Disclaimer: I do not own the Back to the Future trilogy. If I did, Marty's parents would've learned the truth about his time-traveling adventures at the end of the trilogy and Biff would've been either homeless or in jail for all the trouble he caused.
Chapter 1 – Prologue
(Tuesday, November 12th 1985 10:04am)
Forty-seven-year-old George Douglas McFly and his wife of the same age, Lorraine Baines McFly, were relaxing on the couch in the living room of their Lyon Estates residence. The former was reading a newspaper, while the latter, with an arm around her husband, took a sip of her cup of coffee.
"Can you believe it, Lorraine? Today marks the 30th anniversary of the night we fell in love at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance," George reminded her with a note of fondness. "Where has the time gone?"
"It feels like yesterday and so long ago at the same time," Lorraine commented with equal fondness.
"It sure does," George nodded. "And it was on the same night as the thunderstorm when lightning struck the Clock Tower."
"Which made our first date all the more special and unforgettable," Lorraine added, affectionately. "That night couldn't have been more romantic for us."
"I still think it would've been nice if we'd gotten to see the lightning strike the Clock Tower," George said. "A sight to behold without a doubt."
"I'd imagine so," Lorraine agreed. "I mean, it wouldn't be every day, or even every year, that one gets to witness such an event."
"You know, if our friend Calvin hadn't been lost at sea and was still with us, I think it would've been a fitting idea to invite him over for our special celebration dinner tonight," George stated. "To this day, I still feel that he's a big part of the reason my life with you and our kids turned out as great as it did over the last three decades. Still wish I could've met him again and thanked him once more for all his good advice... but we never saw him again after that night."
"Yeah, I know," Lorraine sighed sadly as she remembered sobbing when Calvin's uncle, Dr. Emmett Brown, had informed her and George of their former classmate's tragic demise overseas back in 1960. "I wonder what Calvin's life would've been like by now. Hopefully, he would've been happy."
"I'm sure he would've led a wonderful life with a wife and children of his own," George deduced. "Who knows, maybe Calvin's children would've ended up being friends with our children. Even though he moved away from Hill Valley, anything could be possible."
Suddenly, the McFly couple vanished in a flash of light.
As the light around them faded, the disoriented George and Lorraine suddenly found themselves standing on some kind of round, metallic platform, surrounded by what appeared to be the star-covered blackness of outer space.
"What in the heck..." George trailed off in utter bewilderment.
"What in the world is this?! What's going on?!" Lorraine gasped in a mix of astonishment and fear as she took in her strange surroundings. She turned to her husband. "George?"
"This looks like..." George couldn't believe his eyes. "This looks like outer space!"
"Outer space?" Lorraine repeated, in a mix of awe and disbelief. "How is that possible? How can we be in space when we were just sitting in our living room seconds ago?"
"I don't... I don't know what this is, Lorraine," George said, uneasily. "Either we're both hallucinating or we've been abducted by aliens."
"Welcome, George and Lorraine McFly."
Startled by the sound of the deep and rather authoritative, yet warm and reassuring, voice, they whirled around to see an older African-American gentleman standing several feet before them. The man was dressed in an impeccable white suit with a pair of shiny black dress shoes, while his hair and matching goatee were a mix of gray and black.
"Who are you?" George demanded, protectively placing a hand in front of his wife.
"You can call me Morgan," the man introduced himself with a warm smile. "It is understandable that you two are confused about your current situation. I am a messenger who intends to enlighten you."
"Enlighten us? What on Earth are you talking about?" Lorraine wondered, staring in a mix of confusion and wariness at the man called Morgan.
"Was it you that brought my wife and I here?" George demanded, staring firmly at the white-suited man. "Where exactly are we anyway? Are we really in space, or are we still somewhere on Earth?"
"Can you tell us what's going on and how is any of this happening?" Lorraine asked.
"To answer the first question, we are neither in space nor on Earth," Morgan stated, calmly. "We are currently in a dimension outside of the plane of existence you reside in."
"Dimension? Plane of existence?" Lorraine questioned, with confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"To answer the second question, I'm the one who brought you both to this place," Morgan admitted. "But there's no need for either of you to worry. My intentions aren't to inflict harm."
