Blog Archives

Twilight Zone (Time Travel)

3/30/2015

Next Stop Willoughby

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”

Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone was arguably the best TV series to ever be broadcast. Its stories, mostly written by Serling himself continue to stand up today.

It has been reported that Rod Serling was afraid of the dark. In turn, he made us all a little afraid. He and I shared one major interest, time travel. I compiled a list of all the Twilight Zone episodes dealing with this subject. Throughout its five seasons, I counted 19 episodes containing time travel stories.

The original Planet of the Apes. In 1968, the secret and surprise was that it WAS indeed time travel.

Rod Serling also co-wrote The Planet of the Apes (1968) and a made-for-TV movie in 1976 called The Time Travelers. The latter aired after his death which was in 1975. The characters are loosely based on the original Irwin Allen TV series, The Time Tunnel (1966). An interesting fact. The Time Travelers was about two travelers who are on a mission and end up in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This movie came out after my original fantasy about the same subject. That fantasy would later become Katya and Cyrus Time Pilgrims. I always stated that Rod Serling just beat me to it.

This poster says it was unaired, but it did indeed air as a made for TV movie in 1976.

One of the better time travel Twilight Zone episodes was called, A Stop at Willoughby. It aired in 1959 in Season 1. In it an advertising executive is fed up with his “Push Push Push” life. While on the train ride home, he falls asleep and dreams of the train pulling into a utopian town in the late 1800s called Willoughby.

In my last blog post, I wrote about the Jack Finney TV movie called The Love Letter. The producers of that film gave homage to the made up town of Willoughby. (Even though there is a real Willoughby, Ohio)

In the year 2000, a film aired on the Lifetime network called For All Time. It was a remake of Rod Serlings, A Stop at Willoughby. Rod Serling is given credit for being the writer, while the teleplay was written by Vivienne Radkoff. What Radkoff did was expand the half hour Twilight Zone episode into a great full length time travel movie.

For All Time starred Mark Harmon, Mary McDonnell and Catherine Hicks. The actors were fantastic in this film, especially Mary McDonnell. There is a scene where Mark Harmon’s character, Charles Lattimer tells Laura Brown (McDonnell) that he is married. (He hadn’t revealed that his wife wasn’t even born yet) The emotion coming from her face and body was so real and moving. What a fine actress she is.

Mark Harmon also did a great job in the film as the bored executive who becomes obsessed with the old town (they renamed it Summerville for this movie) and with Laura Brown.

Catherine Hicks plays his modern day wife who is not nearly as terrible as the wife in Serling’s original episode. I also wrote about Hicks in another blog post, who played in Peggy Sue Got Married and Star Trek IV (The Voyage Home).

Unfortunately, For All Time is not available for purchase anywhere. I have a burned copy obtained years ago which had been recorded off the Lifetime Movie channel.

NOTE: This film has since been released and is available. {LINK}

The Time Travelers is available on volume 2 of the complete DVD set of The Time Tunnel.

Here is the list of all time travel related Twilight Zone episodes. Note: All are written by Rod Serling except where noted. Out of the 19 episodes, 3 were written by Richard Matheson, author of Somewhere in Time. See my Blog post.

Season 1
Walking Distance
Judgement Night
The Last Flight (Written by Richard Matheson)
Execution
A Stop at Willoughby

Season 2
A Most Unusual Camera
Back There
Odyssey of Flight 33
Static (Written by Charles Beaumont)
A Hundred Yards over the Rim
The Rip Van Winkle Caper

Season 3
Once Upon a Time (Written by Richard Matheson)
Showdown with Rance McGrew
Young Man’s Fancy (Written by Richard Matheson)

Season 4
No Time Like the Past
Of Late I Think of Cliffordville
The Incredible World of Horace Ford (Written by Reginald Rose)

Season 5
A Kind of Stopwatch
The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms

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Jack Finney – The Love Letter and more Time Travel

3/23/2015

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In an earlier blog post, I wrote before about how Richard Matheson’s, Somewhere in Time greatly influenced my own writing in the time travel genre. Well it’s time to meet the man who influenced Richard Matheson, and myself as well. Jack Finney’s best work was in time travel. But like Matheson, he started off writing horror stories. Finney’s most famous story was, The Body Snatchers, which was made into a number of movie versions, including, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and (1978), Body Snatchers (1998) and most recently, The Invasion (2007) with Nicole Kidman.

