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part III... |
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Picking up with the analysis of Paradox from where we left off...
The script is in transition now. While this version of the Paradox script is dated December 19, 1988 - the first page of what would become Back to the Future, Part III was updated a month later. In the meantime, two seperate drafts for Parts II and III were being compiled. Confused? That makes all of us.
This revised version of Paradox is definitely in flux. The matchbook from "Biff's Pleasure Paradise" and the "George McFly Honored" newspaper have already returned to normal, just where we expect them to - before Marty is approached by the Western Union guy. But they also change in the first scene of what would become Part III - in Doc's house, after Marty has taken him home. Obviously this is a holdover from an early version of the script which still functioned as one long film. The final amendments have yet to be made to the script. In fact, they won't be made until February 2nd.
Note: Discussion of this script becomes more complex when trying to pin down an accurate history of when the changes were made versus when the script was split in two. Part III probably went through more changes from first draft to screen than any of the other two films - barring the original's 1981 draft. There are many scenes missing in this version of Paradox that would eventually be added in a separate draft at the end of January 1989. The final production draft of Part III would not appear until July 6, 1989 - after Part II was shot.
"Push it with a steam locomotive? Brilliant!"
The letter Doc has written to Marty in 1885 is much more detailed in this draft. It sets up all the events for the remainder of the story, which would have destroyed many of the surprises in the film itself. Doc has already tried to push the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour by the use of a steam train, but couldn't travel into the future because of the destroyed "destination time circuit microchip." He's enclosed instructions about how to fix the buried DeLorean so that Marty can get home.
Doc also writes that he has met a wonderful woman named Clara and he's considering settling down with her! This, combined with the fact that his Uncle Abraham always thought "young Emmett belongs in the fresh air and wide open space; not in a school room," has led to Doc's decision to stay in 1885.
As you can see, two major plot points are revealed very early on, leaving very little to happen once Marty decides to ignore Doc's wishes and return to 1885 - to take him back to the future. In fact, this draft of the script allots only 60 pages to the story of Part III - barely an hour of screen time.
One other thing, during his reminiscences about his uncle, Doc talks about his love for Jules Verne. In fact, reading the author's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" turned young Emmett on to science. Being such an important influence in his life, Doc thinks he really should put Jules' portrait up with Tom, Ben, Isaac and Albert! Doc's love of Jules Verne is only established in the draft so it can be payed off at the end by the revelation of his children's names. It forms no part of his relationship with Clara here.
Before returning to 1885, there are two things that should be mentioned. Firstly, there is no indication what the L in ELB stands for. (And no mention of the inspiration for the scratched initials coming from "Journey to the Centre of the Earth.") It is most likely that the name Lathrop was dropped from an early draft. Or that Gale knew this tidbit of information so well that he neglected to include it.
Note: Another version of the Part III script, a later draft most likely, includes Doc Brown meeting a young version of his mother back in the old west. Her maiden name was Lathrop, which officially became his middle name in "Back to the Future: The Animated Series."
Secondly, Marty does not tell Doc about the tombstone he found at Oak Park cemetery and changes the time circuits to disappear back in time, without the 1955 version of Doc knowing!
...a STAMPEDE of CATTLE, COMING RIGHT AT MARTY!
After vanishing from 1955 outside the Lyons' estate billboard (as opposed to the drive-in theater of the film), Marty nearly crashes into a herd of bulls. Then he leaves the DeLorean there (without hiding it or anything) and begins to walk into town. He passes a hand-painted sign that reads: "Hill Valley 2 Miles." There would, of course, be a similar sign there in 1955.
Once Marty makes it into town, it is described as "[bearing] a little resemblance to the town Marty's familiar with. The town is built around a grassy square, where a flagpole flies the stars and stripes (38 stars)." The sign on the Marshall's door reads "CLOSED. GONE FISHING," not "Gone to Haysville for the Hanging of Stinky Lomax," as in the final film. It continues to make me wonder whether Stinky Lomax is a reference to someone or something, as it seems a strange change to make otherwise.
The first encounter with Biff's 1885 ancestor is more proof of a script in a constant state of change. Here, in Scene 511, he is refered to as Buford "Black Biff" Tannen, whereas back in Scene 211 (where Marty watches the video outside Biff's Pleasure Paradise), his name has been changed to "Mad Dog."
Marty has not met his own ancestors yet, so he walks into town dressed ready to return to 1985. Of course, with the changes to the script, Marty is dressed like "Clint Eastwood" in the final film.
