Always ask permission first.
Clara's house Tuolumne County PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Unpaved road
Buford Tannen's lake campsite, Near Sonora, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Unpaved road
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To find out more fun Future Facts by clicking our Blogs below……….!!! Please Share …..
Ghostbuster - Ecto 1
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/3/31/ghostbusters-ecto-1
Cars of Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/10/the-cars-of-back-to-the-future-55-
Back to the Future Fashion
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/19/back-to-the-future-fashion-te2yx
Ariel Leader
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/17/ariel-leader
Back to the Future - Hill Valley History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/2/hill-valley-history-jxrr4
Back to the Future Gadgets and Trends we have in 2021
Doc Browns Biography and the History of his DeLorean Time Machine
Marty McFly Biography also featuring Biff, George, Jennifer, Loranine
Back to the Future - Hill Valley History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/2/hill-valley-history
Back to the Future - Detailed storyline
Back to the Future - How to generate 1.21 Giggawatts / Jiggawatts with Mr Fusion
What is a Fat Bike ? And where did the idea of Fat Bikes come from ?
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/1/10/fat-bike-what-is-a-fat-bike-history
The Time Paradox explained - Back to the Future
The Sinclair C5
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/1/9/sinclair-c5-
Mini Jeep Mini Review
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/minicoolsterjeepreview
Hoverboards - Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/12/13/hoverboards-
How does the Time Machine work - Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/how-does-the-time-machine-work
The DeLorean Motor Company - What did it fail ? Or did it ?
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/whydiddeloreanmotorcompanyfail
The DeLorean Motor Company - History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/deloreanmotorcompany
The Flux Capacitor - Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/fluxcapacitor
Is Time Travel Possible ? And what would it take ? Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/istimetravelpossible
www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk
Credit to Fandom and https://www.wikipedia.org/
Hill Valley - ‘Back to the Future’ History
Learn all about Hill Valley as Featured in the Film Back to the Future.
Hill Valley
Is the fictional town in California that serves as the setting of the Back to the Future trilogy.
Hill Valley Clock Towner - Back to the Future set
In the trilogy, Hill Valley is seen in four different time periods (1885, 1955, 1985 and 2015) as well as in a dystopian alternate 1985.
The films contain many sight gags, verbal innuendos and detailed set design elements, from which a detailed and consistent history of the area can be derived.
The name "Hill Valley" is a joke, being an oxymoron. However, an early script for Back to the Future Part II mentioned that Hill Valley was named after its founder, William "Bill" Hill.
Production
For Back to the Future, the producers considered filming the town square scenes in the real city of Petaluma, California, but soon realized it would be prohibitively expensive and impractical to alter a real place to suit the different eras.
Instead filming was completed on the Universal Studios backlot, where they had more control.
Hill Valley - Back to the Future set
The town square set, once called Mockingbird Square after the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird but now known as Courthouse Square, had been used for many films and television shows dating back to 1948's An Act of Murder.
One notable example is the very first episode of the sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, called "Where Is Everybody?" in 1959.
The Hill Valley courthouse can also be found in the movies Bruce Almighty, Gremlins, Bye Bye Birdie, Sneakers, The Offspring's music video "Why Don't You Get a Job?", an episode of Major Dad entitled "Who's That Blonde" and even in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Gremlins Set
Gremlins Cinema - (Remember the DeLorean crashing into it !)
The clock tower itself was a removable addition, one of many ways in which the Courthouse building has been redressed over the years to suit the needs of a production.
Many of the cars that appear in the 2015 scenes are either modified for the film or concept cars.
Hill Valley Sign 2015
Examples include Ford Probe, Saab EV-1, Citroën DS 21, Pontiac Banshee Concept, Pontiac Fiero and Volkswagen Beetle. Cars reused from other science fiction films include the "Star Car" from The Last Starfighter (1984) and a "Spinner" from Blade Runner (1982).
Griff's car is a modified BMW 633 (which was notably never in the convertible form seen in the film).
For Back to the Future Part III, Hill Valley 1885 was filmed in Sonora, California. The producers were able to use the land rent-free under an agreement to leave the set buildings on site.
All buildings except the clock tower were left intact after production completed.
! On November 6, 1990, an arson fire on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot destroyed much of Courthouse Square, the setting in which all the other time periods were filmed.
However, the Courthouse itself survived the devastation and other facades were reconstructed.
! Another fire on September 6, 1997 again damaged Courthouse Square. Once again, the backlot facades were then rebuilt, with the exception of the facades used for Hill Valley 1885.
! On February 14, 1999 fire at Whittier High School, California, where some (mostly exterior) scenes were filmed, destroyed the men's gym there.
! On June 1, 2008, yet another fire destroyed part of the rebuilt Courthouse Square backlot and damaged the clock tower.
Real-life locations
Other real-life shooting locations of Hill Valley landmarks include:
· Doc's house in 1955 is the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. Doc's garage in 1985 was a façade set up next to a Burger King on North Victory Boulevard in Burbank, California.
Doc Brown House
· Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall is actually the Puente Hills Mall in Industry, California.
Lone Pine Mall
· Marty's Lyon Estates house in 1985 is actually at 9303 Roslyndale Avenue, Pacoima, California.
Marty McFlys House
· The 1955 Lyon Estates field is actually along farmland between the city borders of Chino, California and Corona, California.
Lyon Estates
· Peabody's Twin Pines Ranch is really at Golden Oak Ranch, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company and used in many Disney productions.
Peabody on his Ranch
· The houses of George McFly, Lorraine Baines, and Biff Tannen in 1955 are all in South Pasadena, California.
· The train that hit the DeLorean and the Futuristic Train was parked in Port Hueneme, California.
· John F. Kennedy Drive is actually Victory Boulevard in Burbank, California.
· The River Road Tunnel is actually Observatory Tunnel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. The actual tunnel is only a fraction of the length of the one depicted in Part II.