Jack Finney – Time and Again

Even though Jack Finney was most famous for The Body Snatchers, he wrote many time travel stories and invented the idea of traveling in time without using a time machine, but rather concentration and self-hypnosis. This is the technique used by Matheson in Somewhere in Time and myself in Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66) and the Time Pilgrim series. I added one element to mine and that is the use of water. Water is the one substance that has been here since the earth began, in all time periods. Not new water, the same water. Matheson was so influenced by Jack Finney that he named the college professor who describes the time travel technique, Finney in the movie version of Somewhere in Time.

Jack Finney’s most celebrated time travel story is, Time and Again. This 1970 novel is genius. His time traveler is a man named Simon Morley who lives in New York City and works for a secret government project. He ends up making his time jump from the famous Dakota apartment building because the structure would also exist in the past (1882). NOTE: Ten years after this book was published, John Lennon would live in this building and be killed in front of it.

What made this book even more unique was the character, Simon Morley brought a camera with him and his so-called actual photos adorned the pages as proof of his journey. He travels to many sites in 1892 New York City and describes the feelings of seeing them in their newness. Some places he visits don’t even exist anymore. Time and Again is a great book and should be read by everyone.

It was long rumored that Robert Redford was going to make a film version, but that never happened. However, in 2012 Lionsgate studios optioned the film rights to the novel, with Doug Liman set to direct and produce it. (Fingers crossed)

One of Finney’s time travel stories did make it to film. It was a short story he wrote for The Saturday Evening Post in 1959 called The Love Letter. It was made into a 1998 Hallmark Hall of Fame television film, directed by Dan Curtis and starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Elizabeth Whitcomb (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is living near Boston in 1863 and writes a letter addressing it to just "Dearest". She expresses her desire and hope to someday find someone to love with her whole heart and mind; or as she wrote it, "to feel a love that burns like fire in the moonlight." She places the letter in a secret compartment of her desk. In the year 1998, Scott Corrigan (Campbell Scott) buys the desk at a second-hand furniture store. While re-conditioning it, he finds the secret compartment and Elizabeth's letter. Beyond reason, he ends up, writing her back and they correspond back and forth, gaining a strong love bond between them.

It is a great time travel romance and uses the premise of two people writing back and forth across the time barrier via the same writing desk. This premise also influenced the 2006 film, The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. This was a remake of the 2000 South Korean film called, Il Mare. It is also similar to the 2000 Movie, Frequency with Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel, where father and son talk to each other across time via a short hand radio.

Jack Finney wrote many other time travel short stories which were released in various compilation books such as, I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (1963), About Time (1986), and Three by Finney (1987).

Shortly before he died in 1995, he finished the sequel to Time and Again, called, From Time to Time.

Jack Finney died of pneumonia and emphysema in Greenbrae, California at the age of 84. He was one of the greatest time travel authors the world will ever know.

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Joe Cosentino - Actor, Author, Professor and Genuine Nice Guy

3/16/2015

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Joe Cosentino: Actor in Time Travel Film, My Mother Was Never a Kid

In February, I did a blog post about an afterschool ABC special called My Mother Was Never a Kid. It was a wonderful time travel piece.

CLICK FOR ORIGINAL BLOG POST

I have been obsessed with this little film since it aired in 1981. As a result of that blog post, an actor from the film contacted me. The irony is we both have books released by the same publisher, Whiskey Creek Press, part of the Start Media family. His name is Joe Cosentino and he graciously offered to let me interview him.

Rachel Longaker (Cici) with Joe Cosentino (Ted Davis)

From: My Mother Was Never a Kid

Hi Joe.

Hello, Dennis.

First off, where are you from?
West New York, New Jersey. How hard was that to explain to people growing up? People weren’t sure if I meant New York or New Jersey. On the positive side, after a quick bus ride, I was in NYC.

It confused me too at first. Glad you explained it. Did your career start in NYC?Yes, I was very fortunate to live so close to one of the major entertainment centers in the world.

You reached out to me because of my blog post on a time travel film that you starred in, My Mother Was Never a Kid. How old were you when that was filmed?
I was in my twenties, but I looked young for my age so I was playing teenage roles on television. I wish that were true now!

