MovieChat Forums > Time After Time (1979) Discussion > Time + distance?

Time + distance?

posted 11 years ago by jamieleng
5 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen this film but I thought the time machine in Wells' fiction only travelled in time & did not move from its spot?

I used to have the Willem Dafoe living under my bed.

[–] sisterdebmac 11 years ago

It's called time & space, not time & distance. And they are inextricably linked. Read some Einstein. Also, it's just a sweet little adventure/romance movie. No one ever said it was meant to be a science lesson. And it is NOT based on Wells' social commentary novel, The Time Machine. It is based on a short story by Karl Alexander, using Wells as a character and imagining that he actually invented a time machine --- and just happened to know the man who was secretly Jack the Ripper. Don't think too much, just watch and enjoy. It's great fun.
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[–] jamieleng 11 years ago

Thanks for the clarification. I'd never heard of this movie before, which after typing the title into YouTube (to see if it had been uploaded there) found out BTTF3 pays homage to it by casting Mary Steenburgen as a woman who meets a time traveller.

I used to have the Willem Dafoe living under my bed.

[–] wetcamelfood 9 years ago

He never moved it. The only reason it was in SF was because others moved it there years later for the exhibit.

[–] avilos 9 years ago

True, the sign in the museum says it was recovered in London 2 or 3 years earlier.

But that raises the question of why Wells did not arrive with it. The Time Machine moves with whomever is riding in it. Only explanation is there was some kind of malfunction when
he blacks out during his journey.

[–] jschillig 9 years ago

I think it has something to do with the time zones. H.G. murmurs, "Of course! Eight hours' difference!" Because the arrival was eight hours off (and presumably, was for Jack as well), the rotation of the earth must have meant that S.F. was in the same position as London had been.