Back To The Future Day: Revisiting the Back To The Future Timeline

Updated on 23 October 2023

Great Scott, it’s Back To The Future Day! Today, we celebrate hoverboards, flying cars, and other technological wonders! The Back To The Future trilogy left a lasting impact on popular culture by giving millions worldwide a glimpse of the limitless potential of time travel and left them wondering if their predictions of the future could come true. Back to the Future Day honours the series by being celebrated on October 21 2015, a future date that Marty McFly travels to on one of his existential adventures.

To celebrate, let’s revisit the years that Marty found himself in, along with the real-time events that happened as he tried to save the space-time continuum. Oh, and don’t forget, fans of the beloved sci-fi series, you can celebrate Back To The Future Day through organised events, watching the movie at home, online discussions and of course…by booking Back To The Future The Musical tickets! 

The Back To The Future Timeline

1955

It was the year that the first Disneyland in California opened its gates to the world, a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. All across the world, The Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, and the first Guinness World Book of Records hit the shelves. In the real world, 1955 was a year of profound cultural and political shifts.

Meanwhile, Marty McFly arrives in 1955 and accidentally interferes with his parents' meeting at the ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ dance, Doc realises that he and his siblings will be erased from existence unless Marty can make them fall in love all over again. Monday, November 7th, 1985, Marty, disguised as ‘Calvin Klein’, goes to Hill Valley High School to try and get George and Lorraine to be together. But, there’s a problem…Lorraine has a crush on Marty instead of George. Oh, and it also happens to be the year that Marty invents rock ‘n’ roll. Go, Johnny, go go go! 

1985 

In the same year that the film is released, the Cold War is drawing to an end and Apple have just introduced the first Macintosh computer. The world has just been introduced to the World Wide Web, a technology that will go on to transform how we access information forever. In the Back To The Future universe, 1985 is the core era for Marty McFly and his present-day before he was transported back to 1955, and it was his intended destination in which to return. Marty lives in Hill Valley, California, with his depressed alcoholic mother, Lorraine; his older siblings, who are professional and social failures; and his meek father, George. He fears becoming like his parents despite his ambitions.

2015 

In 2015, people ride hoverboards down the street. Social media has officially shaped modern life. Smartphone-connected medical devices came into the mainstream, and Apple release the first-ever watch that uses a heart-rate sensor and accelerometer. Technology only continues to grow and grow. 

In Back to the Future Part II, 2015 is presented as a whimsical vision of the future, as Marty and Doc travel back to 2015 to save the fate of Marty’s children, the movie playfully depicts a 2015 filled with flying cars, hoverboards, 3D movies and video calls and self-lacing shoes, it showcases the most ambitious of technological advancements, and quite honestly…it’s not that far off! 

Back To The Future The Musical Tickets 

This Back To The Future Day, celebrate the ultimate way and book Back To The Future The Musical tickets!

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By Kevin Thomas

From as early as I can recall, writing has always been my passion. Being able to combine this with my love for theatre has been a rewarding and exhilarating experience. I truly believe that there is magic in seeing a story brought to life on stage, and this is what I would like to promote to audiences.