(Laughs) I hear you. But you’re right, I thought you were a teen in that film. I was in my twenties when I watched it. Funny to think we were about the same age.
And now we have the same publisher.

What was it like filming that special?
We were flown to Toronto and put up in a quaint historic hotel. The moment I got there, I was swept off to learn how to drive that antique stick shift car. My hair was curled, and I was given clothes to wear from the 1940’s. We shot on a historic suburban street with lampposts and old homes, looking like a Norman Rockwell painting. The whole film was shot in one week.

Wow, one week to film the entire thing. That wouldn’t be the case today, would it?
Actually, it could still be the case today. The movie ran in a one-hour timeslot with commercials. One-hour episodic television today is shot in seven to twelve days for network television. It takes longer for pay cable television and feature films since they have bigger budgets. Since the scenes took place at night, we shot the scenes in the car on two overnights, staying up all night. In the novel, HANGIN’ OUT WITH CICI, my character, Ted Davis, in the present becomes the high school principal. I laughed when I read that. A few years later I played another seedy character, a Snitch for the police, for three days on the NBC-TV daytime drama, ANOTHER WORLD.

Rare photo of Joe Cosentino as Ted Davis from the My Mother Was Never a Kid set, from Joe's personal collection.

How long did it take to learn to drive that car?
After two afternoons of lessons, I was able to drive the car well enough for the shots in the film. I certainly was no expert, and thankfully I never again had to drive a stick shift antique car.

I, myself would love to own that car. I love things from the past, I guess that’s why I write time travel.

Joe Cosentino (Ted Davis) with Rachel Longaker (Cici) and Mary Beth Manning (Victoria Martin).

How did you end up landing the part?
The girl playing Cici and I had the same agent, Nancy Carson, who submitted me for the role. After an audition and callback in NYC, I got the good news. I heard later they had been auditioning for quite some time and weren’t happy with any of the guys they’d seen—until me!

It wouldn't have been the same without you.
I don’t remember if this was before Rachel Longaker (Cici) went onto fame with The Waltons.
This was after Rachel did The Waltons. So she was a bit of a celebrity at the time, though she was as friendly as can be to everyone.

I’m not asking for specifics, but were you happy with what they paid you for your role?
I received the standard Screen Actors Guild payment. I assume everyone did. Even though it was ABC, the budget for TV Afterschool Specials was not very high.

Rachel Longaker as Aimee Godsey from The Waltons.

I remember your character, Ted Davis. He drove a cool car, but was sort of an unsavory character to Cici and Victoria. You must be a good actor, because in real life, you’re the nicest guy. What was it like working with those two actresses? Do you still know them?
Up until this movie I had played many nerdy and bookish characters in TV commercials (including a Commercial Credit computer commercial with Jason Robards), industrials (including an AT&T industrial with Rosie O’Donnell), and indie movies. I was very much cast against type in this movie. I think that made it interesting, because the character, as I played him, was insecure and vulnerable on the inside yet acted tough and cool on the outside. My main memory is making the two girls laugh at my “tough-guy” character. They thought I was hysterically funny. Unfortunately I am not in touch with them, but I’m happy they are both doing well. If they read this, I’d love to hear from them.

The tough guy vulnerability came through. You are a fine actor.

Ted says to Cici. "Stupid broad."

"Get in."

The movie was set in the 1940s. What was it like on set, especially the scene at the dance?
The movie won a daytime EMMY Award for Best Design and one for Best Makeup. It deserved those wins. The production team did a great job with costumes, makeup, props, and shooting locations for authenticity. The scene at the dance was shot in the basement of a real home that was modified with furniture and props from the 1940’s. The extras were local teenage actors who thought I was a big celebrity.

I really enjoyed hearing these insights to a film I have loved since 1981. Thank you so much Joe, for giving this to me.
It was my pleasure to walk down memory lane with you.

Joe's last scene. Ted high tails it out of there when Cici falls off a trellis.

What were some of your other film acting roles?
I played a high school nerdy character in an indie film called WEST ORANGE COWBOY, a Martian in Woody Allen’s STARDUST MEMORIES, and I did many commercials.

You acted on stage as well as films. What plays were you in?
Off Broadway I played Rodo the Clown in a musical called CIRCUS, and Michael in a play called WITHOUT RESERVATIONS. In regional theatre I did A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM with Bruce Willis and ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT with Nathan Lane.

