The Time Tunnel | |
Genre | Science fiction drama |
Created by | Irwin Allen |
Directed by | Various |
Starring | James Darren as Dr. Tony Newman Robert Colbert as Dr. Doug Phillips Whit Bissell as General Heywood "Woody" Kirk Lee Meriwether as Dr. Ann MacGregor |
Theme music composer | unknown |
Opening theme | The Time Tunnel theme music |
Composer(s) | John Williams Various composers |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 1 (1966) plus one made for television film (1982) |
No. of series | 1 (1966) |
No. of episodes | 30 (List of episodes) |
Executive producer(s) | {{{Producers}}} |
Original channel | ABC |
Related shows | Land of the Giants (1968-1970) Lost in Space (1965-1968) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968) |
The Time Tunnel is a science fiction television show that aired between 1966-1967. It was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for a single season of 30 episodes.
Cast[]
- James Darren as Dr. Tony Newman
- Robert Colbert - Dr. Doug Phillips
- Whit Bissell - General Heywood "Woody" Kirk
- Lee Meriwether - Dr. Ann MacGregor
- John Zaremba - Dr. Raymond Swain
About the Show[]
The adventures of scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, lost in the vortex of time during an experiment to prove the effectiveness of the Time Tunnel. Both men are bounced from one era to the next as the personnel of the Tunnel (known as Project Tick-Toc) keep them alive while they try to bring them home.
Trivia[]
- The Time Tunnel was producer Irwin Allen's favorite show that he created.
- Despite earning good reviews in general, the ratings for the show were not high enough to warrant it being renewed for a second season unless Irwin Allen would reduce the budget. He refused and the show was canceled. Consequently with the final episode ("Town of Terror"), the viewer does not know if Newman and Phillips ever make it back home or if they were stuck in time forever, as the show ended with a brief montage of scenes from the show's pilot of "Rendezvous with Yesterday".
Recurring themes[]
- A short "teaser" from next week's episode was shown at the end of each episode as Doug and Tony arrived at their next destination. There was one episode with an intriguing teaser that did not have to do with the next episode: Episode 3's ending teaser has a scene where Tony lands 10 years before 1968 in the desert, at the time tunnel complex. He tries to tell Doug that he works there and he knows him. Nothing more was made of it. This same technique was used in other Irwin Allen shows.
- The impressive introduction to the scale of the project (over 36,000 people and huge underground buildings) is never seen after the first episode except for two clips (used over and over) of the giant power generator flashing, and Tunnel Security running across a walkway. Some of these shots were homages to the Krell complex from the classic 1956 MGM film Forbidden Planet, but new matte paintings and models were created specifically for The Time Tunnel pilot episode.
- Most episodes involved the capture or detention of Doug, Tony, or both, their escape, their recapture, and their escape again, before their move to the next episode.
- Nearly all location shooting was filmed in and around southern California. This causes scenes set in different parts of the country (or the world) to have the same general hilly landscape with arid-type trees and brush typical to the local region where filming occurred.
- The majority of episodes placed Tony and Doug in stories set in past historical contexts.
- Aliens and people from the future were similarly dressed, often in metallic silver clothing, like other Irwin Allen television series of the same era.
- Many episodes used stock footage from previous 20th Century-Fox and Irwin Allen productions. These shots ran the gamut from episodes on General Custer, to the sinking of the Titanic, and many other historical events.
DVD releases[]
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in 2006 in two volumes. Volume Two includes the unaired 2002 pilot and the made-for-TV film The Time Travelers as special features. The DVD box sets include nearly all full-length, uncut and unedited original network prints, but one episode, "Chase Through Time", was edited.
In Region 2, Revelation Films released the entire series on DVD in the UK in one complete series box set.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Australia on August 20, 2014.
Cartoonito in the UK started showing the series on Monday 2nd January 2012.