My family's 1990 Ford Tempo met an untimely end over the summer of 2000 when I was rear-ended in Longview, Washington, by an uninsured driver, ending my plan to use it as a time machine for my no-budget remake of Back to the Future. The car was declared totaled, and I took these pictures at the shop it was towed to when I went to clean it out (all of the time machine decoration was still inside, and some of it belonged to a friend). When I was rear-ended, I was stopped in traffic, and was pushed into the car in front of me, resulting in some minor damage to the front of the car, but most of the damage was in the back.
The Honda Civic that rear-ended me didn't hit me squarely. I was stopped in the left lane and I think the driver tried to go around me but was going too fast. This put all the rear damage on the right side of the car. Looking straight from the back, it didn't look too bad.
The damage looked much worse on the right side. Even this picture doesn't really do it justice; the right rear quarter panel was actually pushed forward into the rear door, jamming both passenger side doors shut. This was why this 10-year-old car was declared totaled.
During my senior year of high school, I had the idea to make my own version of Back to the Future with my friends, using my family's 1990 Ford Tempo as the time machine. I wrote a script, but we didn't have time to pursue it until after graduation, when we did decorate the car.
A Ford Tempo is a poor stand-in for a DeLorean, but it is the best we could do.
We didn't do much with the front of the car, aside from stringing a wire over the hood. The more interesting modifications were in the back.
A large stereo speaker with an aluminum grill was strapped to the flat trunk lid, and faired in with black cardboard. Flexible hose from an old canister vacuum led through the rear windows, blanked with more cardboard, with more vacuum piping for exhaust.
We even made a futuristic "OUTATIME" license plate from aluminum foil.
I'm not actually sure if all this stuff would have stayed in place if we had driven the car like this. We never actually got that far.
The interior also had some modifications for time travel.
A plasma globe between the front seats stood in for the flux capacitor. it was plugged into a power inverter so it would actually light up in the car.
We also built a control panel, mostly out of random electrical junk, old watches, and a broken spellchecker. Some of the lights did light up, though, and I actually still use the graphing calculator. Unfortunately, the car met an untimely end soon after this, and we never actually made the movie, but looking back I think building the time machine would have still been the most fun part of the project anyway.
In honor of Back to the Future Day (October 21, 2015, the day in the future that Doc, Marty & Jennifer travel to in Back to the Future Part II), I though I would share this.
In February 2000, I found the script for the movie Back to the Future on the internet, and decided to adapt it into something my friends and I could film. This was significant as I had recently become obsessed with Back to the Future, and had realized that the year 2000 was halfway between 1985 (the “present” in the movies) and 2015 (the “future” in the movies. The story was set in my hometown of Rainier, Oregon in the year 2015, and the DeLorean was replaced by a Ford Tempo, because that’s what I had. To reduce the cast to a minimum, Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer was Doc’s daughter, and once in the past (1995) Marty had to help Doc meet his wife, Clara. If necessary, Jennifer and Clara could have been played by the same person.
Ford Tempo Time Machine
We never actually made the movie. We did convert the Ford Tempo into a time machine that summer (the summer after our senior year of high school), but then the Tempo was totaled in a rear-end accident, and by the time it was replaced the summer was almost over.
Why the movie was never made
Anyway, here is my adapted script. Enjoy!
Back to the Future
by Robert West
Based on “Back to the Future” by Robert Zemekis & Bob Gale
Scene 1:
Marty opens door to Doc’s house. He drops the key under the mat and walks in.
Marty: Hey, Doc? Doc. Hello, anybody home? (shuts the door) Jennifer? Is anybody here? (sees clocks at 6:58) Whoa, I got here early. Hey, Doc? What's going on? (telephone rings. Marty answers it) Yo.
Doc: Marty, is that you?
Marty: Hey, hey, Doc, where are you?
Doc: Thank god I found you. Listen, can you meet me at the lower parking lot of the Briarcliff Reform School tonight at 1:15? I've made a major breakthrough, I'll need your assistance.
Marty: Wait a minute, wait a minute. 1:15 in the morning?
Doc: Yeah.
Marty: What's going on? Where are you?
Doc: Working. Don't forget, now, 1:15 a.m., Briarcliff Reform School. (clocks strike 7:00) Are those my clocks chiming in?
Marty: Yeah, it's 7:00.
Doc: They're late. My experiment worked. They're all exactly fourty-five minutes slow.
Marty: Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me that it's 7:45?
Doc: Precisely.
Marty: Damn. I'm gonna be late for work.
Marty hangs up the phone and goes outside. He gets into his car and drives off.
Scene 2:
Marty gets to work.
Marty: Hey, Jennifer.
Jennifer: Hi, Marty.
Marty: Jennifer, do you know what Doc’s working on?
Jennifer: I never know anything about my dad’s experiments. He’s been really busy with this one though.
Marty: You know, I’d really like to take you out on a date.
Jennifer: I know, and I’d really like that, but you know Dad won’t let me go out with you.