"So you did bring us here?" George said, incredulously. "How did you manage to do that? One minute, Lorraine and I were sitting on the couch in the living room of our home relaxing, and then, all of a sudden, we found ourselves here, in this... other dimension as you call it?"
"I instantly transported you here," Morgan answered as if it was a normal thing to do. He placed his hands behind his back, pacing around for a bit. "Let's just say that I am capable of performing feats far beyond your wildest imaginations."
"Wait, you mean... you mean you can do things that normal people like us can't do?" George asked, intrigued by the white-suited older man before him. "Like superpowers or magic or..."
"George, honey, I know you've always strongly believed that aliens exist and you've always been open-minded when it comes to paranormal things, but superpowers and magic?" Lorraine said, a bit skeptically.
"It would certainly help explain how we got here all of a sudden," George pointed out. "I mean, this feels all too real to be merely a hallucination or a vivid dream. Besides, if this was a dream, that would mean you and I are somehow experiencing the same exact one."
"This is neither a dream nor hallucination," Morgan stated with a slight grin. "As for why you two are here and the enlightenment you're about to participate in, it has to do with what your son Marty McFly has been up to a couple of weeks ago."
George and Lorraine were instantly alarmed by the mention of their youngest child.
"Marty?" Lorraine gasped, with a great concern. "What about him? What exactly was he up to and what does it have to do with you bringing us here to this place?"
"Our son isn't in any trouble, is he?" George inquired, his voice also filled with concern.
"No trouble, I assure you," Morgan told them. "You both recall Marty's seemingly strange behavior and confusion upon seeing you two on the Saturday morning of October 26th. He reacted as though he didn't recognize either of you."
"That's a morning I'll never forget, considering it was the day my novel arrived," George recalled, exchanging a stunned look with his wife. "As for Marty's behavior when Lorraine and I returned from our tennis game, it was due to a nightmare he had."
Lorraine frowned suspiciously at the old man. "How do you know about that? Or Marty, for that matter? Have been talking to him about this, or have you been secretly watching us from somewhere?"
"I've been observing from afar, yes," Morgan admitted. "But, as I said, my intentions are to enlighten, not invite trouble into your lives."
"And how exactly do you propose to 'enlighten' us?" George wondered.
Morgan grinned mysteriously, rubbing his hands together. "To cut straight to the chase, I figure it's best I show you rather than tell you about this Temporal Learning Experience."
Before the puzzled George or Lorraine could respond to Morgan's cryptic statement, they were suddenly surrounded by a pillar of white light that caused them to levitate over a dozen feet above the metallic ground of the platform. As the white light pillar remained around the floating McFly couple, they were immediately in an unmoving, trance-like state. Their eyes remained open and they were still aware of their surroundings. Normally, one would panic, freak out, or be overwhelmed with fear upon finding themselves in such a situation. However, for some inexplicable reason, George and Lorraine actually felt at ease as their minds were filled with curiosity and anticipation of whatever they were about to experience.
A few feet in front of them appeared a holographic-like screen that showed a room with an assortment of clocks ticking simultaneously. George and Lorraine's minds were thoroughly engrossed in the video, wondering what all they were going to see. They saw the 'Brown Mansion Destroyed' newspaper article, along with portraits of Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein, hanging on the wall, making the McFly couple think of Dr. Emmett Brown, the local inventor whom, in addition to being the late Calvin Klein's uncle, their son Marty was highly fond of and spent quite a bit of time with.
They then heard a Statler Toyota advertisement playing on a radio, followed by the television showing a news report about missing Plutonium and the possible involvement of Libyan terrorists. The latter, in particular, got George and Lorraine's attention, as they were aware of rumors that had been going around the town over the last month. Some residents had even speculated that Doc Brown was involved in the incident, while George and Lorraine were mindful to not jump to conclusions about their son's best friend, but hoped that the terrorists, if guilty of the theft, would be caught and imprisoned.
