The Time Machine (1960) & Back to the Future (1985): From H.G. Wells to the 80's | EP03
- Aug 20, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 9
In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we continue our journey through the time travel subgenre by looking at two films that helped define how time travel works on screen.
First we explore The Time Machine (1960), the classic adaptation of H.G. Wells’ groundbreaking science-fiction novel. The film follows an inventor who builds a machine capable of travelling across centuries, witnessing the distant future of humanity.
Then we jump forward to Back to the Future (1985), Robert Zemeckis’ beloved sci-fi adventure about teenager Marty McFly, who is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean.
Together these films show how time travel stories can range from philosophical explorations of humanity’s future to energetic adventures that play with the consequences of changing the past.
Because here on Journey Through Sci-Fi, we explore the history of science-fiction cinema one subgenre at a time.
What We Discuss In This Episode
In this episode we talk about:
• The influence of H.G. Wells on time travel in science fiction
• How The Time Machine established key ideas about travelling through time
• The cultural impact of Back to the Future
• Time travel paradoxes and changing the past
• Why time travel stories continue to fascinate audiences
The Time Machine (1960) – The Origins of Time Travel Cinema
Based on the famous novel by H.G. Wells, The Time Machine is one of the earliest and most influential time-travel films ever made.
The story follows a Victorian scientist who builds a machine that allows him to travel into the distant future.
As he journeys across thousands of years, he witnesses the evolution of humanity and encounters the mysterious Eloi and Morlocks, two very different descendants of the human race.
The film helped establish many of the visual and narrative ideas that would shape time-travel stories for decades to come.
Back to the Future (1985) – Time Travel Adventure
Released twenty-five years later, Back to the Future took the idea of time travel and turned it into one of the most entertaining sci-fi adventures ever made.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film follows teenager Marty McFly, who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
When Marty inadvertently disrupts the meeting between his parents, he risks erasing himself from existence and must find a way to restore the timeline before returning to his own time.
The film became one of the most beloved sci-fi movies of the 1980s and helped popularise the idea of time-travel paradoxes in mainstream cinema.
Time Travel and Changing the Timeline
Together, The Time Machine and Back to the Future represent two different approaches to time travel storytelling.
One explores the far future and humanity’s long-term destiny.
The other focuses on the consequences of interfering with the past.
Both approaches have become central to the time-travel genre, inspiring countless films, television series and novels.
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About Journey Through Sci-Fi
Journey Through Sci-Fi is a podcast exploring the strange, visionary and world-changing history of science-fiction cinema.
Each series focuses on a different sci-fi subgenre, examining the films and ideas that shaped the genre - from classic cinema to modern science-fiction storytelling
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