Time Machine: The Journey Back

Last updated
Time Machine: The Journey Back
Directed byClyde Lucas
Written byBunky Young
David Duncan
Produced byClyde Lucas
Starring
Cinematography7th Voyage Productions Inc.
Hazie Spiegel
Steven Spieldal
Music byClyde Lucas
John Massari
Distributed by Turner Program Services(original)
Warner Bros. (current)
Release date
  • 1993 (1993)
Running time
48 minutes
Country United States
LanguageEnglish

Time Machine: The Journey Back is a combination documentary short-sequel to George Pal's 1960 film The Time Machine , hosted by Time Machine star Rod Taylor and produced and directed by Clyde Lucas. The film was produced in 1993 for airing on PBS stations.

Contents

The film's first section is about the time machine prop from The Time Machine, not the film itself, and includes interviews with Academy Award-winner special effect creators Wah Chang and Gene Warren. In its second section, Michael J. Fox sits in the time machine prop and talks about his experience with the DeLorean sports car time machine from the 1985 film Back to the Future . In the film's final section (written by The Time Machine screenwriter David Duncan), Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Whit Bissell reprise their roles from the original 1960 film.

History

During filming of Time Machine: The Journey Back, Bob Burns III surprised director Clyde Lucas by having Gene Warren drop by. Warren, the award-winning effects creator for the original movie, consented to an on-air interview in which he discussed creating the special effects for the film. This led to an interview 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 classic. The mini-sequel featured Whit Bissell's last acting performance.

The Time Machine "sequel"

The mini-sequel reunited George (Rod Taylor) with Filby (Alan Young) in a scene set during the first world War just before Filby (now a senior officer in the British Army) is to leave for France. George, knowing that Filby is destined to die on May 15, 1916, in a plane crash on the coast of France, attempts unsuccessfully to convince Filby to join him in time travel to the future instead, and mentions having spent many wonderful years with Weena the Eloi, but Filby refuses to join George in time travel, and then leaves. The scene ends with George alone meditating out loud about the possibility of travelling to the day before Filby's death in order to attempt a rescue again. Lucas first filmed Whit Bissell for the opening, recreating his role as George's friend and colleague Walter Kemp, this time in 1932, reminiscing about his friend, the inventor, whom no one has seen for 32 years.

Awards

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 .

In July 2014, Warner Bros. released both the film and the documentary on Blu-ray Disc. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Time Machine</i> 1895 science fiction novel by Herbert George Wells

The Time Machine is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device.

<i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> 1957 film by Jack Arnold

The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 American science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold based on Richard Matheson's 1956 novel The Shrinking Man. The film stars Grant Williams as Scott and Randy Stuart as Scott's wife Louise. While relaxing on a boat, Scott is enveloped by a strange fog. Months later, he discovers that he appears to be shrinking. By the time Scott has reached the height of a small boy, his condition becomes known to the public. When he learns there is no cure for his condition, he lashes out at his wife. As Scott shrinks to the point he can fit into a doll house, he has a battle with his family cat, which leaves him lost and alone in his basement, where he is now smaller than the average insect.

<i>Return of the Jedi</i> 1983 American film directed by Richard Marquand

Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who was also the executive producer. The sequel to Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), it is the third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy, the third film to be produced, and the sixth chronological film in the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Taylor</span> Australian actor (1930–2015)

Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).

<i>The Time Tunnel</i> American science fiction television series

The Time Tunnel is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and was released by 20th Century Fox Television and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes from 1966 to 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Young</span> British actor (1919–2016)

Alan Young was a British and American actor, comedian, and radio and television host, whom TV Guide called "the Charlie Chaplin of television". His notable roles include Wilbur Post in the television comedy Mister Ed (1961–1966) and voicing Disney's Scrooge McDuck for over 40 years, first in the 1974 Disneyland Records album An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players. This was followed by the Academy Award-nominated short film Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and then in various other films, TV series and video games up until his death. During the 1940s and 1950s, Young starred in his own variety-comedy sketch shows The Alan Young Show on radio and television, the latter gaining him two Emmy Awards in 1951. He also appeared in a number of feature films, starting from 1946, including the 1960 film The Time Machine and from the 1980s gaining a new generation of viewers appearing in numerous Walt Disney Productions films as both an actor and voice actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wah Chang</span> American designer (1917–2003)

