Back to the Future is famously among the most fun-filled sci-fi adventure series of all time, unless you watch in a certain order, where its tragic undertones start to reveal themselves. While viewers look back nostalgically on the wild legacy of Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly, this time-travel story becomes much darker when viewed in a certain light.

Coming from director Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future stands as a legendary trilogy that’s beloved by viewers of all ages and generations. What started with Marty traveling to the year 1955 to save his friend Doc from certain death grew into a multi-era-spanning adventure that brought them to the Wild West as well as the future.

Rewatching Back To The Future In Chronological Order Makes It A Tragedy

As viewers, we experience the Back to the Future franchise from Marty’s perspective, but when it’s viewed from a chronological point of view, the story plays out very differently. If we instead start with Marty arriving in the Wild West in 1885 in Part III and end in the futuristic year of 2015 in Part II, things become truly tragic.

From a chronological point of view, Marty’s arrival in the middle of a cavalry pursuit of Native Americans on the American frontier starts chaotically and becomes terrifying as he’s quickly pursued by a bear. From there, Marty is confronted with his own great-great-grandfather Seamus, an unnatural encounter as he converses with long-ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ancestors he was never supposed to meet.

While Marty has some positive moments throughout the franchise, in a strictly chronological sense things don’t end well for him, as Part II’s 2015 scenes become the final moments of his story. This sees an older Marty living with the consequences of a dire street racing accident that derailed his life and doomed his future.

Rather than remaining the optimistic character we came to love throughout Back to the Future, the oldest version of Marty we meet was humiliated at work after his co-worker goaded him into a shady business deal. This version of Marty also witnessed his son being arrested and the McFly family legacy destroyed for committing a robbery with Biff’s grandson, Griff.

Back To The Future In Timeline Order Creates A Different Protagonist

When watching Back to the Future in the order of its chronological timeline, Marty and Doc are no longer the protagonists, and the main character becomes Hill Valley itself. Rather than follow the duo’s journey across time, this franchise turns into the story of a location throughout the years where Marty and Doc pop up at different points.

Rather than view Marty and Doc in heroic terms, watching Back to the Future in this way, they become terrifying enтιтies who show no respect for the natural order of things. As two unwieldy and chaotic time travelers, Marty and Doc continually shift the fate of Hill Valley’s residents, alter lives, erase history, and force unintended consequences that span generations.