Lit GIFs: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

ByBrenna Dixon

It’s winter here in Iowa, which makes my Floridian self wish for seasonal time travel.

Gif of a woman saying, "I need your prayers!"

Unfortunately, the closest I’ve come to realizing this dream is watching Back to the Future and reading H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine.

Gif of an exasperated Judge Judy shaking her head and covering her face with her hand

In The Time Machine, the Time Traveller makes a time machine and jets forward to the year 802,701 A.D.

Clip of a cartoon teenager saying "Dude, how'd we get here so fast?"

Basically he ends up in paradise with tiny human-ish creatures called the Eloi. They give him some fruit. Namaste.

Clip of a man from the Ellen show saying "For the first time in my life I feel alive."

He sets off to explore and when he comes back, he discovers his time machine is missing.

Gif of a man saying "That's not supposed to happen."

He figures it’s hidden inside the pedestal of a sphinx statue. But he can’t get it out.

Gif of Ice Cube staring forward incredulously

At night he starts seeing white, ape-like creatures called Morlocks. They live underground and feed on the Eloi.

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After this discovery, he befriends an Eloi named Weena when he saves her from drowning. It’s pretty innocent.

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Then he finally gets brave enough to drop down a well into Morlock territory to try to find his machine.

Gif of Tyra Banks aggressively raising both arms, as if in victory

He fends the Morlocks off with matches, but they still chase him out, and he’s still without a time machine.

Gif of a slowly increasing closeup of a boy's comically uncomfortable face

The Time Traveller takes Weena to the Palace of Green Procelain—the remains of a museum—where, with the aid of matches and camphor, he fashions weapons to fight off the Morlocks.

Gif of a a college student discreetly asking another, "Who are these people?"

That night, while escaping through the woods, he accidentally sets a big fire. Oops.

Gif of a man being thrown off of a beached jet ski

Between the fire and the ensuing battle, a ton of Morlocks are killed. Weena dies, too.

Gif of Will Smith exclaiming "Oh...damn!"

Then the Time Traveller discovers that the pedestal’s open. It’s a trap set by the Morlocks, but before they can catch him, he hops in his machine and zips away.

Gif of a lizard desperately trying to walk atop a desk and failing, with the caption "Gotta go fast"

He hops around time and ends up on a beach where he’s attacked by giant crabs.

Gif of Dwight Schrute from The Office saying, "That's a bit extreme"

After that he decides to check out the way-future: 30 million years in the future. Things are not good there.

Gif of a man crying and looking away from the sky with his hands in front of his face

So he goes home. Time traveling is exhausting.

Gif of Spiderman's scrunched face as he resists intense wind outside of some sort of travel vehicle

But he leaves the next day never to return again.

Gif of man looking up towards the sky with the caption "Come on man!"

So it might be a good thing that I can’t actually travel through time. I’ll take winter over Morlocks anyday.

Gif of a man shrugging his shoulders

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