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Back to the Future: The Animated Series
	; From left to right: Einstein, Marty, Doc, Verne, Clara and Jules.
Format	Animated series; Science fiction; Adventure
Voices of	David Kaufman; Dan Castellaneta; Mary Steenburgen; Josh Keaton; Tom Wilson; Troy Davidson; Danny Mann
Opening theme	Back in Time
Ending theme	Theme from Back to the Future
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bob Gale
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Universal Cartoon Studios; Amblin Television; ZM Productions; Big Pictures
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS (1991-1993); ABC (1993-1995)
Original run	September 7, 1991 – November 28, 1992
Chronology
Preceded by	Back to the Future: The Ride
External links
	Official website

Back to the Future: The Animated Series is an animated series for television based on the Back to the Future trilogy of feature films. The series lasted two seasons, each featuring 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 7, 1991 to November 28, 1992, and reran until August 14, 1993. It repeated on ABC from September 1993 to January 1995, and later repeated on FOX from March to September 2003.

[edit] Premise

Following the conclusion of Back to the Future Part III, "Doc" Brown has settled down in 1991 Hill Valley along with his new wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne, and the family dog Einstein. As with the films, time travel was achieved through the use of a modified DeLorean, which had apparently been replaced after the original's destruction at the end of the trilogy, however the new version has voice activated "time circuits" and can also travel instantaneously to different location in space as well as time.

It can also fold up into a suit case. In addition, the characters traveled through time using the steam engine time machine Doc invented at the end of Part III. Although Marty McFly and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker made occasional appearances, the show focused primarily on the adventures of the Brown family, whereas the movies focused on the McFly family. The films' villain Biff Tannen also pops up from time to time. In addition, relatives of both the McFly and Tannen families are plentiful in most of the past or future parallel time zones that the time-travellers visit. Unlike the films, which took place entirely in Hill Valley and the surrounding area, the series frequently took the characters to exotic locations.

[edit] Voice actors

Mary Steenburgen (Clara) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff) voiced their characters from the films, and Christopher Lloyd played Doc Brown in the live action segments that opened and closed each episode. However, Dan Castellaneta provided the animated Doc Brown's voice, while David Kaufman voiced Marty McFly, the main animated character (resembling Kevin Keene from Captain N: The Game Master). Josh Keaton (the recurring role on General Hospital) voiced the role of Jules Brown, the elder son of Doc Brown. In addition, Bill Nye performed scientific experiments during the closing live action segments on each episode (which later led to Nye getting his own show).

[edit] Main characters

[edit] Characters from the Back to the Future Trilogy

Marty McFly - The main character of the series, similar to Kevin Keene from Captain N: The Game Master. He wears light denim jeans, a white shirt, a red Letterman jacket with light yellow sleeves, and red shoes. Marty spends a lot of time visiting the Brown house where Doc, Clara, and their sons now live. He continues to travel through time alongside Jennifer, Doc and the rest of the Brown family on many of their adventures. Marty and Jennifer study at Hill Valley College after graduating from Hill Valley High School. Marty is voiced by David Kaufman.

Jennifer Parker - Marty's girlfriend, the secondary character, has blond hair, unlike the three BTTF movies. Cathy Cavadini voices Jennifer.

Doc Brown - Marty's best friend, is the inventor of the first time machine, which he builds out of a DeLorean sports car. His earlier inventions met with limited success, but he was able to build a large refrigerator and steam locomotive time machine in 1885. He now lives with Clara and two sons Jules and Verne. Dan Castellaneta voices the animated Doc Brown, and Christopher Lloyd portrays the live action Doc.

Einstein - Doc's dog, is an adorable sheepdog who lives with Doc, Clara, Jules, and Verne and is also a friend to Marty. Einstein is voiced by Danny Mann.

Clara Clayton Brown - Doc's wife, along with the rest of the family, moved to the 20th century. She and the Browns live in a farmhouse outside of Hill Valley by 1991 and Clara has settled into 20th Century life very well, and has become a teacher at Hill Valley Elementary. She occasionally joins her husband, sons, or Marty on their time travel adventures. She is voiced by Mary Steenburgen, who portrays her in the third movie.