Marty: I don’t understand that. I help him with all his experiments. He knows he can trust me.
Jennifer: I think he just wants to make sure I don’t end up like Mom. He blames himself for her being killed in that car wreck. He thinks things would have been different if he had been with her. In fact, tonight will be the tenth anniversary of her death.
Marty: I wonder if what he’s doing tonight has anything to do with that.
Jennifer: What?
Marty: Doc wants me to meet him at the reform school at 1:15 in the morning.
Jennifer: That’s what time my mom died.
Marty: Wierd.
Scene 3:
Doc and Jennifer are having dinner at their house.
Jennifer: Dad, what are you and Marty doing tonight?
Doc: Just an experiment.
Jennifer: What kind of experiment?
Doc: Just an experiment I’ve been planning for a while.
Jennifer: Why are you doing it at the same time Mom died?
Doc: It’s really just a coincidence. But if this experiment works, our lives will change.
Scene 4:
Marty is asleep at his house. The telephone rings. Marty answers it.
Marty: Hello.
Doc: Marty, you didn't fall asleep, did you?
Marty: Uh Doc, uh no. No, don't be silly.
Doc: Listen, this is very important, I forgot my digital recorder, could you stop by my place and pick it up on your way to the school?
Marty: Um, yeah, I'm on my way.
Marty hangs up the phone and gets up.
Marty’s car goes by sign for “Genesis Nuclear Waste Reclamation Plant.”
Marty’s car comes into the school.
Scene 5:
Marty’s car stops in parking lot. The lot is empty except for an “energy converter.” Marty gets out with the “digital recorder” and looks around. He checks his watch.
The Tempo comes around a corner at the other end of the lot. It comes toward Marty and stops right in front of him. Doc gets out.
Marty: Doc
Doc: Marty, you made it.
Marty: Yeah.
Doc: Welcome to my latest experiment. It's the big one; the one I've been waiting for for years.
Marty: Um, well it's a Ford Tempo, right?
Doc: Bare with me, Marty, all of your questions will be answered. (he points to the recorder) Action.
Marty: Doc, is that a de-
Doc: Never mind that now, never mind that now.
Marty raises the recorder.
Marty: Alright, I'm ready.
Doc: Good evening, I'm Doctor Emmett Brown. I'm standing on the lower parking lot of Briarcliff Reform School. It's Saturday morning, October 26, 2015, 1:18 a.m. and this is temporal experiment number one.
Doc holds up a watch and points to a clock in the Tempo.
Marty:(getting a better view) Whoa, whoa, okay.
Doc: Please note that the car's clock is in complete synchronization with my control watch.
Marty: Right check, Doc.
Doc takes out a remote control and points it at the Tempo.
Marty: You have that thing hooked up to the car?
The Tempo starts. It turns around, races to the other end of the parking lot, and turns around again.
Doc: Watch this. Not me, the car, the car. If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits forty-eight miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious shit.
The Tempo starts coming back toward them.
Doc: Watch this, watch this.
The Tempo disappears right in front of them.
Doc: Ha, what did I tell you, forty-eight miles per hour. The temporal displacement occurred at exactly 1:20 a.m. and zero seconds.
Marty: Jesus Christ, Doc. Jesus Christ, Doc, you disintegrated the car.
Doc: Calm down, Marty, I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of the car is still completely intact.
Marty: Then where the hell is it?
Doc: The more appropriate question is: “When the hell is it?” You see, I sent it into the future. One minute into the future to be exact. And at exactly 1:21 a.m. and zero seconds we should catch up with it.
Marty: Wait a minute, wait a minute, Doc, are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a Tempo.
Doc: Well I spent all my money trying to get this thing to work. The Tempo was the best car I could afford. Besides- look out.
The Tempo reappears and comes to a stop. Doc opens the door.
Doc: Ha. The car's clock is exactly one minute behind mine and still ticking. It skipped over that minute to instantly arrive at this moment in time. Come here, I'll show you how it works. (Marty comes over with the recorder and Doc gets in) First, you turn the time circuits on. (He turns them on) This readout tells you where you're going. You input the destination time on this keypad. Say, you wanna see the signing of the declaration of independence, (Doc inputs date) or witness the birth or Christ. (Doc inputs another date) Here's a red-letter date in history, (Doc inputs another date) November 5, 1995. Yes, of course, November 5, 1995.
Marty: What, I don't get it. What happened?
Doc: That was the day I met my wife, Clara. I remember it vividly. I was in town buying some parts for my newest invention when I saw her. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and I knew, before I even spoke to her, that I would marry her one day.
Doc pulls out a picture and hands it to Marty.
Marty: Wow. She looks just like Jennifer. So, what happened?
Doc: I walked up to her and introduced myself. I ended up asking her to dinner. We kissed for the first time that very night. (sighs) Now she’s gone, killed in a car crash ten years ago today. Since then, I’ve devoted my life to creating this. (points to flux capacitor) This is what makes time travel possible. The flux capacitor.
