Fans of science fiction movies and TV know that behind aliens, space travel, and robots, time travel is, by far, one of the most beloved and often employed tropes of the genre. While the script for the 1960 Time Machine (written by David Duncan) is broadly faithful to the 1895 H.G. Fans of comic books and science fiction print stories, or of the original Time Machine novel, had, of course, been reading about time travel for several decades. This tiny version of the Time Machine, within The Time Machine, is also a perfect microcosm for the film’s impact more broadly. The brilliance of The Time Machine is the fact that the movie makes it seem like the most incredible science fiction device has already been invented, in secret, half a century ago.