McFly family

For the English band, see McFly

The McFly family is a fictional family found in the Back to the Future series of films. It includes both the ancestors and descendants of the series' central character, Marty McFly. Throughout the trilogy of films, viewers are introduced to a total of 9 McFly family members spanning 6 generations, 7 Baines family members spanning 2 generations, and one Parker family member.

Michael J. Fox plays a total of four McFly family members. He plays Marty McFly, both of Marty's children, and Marty's great-great-grandfather Seamus McFly. Fox also posed for a picture of the adult William McFly, which was found by Doc and Marty in 1955. This leads to a subtle joke in the movie: as Marty looks at the picture, he comments that William is a "good looking guy". Lea Thompson also plays two family members, Lorraine Baines and Maggie McFly, even though there is no family link between the two characters. On the other hand, some characters had to be recast and were played by several actors. George McFly is played by both Crispin Glover and Jeffrey Weissman, while Jennifer Parker is played by both Claudia Wells and Elisabeth Shue.

Movies
Marty's immediate family, his parents George and Lorraine, his brother Dave and his sister Linda , all appeared in the beginning and end of Back to the Future, and made brief appearances at the end of Back to the Future Part III. Although they never appear in the movie, George McFly's parents are mentioned in the novelization of Back to the Future. Jennifer Parker, Marty's girlfriend, appears in all three movies , and their children Marlene and Marty Jr. are encountered in Back to the Future Part II. Marty meets his ancestors Seamus and Maggie McFly in Back to the Future Part III. They introduce him to their newborn son William, who Marty calls his "great-grandfather". In another scene, Seamus and Maggie also told Marty about Seamus' brother Martin McFly, who was killed a few years before the setting of the movie.

Lorraine's parents and siblings are all encountered during a family dinner scene in 1955 in Back to the Future. Stella Baines was pregnant at that point in the movie, leading to the "unknown" in the family tree.

Family tree
The McFly family tree, including all family members mentioned in the movies, can thus be drawn as such:

Draft scripts
The first drafts of the screenplay for Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II offer a different vision of the McFly family. In the original script of the first movie, Marty is the only child seen at home, but the script mentions "an older brother no longer living at home" Marty's parents are roughly the same characters, but with different names: Marty's mother is Eileen McFly, and Marty's father is George M. McFly instead of George Douglas McFly. Marty's middle name also went through some changes. Indeed, the character of Seamus McFly, after whom Marty is named, was absent from the early draft of Back to the Future Part II. Instead, Marty's full name was "Martin Hopkins McFly", after the Mark Hopkins Hotel which played an important role in the original script of Back to the Future Part II. Finally, Marty and Jennifer's children in 2015 originally had different names, Norman and Doris. These names were meant to be weird and laughable, to shock the characters and to illustrate how bleak the future was for Marty and Jennifer.

The early scripts also give some extra insight into the Parker and Baines families. A scene in 1967 in the draft of Back to the Future Part II shows how the family has changed since Marty visited them in 1955. Most notably, it includes a new, 11-year-old Baines child called Ellen. For her part, the character of Jennifer Parker was originally called Suzy, and though her family is never seen, in the script of Back to the Future Part II she mentions that her grandfather is called Norman &mdash; the inspiration for her future son's original name.

Finally, a draft script for Back to the Future Part III shows Seamus McFly unmarried in 1888, though he and a bar girl (who closely resembles Lorraine) are seen flirting.

Animated series
Back to the Future: The Animated Series featured several members of the McFly family that were not part of the movies. However, the canonicity of these family members, much like the rest of this series, is debated.

Chronologically speaking, the first known members of the McFly family are Harold and Jennivere McFly, who were seen in the episode "A Family Vacation". The episode depicts them living in Medieval Britain, though at the end Harold decides to move to Ireland, the nation of origin of Seamus McFly in Back to the Future Part III. Another McFly ancestor, according to the episode "Batter Up", is 1897 baseball player Pee Wee McFly, although his relationship to contemporary Seamus and Maggie McFly is never made clear. Finally, a direct descendant to Marty was encountered in the episode "Solar Sailors". It is Marty's great-granddaughter, starship mogul Captain Marta McFly.

Joey Baines
Joey "Jailbird" Baines (born 1954) is the youngest brother of Lorraine Baines McFly. He is the subject of a small running gag in the trilogy. In the beginning of the first movie, he is in prison, and failed to make parole. When Marty visits 1955, he finds that Joey, as a baby, enjoyed being in his prison-like playpen so much that he cried whenever someone tried to take him out. In the alternate 1985 of Back to the Future Part II, despite the world having been turned upside-down, Joey is still in prison. And an early script of Back to the Future Part II showed that Joey, in his early teens in 1967, enjoyed locking himself in his room and eating nothing but bread and water. Joey's ultimate fate at the end of the trilogy is unknown.

Toby Baines
Toby Baines (born 1949) is Lorraine's younger brother. He is briefly introduced in Back to the Future, and does not appear in the sequels. The character was more fleshed out, however, in an early draft of Back to the Future Part II. That version of the story depicted Toby in 1967, as a young man about to turn 18 and looking forward to participating in the Vietnam War. At that time, Toby's mother wanted him to go to college, but his father dismissed the idea on account of Toby's low grades.

