THE TIME MACHINE (1960 & 2002) Decoded: A Socio-Sci-fi Twist

Among the many motifs in science fiction, stories about time travel seem to be the most essential for the genre. Thanks to one of the two directions the hero takes, these stories can literally fulfill one of the basic (though not essential) assumptions of science fiction – the need to show the future. Will knowing tomorrow protect us from the consequences of mistakes we are almost doomed to make? This intriguing question has been the foundation of many plots, including those in films. Like every subgenre, time travel also had a pioneering work that paved the way for later works based on this motif. In this case, we are talking about The Time Machine, a late 19th-century novel by Herbert George Wells, one of the giants of sci-fi.

This same creator also gave us The War of the Worlds – another pioneering work that first rooted the fear of encountering an alien civilization from outer space. It can be said that Wells perfected in The Time Machine what he had already presented earlier in the short story The Chronic Argonauts, where the motif of time travel with the help of specific machinery appears. Interestingly, it was not Wells who was the first to venture into the future. As early as the 18th century, the first works appeared (such as Anno 7603 by Johan Herman Wessel), where characters traveled to the world of tomorrow. However, it cannot be denied that it was The Time Machine from 1895 that popularized this motif.

When, thanks to the development of cinema, Wells’ vision became possible to transfer to the big screen, MGM studio commissioned the adaptation. The film hit theaters in 1960. Behind the camera was George Pal, one of the first postwar visionaries, nominated multiple times for the Oscar for short animations. The screenplay was written by David Duncan (the author who had previously immersed himself in fantastic content, creating the text for Rodan! The Flying Monster) and was very loosely based on Wells’ novel. However, two key issues were successfully captured in the film version of The Time Machine. First, it is an example of a film that bridges what was called speculative fiction and what we understand as science fiction, built on scientific and technological achievements. Second, The Time Machine essentially agrees with what Wells had to say – by showing the future, it also drew attention to the present problems of humanity, blindly heading towards self-destruction.

Surprisingly, H.G. Wells himself actively participates in lending the film its quality, as he is… the main character of the film. Of course, not literally. A plaque on the control panel of the time machine reveals to the viewer that the protagonist – the inventor – was named after the author of the book. This emphasizes the esteem the creators had for the rightful owner of the vision that was transformed into a film. But let us recall the sequence of events. The action of the film takes place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A scientist and inventor (played by the memorable Rod Taylor) invites his friends to his house to present the result of his work, while delivering a short lecture on the nature of time. Unfortunately, no one believes in the effectiveness of the new invention, which according to the author, is intended for time travel. The hero then decides to test it himself. The journey through time begins, and at the film’s conclusion, the protagonist finds himself in the year 802,701, several hundred thousand years in the future. What he finds is highly shocking: humanity, influenced by evolution, has divided into two races. The Eloi, the weaker race, are subordinate to the stronger race – the Morlocks.

The Time Machine represents science fiction with a sociological twist. Contrary to appearances, this story is not about the triumph of technology. Not without reason does the hero, despite being able to travel to the past, prefer to venture into the future. It is there that he hopes to break free from the slow decadence, the destructive arms race observed in his contemporary times. This division into two races in the future society that the time traveler discovers serves as a warning for the viewer. The delicate Eloi are the descendants of the corrupted aristocracy and all ruling classes. The robust Morlocks, on the other hand, are the former working class, long subjected to exploitation. However, Darwinian evolution has shifted the balance, reversing the roles in society according to the principle of “the stronger takes everything.”

It is also important to note that the film was made during the Cold War period, which was marked by clear social unrest. The creators envisioned the worst-case scenario – the atomic war hanging in the air at that time actually takes place and contributes to resetting the existing social order. It is highly significant that the time traveler stops his machine exactly on the twelfth of October – the same day when Christopher Columbus discovered America. In both cases, the discovery represents a new start and a chance for civilization. The time traveler thus refuses the role of a passive observer and decides to intervene in the shape of the established social relations. The open question is how right it is for him to reverse a process that has naturally occurred.

It is said that director George Pal had plans for a sequel. However, MGM rejected several scripts. It cannot be denied that the theme of The Time Machine is one that is ideal for a sequel – who among us wouldn’t want to see how the protagonist fares in completely different time frames? But this potential was not wasted. Pop culture embraced the motif of time travel and began to explore it on various levels (including in the form of a musical). But the most important level was, of course, the filmic one due to the visual promise behind the vision. It is worth mentioning that the 1960 film successfully utilized this, as it presents itself wonderfully in formal terms – it even won an Oscar for special effects. However, the most important aspect was the conceptual story. Without The Time Machine, we certainly wouldn’t have films from the Back to the Future series, the Doctor Who TV show, or many other works that gracefully use the motif of time travel. Although the ideas in The Time Machine found their application in other works that are adaptations of it, in 2002 someone came up with the crazy idea of creating a remake of the 1960 classic.

Why? Perhaps it was to give a descendant of the Wells family the opportunity to fulfill his unfulfilled ambitions and pay tribute to the works of his great-grandfather. The director of the 2002 The Time Machine was Simon Wells, mainly known as the creator of animated films (The Prince of Egypt), and privately the great-grandson of H.G. Wells. Contrary to popular belief, his film is not as bad as it is remembered years later (the quote used at the beginning of this text was taken from it). The main problem with the new adaptation is that, from the day of its release, it was a completely unnecessary film. The concept itself and the individual nuances that set it apart from the original film are even interesting. However, the film lacks the right weight that comes from the emotional impact – the motivation of the main character, which drives the need for creation, has been reduced to a tragic love story, the consequences of which are impossible to reverse. Meanwhile, the evolution of humanity, divided into two races, is still the result of a catastrophe from the past, but it is not related to a military conflict. Therefore, the film does not feature the social messages that distinguished both Wells’ book and its 1960 adaptation.

One element, or rather its absence, serves as a symbolic difference between the two films. In George Pal’s film, the Morlocks’ headquarters, where the Eloi are summoned, is topped with a figure shaped like a Sphinx. The film abounds with many nuances related to time, on the level of attributes and dialogues. One of these is the deliberate reference to the mythological monster. As we remember, the Sphinx posed a riddle to those it encountered, and the wrong answer meant being cast into the abyss. What was the riddle? It went like this:

What animal, gifted with a voice, walks on all fours in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?

Of course, it is about a human. In a metaphorical reference to each stage of his life and passing. This hidden symbol is meant to convey that, no matter how much we would like to downplay the existence of time, it remains the dimension that determines our life. It gives it shape and determines the sequence of events. One could say that time has been given to us as a good that establishes order in the universe. All attempts to master it are therefore doomed to failure.