The 2002 film The Time Machine has returned to free streaming on Pluto TV, prompting a reassessment of its divisive but ambitious take on H. G. Wells’ classic novella. Polygon argues that the film’s central idea — that some tragedies are unavoidable ‘fixed points’ in time — gives the story emotional weight and makes it a worthwhile revisit for science-fiction fans.

Guy Pearce plays Dr Alexander Hartdegen, a Columbia professor in 1899 New York who builds a time machine after his fiancée is murdered, only to find that changing the circumstances still leads to her death. Written by John Logan and directed by Simon Wells, H. G. Wells’ great-grandson, the film departs substantially from the 1895 novel by replacing the original protagonist’s scientific curiosity with a personal search for meaning across hundreds of thousands of years.