Marty: The flux capacitor.
Doc: It's taken me almost ten years and my entire family fortune to realize this day. (he gets out) My god has it been that long. Things have certainly changed around here. The government still provided public schools for everyone back then. It’s too bad you and Jennifer couldn’t have benefitted from that.
Marty: This is uh, this is heavy duty, Doc, this is great. Uh, does it run on regular unleaded gasoline?
Doc: No, this sucker's electrical. But I need an energy converter to generate the 50000 volts that I need to recharge the flux capacitor from any place or any time if there’s no electricity nearby.
Marty: Doc, civilians can’t buy energy converters. Did you rip that off?
Doc: Of course, from an anarchist. He wanted me to turn it into something that could overload the power plant, so I took his energy converter and in turn gave him a phony casing full of used Intel computer parts.
Marty: Jesus.
Doc plugs the energy converter into the car and turns in on for a moment, then turns it back off again and unplugs it.
Doc: Don't you lose those chips now, we'll need a record. Roll ‘em. I, Doctor Emmett Brown, am about to embark on an historic journey. Wait a minute, what am I thinking? I almost forgot to bring the energy converter. How did I ever expect to get back, one charge, one trip. I must be out of my mind.
Another car enters the parking lot.
Doc: Oh my god, he found me, I don't know how but he found me. Run for it, Marty.
Marty: Who, who?
Doc: Who do you think, the anarchist.
Driver points a laser gun out the window.
Marty: Holy shit.
Driver shoots Doc.
Marty: No! Bastard!
Driver points laser gun at Marty. Marty dives into the Tempo and tries to drive off. Anarchist follows him. Marty drives toward exit.
Tempo breaks through closed gates. Sign reads, “Rainier High School.”
Marty: That was close.
Tempo stops suddenly. Marty gets out and looks at sign that reads “Genesis Indoor Sports Center: Opening Soon.”
Marty: What the hell?
Marty gets back in the car and looks at readout.
Marty: Alright, alright, okay McFly, get a grip on yourself. All I have to do is set it to 2015 (he enters date on keypad) and get up to forty-eight and everything’ll be fine.
Tempo drives down the road.
Marty: Let’s try that again.
Tempo goes back the other way.
Marty: This is nuts. I’ve gotta find Doc.
Scene 6:
Early morning: Tempo drives up to Doc’s house. Marty gets out and goes up to the door. He knocks. Doc answers the door with “mind-reading helmet” on.
Marty: Doc?
Doc: Don't say a word.
Marty: Doc.
Doc pulls him in and shuts the door.
Doc: I don't wanna know your name. I don't wanna know anything about you.
Marty: Listen, Doc.
Doc: Quiet.
Marty: Doc, Doc, it's me, Marty.
Doc: Don't tell me anything.
Marty: Doc, you gotta help-
Doc sticks electrode to Marty’s head.
Doc: Quiet, quiet. I'm gonna read your thoughts. Let's see now, you've come from a great distance?
Marty: Yeah, exactly.
Doc: Don't tell me. Uh, you want me to buy a subscription to the Daily News?
Marty: No.
Doc: Not a word, not a word, not a word now. Quiet, uh, donations, you want me to make a donation to the Salvation Army?
Marty pulls off the electrode.
Marty: Doc, I'm from the future. I came here in a time machine that you invented. Now, I need your help to get back to the year 2015.
Doc: My god, do you know what this means? It means that this damn thing doesn't work at all.
Doc takes off the helmet.
Marty: Doc, you gotta help me. You were the only one who knows how your time machine works.
Doc: Time machine, I haven't invented any time machine.
Marty: Okay, alright, I'll prove it to you. Look at my driver's license, expires 2017. Look at my birthday, for crying out load I haven't even been born yet. I'm telling the truth, Doc, you gotta believe me.
Doc: So tell me, future boy, who's president of the United States in 2015?
Marty: Jesse Ventura.
Doc: Jesse Ventura, the wrestler? Then who's vice president, Steve Austin? (starts pushing Marty toward the door) I suppose Tonya Harding is the first lady.
Marty: Whoa, wait, Doc.
Doc: And Michael Jordan is secretary of the Treasury.
Marty: Look, you gotta listen to me.
Doc: I’ve had enough practical jokes for one evening. Good night, future boy.
Doc pushes Marty out the door and starts to close it, then notices the Tempo.
Doc: Great scott.
Marty: I told you so. It got me here, but I can’t get it to take me back.
Doc: So, I finally invent something that works.
Marty: Bet your ass it works.
Doc: Well, now we gotta find out what’s wrong and fix it. We've gotta get you home.
Scene 7:
Marty has the digital recorder hooked up to Doc’s TV and is working on it. Doc is watching him. Marty gets it to work.
Marty: Okay Doc, this is it.
