All the Time in The World ~ A Review & Commentary On George Pal's Time Machine DVD For Your Old School Time Travel Campaign

 George Pal's 'The Time Machine' is for me a film that is both timeless & a source of so much inspiration. Its beyond iconic for me as a fan of science fiction or at this point science fantasy. The original blog post was from 2013 & my finance shares my passion for this film. It was her that grabbed me this DVD copy. There's now an extensive bluray that's since come out and its the definitive version. I'll review that coming up but here's the original blog entry from December 1st 2013 with some additional annotations.   

Tempus Fugit, times flies and don't I know it. This past Thanksgiving holiday I was blessed to spend a week with my fiance. She brought me a gift in the form of a copy of one of the my most beloved movies, George Pal's Time Machine. As I write these words she's back in London and I'm sitting here writing about this film.

Here's some basic information on the film from Wiki : 

A 1960 science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man from Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future. The film stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux and Alan Young.

George Pal's  "The Time Machine" came out in 1960 to theaters but I saw it in 1980 on Channel 11 out of New York on the Million Dollar movie over my grand parents house on cable and became fascinated with time travel, H.G. Wells and all things George Pal. It was also the movie that got me to read the paper back that my father had given me back in 1975 when I was five years old.

This a used DVD from Warner Brother that comes with a digitally remastered copy of the Time Machine as well as the Dolby remixed stereo sound, and with the

comes with the 1993 behind the scenes documentary "The Time Machine The Journey Back" which made this package worth the price of admission right there.  This behind the scenes film stars Rod Tailor, Alan Young, Whit Bissell and many others.

 

 According to the Wiki Entry on The Time Machine The Journey Back: 

It was hosted by Rod Taylorand produced and directed by Clyde Lucas. The film was made about the Time Machine prop, not the movie, but during filming, Bob Burns surprised director Clyde Lucas by having Gene Warren, Sr. drop by. Warren, the award winning effects creator for the original movie, consented to an on-air in which he discussed creating the special effects for the film. This led to an with one of Warren's partners, Wah Chang, in Northern California. Chang and Warren shared more details about creating the effects and how the little Time Machine prop was made.

Lucas contacted the original screenwriter, David Duncan, who agreed to write a mini-sequel to George Pal's film. The mini-sequel reunited George (Rod Taylor) with Filby (Alan Young). Lucas first filmed Whit Bissell for the opening, recreating his role as Walter. It would be Bissell's last acting performance.

The film won a Saturn Award and a Telly Award. It was included as a "special feature" on the DVD for George Pal's film The Time Machine, released by Warner Bros. and was featured in Starlog Magazine.

You can find out more right at the series official site

HERE

The packaging is kitsch and garishly coloured as those wonderful 60's movie posters. The book sitting next to the DVD is featured in the documentary on the movie. I haven't seen the movie in over a year and I do confess that there were scenes in it that I had not remember seeing. 

The artifact rings featured in the movie are one of them. Another was 

 The Atomic wars of 1966 places the film in an alternative universe timeline and there is so much of the magic in the movie it really takes me back. The restored version is much crisper to the versions I've seen on VHS over the years. Pal really seems to hit the highlights of the Wells novel but definitely puts his own stamp on the cocepts. All in All I was quite pleased with the menus and the behind the scenes documentary. Its a really lovely package and if you haven't got it I recommend picking it up. 

One thing that I did notice was the attention to detail that Warner Brothers put into this one. You see its almost as if the graphics department 'got it' on this one!

The interior of the DVD features some great artwork as well. 

One part that I didn't remember were the 'Talking Rings'artifacts. These things would make a great inclusion in post apocalyptic campaign or a D&D science fantasy campaign

Using HG Wells Time Machine For Your Old School

Campaigns

Artwork Saunders 1946 

You can download HG Wells The Time Machine 

HERE

 

For me George Pal's Time Machine and HG Wells have always been interwoven. The Morlocks have been a part of my gaming since I first started OD&D back in 1977. The Eloi and Morlock dynamic of technology cannibalism has also smacked of post apocalyptic gaming as well. 

 The film places itself squarely in an alternative universe with the on set of the Atomic Wars of the 1960's. These were a series of protracted wars stemming from a failed economic and political recover after 1945 as it spun into the post war years of the 50's and 60's. 

 There are many retroclone games which use the Morlocks these days. Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord have profiles on the beasts. 

