The Time Machine - 2002 movie

[Steven P Bastien]

Btw, has anyone read the sequel The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter? It's quite good and delves deeper into the Eloi and Morlocks and is generally a fitting sequel. Baxter got the style of the period down pat and was quite an enjoyable read.

I read it and enjoyed it. I would vote it as the most ambitious time travel story of all time.

I remember the local CBS affiliate would often times show movies after the news.....The Late Movie, The Late, Late Movie, etc before going off the air. I remember hearing a station announcer say something like "stay tuned after the nightly news, tonight's movie, "The Time Machine". I had never heard of it, it just sounded cool.
And it was one of the greatest movies I'd ever seen. I was probably seven years old or something, and had to beg my parents to let me stay up to watch it.

I had the same experience at age 7 (around 1971). My parents let me stay up late for the first time so I could see the end of it. I did not even have to ask. Apparently, I was so enthralled by the movie that they did not have the heart to not let me see it.

 

[Greg Cox]

I first saw the 1960 movie as a small child, and I remember the revelation that the Morlocks were cannibals was truly chilling . ....

 

[JD]

I'm glad you guys brought up The Time Ships, I was just about to ask about it.

That broken moon visual sticks in my head until this day.

I liked the hologram guy, too.

I also thought the design for the Eloi village, with all the building suspended from the side of the cliff, was pretty cool.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's really impressive, the way it both works as a direct sequel and completely updates the concept with cutting-edge physics. It does have one plot hole that bugs me, though, in that

Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I did remember having an issue with that as well. I remember feeling quite annoyed at that particular bit.

Thanks for the hint about War of the Worlds! Gonna have to check that one out for sure!

I read it and enjoyed it. I would vote it as the most ambitious time travel story of all time.

Oh hell yeah. I was impressed overall with the depth he'd given the entire concept. It was no longer as black & white as we were led to feel. Very imaginative.

 

[RandyS]

One thing I much prefer in the original vs the remake is time machine itself. It's quite an iconic look and the updated version felt too generic.

Btw, has anyone read the sequel The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter? It's quite good and delves deeper into the Eloi and Morlocks and is generally a fitting sequel. Baxter got the style of the period down pat and was quite an enjoyable read.

There's also The Time Machine II, published in 1981 written by George Pal and Joe Morehaim. It's a direct sequel to the 1960 film.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ BTW, as an aside don't be tempted to check out Time Machine 2 on Amazon Prime Video unless you're really into no budget Thai comedies that have nothing to do with a time machine.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The short is part of the documentary "The Journey Back", featured on this Blu-ray and DVD...

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Time-Machine-Blu-ray/56158/
https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/The-Time-Machine-DVD/3156/

Sweet. Thanks very much.

 

[Forbin]

It's really impressive, the way it both works as a direct sequel and completely updates the concept with cutting-edge physics. It does have one plot hole that bugs me, though, in that

Spoiler: The Time Ships

the sort of time-traveling military force the protagonists get involved with fairly early in the book end up returning to their original time and place, even though the book later establishes that you can never return to the timeline you started from.

I think Baxter did something similar with The War of the Worlds more recently.

Yes, "The Massacre of Mankind." Not shy with the title, there!

 

[Greg Cox]

There's also The Time Machine II, published in 1981 written by George Pal and Joe Morehaim. It's a direct sequel to the 1960 film.

There's also Morlock Night by K.W. Jeter, in which the Morlocks use the Time Machine to invade our time.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I would like a movie to face the evolution aspect one day that Morlocks and Eloi were no longer what we would call human anymore

Well, not a movie, but The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter does explore that idea, even going so far as to present a scenario in which not all is what it seems. It even poses the idea that if one were to go far enough into the future, that societal shifts could occur, the dynamic change.

 

[Australis]

Not a great film, lut I LOVED their take on the Machine!

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[Christopher]

Not a great film, lut I LOVED their take on the Machine!

Gee, those planes toward the end there must've been hovering in place for months at a time.

Also devoid of any detectable change: The lead actor's facial expression. (Well, at least in that clip. I haven't seen the film.)

 

[Tosk]

I can't remember the last time I maintained the same state of mind/emotional display for an entire four minutes.

 

[Mysterion]

There's also The Time Machine II, published in 1981 written by George Pal and Joe Morehaim. It's a direct sequel to the 1960 film.

For me, a favorite tangent from the original story has always been Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time where H.G. Wells actually builds a time machine. Trailer here:

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A fun story with some great acting from Malcolm McDowell (cast against type) and John Warner. And not forget Mary Steenburgen (with whom I fell in love with watching this film). The script is intelligent and witty, and the design of the time machine strikes me as a bit of a precursor to the steampunk aesthetic that came along later. I understand there was a TV series based on this recently, but I have not bothered to look for it as not to sully my fondness for this movie.

 

[Christopher]

A fun story with some great acting from Malcolm McDowell (cast against type) and John Warner. And not forget Mary Steenburgen (with whom I fell in love with watching this film).

McDowell beat you to it -- he fell in love with her while making the film, and it was mutual. It adds to the film's romantic appeal to know that we're watching the actors really fall in love along with their characters.

I understand there was a TV series based on this recently, but I have not bothered to look for it as not to sully my fondness for this movie.

Wise choice. Time After Time was a very weak TV series, so caught up in stock conspiracy plots that it barely managed to do much actual time travel.

 

[Tosk]

where H.G. Wells actually builds a time machine.

As he also does in the '60s Time Machine.

 

[Christopher]

I can't remember the last time I maintained the same state of mind/emotional display for an entire four minutes.

I'm sure I have when I've been working or driving or watching TV or the like. But this guy was witnessing astonishing wonders and inexplicable innovations, as well as losing what I presume was the photo of his loved one, and yet he showed no detectable reaction.

As he also does in the '60s Time Machine.

Well, the Time Traveller is just called "George" in dialogue, although a plaque on the machine says "H. George Wells."

Still, in the book, Wells/the narrator presented himself as the friend to whom the Time Traveller told his story -- more like the Filby character in the movie. After all, in the idiom of 19th-century fiction, where it was usually presented as a true story told to the author by its main character, the author had to be someone who was still around afterward to publish the account. So I'm not that fond of the tendency to portray Wells as the actual Time Traveller.

 

[Mysterion]

McDowell beat you to it -- he fell in love with her while making the film, and it was mutual. It adds to the film's romantic appeal to know that we're watching the actors really fall in love along with their characters.

There was definitely chemistry between the two on-screen, which really helped sell the story of course. Interestingly, Meyer says in his commentary Amy didn't turn out the way he had originally wanted. IIRC, he was thinking more the fast-talking street wise "dames" from the movies of the 30's and 40's (FWIW, the other movie character that has struck me the way Steenburgen's did in this film is Jean Arthur as Clarissa Saunders in Mister Smith Goes to Washington who IS a fast talking streetwise dame). But what Steenburgen brought to this character totally works, hands down.

 

[Owain Taggart]

And not forget Mary Steenburgen (with whom I fell in love with watching this film).

Oh yes. She was very cute in that movie. I adored her in that. One of my favourite movies and I loved the depiction of the time machine.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Stephen Baxter wrote a pretty mind-bending sequel The Time Machine, called The Time Ships. In typical Baxter fashion, the story takes you to either end of time and known universe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Ships