· The Pohatchee Drive-In Theater where Marty initially travels from 1955 back to 1885 was not a real theater. It was constructed full-scale for the third film in Monument Valley, Utah (near the Arizona/Utah border) and was torn down after that portion of filming was completed.
· Marty's race with Needles was shot on Doris Avenue in Oxnard, California.
According to an 1885 railroad map in Back to the Future Part III, Hill Valley is located in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Dialogue in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III places it in "Hill County", a fictional county in California.
Fictional history
The following information is taken directly from places and events shown or mentioned in the three films:
Early settlement
The town of Hill Valley is depicted as having been first settled in 1850 and incorporated in 1865.
By the 1880s, it was connected by railroad to San Francisco. Construction of a new county courthouse was well underway in 1885, the setting of Back to the Future Part III, in which a new clock was dedicated for the building.
The Shonash Ravine Bridge was completed in the summer of 1886, around the same time the ravine was renamed Clayton Ravine in memory of Clara Clayton, a school teacher who died from falling into the chasm.
However, in a revised timeline where Doc Brown saved Clara's life, the town renamed it Eastwood Ravine after Marty McFly's persona when it is believed that "Eastwood" fell into the ravine while trying to stop some train hijackers (who are really Marty and Doc).
Town square
By 1955, as seen in the first two Back to the Future films, the area around the courthouse has developed into the downtown of Hill Valley.
In front of the courthouse is a grass-covered town square, with stores, two movie theaters (Essex and Town), and cafés on the surrounding streets.
A key moment in the town's fictional history takes place on Saturday, November 12, 1955, at 10:04 p.m. PST, when lightning strikes the courthouse's clock tower, freezing the clock at 10:04.
Hill Valley lighting strike
The clock is never repaired and becomes a local landmark, left in its non-functional state at the behest of the Hill Valley Preservation Society.
Hill Valley Preservation Society
The broken piece of ledge from Doc Brown's successful attempt to channel lightning from the clock tower is likewise never repaired, as can be seen when Marty returns to 1985 and in 2015, but not in the Alternate 1985.
In Marty's original timeline, many of the town square businesses have moved or closed down by 1985.
The new businesses which replaced them include a second-hand shop, a yoga studio, and an adult book store.
The Essex movie theater now shows porno movies while the Town Theater is used for church services, and the courthouse is in a state of disrepair, and at night at least one homeless person (called "Red" by Marty) sleeps on the town square park benches.
The grassy park outside of the courthouse has been converted into a parking lot. "That was always one of the major elements of the story even in its earliest incarnation," screenwriter Bob Gale says in The Making of Back to the Future, "was to take a place and show what happens to it over a period of thirty years.
What happened to everybody's home town is obviously the same thing. They built the mall out in the boonies, and killed all the business downtown, and everything changed.”
By the 21st century, the downtown area has experienced a revival as the courthouse has been converted into the Courthouse Mall.
Hill Valley 2015
Businesses have begun to move back into and around the town square and the parking lot has been replaced by a pond.
The clock on top of the courthouse is still preserved at 10:04, and the mall's logo is an illustration of a lightning bolt striking the clock tower.
The Town Theater / Assembly of Christ building has been converted to an art museum with a mural painted on the front side of the building above the marquee.
Signs that say "Welcome to Hill Valley" are seen in 1955, 1985 and 2015.
Welcome to Hill Valley
Both 1955 and 2015 signs have symbols representing the Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs. In addition, the 1955 sign has the logos of the YMCA, Jaycees, and Future Farmers of America while the 2015 sign has those of the Neighborhood Crime Watch eye logo and the 4-H Club clover logo.
The "Welcome to Hill Valley" sign in 1985 does not contain any signage representing any clubs and mentions the name of Mayor Goldie Wilson.
In the alternate 1985 Marty is seen walking over the sign, which has been knocked down and an 'E' has been spray painted over the 'I' in HILL VALLEY making the name HELL VALLEY.
Welcome to Hell Valley
This sign does not display the name of the mayor but instead the words "A Nice Place to Live" as also seen in 1955. A sign referencing US Highway 395 is also shown next to the Town Square in 1955.
Hill Valley 1955
Hill Valley 1955
Twin Pines Mall (Lone Pine Mall)
Twin Pines Mall is a shopping center located outside Hill Valley, where Doctor Emmett Brown first tests his time machine, making his dog Einstein the first time traveler in the world.
Lone Pine Mall
The site where the mall was filmed for the movie is actually Puente Hills Mall, located in City of Industry, California. The J.C. Penney location seen in the movie had been shut down, and is now occupied by a 24 Hour Fitness center.
The mall's name changed to Lone Pine Mall after Marty went back to 1955, because he accidentally destroyed one of the two baby pine trees for which it was named as he fled an irate Old Man Peabody whose barn the DeLorean had crashed into upon arriving in 1955.
Peabody DeLorean
Peabody Pine Trees
Time Machine on Peabody Farm
Time Machine lands in Peabody farm
Alternate history
In Back to the Future Part II, a nightmarish alternate version of Hill Valley (dubbed 1985A by Doc) is depicted complete with a partial history. Due to the influence of the powerful and corrupt Biff Tannen, gambling was legalized in 1979. Tannen's toxic waste reclamation plants were built downtown, polluting the air and leading to pollution alerts to be issued.
All of the local businesses in the downtown area closed or relocated and were replaced with strip clubs, porn theaters, and brothels. Tannen also bought off the police.
Hell Valley Biff Tannen
Consequently, crime increased and biker gangs settled in the city. Hill Valley's public schools burned down and the courthouse was converted into Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino and Hotel. The clock on the courthouse still remains at 10:04 although despite the damage the Doc did to the tower's platform in 1955, for whatever reason, it now seems to have disappeared.
Hill Valley Clock Tower
Biff also murdered George McFly (Marty's dad) in 1973 so that he could marry George's wife Lorraine (Marty's mom) therefore making him a corrupt family man as well as town ruler. He also helped Richard Nixon remain President of the United States until at least 1985. Biff's effect on history affected the whole world – in this version of history, the Vietnam War was also still ongoing by May 1983.