After seeing an automatic machine pour a can of dog food into an already overflowing bowl labeled 'Einstein', George and Lorraine were stunned to see Marty enter what they now realized was Doc Brown's garage. They saw Marty set his skateboard down and it rolled next to a yellow case under Doc's bed. The Plutonium! What on Earth was it doing in Doc Brown's possession? What did Doc Brown plan to do with something that was extremely dangerous for anyone to have in their household? Was he working with the terrorist group that was mentioned? Those were the questions currently on George and Lorraine's minds. Neither of them ever believed the crazy rumors about Doc Brown, but, at that moment, they were beginning to wonder if they should've been more cautious of allowing Marty to hang around him so much. Granted, the Doc had always seemed like a good person at heart, despite his eccentric nature, and there had been times in the past that Doc Brown gave George sage advice for his writings, but there was most likely more to the white-haired scientist than what they knew about him.
The next part of the video showed Marty turning on the amplifier, setting all the sound controls to maximum, and playing a note on his guitar, only to get thrown back into a bookcase as the huge speaker blew up. Lorraine would've cried out her son's name in concern if she could speak, but she and George were relieved that their son appeared to be okay.
Next came a phone call from Doc Brown asking Marty to meet him at Twin Pines Mall later that night at 1:15am, since the inventor had made a breakthrough and would need the teenager's assistance. Twin Pines Mall? George and Lorraine would've frowned at that if they could. As far as they knew, the mall had always been called Lone Pine. Shrugging it off as Doc simply making a mistake, they wondered why he wanted Marty to meet them at such a late hour. Did it have something to do with whatever he may be planning use the Plutonium for? If that was the case, Lorraine, quite naturally, wasn't too fond of Doc involving her son in an experiment that apparently required the use of something so highly radioactive and dangerous. George didn't feel any feel any better about it. When they returned home, the two were going to have a chat with Marty about that.
Next, the video showed Marty rushing to school on his skateboard after finding out he was late and meeting up with his girlfriend Jennifer upon arriving. They were caught by Mr. Strickland, who reprimanded Marty for hanging around the "dangerous nutcase" Doc Brown and accused the teenager of being a slacker who was "too much like his old man".
Lorraine mentally glowered at Strickland's harsh words to her son about his band not having a chance of success in the auditions. As the school's principal, Strickland should really be more tactful and encouraging instead of belittling his own students. While Strickland admittedly had a point about Marty's tardiness, his words were uncalled for and could ruin Marty's confidence and self-esteem. Lorraine wasn't too surprised by Strickland's behavior, since he had been the same at least since her and George's own high school days.
George, on the other hand, was focused more on Strickland's remark about the McFlys not amounting to anything in the history of Hill Valley. That wasn't exactly true, considering that George himself was a successful science fiction author who had more money than what Strickland made per year. Then again, it was no secret to George that the principal didn't exactly think highly of him even after all his accomplishments, not that it mattered at the end of the day.
As the next scene showed Marty and his band getting rejected by the audition judges for being "too darn loud", Lorraine felt a pang of sympathy for her son and thought his performance was actually pretty good. She and George recalled Marty's disappointment over the rejection a couple of weeks ago and they had encouraged him to never give up on his dreams of becoming a musician someday. George had told Marty "Just because you got knocked down once doesn't mean you can't get up and try again, son". He'd also relayed Doc Brown and Calvin Klein's unforgettable advice to his son: "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything".
The scene shifted to the Courthouse square, where Jennifer urged the disheartened Marty to send his tape to the record company. Jennifer really was such a sweetheart and a supportive girlfriend, Lorraine mused. Her son was very lucky to have a romantic partner like that in his life. She had a feeling that Jennifer was the one for Marty, much like George was for herself, and that the two would end up married with some wonderful children.
George was reminded of how timid he'd once been when Marty in the video complained "I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection". George then wondered why Marty followed up with "Jesus, I'm starting to sound like my old man". Sure, the science fiction author strongly feared rejection back in his youth, but that changed after he'd met Calvin and finally stood up to Biff thirty years ago, long before Marty was even born. And what did Jennifer mean by George not being "that bad", and, considering that the events of the video were from just two weeks ago, why would Marty need to borrow the car when he already had his Toyota truck? Speaking of the truck, the video showed Marty admiring it and hoping he'd get one someday, even though he'd had the truck since his birthday back in June. It seemed like some things weren't quite adding up.
As Marty and Jennifer's conversation shifted to their planned trip to the lake, Lorraine was taken aback by what Marty said to Jennifer about her. Why on Earth would Marty assume she would freak out over them going to the lake? If anything, Lorraine had been highly supportive of that decision and their relationship in general. She was further puzzled by Marty's remark about her being born a nun. That couldn't be further from the truth, since Lorraine had, in fact, been quite wild back in her own teenage years, especially during the week she was amorously infatuated with her former 'dreamboat' Calvin Klein.
