Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Back to the Future!



Considering H.G. Well's The Time Machine has the honor of being the book that popularized the idea that humans could use a machine to travel through time, I think he did a good job with the title, no?
But.
Since it was one of the forerunners of this genre, the whole schtick is that time travel happens. The rest of the plot? Eh. There were a few holes.
BUT WHO CARES BECAUSE TIME TRAVEL IS HAPPENING!



It was funny to me that Well's thought one probable outcome of curing disease, poverty, hunger, etc., would be that you'd end up with a bunch of pussies who couldn't fend for themselves.
And, of course, the cannibals who ate them.
{insert your own inappropriate joke here}
Heh.



Ok. But as I'm listening to this, I'm thinking that perhaps there might be some sort of middle ground, you know? I mean, I do think that struggle shapes us as individuals and as a species. But maybe striving to make life better for everyone won't end in one race of willowy dingbats who nap and giggle all day and one race of gross mutants who live underground. <--and yet still make shit for everyone?
Which is just fucking weird in and of itself. What's the idea? This surly race of Dahmer-like factory workers spend all day sewing clothes & crafting beautiful things for the Eloi, and then every now and again they emerge to cull the herd? Why? Why are they still working? Are they getting paid in some way by the people they're chewing on? Their work ethic can't just be functioning on autopilot, because NOBODY would continue to work just to work. Well's must not have understood the working class if he thought it was just somehow bred into our DNA to chug along like idiots for the sake of serving our betters. We're lazy and need motivation - hence the paycheck.
And food!
Where is the Eloi's food source coming from? Because the Morlocks sure as fuck aren't farming anything in those caverns other than nightmares, and the Eloi didn't seem capable of wiping their own asses much less doing a bit of light gardening. And, from what I could tell, the Morlocks weren't eating enough Eloi for all of them to survive on.
Where were those big bastards getting the rest of their protein? Beans?



You know what? It doesn't matter.
And it's also quite possible that all of these questions were addressed and answered and I just didn't pay close enough attention. <--this has been known to happen a lot, especially if the book isn't action-packed and/or doesn't have pictures.
The point is that this professor guy got into his little machine, whooshed forward a bunch of centuries, crash-landed in the future, lost his ride, met an Eloi named Weena & had a rather creepy "friendship" with her, almost got himself eaten by the anti-vegan Morlocks, found his machine (I forgot how), hopped back in & cranked it up, went back to jolly old England, and arrived in time to have tea with a bunch of his sorta-friends.



Oh! Also, he finds out that our sun has a limited warranty.
I knew we should have gone ahead and bought the extra protection from the manufacturer.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!



In all honesty, this was a decent yarn that explored the idea that humans need something to strive towards. And that unless you treat your lower classes well, the end result of utopia will most definitely be the sweaty, unwashed masses in picnic mode - roasting your flimsy, yet delicious, ass over a fire.



Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Edition: Unabridged
Bernard Mayes - Narrator