Joe Cosentino as Rodo the Clown from the musical called CIRCUS.

I love all those actors. Nathan Lane, really makes me laugh. Were they good guys to work with?
Rosie and Nathan were incredibly funny and quick witted. They were also very nice people. Though Bruce and I were quite different, he seemed to enjoy my sense of humor. Of course I haven’t seen any of them for many years now. Once they all read this, they will no doubt contact me immediately. (laughs)

Of course they will. As far as Bruce Willis is concerned. Your and my lifestyles are worlds apart as well, but we have some commonality and get along great.

Do you have any new acting jobs coming up?

The only acting I’ve done recently is local. Here’s a really funny short play I wrote and starred in, which is posted on You Tube. LINK. When my novels are made into movies (hopefully!), I want to play Simon Huckby (Jana’s agent) in PAPER DOLL, Mr. Ringwood (the high school principal) in AN INFATUATION, and Martin Anderson (the department head) in DRAMA QUEEN.
That play is funny.
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. Watching it still makes me laugh.

I'll tell you, Joe, I also have a dream of having my books made into movies. I never thought about acting in them though. Maybe that’s because I’m not an actor. (laughs) Okay, so since you’re in the movie scene, once a big time producer does your films, send him or her my way.
I was going to ask you to send a movie producer to me! (laughs) Okay, how about this? Any movie producers reading this, please contact both of us.

You are also an author. But before we get to your books, tell us about your other accomplishments. I understand you are a professor.
Since 1990 I have been a college professor teaching theatre. I really enjoy giving back and helping young people learn the craft of acting. It also keeps me feeling young. For the last nine years I have been department head as well.

I admire you for this.
Thank you. I am very fortunate to have such a fulfilling job that uses every ounce of my creativity.

You have a book released by the same publisher that published my Time Pilgrim series, Whiskey Creek Press, a Start Media company. Tell me about it.
The Jana Lane mystery/romance series starts with PAPER DOLL (released March 5) and will continue in six month intervals with PORCELAIN DOLL then SATIN DOLL.

Though not a time-travel book, the first book takes place in 1980 with flashback scenes to 1960. I had great fun bringing in events, music, and fashion from the 1980’s into the series. I’ve always loved old child stars like Hayley Mills, so this series is about an ex-child star. It has mystery, romance, humor, drama, and a shocking ending. I was also able to use my background in show business. I am thrilled at the extremely positive response I’ve gotten from readers who love the novel and can’t wait for books two and three.

I agree, you would have to write the same way for a period piece as I would for time travel. How much research did you do?
I did a great deal of research online, reading about the trends, events, and mindset of the period. I always liked History in school, so I enjoy it. Plus, I was around back then, so I have my memories of the period as well.

BLURB:

Jana Lane was America’s most famous child star until she was attacked on the studio lot at eighteen years old. Now she’s a thirty-eight-year-old beauty and mother of two living in a mansion in picturesque Hudson Valley, New York. Jana’s flashbacks from her past turn into murder attempts in her present. Forced to summon up the lost courage she had as a child, Jana visits the California movie studio she once called home. This sends her on a whirlwind of visits with former and current movie studio personnel. It also leads to a romance with the son of her old producer – Rocco Cavoto – the devilishly handsome filmmaker who is planning Jana’s comeback both professionally and personally. Can Jana uncover a web of secrets about everyone she loves, including the person who destroyed her past and threatens to snuff out her future?

How did you end up with Whiskey Creek Press?
I was searching the internet for a small press that publishes this kind of novel, and I found WCP and submitted the manuscript to them. Their senior acquisitions editor read PAPER DOLL and loved it. When I read they had merged under Start Publishing, I became really excited.

Yes, since Start is NYC based, you’re back home. Paper Doll looks like a great read. I wish you luck with it.
Thank you so much. I love hearing from readers, so I hope people reading it will contact me via my web site, Goodreads, or Twitter and let me know how they liked it.

You also have a M/M novella out. Can you elaborate?
AN INFATUATION was released by Dreamspinner Press in February. It is a Bittersweet Dreams MM romance novella loosely based on a one-act play I wrote and did Off Broadway. It is full of humor, romance, and has a very touching ending. Like PAPER DOLL it spans a twenty-year period, but ends in the present. I am very happy to report it is selling really well and receiving rave reviews. Many people have written to tell me the novella changed their lives.

