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In about a week and a half, we'll all be time travelers as we venture to the future and make the brave leap from 2023 ... all the way to 2024. And what better way to celebrate our trip to a new year than with Hollywood's most iconic trip through time – and where we're going, we don't need pre-recorded movie scores. 

Indeed, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has harnessed the 1.21 gigawatts necessary to bring "Back to the Future" back to the big screen with two showings on Dec. 30-31 – complete with the MSO playing along to Marty McFly and Doc Brown's time-hopping, retro school dance-crashing, rock 'n' roll-inventing shenanigans.

Now, you shouldn't need Darth Vader from Planet Vulcan to come down and make sure you don't miss it (or else he'll melt your brain). But just in case, here are six reasons why you should make like a tree and get over to the Bradley Symphony Center next weekend for this sonic and cinematic extravaganza.

1. The iconic sound of triumph

"Star Wars." "Indiana Jones." "Jaws." Certain movie scores have embedded themselves into the common consciousness, whether young or old, you saw the films for the first time on the big screen or on a streaming screen. "Back to the Future" certainly belongs to that esteemed company – even if you want to limit it just to the iconic "Back to the Future" theme that, for decades, has become the soundtrack to success and adventure, inside the movie and out. Saved your existence by uniting your parents at the Under the Sea Enchantment Dance? Cue that triumphant horn! About to take off on a road trip? Bring back that brassy sting! Need an alarm sound to get you out of bed and motivated for a Monday? You guessed it: Bum-BUM-ba-ba-bum-bum-bum-bum! 

Even if you've heard it (or sung it) hundreds of times before, the "Back to the Future" theme never fails to excite or to work as the perfect punchy musical exclamation mark. And even if you've heard it (or sung it) hundreds of times before, you've never heard it like you will next weekend, with an orchestra right there in front of your ears, bringing the brash, full-throated heroic sting to live electrifying life. 

2. Even more terrific score

Composer Alan Silvestri may not quite be as legendary of a name as John Williams (because who is?) but he's put his underrated musical stamp on some of Hollywood's greatest crowd-pleasers. For instance, his theme for "The Avengers" slowly yet surely became iconic over the years, a cinematic earworm that, by the time "Endgame" brought the Infinity War saga to a close, you couldn't imagine the movies without its signature sound. The same goes for Silvestri's work on "Predator" and "Forrest Gump," neither movie complete without the former's staccato bombast and the latter's twinkly swoon.

The best of Silvestri's resume, though, might just be "Back to the Future." And while its classic heroic theme gets all the credit, there's much more to the terrific score than just the "bum-BUM-ba-ba-bum-bum-bum-bum" in Robert Zemeckis' time-breaking blockbuster.

"There's this appreciation in the 20th century for instruments as colors," said assistant conductor Ryan Tani. "What you'll hear is shimmering strings to represent the sense of mystery, these nebulous harmonies of the French school, saying that music sometimes isn't going anywhere. It has a question mark to it. 

"If you were to press me on if there's one composer who's sort of the inspiration, it would have to be Richard Wagner because of that idea of the leitmotif being so prevalent to represent not only just a character, but a mood or an element like fire – or time travel. That there are ways to tell an audience, without using words: Hey, remember that thing that we heard before? Remember that thing that might show up again?"

In the case of next weekend's performances, there's literally going to be more score as well. For these special live screenings, Silvestri himself added around 20 additional minutes of composed music – meaning even if you know "Back to the Future" front to back, Saturday and Sunday will be a new experience with even more new music. 

3. The power of "The Power of Love"

By no means is "Back to the Future" a musical, but it is one of the most popular music movies ever made – and well beyond the score as well. When the Alan Silvestri score isn't busy thrillingly teleporting you like a DeLorean, there's also all the rock music infiltrating the movie, whether it's classic Chuck Berry tunes or the original ones written and performed for the film by Huey Lewis & the News – songs so addictive and entertaining that the movie doesn't just have one theme but practically three with the Silvestri sting, "Back in Time" and "The Power of Love."

