The first draft script is written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.

In it, Marty McFly is an aspiring musician, but also pirates video tapes to make money. Doc Brown is a Professor who works at a University in 1955. The town is a small mid-western town, not California's Hill Valley. The time machine is not a Delorean, but a refrigerator. The climax occurs when the time machine is sent into the future via the power of a nuclear test in the Nevada desert!

NOTE: While this version of the Back to the Future story differs significantly in the detail, most of the story elements are the same. The basic premise - a kid goes back in time, upsets his parents' first meeting, thus threatening his own existence - is already here. But BTTF had a rocky road between now and production. When writers Gale and Zemeckis sent this script around Hollywood, every single production company knocked it back. Every one. Perhaps the premise was too wild for them. It took Steven Spielberg to see the potential of Zemeckis and Gale's vision.

 The third draft is written.

By now, Marty is no longer a video pirate and Professor Brown is now called Doc Brown. Marty still lives in the Mid-West, in a town called Elmdale. Marty meets Doc at the "Three Pines Mall" to see his new invention - a time machine built into a Delorean! The climax still occurs at the nuclear test in Nevada.

 Fourth draft is written.

The details of the script are beginning to resemble the finished film now. Most interesting difference is that when Marty goes back to 1955 (March, not November), Doc hasn't invented time travel yet. He comes up with the idea for the "temporal time capacitor" after he gets hit on the head by a woman when he makes a pass at her during a party at his mansion!

NOTE: A detailed analysis of this draft is available in my article, "Erased from Existence". Read it here.

 First mention of BTTF on Usenet - in the net.movies newsgroup. The message is about the National Association of Theatre Owners' meeting and the studios detailing their production slates for the next 12 months.

Interestingly, the message seems to indicate the film will be produced through Paramount, which must be a mistake - given production started five days later at Universal.

Other films mentioned: Explorers, The Goonies, The Black Cauldron, Legend, Star Trek IV, Day of the Dead and Jewel of the Nile - the sequel to Robert Zemeckis' first box-office success, Romancing the Stone.

The rest of the message is interesting for what didn't come to pass: Paramount was looking to do a live action version of "The Jetsons" with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn; Stephen Spielberg was getting ready to produce an adaption of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman and a new version of Peter Pan; the sequel to Alien (1979) is just called Alien II.

Check it out at Google's Usenet archives here

NOTE: Further exploration of early Usenet discussions of BTTF can be found in my article, "Blast from the Past". Read it here.

 Production begins on Back to the Future, produced by Universal Studios and Amblin. Filmed at Universal Studios, California and on location Pasadena, Burbank and Arleta, California. The high school scenes were shot at Whittier High School, Whittier, California.

NOTE: Production on BTTF began with Eric Stoltz in the role of Marty McFly. Stoltz was dropped after several weeks of shooting because it was decided he was wrong for the role.

 Back to the Future begins its premiere season in the United States

BTTF taglines:

• 17 year old Marty McFly got home early last night. 30 years early.
• He was never in time for his classes... He wasn't in time for his dinner... Then one day... he wasn't in his time at all.
• Meet Marty McFly. He's broken the time barrier. Busted his parents' first date. And, maybe, botched his chances of ever being born.

 Back to the Future is released on video cassette in the United States.

NOTE: 'To Be Continued...' is first seen on the end of the film. It was not on the original theatrical prints.

 First draft screenplay of Part III is written.

Quite a few scenes here are about Doc Brown's life in 1955. He works at the local University as a professor of physics. He is dating a woman named Jill, who likes Jules Verne. There is also a scene where Doc is approached by the Dean of the University and asked to participate in one of three projects: working on the Edsel car, a project called Xerox or the production of a chemical warfare agent, which they promise to name after the Doc - Agent Brown! He refuses to take part in any and Jill, the daughter of the Dean, dumps him because of it.

Several 1885 scenes are also obviously written with Crispin Glover in mind. The original plan was obviously to have him play the McFly ancestor.

Another scene has Doc Brown running into a young version of his mother.

 Back to the Future, Part II is screened at the London Film Festival.

NOTE: While this predates the premiere US theatrical release, it may not have been the World Premiere

 Back to the Future, Part II begins its premiere season in the United States

Part II taglines:

• Getting back was only the beginning.
• Synchronize your watches. The future's coming back...

