Archive Photos/Moviepix/Getty ImagesFans of science fiction movies and TV know that behind aliens, space travel, and robots, time travel is, by far, one of the most beloved and often employed tropes of the genre. In fact, you could argue that, like cyberpunk or space opera, time travel itself is a kind of subgenre within the umbrella of science fiction, which can worm its way into literally any other kind of narrative framework. From naturalistic dramas like Somewhere in Time or Peggy Sue Got Married, to the epic zig-zagging of Back to the Future, to all the ways time travel has redefined and rebooted the MCU, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, imagining a science fiction buffet without time travel would be a depressing alternate dimension that nobody wants to live in.But what is the true patient zero for a truly popular and mainstream time-travel narrative? The answer is almost certain to be the 1960 film The Time Machine, directed by George Pal and starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux. Sixty-five years ago, on August 17, 1960 — in a time before Star Trek and before 2001 — The Time Machine gave the world the template for how a future-tense science fiction time travel movie could be done, and done well. Mild spoilers ahead.While the script for the 1960 Time Machine (written by David Duncan) is broadly faithful to the 1895 H.G. Wells novel of the same name, what gives this version of the story its narrative juice is the way it amps up the entire framing of the story. Yes, there’s a pretty long and somewhat boring scene about a bunch of Victorian dudes sitting around in a drawing room, puffing on cigars and debating about the possibilities of time travel, but, before that longish infodump, the Time Traveler himself, George, appears in tattered clothing, seemingly at the end of his adventure, just as we’re starting to understand the beginning.Make no mistake, other than various versions of A Christmas Carol, in terms of big-budget movies, most audiences had never experienced a mainstream movie that employed this kind of nonlinear time-travel narrative. Fans of comic books and science fiction print stories, or of the original Time Machine novel, had, of course, been reading about time travel for several decades. But the 1960 Time Machine is the first time the non-sci-fi fans of the world got a taste of what this sort of world could be like. And the lasting success of The Time Machine is 100 percent connected to its plush, intentionally anachronistic aesthetic. The most beautiful time machine ever built. | Archive Photos/Moviepix/Getty ImagesThe iconic titular machine, with its large circular disc, jeweled controls, and velvet “saddle,” represents an inspired design, much better and more beautiful than anything H.G. Wells could have actually dreamed up. Director George Pal had input on the design, but largely, the Time Machine itself was created by William Ferrari and Wah Chang. If Chang’s name sounds familiar to you, it should: He’s the man who built many of the props from Star Trek: The Original Series, and his history-making labor in co-creating the first onscreen time machine cannot be understated. Early in the film, the traveler presents a model version of the Time Machine to his skeptical friends, a lovely toy-like version of the craft he’ll eventually ride into the far future.This tiny version of the Time Machine, within The Time Machine, is also a perfect microcosm for the film’s impact more broadly. The plot of the movie —in which the traveler finds himself in a depressing, distant future in which subterranean Morlocks are using a passive version of humanity for livestock — is slightly less interesting than the way the movie looks. When the traveler presents the miniature version of the Time Machine, he’s actually showing us the most interesting thing about the movie, and accidentally demonstrating the most enduring thing about the film. It’s not that The Time Machine is a great time travel movie per se, but it was the first one that activated the imaginations of millions of just how interesting and exciting time travel could be.The original time traveler. | Silver Screen Collection/Moviepix/Getty ImagesHad the time machine of The Time Machine looked slightly less incredible, or was, say, of a contemporary 1960s design, rather than a faux 1880s look, the impact wouldn’t have worked. The brilliance of The Time Machine is the fact that the movie makes it seem like the most incredible science fiction device has already been invented, in secret, half a century ago. Meaning, that if we’re waiting for time travel to be invented, don’t worry — it’s probably already happened The Time Machine is available to rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and elsewhere.