TV Doc: Good evening, I'm Doctor Emmett Brown. I'm standing on the lower parking lot of-
Doc: Why that's me, look at me, I'm an old man. (Marty hits fast forward) Thank god I still got my hair.
Marty: Whoa, this is it, this is the part coming up, Doc. (Marty stops fast forward)
TV Doc: No, this sucker's electrical. But I need an energy converter to generate the 50000 volts I need to-
Doc: What did I just say?
Marty rewinds, then plays it again.
TV Doc: No, this sucker's electrical. But I need an energy converter to generate the 50000 volts that I need to recharge the flux capacitor-
Doc: Great scott. No wonder the car won’t take you back to the future. It doesn’t have enough power to. Where’s this energy converter?
Marty: (smacks his forehead) I left it in the future.
Doc: Well then, we need an energy source to recharge the car. The easiest way to get 50000 volts is from overhead wires.
Marty: So, we just hook the car up to the wires?
Doc: No. If we leave the car hooked up for very long, we could overload the electrical system. It has to be a momentary contact. We have to find a place where you can get the time machine up to speed and then come into contact with the electricity. It’ll take a little time to get things set up. Marty, tonight, we’re sending you back to the future.
Marty: Okay, alright, tonight’s good. I could spend a day in 1995. I could hang out, you could show me around.
Doc: Marty, that's completely out of the question, you must not leave this house. you must not see anybody or talk to anybody. Anything you do could have serious repercussions on future events. Do you understand?
Marty: Yeah, sure, okay.
Doc: Marty, you interacted with anybody else today, besides me?
Marty: No, Doc, Wait a minute, Doc, You have to go into town today.
Doc: Town? What for?
Marty: You just do.
Doc: Marty, if we’re going to send you back to the future tonight, I have to work on getting things set up.
Marty: Doc, you’re supposed to meet your wife today.
Doc: My wife?
Marty: Yeah Doc. Your future wife. I mean, the whole reason you built the time machine was to go back in time to keep her from being killed in that car wreck.
Doc: Shhh. Don’t tell me any more. I know too much already. Great scott, Marty, you’re right. I do have to go into town today. If I don’t meet her, I may never build the time machine. Do you know what she looks like?
Marty: Yeah, Doc, you gave me a picture. (Marty takes out the picture and looks at it) What the hell?
Doc: What is it?
Marty: She’s gone. She’s not in the picture.
Doc:(looks at the picture) Of course. If we never meet, this picture will never be taken. Marty, you’ll have to come into town with me and point her out. If I never meet her, you can’t go back to the future.
Scene 8:
Doc and Marty are in town looking for Clara.
Doc: Where is she, Marty?
Marty: I don’t know, Doc.
Doc looks around.
Doc: Wow.
Marty: What is it, Doc?
Doc: I don’t know who I’m supposed to marry, but there’s just something about her. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Marty: Doc, that’s her. Wow, she really does look just like Jennifer.
Doc: Who’s Jennifer?
Marty: She’s your daughter, Doc.
Doc: My daughter. Great scott. Alright Marty, what do I do?
Marty: Just go up to her and introduce yourself.
Doc: Just like that?
Marty: Yeah.
Doc: Alright. (he walks over to Clara) Hello.
Clara:(looks up and smiles) Hello.
Doc: How are you today?
Clara: Pretty good. Thanks.
Doc: You know, I’ve never seen you around town before. Did you just move here?
Clara: Yeah, just the other day.
Doc: Welcome to Rainier. My name’s Emmett Brown.
Clara: I’m Clara. Clara Clayton.
Doc: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Clara.
Clara: It’s nice to meet you too, Emmett.
Doc: Well, I guess we’ll be seeing each other around town.
Clara: Yeah, we probably will.
Doc: Well, goodbye.
Clara: Bye.
Clara starts walking away. She looks back over her shoulder as she goes. Doc goes back to Marty.
Doc: Well, how did I do?
Marty: You did great Doc. (he looks at the picture) Wait a minute, she’s still gone.
Doc: What? Why’s that? I met her. She obviously likes me.
Marty:(snaps his fingers) Doc, now I remember. You’re supposed to ask her out to dinner tonight. That’s where the two of you kiss for the first time.
Doc: Why didn’t you tell me that? I would have in a heartbeat.
Marty: Well, come on Doc. If we can find her you still can.
Scene 9:
Clara is in a store shopping. Doc and Marty walk in and see her.
Marty: Alright Doc, there she is. Just go up to her and ask her to dinner tonight.
Doc: Right. (he walks over to her) Hello again.
Clara: (smiles) Hi.
Doc: Clara, this may sound a little forward, but I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner tonight.
Clara: Sure. I’d love to.
Doc: Great. I’ll meet you at six, at the restaurant across the street.
Clara: Okay.
Doc: Well, I’ll see you then.
Clara: Yeah.
Doc: Bye.
Clara: Bye.
Doc walks back to Marty.
Doc: Well?
Marty: Good job, Doc.
