TIME MACHINE II
by George Pal and Joe Morhaim
DELL sf book paperback, USA 1981, 176 pages
Cover art by unknown artist 1980

Book coverText on the backside of the book

WITH EACH STEP INTO THE FUTURE; HE RISKED SURVIVAL IN THE PAST....

Somewhere far in the future an eccentric inventor radied his craft to travel back to his own country and time - back to a gaslit Victorian England. With him was Weena, his gentle wife, about to give birth any moment.

They almost succeeded....

Christopher Jones was born in the London Blitz. He never knew his parents - until fate happened to hand him, quite literally, a key. He knew then that he must follow his father into the frightening worlds of the future. He must warn them not to return. They must not die...though it meant, perhaps, that he might never live!

 

Dramatis personae

Mr Cristopher Jones - scientist
Mr. H. George Wells - inventor, Christopher's unknown father
Weena -
the Eloi woman, Christopher's unknown mother

Mr. Pem Haversham - Scotland Yard inspector
Mr. James Filby - son of David Filby (George Wells's friend)
Mrs. Raymond - James Filby's housekeeper
The Elder - an old man, leader of the tribe
Tia - a young woman

Aba - a young man
A crippled old man
An ambulance driver and his wife
, a nun, Eloi people and more ...

 

My review

It starts with an intriguing prologue (read the original George Pal suggestion of it here!) and then with Christopher Jones unaware of the fact that James Filby is seeking him, because he saw Christopher's parents die. And when Chris is aware of how his parents died and where, then the real plot begins as described of the backside of the book.

The rendezvous betveen Chris and his father in year 802701, is interesting because (logically) George does not have (yet) a son, and it is almost impossible for Chris to convince him. And George is a real curmudgeon - unlike in the George Pal film - and this is somehow explained when Chris travels more than one million years into the future and he discovers that mankind is dying out in a hostile environment with giant insects and then the novel turns into a sort of an action-film with interesting weapons ...

But there are unexplained things. According to the George Pal film, there is an atomic war in 1966 - but Chris is starting from 28 April 1971! Did the catastrophe of Chris's parents also prevent the 1966 atomic war? And why is not the future altered then? George and Weena is still there in year 802701! The book talks about different, parallel worlds in the end, but do not explain the existing facts. And according to the George Pal film it is the 1966 atomic war that creates the world of the Eloi and Morlocks ...

I liked this book due to its culture shock between the son and the father, and the description how Christopher found the old Time Machine and also for the suggestive final chapter and epilogue - but remember: this book is a sequel to the George Pal film, not the H. G. Wells book! Read it if you like films as The Time Machine (1960), The Time Machine (2002), Time After Time (1979) and Back to the Future (1985) ...
As a sequel to the original George Pal film:
As a sequel to the original H.G. Wells novel:

Sandra Petojevic, Master of Arts in Art History and Visual studies, August 27, 2005

 

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