Sci Fi TV Flashback: The Time Tunnel (1966)

Sci Fi TV Flashback: Looking back at notable sci fi and fantasy television entries from years past.

What Is It?  The opening narration for this show explains its basic premise:

Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages, during the first experiments on America’s greatest and most secret project, the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time.

Newman and Phillips traveled back into the past using the Time Tunnel, but then found themselves unable to return.  The scientists at Project Tic Toc can monitor them and shift them to other time periods, but they struggle with bringing the two travelers back home.

Aired: ABC, 1966-67, 1 Season Totaling 30 Episodes

Starring: James Darren, Robert Colbert, Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, Lee Meriwether

Created By: Irwin Allen

Is It Must-Watch Sci Fi? Possibly.  This was Irwin Allen’s most solid sci fi series and delivered some pretty good episodes when at its best.  The first half of the show is definitely worth a look.

The Skinny:  Irwin Allen is notorious for cheesy ’60s sci fi shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space, but his third genre entry from that decade came closest to delivering a solid science fiction series.  It followed two scientists who find themselves trapped in the control of a time machines that whisks them era to era each week.  They often end up landing in key moments in history like the sinking of the Titanic, the siege of the Alamo, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and more, and they would use their knowledge of history to deal with each situation (though this show was not interested in delivering a history lesson and often stretched the facts).  As a 1960’s television show, there was no concern with the moral and ethical implications of time travel or the butterfly effect or any science-heavy concepts like that.  This was an action-adventure show first that just happened to employ genre elements as part of its premise.  But it was at least consistent in its time travel rules, with the past being acknowledged as fixed (despite the fact that Doug and Tony often tried to change it), and the presence of the show’s two heroes and whatever actions they took considered part of history.

What The Time Tunnel did well when at its best was explore the dramatic potential of key moments in history.  It would focus on particular characters impacted by those key events, and it could often deliver some rather tightly-scripted television dramas.   These were not necessarily emmy-winning teleplays, but at least decent genre tales that made good use of the time travel premise.  Of course, the two leads were the quintessential television front men possessing seemingly limitless knowledge of history while also able to spar with any adversary, use any weapon, ride a horse, and anything else required of action heroes (all while always wearing the same clothes and never getting them too mussed up).  Character development was never a high priority for this show as we learn very little backstory about Doug and Tony or the others back at the time tunnel that monitor their travels.  But everybody is given just enough development to play their part and stand out as more than just stock characters going through the motions.

As with any Irwin Allen series, the cheesiness factor ramped up the further the show progressed.  The first half of the season dealt mostly with historical moments and the people caught up in those events.  But by the time the show wrapped up its thirty episode run, we had space aliens and people from the far future dropping in as well as Merlin the Magician taking control of the Time Tunnel (no, really).  But the show still managed to deliver a fair share of episodes that count as top-notch ’60s sci fi.  What direction it would have gone if it continued to a second season is uncertain, but the best episodes of the first season are worth seeking out for those looking for good sci fi TV from that era beyond Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits.

Cancelled Too Soon? Yes. ABC wanted to bring the show back for a second season but told producer Irwin Allen he would have to cut the budget. Allen was reluctant to do that and at the same time a network executive was lobbying for new series The Legend of Custer to take The Time Tunnel’s place on the schedule. Custer won out, but ended up getting cancelled itself shortly after the start of the next season.  Considering the fact that Allen’s other ’60s sci fi series went much heavier on camp from their second seasons forward (especially Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space), perhaps it was best that The Time Tunnel had only one season.

Should It Be Rebooted? Yes.  Irwin Allen actually tried to revisit the concept with 1976’s Time Travelers, but that pilot was not picked up as a series.  Another reboot was attempted in 2002 when FOX ordered a pilot titled The Time Tunnel, but the network chose to go with a show called Firefly instead (then unceremoniously cancelled that one).  The pilot did an excellent job with the concept (you can read more about it at this link) and should be revisited.  If not, there is still plenty that could be done with the premise, and it is worth giving this one another shot at becoming the great sci fi TV series it could be.

Interesting Facts: Doug and Tony tended to go into the past more than the future, and some scenes from the show probably delivered a sense of deja vu because footage from 20th Century Fox’s film library was often used.  And some of the scenes of the time tunnel complex were taken from The Forbidden Planet.  But despite the liberal use of footage from other films, this was still one of the most expensive television shows at the time it was made.

Where Can You Watch It?: The entire series has been released on DVD in two volumes, though that is rather pricey.  It is not available for streaming on any of the major services as of this writing, but you can buy it VOD from Amazon at a rather economical price.

Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com.  Also, you can read extensively about all four of Irwin Allen’s ’60s sci fi shows in the excellent Irwin Allen Television Productions, 1964-1970: A Critical History of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.

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