Alexander Hartdegen quotes from The Time Machine (2002)

Alexander Hartdegen

I could come back a thousand times... and see her die a thousand ways.

Alexander Hartdegen

You're forgetting one thing. What if?

A professor from Columbia University should not be corresponding with a crazy German book keeper.

Hartdegen

He's a patent clerk, not a book keeper, and I think Mr. Einstein needs all the support I can give him.

I wonder if we'll ever go too far.

Hartdegen

With what?

With this. With all of this.

Hartdegen

No such thing.

Nothing can change what happened.

Hartdegen

No, you're wrong. Because I will change it.

Jogger (credited as such but actually a bicyclist)

Hey.

Hartdegen

Hello.

Jogger

Nice suit. Very retro.

Hartdegen

Thank you.

Jogger

Bet that makes a hell of a cappuccino. (Indicates the time machine) That thing.

Vox 144

Area of inquiry?

Hartdegen

Do you know anything about physics?

Vox 144

Ah! [opens a file] Accessing physics.

Hartdegen

Mechanical engineering? Dimensional optics? Chronography? [Vox 144 opens files for each] Temporal causality? Temporal paradox?

Vox 144

Time travel?

Hartdegen

Yes.

Vox 144

Accessing science fiction--

Hartdegen

No, no, practical application! My question is, why can't one change the past?

Vox 144

Because one cannot travel into the past.

Hartdegen

What if one could?

Vox 144

One cannot.

Hartdegen

Excuse me, this... this is something you should trust me on!

Vox 144

Accessing the writings of Isaac Asimov, H. G. Wells, Harlan Ellison, Alexander Hartdegen--

Hartdegen

Oh! Tell me about him.

Vox 144

Alexander Hartdegen, 1869 to 1903. American scientist given to eccentric postulation. Found writings include treatise on the creation of a time machine.

Hartdegen

Tell me about the time machine.

Vox 144

The Time Machine was written by H. G. Wells in 1894. It was later adapted to a motion picture by George Pal and a stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber...

Hartdegen

No, no, that's not what I mean--

Vox 144

Would you like to hear a selection from the score?

Hartdegen

No!

Vox 144

"There's a place called tomorrow! A place of joy, not of sorrow! Can't you see, it's a place for you and--"

Hartdegen

Thank you, that's quite enough. [turns to leave the library]

Vox 144

Will there be anything else?

Hartdegen

Uh, no, no, I... I think I'll have better luck in a few hundred years.

Vox 144

Live long and prosper!

Hartdegen

How did this happen?

Soldier #1

The moon. Come on, move it.

Hartdegen

That's impossible. What happened?

Soldier #1

What, you been living under a rock?

Hartdegen

Yes, I've been living under a rock! Now tell me...

Soldier #1

The demolitions for the lunar colony screwed up the orbit, okay? The moon's breaking up, all right? Now, come on.

Hartdegen

Can you tell me what's happenening here?

Well, my sources are no longer fully annotated and my information has become somewhat anecdotal, but I believe what was once one race is now two; one above and one below. Two distinct species that have evolved.

Hartdegen

And how do those below... survive?

That is the real question, isn't it? [winks at Kalen] Baaaaa!

Vox 144

So, relic - you want to open Pandora's box, do you? See all the mysteries exposed?

Alexander

Yes.

Vox 144

And if the truth is so horrible that it will haunt your dreams for all time?

Alexander

I'm used to that.

We bred ourselves into castes. Some to be our eyes and ears, others to be our muscles and sinews...

You mean your hunters?

Yes. Bred to be predators, but bred also to be controlled. You see, my caste concentrated on expanding our cerebral abilities.

You control their thoughts?

Not just theirs.

The Eloi. So it's not enough that you hunt them down like animals?

That's their role here.

To be your food?!

Yes. And for those who are suitable, to be breeding vessels for our other colonies. [indicates Mara in her cage] You see, I am just one of many.

I don't understand how you can sit there and speak so coldly about this. [the Uber-Morlock rises] Have you not considered the human cost of what it is your are doing?

We all pay a price...Alexander. [other Morlocks roar in the distance] Don't worry, you're safe. I control them. Without that control, they would exhaust the food supply in a matter of months.

Food supply?! They're human beings!

Who are you to question 800,000 years of evolution?

This is a perversion of every natural law!

And what is time travel... but your pathetic attempt to control the world around you?! Your futile effort to have a question answered?!