According to the original script for Back to the Future Part II a partial view of the alternate 2015 was also to be depicted. By this time Biff now owns half the state of California with his influence having gained his son, Biff Jr., the seat of governor and they uphold their power and corruption with an army of large, powerful cyborg police officers.
Hill Valley Business
Many family businesses are passed down from generation to generation in Hill Valley. As a result, the city changes but remains similar from one generation to the next, as businesses are updated but rarely change. These recurring elements were a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers.
The production designer of Back to the Future Part II, Rick Carter, is quoted in a DVD extra as saying, "The future is built on the present." Director Robert Zemeckis adds that the continuity between the different eras in Hill Valley's history is an example of the adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
The following is a list of such places. When a place is not seen or mentioned in a movie, it is marked unknown. Some buildings shown in 1885 scenes are actually located further down the street in an area not shown in the first two movies.
List of filming locations :
www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk
This is a list of known filming locations used in Universal Studios' Back to the Future trilogy.
Hill Valley location Real-world location
McFlyResidence (2015) 3793 Oakhurst Street, Hilldale 3793 Oakhurst Street, El Monte, California 91732 PRIVATE Gated community
McFly residence (1955) 1711 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Baines residence 1727 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Tannen residence 1809 Mason Street 1809 Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Strickland residence (1985-A) 12511 Bailey Street, Whittier, California PRIVATE
Parkerresidence (1985A and 1985) 161 N. Magnolia Avenue, Monrovia, California 91016 PRIVATE
Doc'sgarage and Burger King (1985) 535 North Victory Boulevard, Burbank, California PUBLIC
Courthouse Square Universal Studios Backlot PUBLIC
Universal Studios offers tours, most of lot burned
Lyon Estates entrance - (1955) Chino-Corona Road, Chino, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Gate access open only on weekends - Lyon Estates entrance (1985 and 1985A)
Sandusky Avenue and Kagel Canyon Road, Pacoima, California 91331 PUBLIC
Audition location for Battle of the Bands McCambridge Park Recreation Center, 1515 Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank, California PUBLIC recreation center
Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall Puente Hills Mall, 1600 South Azusa Avenue, City of Industry, California PUBLIC mall parking lot
Twin Pines Ranch Golden Oak Ranch Place Canyon Road, Newhall, California PRIVATE property of Walt Disney Company
Site of DeLorean Time Machine's destruction - South Ventura Road at Shoreview Drive, Port Hueneme, California PUBLIC street, best photos before 3:00 p.m.
Stairwell of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel Universal City Hilton - 555 Universal City Parkway,Universal City, California 91608 PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Access for hotel guests and paid parking only
5401 Olympic Los geles filming location C A 90036 PRIVATE
Hilldale (1985) Doris Avenue and Oxford Drive, Oxnard, California PUBLIC
Public street, best photos before 3:00 p.m.
Hilldale (2015) Oakhurst Street and Somerset Avenue, El Monte, California 91732 PRIVATE Gated community with NO TRESPASSING signs
The desert (Pohatchee Drive-In) Monument Valley, Utah, Navaho Nation Indian reservation PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Filming took place off roads in protected area
Hill Valley High School, Whittier High School, 12417 Philadelphia Street, Whittier, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Public high school, no access allowed during school hours
The exterior of Delgado Mine and Boot Hill Cemetery China Flat, Santa Monica National Recreation Area, Oak Park, California PUBLIC
Involves 40-minute hike to location from King James Ct in Oak Park (CA)
River Road Tunnel Observation Tunnel, Griffith Park, Hollywood, California PUBLIC In park
The exterior of Doc's Mansion and garage (1955) The Gamble House, 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, California PUBLIC Public tours available
The door and interior of Doc's mansion (1955) The Blacker-Hill House, 1777 Hillcrest Avenue, Pasadena, California PRIVATE
Private residence (rare 10-year tour possibly organized)
The interior of Hill Valley High School's gymnasium for Enchantment Under the Seadance
Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, California PUBLIC
Church usually public, but always ask permission first
The starting line, Griffith Park, across from the Greek Theatre PUBLIC street in public park
McFly Farm (1885) China Flat, Santa Monica National Recreation Area, Oak Park, California PUBLIC
Involves 40-minute hike to location from King James Ct in Oak Park (CA)
Shonash Ravine Bridge (1885) Near Sonora, California, about 6 miles west of Chinese Camp PRIVATE
Gated field. Always ask permission first.
Clara's house Tuolumne County PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Unpaved road
Buford Tannen's lake campsite, Near Sonora, California PUBLIC WITH RESTRICTIONS Unpaved road
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Ghostbuster - Ecto 1
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/3/31/ghostbusters-ecto-1
Cars of Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/10/the-cars-of-back-to-the-future-55-
Back to the Future Fashion
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/19/back-to-the-future-fashion-te2yx
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/17/ariel-leader
Back to the Future - Hill Valley History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/2/hill-valley-history-jxrr4
Back to the Future Gadgets and Trends we have in 2021
Doc Browns Biography and the History of his DeLorean Time Machine
Marty McFly Biography also featuring Biff, George, Jennifer, Loranine
Back to the Future - Hill Valley History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/2/2/hill-valley-history
Back to the Future - Detailed storyline
Back to the Future - How to generate 1.21 Giggawatts / Jiggawatts with Mr Fusion
What is a Fat Bike ? And where did the idea of Fat Bikes come from ?
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/1/10/fat-bike-what-is-a-fat-bike-history
The Time Paradox explained - Back to the Future
The Sinclair C5
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/1/9/sinclair-c5-
Mini Jeep Mini Review
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/minicoolsterjeepreview
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/12/13/hoverboards-
How does the Time Machine work - Back to the Future
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The DeLorean Motor Company - What did it fail ? Or did it ?