The Morlocks have always smacked of Lovecraftian degeneration and weirdness. They've appeared in Call of Cthulhu and various Mythos related products as well. I've always felt that the  Timer Machine by Wells was a great sequel to the Nightlands by William Hope Hodgeson. Hodgeson's book has always seemed to be the future of the Morlocks and Eloi. A place where the Great Old Ones have risen and man's evolution has been tainted by the inheritance of the Outer Gods. The doorway was opened by the Morlocks and hell on Earth has resulted as the entire human race becomes one degenerate evolutionary nightmare as madness and mutation run wild.

 The trappings here are almost in the realm of the Gothic novel rather then the science fiction romances of Wells.  A rather useful article called TIME MACHINES GO BOTH WAYS available right HERE.

Many of these ideas were incorporated into a meta campaign using elements from many of the retroclones and Hodgeson's Nightlands. Much of the material also incorporated some of the elements from the Mutant Future Wiki articles on the Eloi.

Here

The Eloi have always bothered me in a way. They almost appear to be the too perfect product. Prepacked, pretty, and generally the perfect stock animal.This indicated genetic or artificial evolution.  When the Mutant Future article on The Morlocks hit it became clear both races did not evolve but were rather made.Read HERE

 So who created them and why is this biological dynamic in play? I've had PC's encounter isolated Eloi & Morlock subterranean domes ala Logan's Run. The PC's were surprised to find them worshiping the Great Old Ones.

The Morlocks have also appeared as enemies of the Derro from "I Remember Lemuria" competing for Eloi food stocks and human villages. The PC's were trying to recover artifacts from both races while avoid being killed at the same time.

Many of the buildings, ruins, and land marks are easily adaptable to any number of retroclones and once again remind me of the Last Redoubt from The Night Lands.

George Pal's wonderful film remains an incredible achievement and he always wanted to direct a squeal but died before it could be completed. 'The Time Machine The Journey Back' remains about as close as we're going to get.

Get the DVD if its not already in your collection.

This blog post is dedicated to my fiancee who not only encourages my hobby but continues to inspire me every day. 

All the Time in The World ~ A Review & Commentary On George Pal's Time Machine DVD For Your Old School Time Travel Campaign Part II ~ Secrets Of The Time Machine Revealed.

Further Thoughts on George Pal's Time Machine and HG Well's book 

Its Thursady December Fifth and I'm looking over notes for another article on George Pal's The Time Machine. The movie is fresh in my mind having watched it three times in succession to get all of the points I need to. I believe that everything begins and ends with the Time Traveler himself. 

Part one right over
HERE

The seeds of October 12, 802,701,  are already in play in 1899. George Wells (Rod Taylor) isn't traveling in space merely time, his time track to be exact. For this is a series of alternative time liness that are all connected to the character.

Filby speaks of Jamie and George meets him in 1914 only to appear again an alternative 1966.

According to Wiki :

"George uses the Time Machine to travel to the future. He first leaves the machine on September 13, 1917, where he meets James Filby (Young again), whom he mistakes for his father, David. James informs George that his father had "died in the war", and that the United Kingdom has been at war with Germany since 1914. He tells him that an inventor lived across the road who disappeared around the turn of the century and that his father wanted to keep the house in case the owner ever returned. George then travels to June 19, 1940, into the midst of "a new war", which he briefly stops in as his machine is buffeted from side to side." 

Out of the entire group of friends (witnesses) Filby is the only one who contemplates the horrors of the machine and keeps George's house, workshop, plans and notes. He knows the machines possible applications and what might happen. Filby also knows two things : Geroge has the secret of time travel, plans for the machine, and knows that George may return someday. He will do anything to keep the secret of time travel out of the hands of anyone else including his own family hence Jamie not knowing George.
The Secrets Of The Time Machine 
Folks have been building replicas of the time machine prop since the movie first appeared. Plans for the machine are readily available online. You can see an archive right over HERE
The 

Seeds of The Eloi 

Once again Wiki: 

George's next stop is August 19, 1966, in a futuristic metropolis. He is puzzled to see people hurrying into a fallout shelter amid the blare of air raid sirens. An older James Filby tells him to get into the shelter. James spots an atomic satellite zeroing in and flees into the shelter. A nuclear explosion causes a volcano to erupt. Civilization is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. George restarts the machine just in time to avoid being incinerated, but lava covers the machine, then cools and hardens, forcing him to travel far into the future until it erodes away.

