This week marked the 70th anniversary of a date in history I’ll never forget: November 5, 1955. It was the day that physicist Dr. Emmett Brown discovered time travel. He was standing on his toilet hanging a clock when he slipped and hit his head. When he came to, he saw it: “The flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible,” the esteemed “Doc” tells mentee Marty McFly.
If you aren’t nodding in recognition and wondering why you’ve never heard of this scientific discovery, Nov. 5, 1955 is the date in “Back to the Future” that protagonist McFly lands in after being chased by Libyan terrorists in an empty parking lot at midnight, where Doc has just unveiled his time machine. (If you’re still lost, please watch the movie this weekend and thank me later.)
Needless to say, I’m a fan.
So it was quite incredible when on Sunday, in the no-stoplight Colorado hamlet of Green Mountain Falls, with the anniversary on my mind, I spotted Doc’s vehicle in a parking lot. Upon closer review, it wasn’t the exact 1949 Packard Custom Eight Victoria, but it was whatever the Plymouth version of that was, also from 1949 and in the exact same off-white finish. I’m just going to assume that the owner is a superfan.
If you failed to take note of this important anniversary, have no fear. Another two await this coming week:
• the 70th anniversary since Nov. 12, 1955, the night that lightning struck Hill Valley’s clock tower; and
• the 40th anniversary since Nov. 12, 1985, when Doc and Marty met in the deserted parking lot of Twin (or is it Lone?) Pines Mall.
• • •
On the topic of historic events, anyone who watched the final game of the World Series lived through one. I only tuned in at the bottom of the 8th, but as my husband joked, we didn’t need to watch an iota of the season to catch the most momentous part of it.
What a thriller! Like most of America and all of Canada, I was rooting for the Blue Jays. Everyone loves an underdog story. Who doesn’t want to see a perennial favorite — especially in the asymmetrical MLB — shown the door?
I’d wondered why, at the bottom of the eight, Jays fans and even the TV commentators were celebrating the Jays’ victory. What about the top of the ninth? With a roster that only a sport without a salary cap could boast, the Dodgers couldn’t be counted out until it’s over (as the [Brooklyn] Dodgers’ old nemesis Yogi Berra famously said, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over). The Jays had victory in their hands, but when Hoffman allowed the homer off of Rojas, they lost control of their destiny.
Sure, I was the most extreme version of a bandwagon fan — does one-and-a-half-hours even qualify? — but I was gutted for the Jays. Nevertheless, the way the Dodgers won was remarkable; when Rojas hit the homer you could read the disbelief on the Dodgers’ bench. That does nothing for Blue Jays country, but a baseball fan couldn’t have asked for a better Game 7.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
© IJN 2025