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/whydiddeloreanmotorcompanyfail
The DeLorean Motor Company - History
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/deloreanmotorcompany
The Flux Capacitor - Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/fluxcapacitor
Is Time Travel Possible ? And what would it take ? Back to the Future
https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/istimetravelpossible
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Great Scott !!! How to generate 1.21 Giggawatts (Jiggawatts) with Mr Fusion ...... in the DeLorean Time Machine
Sending you Back to the Future ! But how could Doc Brown invent, design, and build a Time Machine out of a DeLorean ? …. And could it be possible in the Future ? We explore the science behind this amazing Si/Fi Stainless Steel Car
We all know what Doc Brown said in the first movie.
"I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need".
Doc Brown
Hill Valley Clock Tower - Lighting strike Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Your Built a Time Machine ….. Out of a DeLorean ! ….. We explore the science behind Doc Browns amazing Time Machine, starting with what is 1.21 Gigawatts and how can you generate that kind of Power …….
Great Scott! Marty: What? What the hell is a gigawatt?
1.21 Gigawatts was pronounced (on set) as it were spelled with a "j", as in jigawatts (or jigowatts)..
So, how much is 1.21 gigawatts you ask?
Well, a gigawatt is equal to one billion (10 9) watts or 1 gigawatt = 1000 megawatts.
A watt is a unit of power.
Your typical 100 watt incandescent light bulb draws 100 watts of energy, so 1.21 gigawatts would be able to light over 12 million 100 watt light bulbs. 1.21 gigawatts is also equivalent to 1,621,400 horse power
How does the plutonium in the BTTF car generate 1.21 gigawatts in less than a couple of minuets?
Well the meaning of power (the watt is a unit of power). Power refers to the rate at which energy is produced. Power can be one of several things. The most often way to describe it is the change in energy in a certain amount of time.
1 watt = 1 joule per second where a joule is a unit of energy. Horsepower is another unit of energy where 1 hp = 746 watts.
(roughly equivalent to the amount of energy it takes to lift a medium large apple 3 feet)
If energy is measured in units of Joules, and the time interval is in seconds the power would be in Watts.
What about the giga? Giga is a prefix for units that typically means 10 to the power of 9.
This means that 1.21 gigawatts would be 1.21 x 10 to the power of 9
This means producing a given amount of power in a limited amount of time is not an important problem.
If you have a battery that can store only 1 joule of energy : but will discharge in a nanosecond the power output will be a gigawatt, but only for that nanosecond.
A large marine battery can store 8 megajoules and could theoretically produce 1.21 gigawatts for .066 seconds.
Nowhere in the movies is it stated for how long the 1.21 gigawatts needs to be produced, but we can estimate an upper limit based on the properties of lightning.
A typical bolt of lighting contains about a gigajoule of energy and lasts for .2 seconds.
The dynamics of how the lightning was used to power the flux capacitor indicates that it was directly powered by the lightning and no storage battery was involved. We can therefore deduce that the maximum energy needed to create a temporal shift is 1.21 gigajoules/sec X .2sec = 242 megajoules.
We now have two ways to power the flux capacitor:
The Flux Capacitor Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
1) Feed it directly from gigawatt capable generator or
2) Use a lower power generator to charge up a 242 megajoule battery.
A currently available 242 megajoule battery weighs a little over 200 pounds and is the size of a standard blue home recycling bin.
While this type of battery is not rechargeable and cannot deliver all of it’s energy in .2 seconds it gets us in the ballpark of what is needed.
On the other hand there are no gigawatt generators currently available that could fit in a container sized truck , much less a Delorean.
We therefore conclude that in standard mode the flux capacitor is battery powered for the .2 seconds or less it is in use and the plutonium generator does not need produce 1.21 gigawatts.
A micrometer-sized circulators that can be fabricated on a microchip.
We figured out how to integrate magnetic flux quanta — the smallest units of magnetic field — with microfabricated capacitors and other superconducting circuit elements, so that time-reversal symmetry can be broken.
This led to our new circulator proposal. As with conventional circulators, there is a magnetic field present. But because we can use just one magnetic flux quantum, our design can be microscopic.
See the design similarity: (left) the fictional flux capacitor from the movie and (right) a schematic representation of the proposed circulator. Tom Stace/Screenshot from Back to the Future, Author provided
We’ve nicknamed the device the quantum flux capacitor as its circuit diagram has a passing resemblance to Doc Brown’s mythical invention (which are for sale, sort of).
Sadly for history buffs, our design won’t help much in your DeLorean time machine: it doesn’t reverse time. But its magnetic field does break time-reversal symmetry as advertised and we expect these devices will find applications in future quantum technologies.
Even sooner, they may help in high-bandwidth communications environments like mobile phone base stations in very dense populations, or for ultra-high sensitivity radar where every photon of the electromagnetic field counts.
www.theconversation.com
Great Scott Doc Brown -
If we allow for a 24 hour recharge time for the battery then the generator only needs a continuous output of 2600 watts. No problem for an eccentric genius.
Paul Grimshaw - IT Architect in the Computer Industry (1983-present)
How many AA batteries would it take to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed to send Doc Brown’s Delorean back to 1985?
Let’s see, you can squeeze around 5A at 1V out of a decent NiMH AA cell, so that’s 5W.
To get 1.21GW you would therefore require 242,000,000 cells
NiMH AA batteries weigh around 30g per cell, so 242 million of them would total 7,260 tonnes!. With cabling that’s around the weight of a modern Navy Destroyer ship.
AA batteries are 14mm diameter and 50mm long. Allowing a little room for cabling, you can squeeze 100 batteries in 1000 cubic cm (1 litre).
So for 242,000,000 cells you would need 2,420 cubic metres. That’s about the size of 10 double decker buses.
So probably not the most practical of options.
Instead, ironically, capacitors would be a much better idea for powering a flux capacitor.
The Flux Capacitor
Not just any old capacitors, but some of the capacitors capable of outputting the highest powers as listed here:
SERIES CMX - Self-Healing Energy Storage Capacitors
The 3330CMX2205 looks particularly suitable, each one capable of outputting 100,000A at 3,300V.
