The Time Machine
- You may wish to consult
time machine (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
The Time Machine was a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells (PROSE: The Time Lord Letters) published in 1895 (PROSE: The Time Lord Letters) and adapted into several films. (PROSE: Synthespians™)
In 1885, Wells encountered the Sixth Doctor and the Morlox. (TV: Timelash) He was also friends with the inventor of Earth's first time machine, Theo Tolliver, who in 1897 embarked on his second trip through time and met the Third Doctor while escaping Mar-Kom's prison in 1350. (COMIC: The Eternal Present) By another account, it was Penelope Gate in 1883 who invented the first time machine, meeting the Seventh Doctor on her travels; (PROSE: The Room With No Doors) she later became the Doctor's mother. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles, The Infinity Doctors)
One copy was owned by Professor Chronotis, and he was reading it when first met by the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Shada) The Fifth Doctor later read a first edition of this book before visiting a peaceful planet not unlike prehistoric Earth. (PROSE: Warmonger)
Will Arrowsmith was fairly sure that the Victorian-esque TARDIS console room used by the Seventh Doctor towards the end of his life was inspired by The Time Machine. (AUDIO: Persuasion) The Seventh Doctor relaxed by reading a copy of this book during his aborted mission to return the Master's remains to Gallifrey. A skipping record interrupted him, followed by the escape of the Master's Deathworm and the TARDIS crash-landing in San Francisco on 30 December 1999. (TV: Doctor Who)
After his regeneration, the Eighth Doctor attempted to start the novel where his previous self had left off; again, a skipping record interrupted him. (TV: Doctor Who) He finished it some time later. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) He tried to read the novel at least once in every incarnation and was surprised by how different it looked each time. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) He told Forster that he would recommend the book to anyone looking for "original and stimulating reading matter" and noted the concept to be "quite enthralling." (PROSE: Casualties of War)
In April 1912, the Ninth Doctor gifted a copy of The Time Machine to Connie Daniels. He included inside a note with a warning for the Daniels family not to board the Titanic. (AUDIO: Battle Scars)
The Time Machine was Clive Finch's favourite book. (AUDIO: The Flood)
The Time Machine's film adaptations included a 1960 version by George Pal. (PROSE: Synthespians™) The First Doctor's companion Oliver Harper had seen this adaptation, and he connected the Doctor's TARDIS with the time machine in the story, thinking initially that the TARDIS could move in time but not space. He expected to see Shoreditch in the "time of the dinosaurs" or the 21st century. (AUDIO: The Cold Equations)
Other adaptations included a 91st century version starring a Silurian and spoken in haiku, and a version featuring Quarks and Giant Wasps which the Sixth Doctor said "hadn't even been bad enough to be good". (PROSE: Synthespians™)
