![]() ![]() ![]() The occasional people who lovingly restored the Time Traveler's seat, the control panel, or the brass railings showed the devotion and resourcefulness of custodians of a holy relic. Over the years it was dismembered, auctioned, sold, damaged, and neglected by a variety of owners. The studio, not realizing the icon they had, did little to preserve the Machine. The truth revealed in _The Journey Back_ is a little sad, but also moving. I had always assumed that like the life-creating lab equipment used in James Whale's _Frankenstein_, it had been bought by a wealthy fan for a private collection, or that it was in a film museum somewhere. I wondered what had become of the Machine, who owned it. I always loved the movie and in particular the Time Machine itself: what a wonderful design! It was surprising but somehow fitting that the sled concept came from George Pal's childhood memories of winter fun. This is not just a documentary about a movie, it's a celebration of science fiction and the sub-genre as a whole, as well as the deep friendships that are often formed during and after their production. Rod Taylor hosts the documentary, and tells some wonderful stories about making the movie as well as cast and crew reunions years later, and pays his respects to the late George Pal. The film details the restoration of the time machine, and talks about how it appeared in later films like World Without End and The Wizard of Speed and Time, neither of which I can find anywhere. At one point it was lost for several years, only to turn up badly damaged at a thrift store in southern California. There is a lot of time spent in the documentary talking about the design of the original time machine, as well as various thing that happened to it after post production, which are pretty interesting. Too bad he didn't just go back to 1899 so Filby wouldn't have had to wonder all those years. George has traveled into the future, lived there for 30 years, and then returned to 30 years after the original story took place to meet up with his old friend and tell him about where he has been. In this documentary, Rod Taylor and Alan Young, who played George and Filby, respectively, are reunited after not having seen each other for more than 30 years, and they reprise their characters in a wonderful new scene. The 1960 version of the Time Machine ended with the suggestion that George traveled back into the distant future to continue to try to help the Eloi escape the oppression of the Morlocks. One of the things that I really love about the topic of time travel is the possibilities that it entails for stories. ![]()
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