"Two American scientists are lost in a 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." - "The Time Tunnel" Opening Narration
The Time Tunnel: Volume One DVD Review
By Jude Clement
Deep beneath the Arizona desert, the scientists of Project Tic Toc have been working on a top-secret government experiment: a "time tunnel" that will hopefully allow them to travel back and forth in time. The problem is that the process is slow, and the government is getting impatient. Cool-headed team leader Dr. Doug Phillips (The Young and the Restless' Robert Colbert) has worked on the project for ten years, while his brash young protégé Dr. Tony Newman (T.J. Hooker's James Darren) has been with Tic Toc for seven years. Millions have been spent and a few animals have been sent into the tunnel, but the research team is still nowhere near ready to transport an actual human being. When a senator threatens to pull all funding unless the group achieves instant results, Tony throws himself into the tunnel in an attempt to save the project.
None of the animals that have been sent into the tunnel before Tony have ever returned, since the group has trouble controlling where or when in time their subjects will appear. Tony, for example, has the bad luck of landing aboard the Titanic mere hours before its fatal run-in with an iceberg. Doug is able to go back in time to help his pal, but then the team - including Dr. Ann MacGregor (Barnaby Jones' Lee Meriwether), Dr. Raymond Swain (Ben Casey's John Zaremba), and General Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissel) - must figure out how to get the duo back to their own time period, 1968.
Combining sci-fi with the traditional dramatic anthology, each week finds the scientists in a different historical period, often trying to change the course of history. In any given week, they might be on the Titanic ("Rendezvous with Yesterday"), at Pearl Harbor the day of the Japanese attack ("The Day the Sky Fell In"), on the island of Krakatoa before its eruption ("Crack of Doom"), or even in ancient Greece ("Revenge of the Gods"). This simultaneously gives the series an endless number of possible plotlines and makes it a bit too predictable. After all, it isn't as if Tony and Doug will be able to convince the Titanic's captain to change the course of the doomed ship.
The episodes are also too laxly paced. Only periodically does "Rendezvous with Yesterday," for example, display the wild-eyed pathos that marked Allen's other famous sinking-ocean-liner opus, The Poseidon Adventure. Careening chandeliers and hysterical passengers trying to squeeze out of too-small portholes are seen briefly, but the emphasis is mostly on talk and debate. The tone is so civilized and calm that when Tony finally convinces a fellow passenger to save herself, she waltzes onto a lifeboat with no problems whatsoever.
The series also suffers from muddled internal logic. The team cannot seem to return Tony and Doug to 1968, but they have no problem bringing back other people and objects. There seems to be no reason for this discrepancy other than the whims of the writers.
Still, the series is surprisingly well-made. The production values are much higher than in some other shows by producer Irwin Allen. Lost in Space's aliens in rubber masks, for example, would be totally out of place here. "Rendezvous with Yesterday" includes impressive matte paintings of the Tic Toc headquarters.
Fans of Quantum Leap will also be interested in checking out this precursor to that Scott Bakula series. Although different in tone and style, they are similar enough to warrant comparison.
Familiar faces in Volume One include Michael Rennie, Susan Hampshire (Monarch of the Glen), Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family), Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), Kevin Hagen (Little House on the Prairie), Michael Ansara, Tom Skerritt (Picket Fences), Jim Davis (Dallas), and Joe E. Tata (Beverly Hills, 90210).
Because The Time Tunnel has been divided into volumes, it might be helpful for fans to know which episodes are included in Volume One:
Rendezvous with Yesterday: The team races to rescue Tony from the Titanic.
One Way to the Moon: Tony and Doug find themselves on a spaceship heading for Mars.
End of the World: Halley's Comet sends a town into a panic.
The Day the Sky Fell In: Tony and Doug land in Pearl Harbor the day before the Japanese attack.
The Last Patrol: The duo become involved in the War of 1812.
Crack of Doom: Tony and Doug attempt to evacuate the island of Krakatoa before the volcano erupts.
Revenge of the Gods: In 1200 BC, Tony and Doug become involved in the war between Ulysses and Paris.
Massacre: Tony and Doug find themselves at Little Big Horn.
Devil's Island: Tony and Doug are mistaken for political prisoners on Devil's Island.
Reign of Terror: The doctors show up during the French Revolution in the days before Marie Antoinette is to be beheaded.
Secret Weapon: A foreign scientist claims to have developed a Time Tunnel ten years before Tic Toc was able to do so. Is this the key to getting Tony and Doug home?
The Death Trap: Tony and Doug attempt to stop the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on the eve of his inauguration.
The Alamo: The men show up at.well.the Alamo.
Night of the Long Knives: The travelers meet Rudyard Kipling.
Invasion: The Gestapo brainwashes Doug into assassinating Tony on the eve of D-Day.
These episodes represent the first fifteen episodes in their original broadcast order.
The fifteen episodes that make up The Time Tunnel: Volume One are divided onto four double-sided discs. Two slim, black keepcases hold two discs apiece. The front of each case features a sub-Saul Bass stylized version of the tunnel along with a pair of figures representing Doug and Tony. The back of each case features a listing of episode titles, airdates, and brief synopses. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve which features the same illustration found on the keepcases.
The menus are simple and functional. There is no "play all" feature. The episodes are divided into chapters.
