In the film, he comes late for dinner, out of breath, haggard, torn clothes, etc. Why is this? HE IS IN A TIME MACHINE, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! How hard would have been for him to come back an hour earlier, take a nap, a shower, and be there in time for his friends? Just askin'.
shareWell considering he just got beaten up by a bunch of Morlocks who wanted to eat him and all else that he's been through. I'm not surprised he just wanted to rush back home and barge right in on them lol. I don't think he really took time to think.
The effect of the story would have been dulled if he took time between the events and the retelling. He knew he was meeting his friends at a specific date and time, and arrived so the story in his mind was still fresh....and for dramatic effect.
shareMaybe because saving the future was the focus of his thoughts, not appearing to be fresh and odor-free!
Yeah, he was just anxious to get back home as quickly as possible. In the book, the same thing happens only he does actually excuse himself to freshen up before recounting the events of the future.
shareThis bothered me at first as well when watching the film.
I believe a combination of factors lead to him making that entrance:
As stated, he was not thinking entirely clearly. He was wounded and
disoriented. The dinner date with his friends probably stood out
in his mind and he focused on that.
He was also impatient, as is evidenced by his hurried use of the
machine rather than carefully planning his journey. Being impatient,
he would not want to wait around to see his friends to tell his
amazing story.
Finaly, perhaps he was so injured he knew he would need some
assistance, possibly medical attention, so he focused on meeting
his friends (at least one doctor present), the only aid he could
be sure to find quickly.
Thats how I rationalize it, myself.
I agree with the OP. I just saw this film again after many years and noticed this for the first time. When he has lost the machine (the Elois have stolen it) and feels he is stuck in the future, he comments to Weena that he is already late for his dinner engagement with his friends. Absurd. Of course, he could go back to the day he first met with them, so that there would have been no perception that he was "missing". As his friend comments at the very end, "He's got all the time in the world."
shareUm, the Morlocks stole the machine--not the Eloi.
Of course I'm sure he was thinking, "I want my friends to believe my story. How do I go about that? I know. I'll go back to the day before I was going to meet them so they can think I'm crazy and have me committed."
Requiescat in pace, Krystle Papile.
I'll always miss you.
You're right; I confused the Morlocks and Eloi.
I have to admit that I don't understand the rest of your comment at all. My point was that, assuming he could go back in time at all (that he got his machine back), it makes no sense at all to say he is late for his meeting with his friends. He was thousands of years in the future, so that IS pretty late, but, the time machine would allow him to make his appointment.
When he does get it back, I still fail to understand why he goes back to the exact time of his planned meeting with his friends, even making himself a bit late. Wouldn't it have made more sense to go back the night before, get cleaned up, get some rest, etc., then figure out what to say to them when they meet. Perhaps he just couldn't wait to see and talk to them. I don't know. How would going back to the day before he was meant to meet them cause them to "think [he's] crazy and have [him] committed"?
How would going back to the day before he was meant to meet them cause them to "think [he's] crazy and have [him] committed"?
I didn't think of it before, but when you're targeting a precise hour of a certain day from a distance of 800,000 years. I'd say getting within a few hours was pretty darn accurate.
... and the rocks it pummels.
- James Berardinelli
there's a few signs that the time traveler didn't think about the consequences of time travel much, if at all.
there's the announcement that he would take a week and report about his journey at their next meeting. i think he even cuts the first meeting short to get under way.
then when you think about it, while it's understandable that he was eager to get away, there was no need make a week's journey to get back the next week. he could even have said "give me a couple minutes and i'll tell you where and when, and for how long, i've been."
though this "have to travel back the same amount of time as traveled forth" (or vice versa) is a common concept in time travel stories.
but then, "the time machine" isn't a typical time travel story to begin with. there's no "interaction" between past and future, nor the usual intent to correct mistakes before they are made. it's basically just a voyage to a far away place, encountering an alien culture. the same basic story could be told by going to a world far away in space rather than time. or maybe to a parallel universe, where human evolution differs from ours.
I did not save the boy, God did. I only CARRIED him.share
Your last paragraph illustrates a similar notion of mine, that in the movie time is like an actual fourth dimension, one which you can move through to get to other places - future places.
What I want to know is why did he immediately head back? He couldn't have just relaxed, take a day or two to recuperate, maybe plan his return trip a bit more? Was he that anxious to start rebuilding a society thousands of years in the future? Jeez, talk about a project that can wait.
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