May 26 & 27, 2006

The Time Tunnel Vol. 1 – 1966

     Before we get into the specifics of this classic series, here are a few facts that interested me. You’ll note that this set is called Vol. 1, not season one. That’s because there were 30 episodes in the one and only season of this show. Which is too bad. So just like the Lost In Space sets, they didn’t but all the episodes in one set. So what we have here are the first 15 episodes (half).

I was talking to White Jesse Jackson earlier in the month about old TV shows, and we wondered if this would hold up. After all, this series was made in 1966; I was 9 years old when I last saw this. I thought it was pretty cool back then, but the Lost In Space episodes were not as good as I remember them. As the seasons rolled on, Irwin had the series get campier and campier. This show never lasted long enough to go down that road.

Okay, enough of that, let’s look at the show itself. The pilot’s sets are pretty impressive. Several of them are obviously “inspired” by Forbidden Planet. I certainly don’t remember the complex being this big, and considering how much I loved (and still do) Forbidden Planet, I’m surprised this didn’t make a bigger impression. I can only assume that I never saw the pilot. It’s still pretty cool, even by today’s standards FOR TV. And that’s an important point to remember. This was not a movie, this was a TV series.

Besides Forbidden Planet, many of the set pieces are “borrowed” from other Irwin shows. Specifically, much of the computer equipment I’ve seen in both LiS and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

There are lots of character actors in this series. We’ll do show outs as we look at each episode. But the main cast has some great folks in it too. My favorite actor in the main cast has to be Lee Meriwether!  And she did this the same year that she was the Catwoman on the original Batman TV series. Next favorite, the voice of the robot from LiS gives the introductory narration. Hey, there’s John Zarema from Earth vs the Flying Sauces (another one of my favorite movies). James Darren, who plays Tony, went on to direct a ton of stuff, according to IMDB.

I have one other general observation before the comments on each episode. These guys are the most unlucky individuals on the face of the planet! Never once do they land somewhere that’s safe and calm. Every single time they land right in the middle of some catastrophe!

Rendezvous with Yesterday

     The captain of the Titanic is Michael Rennie, from the equally classic The Day The Earth Stood Still.  And that little boy playing the French immigrant child will go on to direct Joe Millionaire. Ain’t life funny?

This pilot got great production values for a TV show. But I’m betting that the external shots of the Titanic are from something else. They do that fairly often, use scenes from something else. I just can’t place from what.

One Way to the Moon

     Hey, there’s Warren Stevens, “Doc” from Forbidden Planet. He’s called “Doc” in this episode too. Isn’t that a weird coincidence? And let’s see, 10 years in the future from 1968 would make it 1978. And we have a mission to Mars? Somewhere in this timeline, someone invented a really great fuel.

End of the World

     Wow, I didn’t know that there was such a panic in the last appearance of Halley’s comet. Certainly it didn’t look that impressive when it came by in ’86. But the idea that the Time Tunnel affected the orbit of the comet is pretty clever. So let’s see if I got this right. It was SUPPOSED to strike Earth, but the Time Tunnel affected its path, saving Earth (accidentally, BTW). And no one knows what saved the Earth. That’s pretty subtle.

And there’s Paul Carr, who played Detective Mark in the infamous hurter The Severed Arm.

The Day the Sky Fell In

     My only comment on this episode is, by this time, I’ve come to realize that this series features close ups of sweaty faces WAY TOO MUCH. And hey, Tony’s dad is being played by Linden Chiles, who would go on to star in the Roger Corman SciFi classic Mutant.

The Last Patrol

     Wow, it’s Carroll O'Connor, 13 years before Archie Bunker. I’m always amused to see people who became famous later in their earlier days. And, if you’re a real cinema geek, you’ll recognize the guy playing Capt. Hotchkiss (Michael Pate) as Sir Locksley in the classic Danny Kay comedy The Court Jester.

Guess I’d better break this into two parts. This is getting long. (as well it should, since it took me 4 days to watch them all. They are, after all, 50 minutes long each).