Raiders from Outer Space

I grew up watching these shows, love anything to do with Irwin Allen,unfortunately a lot of these older shows get reviewed by younger people that compare them against things produced these days which has no comparison.

One of my favorite parts its at the beginning when you have the older setting and the aliens show up, wow, very creepy and their costumes are so cool,this episode was almost a mirror of the preceding one (the kidnappers) where someone from the future gets involved with the tunnel complex.

Lately i have been binge watching The Tunnel, its a shame it only ran for a few episodes,i own just about anything Irwin made,"the master of disaster" lol

Doug and Tony are transported to Sudan on 02 November 1883 on the day of the battle between the British invaders and the Arabs in Khartoum and they stumble in an alien invasion from Aristos that will begin launching missiles in London and other major cities. When the time tunnel personnel interfere with the plans of the alien leader, he sends a sophisticated and indestructible bomb to the complex.

"Raiders from Outer Space" is another episode based on fiction, this time of an alien invasion on Earth. There are two parallel plots and a great use of stock footages. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Túnel do Tempo" ("The Time Tunnel")

Temporally transported to the Sudan during the battle for Khartoum (1883), Tony (James Darren) and Doug (Robert Colbert) discover an alien plot to conquer Earth. This episode is nearly identical to the equally weak (and similar titled 'Visitors from Beyond the Stars'), in which haughty aliens plot to destroy the Earth while the time travelers desperately try to convince skeptical people of the true threat. The first-seen giant-eared, bum-headed aliens are amusing and frugally-imaginative but the master alien, who has a human face surmounted by a bulbous alien cranium (?), looks ridiculous. There is a secondary plot about the aliens infiltrating and threatening to destroy the Time Tunnel itself if the events in the past are interfered with. Nothing makes much sense and the episode is padded with footage from some period-piece adventure involving battling Arabs. Directed by Oscar winner Nathan Juran, who helmed some of the more preposterous sci-fi films of the 1950s.

Our time traveling heroes end up in the middle of the Siege of Khartoum, probably because Irwin Allen had access to stock footage from the movie "Khartoum". Coincidentally, there is also an alien invasion force there that plans to conquer the Earth by bombing London. The alien leader has a big green brain, his subordinates look like the alien from This Island Earth and their "slaves" look like mummies. Somehow, the alien leader is aware of the Time Tunnel and sends a bomb there that he threatens to explode. Naturally, this worries the crew at the Time Tunnel home base, which includes Lee Meriwether and some guy who looks like Donald Pleasence but sounds like Johnny Carson. The time travelers get a British Captain to help them, after they convince him that aliens are real. This is kind of a goofy episode.

Aliens appear in the 1883 battle of Khartoum, Tony and Doug must stop the aliens from causing a doomsday situation. Meanwhile in command centre, the aliens have planted a bomb!

Motion picture director Nathan Juran pulls out all stops as right from the word go (the teaser) he gives us wild location filmed images of aliens with Arabs and clever doomsday talk from alien Kevin Hagen! As the teaser concludes we sit motionless wondering what the hell will happen next?

I never saw this episode as a kid but I wish I did, it was not until the age of 25 (in 1991) did I get to see this long lost episode! Act one begins with a clever use of stock music placed over the episode credits and talk from a concerned Whit Bissell - "We have to get them out!".

For a while after this, all the best lines go to a confused/amusing John Crawford as he hears alien invasion talk from James Darren. The middle section of the episode does get a bit too stuck in a rather obvious use of stock footage, but hey, most of act three/act four is a Republic serial-type thrill ride, and a lot of credit goes to Whit Bissell as General Kirk.

The sub-plot (main plot to me) concerning a bomb in the command centre is very well done and, perhaps it is just me, but hey, on first viewing I never knew they would solve the bomb problem the way they did. Clever twist.

In the final frames, good old John Crawford returns to centre stage to give us a comic bit of visual acting that you will long remember. Granted, this episode is silly, but the pull out all stops action style (also seen in Chase Through Time) is a knockout. This is not the end of Time Tunnel...one more episode is left, Town Of Terror.

Raiders From Outer Space would have made a better final episode as Town Of Terror tends to be a bit slow and Whit Bissell gets too little to do, but "Town" has a five star teaser, has a nice cross over to The Invaders (1967) and makes a wonderful use of the 20th Century Fox backlot.

Trivia: Months after Tunnel ended, Whit Bissell went military again in The Invaders (1967) year 2.