The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is an astounding novella of a young inventor building a time machine and traveling into the future. In 2002, a film was made based on the novella. The main concept of both is time travel. A young inventor, (Alex) in the movie makes a time machine big enough for him to sit in and travel through time with. He travels more than eight-hundred thousand years into the future where he finds the evolved human species. It seems that the human species has evolved into two branches, one being the Eloi, and the other being the Morlocks. The Eloi are peaceful, communistic peoples having no quarrels, and seem to have life easy with almost no interruptions. The only interruption they face is the Morlocks, who dwell in the night and feed off of the Eloi. The Time Machine novella by H.G. Wells and the 2002 movie based on the novella are similar in that they both have the main storyline the same, and different in that a few major scenes were omitted, and a few added, and the endings are very different.

Firstly, the novella and the movie are similar in that they both have the new human species being the main events and time travel being the main concept. The Eloi are in both the novella and the movie portrayed as a frail, peaceful, communistic species. The Eloi are the above-ground species which feed on fruit, and live in small communities with no violence, or challenges in their life. This species has no older beings, because they have been taken by the Morlocks. The Morlocks are the underground species which feed off of the Eloi. The Morlocks are ape-like creatures which appear to have evolved from the working-class humans, while the Eloi seem to have evolved from the higher-class. Both the novella and the movie portray these two species well showing how they live and their culture. The other main part that both the novella and the movie have in common is the main concept of the time travel. Time travel was portrayed with in-depth analyses on the fourth dimension, being time, in the novella. Wells does an excellent job in describing how the Time Traveler will travel through time, and also describes the Time Machine in an amazing way. The movie does this on a lesser scale, but does a good job, showing pictures, and the Time Machine and how it functions. Hence, the novella The Time Machine written by H.G. Wells and the 2002 movie based on the novella are similar in that the main concept of the book is portrayed in the movie as well.

As well as being similar in the main concept, the 2002 movie, and the novella by Wells are different in that major scenes have been omitted and added. In the novella, towards the end of plot, the Time Traveler pushes further on into the future where he finds the decaying earth with only a few inhabitants left. These inhabitants being the lichens found on rocks, a few huge crabs which later attack him, and a small black blob with tentacles flopping over in the distance on the rock beach. The movie does not take into the consideration of these interesting parts of the novella and have omitted them. In addition to the omitted scenes towards the end, scenes have been added in the movie for viewer pleasure. One major scene in the beginning of the movie that helped set-up the idea for time travel for the inventor, was his girlfriend, Emma. Emma, who was not in the novella, was shot and killed during a walk in the park when a mugger tried to rob the Time Traveler (Alex) and Emma. Alex had just asked Emma for her hand in marriage, and the mugger then robs them taking Alex’s money, watch, and attempts to steal Emma’s new ring, but in the ensuing battle for the ring, the mugger shoots Emma and runs off. This scene gives Alex the idea of time travel because he wants to go back in time and try to stop Emma from dieing, but she dies in a horse-and-buggy crash anyway, showing Alex that the past cannot be changed, even through time travel. Another major scene that was added to the movie, which was not in the novella, was when Alex travels to 2030 New York. In New York in 2030 he sees a large animated billboard with a face on it talking about colonizing the moon. This billboard is above a library which Alex enters, and in it he finds many glass, see-through, slats that are standing up. He is then approached from behind by a talking slat which is an animated librarian and gets help from the librarian on time travel, practical uses. This scene helps later in the movie when Alex is about to go retrieve his Time Machine from the Morlocks, and the librarian helps him find where they are. Thus, the novella and the movie were different in that major scenes in the movie were added to help the storyline flow well, and a major scene towards the end of the novella omitted in the movie, perhaps because it was a too harsh scene of the portrayal of earth in the future.

The major scenes that were omitted and added were major differences in the novella, and movie, but another main difference was the endings of both the novella and movie. In the movie, in the end on the novel, Alex is on a quest to get underground to the Morlocks lair, and retrieve his Time Machine. This contrasts to the novella because in the novella there was no real quest for his Time Machine, only a small mishap, misplace of the machine, and a small ensuing fight to get away. As well as the part where he needs to find his Time Machine is different, after he escapes with his Time Machine, it is very different. In the novella, after he escapes with his Time Machine, he flies around thirty million years into the future, where he finds the earth barren, scarred, and decaying. On this earth he finds only a few signs of life, being crabs, lichen, and a small blob with tentacles, as aforementioned. In the movie, after Alex finds his machine and escapes, he flies into the future where he sees a scarred earth, but with relics of large metal heads with sharp teeth scattered about with fire coming up from them, showing that there is still life on the earth. In addition to different scenes after he escapes with his machine, after he comes back from witnessing the earth decaying is much different in the novella and movie. These are the final scenes of both the novella and the movie and are almost completely different. In the movie, after seeing the decaying earth with the fire and large metal heads, he heads back to the time where he found the Eloi, and his Eloi girlfriend. It shows Alex showing his girlfriend, and her younger brother the area where his Time Machine first appeared, telling them about how his house was previously there, and describing his life in his laboratory. This is very different from the novella because after the Traveler goes back in time after seeing the decaying earth, he ends up at his house, only three hours from his first departure with his Time Machine. When he exits the machine, he finds a few of a colleagues in his dining room, tells them his story of time travel, and they are skeptical about his finds. The Time Traveler decides he must take a camera and take a picture of the future if he wishes to convince the men about his adventure time traveling in the future. The novella ends with the Time Traveller never returning from his last trip, and it has been three years since anyone has seen him. Hence, the novella by Wells and the 2002 movie were not only different because the movie omitted scenes, and added a few major ones, but the endings were completely different.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells was an astounding novella, with a movie made in 2002 based on it. Both the movie and novella were similar in that they both had the main concept of the plot the same. Although, they were both different in that major scenes were added, and some omitted, and the endings were completely different. The novella by Wells however, was a much better interpretation of the real story. Wells clearly interprets how time travel is brought about by using the fourth dimension theory, and by describing his machine and theory in great detail. The movie does do this however, but on a much lesser scale. Even though the movie had more action in it because of the added scenes, the novella had a much better concept, being short, sweet and to the point. I also enjoyed the description of the decaying earth at the end of the novella compared to the short scene in the movie. It is interesting how Wells portrayed time travel in the novella, and did a much better job than in the movie.