The Entire Plot of Back to the Future in One Handy Chart

Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures / Universal Pictures
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Never seen Back to the Future? Now you don't have to (though you really should). Laughing Squid spotted this graphic by statistician and data viz expert Nathan Yau that tells you everything you need to know about the plot of the 1985 movie in 16 chart-heavy panels.

There's the basic science of the DeLorean (a flux capacitor, a cool car with a nuclear reactor, 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, a speed of 88 mph), the introduction of dangerous terrorists, and some time travel. Awkward Oedipal subplot? Check. A visual representation of Christopher Lloyd's memorable "Where we're going, we don't need roads" line? You bet.

Now, we just have to wait around for Yau to digest Back to the Future Part II for us. If you like his visualization style, there's plenty more to tide you over while you wait; he has previously visualized how many years you probably have left to live, how jobs types correlate with divorce rates, and more. You can see his work on his site, Flowing Data.

Nathan Yau

[h/t Laughing Squid]