 Let's face some facts here:

This isn't our 1966 and its very advanced for the time period. There are some very advanced technology presented. Humans can survive nuclear weaponry and fall out. The weather was artificially controlled and right up to the nuclear satallite strike pleasant. 

I heave a feeling that the flower that George brought back with him allowed scienctists to break the secret of DNA and genetic manipulation allowing the creation of Project Morlock in 1962. This project's seeds were began with the hope of creating a superior solidier.
There are characteristics that reflect this: 

• Superior night vision, technological prowness, 
• Superior strength and survivability in the savage enviroment of a nuclear winter 
• RNA memory of technological know how and engineering 
• omnivororic tendancies ~ The morlocks were sortt of like human cockeroaches capable of dealing with the various challeges that nature threw at them.  The Eloi diet came later on. 

 The Eloi are a commerically created food product born of genetic and corporate desparation. According to the time machine by HG Wells and wiki : 

By the year AD 802,701, humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are the childlike, frail group, living a banal life of ease on the surface of the earth, while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi. Each class evolved and degenerated from humans. The novel suggests that the separation of species may have been the result of a widening split between different social classes, a theme that reflects Wells's sociopolitical opinions.

The main difference from their earlier ruler-worker state is that, while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems that required strength, intelligence, or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute and naive. They are described as being smaller than modern humans, having shoulder-length curly hair, chins that ran to a point, large eyes, small ears, and small mouths with bright red thin lips. They are of sub-human intelligence, though apparently intelligent enough to speak, as they have a primitive language. They do not perform much work, and in the book and 1960 film when Weena falls into the river, none of the Eloi help her.

While one initially has the impression that the Eloi people live a life of play and toil-less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are attending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends cattle; the Morlocks use the Eloi for food. This is why there are no old people, and why the Eloi seem to fear the dark.

We are given a portion of the equation from the 'talking rings from george pal's time machine. 

Yet the 'Time Machine' itself gives further evidence that this is not the end of the Eloi 'modification'.
According to Wiki:

A portion of the book written for the New Review version, later published as a separate short story, reveals that a visit by the Time Traveler to the even further future results in his encountering rabbit-like hopping herbivores, apparently the descendants of the Eloi. They are described as being plantigrade (with longer hind legs) and tailless, being covered with straight greyish hair that "thickened about the head into a Skye terrier's mane", having human-like hands (described as fore feet) and having a roundish head with a projecting forehead and forward-looking eyes that were obscured by lank hair.

Once again we find ourselves looking at a post humanoid here. As I said in the last installment we find all kinds of post human races in the Nightlands. These rabbitoid Eloi are simply another variety of the product brand known as Eloi.

The eloi are simply a product for the Earth's masters who might have once been talked about by Charles Fort. We might call them' The Great Old Ones', The cosmic jokers, and a wide variety of names bottom line. We're property and the owners are coming back.

 

Weena is really the problem. She's a spot really. A throwback and a reject to boot. She goes against everything that the Morlocks want. She's curious, confident,brave, and just intelligent to survive. She also dies in different timelines. More information right HERE 

The Time Machine Itself and The Nightlands 

 The time machine was powered by the electrical properties of the large Tabetian cut crystal. The machine tied to the time space contiuum of the Earth itself.

This same tapping into the Earth's time space contiuum would later be used in the Nightland by William Hope Hodgeson. The time machine provides much of the use of the Earth Current in the Nightlands. 

Read more HERE 

According to Wiki : 

. The Sun has gone out and the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid,nearly eight miles high – the Last Redoubt, under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a Circle of energy, known as the "air clog," powered from a subterranean energy source called the "Earth Current". For millennia, vast living shapes—the Watchers—have waited in the darkness near the pyramid. It is thought they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness beyond, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human.

To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death, or worse an ultimate destruction of the soul. As the story commences, the narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of another, forgotten Lesser Redoubt. First one expedition sets off to succour the inhabitants of the Lesser Redoubt, whose own Earth Current has been exhausted,

 The morlocks and eloi are the first of the so called Abhumans. Again the Nightland provides more insight into their origins : 

The term "Abhuman" was used by Hodgson in The Night Land to name (apparently) several different species of intelligent beings evolved from humans who interbred with alien species or adapted to changed environmental conditions and were seen as decayed or malign by those living inside the Last Redoubt, who preserved artificially (to an unspecified extent) their human characteristics, though they were not fit for the new environmental conditions.

