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The Time Machine full cast audiobook

by H. G. Wells

Released · Updated · 3h 19m · 10 voices

The story (no spoilers)

A Victorian inventor, known only as the Time Traveller, claims he has built a machine that can carry a man freely through the fourth dimension, and he is ready to prove it. At a London dinner party, he stuns his sceptical guests with a bold argument: time is simply another direction of space, and what has been fixed to the present moment can be escaped. Doctor, psychologist and argumentative friend alike dismiss it as parlour trickery, until he produces his experiment. Then he vanishes into the future. When he returns, dishevelled and exhausted, he has a story that none of them can easily believe. He has seen the world in the year 802,701, where humanity has split into two strange peoples and the comforts of progress have come at a terrible cost. Stranded far from his own century, and cut off from the machine that could take him home, he must work out what became of mankind, and whether he can ever get back to warn it.

The cast

7 speaking roles are listed; walk-on parts are not. Each voice was designed, or chosen from our library of designed voices, to fit how the book describes the character, and it stays with them from the first chapter to the last. Portraits are illustrated impressions of each character.

  • Illustrated portrait of Time Traveller: about 40, dark chestnut, unkempt and dust-streaked with grey, rumpled smoking jacket in deep burgundy, torn and dusty

    Time Traveller

    Male, about forty years old, an Englishman living in Victorian Richmond in the 1890s, a wealthy gentleman scientist and inventor. He has a refined educated southern English accent. His voice is a warm, resonant mid-range baritone, clear and confident. He speaks at a measured, didactic pace, pausing for effect, cheerful and fluent. Temperament: genial, assured, fond of argument and quietly amused.

  • Illustrated portrait of Medical Man: about 52, receding dark brown, combed flat with grey temples, black frock coat with a bottle-green silk cravat

    Medical Man

    Male, about fifty-eight years old, an Englishman in London's suburbs in the 1890s, a respectable middle-class family doctor. He speaks with a dry, precise professional London accent. His voice is a low, slightly gravelly baritone, a little tired and worn. He speaks slowly and deliberately, with a questioning lift. Temperament: sceptical, observant, dry and patient.

  • Illustrated portrait of Psychologist: bald crown with a fringe of white hair, charcoal coat with a mustard-yellow waistcoat and high white wing collar

    Psychologist

    Male, about forty-six years old, an Englishman living near London in the 1890s, a middle-class academic psychologist. He speaks in a stiff, clipped, formal English accent. His voice is a thin, high, slightly nasal tenor, flat and precise. He speaks in brisk, even sentences with little warmth. Temperament: sceptical, stiff, quick to offer his own explanation and faintly pedantic.

  • Illustrated portrait of The Narrator: about 32, black, neatly parted at the side, navy lounge suit with a dove-grey tie

    The Narrator

    Male, about thirty-two years old, an Englishman in Victorian London in the 1890s, a middle-class professional gentleman and loyal dinner guest. He has a plain, pleasant Home Counties accent. His voice is a light, easy baritone, youthful and clear. He speaks at a natural, steady pace, quickening with curiosity. Temperament: observant, half-jocular and amiable.

  • Illustrated portrait of Editor: thick swept-back silver hair, brown tweed jacket with a crimson cravat

    Editor

    Male, about forty-eight years old, a Londoner in the 1890s, a prosperous middle-class newspaper editor. He has a hearty London accent with a confident city edge. His voice is a big, booming, rich bass-baritone from a heavy, well-fed build. He speaks loudly and fast, with rolling laughter in it. Temperament: jovial, mocking, sceptical and full of fun.

  • Illustrated portrait of Filby: about 38, bright copper-red, short and bristly, russet-brown jacket with a mustard tie

    Filby

    Male, about thirty-five years old, an Englishman in Victorian London in the 1890s, a middle-class professional with red hair. He has a plain Northern English accent. His voice is a rough, reedy, slightly nasal tenor with a stubborn edge. He speaks in short, blunt, insistent phrases at a brisk pace. Temperament: argumentative, stubborn and inclined to laugh things off.

  • Illustrated portrait of Journalist: about 26, sandy blond, slicked with a side parting, checked tweed jacket in teal-blue with a white soft collar

    Journalist

    Male, about twenty-six years old, a Londoner in the 1890s, a lower-middle-class newspaper journalist. He has a quick, bright London accent. His voice is a loud, bright, high-pitched tenor, brash and energetic. He speaks fast in rapid, punchy bursts, often almost shouting. Temperament: joyous, irreverent, disbelieving and fond of a joke.

Chapters

16 chapter markers; each link opens the video on YouTube at that point.

  1. Introduction
  2. Chapter 2: The Machine
  3. Chapter 3: The Time Traveller Returns
  4. Chapter 4: Time Travelling
  5. Chapter 5: In the Golden Age
  6. Chapter 6: The Sunset of Mankind
  7. Chapter 7: A Sudden Shock
  8. Chapter 8: Explanation
  9. Chapter 9: The Morlocks
  10. Chapter 10: When Night Came
  11. Chapter 11: The Palace of Green Porcelain
  12. Chapter 12: In the Darkness
  13. Chapter 13: The Trap of the White Sphinx
  14. Chapter 14: The Further Vision
  15. Chapter 15: The Time Traveller’s Return
  16. Chapter 16: After the Story

About this recording

Narrator
Told in the narrating character's own voice
Runtime
3h 19m (complete and unabridged)
Voices
10
Channel
Driving Audiobooks on YouTube
Released
Updated
Author
H. G. Wells
First published
1895
Kind
sci-fi novel
Source edition
Project Gutenberg eBook #35
Public domain (US)
The Time Machine (1895) by H. G. Wells is in the public domain in the United States; text from Project Gutenberg.