Time Tunnel
Time Travel Movies and Television Shows  Buy Time Tunnel on DVD

Beginning Narration-
"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."

The Time Tunnel is a 1966-1967 science fiction TV series produced by Irwin Allen who was also responsible for shows like Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Project Tic-Toc is a top secret U.S. government effort to build an experimental time machine known as "the Time Tunnel". Dr. Tony Newman (James Darren)  turns on the Time Tunnel and heads off into the past before the time machine is completely ready in order to prove to the government it's worthy of continued funding. Scientist Dr. Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) enters the Time Tunnel to save Tony, and both end up in 1912 aboard the Titanic. Both scientist wind up traveling from one explosive point in history to another even running into aliens, and beings from the far future.

 I had a seen a few episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel of the Time Tunnel, but I never really got to sit down and watch a whole episode all the way through until I ordered the Time Tunnel DVD sets. Older shows like the Time Tunnel sometimes take a few minutes to get into, but once you do, you can't quit watching. I was surprised at how interesting the episodes were. It's got it's dated elements for sure like the effects of the Time Tunnel. No cgi of course just what amounts to smoke and firecrackers representing the Tunnel's operation, but the sets appear to be massive in some scenes, and with the use of stock footage they really knew how to give it a feeling of being on grand scale.

Some interesting notes from the series.
Tony and Doug always reverted back to the same clothes when they transfer, a green turtleneck sweater and a conservative Norfolk suit, which were magically cleaned and pressed before their passage to the next time

Tony and Doug's random placement in time mostly (22 of 30) landed them right before an event like D-day, Pearl Harbor, Custer's last stand, Krakatoa, The Titanic sinking, Lincoln's assassination, Biblical events, etc.  The Biblical event being the fall of Jericho led by Joshua. Very good episode, and very respectful to the Bible I thought.

Annoying issue that makes you shout at the TV - The tunnel could send objects and people back and forth to help Doug and Tony, but had a complete inability to do the same with Doug and Tony themselves.

Although cancelled after only one season the series actually had the best ratings of most of the shows on the network at that time. ABC was having a bad year that season though.

On Time Tunnel volume 2 you can see the very well done 2002 pilot episode which unfortunately never got picked up. David Conrad from Ghost Whisperer played Doug Philips. Very awesome special effects, and if you are a Time Tunnel fan you have to appreciate the update to the Tunnel's looks. Only a couple of things aggravated me like sending women into World War II dressed as soldiers after repeatedly worrying about changing time or drawing attention to themselves. You send a couple of women in front of soldiers that haven't seen one in a months you are going to draw lots of attention. I don't care how you disguise them. They are going to get noticed. Other than that stupid politically correct moment, the episode is a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the moment of humor revolving around Hogan's Heroes.

Also I liked the differences in the present world thanks to the problems of the Time Tunnel.

Traffic lights use red for "go" and green for "stop" while yellow retains its meaning.
There are 49 states in the United States. The title sequence shows New Jersey disappearing and the territory being divided between New York and Pennsylvania.

I thought that was a great idea showing the Tunnel affecting time in the present world. Terrible shame this didn't get picked up for a regular series.

The Best episodes of the original Series
The Walls of Jericho - Tony and Doug meet Joshua from the Bible. Great episode, and very respectful to the Bible I thought. I enjoyed this episode a lot.

The Day The Sky Fell In - Awesome episode where Tony meets his father during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Rendezvous With Yesterday - The pilot episode where Tony and Doug wind up on the Titanic.

Billy the Kid

The Alamo

Chase Through Time - In this episode Tony and Doug have to chase a spy through time. It's got it's ups and downs, but I like what they tried to do with this episode.

Time Tunnel Wallpaper Images

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