Released by Special Arrangement with Turner Classic Movies Music

The Time Machine (1960) is one of the most memorable cinematic signposts of author H.G. Wells and filmmaker George Pal. The film stars Rod Taylor as George, a Victorian era-inventor (presumably Wells himself) whose time machine takes him through the turmoil of the 20th century to a distant future where mankind has been reduced to sheep-like Eloi harvested by cannibalistic Morlocks. The film boasts a winning performance by Taylor, imaginative visual effects, and one of the most distinctive props in the history of science fiction: the sled-like time machine.

The score to The Time Machine was by Russell Garcia, whose earlier sci-fi concept album Fantastica had attracted Pal's attention. Garcia was a veteran of the Universal music department who scored two films for Pal at M-G-M: The Time Machine and the subsequent Atlantis: The Lost Continent.

The Time Machine is by far Garcia's most famous work, a thrilling symphonic score bursting with the film's sense of wonder and adventure. Two themes stand out: the majestic main title theme for the story as a whole, and the heartfelt, British Isles-flavored melody for the relationship between George and his best friend, Filby (Alan Young). The score features full-blooded action music (for the terrifying Morlocks), a romantic variation on the main theme (for George's relationship an Eloi woman, played by Yvette Mimieux), and sound effects-styled but distinctly musical passages (influenced by the Fantastica album) for the operation of the time machine.

This CD marks the premiere release of the original soundtrack recording for The Time Machine. (An earlier recording—released on CD by GNP/Crescendo—was a 1987 re-recording conducted by the composer in Germany, except for three brief tracks from the film itself.) The complete symphonic score is presented in stereo, with "effects" passages (which Garcia himself supervised and considered part of his score) interpolated in mono.