Au coeur du temps

Saw the show this morning on the Encore network. I remember being 14 when it came out and loved it then. Today was the first episode (Titanic) and I enjoyed it all over again. Yes, much has changed in technology as far as broadcasting is concerned but the mystery and intrigue of time travel will always be there. The concept of the big time tunnel whereby Doug and Tony are visible on a large screen probably was a forerunner to big screen TV's of today. What I really found intriguing is that when the show was produced in 1968 the budget for the fictional project was $7 billion. What an enormous amount then and yet today that amount for a budgeted gov't project is still huge.

Some of the episodes, as I remember, get a little corny (especially when they travel to the future) but shows where they try to effect great events in history are integral to our desire that if we could change history we would seek to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg, persuade Lincoln not to go to Ford's Theatre, and re-route JFK in the motorcade...

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!

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.

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.