It’s always good when our readers are touched by what we’ve written.
It’s the best thing for me about writing. The thought that something I created moves people and changes their lives is amazing!

With his ten-year high school reunion approaching, Harold wonders whether Mario will be as muscular, sexy, and tantalizing as he remembers. As a teenager, it was love at first sight for Harold while tutoring football star Mario, until homophobia and bullying drove Mario deep into the closet. Now they’re both married men. Mario, a model, is miserable with his producer wife, while Harold, a teacher, is perfectly content with his businessman husband, Stuart. When the two meet again, will the old flame reignite, setting Harold’s comfortable life ablaze? How can Harold be happy with Stuart when he is still infatuated with his Adonis, his first love, Mario? Harold faces this seemingly impossible situation with inimitable wit, tenderness, and humor as he attempts to reconcile the past and the future.

I also wrote an MM comedy mystery series, the Nicky and Noah mysteries, premiering this summer from Lethe Press. There are three books so far in the series: DRAMA QUEEN, DRAMA MUSCLE, and DRAMA CRUISE. This one hits close to home as it is about a gay college theatre professor who solves murders on his campus. It is very funny, almost tongue-in-cheek, and has a great deal of romance mixed with a good mystery story in each novel.

You are one busy guy. How can people learn more about you?
Here’s my bio and contact information:

Joe Cosentino is the author of An Infatuation (Dreamspinner Press), Paper Doll, the first Jana Lane mystery (Whiskey Creek Press), Drama Queen, the first Nicky and Noah mystery (Lethe Press-releasing this summer), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming novels are Porcelain Doll (the second Jana Lane mystery) and Drama Muscle (the second Nicky and Noah mystery).

Web site: http://joecosentino.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Cosentino/e/B00KRPXJP6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thank you, Dennis, for this fun interview. You should have your own television talk show. See you on the Best Seller’s list.

Best to you as well, Joe. I know Whiskey Creek Press and Start Publishing will be our keys to success.

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13 Going on 30 - Time Travel Books and Movies

3/9/2015

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13 Going on 30

This is a different kind of time travel movie. It’s about Jenna, a 13 year old girl who back in 1987 wants nothing more than to have boobs and be popular. Her dream is to become a member of a clique group at school called the Six Chicks. Her best friend is a boy named Matty who builds her, his own version of a Barbie’s Dream House. He even sprinkles the house with wishing dust (whatever that is) so all her dreams would come true. He really cares for Jenna, but she ends up turning on him in favor of the popular girls.

The Six Chicks

Young Jenna and Matty are played by Christa B. Allen and Sean Marquette.

When the Six Chicks come to her house to play a practical joke on her, things turn bad. Jenna ends up in the closet, expecting a cute guy to come in for a game called seven minutes in heaven. But instead, Matty shows up and kisses her. She becomes so angry, she kicks him out and wishes that she was 30 years old, banging her head against the closet shelves. The banging knocks wishing dust loose from the dream house and onto her.

Jenna wakes up 17 years in the future. The year is 2004 and she is 30 years old. But in her mind, she is still 13.

Jennifer Garner plays 30 year old Jenna and she is adorable in this part. It is reminiscent of Tom Hanks in the movie Big, but in that one, Tom Hank’s character became older, but stayed in the same time. Jenna actually travels to her future life.

Jenna soon realizes that she has lost her innocence, her parents, and her life with Matty, now played by The Hulk, Mark Ruffalo. She has become a fairly dishonorable person. But now, this 13 going on 30 Jenna is still kind and cares about the things she lost.

Mark Ruffalo was also good in this movie. Matty had been hurt by Jenna and claims she threw the dream house at his head. In turn, in the old life, they went their separate ways. He plays the role well, not caring at first about her, yet trying to help. Then falling for her all over again. It is apparent, he never stopped loving her.

To coin an eighties phase, this movie is rad to the max. The props, products and music from the 1980s is perfect. Young Jenna and Matty love Razzles and talk about Pop Rocks. The music soundtrack is perfect ‘80s, from the Talking Heads, Pat Benatar, Madonna, to Michael Jackson. Young Jenna is also in love with Rick Springfield.

Everybody Wang Chung tonight?

Jenna's mother is played by Kathy Baker.

