# I saw The Time Machine - HUGE SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2002, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536 "2002-03-11T08:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/21 "2002-03-11T21:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Does he imply there wouldn’t be a Morlock/Eloi future had his wife been killed the first time, without his second intervention? No, no. The Morlock just gave him a glimpse of life at home with kids in the early 20th Century. Nothing to do with the far future. > [@](#): > > Next you’ll start wondering why the Molrocks didn’t just eat the tasty humans while they were stealing the time travelers watch. Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense. And for that matter, why _did_ they take his watch? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/22 "2002-03-11T21:51:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\* Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense. And for that matter, why _did_ they take his watch? \*\* Duh! So he’d have an excuse to aproach Alex and get into a heroic fight, and get killed by Kewl “rotting away effects”, which he psychically _knew_ we wanted to see. I told ya, them brainiac Morlocks are just considerate that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/23 "2002-03-12T03:45:27Z")
Forgot to mention another inconsistancy. So when Alex is in the year 2030 and he meets Orlando Jones, Jones tells him about different authors who have written about time travel. He names Alex as one of those authors. But if Alex went and stayed 800,000 years in the future and never went back to the 20th century, he never wrote the book! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/24 "2002-03-12T04:02:15Z")
Saw it. Didn’t really like it. Now that you know that I have an issue with the current movie you will understand this suggestion: If you can find a copy, rent George Pal’s 1960 production of this same story with the same name. IMHO a sequal was not called for. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/25 "2002-03-12T05:48:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > **Because that’s where his Time Machine stopped. Time changed, the location didn’t. Experiment: Stand still where you are for the next 800,000 years. Have you moved?** Well, if I stayed put in the exact same place for six months, the Earth would be on the other side of its orbit and I’d be in the middle of hard vacuum. Obviously the Time Machine has some neat relativistic positional correctional programs, because the movie would be over pretty quickly if he ended up inside a mountain or in deep space . . . ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/26 "2002-03-12T07:56:25Z")
All I can say is thanks for saving me $8.00 🙂 Saw the commercial, knew it would suck, apparently it did and now I can watch the 1960 version and relive Saturday afternoons on the basement couch as a youth. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/27 "2002-03-12T10:26:44Z")
Another thing: WTF was Irons’ line about (and I paraphrase badly) “And I am the inescapable consequence of you” supposed to mean? ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/28 "2002-03-12T19:23:59Z")
Wow, **Batz Maru** , now that’s how you do a synopsis! I have to agree with most of the points that were brought up with a few more to add. - It would have taken only a few more seconds of film time to show a montage of him trying multiple times to save his fiancee. - Here we have a time traveler, who doesn’t seem to be impressed by anything he sees. There is no sense of wonder. He stops in 2030 and doesn’t seem all that confused by the changes. His Victorian sensibilities aren’t shocked by the sight of women wearing skin-tight bodysuits, or Eloi women wearing the latest in chain and leather bikinis. - I thought the dark-skinned Eloi were a cute twist. People really should check out the original version where the Eloi are all blonde, fair-skinned, and beautiful. Very Star Trek. (Mmmm… Yvette Mimieaux) - Apparently ‘time shockwaves’ don’t penetrate rock. They only flow along caverns, allowing our protagonists to escape, while killing the bad Morlocks. - Why did the Uber-Morlock let Alexander(?) leave? He certainly seemed bored sitting on his subterranean throne. I thought that he would have loved reading the mind of a 800,000 year old person, or at the very least using the time machine himself. “The Time Machine” and “Planet of the Apes” are two attempts to remake what were considered campy Sixties movies, and both end up increasing our respect for the original ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/29 "2002-03-12T20:28:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bean\_shadow \* > \*\*He names Alex as one of those authors. But if Alex went and stayed 800,000 years in the future and never went back to the 20th century, he never wrote the book! \*\* I thought the 7-Up Guy mentioned Alex’s friend, Wilford Brimley. But I could be wrong - he could have written that paper in the 4 year time span. > [@](#): > > Another thing: WTF was Irons’ line about (and I paraphrase badly) “And I am the inescapable consequence of you” supposed to mean? That’s a very good question. I sure hope that wasn’t the producers’ idea of how to introduce a sequel. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/30 "2002-03-12T21:29:19Z")
I suspected that the “…I am the inescapable consequence of you…” line was about “mankind” in general. I can’t see any other way of reading that line without a whole lot more info. As for the Orlando Jone and the VAX-114, I think that the avatar refered to the “writings” of the “obscure American scientist”, not necessarily a book, but maybe published papers, or pothsumously collected papers…? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/31 "2002-03-13T00:58:29Z")
originally posted by **KKBattousai** > [@](#): > > Another thing: WTF was Irons’ line about (and I paraphrase badly) “And I am the inescapable consequence of you” supposed to mean? Technology is evil and all human effort is futile. ---
