Time Tunnel

Doug and Tony are a couple of scientists who hop from one crisis in time to another. I'm not even sure when they get a chance to eat or sleep. They do seem to find themselves tied up or incarcerated a lot, so I guess it is during these times that they get a little shut eye. Doug and Tony pretty much land in any given time and within five minutes are engaged in fisticuffs. They throw some mean punches for a couple of scientists and also seem to be quite knowledgeable about world history. Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, and Lee Meriwether typically act very grim, and Meriwether does it, for the most part, sitting down. Jerry is my favorite character because he strikes me as the weakest link in project tic toc. He always seems a bit on edge and could crack up mentally under the strain of trying to get Doug and Tony back to the present time. The theme music by John(ny) Williams, is great, as are the animated graphic images of the hourglass and helpless figure. The series as a whole pretty much sticks to a comic book level of drama and action without much contemplation on time travel themes. Perhaps had the series lasted longer it may have explored some challenging possibilities related to Doug and Tony's bumping about through time, but that seems doubtful since Irwin Allen was at the helm.

Ya gotta love Irwin Allen. His shows will never make the critics' list, but for sheer fun, they can't be beat. Last night I watched the pilot episode and the one where the guys go to the moon. To quote, MST3K, boy those time travelers sure can fight:) Things I also love, in random order: opening credits, with those mod graphics. The dog-trotting security guards, whose leader really should hit the gym more often. The fact that the tunnel cannot be damaged by those same guards firing machine guns. The tunnel itself, which proves that time travel is accomplished by lots of explosions. Also, the knowledge that when are visiting the past, our clothes never get dirty and our hair is always perfectly coiffed. The way the tunnel sends Doug and Tony to the perfect historical moment, every time... even when the scientists can't figure it out. The bank of mainframe computers, which really should have gotten a SAG card, they were in some many shows. Discovering that time travelers are either ruggedly handsome or resemble young rock stars. The security alarms, which include fire sirens AND an air-raid klaxon. The yellow hourglass logo. The humor of naming the biggest project since the Manhattan Project Tic Toc. And of course... Whit Bissell. It just ain't science fiction without Whit Bissell. And who knew that history looked so much like the Fox film library? I hear there's a new series coming on Sci-Fi. I'm sure it will have smarter stories and better special effects, but the original will always hold a place in my heart. Best seven billion the government ever spent... after all, how do we really know this all didn't happen--Arizona is just a hop, skip, and jump from Area 51. :)

All kidding aside, the kaleidoscopic time-travel patterns that the guys go through are still wonderful--mysterious, yet familiar. I've seen a lot of time-travel special effects, but this is still the best. And the set designers and matte painters for the Tic Toc complex should have won Emmys. Great casting of Micheal Rennie and the lovely Susan Hampshire, too.

Whenever the nit-pickers and cynics get started on THE TIME TUNNEL, you can bet your life that the same things will come up....

The first thing is usually to point out how smelly Doug and Tony must be because they never change their clothes. This will usually be followed by a comment about the length of their hair and fingernails. Anyone who has actually watched the show will be able to give the answer that the two travellers are returned to the condition they were in when they were extracted from the RMS Titanic at the conclusion of their first adventure "Rendezvous With Yesterday" - it's a part of the transference process. Likewise any injuries that they may have suffered (such as Tony's damaged ankle in "Kill Two by Two") are undone. OK, I'm not denying that the real reason for this is so that they could use the same stock footage of Doug and Tony in the vortex week after week... but it is addressed.

Point two on the nit-picker's agenda is usually: "why do Doug and Tony always materialise in one of history's hotspots rather than someone's backyard or a field on an historically insignificant day?" The quick answer to which is that it would be pretty boring watching Doug and Tony sitting in a field scratching themselves for a whole hour - well I'd find it boring at any rate.

Point three is invariably: "How come every historical figure they meet - no matter where and when they hail from - speaks perfect English?" Likewise, this can easily be dismissed by pointing out that watching Doug, Tony and Historical Figure of The Week making hand signals and drawing pictures in the sand for an hour just to say "Hi", might make for pretty dull viewing. Anyway, surely it is conceivable that one or more of those many computer banks we see at Project: Tic-Toc might be doing the translating for Doug and Tony (a bit like the Universal Translator in the original Star Trek).

The thing that the nit-pickers always seem to forget is that THE TIME TUNNEL was a weekly television show meant to entertain the masses for 50-odd minutes a week. It was made in 1966 and so, yes, it has dated and doesn't look as sophisticated as the SF shows of today - but don't forget that those modern shows are building on what came before. Thirty-odd years on I can promise you that Babylon 5, Farscape and whatever Star Trek show is currently airing, will look just as dated and unsophisticated.

Having grown up in the 60's, I have fond memories of those Irwin Allen adventure series; Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and of course The Time Tunnel. Here we have Tony and Doug, trapped in endless time travel, as they tumble week to week to a new adventure, which always happened to be a key moment in history. Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, the Titanic, Jericho, you name it. Meanwhile, the hapless scientists back at the base are constantly turning dials to bring them home, saying, "I'm trying to get a fix on them..." I always liked the vivid theme music, and of course you could see that those blinking computer props were recycled from the aforementioned series.

I was 9 years old when "Time Tunnel" came on the air, and to an impressionable kid, this series was not so much a stretch as it would be when you're older. I used to love Friday nites on ABC, IIRC the lineup was Green Hornet, Rango (w/Tim Conway), Time Tunnel, Pruitts of Southampton (w/Phillis Diller). Memory is a little weak on the exact order, but I think that's close.

From the moment I saw the slide they put on just before the show began that said "The Time Tunnel, IN COLOR!" I was jealous of everyone that had a color TV (we had an old 21" B&W Olympic brand TV from the 50's). It wouldn't be until years later that I could see it in color. I was never that crazy about "Land of the Giants" or "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", but I never missed "Lost in Space". I never understood as a kid why TT was cancelled (What do kids know? I was just upset my favorite show wasn't on anymore!)

Over the years I would see it pop up once in a great while on some UHF station where I lived in Florida (WTOG-44 in St.Pete in the early 70's). I didn't see it again for years until it reappeared on SciFi. I taped almost all the shows but missed a few. Now I keep hoping for them to come out on DVD as I keep reading, but they still haven't appeared.

I always especially loved the theme music at the beginning of the show, and used my cassette recorder in the 70's to get the theme music so I could hear it when I wanted (no vcr's then!). Sure the show inspired disbelief, but it's pure escapism. Even as a kid, I wondered out loud why they always landed where trouble was about to begin. It didn't matter though, it became my favorite show of all time and still is. I watched it on it's premiere night in 1966 and when I see "Rendevous with yesterday" it takes me back like a Time Tunnel to 1966 and laying on the floor in front of that old TV and being mesmerized by the effects and story...it's like listening to an old song and remembering the time and place where you heard it the first time.

I think it will always be a classic, even if it got (unjustly) cancelled after it's first season. Obviously, I'm not alone, with all the websites devoted to it and all the comments in forums, it will live on for a long time to come. I hope the DVD's come soon.