In the future, Jenna teaches other 13 year old girls about love, with the immortal and “deep” words of Pat Benatar:

"We are young

Heartache to heartache we stand

No promises, no demands

Love is a battlefield"

Pat Benatar doing the shimmy in the Love is a battlefield music video.

My favorite part of the entire film is when 30 year old Jenna is asked to help people start dancing at her office party. Jenna explains the lame, music, void of any sort of a beat is the cause. She tells the DJ to put on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and starts awkwardly dancing as she did as a 13 year old, which for her, was just the day before. Jennifer Garner could not be any cuter, than in this scene.

The entire theme of the movie is the subject of her campaign at work as an editor at Poise magazine: “Remember what used to be good.”

This movie also stars Judy Greer as Lucy, who was the head Six Chick, Tom-Tom when she was young.

Music used in the film:

The Go-Go's - "Head Over Heels"

Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl"

Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House"

Belinda Carlisle - "Mad About You"

Whitney Houston - "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"

Lillix - "What I Like About You"

Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"

Madonna - "Crazy for You"

Billy Joel - "Vienna"

Liz Phair - "Why Can't I?"

Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"

Pat Benatar - "Love Is a Battlefield"

Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

Ashley Grer - "Sparkle"

Talking Heads - "Once in a Lifetime"

Ingram Hill - "Will I Ever Make It Home?"

Wang Chung - "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"

Daniel Lenz - "Keep It Simple (Stupid)"

Luce - "Good Day"

Mowo! - "Chick a Boom Boom Boom"

Notes:
Christa B. Allen reprieves playing Jennifer Garner’s younger self in the movie, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. (Not a very good movie)

Garner was nominated for MTV movie and Teen Choice awards for her role as Jenna Rink.

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The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - Time Travel Books and Movies

3/2/2015

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The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The Time Machine First Edition.

The Time Machine was published in 1895 in The United Kingdom. As with many of Wells’ works, it was way ahead of its time. (No pun intended) But it was this book and Wells that coined the all too familiar phrase, Time Machine.

A British author and friend of mine, Ingrid Hall, coined me as the “Daddy of Time Travel”. I do appreciate the title and hope to live up to the modern motto. But if I am the Daddy, H.G. Wells was the "Great Gandfather of all Time Travel”. But not only time travel, but modern science fiction all together. Remember that Wells also wrote War of the Worlds. These were the blue print of sci-fi, still used today.

Wells was a product of the Industrial Age, which started in England. Machines were being used for everything. He even refers to London subways with electric lights. Wells himself was dubious of industry and took on socialist views. His version of the future, however, was negative on both accounts. Wells has his time traveler travel to the year 802,701 A.D. At this time, human kind had split up into two separate groups: The above grounders, which are called the Eloi and the below grounders, called the Morlocks. The Morlocks were the laborers who ran machines and made things. While the Eloi enjoyed life, but lost all human motivation. They had become sexually unambiguous, small, frail and fair. He states in the book that the males were not strong because they no longer had a need of protecting their own. The Morlocks provided for them, made their clothes, planted their food, etc. In return, the Eloi became a food source for the cannibalized Morlocks.

It was also evident that H.G. Wells, followed the insights of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin had only died thirteen years prior.

Interesting fact: In the book, the time traveler mentions wishing he had brought a Kodak with him to capture the image of a Morlock. I had to research this. In 1895, the year the Time Machine was published, Kodak introduced a mini camera that could be carried. They called it the pocket camera.

This is a scan of my own 1960 copy of the The Time Machine. Notice how it advertises a new motion picture.

The Time Machine - A George Pal Production - 1960

In the 1960s, in Chicago, my dad introduced me to a movie that played every now and then on Sunday afternoons on a show called Family Classics. The movie changed my life. It was the 1960, George Pal production of The Time Machine. It stared Rod Taylor as George, who builds the machine and takes it to the future. This is an amazing movie. It is the original and the best. As he moves the lever forward, slowly at first, he watches a candle burn down in seconds, a snail crawl by as if it were a fast-moving spider. The sense of awe he feels comes straight out of the movie and the audience feels it too. He watches a woman’s clothing shop mannequin and finds himself amazed at the changing styles. The sun becomes like a strobe light as he whisks forward faster and faster in time. George Pal took the awe in H.G. Wells’ book and multiplied it in cinematic splendor, using time-lapse photographic effects which won the movie an Academy Award.

