Bob Gale - Back to the Future - 3

Marty: What about the locomotive?

Doc grins.

Doc: It'll be a spectacular wreck. Too bad no one will be around to see it.

Clara: (o.s) Argh! Help me!

Doc turns to where the sound is to see a woman, Clara Clayton (who was at the station earlier) in the distance riding on a buckboard with out of control horses. They are heading for the edge of Shonash Ravine.

Doc: Great Scott! (to horses) Git!

Marty: (to his horse) Hiyah!

Doc catches up to Clara and manages to shout to her.

Doc: Jump!

She jumps off into Doc's arms just in time. The horses veer left at the end of the ravine, the wagon breaks off and falls down the ravine.

Doc: (to his own horse) Whoa.

Clara's hat sits on her head and covers her face.

Clara: Oh, thank you, sir, you saved my...

Clara lifts her hat and we (and Doc) see her face for the first time. Clara looks at Doc and can't speak for a moment.

Clara: ...life.

Doc stares back and his eyes grow wide. We get the felling both have fallen instantly in love with each other - love at first sight.

Doc: Emmett Brown, at your service, Miss...

Clara: Um...um...Clayton. Clara Clayton.

Cut to Marty. He gets the photo out of his pocket and looks at it, then to Doc and Clara.

Doc: Clara. (pause) What a beautiful name.

Cut to a about half an hour later. Everyone is riding to Clara's cabin. Clara is on one of the horses that took her to the ravine, supplies are on the other one. Marty and the supply horse ride a bit behind Doc and Clara. When they reach the cabin, Doc and Marty take the supplies and put them on the porch.

Doc: May I help you inside with these?

Clara: Oh no, that won't be necessary. You've done more than enough already.

Doc: But it's really no trouble.

Marty: Doc, she says it's fine, and we gotta get going. (to Clara) Ma'am, good luck with the school teaching and everything.

Doc: Clara, I'll straighten everything out with Mr Statler from the buckboard rental - don't you worry about that. I feel somewhat responsible for what happened.

Clara: Oh, well, that would be very gentlemanly of you, Mr Brown (slight pause) Emmett. You know, I'm almost glad that snake spooked those horses. Otherwise, we might never have met. I suppose it was destiny. Well, thank you for everything.

Doc: You're quite welcome.

Clara: I will...see you again, won't I?

Doc replies casually, even though he knows he is lying.

Doc: Of course, you'll see lots of me, I'm sure, I have a shop in town. I'm a local scientist...uh...uh...blacksmith.

Clara: Science? What sort of science? Astronomy? Chemistry?

Doc: Actually I'm a student of all sciences.

Marty: Hey Doc, we gotta get going.

Doc: Oh yes, well, excuse us Clara, we have to get...going.

Doc and Marty start to leave, and Doc turns to wave back to Clara.

Doc: Toodle-ooh.

She waves back as they leave. We stay with Marty and Doc as:

Marty: What do ya mean, you're gonna be seeing' lots of her, Doc?

Doc: Well, I might see her again, just in passing.

Marty laughs. He suspects Doc is in love.

Marty: C'mon, Doc, did you see the way she was looking at you?

Doc: Well, she did have quite a scare, right? After all, Miss Clayton almost ended up at the bottom of Clayton Ravine... Clayton Ravine!

Both Doc and Marty realise the connection.

Marty: Holy shit! Hey Doc! Clayton Ravine was named after a teacher. They say she fell in there a 100 years ago.

Doc: A 100 years ago? That's this year!

Marty: Every kid in school knows that story because we all have teachers we'd like to see fall into the ravine.

Doc: Great Scott!

Doc stops his horse.

Doc: (continued) Then she was supposed to go over in that wagon...and now, I may have seriously altered history.

Marty: Look, Doc, what's the worst that could happen, huh? So they don't name the ravine after her. Let's just get the DeLorean ready and get the hell out of here.

Doc ignores Marty and speaks to himself.

Doc: I wish I'd never invented that infernal time machine - which caused nothing but disaster.

Doc rides slowly away. Marty looks at Doc for a second in a "what's going on?" look and then follows him.

Cut to the blacksmith shop, the next day. Doc and Marty are working on the DeLorean on opposite ends of the room. Doc is working on the tyres. They speak to each other through walkie-talkies, this will be denoted by (w.t).

Marty: (w.t) Doc, Doc, this is Marty. Can you read me? Over.

Doc: (w.t) Check, Marty.

Marty: (w.t) Great Doc, these things still work.

Doc: All right.

Both Doc and Marty moves towards a model railroad that Doc has built. There is a train, various named locations and a small model DeLorean marked "Time Machine".

Doc: Marty, once more, let's go over the entire plan and layout. I apologise for the crudity of this model...

Marty remembers the conversation he and Doc had in 1955 in Doc's lab when Doc showed Marty the model of the town square.

Marty: Yeah, I know, Doc, it's not to scale. It's OK, Doc.

Doc: All right. Tomorrow night, Sunday, we'll load the DeLorean on to the tracks here on the spur right by the old abandoned silver mine. The switch track is where the spur runs off the main line 3 miles into Clayton... (correcting himself) Shonash Ravine. The train leaves the station at 8:00 Monday morning. We'll stop it here, uncouple the cars from the tender, throw the switch-track, and hijack - (he smirks here as he "corrects" himself again) borrow the locomotive and use it to push the time machine. According to my calculations we'll hit 88 miles per hour just before we hit the edge of the ravine, at which point we'll instantaneously arrive in 1985 and coast safely across the completed bridge.

Marty spots a sign near the model windmill. It says "Point Of No Return."

Marty: What does this mean? " Point of no return"?

Doc: That's: our failsafe point. Up until that point we can stop the locomotive before it plunges over the ravine. But once we pass that windmill, it's the future or bust.

A few minutes later, Doc is sorting out the electricity to work the model.

Doc: Here you go, Marty. Connect that to the positive terminal. All right, Marty, you all set?

Marty: Yeah, yeah, go.

During the following, Doc says his lines as if he is singing them slightly. He also pushes the switch down more to get the train's speed up.

Doc: Train pulling out of the station! Coming up the switch track! Stop at switch track! Throw switch! Pull up the DeLorean! Pushing the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour!

Both model DeLorean and train fall off the table once they hit the "ravine". The car is caught by Doc, the train lands onto a pillow placed underneath.

Doc: It couldn't be simpler!

There's a knock on the door.

Clara: (o.s) Hello? Emmett?

Doc sees it is Clara.

Doc: It's Clara! Quick, cover the DeLorean.

Marty and Doc cover it with a sheet, and as Clara lets herself in, Marty hides the model DeLorean.

Clara: Hello.

Doc: Why, hello. This is quite a surprise.

Clara: Well, I hope I'm not disturbing anything.

Doc: Oh no, we were just doing a little model railroad.

Clara: Emmett, when my bags were thrown from the wagon, my telescope was damaged. And...since you expressed an interest in science, I thought you might be able to repair it for me. (pause) I would pay you, of course.