Act 3, Sequence 7: Back to the Future

Marty hurries downtown, where Doc is preparing the wire to send the power from the lightning strike into the flux capacitor of the DeLorean. Marty composes a note explaining what happened on the night he went back into the past, but Doc tears it up without reading it. Before Marty can tell him about the incident, a limb falls and severs the power line to the clock. Panic ensues, as the storm is nearing, and they will only have one shot at this. Doc has to climb to the tower to reconnect the wire, so Marty is still unable to warn him about the future. As the clock ticks away, Marty is forced to pull the car to the starting line while Doc manages to reconnect the wire on the top of the clock tower. Then Marty realizes that he is in a time machine. The SEVENTH CRITICAL DECISION for Marty is that he will use the time machine to return to the future in time to warn Doc Brown so that the Libyan terrorists do not kill him. He resets the time machine to arrive earlier than when he left. For a moment, the car does not start, but Marty manages to turn over the motor.