Clara Clayton Rescue

Lore & Background

While inspecting a rail spur, Doc saves Clara Clayton from falling into the ravine, averting her death from the original timeline. They fall in love. Later, at a town festival, Buford tries shooting Doc, but after Marty intervenes, Buford challenges him to a showdown in two days by calling him 'yellow'. Doc urges Marty not to react to provocation, letting slip that Marty has a life changing accident in the future. Although reluctant to return to 1985, Doc visits Clara to end their relationship and bid her goodbye. She dismisses his story about being from the future. On the train to San Francisco, Clara learns of Doc's heartbreak and runs back to town. She finds the model time machine at his shop and realizes Doc was telling the truth. Doc and Marty use a locomotive to push the DeLorean along the spur line. Clara boards the locomotive and loses her footing. Marty, in the DeLorean, passes his hoverboard to Doc, who uses it to save Clara. The DeLorean hits 88 mph and vanishes as the locomotive plunges from the unfinished bridge.

In Their Own Story

On the train to San Francisco, Clara learns of Doc's heartbreak and runs back to town. She finds the model time machine at his shop and realizes Doc was telling the truth. Doc and Marty use the locomotive to push the DeLorean along the spur line. Clara boards the locomotive and loses her footing. Marty, in the DeLorean, passes his hoverboard to Doc, who uses it to save Clara. The DeLorean hits 88 mph and vanishes as the locomotive plunges from the unfinished bridge.

Reader's Guide

When Marty returns to 1985, he discovers a transformed timeline where the Tannen family line has been altered for the better, and Doc lives happily with his wife and children in Hill Valley—proof that courage and love can indeed rewrite destiny.

Did You Know?

• The role of Clara Clayton was written with Mary Steenburgen in mind; she was reluctant to commit until her children, who loved the first film, 'hounded' her.
• The Hill Valley Festival Dance scene proved dangerous for Lloyd and Steenburgen; overzealous dancing left Steenburgen with a torn ligament in her foot.
• Doc and Clara's sons are named Jules and Verne Brown, played by Todd Cameron Brown and Dannel Evans.
• Clara Clayton was the town's new schoolteacher in 1885 Hill Valley.