So just four of these could generate a colossal 1.32GW - that’s more than enough to send Doc to 1985 AND power his heated car seats at the same time.
Weighing in at 49kg each, four of these capacitors weigh a mere 196kg - let’s round up to 200kg with some mounting brackets. Spacewise, the bank of four capacitors occupy 0.66 x 0.41 x 0.56m, so these would fit comfortably in the trunk, with room for a set of golf clubs to spare.
Did anybody spot the name of the capacitor manufacturer in the link? Yep, it’s General Atomics. So it may not be Plutonium, but it’s still Atomic powered!
Just the job. To be fair, these capacitors can only output this level of power for a fraction of a millisecond, but I’m pretty certain that’s more than enough time to get back to 1985 as long as the car is going fast enough.
Also they would be ideal for recharging by lightning ready for the trip back. As you can see in the picture, they even have a convenient warning on the front not to handle the lightning whilst it’s running through the cable.
On a slightly more serious note, capacitors are commonly used to provide very high power short duration energy bursts. One example is at the US National Ignition Facility, where they have 4,000 capacitors similar to those above, in this case to power their laser.
The energy stored is again released in a fraction of a millisecond, but this time at a power exceeding 1 TeraWatt. That’s a thousand times that used by Doc, and it exceeds the peak electricity demand of the entire US.
Scott Soloway - Degree in math and physics but majored in pinball
Paul Grimshaw - IT Architect in the Computer Industry (1983-present)
The lower thrust fusion rocket produces 187.1 GW of power. Ten of these plants would power all industry on Earth.
How Do You Get 1.21 GigaWatts For Your Time Machine?
DeLorean Time Machine
Nizmitz Class Aircraft Carrier
Is that a large amount of power?
Yes. Just for comparison, the nuclear power reactors in a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier produces 194 megawatts (1.94 x 108 watts).
Or perhaps you would like to compare this to the flying S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. With my calculations, I get a power requirement of 317 gigawatts.
S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier
First look at the DeLorean Time Machine Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
What Does Doc Brown Even Mean?
How much power does it take to travel through time?
Well, Doc said 1.21 gigawatts.
If I want to calculate the energy required for time travel, I will need the power (given) as well as the time.
How Long Does it Take to Travel in Time?
That's actually looks like a stupid question. Oh well. Let's take a look at the actual real life footage of the time machine (from the historical archives).
Time travel is possible if you get the car up to 88 mph.
Is this car going 88 mph? Is there any way to tell? Oh, yes. Yes, there is. All I need to do is to look at this car (a DeLorean) and use – video analysis. The clip isn't perfect, but I think it will give a good enough estimate. I can scale the video using the wheel base of 2.413 meters.
Time Machine being chased by VW Camper Van in Twin Pines Mall Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Here is a plot of the position of the DeLorean in the first time travel (with the dog in the car).
The slope of this line puts the car's speed at 56.7 m/s (127 mph). Yes, that is faster than 88 mph. I'm not sure why the one frame repeated. Also, there could be a problem with my scale since it was rather difficult to see the car. Here is the next time the car gets to a speed near 88 mph (when Marty first goes back in time).
DeLorean Time Machine - Flux - in Twin Pines Mall Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
DeLorean being struck by lighting Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Well that's not good. This give a speed of 29 m/s (65 mph). For this video, the car isn't quite up to 88 mph so this seems ok. I guess I should look at the last time travel speed (when Marty goes BACK TO THE FUTURE). Oh, actually there is not a good shot to analyze there. Oh well, the second shot is close enough to 88 mph, that I will just stick with that.
What about the time interval? For the first test, I looked at the time from just when the car started to shoot sparks until it "exploded".
This gives a time of 4.3 seconds. But wait !
What about the case when a lightning bolt is used to power the car? For that case, the time machine is only getting power for at most 0.46 seconds. So, there are two different time intervals for two different trips through time.
Time Travel Energy
Now that I have the power AND the time, I can calculate the required energy. Let's just do it (for both time interval estimates).
That's not so bad. I have an energy range with the high end just a factor of 10 higher.
Now, how do you get 5 x 108 - 5 x 109 Joules?
Doc Brown's first choice was to use plutonium. Although he didn't give too much of the details, I guess he was using Plutonium-239. Pu-239 is radioactive, but I don't think that's how it gave energy in this case.
Instead, I guess that there was some type of fission process that broke the nucleus into smaller pieces. Since the pieces have less mass than the original, you also get energy (E = mc2). The Wikipedia page on plutonium as the details, but let's just say that one Plutonium atom produces 200 MeV (mega electron volts) in the fission process (3.2 x 10-11 Joules).
Doc Brown refuelling the DeLorean Time Machine Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Doc Brown Plutonium Case - Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
In a typical nuclear reactor (which probably wouldn't use Plutonium-239), this energy is used to increase the temperature of water to make steam. The steam then turns an electric turbine to produce electricity. Clearly, that's not happening here. I'm not sure what's going on - but surely it's not a 100% efficient process. I am going to say it's 50% efficient.
In order to get 5 x 108 Joules, I would need:
Since 1 Plutonium-239 atom has a mass of 3.29 x 10-25 kg, this would require a fuel mass of just 1.2 x 10-5 kg. That seems possible.
What about a lightning bolt? Could you get this much energy from lightning? According to Wikipedia, a single bolt of lightning can have about 5 x 109 Joules. That would be just perfect for the time traveling machine.
Refuelllng the DeLorean Time Machine Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Hill Valley Clock Tower being stuck by lighting Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
But what if lightning & Plutonium for an energy sources are just difficult to get hold of ?
Maybe batteries would be an interesting way to power this machine.
How many AA batteries would you need? From a previous post,
I already know that a high quality AA battery has about 10,000 Joules of energy. In order to get 5 x 108 Joules, I would need 5 x 104 AA batteries. Of course, that assumes that I could completely drain these batteries in just half a second. Damn, those things would get hot.
