First published in 1895, It is a short(ish) story about an inventor in the 19th Century who tells the story of his journey through time to a group of his dinner guests which include a journalists, a doctor and a scientists. The inventor, never named in the book and referred to 'The Time Traveller' claims that he has travelled in a machine built by himself into the 802,000th Century, where the earth is almost unrecognisable.As the story goes on, it becomes apparent that humans have evolved into two different races; the Eloi, which are unintelligable, short people with no ambition who are being preyed on by a pale-underground ape-like race of creatures repelled by light, named Morlocks who feed on Eloi flesh.
The traveller's machine is taken by this underground race, leading to the rest of his account being about how he steals it back and returns to his own time. Throughout the book, the inventor ponders many different ways that this world has been gradually created from the past as well as trying to discover where he is in relation to his home.
I thought the book was good, until I watched the 2002 film of the same name, then I thought the book was great.The film, was bloody awful. It stars Guy Pierce as an inventor named Alexander Hartdegen who tries to change the past after his Fiance is killed by a mugger, after realising he cannot change the events of the past he goes forward into the future to find another way to save her.
This results in him being stranded in the 802,000th century, where the Murlocks take his machine and he is left with the Eloi (Who despite the book, can speak English, are the same size of him and are intelligent beings). He never returns home, as he uses his machine as a weapon to kill the Murlock's and save the Eloi people, making the film a huge-load of redundant tosh with a typical Hollywood ending, where the inventor falls in love with an Eloi and stays in the future.
There were many things put in the film that weren't in the book (Such as the digital museum curator who survives throughout the ages) but one of these was a point where the traveller stops on the way to the Eloi-century to find the moon is falling out of orbit towards the earth. He then sees a apocalyptic view of New York before continuing on his journey.
Also in my massive pile of booksto read was 'The Day of the Triffids'. I finished reading it yesterday (Just in-time for the BBC's modern remake last night) and thought it was fantastic, I will post that up next.
Not sure which version of the film has this ending but in one of them, there is like a split screen showing the same place but showing two different scenes in a different time interwoven with each other.
I hate watching this bit, because I have experience this when I went to visit where I lived up to when I was 17, only 13 years later. The result is that you immediately think you are back in the same time wher you left off (in my case 1981) but are quickly and rudely awackened by being catapulted back to the present (in which case thsi was 1993). Its not a pleasant feeling at all, and I did not like it, because I could visualise everything just like the closing scene in the time machine, when the location is the same, but in two different time zones.
Andy.