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Like the Time Machine itself, the Morlocks are somewhat open to artistic interpretation: "I turned with my heart in my mouth, and saw a queer little ape-like figure, it's head held down in a peculiar manner, running across the sunlit space behind me." "My impression of it is, of course, imperfect; but I know it was a dull white, and had strange large greyish-red eyes; also that there was flaxen hair on it's head and down it's back." "I cannot say even whether it ran on all fours, or only with it's forearms held very low." "I lit a match, and, looking down, I saw a small, white, moving creature, with large bright eyes which regarded me steadfastly as it retreated. It made me shudder. It was so like a human spider!" "They were just the half-bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum." "...I saw three stooping white creatures similar to the one I had seen above ground in the ruin, hastily retreating before the light. Living, as they did, in what appeared to me impenetrable darkness, their eyes were abnormally large and sensitive, just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and they reflected the light in the same way." "You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked--those pale, chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!" Although Wells gives a better description of the beasts than he does of the Machine, there are still many ways to depict them. As you'll see, a few are strangely similar to the George Pal film depiction, while others are much stranger still. Some are more accurately depicted, according to the original story, yet others make one wonder if the artist has even read the book. Judge for yourself and enjoy the many renditions of the fearsome Morlocks.
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