Lorraine felt a bit hurt by Marty's next claim of her not doing a very good job of keeping him "respectable", along with Jennifer's agreement by responding with "Terrible". Why was Marty speaking as if she wasn't that good of her mother? Did her youngest child really think of her in such a negative manner? Lorraine had always done her best to be kind, loving, and supportive to all three of her children. Should she talk to Marty and get to the bottom of what exactly she needed to improve on as a parent?
Next was an older church-type lady urging Marty and Jennifer to "save the Clock Tower" with donations. Marty, annoyed that his and Jennifer's kiss had been interrupted, hastily gave the woman a quarter, then she handed him a flyer. The night the Clock Tower had been struck by lightning would always hold a special place in George and Lorraine's hearts, as it was also the night they had fallen in love at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Therefore, with all due respect to Mayor Goldie Wilson and his efforts, they didn't mind the non-functioning clock being preserved exactly as it was as part of Hill Valley's history and heritage.
After Jennifer was picked up by her father, the video shifted to Marty arriving home to find a tow truck hauling the family's car, which was totaled, into the garage. George and Lorraine wondered if they were going to see themselves show up. But wait. Things continued to seem noticeably off. First of all, the Lyon Estates statues were vandalized with graffiti, which was unusual. Secondly, the sidewalk was strewn with many dead leaves. They never allowed the outside of their house get messy like that. Also, neither of them recalled a tow truck ever coming to their house. Plus, the wrecked car wasn't even one they had ever owned.
Marty entered the house to find Biff Tannen hounding Marty's father over the car, which Biff himself had wrecked. Biff demanded that not only would George's insurance pay for the totaled car, but the money for Biff to clean his jacket, which Biff had spilt beer on, would come out of George's pocket.
George and Lorraine were completely baffled by the scene. Sure enough, it was the former and Biff in the video, but their behavior was different... and disgustingly all-too-familiar. The George in the video was acting every bit as shy and timid as he had been back in high school, while Biff seemed to be just as aggressive and domineering as he was back then. That didn't make sense, because, in reality, George hadn't behaved that way since the night of the dance and Biff would certainly know better than to speak to him in such a manner. Also, if Biff were to actually borrow the family's car and wreck it while driving under the influence, George would make damn sure that Biff himself paid every cent of the expenses. There was also the interior of the house in the video looking very different, with furniture, equipment, and other items that were rather cheap, antiquated, and not nearly as sleek and upscale as what the McFlys actually had. What the heck was going on?
George and Lorraine's bewilderment continued as the video shifted to Biff threatening Video-George into finishing some reports for him, complete with the "Hello? Hello? Anybody home?" routine that Biff used to hassle George with when they were teenagers. To George, it seemed as though the on-screen version of him was living a life where he was still being bullied and intimidated by Biff even in their adulthood. Perhaps that alternative version of him had never successfully turned the tables on Biff and, thus, remained every bit the meekly pushover he'd been prior to the night that would've changed his life for the better.
Lorraine was wondering what was going on and didn't understand why the video was showing her husband and his longtime adversary acting as they did as teenagers. Did that really happen? Were George and Biff acting and playing around? That had to be the case, since there was no way her George would genuinely allow Biff to suddenly treat him in such a manner again or walk through their house like he owned the place. Lorraine wondered about herself and whether or not she would show up in the video as well. She mentally glowered at Biff for his "What are you looking at, butthead" comment to Marty and would've rolled her eyes or sighed at the "Say hi to your mom for me" part. She was so glad that Biff was no longer like that in reality due to George constantly keeping the former bully in his place.
The next parts convinced George even more that he was, indeed, watching a 'what-if' scenario of a life where he had remained a spineless wimp who was still relentlessly hassled by Biff. Judging by the mention of Biff being his supervisor, George figured his on-screen counterpart had most likely never became a successful writer and, thus, was stuck working at a job where he answered to the man who was the main source of his problems. The bits of Video-George admitting he was "not very good at confrontations" and "not a fighter" reminded George of just how bad he had been at not standing up for himself. Seeing in the video how he could've turned out had he never gained confidence made him even more grateful for all of Calvin Klein's encouraging advice, especially when on-screen George easily gave in to purchasing an entire case of peanut brittle from a visiting neighbor and his daughter. George and Lorraine recognized the neighbor and had seem him around many times, but given the man opportunistic nature shown in the video, George, in particular, considered keeping an eye on him to make sure he wouldn't continue taking advantage of others.
