The Time Machine in Overdue Podcast

Jan 18, 2015 Melanie Fritz rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-reads, short-fiction

The Time Machine was certainly influential, I'll give Wells that. We would hardly find any reason to call a devise with which to travel through time anything but a time machine. It's also interesting to have a character other than the Time Traveler tell the story, and thereby giving it an intriguing frame. So I liked the beginning, and the ambiguous ending, one star for those. But the rest? No. The future that the Time Traveler visits is so far ahead (802,701 to be exact) that humankind has The Time Machine was certainly influential, I'll give Wells that. We would hardly find any reason to call a devise with which to travel through time anything but a time machine. It's also interesting to have a character other than the Time Traveler tell the story, and thereby giving it an intriguing frame. So I liked the beginning, and the ambiguous ending, one star for those. But the rest? No. The future that the Time Traveler visits is so far ahead (802,701 to be exact) that humankind has apparently de-evolved into two equally pitiable species: The childlike and utterly naive Eloi, and the blind, ape-like Morlock who live underground. This fable-like dichotomy seems very moralistic and overly simplistic (and yet it's still such a stable in much of YA-fantasy and Sci-Fi) and it begs the question why the Time Traveler is so convinced that there are no other kind of people around, despite the fact that the only spot on earth he visits is future London.

Apart from the question why comfort and leisure would automatically lead to a life of illiteracy and weakness, a life without ambition or art, or why the Morlock would be confined to darkness for such a long time to develop light-sensitive eyes, I had other problems, particularly with the protagonist.

Having the Time Traveler tell his story after his return to Victorian London means that we never have to worry about him whatsoever. Scenes that could have been very thrilling, e.g. when he tries to leave and is trapped by the Morlock, lose their danger because we already know he'll find a way out. I also really abhorred his relationship with Weena, who becomes his "friend" and seems very affectionate, kissing him and caring for him. At one point, he mentions planning to take his "little one" with him, despite the fact that a) she is too unknowing and childlike to give consent to such a plan and b) they have no way of communicating such a huge step properly, which would mean he'd simply take her to a completely different world, without a regard for her well-being.

So, I'm still thankful for H.G.Wells' exploration into time travel because it laid the groundwork for a lot of excellent Science-Fiction today, but I won't go out of my way to recommend this particular work.
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