The Time Machine (2002)
Guy Pearce: Alexander Hartdegen
Photos
Quotes
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Über-Morlock : Who are you to question 800,000 years... of evolution?
Alexander Hartdegen : This is, this is a perversion of every natural law.
Über-Morlock : [grabs him by the throat] And what is time travel but your pathetic attempted to try to control the world around you? Your futile effort to have a question answered? You think I don't know you, Alexander? I can look inside your memories, your nightmares, your dreams. You're a man haunted by those two most terrible words: What if?
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David Philby : A professor from Columbia University should not be corresponding with a crazy German book keeper.
Alexander Hartdegen : He's a patent clerk, not a book keeper, and I think Mister Einstein needs all the support I can give him.
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Alexander Hartdegen : My question is why can't one change the past?
Vox : Because one cannot travel into the past.
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Alexander Hartdegen : I could come back a thousand times... and see her die a thousand ways.
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Alexander Hartdegen : You're forgetting one thing. What if?
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Alexander Hartdegen : You were right, Philby. We did go too far.
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Alexander Hartdegen : Can you tell me what's happening here?
Vox : Well, my sources are no longer fully annotated and my information is somewhat anecdotal but, I believe what was once one race, is now two. One above. And one below. Two distinct species that have evolved.
Alexander Hartdegen : And how do those below survive?
Vox : That is the real question, isn't it?
Alexander Hartdegen : I don't believe it.
Vox : Well, if you don't like the answers, you should avoid asking the questions. Look at them. They have no knowledge of the past. No ambition for the future. So lucky.
Alexander Hartdegen : Why would you say something like that?
Vox : Can you even imagine what it's like to remember everything? I remember the six year old girl who asked me about dinosaurs eight hundred thousand years ago. I remember the last book I recommended. "Look Homeward, Angel" by Thomas Wolfe. And yes, I even remember you. Time Travel... practical application.
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David Philby : Nothing can change what happened.
Alexander Hartdegen : No, you're wrong. Because I will change it.
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David Philby : [looking at a futuristic picture] I wonder if we'll ever go too far.
Alexander Hartdegen : With what?
David Philby : [pointing at the picture] With this. With all of this.
Alexander Hartdegen : No such thing.
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Alexander Hartdegen : How did this happen?
Soldier #1 : The moon. Come on, move it.
Alexander Hartdegen : That's impossible. What happened?
Soldier #1 : What, you been living under a rock?
Alexander 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.
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Mara : Why have you come here? Why have you traveled through time?
Alexander Hartdegen : To have a question answered.
Mara : A question?
Alexander Hartdegen : Yes. Why can't I change the past?
Mara : Why would you want to?
[a look of realization]
Mara : You've lost someone. Someone you loved very much.
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Alexander Hartdegen : My proposal for utilizing solar power... rejected. My concepts for harnessing microenergy waves... rejected. The Dean suggests that I focus on something that might actually help mankind... like his study on the benefits of tobacco consumption!
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Alexander Hartdegen : [reading from stone] One generation passeth away, and another cometh but the Earth abideth forever.
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Jogger : Hey.
Alexander Hartdegen : Hello.
Jogger : Nice suit. Very retro.
Alexander Hartdegen : Thank you.
Jogger : Bet that makes a hell of a cappuccino. That thing.
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Alexander Hartdegen : You were right, Philby. I did go too far.
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Kalen : "New Yorkers"? Are they friendly?
Alexander Hartdegen : Until you talk to them.
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Mara : What are you doing with it?
Alexander Hartdegen : Changing the future.