The gift for Back to the Future fans I get asked for most is this one: the whole of the 1985 film drawn as a London Underground map, with Marty, Doc, George, Lorraine and Biff running as named lines, and every key scene sitting on the sheet as a station.
Two timelines share the print. Hill Valley in 1985 and Hill Valley in 1955, laid out so you can follow one character out of one week and into the other without losing your place.
I research and design these maps myself in East Sussex, working from the screenplay and a scene by scene breakdown of the finished film. What follows is not a merchandise list. It is what came out of plotting Robert Zemeckis's film as a transit diagram, and why those findings make it worth giving to someone who can quote the thing start to finish.
Why this gift for Back to the Future fans needed two dates, not one
Most film plot maps I draw run in one direction, because most films do. This one refused to. The story leaves 26 October 1985 and arrives on 5 November 1955, and both of those weeks have to be legible at the same time.
Marty McFly is the only line that runs unbroken through both. Everyone else either belongs to one era or appears twice, thirty years apart, as a different version of themselves. Once I accepted that, the tube map language did the rest of the work, because a transit diagram is built for exactly this problem: two separate routes that meet at a handful of shared points.
The clock tower is the only station with a time printed on it
Saturday 12 November 1955, 10:04pm. The film tells you this twice, once on the flyer the woman hands Marty in 1985 and once when Doc works out that the lightning is the only power source big enough.
Everything else on the 1955 side is measured against that one fixed point. Doc has a week, and the map shows it as a week, with the stations tightening as the deadline approaches. Here are the six that do the structural work.
| Date | Station | Why it matters on the map |
|---|---|---|
| 26 October 1985 | Twin Pines Mall | 88mph, and the 1985 route stops dead |
| 5 November 1955 | Peabody farm | Arrival, and one pine tree fewer |
| 5 November 1955 | Doc Brown's house | The 1955 Doc line joins Marty's |
| 12 November 1955 | Enchantment Under the Sea | George's line changes direction |
| 12 November 1955, 10:04pm | Hill Valley clock tower | 1.21 gigawatts, and the timelines rejoin |
| 26 October 1985 | Lone Pine Mall | Same car park, different name |
Doc Brown's whole line begins with a fall in a bathroom
Doc tells Marty that on 5 November 1955 he was hanging a clock, slipped off the edge of his toilet, hit his head, and came round with the flux capacitor in his mind. That is the origin of everything the film then does.
What I like about it as a station is the date. It is the same day Marty arrives in 1955. Two lines that are thirty years apart in every other respect touch on one square of the map, and one of the two men has no idea yet why that matters.
George McFly comes back a different shape, and the map has to show it
George is the only character whose line I redraw on the return leg. He goes into the Enchantment Under the Sea dance as the man who cannot look Lorraine in the eye, and he comes out of it having flattened Biff Tannen in one punch.
On a transit map you cannot change a line's colour halfway along without breaking the whole convention. So the change is carried by the stations instead. The 1985 stations on George's line before the dance and the 1985 stations after it are not the same stations, and that is the quietest, most satisfying detail on the print for anyone who knows the film properly.
Twin Pines becomes Lone Pine, and that is a station name, not a plot point
Marty lands the DeLorean in Old Man Peabody's field and flattens one of his pine trees. At the end of the film, the mall in the closing sequence is Lone Pine Mall.
It is the smallest possible piece of evidence that a timeline has been altered, and it happens to be a place name. That is why this film suits a tube map better than almost anything else I have plotted. A transit diagram is a list of place names, so when a place name changes, the format notices before you do.
Lorraine and Biff are the two lines that cross Marty in the wrong era
Lorraine's line and Marty's line meet in 1955 in a way they never meet in 1985, and Biff's line runs alongside George's in both decades in a relationship that inverts by the end. Those two crossings are why the print rewards a second look.
The five characters were played by Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson, and I name them on the map alongside the characters, so the casting sits in the design rather than in a caption.
"I love this timeline, makes great reading!"
Paul Hotson, on the Back to the Future plot map print
Which size suits the Back to the Future fan you are buying for
Every print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper with a textured matte finish, archival and acid-free. Both sizes are landscape, and both come unframed or in a black wooden frame.
| Size | UK | USA / CAN / AUS | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | 594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in) | 24 x 18 in | A hallway, a home office, a first film map gift |
| A1 | 841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in) | 36 x 24 in | A living room or snug, and the fan who will read every station |
Prices start from £42. If the person you are buying for is the sort who has opinions about the Twin Pines detail, go A1, because the smaller station names either side of the dance are far easier to pick out at that size.
Back to the Future Movie Plot Lines Map Art Print
The 1985 film as a tube map, with two Hill Valley timelines, five character lines and every key scene as a station. Giclée on 230gsm archival matte paper. A2 or A1, unframed or in a black wooden frame, from £42.
Related film maps worth a look
If they like a 1980s film they can trace rather than only watch, the Blade Runner Plot Lines Map is the closest relative on the wall, quieter and more atmospheric, and it hangs well next to this one. The Jaws Plot Lines Map is the other natural companion, a single tight three act story where the tension is in how few lines there are. Both sit in the Gifts for Movie Fans collection.
Questions I get asked about this print
Does the map cover the whole trilogy or just the first film?
Just the 1985 film. It plots the two Hill Valley timelines, 1985 and 1955, from the opening at Doc's workshop through to the DeLorean's return.
Which characters run as lines?
Marty McFly, Doc Brown, George McFly, Lorraine Baines and Biff Tannen, with the actors named alongside them.
Is the 10:04pm lightning strike actually marked on it?
Yes. The clock tower is the one station carrying a time as well as a date, because in the film everything on the 1955 side is scheduled backwards from it.
Will they need to know the film inside out to enjoy it?
No. It reads as a graphic print first, in the classic Underground style. The reward for a fan is that the detail holds up, so the more they know, the more it gives back.
What if I do not know which size or frame they would want?
Send a gift card and let them choose. It arrives instantly and takes the framing decision off your plate.
Give them two timelines on one sheet
Researched from the screenplay and a scene by scene breakdown, designed by me, printed as an archival Giclée in A2 or A1 from £42.
Buy the Back to the Future map art print
Not sure of the size? Send an art print gift card instead.
