Time Machine: The Journey Back

I always loved the movie and in particular the Time Machine itself: what a wonderful design! It was surprising but somehow fitting that the sled concept came from George Pal's childhood memories of winter fun.

I wondered what had become of the Machine, who owned it. I had always assumed that like the life-creating lab equipment used in James Whale's _Frankenstein_, it had been bought by a wealthy fan for a private collection, or that it was in a film museum somewhere.

The truth revealed in _The Journey Back_ is a little sad, but also moving. The studio, not realizing the icon they had, did little to preserve the Machine. Over the years it was dismembered, auctioned, sold, damaged, and neglected by a variety of owners. The occasional people who lovingly restored the Time Traveler's seat, the control panel, or the brass railings showed the devotion and resourcefulness of custodians of a holy relic.

Ironic that a symbol of emancipation from time was so subject to its effects; uplifting too that a few fans who, like me, had admired it since childhood were able to keep it, and a sort of hope, alive.