"The Time Tunnel" (1966) TV series 1966-1967

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Creator:

Irwin Allen

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

9 September 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips are the young heads of Project Tic-Toc, a multi-billion dollar...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Historical | Cult Favorite | Cult TV | 1910s

Cast

James Darren	...	Dr. Tony Newman / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Robert Colbert	...	Dr. Doug Phillips / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Whit Bissell	...	Army Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
John Zaremba	...	Dr. Raymond Swain (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Lee Meriwether	...	Dr. Ann MacGregor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Dick Tufeld	...	Announcer / ... (22 episodes, 1966-1967)

Also Known As:

Au coeur du temps (France) (dubbed version) [fr]
El túnel del tiempo (Spain) [es]
Kronos (Italy) [it]
Túnel do Tempo (Brazil) [pt]
Time Tunnel (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

60 min (30 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Trivia:

Lasting only one season, this was the shortest-lived of all of Irwin Allen's science-fiction series.

Quotes:

Announcer: [opening narration for most episodes] Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages, during the first experiments on America's greatest and most secret project, the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Barugon (#4.4)" (1991)

Nifty '60s FX, Clichéd Plots; Great Escapism for Kids!

Believe it or not, both "The Time Tunnel" and "Star Trek" debuted in the same week, back in 1966...and for a 13-year old comic-book loving SF fan, the TT premiere, placing our heroes on the doomed Titanic, beat Trek's 'salt-sucking-monster-disguised-as-a-wife" first episode, hands down! Irwin Allen obviously thought he had a winner with the time-traveling concept. Leads Robert Colbert and James Darren were very familiar faces to TV audiences, with Darren still idolized by a legion of fans from his "Gidget" movies (He told me, several years later, that he hoped the series would finally establish him as an 'adult', capable of the same range he'd displayed in "The Guns of Navarone"). Gary Merrill and Michael Rennie as the first guest stars certainly added luster to the Titanic episode, as did a wonderfully intricate main set (with the famous Op Art time portal), a supporting cast including pre-Catwoman Lee Meriwether and veteran character actor Whit Bissell, and, best of all, the extensive 20th Century Fox film archive to 'lift' stock footage from (giving the show a MUCH more expensive look than the series' tiny budget could have supported).

Unfortunately, while "Star Trek" improved in subsequent episodes, the opposite was true for TT. The series faced the fundamental incongruity of time travel as a film or TV subject; EVERYBODY from the past, by necessity, had to speak understandable English! Seeing Greeks and Trojans, bedecked in ancient armor, conversing in 20th Century American English, was pretty jarring! Even worse, the plots soon became painfully predictable. Our heroes, try as they might, could NOT change history, so you knew, each week, that they would either have to allow a tragedy to happen (like Pearl Harbor, in one of the series' best episodes), or that their actions would serve to keep an event aligned the way we currently remember it. When you add a minuscule 'per-episode' budget, insanely short shooting schedules, and the overworked Allen often unavailable to supervise the series or to 'stand up' to ABC and demand improvements, TT never really had a chance.

Still, you had to respect Irwin Allen for attempting to make something more profound than "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (which had deteriorated into campy 'rubber-masked monster of the week' hokum), and "Land of the Giants" (which quickly wore out it's novelty value). While TT failed, many 'baby boomers' still remember it fondly...and that isn't a bad legacy for a one-season show!