"You've got Marty McFly jamming on the guitar back in time in the 1950s, playing all this progressive stuff," Tani noted. "It's really fun how those two worlds come together."

The orchestra won't be playing the rock songs live, but obviously they'll still play as a part of the film – and be warned, they'll probably be stuck humming and rattling around in your head all the way until January 2025 rolls around.

4. Oh yeah, the rest of the movie rules too

Movies are a fascinating, unpredictable alchemy – and there's no better example of that than "Back to the Future."

If you went into a movie studio and pitched this idea – about a teen going back to the time by a crazed scientist on the run from Libyan terrorists, where he has to fight off his future mom's romantic passes while getting her to fall in love with his dweeby dad instead (and also his future mom almost gets assaulted by their future boss), all fun for the whole family – you would be escorted from the premises and probably banished from Hollywood. But thanks to Zemeckis' gee-whiz direction, Michael J. Fox's light superstar touch in the lead, Christopher Lloyd's manic sidekick support, the script's tight structure yet light whimsical touch and – yes, you guessed it – the adventure-drenched score, it's one of the most successful movies of all time and one of the most watchable entertainments the Hollywood dream factory's ever concocted, even decades later. 

"With a lot of the really great sci-fi movies, 'Back to the Future' asks those crazy 'what if' questions," Tani said. "Like what if we went back in time and you met your parents when they were kids? What do you imagine your dad as? It's a classic."

5. Live scores are always great (scott)

As one of the most beloved blockbusters of all time, "Back to the Future" has been back on the big screen several times over the years. Even if you've seen it so many times that you've memorized all the lines, though, and recognize all the fun details (like the Twin Pines Mall becoming the Lone Pine Mall), a live screening with the score performed right there in time with the movie is a uniquely exhilarating experience unlike any other regular showing. 

"It just reorients the way you think about the movie," Tani explained. "If you're at home and you're watching a movie, you're seeing this incredibly well-produced, well-balanced thing where you have the dialogue and the sound effects and the soundtrack. But when you come to a concert hall to see a film done with live orchestra, you get a deeper sense of the kind of colors that an orchestra brings to the experience. The music comes to the forefront, and you get to see this character presented in a new way.

"It's fun, and I think it brings a sense of spontaneity. You listen to a CD, and you know exactly what that CD is going to sound like – because the CD is capturing a moment in time. The film captures a moment in time. But here, it becomes this live event. Maybe there'll be this sense of, 'Is the orchestra actually going to make it through this car chase scene too?!'"

So even if it's coming up on 40 years of cinematic legacy, next weekend it'll play like you're seeing and hearing it for the first time – like Marty bringing "Johnny B. Goode" to the high schoolers (except you guys are gonna be ready for that AND your kids are gonna love it). 

6. A perfectly full final day of 2023

December 31st: It's the day you've been waiting all year for. And you want the last 24 hours to be the best 24 hours, without an hour wasted. Thankfully, one doesn't need a very-not-street-legal DeLorean to pull a Marty McFly and be everywhere you want to be on Sunday.

You see, the MSO's "Back to the Future" performance on Sunday is a matinee, hitting the Bradley Symphony Center's stage and screen at 2:30 p.m. – so you can watch one of the most entertaining movies of all time like you've never seen it before with plenty of time for whatever New Year's Eve plans you have in the evening, whether you're heading out for a champagne toast in a bustling bar, cheering the new year from the comfort of your couch or placing some well-informed bets at the sportsbook with the help of a Nostradamus-like Grays Sports Almanac. 

No matter the case, as long the MSO's matinee of "Back to the Future" is a part of the plan, you'll have the time of your life saying goodbye to 2023 – no time-travel hijinks needed. 

The MSO's performances of "Back to the Future" will take place on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 31 at 2:30 p.m. For information – and for tickets before they fade away like Marty McFly's photo – get a bolt of lightning to hit the Hill Valley Courthouse clock tower and shock the required gigawatts into your speeding '80s automobile ... or just click this link over to mso.org.