As I said the Eloi almost resemble the society in Logan's run. Both have no old or wise folks as leaders, both focus on the here and now, they have only remains of technology, and have forgotten much of what they know. Logan's world is another controlled society of cattle. 

All of the technology of these various timelines, Logan's Run, The Time Machine, and even the Nightland are all very regressive almost alien and weird. Why ? Because of the cycle of destruction and rediscovery wrought by the nuclear war, the winters, and loss of bits & pieces over the centuries.

 Treasure Houses of the Year AD 802,701,

The H.G. Wells book describes the landscape of the year 802,701 as dotted with various porclean green build ruins and gives a very detailed description of the so called 'Palace of Green Porclean'. A former museum that has appeared in many of my games as place where time travelers and dimensional travelers can equip themsleves with some of the weird technology of this era. Many of these porclean ruins may contain a few types of equipment common in the various retroclone rule books.
The morlocks and eloi have appeared in Nightlands in isolated valleys heated by valcanoic vents and engineering.Treasures in these locations have included the following random treasure table.
 1d10 Random Treasure Table 

1. Glass beads that are actually holoprojectors capable of displaying treasures and wonders of a forgotten age. Twenty percent chance they don't work after 1d4 hours. 
2. A pan of glass the size of a man't hand that will generate light and enough electricity to power a small room or device. 
3. A magnetically sealed jar containing nanites that are capable of acting as a mini home computer abet a very primitive one. Also capable of displaying primitive holograms as well with sound. 
4. A ligquid metal knife that has lost its shape appears to be a quick silver puddle on the floor. Extremely sharp and wicked looking when activated by a small electrical spark. There are four different configurations of the knife. 
5. A large metal pylon that is covered with worn writing on all sides. The thing will occassionally buzz or hum to itself and my play a small tune on cold nights. Other wise unremarkable. 
6. A set of twenty cubic dice like devices that are actually a primitive A.I. secrurity system that will do 1d4 points of damage to anyone crossing the blue green field tht connects these magnetically held beauties. 
7. A simgle silver sphere that will play back anything reflected in it when activated by singing an eloi song to it. It is also capable of projecting a sharp 1d6 damage current in a 30 foot arch every 9 hours when exposed to sun light. 
8. An eloi head coated in metal that is actually the download personality of an ancient eoli lord. It will answer 3 questions per day but become confused and dazed after those questions otherwise it ryhmes to itself in common. 
9. A silver bird that is actually a key to one of the most dangerous looking ruins nearby. 
10. A morlock tool set capable of opening any of the cages, doors, or structures the morlocks build. The metal of the tools is weak and brittle. So after 20 days they will corrode and break. 

All the Time in The World ~ A Review & Commentary On George Pal's Time Machine DVD For Your Old School Time Travel Campaign

Tempus Fugit, times flies and don't I know it. This past Thanksgiving holiday I was blessed to spend a week with my fiance. She brought me a gift in the form of a copy of one of the my most beloved movies, George Pal's Time Machine. As I write these words she's back in London and I'm sitting here writing about this film.
Here's some basic information on the film from Wiki : 

A 1960 science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man from Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future. The film stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux and Alan Young.

George Pal's  "The Time Machine" came out in 1960 to theaters but I saw it in 1980 on Channel 11 out of New York on the Million Dollar movie over my grand parents house on cable and became fascinated with time travel, H.G. Wells and all things George Pal. It was also the movie that got me to read the paper back that my father had given me back in 1975 when I was five years old.

This a used DVD from Warner Brother that comes with a digitally remastered copy of the Time Machine as well as the Dolby remixed stereo sound, and with the
comes with the 1993 behind the scenes documentary "The Time Machine The Journey Back" which made this package worth the price of admission right there.  This behind the scenes film stars Rod Tailor, Alan Young, Whit Bissell and many others.
 

 According to the Wiki Entry on The Time Machine The Journey Back: 

It was hosted by Rod Taylorand produced and directed by Clyde Lucas. The film was made about the Time Machine prop, not the movie, but during filming, Bob Burns surprised director Clyde Lucas by having Gene Warren, Sr. drop by. Warren, the award winning effects creator for the original movie, consented to an on-air in which he discussed creating the special effects for the film. This led to an with one of Warren's partners, Wah Chang, in Northern California. Chang and Warren shared more details about creating the effects and how the little Time Machine prop was made.