Marty takes out the picture. As he looks at it, Clara walks by to leave the store. She smiles at Doc. Doc smiles back. Clara leaves.
Marty: Wait a minute, Doc. She’s still not in the picture.
Doc: You said we’re supposed to kiss tonight. Maybe that has to happen before she’ll reappear.
Marty: I hope you’re right Doc.
Scene 10:
Marty and Doc are setting things up to send Marty back to the future. The Tempo is covered with a blue tarp.
Doc: Alright, let’s go over the plan for sending you home. We’ve run some industrial strength electrical cable between these two posts and suspended it across the road. Meanwhile, we’ve out-fitted the car with this big pole and hook which runs directly into the flux capacitor. At the calculated moment, you start off from down the road driving toward the cable accelerating to forty-eight miles per hour. I’ve hooked up a timer to the cable. It will electrify the cable at the same time you reach it, sending the necessary 50000 volts into the flux-capacitor, sending you back to 2015. You know Marty, I'm gonna be very sad to see you go. You've really made a difference in my life, you've given me something to shoot for. Just knowing, that I'm gonna be around to see 2015, that I'm gonna succeed in this. That I'm gonna have a chance to travel through time. It's going to be really hard waiting 20 years before I can talk to you about everything that's happened here today. I'm really gonna miss you, Marty.
Marty: I'm really gonna miss you. Listen, Doc, there's something I haven't told you about the night-
Doc: No, Marty, having information about the future could be extremely dangerous. Even if your intentions are good, they could backfire drastically. Whatever you've got to tell me I'll find out through the natural course of time.
Scene 11:
Marty is writing a letter.
Marty: (reading over the letter to himself) Dear Doctor Brown, on the night that I go back in time, you will be shot by a terrorist. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this terrible disaster. Your friend, Marty.
Marty puts the letter in an envelope reading “Do not open until 2015!” and seals it. He puts the letter in the inside pocket of Doc’s coat when Doc is not looking.
Scene 12:
That night, Marty is across the street from the restaurant watching Doc and Clara have dinner. They get up and leave the restaurant. They walk down the street together. Doc puts his arm around Clara. Marty follows them.
Scene 13:
Doc and Clara step onto Clara’s front porch. Marty is watching them from across the street.
Clara: I had a really good time tonight, Emmett.
Doc: So did I, Clara. Would you like to do this again sometime?
Clara: Yeah. I’d like that.
Doc: I’ll call you.
Clara: Okay.
Doc kisses her.
Doc: Well, goodnight.
Clara: Goodnight.
Clara goes inside and shuts the door, slowly, looking out as she does. Doc waits until the door latches, then leaves. Marty takes out the picture and looks at it.
Marty: (to himself) Yes.
Marty goes after Doc.
Scene 14:
Marty and Doc uncover the Tempo. Doc opens the driver’s door.
Doc: Alright, your destination time is set. We’re sending you back to the exact moment you left. It’ll be just like you never left. Now, you see this white line on the street, this is where you start from. (Doc takes a alarm clock from his pocket) I've calculated the distance and wind resistance from the moment the timer will charge the cable. When this alarm goes off you hit the gas. (Doc puts it on the dashboard)
Marty: Right.
Doc: Well, I guess that's everything.
Marty: Thanks.
Doc: Thank you. In about twenty years.
Marty: I hope so.
Doc: Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 48 miles per hour, at the exact moment the timer charges it, everything will be fine.
Marty: Right.
Marty gets in the car. Doc folds his arms in font of him and feels the letter. He pulls it out.
Doc: What's the meaning of this.
Marty: You'll find out in twenty years.
Doc: It's about the future, isn't it? I warned you about this kid. The consequences could be disastrous.
Marty: Now that's a risk you'll have to take you're life depends on it.
Doc: No, I refuse to accept the responsibility. (He tears up the letter)
Marty: In that case, I'll tell you straight out.
Doc: Great scott, I just remembered. I forgot to hook the timer back up. I disconnected it so no one could mess with it.
Marty: I’ll drive you down to it.
Doc: No, you might not get back to the line in time. I’ll run down there myself.
Doc shuts the car door and runs down the street.
Marty: Dammit, Doc, why did you have to tear up that letter? If only I had more time. Wait a minute, I got all the time I want I got a time machine, I'll just go back and warn him. 10 minutes oughta do it.(he resets keypad) Time circuits on, flux capacitor fluxing, engine running, alright.
The alarm goes off. Marty hits the gas. Tempo races toward the cable. Doc gets to the timer and hooks it up. Tempo’s hook hits cable. Tempo disappears.
Doc: Ha, ha, ha. (sighs)
Scene 15:
Tempo appears and stops at “Genesis Nuclear Waste Reclamation Plant.” Marty gets out and looks around.
Marty: All right. It worked. (he checks his watch) 1:24, I still got time. (He gets back in and Tempo dies) No. (He tries to start it) C'mon, c'mon. (anarchist’s car goes by) Hey. The anarchist.
