The Back to the Future movie franchise ended with the third film, but a forgotten sequel explains what Doc Brown was up to after the end of the trilogy. Starting with the release of the eponymous film in 1985, the Back to the Future series is one of the most beloved trilogies in movie history, and is a quintessential part of 1980s popular culture. Mixing time-travel science fiction with excellent comedy, BTTF is a deft mix of genres that feels timeless despite being 40 years old.

The sequels didn’t live up to the high standard set by the original, but they are worthy successors in their own right. One thing the Back to the Future trilogy does better than many other sci-fi franchises is that it pushed the limits of its ideas, and asked “what if” questions. Marty’s jaunt to the 1950s was imaginative and fun, and that same spirit returned when he headed to 2015 and 1885. However, the ending of the third film didn’t give a definitive conclusion to Doc Brown’s story, but a forgotten part of the franchise continued the eccentric scientist’s tale.

Back To The Future: The Ride Showed What Happened To Doc Brown After BTTF 3

The Extinct Theme Park Attraction Was Set After The Third Movie

Universal Studios Orlando opened the first Back to the Future: The Ride in 1991, and the themed attraction is explicitly set after the ending of Back to the Future Part III. The ride is set in the present-day (that being 1991), and shows that Doc Brown has returned to Hill Valley to open the Insтιтute of Future Technology, where he continues to conduct experiments in time-travel. Items scattered throughout the ride’s queue reference the movies, though it’s unclear where Clara or their children are at the time that the ride takes place.

The Back to the Future Trilogy includes:

The main thrust of the ride’s story is that 1955’s Biff Tannen has traveled to the present day, stolen a time machine, and is using it to wreak havoc throughout various points in time. The motion-simulator ride asks the rider to get in their own time machine and track Biff down before he can do too much damage. Doc doesn’t come along on the adventure, but he helps out the riders by ᴀssisting them with tracking the bully. Biff leads the chase to 2015, before heading to the ice age, and finally ending up in the Cretaceous Period.

The ride keeps the Back to the Future timelines straight, and it does so by avoiding the events of the movies in favor of a new story. In the ending of Part III, it’s clear that Doc and Clara have been on adventures and that time has pᴀssed before he stops in to see Marty in 1985. However, it’s unclear if the events of Back to the Future: The Ride have already happened by then. Since Doc re-invented the DeLorean time machine in 1991, it’s ᴀssumed that the events of the ride take place after his final trip to ’85.

In the final scene of BTTF Part III, Doc is asked by Marty if he’s going to travel into the future, and Doc jokingly answers that he’s already been there. This could mean that the events of the ride have already happened, but it could just as easily have been a throwaway joke. The Insтιтute of Future Technology opened in 1991, so Doc would presumably have needed several years to get things together. This means he could have settled down in 1985 with Clara and the kids, and lived the intervening six years.

Does The Universal Studios Ride Change Back To The Future Canon?

The Time Travel In The Ride Is Somewhat Messy

During the pre-show for the ride, Doc Brown mentions that Biff Tannen graduated from Hill Valley High School in 1955. It could be that that detail is merely meant to reintroduce the character, but it could also imply that the Biff who ends up in the present day is from a time after the events of the first movie. The ride intentionally avoids impacting the canon, by leaving Biff’s arc in Back to the Future intact. If Biff from an earlier time traveled to the future, that would have changed the events of Marty’s trip to 1955.

Nothing about the ride explicitly changes any canonical events from the trilogy, though the full impact of Biff’s unsanctioned trips through time is unknown. With the alternate timeline averted in Back to the Future Part II, Biff doesn’t grow up to be wealthy. However, it’s unclear what his trip to 1991 will do for his future when he returns to the 1950s. He isn’t shown to have knowledge of time travel in 1985 in the new timeline, but what he learns during the events of Back to the Future: The Ride could impact his trajectory and alter the future.