Hmmm. A musical with singing Morlocks would be a flop, but one with a singing Jack The Ripper would be a success?

Then bring on the musical version of THE RULING CLASS, I say!

Interesting. I'd love to watch this.

Of course seeing as how your site has recently claimed The War of the Worlds to be post-9/11 storytelling I was beginning to think you didn't know who Wells was.

I'm still hoping for a response to that article by the way Anna, you went quiet when everyone else said you were wrong and you'd already implied I didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Loved the movie in '79. Of course, I was 13 at the time. Highly recommended.

@Plague: I suppose if Sweeney Todd can sing and dance his way success Jack The Ripper should be able to.

If you wanted to do a musical based on time travel, wouldn't "Somewhere in Time" be more appropriate? This seems like it will just get laughs, but that one is already a sweet love story and would be perfect for the stage. sung stacctto - "oh no" "OH NO!?" "Its the penny!" "WHAT PENNY?! Pennies are fiiine!" "Not this one" "Which One?!" "The one from nineteen seventy niiiiiiiiiiiiiine!"

This musical has Tony written all over it. Carnage, time-travel and SanFran in the 70s?! What's not to love? I wonder if the body count will exceed Sweeney.....

Re:priomarcus - leave Anna alone. She made a list of her personal opinion and posted it to spark discussion. That includes disagreement. She didn't lay claim to divining scifi canon - just posted her opinions.

"and where else are you going to see someone unveil a time machine at a dinner party?"

Funny you should ask - and my answer is "Blackadder Back & Forth". A tip of the hat to Time After Time, perhaps?

I may be the only person in the world that liked the recent Time Machine remake.

If I watch it again, I'll probably think I'm crazy, too.

@Seth L: Yes, you are the only person in the world that liked it.

@Seth L: I think the recent remake of the Time Machine is excellent. Kudos to Jeremy Irons and his extra brains.

I have to say, I really like "Time After Time" even after seeing it recently. When I first saw it, al I could think of was "Alex as H.G. Wells" and it kind of creeped me out.

I'm sure the musical will be an excrescence, like most of them. TV and Movies have become the "book of the play" for our modern stage, and screenplays are based on games, comics, older movies and TV. These have become our literature.

We've become a ruminative, simple minded culture. Is it any wonder there's a Morlock in the white house?

Yeah, I saw "Time After Time" again recently and I think it holds up well. But I love the idea of a "Somewhere in Time" musical w/a song about the PENNY!

Lol I do as well "Somewhere in Time" would be great. I liked the 70's version of "The Time Machine" although I might be looking back on it with rose colored glasses :P

@EBone: I was 19 at the time and loved it as well. I think it was because all three principals (McDowell, Warner and (ah hem, ah hem) MARY STEENBURGEN) were solid, old school, actors.

Yes, yes, McDowell's gotten a little "look at me, I'm a crazy scientist" the last few years but, back then, he was young, handsome and capable of underplaying a role. His chemistry with Steenburgen in the movie was delightful.

"You're a mean one, Mr. Wells...."

This movie is by far one of the greatest time travel flicks in history...I would buy a ticket to the musical...

I loved this movie as a kid! Never knew anything about it! Fun!

Kevin I have to strongly disagree.
I rented this film based mostly on the premise, which is rather interesting, and the plethora of great reviews. Malcolm McDowell and David Warner are also great (just not in this film). This is a terribly inept attempt. Questions brought up by this film: Why San Francisco? Why Jack the Ripper? Just plain Why? I rate this film only slightly above the David Hasselhof TV movie where he follows Jack the Ripper to Arizona. I don't want to ruin any of the surprises in this film (there is only one really), but the ability of anyone over a the age of five years old to see exactly what is going to happen every step of the way is ensured by some really lazy writing. I don't want to knock this film for really cheezy special effects, but these are horrible for 1979. I can't see how the musical could be anything but better.

@PriorMarcus: Don't be dense. Nobody has ever claimed that Spielberg wrote "War of the Worlds" or that Wells was a 9/11 prophet. But the movie Spielberg made of Wells' book was undeniably inspired by 9/11, with the original story filtered through current events. Next you'll be saying Godzilla was obviously just a traditional dragon and nothing to do with the Bomb.

As for a "Time After Time" musical, it sounds great to me. I must have watched the film 20 times on HBO back in the 80s. What particularly sticks with me is the fumbling, endearing way he orders food from a McDonald's, mimicking the accent of the guy in front of him until he gets to "and tea, please."

I always remembered the scene in which Steenburgen's character puts the moves on Wells, and as she's working him out of his 19th-century clothes she marvels, "Look at all these little buttons!"

So help me, I can actually see this working as a musical. I loved the movie when it first came out, and I saw it again recently. It's a little cheesy but still holds up.

I hate the idea of moving it to New York, though. If you're going to have it anywhere but San Francisco, then why not London? Then you wouldn't have to explain how Wells travels into the future and ends up in a different city. (Which the movie glossed over anyway.)

By the way, laughingacademy, Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen fell in love for real while they were making the movie, and married shortly afterward. Apparently Meyer didn't figure it out until the movie was done. But it explains a lot about their chemistry!

@Garrison Dean: rotflmao