Jules Brown - Verne's elder brother has a middle name called Erastothenes. Unlike younger brother Verne, Jules is very smart for his age and takes after his father in that he will use very long words in his everyday speech. He always calls Marty McFly "Martin." Jules is top of the class at school; however, he is not that popular and only has a few friends. Nevertheless, he is usually quite good-natured, even if he does tease his brother quite a bit. Jules did once let being rich go to his head after he grew a money tree. He appears to have a crush on his classmate Franny Philips and also likes baseball and inventing. Jules is voiced by Josh Keaton.

Verne Brown - Jules' younger brother is usually a quite cheerful young man; however, he dislikes losing and doing chores. He likes video games and watching television. He is almost always seen wearing a raccoon skin cap like Davy Crockett, even when swimming. Unlike older brother Jules, Verne appears to be quite popular at school and has many friends, including Marty McFly. He also acts his age, unlike Jules, who acts at least 10 years older. At one point, he believed that he was adopted, due to not being as intelligent as the rest of the family. However, this turned out to simply be fear due to Jules teasing him. His favorite insult is "skunkhead", mostly to Jules (ironic since it is Verne who wears a raccoon skin cap on his head). Verne is voiced by Troy Davidson.

Biff Tannen - Biff is the great-grandson of Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen and is the present day villain of the series, although most episodes featured one of his numerous ancestors or descendants instead, always as some villainous cretin, so frequently that Marty once rhetorically questioned if there was a "Biff" in every time and place they visited. Thomas F. Wilson, who portrays the live action Biff, voices the animated counterpart.

[edit] New Characters

Franny Phillips - Jules' girlfriend, who adores Jules even though he's either rich or poor. She also adores him when he is good and cute to her.

Mr. Walter Wisdom - Mr. Wisdom is the host of the children's game show, unlike The Bozo Show.

General Beauregard Tannen - Biff's great-great-grandfather is a Confederate cavalry officer and presumably Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen's father.

Frank Tannen - Biff's dad, is the sergeant for the army. He is also not a nice person who chases after Marty and Verne.

Dorothy - Verne's dance lesson teacher. As a little girl in the 1940s, she and Verne end up winning a trophy in a dance contest.

Chris - Verne's new friend is a newcomer of Hill Valley, dressing as a boy named Christopher. Later, she is a real girl named Christina.

[edit] Home video

Although this show is no longer being shown on U.S. television, nine VHS cassettes and three volumes of the series on laserdisc were released between 1993 and 1994, chronicling 18 of the 26 episodes. The show is not yet available on DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

[edit] Intro

The first season intro of this series is a recreated version of "Back in Time", originally by Huey Lewis and the News (who also recorded "The Power of Love" for the first film). The intro starts with Doc Brown being surprised by the time on his watch and then entering the DeLorean.

As he drives out, he heads forward to 2015 where he grabs Marty McFly (the main character in the BTTF movies and the series) and goes through the space time continuum in order to collect Clara on June 10, 1885 and Jules and Verne (in prehistoric times) before returning to the present (1991). As the family and Marty sit down to dinner, they notice Einstein is missing and see him driving the steam train time machine to a time unknown. For the second season, the intro, which used the same music as season one, starts with the DeLorean revving up, then a series of clips from season 1, then the end from the old intro.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Back to the Future: The Animated Series episodes

There are a total of 26 episodes and two seasons.

[edit] Comic series

Additionally, a comic book series was published detailing the further adventures of the animated series.

[edit] Cast

David Kaufman - Marty McFly
Dan Castellaneta - Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
Mary Steenburgen - Clara Brown
Cathy Cavadini - Jennifer Parker
Troy Davidson - Verne Brown
Josh Keaton - Jules Brown
Danny Mann - Einstein
Thomas F. Wilson - Biff Tannen {and Biff's ancestors}
Christopher Lloyd - Dr. Emmett Brown (live-action segments)
Bill Nye - Himself
Hal Rayle - Additional voices

[edit] External links

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