Arthur McFly
Arthur McFly is the father of George McFly, and Marty's assumed grandfather. He only appears in the novelization of Back to the Future.

Dave McFly
David "Dave" McFly (born December 15, 1963) (played by Marc McClure ) is the first-born child of George and Lorraine McFly, and is the brother of Marty McFly. At the beginning of the trilogy, Dave is seen wearing a Burger King uniform, and he mentions that he has to take the bus to work. At the end of the first movie, following Marty's tampering with 1955, Dave has become an office worker, and wears a suit to work. Dave is not seen in the alternate 1985 of Back to the Future Part II, but is included in the deleted scenes, but the dialogue mentions that he is on probation, and that Biff can have his probation revoked at any time. Dave does appear in a deleted scene from that movie, as a drunken homeless person in Courthouse Square. Finally, Dave makes a brief appearance at the end of Back to the Future Part III. He is once again wearing his office-worker suit.

Harold McFly
Harold McFly is an ancestor of Marty who appears in the Animated Series episode "A Family Vacation". He is a peasant in Medieval England, whose lady love Jennivere has been kidnapped by the evil Lord Biffingham. He teams up with Jules and Vernes, whose parents have also been kidnapped, to attempt a rescue, but the plan back-fires and all three, along with Doc, are to be beheaded. Fortunately, Clara and Jennivere come to their rescue. By the end of the episode, Harold and Jennivere decide to move to Ireland together.

Jennivere McFly
Jennivere McFly is an ancestor of Marty who appears in the Animated Series episode "A Family Vacation". She lives in Medieval England with her husband Harold. She was kidnapped by the evil Lord Biffingham, but along with Clara Brown, she managed to escape and to save her husband and Clara's family. At the end of the episode, she and Harold decide to move to Ireland together.

Linda McFly
Linda McFly (born July 3, 1964) (played by Wendie Jo Sperber ) is the middle child and only daughter of George and Lorraine McFly, and Marty McFly's sister. She is introduced at the beginning of Back to the Future, where she appears unattractive and complains that she cannot find a boyfriend. After Marty's trip in 1955, her situation is shown to have improved. At the end of the first movie, she is described as a lot more attractive, and she had several boyfriends. In the alternate 1985 of Back to the Future Part II, Linda is heavily in debt from her credit cards, and relies on Biff to pay them off. Linda is never seen in the alternate timeline, as Wendie Jo Sperber was pregnant at the time, but in the commentary for Back to the Future Part II Bob Gale suggested that had she appeared, she would probably have been a hooker. Finally, Linda is briefly seen again at the end of Back to the Future Part III. Based on her appearance, she seems to have returned to the same state as at the end of the first movie.

Marlene McFly
Marlene McFly (played by Michael J. Fox ) is the daughter of Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker. In an early version of the script of Back to the Future Part II, she was instead called Doris and was Marty Jr.'s twin sister.

Before Marty changed the future in Back to the Future Part II, Marlene tried to break her brother out of jail. She was caught, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After Marty's intervention in 2015, this history was erased. Marlene's status in the new timeline is unknown.

Marta McFly
Marta McFly is Marty's great-granddaughter in the Animated Series episode "Solar Sailors". According to that episode, she is the captain of the solar sail ship MSC Jennifer in the year 2091. Her ship was sabotaged by Griff's grandson Ziff Tannen, but with Doc and Clara's help she repairs it and returns to Earth safely.

She is also the head of the McFly Space Cruises company, which own the MSC Jennifer and presumably the McFly Space Center from which the ship departed. She hired an impersonator of her great-grandfather Marty to perform his music on her cruise ship.

Martin McFly
Martin McFly was the brother of Seamus McFly. He is never seen on-screen, on account of having died some time prior to Back to the Future Part III. Much like Marty, Martin lost control when people called him a coward, and often ended up in fights as a result. It was in one of these fights in Virginia City that Martin was stabbed with a bowie knife and killed.

Marty McFly, Jr.
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Jr.(Born April 28, 1998) (played by Michael J. Fox ) is the son of Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker McFly. In 2015, Marty Jr. is 17 years old, and looks almost identical to his father, save for his brown eyes, compared to Marty's blue. In an early version of the script of Back to the Future Part II, he was instead called Norman, after Jennifer's grandfather.

Before Marty changed the future in Back to the Future Part II, Griff pressured Marty Jr. to participate in a crime. Unfortunately, Marty Jr. was caught and sentenced to 15 years in prison. His sister Marlene tried to break him out, but was also caught and sentenced to 20 years.

Following Marty's intervention in Back to the Future Part II, Griff and his gang were arrested, and the crime never took place. Marty Jr.'s fate in the new timeline is unknown.

Pee Wee McFly
Pee Wee (Percy) McFly is an ancestor of Marty who appeared in the Animated Series episode "Batter Up". In 1897, he was a pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters baseball team. He was pressured by gangster Diamond Jim Tannen to lose a game, but Marty stepped in to help him win and to get Tannen arrested.

Sylvia McFly
Sylvia McFly is the mother of George McFly. She only appears in the novelization of Back to the Future.