**Author:** ![Kybrdbrkn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kybrdbrkn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kybrdbrkn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/32 "2002-03-13T03:20:19Z")
I think many of the problems of The Time Machine can be summed up with one word – time! Not nearly enough of it is spent on any one aspect of the movie, so the whole thing becomes a mixing pot of different ideas, without clear connections between them. I did like some stuff. There was the look of the Eloi village – like something straight out of Myst or Riven. Too bad it didn’t look much more realistic than a screenshot from one of those games. I actually didn’t mind the music. Might be because I never watch Survivor, and thus didn’t associate the music with that show. Jeremy Irons was great. He needed to be in more of it! I was really hoping for a good adaptation of Time Machine. Maybe there’ll be another remake sometime, and they’ll actually keep the social commentary of HG Wells’s original. Yeah, there could be a good remake of an old movie – about the same time that the Moon gets blown to bits by a 20 megaton bomb… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/33 "2002-03-13T15:14:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tranquilis \* > \*\*As for the Orlando Jone and the VAX-114, I think that the avatar refered to the “writings” of the “obscure American scientist”, not necessarily a book, but maybe published papers, or pothsumously collected papers…? \*\* No, he brought up the Time Traveller’s name in conjunction with science fiction writers, which would lead one to believe that he somehow cranked out a novel interesting enough to be remembered along with Wells and Asimov. Which he clearly didn’t do, unless he composed it in between Time Machine experiments and pining for his shot/run-over fiancee during that four-year span. Published or posthumously-collected papers? The guy was an Associate Professor at Columbia; just a run of the mill academic drudge. Who’s gonna publish his papers (aside from a vanity-press type of thing by the surviving family…he DID seem to be loaded to the gunwales with cash). ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/34 "2002-03-13T17:22:31Z")
Damn. Now I’m going to have to wait for it to hit video to see if I remembered wrong. Shouldn’t be too long a wait… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/35 "2002-03-13T17:40:06Z")
Ya know, just about the saddest thing you can say about this film is that the George Pal original had more intellectual depth. I never thought much of George Pal as a filmmaker, _The War of the Worlds_ being pretty much the only really good film he made. In retrospect, I have to say that Pal did a much better job with _The Time Machine_ (and showed more respect for the source material) than this thalidomide monstrosity. When, oh _when_ will Hollywood learn that special effects and flashy editing are not workable substitutes for an actual story? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/36 "2002-03-13T18:53:32Z")
I was much too harsh on George Pal in my previous post. Yeah, he made some stinkers like _Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze_, but his stuff wasn’t nearly as bad as I made it out to be. Some of it, such as his adaptations of H.G. Wells’ material, could fairly be considered film classics. I guess I just wasn’t taking into account the periods when the films were produced. Or maybe I’m just in a bad mood today. But the remake really does suck. Big time. ---
**Author:** ![justinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/37 "2002-03-14T03:37:31Z")
Did it say that the 20 megaton bomb destroyed the moon or that type of excavations destroyed it?\ What bothered me was that he wasn’t clever enough to make a weapon when he invaded the underground. Hell even a club or sharp stick. He didn’t even set anything on fire like Conan. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/38 "2002-03-14T14:28:59Z")
Here’s one that will burn your noodle: Where’d he get the second pocketwatch? We see him pick up Emma’s watch to take with him. While he’s zipping through time to 2030, he accidentally drops it and we get to see the first of the “age really quickly” effects. He gets to 2030, zips to 2037, then to 800,000 whatever. He never returns to grab another watch, yet, there in the Eloi house, he’s got one when he needs it. Hmmm. Sadly, this distressed me more right after leaving the movie than the more significant errors you good people have pointed out. Oh well…simple minds, you know. Snicks ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/39 "2002-03-14T14:54:47Z")
There was no second pocketwatch. The thing he dropped out of the time machine was a locket with Emma’s picture on it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536/40 "2002-03-16T22:14:42Z")
I just saw this movie, and the shame of it was not that it was bad, but that it very easily could have been very good. There just wasn’t any attention to detail. For instance: All of the chalk scribblings were nonsense. I wouldn’t expect to be able to understand them (I don’t know how to make a time machine), but what they showed was recognizable enough to _know_ that it’s meaningless. [symbol]Ñ[/symbol][sup]2[/sup]6? That’s just a fancy way of writing “zero”. The sped-up time effects were all out of proportion: It takes approximately the same amount of time for a jetliner to travel one length, as it does for a skyscraper to be built? And then later in that pan-out, look at how slowly the Earth is turning. And at the scale they were at, it would have taken a few years to clear out all the workbenches and such in his lab. That, and the fact that when he first went back to save Emma, the clocks in his lab went _forward_ fast. The whole “destroying the Moon” thing is just way too implausible. If you need a global catastrophe, just go with the good old standby of nuclear war. Sure, it’s cliche, but that’d be better than ludicrous. And, even if the Moon were somehow shattered, you wouldn’t get a chunk staying in a perfectly curved half-sphere for 800 millenia. In the fight with the Morlocks: A man skilled and experienced with using tools pulls out a blowdart, and determines that it’s covered with some disgusting goo, presumably poisonous or drugged in some way. He then gets into a fight for his life with a stronger opponent, and uses his bare hands? I was waiting for him to start stabbing Morlocks left and right with salvaged darts! The library computer: OK, I can see him maybe surviving, depending on what he was made of (unspecified). But why would the much more technically sophisticated Morlocks have left him stay in Eloi territory? I am also somewhat dissapointed with the Deus-ex-Machina ending: It would be much more impressive for him to teach the previously-docile Eloi to fight back on their own, rather than doing all the work himself. In the movie, they’re still sheep, just with a new shepherd. Of course, that couldn’t be fixed as easily as the other complaints I had. As to that deus-ex, by the way: When he went into the far future, he saw that everything was redlit and charred. Presumably, this is after the death of the Sun has cooked the Earth (Did anyone get a good look at what year the dials indicated?). I presume that what he did was use the Machine to set up some sort of conduit to the future (notice that the field was shaped differently than for “normal” usage?), and gave the Morlochs a little taste of nova Sun. A little explanation would certainly have been nice, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-time-machine-huge-spoilers/97536.md?page=3)