Lucas contacted the original screenwriter, David Duncan, who agreed to write a mini-sequel to George Pal's film. The mini-sequel reunited George (Rod Taylor) with Filby (Alan Young). Lucas first filmed Whit Bissell for the opening, recreating his role as Walter. It would be Bissell's last acting performance.

The film won a Saturn Award and a Telly Award. It was included as a "special feature" on the DVD for George Pal's film The Time Machine, released by Warner Bros. and was featured in Starlog Magazine.

You can find out more right at the series official site
HERE

The packaging is kitsch and garishly coloured as those wonderful 60's movie posters. The book sitting next to the DVD is featured in the documentary on the movie. I haven't seen the movie in over a year and I do confess that there were scenes in it that I had not remember seeing. 
The artifact rings featured in the movie are one of them. Another was 

 The Atomic wars of 1966 places the film in an alternative universe timeline and there is so much of the magic in the movie it really takes me back. The restored version is much crisper to the versions I've seen on VHS over the years. Pal really seems to hit the highlights of the Wells novel but definitely puts his own stamp on the cocepts. All in All I was quite pleased with the menus and the behind the scenes documentary. Its a really lovely package and if you haven't got it I recommend picking it up. 

One thing that I did notice was the attention to detail that Warner Brothers put into this one. You see its almost as if the graphics department 'got it' on this one!
The interior of the DVD features some great artwork as well. 

One part that I didn't remember were the 'Talking Rings'artifacts. These things would make a great inclusion in post apocalyptic campaign or a D&D science fantasy campaign

Using HG Wells Time Machine For Your Old School
Campaigns

 

You can download HG Wells The Time Machine 
HERE
 
For me George Pal's Time Machine and HG Wells have always been interwoven. The Morlocks have been a part of my gaming since I first started OD&D back in 1977. The Eloi and Morlock dynamic of technology cannibalism has also smacked of post apocalyptic gaming as well. 
 The film places itself squarely in an alternative universe with the on set of the Atomic Wars of the 1960's. These were a series of protracted wars stemming from a failed economic and political recover after 1945 as it spun into the post war years of the 50's and 60's. 
 There are many retroclone games which use the Morlocks these days. Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord have profiles on the beasts. 
The Morlocks have always smacked of Lovecraftian degeneration and weirdness. They've appeared in Call of Cthulhu and various Mythos related products as well. I've always felt that the  Timer Machine by Wells was a great sequel to the Nightlands by William Hope Hodgeson. Hodgeson's book has always seemed to be the future of the Morlocks and Eloi. A place where the Great Old Ones have risen and man's evolution has been tainted by the inheritance of the Outer Gods. The doorway was opened by the Morlocks and hell on Earth has resulted as the entire human race becomes one degenerate evolutionary nightmare as madness and mutation run wild.

 The trappings here are almost in the realm of the Gothic novel rather then the science fiction romances of Wells.  A rather useful article called TIME MACHINES GO BOTH WAYS available right HERE.
Many of these ideas were incorporated into a meta campaign using elements from many of the retroclones and Hodgeson's Nightlands. Much of the material also incorporated some of the elements from the Mutant Future Wiki articles on the Eloi.
Here
The Eloi have always bothered me in a way. They almost appear to be the too perfect product. Prepacked, pretty, and generally the perfect stock animal.This indicated genetic or artificial evolution.  When the Mutant Future article on The Morlocks hit it became clear both races did not evolve but were rather made.Read HERE
 So who created them and why is this biological dynamic in play? I've had PC's encounter isolated Eloi & Morlock subterranean domes ala Logan's Run. The PC's were surprised to find them worshiping the Great Old Ones.

The Morlocks have also appeared as enemies of the Derro from "I Remember Lemuria" competing for Eloi food stocks and human villages. The PC's were trying to recover artifacts from both races while avoid being killed at the same time.
Many of the buildings, ruins, and land marks are easily adaptable to any number of retroclones and once again remind me of the Last Redoubt from The Night Lands.
George Pal's wonderful film remains an incredible achievement and he always wanted to direct a sequal but died before it could be completed. 'The Time Machine The Journey Back' remains about as close as we're going to get.
Get the DVD if its not already in your collection.
This blog post is dedicated to my fiancee who not only encourages my hobby but continues to inspire me every day.