Using their time viewer, three scientists see a desolate landscape 107 years in the future, at which point the electrician realizes that the viewer has unexpectedly become a
portal. All four jump through, only to have the portal collapse behind them, whereupon they are chased on the surface by Morlockish
mutants who are afraid of thrown rocks, and they meet an advanced,
post-apocalyptic, underground society that employs
androids and is planning a generation-long trip to Alpha Centauri.
The film draws in at least four important additional time travel tropes:
suspended animation, a
single consistent timeline (with the corresponding inability to go back and change it), experiencing the passage of time at
different rates, and a trip to the
far future. And according to the
SF Encyclopedia, the film was originally conceived as a sequel to the
1960 film of
The Time Machine.
—Michael Main “You’re just not used to our kind of weather," a wheezy voice said. “Climactic conditions change quite a bit in a half million years.”
