The Time Tunnel

Despite the negative review listed on this site, I found this pilot (only 60 minutes, not 120) to be interesting and worthy of more exploration. Despite its similarity to STARGATE, the premise is workable and deserves another shot. Perhaps Sci-Fi can take this pilot and build on it. I suggest a miniseries that would delve more into the creation of the Tunnel, the Belsky character, and the team. Making Newman a woman was a nice touch. Ending was a bit confusing, but could be expanded and explained if the concept were given more than an hour to play out. If a series were to result, it might be interesting to bring in a weekly 'guest specialist' who travels through time with the team to correct errors in the timeline. Fox's loss could be Sci-Fi's gain.

In 2006, an experiment of the Department of Energy in hot fusion to produce energy releases a storm in time along 240 minutes, changing history. Only the personnel in the core of the laboratory know the true story and now they need to fix points in the history that have been punctually changed. The bureaucrat and former Marine Doug Phillips (David Conrad) is a family man that is recruited by his friend Flynn (Kavan Smith) to join an expedition to 1944 due to his great knowledge of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest in Germany. The team formed by Doug, Flynn, Toni Newman (Andrea Roth), J.D. (Tawny Cypress) and Wix (Bob Kiherr) is assigned to find a monk from 1546 that has been accidentally transported to the spot and is the carrier of Black Plague.

"The Time Tunnel – Unaired Pilot 2002" is a reasonable attempt to revive the cult series from the 60's. The concept is a sort of Stargate and is not bad; however there is too much information in this pilot that is darker than the original show and the characters are not charismatic as the original time traveler scientists are. This pilot id part of the Extras in the second box of "The Time Tunnel". My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The Time Tunnel concept is fabulous, and I would love to see a new series, but the 2002 un-aired pilot is the typical today's sci-fi, which focuses more on the proverbial arrogant, cocky characters and the "beating-around-the bush" storyline, with an overindulgence of bad humor. Too many of today's yuppie scriptwriters have no care nor understanding of quality writing and engaging characters. The Time Tunnel (2002) unaired pilot, unlike the original 1960s Irwin Allen series, has unlikeable, cold characters and horrendous acting. It does have an interesting storyline but is far less suspenseful than the original Time Tunnel series because this new version doesn't have Doug and Tony lost in time, but can return them to the tunnel at any time.

The un-aired pilot's best attribute is a nicely done war scene with incidental background music that challenges the emotions, and snow flurries that enhances the scenic setting landscape of war.

Overall, there is no comparison between the poorly produced Time Tunnel (2002) and the fabulous Time Tunnel TV series of 1966.

-- Ed Shifres

Jan 14, 2007

The Time Tunnel 2002 Pilot - fantastic

The Time Tunnel 2002 Pilot can be found on DVD #4 of the the second season of the original Time Tunnel. This DVD is available from Netflix.com.

Remembering The Time Tunnel from my youth I discovered to my great joy that Netflix.com had them for rent. It was a great experience watching the entire series again. I was 4-years-old the first time I saw it. The series made such an impression on me that I remembered it 40 years later.

On the last DVD, DVD #4 of season 2 of the original series, I was intrigued by the 2002 pilot for a new Time Tunnel Series. I had never even heard of a pilot for the Time Tunnel coming back. Intrigued I watched it.

After watching the 2002 Time Tunnel Pilot I was so impressed that I watched it three more times. This pilot was very well done and I wish that the finance and marketing people had realized what a new huge potential hit they had on their hands.

This new Time Tunnel pilot at first glance is a darker version. But after watching it several times it really is not. For me it was an amazing thrill to see an updated Time Tunnel. This new Time Tunnel series has so much potential that I cannot encourage the TV industry enough to make a seven year series run of it.

Since Star Trek is no longer running, TV is devoid of good science fiction entertainment. Smallville series excluded.

I've stopped getting cable because there is just no good science fiction shows on TV.

Instead I've turned to Netflix to satisfy my demand for the great science fiction series of my youth. They include The Time Tunnel (1966), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1966-1968), Land of the Giants (1968-1969), and The Invaders.

I cannot urge the television industry enough to bring back these Irwin TV series in an updated modern form with modern special effects.

I absolutely loved the 2002 pilot for The Time Tunnel and I would definitely support a 7 year series run of it sold on DVD/Blue Ray.

The same is true for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and the Invaders. I would definitely support a 7 year series sold on DVD/Blue Ray.

Why 7-years? This was a standard run for a Star Trek series. It takes time to build an audience.

Arnold Veness

I had heard about this and thought "another bland update, no one will watch it, it'll stink." How wrong I was, this showed solid promise, with Tony being updated to a female lead named Toni, it was one pleasant surprise after another.

They kept key features like the long tunnel itself, while changing a few items such as the new "time storm" and the fact that only the staff of the tunnel experiment knew the world had changed.

This big thing that was missing that as a fan I would have liked would have been references to "project tic toc" but well acted, well thought out, and it would have been a fine continuation to the Time Tunnel family.