Wah Ming Chang was an American designer, sculptor, and artist. With the encouragement of his adoptive father, James Blanding Sloan, he began exhibiting his prints and watercolors at the age of seven to highly favorable reviews. Chang worked with Sloan on several theatre productions and in the 1940s, they briefly created their own studio to produce films. He is known later in life for his sculpture and the props he designed for Star Trek: The Original Series, including the tricorder and communicator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whit Bissell</span> American character actor (1909–1996)

Whitner Nutting Bissell was an American character actor.

Prehysteria! is a series of three family monster comedy films made in the early to mid-1990s about the adventures of five miniature baby dinosaurs named after famous pop musicians. The dinosaurs were Elvis, a male Tyrannosaurus, Paula, a female Brachiosaurus, Jagger, a male Stegosaurus, Hammer, a male Chasmosaurus, and Madonna, a female Geosternbergia. The films were made by Moonbeam Entertainment, the family-oriented sub-brand of B-movie producer Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment. Richard Band, Michael Bishop, and Fuzzbee Morse composed the music for the films.

James Danforth is an American stop-motion animator, known for model-animation, matte painting, and for his work on When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), a theme-sequel to Ray Harryhausen's One Million Years B.C. (1967). He later went on to work with Ray Harryhausen on the film Clash of the Titans (1981) to mainly do the animation of the winged horse Pegasus.

<i>Atlantis, the Lost Continent</i> 1961 film

Atlantis, the Lost Continent is a 1961 American science fiction film in Metrocolor produced and directed by George Pal and starring Sal Ponti, Joyce Taylor, and John Dall. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>The Time Machine</i> (1960 film) 1960 film by George Pal

The Time Machine is a 1960 American period post-apocalyptic science fiction film based on the 1895 novella of the same name by H. G. Wells. It was produced and directed by George Pal, and stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, and Alan Young. The story is set in Victorian England and follows an inventor who constructs a machine that enables him to travel into the distant future. Once there, he discovers that mankind's descendants have divided into two species, the passive, childlike, and vegetarian Eloi and the underground-dwelling Morlocks, who feed on the Eloi.

<i>Jumanji</i> 1995 film directed by Joe Johnston

Jumanji is a 1995 American urban fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain, based on the 1981 children's picture book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film is the first installment in the Jumanji film series. It stars Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth. The story centers on a supernatural board game that releases jungle-based hazards upon its players with every turn they take.

<i>Lost Continent</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Sam Newfield

Lost Continent is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction film drama from Lippert Pictures, produced by Jack Leewood, Robert L. Lippert, and Sigmund Neufeld, directed by Sam Newfield, that stars Cesar Romero, Hillary Brooke, Whit Bissell, Sid Melton, Hugh Beaumont and John Hoyt.

Gene Warren Sr. was born in Denver, Colorado, and won an Academy Award for the special effects on George Pal's The Time Machine in 1960. He also contributed to such projects as The Way of Peace (1947), Land of the Lost (1974), Man from Atlantis, and The Crow: City of Angels.

David Duncan was an American screenwriter and novelist.

<i>The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal</i> A 1985 documentary film about George Pal

The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal is a 1985 American documentary film about Academy Award-winning producer/director George Pal. It was written, directed, and produced by Arnold Leibovit.

<i>The War of the Worlds</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by Byron Haskin

The War of the Worlds is a 1953 American science fiction film directed by Byron Haskin, produced by George Pal, and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It is the first of several feature film adaptations of H. G. Wells' 1898 novel of the same name. The setting is changed from Victorian era England to 1953 Southern California.

The George Pal Memorial Award is presented each year, by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, in conjunction with their annual Saturn Award ceremony. The award is given to those who have shown exemplary work in the respective film genres. It is named in honor of George Pal, a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre.

The 20th Saturn Awards, presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy, and horror belonging to genre fiction in film, television and home video in 1993, were held on October 20, 1994.

References