[.ca] The Time Tunnel: Volume One

From Amazon.com:
Home video is our own little time tunnel, instantly transporting us back to dimly-remembered TV shows of our youth. The only thing more fun than re-encountering a show one hasn't thought about in years is the happy discovery that it holds up relatively well. In The Time Tunnel, James Darrin and Robert Colbert star as intrepid scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, who are studying the feasibility of time travel ("potentially the most valuable treasure the world will ever find") as part of the top secret Project Tic Toc. The government, though, considers it a billion-dollar boondoggle and threatens to shut it down. Tony impetuously enters the untested Time Tunnel, and, on his inaugural adventure in "Rendezvous with Yesterday," finds himself on a New York-bound ocean liner. It remains one of the great TV moments when a life preserver reveals that he is, in fact, on the Titanic. Doug will join him shortly after, and together they will hurtle backward and forward through time, usually arriving on the eve of some pivotal historic event. Meanwhile, back at Project Tic-Toc, the other scientists (including Lee "Catwoman" Meriwether's Dr. Ann MacGregor) follow their progress and try to bring them home. This four-double-sided-disc set contains the short-lived series' first 15 episodes, complete with the freeze-frame cliffhangers that found the duo on some "fantastic new adventure." Among the most memorable is "The Day the Sky Fell In," in which Tony and Doug find themselves at Pearl Harbor the day before the Japanese attack, and Tony has a Field of Dreams moment that allows him the opportunity to find out what happened to his father, who stationed there at the time. In "Massacre," Tony and Doug try to head off the battle at Little Big Horn. In "Invasion," the pair land in France in advance of the D-Day invasion, and Doug is captured and brainwashed by the Gestapo. Notable guest stars include Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) as the captain of the Titanic, and Carroll O'Connor as a War of 1812 colonel and his modern-day descendant in "The Last Patrol." The Time Tunnel was one of three shows that cult fave sci-fi/fantasy producer Irwin Allen had on the air in 1966 (the other two were Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Sure, the science and history are pure hooey, but The Time Tunnel's cheesy charms (such as the pre-psychodelic time travel light shows) are, well, timeless. --Donald Liebenson

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!:
THE TIME TUNNEL (ABC 1966-67) is certainly one of the late Irwin Allen's better SF tv series produced in the 1960s and this long anticipated two volume DVD collection promises to be something truly outstanding for the show's devout fan following. It has been promised (by informed insiders) that the source elements utilized for these disc pressings will be taken from the original 35mm print masters newly restored and digitally remastered in high definition with each episode presented in its entirety along with the original cliffhanger endings complete and intact. Probably in anticipation of ultimately issuing this valuable tv property once again in HD somewhere later down the line. The volume one 4-disc box set (due out on January 24th, 2006) will consist of the first 15 episodes presented in their original ABC Television Network primetime broadcast order along with the unaired, 55 minute production pilot of "Rendezvous with Yesterday." Many of this landmark program's best efforts can be found here including "Rendezvous with Yesterday" (in two versions), "One Way to the Moon," "End of the World," "The Day the Sky Fell In," "The Last Patrol," "Revenge of the Gods, "Massacre," "Reign of Terror," "Secret Weapon," "Night of the Long Knives" and "Invasion." THE TIME TUNNEL is one SF tv series that certainly got off to a very strong start indeed! The show's single season is marked by the early tv appearances of such distinguished performers as Carroll O'Connor, Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, Susan Hampshire, Jim Davis, Susan Flannery and even Robert Duvall many of whom would shortly achieve greater celebrity becoming Hollywood legends in the ensuing years to follow. The list of actors and actresses who made guest appearances on the show reads like a virtual Who's Who of Hollywood including such notables as Michael Rennie, Gary Merrill, Warren Stevens, James T. Callahan, Paul Fix, Gregory Morton, Paul Carr, James Westerfield, Linden Chiles, Michael Pate, Torin Thatcher, Vic Lundin, John Doucette, Dee Hartford, Joseph Ruskin, Abraham Sofaer, Nehemiah Persoff, Michael Ansara, Kevin Hagen, Michael Pate, Joe Maross, Christopher Dark, Lawrence Montaigne, Marcel Hillaire, Oscar Beregi, Theodore Marcuse, David Opatoshu, R.G. Armstrong, Scott Marlowe, Rhodes Reason, John Lupton, Malachi Throne, Lyle Bettger, Michael St. Clair, John Wengraf, Donald Harron, John Crawford, Mako, Phillip Ahn, Jan Merlin, Frederick Beir, Byron Foulger, Ross Elliott, Edwardo Cianelli, Richard Jaeckel, John Hoyt, Myrna Fahey, Arnold Moss, Anthony Caruso, Rudolpho Hoyos, Peter Brocco, Robert Walker, Jr., Victor Jory, Regis Toomey, Lew Gallo, Vitina Marcus, Arthur Batanides, Paul Mantee, Christopher Gary, Vincent Beck, Mabel Albertson and John Saxon. The initial fifteen episodes contained in the volume one 4-disc box set are comprised of the following: 01) "Rendezvous with Yesterday" (09/09/1966) 02) "One Way to Moon" (16/09/1966) 03) "End of the World" (23/09/1966) 04) "The Day the Sky Fell In" (30/09/1966) 05) "The Last Patrol" (07/10/1966) 06) "The Crack of Doom" (14/10/1966) 07) "Revenge of the Gods" (10/21/1966) 08) "Massacre" (28/10/1966) 09) "Devil's Island" (11/11/1966) 10) "Reign of Terror" (18/11/1966) 11) "Secret Weapon" (25/11/1966) 12) "The Death Trap" (02/12/1966) 13) "The Alamo" (09/12/1966) 14) "Night of the Long Knives" (16/12/1966) 15) "Invasion" (30/12/1966) All are to be presented in spectacular colour taken from pristine, vault stored 35mm negatives for optimum visual and audio quality insuring maximum entertainment value. This should prove to be one of the major DVD releases of 2006! Coming out in January it's certainly a marvellous way to begin the New Year for serious collectors of classic tv series from the Golden Age when television and imagination were not strangers to each other. Jeff T.

