Back to the Future

Back to the Future was a popular 1980s film trilogy about time travel. A novelisation was made from it. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

The first Back to the Future film was mentioned by the Tenth Doctor to help explain the mechanics of time travel to companion Martha Jones. Martha didn't see any threat from the Carrionites because she knew that the world didn't end in 1599. However, the Tenth Doctor referenced this movie when he told her about how Marty McFly, after he travelled back in time, did something that almost erased him from existence in the present. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

On the Contact Clive page of whoisdoctorwho.co.uk, one of the sightings was from Marty McFly, with the message "I know that man, he stole my DeLorean!!!" (WEB: whoisdoctorwho.co.uk)

When Cristián Alvarez contacted the Seventh Doctor by leaving a letter with UNIT to be passed on to him, Bernice Summerfield noted that it was just like in Back to the Future. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)

In 1983, Joel Mintz (who was from the year 1993) compared himself to Marty McFly in that all new TV shows were reruns to him. (PROSE: Return of the Living Dad)

In the 25th century, Stewart Ransom became a fan of Western films, particularly Back to the Future Part III. The Second Doctor claimed that the second film in the trilogy, Back to the Future Part II, was better. (PROSE: The Colony of Lies)

D.I. Patricia Menzies had seen the film prior to 2008, which allowed her to grasp the fundamentals of time travel. (AUDIO: The Raincloud Man)

Behind the scenes

 * , who played time traveller Dr. "Doc" Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, was almost cast as the Master in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie. However, Universal (the studio which financed both the television movie and the trilogy) balked at the pay he was asking for. Eric Roberts, who was ultimately better paid than Lloyd would have been, was cast as the Master in his stead.


 * The trilogy provided the name for the band McFly, which had a cameo in TV: The Sound of Drums.


 * Years before the original series of Doctor Who was cancelled, Disney was attempting to buy the rights to the franchise from the BBC, the trilogy's producer Steven Spielberg was their choice to run the Doctor Who office. Spielberg was more than willing to do it. He has stated in interviews he would have been the producer of the series for a couple of seasons, then pass the job of producer onto the Back to the Future trilogy's director, Robert Zemeckis.


 * Robert Zemeckis, the director of Back to the Future, was considered to direct the 1996 Doctor Who television movie.


 * Karen Gillan has professed her fandom for Back to the Future Part II, and her desire for a hoverboard.

Possible allusions

 * In TV: Blink there was an allusion to Back to the Future Part II, as someone was told to give a letter to Sally Sparrow at a specific date and time, no earlier, no later.
 * Peri Brown and Erimem use the same method to get letters to the Fifth Doctor in AUDIO: The Kingmaker. Peri notes that she got the idea from a film. If she is referring to Back to the Future Part II, she must have seen the film during her travels with the Doctor as it was not released until five years after her native time.
 * The TARDIS drawing room has numerous clocks similar to the garage of Emmett Brown at the beginning of Back to the Future. (GAME: TARDIS)
 * The Scorpion King mentions the Doctor's TARDIS has a flux capacitor. (AUDIO: The Boy That Time Forgot)