The movie also stared Alan Young as George’s steadfast friend, Filby and Yvette Mimieux as the Eloi girl he saves from drowning, named Weena. Mimieux was perfectly cast for this role. Weena had never before been cared for and she enjoys it. George falls in love with her and fights the Morlocks to save her, the Eloi people, and his Time Machine.

Prior to having to deal with a talking horse in the TV series, Mister Ed, Alan Young played Filby in the Time Machine.

Yvette Mimieux as Weena.

So you see, this movie has my four elements for a great time travel story. Great special effects, a sense of awe, action and romance. It was this film that started my love for time travel and inspired my own writing like nothing else. LINK

The Time Machine movie props:

The Time Machine prop itself was co-designed by George Pal and the MGM art director William Ferrari. Pal wanted it to look like a Victorian horse-drawn sleigh. They used an old fashioned barber's chair, which Pal liked because it reminded him of a pilot's seat. Many years had passed after the machine was sold at auction to a travelling show. But film historian and collector, Bob Burns was told by George Pal himself, that he would one day own it for his collection. Burns got a call that the prop was discovered in a Hollywood thrift shop. He hurried down and paid $1000.00 for the badly broken machine. The chair was missing, but the frame and dish were all still there. It took four months, but the time machine prop was fully restored to pristine condition. The machine is on display at Bob Burn’s museum which also has a wax figure of Rod Taylor wearing the original smoking jacket from the film.

Restoration

Real machine with wax Rod Taylor, wearing real Smoking jacket prop.

George Pal in the restored Time Machine. His first time seated in it.

Another prop was the miniature time machine used in the movie, built by Wah Chang. It was sadly destroyed in a fire at George Pall’s house. I can never own this, so I did the next best thing…I bought and built my own model.

My model and paint job of the time machine.

Time Machine: The Journey Back staring Rod Taylor and Alan Young

In 1993, using the original restored time machine prop, a mini-sequel was written by the original screenwriter (David Duncan) of George Pal's classic movie. It starred, Rod Taylor as H. George Wells, ten years after his original journey. Filby (Alan Young) was still the caregiver of George's house.

Sadly, Rod Taylor died, January 7, 2015 at the age of 84.
Alan Young died, May 19th, 2016 at age 96.

Time After Time - 1979

In 1979, a novel and movie were being written nearly simultaneously. Both were called Time After Time. The novel was written by Karl Alexander who was finishing it while the movie was being produced.

In this story, we have Malcolm McDowell playing H.G Wells himself travelling through time to the 1970s in pursuit of Jack the Ripper played by David Warner. To this day, I get the creeps whenever I see Warner in anything, because of this film.

David Warner as Jack the Ripper.

It also stars Mary Steenburgen as a bank teller named Amy Robbins, who Herbert (H.G. Wells) falls in love with. The movie contains much of what H.G. Wells believed in and wrote about, such as socialism and women’s liberation. It was a great film in its own right.

I thought McDowell and Steenburgen had good on-screen chemistry. This was their first time working together, but the following year, they were married. They had two children together.

The time machine from Time After Time.

The Time Machine - 2002

In 2002, Wells’ Great Grandson, Simon Wells directed the remake of the The Time Machine. It stared, among others, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, and a cameo by Alan Young. I consider this a good film as a stand-alone project. It did not follow the book as the 1960 Pal version, but the elements it added were interesting. I enjoyed the paradox he created where the character tries every attempt to save his beloved girlfriend from being killed. No matter how much he changed the events, she always died at the very same time.

Pretty Samantha Mumba as Mara.

The Weena type character named Mara and the Eloi were not fair delicate creatures, but had dark complexions and more native-like.

One of the elements of this movie that struck me was when colonization of the moon ended up breaking it apart. In the far future, you see the now partially destroyed lunar globe. This was good imagery. The time machine itself was amazing. It was constructed of brass with dual Crystal rotating dishes.

Guy Pearce and the time machine from 2002.

My friends and I were reluctant to see this movie when it came out. It could never be compared to the 1960 George Pal film and one should never try. But it was a good movie as a completely different entity.

In conclusion, I see merit in all of these H.G. Wells Time Machine entities. But none will have affected me like the 1960 George Pal version of the Time Time Machine.