AA Batterys
Homework
Clearly, there are other questions. Here are some that I can think of.
How much space would a DeLorean need to get up to 88 mph? You can look up the time for it to get from 0-60 mph and assume that it has a constant acceleration.
At the end of Back to the Future, Doc Brown replaces the Plutonium energy source with a Mr. Fusion. Estimate how much energy he could get from a banana peel.
Mr Fusion Fuel Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
· If you watch all three movies in the Back to the Future series, there are several times that the car gets up to 88 mph. Use video analysis to check the speeds.
·
How long would it take current from the lightning strike to travel from the clock tower to the car?
·
Suppose that Marty is 1 second late on his start to get to the lightning wire. How much greater of an acceleration would he need to make it to the wire on time (assuming that over 88 mph works just as well as 88 mph)?
·
What if there wasn't a known source of lightning? What other ways could Doc get energy to power the DeLorean in 1955 (or whatever the year was)?
·
Assume that the energy needed to time travel was directly proportional to the mass of the object. Would the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier have enough power to go back to 1957?
Pushing the DeLorean to 88mph Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
S.H.I.E.L.D - Helicarrier
Carmen Drahl Former Contributor Science
Wheres Mr Fusion ?
To get some answers, I spoke with Egemen Kolemen. He’s a specialist in the control of fusion plasmas at Princeton University, where he is an assistant professor with joint appointments at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Egemen Kolemen, Princeton University (Credit:
Our Q&A is below, and is lightly edited for clarity.
Carmen Drahl:
Thanks for talking futuristic fusion with me, Dr. Kolemen!
In Back to the Future, the central time travel device was originally powered by plutonium, but this was replaced by the Mr. Fusion reactor.
Mr Fusion Home Energy Reactor Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
What’s the difference between how radioactive plutonium might generate electricity and how a fusion reactor would?
Egemen Kolemen: Radioactive plutonium produces energy by splitting up to smaller elements, which is known as the fission reaction.
In a fusion reactor, we combine small nuclei to make energy. Soon enough, we hope to move from fission to fusion technology just as Back to the Future II predicted.
This would help Doc Brown avoid troubles with the terrorists in the original movie— we use water as fusion fuel and you cannot make an atomic bomb with water!
CD: Mr. Fusion was able to generate power from household garbage— a banana peel, Miller beer, and even a beer can! What are the typical starting materials that are used in fusion reactors today?
EK: We use isotopes of the element hydrogen (known as deuterium and tritium) in current fusion reactors. There is enough heavy hydrogen fuel in sea water, H2O, to fuel the world’s energy needs for billions of years.
CD: In theory, could Mr. Fusion have been generating power by fusing together several different atoms or isotopes contained inside the garbage?
Mr Fusion ReFuelling
Or could the reactor only work by fusing deuterium and tritium in the garbage? In other words— could you generate energy from fusing many different nuclei?
EK: Theoretically, fusing elements lighter than iron releases nuclear energy. If a clever physicist could overcome the engineering problems, a machine like Mr. Fusion could physically make energy by fusing banana or beer which mostly consists of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. (It would even work for a beer can made of aluminum!). This is the process that happens in the core of large stars which is the birthplace of all the heavy elements in the universe.
Time Machine refuelled
However, as the elements get heavier, the fusion process gets harder and requires more energy to initialize and becomes less economical. That is why we use the isotopes of hydrogen, the lightest element in the universe.
Mr Fusion
There is no physics reason why you could not fuse many different nuclei.
Stars fuse many different elements with each other.
However, just as cars are designed to run with only one specific type of fuel (gasoline, diesel, etc.) to make them more efficient and economical, fusion reactors that work on preset fuels would be cheaper and an easier engineering challenge.
CD: Mr. Fusion was the size of a coffee maker.
That’s pretty tiny compared to the typical fusion reactor—
the experimental reactor being built in France will be over 5000 tons!
What are the challenges to making fusion reactors small?
EK: The fusion process happens when two particles hit each other each other at high velocity inside the reactor.
So, the energy production in a fusion reactor grows roughly in proportion to the volume (or the number of particles inside) of the reactor.
At the same time, the energy loss occurs mostly due to the drifting particles out from the surface of the reactor. As the reactor size gets bigger, volume which grows roughly as the cube of the radius increases much faster than the surface which grows as the square of the radius.
As a fusion reactor gets bigger the ratio of energy production to losses increases making it easier to produce net energy.
We use very strong magnetic forces to be able to confine the deuterium, tritium and electrons inside the reactor. If one can build superconducting coils that can produce much stronger magnetic fields (i.e. a stronger trap) than the ones available today, a smaller machine might be possible. This is an active research topic!
Interior of the National Spherical Torus[+]
CD: We’ve all seen car engines malfunction. Could Mr. Fusion explode in a mushroom cloud destroying everything in a 250 mile radius if something went wrong?
EK: Fusion is a delicate process that needs constant control. Unlike fission reactors, fusion cannot have a runaway chain reaction. If the “engine” malfunctions, the fusion process would stop immediately. So no explosion is possible. That is one of the many advantages of fusion energy.
CD: Mr. Fusion would have to be doing hot fusion, because cold fusion is a myth, right?
EK: There is no scientifically known net energy-producing cold fusion reaction.
CD: So since you do have to heat your starting materials to extremely high temperatures to achieve fusion, how cool can we make the outside of a fusion reactor—cool enough to safely attach to a vehicle?
EK: The wall inside the fusion vessel would be hot just as the inside of the car engine. However, the reactor would have a cooling system, similar to the radiator in a car, making the outside of the reactor at room temperature. The reactor would be as safe as the car engine.
CD: We still haven’t passed the break-even energy point in nuclear fusion— where we get more energy out of fusion than we had to put in. What gives you reason to think we’ll get there?
EK: We have been running experiments on many different fusion reactors all around the world and comparing the experimental data we obtain to computed simulations of the physics process.