Marty runs after the anarchist’s car.
Scene 16:
Marty gets to the front gate of the school. The sign now reads ”Briarcliff Learning Center” Tempo is coming, followed by anarchist’s car. Tempo disappears. Anarchist’s car keeps going.
Scene 17:
Marty gets to Doc, who is laying on the ground. Marty rolls him onto his back.
Marty: Doc, Doc. Oh, no.
Marty turns away. Doc open his eyes and sits up.
Marty: You're alive.
Doc reveals laser-proof vest
Marty: A laser-proof vest, how did you know? I never got a chance to tell you.
Doc looks back over his shoulder. Marty looks. Clara is there.
Clara: He didn’t know, but I told him he should be careful, just in case.
Marty: Wait a minute. What about the car wreck?
Clara: What car wreck? We’ve never been in any car wreck. There was that one time ten years ago though, Emmett. Remember? If you hadn’t seen that truck coming, we might have been killed.
Marty: I thought you were at home then, Doc.
Doc: I’ve always made sure I’m with Clara whenever possible. After all, we almost never met in the first place.
Marty: Wait, Doc. If the accident never happened, why the hell did you build the time machine in the first place?
Doc: I told you, Marty. To go to the future.
Scene 18:
Doc is in the driver’s seat of the Tempo with the door open. Marty is beside it.
Marty: About how far ahead are you going?
Doc: About 20 years, it's a nice round number.
Marty: Look me up when you get there, guess I'll be about 37.
Doc: I will.
Marty: Take care.
Doc: You too.
Marty: Oh, watch that re-entry, it's a little bumpy.
Doc: You bet.
Marty shuts the door. Doc drives off.
Scene 19:
The next morning, Marty car pulls up to Doc’s house. Marty gets out. Clara comes out to meet him.
Clara: Hi Marty.
Marty: Where’s Doc?
Clara: He’s not back yet. I’ll go tell Jennifer you’re here. You probably want to get going.
Marty: Going?
Clara: Yeah. You two are going to the beach today, aren’t you. You’ve been planning it for two weeks.
Marty: But, Doc wouldn’t let me go out with Jennifer.
Clara: Marty, what are you talking about? I convinced him a long time ago that there’s no one he can trust with his daughter more than you.
Clara goes in the house. A moment later, Jennifer comes out.
Jennifer: Hi Marty.
Marty: Jennifer.
Jennifer: Did you finish that report for school?
Marty: School? What school?
Jennifer: What do you mean “What school?” The school Mom and Dad started when the government gave up on schools. (she puts her arms around him) What’s the matter, Marty? Is everything alright?
Marty puts his arms around her.
Marty: Oh yeah, everything is great.
Marty pulls Jennifer close to kiss her. Just before he does, the Tempo appears and crashes into some garbage cans. Marty and Jennifer look. Doc gets out.
Doc: Marty, Jennifer, you gotta come back with me.
Marty: Back where?
Doc raises futuristic glasses.
Doc: Back to the future.
Doc takes stuff from trash.
Marty: Wait a minute, what are you doing, Doc?
Doc: I need fuel. (puts garbage into tube on car) Go ahead, quick, get in the car.
Marty: No no no, Doc, I just got here, okay, Jennifer's here, we're gonna go to the beach
Doc: Well, this concerns her too.
Marty: Wait a minute, Doc. What are you talking about? What happens to us in the future? What do we become assholes or something?
Doc: No no no no no, Marty, both you and Jennifer turn out fine. It's your kids, Marty, something has got to be done about your kids.
Scene 20:
Doc, Marty, and Jennifer are in the car. Doc’s driving. Jennifer’s on Marty’s lap.
Doc: Time circuits on. (he turns them on)
Marty: Hey, Doc, what are you doing, we don't have enough room up here to get up to 48.
Doc: You wanta bet? I’ve done a little (he lowers the glasses) tweaking.
The Tempo’s front wheels spin and the car drives off and disappears.
This index lists all of the posts on this blog prior to October 2015. These posts consist of content I originally posted on my old website by May 2010. They are not listed in the order posted on the blog (which is approximately the order I posted them on my old website) but instead are organized the way they were on the old website. Future posts will not be added to this index.
Here I have put together a collection of things I have written that I think might actually be interesting to someone. These are basically things I have written for one class or another, but am proud enough of it to put it here for all to see. With each of them I have added some commentary about the piece to describe what it is, when I wrote it and why, and anything else I deem appropriate. They are listed in the order they were written, with the newest at the top. Some are fiction, and some are non-fiction. I've given the opening paragraph of each here to provide the flavor of each piece. Feel free to browse them at your leisure.
"The Royal Mail Ship Titanic was the largest ship of its time, its sinking was one of the worst disasters of the twentieth century, and its discovery was one of oceanography's greatest feats."
"Odysseus sailed alone on his ship. The monsters he had already encountered had taken the lives of the rest of his crew and now he struggled to return home to his wife, Penelope. He had run out of food and he wondered if he would survive."