 Back to the Future, Part III begins its premiere season in the United States and Canada

Part III tagline:

• They've saved the best trip for last... But this time they may have gone too far

 Back to the Future... The Ride opens at Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida.

The story of this ride does not fit well into the universe established of the trilogy, so details of it are not included in the Chronology. It tells the tale of Doc's newly established 'Institute of Future Technology' and chasing Biff Tannen back into the past - as far back as the Ice Age!

 "Back to the Future" (1991) debuts on CBS.

It is an animated series produced by Universal Cartoon Studios in association with Amblin Entertainment. The cast includes David Kaufman as Marty and Dan (Homer Simpson) Castellaneta as Doc Brown. Returning from the films are Mary Steenburgen as Clara Clayton Brown and Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen. Season One was Executive Produced by Bob Gale and directed by Peyton Reed.

This series takes quite a few liberties with the universe as established in the movie trilogy, the biggest of which is the fact that the DeLorean now travels across space & time - to accomodate more story ideas. The details of this series do not appear in the Chronology.

"Back to the Future" season one title & time travel guide:

Next to each title is the time period/place travelled to in that episode.

• Brothers - American Civil War
• A Family Vacation - Medieval Times
• Forward to the Past - Prehistoric Times
  NOTE: The title is obviously a reverse of Back to the Future
• Witchcraft - 1692 - Salem Witch Trials
• Roman Holiday (aka Swing Low Sweet Chariot Race) - Ancient Rome
• Go Fly a Kite - 1700s
• Time Waits for No Frog/Einstein's Adventure - 1100-1500 (?) Incan Civilization/1790 - Sydney, Australia
• Batter Up - 1897
  NOTE: The title is a quote from Part II
• Solar Sailors - 2091
  NOTE: This is the only episode of the series with travel into the future
• Dickens of a Christmas - 1800s London
• Gone Fishing - around Mid-1920s
• Retired - Cro-Magnon Man period
• Clara's Folks - 1850
  NOTE: This is basically the story of BTTF retreaded. Marty upsets Clara's parent's relationship this time

 The second season of "Back to the Future" (1991) , the animated series, debuts on CBS. Bob Gale executive produced and directed the entire second season.

"Back to the Future" season two title & time travel guide:

Next to each title is the time period/place travelled to in that episode.

• Mac the Black - 1500s
• Put On Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It's Time for Mr Wisdom!
  NOTE: No time travel in this episode
• A Friend in Deed - 1800s
• Marty McFly PFC - 1940s
• Verne's New Friend - 1930s
• Bravelord and the Demon Monstrux
  NOTE: No time travel in this episode
• The Money Tree
  NOTE: No time travel in this episode. It is established here that Biff has a son, Biff Jr - the missing generation from the film trilogy
• A Verne By Any Other Name - 1800s
  NOTE: This episode features the birth of Verne in the late 1800s.
• Hill Valley Brown-Out
  NOTE: No time travel in this episode
• My Pop's An Alien - 1967
• Super Doc - 1950s
• St Louis Blues - 1904 World's Fair
• Verne Hatches An Egg - Pre-historic times

 Four Happy Meal toys are released through McDonalds as a tie-in with "Back to the Future" (1991), the animated series.

• April 10, 1992 - Doc's De Lorean
• April 17, 1992 - Marty's Hoverboard
• April 24, 1992 - Verne's Junkmobile
• May 1, 1992 - Einstein's Travelling Train

The De Lorean toy was advertised in stores as dangerous because the wheels could be swallowed by young children. The toy was not recalled, but could be swapped for one of the three other toys

 Fire destroys Hill Valley western sets in Sonora, California. Ironically, lightning was the cause of the fire, which burned some 5,200 acres in that area.

NOTE: A reader with some knowledge of the Sonora area tells me that these sets have not been rebuilt. There has been talk of it, but no one has come up with the money to do anything about it.

UPDATE: A reader from Sonora tells me that there are no plans to rebuild now. All that is left is a fifteen foot section of fence from the stable and the smokestack from the mine. The locomotive engine is now housed (though partly disassembled) at Railtown in Jamestown, California. The blown apart train smokestack from Part III is in the roundhouse yard in Jamestown

 Back to the Future parts I, II and III are released on DVD in Region 1 (North America)

NOTE: The features in Region 1 contain a significant number of extras over and above the sets offered in places like Region 4. Check the specs before deciding on which set to purchase. The packaging and covers also vary.