Emmett Lathrop Brown, Ph.D., commonly referred to as Doc Brown, is a fictional scientist

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in the ''Back to the Future'' franchise. In the world of the franchise, he is the inventor of the world's first and second time machines, the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

(counting in order of his personal chronology) constructed using a 1981 DeLorean sports car, and the second constructed using a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

locomotive. The character is portrayed by

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

in all three films, as well as in the live action sequences of the

animated series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

. He is voiced by

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

in the animated series. The character's appearance and mannerisms are loosely inspired by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appearan ...

and

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

.Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale Q&A, ''Back to the Future'' 002 DVD recorded at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

In 2008, Dr. Emmett Brown was selected by ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' magazine as one of ''The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time'', ranking at #20.

Fictional biography

He appears to possess great admiration for scientists from previous eras, naming successive pet dogs

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formula ...

and

Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

, and having portraits of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a m ...

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...

and

in his laboratory. His favorite author is

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...

and his family name was originally "von Braun" prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Emmett's family moved to Hill Valley from Germany in 1908. Although initially

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

y because of his inheritance, he spent his entire family fortune on his time travel project. When the Brown mansion was destroyed by fire in 1962 and the property sold to developers, Doc subsequently resided in the mansion's garage. Once broke, he established a privately owned business to offer 24-hour scientific services, building ingenious devices for his customers. Emmett's work appears to be highly regarded, enough for him to win an award for his work. However, he is shown as absent-minded at times, and various statements by other characters inhabiting Hill Valley indicate that he is generally regarded as strange, eccentric, or

insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

due to him conducting dangerous experiments and crafting devices believed impossible to construct in reality. Being very loud and sprightly, he often speaks with wide-eyed expressions and broad gestures ("

Great Scott! "Great Scott!" is an interjection of surprise, amazement, or dismay. It is a distinctive but inoffensive exclamation, popular in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, and now considered dated. It originated as a minc ...

" being one of his well-known catchphrases) and tends to be overly verbose in his delivery, referring in one case to a school dance as a "rhythmic ceremonial ritual". Doc and Marty met when the latter was 14, several years prior to the events of the first time travel experiment. Marty, out of curiosity, sneaked into Doc's lab after being warned by his parents to stay away from him. Happy to be revered as 'cool', Doc hired Marty as his part-time lab assistant. In the original timeline, in contrast with Marty's

shy Shyness (also called diffidence) is the feeling of fear, apprehension, discomfort, lack of comfort, or awkwardness especially when a person is around other people. This commonly occurs in new situations or with unfamiliar people; a shy person ...

and unassertive father, George McFly, Doc is a supportive and open-minded mentor for Marty. Doc's positive influence in turn allows Marty to mentor George in 1955, which appears to encourage George's later success as a novelist, and help him become a better husband and father. One line in particular, "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," originates from Doc. Marty repeats it to George in 1955, who repeats it back to Marty in the post time travel 1985. Doc has been involved with illegal and criminal enterprises (albeit as a means to obtain items for his inventions he could not purchase legally) but he is

naive Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' ma ...

and care-free about the consequences of his actions. He excitedly tells Marty how he cheated

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

out of stolen

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhib ...

: "They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and, in turn, gave them a shoddy bomb casing full of used

pinball machine Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

parts!" Despite being intelligent and logical for the most part, Doc is somewhat naive at times about the unknown possible uses of his time machine, initially actively explores the course of the world's future and tries to alter the past or future of the principal characters to improve their lives. However, events lead him to conclude that time travel is too dangerous for mankind. His conviction initially strengthened when he realizes that he has unwittingly altered history by preventing the death of

Clara Clayton The ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy and subsequent animated series feature characters created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The lead character of the series is Marty McFly. During the course of the trilogy, he travels through time usin ...

in 1885; he concludes that the time machine has "caused nothing but disaster" and asks Marty to destroy it once he returns to his own time. Nonetheless, Doc pursues a romantic relationship with Clara despite the risks of further disrupting the timeline. However, after having been left behind in 1885 when Marty departs in the DeLorean for 1985, Doc starts a family with Clara; the couple have two sons, Jules and Verne. He eventually builds another time machine out of a steam locomotive, completed it on September 1893, and the Browns return to 1985 in order to pick up Einstein and meet with Marty again before setting out for another adventure. Lloyd reprised the role of Doc Brown in the 2015 direct-to-video short film '' Doc Brown Saves the World'', which reveals that he has returned to his time at some point after the events of ''

Back to the Future Part III ''Back to the Future Part III'' is a 1990 American science fiction Western film and the final installment of the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary St ...

'' and erased the future witnessed in ''

Back to the Future Part II ''Back to the Future Part II'' is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale and a story by both. It is the sequel to the 1985 film '' Back to the Future'' and the second installment in the ...

'' as the various inventions of that time led to mass obesity and Griff Tannen triggering a

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scen ...

Other ''Back to the Future'' appearances

* '' Back to the Future: The Animated Series'', a sequel to the film trilogy, features

as the voice of Doc Brown, with

appearing in live-action segments. * Lloyd filmed new material for '' Back to the Future the Ride'', directed by

Douglas Trumbull Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters ...