"The island slowly disappeared over the fine line of the horizon, but the smoke from the burning forest was still visible as a signal for rescue. There was no one left to rescue."
"As the Caronia steamed into New York Harbor, I could see the glorious new land in which I would soon live. The shimmering buildings seemed to reach to the heavens. They appeared to be so near that I could reach out and touch them."
"Freight railroads in the United States have been proposing mergers since the beginning of this century. While many of the mergers of the past were intended to ensure the survival of the railroads, the mergers of today make successful railroads even more successful."
"'Education? What's the point? Why, to learn stuff, of course. After all, isn’t that why people go to school: to learn how to read and write and do arithmetic. Isn’t that the point?' To most people, that would be the answer to the title question. It seems so obvious, too. The point of education is to learn stuff. It’s a simple answer, and it makes perfect sense. Too bad it’s completely wrong."
"'There’s something about a train that’s magic.' If you have ridden a passenger train recently, you might recognize those words as a slogan for Amtrak, our national passenger railroad. Soon, however, that magic may disappear. Congress has declared that if Amtrak is not making enough revenue to support itself by 2003, it will be privatized or liquidated. With less than 2 years before the deadline, Amtrak is still in the red. Can its 'magic' save it, or will the government make Amtrak’s final last call?"
"Time travel has been a dream of people ever since H. G. Wells wrote The Time Machine and a dream of scientists since Einstein created his theory of relativity and suggested that it might actually be possible. But is it possible?"
"The twenty-sixth president of the United States and the youngest to ever hold office, Theodore Roosevelt is among the best-remembered presidents. He is remembered not just for his youth, but also for the way he led the country at the dawn of the last century. Rarely allowing himself to be swayed by his party or the politics of the time, Roosevelt followed his own moral judgment in relations with business and diplomacy, and proved himself one of the country’s best presidents."
"One of the major environmental issues facing society today is forest management. On one side, environmental activists argue for protection and preservation of forests and the natural habitats they provide. On the other side are the timber companies and their employees, who fight for their livelihoods, which are dependent on products the world needs. Both sides believe they are ethically correct. Being from Oregon, I am very familiar with this issue. This paper will explore the ethics of both sides, and whether there is a balance point between them."
Here's some old humor that's still pretty funny. Well... at least I think so. Judge for yourself. I didn't come up with any of it, I'm simply providing it.
Important company memo regarding Government Workers refusing to fall over after dying on the job, and the proper procedure for handling such an occurrence.
I really like quotes, so I just had to have a collection of them on my website. The list of quotes originated as my "Quotes of the Day" for Mr. McGladrey's classroom at Rainier High School. Most of the original quotes were from the "Quotable Quotes" sections of various issues of Reader's Digest. I've added to it over the years, and divided it into sections, so its not quite so huge. And, as an added bonus, most of the quotes include a link to a website about the person who said it, in case you don't know who it is. I am open to suggestions of new quotes to add to the list, but I will only add a quote if I happen to like it.
Sometimes we look back and realize that some things shouldn't have been said. As Abraham Lincoln said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Quotes about peace from Peace Plaza at the Vern W. Miller Civic Center in Salem, Oregon.
Learn how to do something with nothing, just like television's greatest problem-solver! Includes fixing a lamp, fixing a VCR and building a filing drawer in a desk.
I originally posted this on my old website on April 27, 2008.
PEACE PLAZA QUOTES
These quotes are from Peace Plaza at the Vern W. Miller Civic Center in Salem, Oregon. Not all of these quotes are from famous people, some are from member of the Salem community, including children.
Let us become one world, Hand to hand, traveling in the footsteps Of fellowship and peace.
--Hayes Bell
Why not dedicate the open space between City Hall and the Salem Public Library as Peace Plaza? Peace Plaza could be a natural rallying point for community gatherings. Peace Plaza makes a community statement.
We can each work for Peace, step by step, by building trust, tolerance, and cooperation. We seek to solve disputes in our families, our communities, and in our world though peaceful means.
--Peace Plaza Board 1991-92
Neighbors living in harmony share in a neighborhood of peace: Neighborhoods living in harmony share in a city of peace… May Salem always be known as a city of peace.
--Bill Riegel
We can assure peace between nations only if the people in each country make in unlawful for their leaders to invade other nations.
--Chester and Florence Horn
Peace means no wars, friendship, living together, going anywhere, helping each other, not mattering what color we are.
--Heidi S. Berryman, age 12
Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me.
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience… over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
--Colossians 3:12-14
I pledge allegiance to our planet and all its elements; to the welfare of the people, plants and animals who live here; to protecting our water air and land.
To all these, I pledge my resources to work for the benefit of the phenomena, ‘planet earth.’
--Robert J. Hansen
That long Canadian frontier… guarded only by neighborly respect and honorable obligations, is an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world.
