Doc Brown’s sheepdog Einstein is the first one to take a time-traveling trip in Back to the Future, but originally Christopher Lloyd’s eccentric physicist had a monkey for a sidekick. According to Netflix’s show The Movies That Made Us, director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale had to go through a lot of twists and turns in order to create Back to the Future. Like with most feature films a lot of original elements from the script didn’t make the final cut of the movie due to studio influence. Couple that with the original lead actor being replaced 6 weeks into shooting, a moved-up release date, and Crispin Glover’s difficult acting style, the two Bob’s had a lot of work ahead of them.
Back to the Future, whose rejected title was “Spaceman from Pluto”, didn’t feature a lot of Einstein the dog, played by Tiger in the first film and Freddie in the second and third installments. Both Tiger and Freddie were trained by Richard Calkins, who had experience working with dogs for movies like Poltergeist, Racing with the Moon, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Since every hero needs an adorable animal sidekick, a dog was a great choice as Doc Brown’s lovable pet. Einstein provided some mild comic relief throughout the movie. He even gave audiences quite the scare when Doc sent him back in the DeLorean as his test subject, as many thought the dog initially died on impact. All that being said, Einstein wasn’t a part of screenwriter Bob Gale’s original plan.
The time-traveling Doc Brown was initially given a chimpanzee sidekick named Shemp, but he was cut from the movie. Sid Sheinberg was charged with overseeing the filming process of Back to the Future, and he didn’t like the idea of a monkey in the film. Sheinberg’s reasoning behind dropping the chimp was that he believed movies with chimpanzees in them didn’t make any money. Bob Gale attempted to defend his choice for Doc’s pet to Sheinberg. He brought up Clint Eastwood’s popular film Every Which Way but Loose, which features the actor’s relationship with a pet monkey named Clyde. When approached with this, Sheinberg responded, “That sir, is an orangutan.” Gale and Zemeckis took this Back to the Future story change in stride, considering the pet didn’t have a huge role in the film. However, thankfully one choice that was not won out by Sheinberg was his title change idea to “Spaceman from Pluto”.
The reasoning behind the chimpanzee sidekick in Back to the Future probably has a lot to do with scientists using chimps as test subjects for their experiments. After all, the first hominin in space was a chimpanzee named Ham. While the animal was reluctant to enter the rocket back in 1961, he made the trip back to Earth fully intact, much like Einstein the dog. Despite Sheinberg’s misgivings, there have been a few successful movies with chimpanzees in them. The Planet of the Apes franchise has garnered a decent amount of monetary success over the years. The Umbrella Academy even tells Ham’s story through baby Pogo. While Sheinberg might have been right in the case of Back to the Future, it doesn’t mean that there’s not a market for a chimp sidekick.
Imagining Christopher Lloyd’s outlandish Doc Brown with a chimpanzee does cheapen the movie even though his pet doesn’t have a ton of screen time. Back to the Future isn’t about Doc Brown’s adorable dog, although Einstein would be missed if he didn’t appear in all three installments. Imagining a chimp sidekick is a little fun, however, it does change the movie in a negative way.
