This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It is so daring, it is so ambitious, it is so thrilling and weird and pointed and powerful. I never knew where it was going.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Apparently this is based on HG Wells The Time Machine but one can't help wondering if the producers read another book with the same title ? Perhaps some of the commentators here also read that book because as someone who did read Wells original novel I can state without any embarrassment and reservation that the first half of this TVM has absolutely nothing in common with the book except for a vague premise of having someone building a time machine The story takes place in a contemporary setting where a Soviet satellite falls out of orbit and threatens Los Angles and scientist Neil Perry saves the day but coming to the conclusion that because there's too many people in the control room their body heat is interfering with the missile sent up to destroy the satellite . Does this make sense ? The lack of credibility is exaggerated by casting John Beck as Perry since he looks like a 70s porn star , think of John Holmes with a sensible haircut and you've got the idea Some military type then takes Perry side and asks him what he's done with the $20 million dollars he's received from the government and you can't blame him because if you' look like a porn star and flirt with a secretary old enough to be your grandmother you might have the instinctive fear that it's been blown on cocaine . Thankfully Porno Perry has invested it all in to a time machine which he's just tried out I might have to re-read the book but I'm pretty certain that in the original novel the protagonist didn't get tied to the stake by 17th century puritans and almost burned alive . The puritans were considerate enough to have Perry sit in his machine while the flames take hold so he's able to literally use his head to escape . I had thought for a moment Porno Perry might have used another part of his anatomy to use his controls but this is an American TVM so no offence is allowed - except offending anyone who has read the book It's not Perry's day however because he soon finds himself caught up in the California gold rush , imprisoned and escapes town while there's a gunfight between good guys and bad guys . It's at this point you think the only bad guys in the world are the people who produced this aberration of literature claiming it's based upon a novel by the most influential writer of the 20th Century . We're now half way through the TVM and there's not been one single scene that has been taken directly from the book Thankfully Perry now travels in to the future where he gets involved with the Eloi and Molochs thereby showing at long last showing at long last why this travesty might owe anything to HG Wells and in keeping with the rest of the TVM it's bland and uninvolving replacing Darwinian subtext with pacifist agitprop Some people may claim the 1960 and 2002 movie versions did change Wells text to a large degree but this was justified . Both films were highly entertaining and the 1960 version especially had lots of charm along with Rod Taylor's time traveler being disgusted as to what mankind had become , he was still recognizably a Wellsian character . Here however we're watching a very cheap and charmless production with not very good actors slumming it in a script devoid of any intellect . Wells must have been turning in his grave and this is possibly the worst film adaptation of any book brought to screen

I had to post a comment about this adaptation of The Time Machine after reading the very harsh review by "Anonymous" from Sacramento.This 1978 version was never intended as a remake to the 1960 version; in the 1960 film, MGM took a lot of liberties with the original book material, and in fact this version is a much more faithful adaptation of the book, and much closer to HG Wells' vision.Whereas the 1960 version had a number of "key events" included that were not actually in the book at all, and also several key issues omitted, this version largely stays true to the book in all aspects.While John Beck is not as confident or assured (or even as "arrogant") in his role as Rod Taylor, his more laid-back performance is far more reminiscent of the Time Traveller from the book than Taylor's. A couple of other famous faces (including the John A. Doucette, Priscilla Barnes and even Whit Bissell, who also starred in the 1960 version, are all pleasant enough in their supporting roles.The effects are not brilliant, but then this was a cheap budget production made in the Star Wars era, so in comparison there was no way the effects were ever going to match up with productions from the likes of MGM or 20th Century Fox for that time! In short, while nothing special, and not as entertaining as the 1960 version, this 1978 adaptation is not absolutely disastrous either.When it comes to accurately depicting HG Wells' original book, the 1960 "Time Machine" film is the weaker version, not this one

A power outage kept me from seeing more than half of this on ABC (American Broadcasting Network). I remember the hero being burned, presumably as a witch though that punishment was reserved for heretics. Sure, it didn't stick to the original novel, which I have read in two different forms; so what. I kept hoping it would be shown again. Maybe someone has uploaded the video.I made the mistake of asking ABC for help in finding their eight-episode series PROBE (1988) starring Parker Stevenson (previously of THE HARDY BOYS) and Ashley Crow (currently of HEROES). They disavowed any knowledge of its existence; the show was a victim of a writers' strike. I never bothered to ask about this movie.

The 1960 film is so wonderful. Why would they remake it so badly?The effects aren't perfect in the original Film, but they are a hundred times worse in the TV movie.The actors are annoying.The costumes on the Morlocks are amazingly just as bad as the worst sci-fi flicks of the 50's.Sorry if you like this movie. I just think it's awful.