We have been upgrading our simulation capabilities using new numerical methods and tools and checking against the experimental data.
At this point, we can reproduce and predict experimental outcomes in existing fusion reactors. We believe that our understanding of the physics and capability to simulate processes are advanced enough to roughly predict how a reactor will behave.
Based on this understanding, we designed the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) nuclear fusion reactor. ITER is under construction under an international collaboration, and it is expected to come online in a decade.
We predict that we will obtain 10 times more fusion energy output as the power we put in. As with any research, we can only know the exact answer after running the machine but we try to do our best to predict the reactor behavior.
CD: Thank you for your time, Dr. Kolemen!
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I'm an independent journalist specializing in chemistry, in particular the places where chemistry meets biology. I was a staff science writer at Chemical & Engineering…Read More
As a renewable energy source, cold fusion is potentially unlimited clean energy. But what is fusion energy, how does it work, and is there such a thing as cold fusion?
You may have heard about cold fusion, the idea that atoms can be fused together without using any significant heat or other type of energy and yet producing a great deal of energy.
This philosopher’s stone has been the object of the quest of many a modern-day alchemist, so we shall leave it to them.
Hot fusion, however, is real. It’s what happens inside the sun and other stars. Nuclei of atoms crash into each other at great speed, resulting in fusion and a great deal more energy released. Research and development into fusion energy is trying to create similar reactions here on Earth at over 100 million degrees Celsius.
The opposite of nuclear fission
Fusion energy, in a way, is the opposite of what we conventionally call nuclear energy – although fusion energy also deals with the nucleus of atoms. In current nuclear power plants, the energy comes from splitting the atom.
Fusion, as the name suggests, produces energy not by breaking atoms apart, but by fusing them together.
The real difference comes from the kind of elements involved in these processes. What we know as nuclear energy requires elements with big, heavy atoms like uranium or plutonium that can be split into smaller atoms.
However, uranium, plutonium, and their fission products are radioactive, which means that when they decay they emit ionising radiation, which in certain circumstances might be dangerous to humans.
Back to the Future Darth Vader Credit : Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment
Fusion energy instead is based on combining two lightweight atoms – usually hydrogen. When two hydrogen atoms fuse, they create helium.
So not only does fusion energy rely on the most abundant element in the universe, its byproduct can be easily used for medical purposes, or to blow up balloons.
Try pushing two magnets together
How do you fuse two atoms?
The challenge comes from the fact that the nucleus of an atom contains positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, as you will surely recall from your physics class.
Therefore, the nucleus of an atom will always carry a positive charge. Trying to combine it with another one with a positive charge is like trying to push two magnets towards each other. They will resist. This is why fusion energy uses the lightest atoms possible. But it is still very hard.
Inside the sun, fusion occurs because the immense gravity draws atoms together, creating extreme density and enormous heat, which makes the atoms collide with each other at great speed.
The force of gravity is much weaker on Earth, because of the relatively small size of this planet, and the temperature – despite global warming – is nowhere close to the heat of the sun. So how can we create similar conditions here for fusion to occur?
Hotter than the sun
The answer is fairly obvious. To make up for our lower gravity, you simply have to create a temperature hotter than the sun.
Six to ten times hotter, up to 150 million degrees Celsius. Here on Earth this tremendous heat will create the conditions to allow the hydrogen atoms to bump into each other, resulting in fusion and generating even more energy.
Sounds easy? There are quite a few details that need to be ironed out.
First issue: where could you create such a temperature, so that the heated substance wouldn’t destroy everything it touches?
Again, the solution is simple: don’t allow it to come into contact with anything. To achieve this, Russian scientists in the middle of the 20th century developed the tokamak, a chamber the shape of a hollow doughnut, surrounded by powerful magnets.
Inside this chamber, the hydrogen gas is heated to an extremely high temperature and transformed into a plasma state.
The plasma state is one of the four fundamental states of matter, in which the gaseous substance becomes ionised – because electrons orbiting the atomic nuclei are stripped away.
The ionised matter is electrically conductive and therefore the magnetic fields can dominate the behaviour of the matter. That is where the magnets come in.
Magnets can keep this electrically conductive substance from approaching the tokamak’s walls, hovering above it. Inside the plasma, the conditions are suitable for the atoms to bump into each other and to fuse, releasing energy.
The world’s largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor – called ITER – is under construction in France, to prove the feasibility of thermonuclear fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy.
ITER is an international research and engineering megaproject involving the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US.
If successful, the facility will turn 50 MW of power inserted into the system – to initially heat the plasma – into fusion power output of 500 MW.
A lot of doughnut
The ITER reactor will be huge:
the ITER tokamak will be as heavy as three Eiffel Towers;
the structure of the 1 000-tonne electromagnet in the centre of the machine must be strong enough to contain a force equivalent to twice the thrust of the Space Shuttle at take-off (60 meganewtons, or over 6 000 tonnes of force);
there will be 18 D-shaped electromagnets around the doughnut-shaped tokamak chamber, each of them 17 metres high and 9 metres wide, weighing 310 tonnes, the approximate weight of a fully loaded Boeing 747-300 aeroplane.
270 million degrees Fahrenheit to ignite fusion—a full ten times hotter than the sun's core.
But how could we get that enormous energy out of the doughnut and safely channel it into our homes as electricity?
This is done via the main chamber wall and a region called the divertor, positioned at the bottom of the tokamak. The divertor controls the exhaust of heat, waste gas and impurities from the reactor and withstands the highest surface heat loads. The surface of the divertor is covered by tungsten, the metal with the highest melting point (3422°C).
In 2019, with the backing of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the European Investment Bank signed a €250 million loan to the Italian research agency ENEA to help build the divertor and tokamak test facility. The plant will test various alternatives to exhaust the huge amount of heat flowing into the divertor component of a nuclear fusion reactor.
A glorified steam turbine
Researchers continue to look for alternatives, but as it stands now the whole process of transitioning the heat to electric power then becomes rather old-fashioned.