. The ride serves as a sequel to the films, following Doc Brown and his founding of the 'Institute of Future Technology'. He invites tourists to embark on a time-traveling adventure in his newly made eight-passenger DeLorean. The ride was included on the first film's 2009 DVD re-release and on the trilogy's 2010 Blu-ray set. * Doc Brown appeared in the ''Back to the Future'' comic series published by

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...

, which detailed further adventures of the animated series. * Lloyd voiced Doc Brown in '' Back to the Future: The Game'', developed by

Telltale Games Telltale Incorporated (trade name: Telltale Games) was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following ...

as a sequel to the film series. * Doc Brown appeared in the ''Back to the Future'' comic series published by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

, which detailed Doc's and Marty's adventures before and after the events depicted in the films. * In February 2020 a stage musical adaptation of the first film premiered at the

Manchester Opera House The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England, is a 1,920-seater commercial touring theatre that plays host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is a Grade II listed building. The Opera House is one of the m ...

in the UK, starring

Roger Bart Roger Bart (born September 29, 1962) is an American actor and singer. He won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Snoopy in the 1999 revival of ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''. Bart received his second Tony Award no ...

in the role of Doc Brown. The production was forced to close early due to the shutting down of performance venues at the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, but was revived for a

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

run at the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

from August 2021, with Bart reprising the Doc Brown role.

Name

The character's family name is similar to German rocket engineer

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

until his family changed it to ''Brown'' during WW1. ''Emmett'' or ''Emit'' spelled slightly differently is the backward spelling of ''time''. His second name, ''Lathrop'', roughly spells ''portal'' backwards.

Other appearances

* Lloyd appeared as Doc Brown in the 1990

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

program '' The Earth Day Special''. * Lloyd voices an animated Doc Brown as a cameo in ''The Simpsons'' Ride, in a reference to the closure of the ''Back to the Future'' ride. * Lloyd voices Doc Brown in the ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writer ...

'' episodes " Casablankman 2" and " Eaten by Cats". * Doc Brown appeared in the

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

show, '' Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure'' giving Bill and Ted a ride back to the future due to Ted misplacing their own time machine. * Lloyd voices an animated

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

Doc Brown in a 2011 episode of Element Animation's ''The Crack!'', "The Epic Adventure", mistaking an egg named Jason for Marty and bringing him back in time, where they meet a younger Jason. * Lloyd made a cameo appearance as Doc Brown in the 2014 film ''

A Million Ways to Die in the West ''A Million Ways to Die in the West'' is a 2014 American Western dark comedy film directed by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. The film features an ensemble cast including MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Am ...

'', where the protagonist sees him covertly working on the DeLorean in a barn. * Lloyd voiced Doc Brown in the 2015 video game ''

Lego Dimensions ''Lego Dimensions'' is a Lego-themed action-adventure platform crossover video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One and Xbox 360. I ...

'', as well as playing the character in a live-action advertisement for the game. * Doc Brown and Marty appeared on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's l ...

'' on the October 21, 2015 show, set on the day that the characters traveled to in ''Part II''. * Lloyd played himself portraying Doc Brown in the 2016

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a re ...

satire film '' Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie''. * A

Lego minifigure A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced worldwid ...

of Emmett Brown appears in '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'' when Rex Dangervest conjures up various Time Machine parts to create his own, including the DeLorean. * Christopher appeared as Doc Brown in the

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

original,

Expedition Unknown ''Expedition Unknown'' is an American reality television series produced by Ping Pong Productions, that follows explorer and television presenter Josh Gates as he investigates mysteries and legends. The series premiered on January 8, 2015 and o ...

show, Expedition: Back to the Future released on March 15, 2021.

Influence

Rick Sanchez of the American animated series ''

Rick and Morty , creator = Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon , developer = , voices = {{plainlist, * Justin Roiland * Chris Parnell * Spencer Grammer * Sarah Chalke * Kari Wahlgren , composer = Ryan Elder , count ...

'' (voiced by Justin Roiland) began as a parody of Doc Brown; in September 2021, Christopher Lloyd portrayed Sanchez himself in a series of promotional interstitials for the series' two-part fifth season finale, alongside Jaeden Martell as

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, Sr. is one of the eponymous characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former, Morty is a 14-year-old boy loosely i ...

(also voiced by Roiland in the series), a character inspired by

Marty McFly Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Back to the Future'' franchise. He is portrayed by Canadian actor Michael J. Fox in all three films. McFly also appears in the animated series, where he was voice ...

. Addressing Roiland's and his own portrayals of Rick compared to Doc Brown, Christopher Lloyd stated "that he felt like Doc and Rick were like two brothers that took different paths."

References

External links

Emmett Brown
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Dr Emmett Doc category:film characters introduced in 1985 category:Back to the Future (franchise) category:fictional German American people category:fictional engineers category:fictional physicists category:fictional inventors category:fictional mad scientists category:fictional characters from California category:fictional smiths category:fictional California Institute of Technology people category:time travelers