The script continues on in a similar fashion to the film, until Doc confronts Tannen and his three cronies "Stubble, Ceegar and Buck." Note: Like "Black Biff" becomes "Mad Dog," his cronies' names also change. At different stages of script development they are refered to as Toothless, Eyepatch and Moustache.
Doc appears with "a WINCHESTER repeater modified with a TELESCOPIC SIGHT that looks like something out of Jules Verne." All three of Tannen's cronies pull their guns on Doc, though the over-confident Tannen doesn't.
Suddenly Clara appears, making it three against two. She steps up with an intimidating weapon: "4 SAWED OFF SHOTGUN BARRELS mounted in a fan-shaped arrangement in a yoke on a 4-trigger stock." Her description is also interesting: "Clara looks like a school teacher, with a quirkiness that makes her instantly likeable." Her first words? "Of course, I've got 4 barrels loaded with double-aught buck, nails, broken glass, and shiny new dimes. That means, if I can see it, I can hit it. Invented by Emmett Brown for Home Defense and Security. He calls it "The Terminator." Would you care for a demonstration?"
All of this adds up to a more interesting portrait of Clara than made it into the final film. Here she is a force to be reckoned with and her relationship with Doc is already strong. In the version of Part III that was made she is simply Doc's love interest and is less interesting for it. There is a twist at the end of the scene as scripted, though. The gun Clara was carrying wasn't actually loaded (she doesn't know how), though she bluffed pretty well, causing "Black Biff" and his men to ride off.
"...a wagon for Farmer Peabody."
Marty, who passed out after nearly being hung, wakes up in Doc's workshop, which is "lit by Fat Lamps, contains tools, anvils, a forge and workbench. There are also various inventions that Doc has concoted to modernize his surroundings: wooden gutters for indoor plumbing, a steam operated toilet, and a pulley system to open windows and control ventilation." Doc, however, is not there when Marty comes around. He's off "delivering a wagon he repaired for Farmer Peabody," which is a nice throwaway line, but is no great loss.
This leaves Marty and Clara to interact in a way that they are never able in the finished film. The scene is short, but reveals how little Clara actually knows about the Doc. She has been told that Marty is from a strange far away place, so from the way he's dressed, Clara has decided he must be from San Francisco! She also talks about her teaching and the fact that Doc helps out with science lessons.
Doc tells Marty that he wants to ask Clara to marry him because she is thinking of moving back east. This is when Marty reveals to Doc that he will be shot on Friday. They go straight to work - trying to figure out how to push the DeLorean up to 88 miles an hour! Obviously Bob Gale has already decided against Doc having already tried the train idea - and given that, these scenes were re-written in January of 1989.
Doc already has a train set that he thinks of as a hobby and that the local kids like. The explanation of how the plan will work reads exactly how it plays in the film, though the name of the Ravine is never mentioned and they never visit the incomplete bridge. In this draft it is mentioned that these tracks go straight by Hill Valley airport in 1985.
Clara decides to stay in town - because the kids (her students) need her, she wants to be with Emmett and she wants to go to the barn dance on Saturday night! This concerns Doc, making his decision to return to the future much harder. But, as in the film, he decides to tell her the truth. The following scenes are the same in this script as they are in the final film, though there is no scene at the dance.
"Tell you what, dude. I'm only leavin' one bullet in my gun."
Scenes beyond here are similar until Tannen tries to call Marty out for the showdown. It is here that Marty meets Seamus which the script says "bears a striking resemblance to (George or Marty)." Obviously this was originally written before the decision was made to cut down the role of "George" in the sequels. Marty says he knows Seamus, "you started the whole family." Seamus informs him that he's not married, but Seamus does look over to the bar girl, who the scripts says "looks quite a bit like Lorraine." Introducing her at this point robs the viewer of a third, "Mom, is that you?" scene, though that would have been unecessary had the script been produced as a single film as was originally intended.
The showdown plays out almost the same as the film, with Marty using the door from a pot-bellied stove as armor. In addition to this though, a young boy runs up to Marty and asks him where he got the idea to use the "armor." Marty responds - from a Clint Eastwood movie. The boy asks what a movie is and Marty tells him he'll find out. It's a nice scene that harkens back to the "what's a re-run scene" in the first Back to the Future film. The boy's name is also a nod to cinema history - that of pioneering American filmmaker, D.W. Griffith. See his Internet Movie Database entry here
The rest of the script through the climax and the denoument plays out almost word-for-word to what appears on screen. It looks like the ending was decided on very early in writing the piece and with such a solid wrap-up to the trilogy and the film Paradox, there was no need to change it.
ERASED FROM EXISTENCE, PART III was originally written for BTTF.com and first published on April 25, 2000. Revised in November 2002.
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