The heat received by the plasma-facing wall and the divertor will be used to turn water into steam, which will drive a steam turbine. divertor, positioned at the bottom of the tokamak“The scientific advances towards fusion energy are not likely to occur like the apple falling on Newton’s head,” says Istvan Szabo, a senior engineer in the European Investment Bank’s energy security division. “You need many more resources.”
Szabo concedes it is possible that tomorrow someone will come up with a completely different solution to harness fusion energy, or a different answer to the need for sustainable energy to power us into the future.
“There are other ideas to compress matter and fuse atoms. For example to use lasers or mechanical compression. And maybe someone will one day solve cold fusion,” Szabo says. “But testing these will all require immense resources.
Thermonuclear fusion is furthest along the research and development phase. It offers the most hope.”
Cold fusion remains elusive—but these scientists may revive the quest
The first public results from a Google-funded project reveal renewed interest in the long-sought but controversial nuclear energy source.
BY MICHAEL GRESHKO
PUBLISHED MAY 29, 2019
Sparking a controversy
Nuclear fusion occurs when pairs of light nuclei fuse together to form a nucleus of net lighter mass, releasing huge amounts of energy as described by Einstein's iconic equation E = mc2.
Inside the sun, hydrogen atoms fuse to produce helium and energy. If successfully harnessed on Earth, fusion could provide humankind with abundant, emissions-free energy—a huge boon to efforts to combat climate change. (As a byproduct, fusion on Earth might also help to address a global helium shortage.)
But getting fusion to work on Earth is tricky, since it's hard to get two nuclei close enough to combine; atomic nuclei are positively charged, so they fiercely repel one another, a hurdle known as the Coulomb barrier.
Crossing this barrier and realizing fusion power is possible at high densities and temperatures, if the nuclei are confined for a sufficiently long time. But to achieve these conditions, scientists seem to need large, expensive machines and huge amounts of initial power.
“What nature does with the enormous force of gravity in the sun's core is what mankind has been trying to do under controlled conditions in the laboratory,” says physicist Amitava Bhattacharjee, the head theorist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, one of the leading fusion research groups in the U.S.
“For the last 60 years we’ve been at this, and I think the progress has been enormous,” he adds. “But we still continue to have a challenge to make nuclear fusion power inexpensively available to people.”
But what if cleverly structured materials could somehow lower the energy needed for fusion? That's what chemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons at the University of Utah thought they had achieved.
On March 23, 1989, University of Utah chemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced their "cold fusion" device to the world—sparking a scientific firestorm.
But for many, excitement quickly gave way to skepticism. Early outside attempts to replicate the results didn't turn up massive amounts of heat, nor did the setup appear to yield many high-energy neutrons, a signature of conventional nuclear fusion.
“In March 1989, everybody jumped on this topic, even serious fusion physicists (like me),” Hans-Stephan Bosch, the head of the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, writes in an email.
“However, we didn’t find any positive result confirming their claims. Therefore we finished our work, published it, and closed the topic. My impression is that most physicists and chemists did the same, regarding cold fusion as an 'interesting' episode.”
Ever since, cold fusion largely served as a parable on the perils of irreproducibility. But a small group of researchers and enthusiasts has remained convinced that the phenomenon is real and nuclear in nature, though not necessarily the same thing as fusion.
This scientific circle still does experiments and reports its results in its own meetings and journals, though it has shed the “cold fusion” name for low-energy nuclear reactions, or LENR
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a type of nuclear fission reactor which are smaller than conventional reactors.
This allows them to be manufactured at a plant and brought to a site to be assembled. Modular reactors allow for less on-site construction, increased containment efficiency, and enhanced safety due to passive nuclear safety features.[1]
SMRs have been proposed as a way to bypass financial and safety barriers that have plagued conventional nuclear reactors.[1][2]
Several designs exist for SMR, ranging from scaled down versions of existing nuclear reactor designs, to entirely new generation IV designs.
Both thermal-neutron reactors and fast-neutron reactors have been proposed, as well as molten salt and gas cooled reactor models.[3]
A main hindrance to the commercial application of SMRs as of 2015 is licensing, since current regulatory regimes are adapted to conventional nuclear power plants and have not been adapted to SMRs in terms of staffing, security etc.[4] Time, cost and risk of the licensing process are critical elements for the construction of SMRs.[5]
Some larger SMRs require more significant on-site construction, such as the 440 MWe 3-loop Rolls-Royce SMR, which targets a 500-day construction time.[9]
SMRs are particularly useful in remote locations where there is usually a deficiency of trained workers and a higher cost of shipping. Containment is more efficient, and proliferation concerns could be lowered.[10] SMRs are also more flexible in that they do not necessarily need to be hooked into a large power grid, and can generally be attached to other modules to provide increased power supplies if necessary.
Companies that are planning new nuclear units are currently indicating that the total costs (including escalation and financing costs) will be in the range of $5,500/kW to $8,100/kW or between $6 billion and $9 billion for each 1,100 MW plant.
The smallest nuclear reactor in operation today isn't from some startup or a cutting-edge nuclear agency: It's tiny, frozen Bilibino Nuclear Plant in Chukotka, Russia, where up to four different 12 MWe modular reactors have run since 1974.16 Dec 2019
Is it legal to own a nuclear reactor?
While they might un-nerve the neighbours, fusion reactors of this kind are perfectly legal in the US
Back to the Future Time Machine
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Doc Brown The Flux Capacitor
Other questions are :
How can we generate 1.21 Gigawatts in real life, now that we're 20 years ahead of Doc Brown?
Was a bolt of lightning really the only way to produce 1.21 gigawatts back in 1955?
How can we generate 1.21 Gigawatts in real life, now that we're 20 years ahead of Doc Brown?
Was a bolt of lightning really the only way to produce 1.21 gigawatts back in 1955?
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2021/3/31/ghostbusters-ecto-1
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/deloreanmotorcompany
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https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/fluxcapacitor
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