This story is a legend of science fiction, mostly because it may be the introduction of a concept that is fundamental to the bedrock of nerd-dom: Time Travel!
Much like when I read The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow (find my review of that on our Patreon), this review is me trying to get a bit of a broader grasp of some of the foundational classics of literature.
Yes, this is indeed my first time reading this story.
So, how will it stack up to the hundreds of stories in Movies, TV, Books, and Comics that it has surely inspired?
And, almost more importantly, at least based on my reaction to Sleepy Hollow, where will I fall on it?
Gather round, gang.
The time to find out is upon us.
Your official 117 Year Old ***SPOILER ALERT*** is now in full effect, please act accordingly.
I feel another warning needs to be thrown your way at this point.
Given the current state of the world and the current odd fascination with re-examining old media and taking it down a peg, but by 2022 standards this story is “problematic”.
Given the time period in which this was written, none of it should come as a surprise to anyone and it should be viewed through that lens and context.
A group of great minds of the day are gathered as a man of scientific inclination begins to lay out his extra dimensional framework for the notion that traversing back and forth through time, despite conventional wisdom, is indeed possible.
A week later, another gathering of luminaries has convened.
After a wait, The Time Traveler stumbles in disheveled and ravenous, but also with a tale of a near apathetic utopian future with a branched evolution of humanity and his difficult journey of return.
One of the most curious notions in this story is that the main speaker, whom we spend a good 85 to 95 percent of the story with and listening to, does not have a name.
Through out the entire piece he is simply referred to as “The Time Traveler” which, with the exception of one product of the time, makes him an open and blank slate for readers to almost use him as an avatar in your mind’s eye as you make your way through the narrative.
Hate tanky and creeper shit of the time aside, this story feels like something I could have written.
Not because I’m so great or it’s so pedestrian, but because of the way in which it’s delivered.
The bulk of this story is the Time Traveler relaying the story with absolutely no interruptions.
Just a long ass, TED Talk style, speech from this nameless motherfucker about how he went to the foocher and saw some shit go down, got his time car ripped off, and he had to fight his way back, and the whole thing is enrapturing!
Weighing in at 120 pages, this is a densely packaged story full of concepts and imagery that, 117 years ago, must have had people questioning if Wells was a goddamn lunatic.
2 wack-a-doodle evolutions of humanity, childlike layabouts on the surface and light fearing machinists living underground?
Batshit crazy fourth dimension and time displacement talk?
Wells must have had a witch’s pyre lined up at some point with his name on it!
Is it perfect?
Like everything else in this life, that is debatable.
But I found my imagination ignited by the possibilities that this book laid out before me.
I can see how and why this became a classic: its revolutionary concept, and even its explanation of that concept, are still relatively simple and easy to understand.
Sure, I’m coming at it from a post-Star Trek and post-Endgame perspective, but I think that makes it even more impressive.
Wells didn’t have any/many cultural reference points to help him get this idea across, he had to make it make sense all on his own and it works.
My takeaway is this, if you want an old timey Sci-Fi adventure that, mostly, holds up, look no further.
Judge it in context and it is brilliant.
It finishes with an open ending and it’s absolutely no wonder that different authors have attempted to slide in and write a sequel, and I’m curious if any of those sequels actually hit the heights of this.
It stands well on its own though and makes me want to dive into War Of The Worlds sooner rather than later.
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Check out our first forays into publishing with our original short story collection, The Camping Trip And Other Stories, or our volume of non-fiction writings, Doomed: The Collected Essays And Reviews!
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And finally, given the state of the world, do what you can to leave it a little bit better than you found it.
As difficult as that may be currently, it can have an impact far greater than you know.
Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