The video shifted to the dinner table, showing Marty's mother Lorraine dejectedly setting a cake on the table while telling her children that their uncle Joey didn't make parole again. Lorraine mentally gasped at the sight of her on-screen self. It was definitely her, but she looked... older! The video clearly took place in the current year, yet she looked like she was nearing sixty! Not only that, but Video-Lorraine was overweight, appeared to be worn-out, her voice was slurred, and she seemed generally unhappy. Lorraine recalled making a cake and feeling upset over her youngest brother Joey not making parole in reality too, but she hadn't been downright depressed like the version of her in the video appeared to be. Dave and Linda seemed different as well. The former appared to be working at Burger King, which was out of character for Dave, who wouldn't want to be caught dead having a job at a fast food place. As for Linda, she didn't seem like her usual outgoing self.
Lorraine noticed that some of the conversation was the same, such as Marty referring to his uncle as 'Jailboy Joey', Dave saying "He's your brother, Mom", Linda commenting on the embarrassment of having an uncle in prison, and she herself telling them that everyone made mistakes in life. The differences were that, unlike in real life, Video-George seemed to be completely engrossed in his own world, while Lorraine noticed that her on-screen counterpart threw a brief look at her husband while saying her 'mistakes' comment, which more or less confirmed that their marriage wasn't exactly a happy one.
When the conversation shifted to Marty's girlfriend, Lorraine was appalled by her on-screen counterpart's dislike for Jennifer and statement that girls who chased after boys were only asking for trouble. Why on Earth would she say something like that? She loved Jennifer and found the girl to be a wonderful match for Marty. Was the woman in the video really her? Lorraine was even more shocked by her on-screen counterpart's claim that she'd never called or chased boys or sat in parked cars with them. In reality, she had done all three of those when she was a teenager. Either Video-Lorraine's life was even more different than it seemed or she was lying to her children.
George and Lorraine were surprised to learn that, in the video, the former had been hit by the latter's father's car thirty years ago, which meant Calvin Klein might not had been around to push George out of the way like he did in the real world. Did that specific difference in events have to do with why their lives in the video were so different, and not necessarily in a good way? Lorraine was stunned upon seeing her counterpart help herself to a glass of vodka, which made it clear that Video-Lorraine was miserable and wasn't enjoying her marriage to Video-George, who seemed to pay very little to no attention to his wife. George felt guilty for his on-screen counterpart's lack of commitment and assertiveness, while Lorraine's heart went out to her own counterpart. Apparently, the version of their lives in the video had taken a different turn most likely due George getting hit by the car instead of Calvin. Did that mean Calvin hadn't been around during that November 1955 week? That could explain why Video-George had no confidence. After all, had it not been for Calvin, he probably would've never mustered the courage to lay Biff out with that single punch.
George felt quite embarrassed by his on-screen self's odd laughter and was glad that he'd managed to significantly improve his behavior. After seeing a glimpse of how his life could've turned out without Calvin Klein's involvement, if the young man hadn't died so prematurely, George would've reminded himself to thank Calvin a hundred more times whenever he saw him again.
As the scene shifted to a sleeping Marty, in his room, waking up to a phone call from Doc Brown, George and Lorraine were concerned and curious at the same time about whatever it was their youngest child was about to get involved in with his inventor friend. Little did the McFly couple know, they were in for an extraordinary virtual adventure they would never forget!
If it wasn't obvious already, the character Morgan in this story is inspired by actor Morgan Freeman's portrayal of God from the movie Bruce Almighty.
Unlike in the deleted fic "Watching Back to the Future", where the narrative summarized every detail of the movies between the character reactions, this story will emphasize George and Lorraine's thoughts while focusing less on the movie details. Hopefully, this way avoids the risk of the story getting taken down.
Next chapter will cover George and Lorraine's reactions to Doc inventing a time machine and Marty's subsequent trip to 1955.