TAKE A JOURNEY THROUGH THE TIME TUNNEL:
I HAVE VERY FOND MEMORIES OF THIS SHORT LIVED IRWIN ALLEN CLASSIC.THE PICTURE AND SOUND ON THE DVD'S IS BETTER THAN I REMEMBER AS A KID.THE VIDEO TRANSFER IS VERY NICE AND THE SOUND IS CRISP ALBEIT IN MONO.I GIVE VOLUME ONE OF THE TIME TUNNEL FIVE STARS FOR PURE TELEVISION ENJOYMENT.VOLUME ONE CONTAINS THE FIRST 15 EPISODES OF THE SHOW,THE UNAIRED EXTENDED VERSION OF THE PILOT,IRWIN ALLEN'S BEHIND THE SCENES HOME MOVIES,VISUAL EFFECTS CAMERA TEST,STILL GALLERIES AND PROMOTIONAL TV AND RADIO SPOTS.BUT ONCE AGAIN IT IS LACKING IN CAST INTERVIEWS.MANY OF THE ACTORS FROM THIS SHOW ARE STILL ALIVE,SO WHY DIDN'T THE STUDIO INTERVIEW THEM FOR THE DVD SET?.IT WOULD BE A WELCOMED ADDITION TO ANY RELEASE TO SEE THE ACTORS TODAY AND GET THEIR THOUGHT'S ON THE SHOW.MY ONLY GRIPE IS THAT THIS SHOW ONLY RAN FOR ONE SEASON,SO WHY SPLIT IT INTO TWO VOLUMES?.SURELY THE STUDIO COULD HAVE COMPILED ALL 30 EPISODES INTO ONE BOXED SET AT A REASONABLE PRICE.

Time Tunnel-The one and only season off to a good start!:
The Time Tunnel which originally ran during the TV show season of 1966/67,was unfortunately just a one season wonder.However it is a series which still managed to captured the fancy of many a viewer back then and it still holds quite an appeal today. The show involves the adventures of Project Tic-Toc run by General Kirk(Whit Bissell).Two scientists Tony Newman(James Darren) and Doug Phillips(Robert Colbert) are the time travellers who from week to week are injected by the tunnel from one random time period to another.Many of the story lines were quite interesting while others could be run of the mill,but the speical effects for that time are still pretty good and still hold up.Irwin Allen,the producer,also made liberal use of the 20th Century sound archives for background music and effects and the video archives for filler scenes. Volume one has some fine eps in it and the acting,whether by the stars themselves or the supporting casts, are all top notch and believable.This four disc two-sided set,like Vol.2,is NOT remastered.However the master tapes used are of such high quality that I can see why they didn't got through the process.I didn't see any objectionable thing in this set worthy of repeating here,and that's saying something. The extra features involve some interesting Irwin Allen home movies,a photo gallery,a visual effects camera test and a rare unaired version of the extended version of the pilot ep. This entire season has been split into two different sets which I take umbrage to.I notice all of Irwin Allens shows on DVD are very expensive also and I think it is really "taking" the public,when they could have easily put this season into just one set.Also the DVDs are all two sided which are SO prone to scratching.They produce cheap but ask PLENTY! In conclusion this wonderful show from the 1966/67 TV season has arrived on DVD and it looks great.The shows are generally quite interesting and the possiblities for it were endless,it is just a shame it didn't continue beyond one season.Do be warned of the two sided discs and the careful handling they require.However it's a show the ENTIRE FAMILY can watch and considering the surprising historical accuracy with which each show was handled,it is not a stretch to call it educational for the younger set. Stir their imaginations and yours and get this series today!