MovieChat Forums > The Time Machine (1960) Discussion > So, why didn't the nuclear bomb kill him...

So, why didn't the nuclear bomb kill him?

posted 10 years ago by bctelecom
10 replies | jump to latest

Everybody was going to the fall out shelters and he stayed on the surface when the bomb went off but did not get a scratch

[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 10 years ago

Everybody was going to the fall out shelters and he stayed on the surface when the bomb went off but did not get a scratch

Because folks at that period of time believed that nuclear warfare was survivable, given one took certain precautions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxGmk1Zm5A

Realistically, the heat flash should have killed or severely injured George, and the EMP wave resulting from the blast should have rendered the Time Machine inoperable. Even assuming he got away as he does in the film, he would have suffered the effects of profound radiation exposure. Incapacitated by weakness, fever, chills, vomiting and diarrhea, he would have passed away in 802,701 CE, without ever being able to return.

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] Strazdamonas 9 years ago

based on radioation exposure data we have from the Japan bombs and Chernobyl, the 1 day that he spent in the future would not been fast enough to kill him and he likely would have returned suffering only the primary symptoms yet.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 9 years ago

based on radioation exposure data we have from the Japan bombs and Chernobyl, the 1 day that he spent in the future would not been fast enough to kill him and he likely would have returned suffering only the primary symptoms yet.

In the book, the Time Traveler stays in 802,701 for a week. In the film, it's at least three days stationary (possibly more), with an indeterminate amount of time traveling and stopping at different points.

§« https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhG6uc7fN0o »§

[–] Strazdamonas 9 years ago

I read the book so long ago i dont remmeber, so fair enough. In the movie however we see him arrive in the evening, meet Morlocks during the night and destroy their lair the next morning. It is uncertain how long he stayed until he got to access his time machine again, but its very possible that it was mere hours given that the Sphinx was still burning. So he has spent, at best, around 24-36 hours.

He did not make intermediary stops on his way back.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

[–] doginstine 8 years ago

Auh, the book was written long before the A bomb was developed.

[–] agentexeider 9 years ago

In the book it's explained that the time machine's presence in any one moment is so minuscule that the effects out side are barely felt, so speeding through 100 or even 1000 years of radiation would be easy and his exposure minimal. In fact the traveller realized this when him and the machine are buried and he lights a match to see and create some kind of warmth. He realized that he could stop to go back lest he materialize inside solid rock and there fire had to wait it out.

The same effect would apply in regards to radiation.

The part that irked me was when the bomb went off when he was outside the machine and all it did was knock him down. That I believe is where the previous posters response applies then.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KobiyashiMauru 8 years ago

This one is EASY to answer. The correct answer is that there was no nuclear explosion on London on August 19, 1966! So no kill. 💂🙌

Luke Skywalker, your Mom was hawt! Darth Vader

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] VidaBoheme 8 years ago

Maybe there was a protective "force field" that encompassed George and the machine for a brief period of time? Much like the protection he experiences when traveling, maybe he and the machine are not fully immersed in the new time period right away, so there wouldn't be an effect? I know it's a stretch, but it's all I've got!