Buried was the bloody hatchet; Buried was the dreaded warclub; Buried were all warlike weapons, And the war-cry was forgotten. There was peace among the nations.
Peace is not the product of terror or fear; peace is not the silence of cemeteries; peace is not the result of violent repression. Peace is generosity. It is right and duty.
If humanity does not opt for integrity, we are through completely. The odds are so close, it is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.
Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.
--Rev. Bill Hoffhines
Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in this world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain.
May there always be Sunshine, May there always be Blue Skies, May there always be Mama, May there always be me.
--From a Russian folksong
As we seek the way to an inner peace, remember that a peaceful day spent on a fishing stream brings benefits to more than the angler, for when we bring peace to ourselves, we help bring peace to all whom we meet.
“When you live on the earth, you owe rent… I realize I can’t take on all the problems of the world, but I do nibble away at the ones I can.”
--Mary H. Zimmerman
When you go around it in an hour and a half, you begin to realize that your identity is with that whole thing… On that small spot is everything… all of history and music and poetry and art and birth and love…
If we want to survive we must love our children more than we hate and fear our enemies.
--Irene Brown
No one making any noise Just me playing quietly Without any noise Everybody doesn’t attack people Make friends with everybody Peace is good; peace is blue
--Nicholas John Bradley, Feb. 2005
It is time for people to rise to their full moral and spiritual height…and to say, “I will save the earth.”
Love is All. It is your Strength. It is your Peace.
--NAB
The world rests on three things: on justice, on truth, on peace. Yet those three are one and the same thing. For if there is justice, there is truth, and there is peace.
I have seen the world because of soccer and I have met many people. These people have made me have faith in the future of humankind. I believe that one day we will unite in a team… a great team called humanity.
“If there is compassion in the heart, There will be love in the home. If there is love in the home, There will be wholeness in the community. If there is wholeness in the community, There will be harmony in the nation. And if there is harmony in the nation, There will be peace in the world.”
--Chinese Proverb
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, … But no one has the right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this here in this hemisphere and around in the world.
Open heart and ear to peace! Clench you fist against the leash, Lest you cease to be. Hear the Sphinx speak out the past, See the future in atom blast, And then be free.
Irene Powers Smith, Philos
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.
Do all the good you can In all the ways you can At all the times you can As long as you ever can By all the means you can In all the places you can To all the people you can.
--Anonymous
Peace is the freedom that an eagle feels as he soars over the mountaintops.
--Jack D. Kilcrease III, Age 9
Treat the earth well… It was not given to you by your parents… It was lent to you by your children.
--Kenyan Proverb
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the World we will have discovered fire.
This person is my own, that person is an alien, Only the small minded thus reckon; To those of a profound open heart, however, The entire humanity is one family. Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Man may and should shed his own blood for establishing what he considers to be his “right.” He may not shed the blood of his opponent who disputes his “right.”
Peace is in the indwelling Spirit that blossoms Like a rose when we call its name.
Tom Deighan
Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad, humbly, persistently, intelligently… For in the end it will be the servants who save us all.
Peace is: A line of love that will keep going through the hearts of people.
--Allegra Taylor Bradley
We believe…that the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations…
--C. William Brownfield, 1946, from the Jaycee Creed
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light, And where there is sadness, joy.
For Christ Himself is our way of peace, Who has made both one, and broken down the middle wall of division between us.
--Ephesians 2:14
True Christians do not engage in strife. They are the children of peace who have beaten their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and know of no war.
Edward J. Smith was the White Star Line's most respected captain in 1907, and boasted of never having been in an accident worth mentioning. The White Star Line often gave him the honor of being Captain on the maiden voyage of a new ship, and in 1912 Smith planned to retire after serving as Captain on the maiden voyage of the world's largest ocean liner (at the time): the supposedly unsinkable R.M.S. Titanic. The Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk on that maiden voyage, and Smith chose to go down with his ship, becoming one of over 1,500 people to perish that night. I can't help but wonder if, as the ship sank under him, Captain Smith recalled making this arrogant statement.
Machine guns are overrated, airplanes silly and tanks mere toys.
Ferdinand Foch was a top General in the French Army during World War I. He died before World War II indisputably proved him wrong about military technology, though I wonder what the Red Baron thought of him.
This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.
There are probably a lot of ironic Hitler quotes, but I think this one is interesting. The year 1935 isn't known for the beginning of gun registration, and the last thing most of the world wants to do is follow Nazi Germany's lead on anything. Over 70 years later, the battle over gun registration continues, and Hitler's assertions about gun registration bringing safer streets and more efficient police have yet to be either proven or disproven definitively.
Tom DeLay, a Republican Congressman, said this during Democrat Bill Clinton's presidency. At the time, American troops were deployed in Kosovo under Clinton's orders, and most Republicans disapproved of Clinton's decision to send in the troops. A few years later, with Republican George W. Bush as President and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tables were turned, and it was the Democrats who were expressing this belief, while Republicans linked supporting the President with supporting the troops.
