Back to the Future: The Animated Series: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

An animated series based on the movie of the same name. Marty, Doc Brown, Jules and Verne travel through time in the Doctor's modified DeLorean, bouncing from one era to the next where a different adventure awaits them each time. Between shows there are live-action segments featuring Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown with Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Following the conclusion of the third movie, Doc Brown settled in 1991 in Hill Valley with his new wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne, and the family dog, Einstein. As with the films, time travel was achieved through the use of a modified DeLorean, which had apparently been re-built after it was destroyed at the end of the trilogy The DeLorean now has voice-activated "time circuits" and can also travel instantaneously to different locations in space and time, in addition to folding into a suitcase. The characters also travelled through time using the steam engine time machine Doc invented at the end of Back to the Future Part III.

Although Jennifer Parker made occasional appearances, the show focused primarily on Marty and the Brown family, whereas the movies focused on the McFly family. The film's villain, Biff Tannen, also appeared from time to time. In addition, relatives of both the McFly and Tannen families were plentiful in the past or future parallel time zones visited. Unlike the films, which took place entirely in Hill Valley and the surrounding area, the series frequently took the characters to exotic locations.

At the end of every episode, Doc Brown would appear to do an experiment, often related to the episode's plot. The first season also included post-credits segments with Biff Tannen telling a joke related to the episode, possibly alluding to Thomas F. Wilson's career as a stand-up comedian.

Series details

• Title: Back to the Future: The Animated Series
• Format: Animation
• Language: English
• Genres: Adventure, Children, Science-Fiction
• Premiere date: 1991-09-14
• Final broadcast date listed: 1992-12-26
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: CBS
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 6.5/10
• TVMaze ID: 7896
• IMDb ID: tt0101042
• TVDB ID: 75880

Cast and credited roles

• Dan Castellaneta — Dr. Emmett L. Brown
• Bill Nye — Bill Nye
• David Kaufman — Marty McFly
• Thomas F. Wilson — Biff Tannen
• Christopher Lloyd — Dr. Emmett L. Brown
• Danny Mann — Einstein
• Hal Rayle — Einstein
• Mary Steenburgen — Clara Clayton Brown
• Josh Keaton — Jules Erastosthenes Brown
• Troy Davidson — Verne Newton Brown
• Catherine Cavadini — Jennifer Parker

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1991-09-14; final listed air date 1991-12-14; episode order: 13.
• Season 2: premiered 1992-09-19; final listed air date 1992-12-26; episode order: 13.

Source and licence

Adapted from Back to the Future: The Animated Series on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.