The 1960's were filled with science fiction TV shows. Lost in Space, Land of the Giants. The classic Star Trek made its debut on another network in the same week as The Time Tunnel.
The premise of The Time Tunnel was great. A multi-billion dollar Government Project goes awry; two men get lost in a time warp. In each story, Doug and Tony arrive at some monumental event in American or World History. While taking considerable liberty with The Magna Carta, the Explosion of Mount Krakatoa, and other events, the series left viewers wanting to learn more. (When the evening's show concluded, families reached for their World Book Encyclopedia to get the facts about Pearl Harbor, or Jericho, or Cortez, or the Alamo).
Obvious problems which have been discussed exhaustively here on IMDb, are "how could everybody speak English?" and "why don't Doug and Tony ever change clothes?" Those two issues are not peculiar to The Time Tunnel; a host of television shows and movies have done the same.
One plus for the Time Tunnel was the interjection of scenes from blockbuster Hollywood movies. The attack on the Alamo is a great example. Another plus was using the sound tracks from Hollywood movies. You will hear the background music from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on at least two episodes of The Time Tunnel. Read the Trivia notes here on IMDb under each episode; it is amazing to see the classic films that were used to boost the show's grandeur and excitement.
For reasons unknown, the series shifted from historic events to aliens and other planets. One episode even dealt with magic (Merlin the Magician). The producers had used aliens in episode 18 (Visitors from Beyond The Stars); the last four shows were entirely about aliens. From reading the many reviews here on IMDb and other websites, the fans as a whole were not pleased with the outer space and magic episodes. That may be why the show was abruptly cancelled after one short season.
The Time Tunnel is a definitive 1960's classic show. The shows are still enjoyable (excluding perhaps the alien shows, which is why I dropped my rating from 10 to 9). Appropriately, most episodes of The Time Tunnel have stood the test of time!
The premise of The Time Tunnel was great. A multi-billion dollar Government Project goes awry; two men get lost in a time warp. In each story, Doug and Tony arrive at some monumental event in American or World History. While taking considerable liberty with The Magna Carta, the Explosion of Mount Krakatoa, and other events, the series left viewers wanting to learn more. (When the evening's show concluded, families reached for their World Book Encyclopedia to get the facts about Pearl Harbor, or Jericho, or Cortez, or the Alamo).
Obvious problems which have been discussed exhaustively here on IMDb, are "how could everybody speak English?" and "why don't Doug and Tony ever change clothes?" Those two issues are not peculiar to The Time Tunnel; a host of television shows and movies have done the same.
One plus for the Time Tunnel was the interjection of scenes from blockbuster Hollywood movies. The attack on the Alamo is a great example. Another plus was using the sound tracks from Hollywood movies. You will hear the background music from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on at least two episodes of The Time Tunnel. Read the Trivia notes here on IMDb under each episode; it is amazing to see the classic films that were used to boost the show's grandeur and excitement.
For reasons unknown, the series shifted from historic events to aliens and other planets. One episode even dealt with magic (Merlin the Magician). The producers had used aliens in episode 18 (Visitors from Beyond The Stars); the last four shows were entirely about aliens. From reading the many reviews here on IMDb and other websites, the fans as a whole were not pleased with the outer space and magic episodes. That may be why the show was abruptly cancelled after one short season.
The Time Tunnel is a definitive 1960's classic show. The shows are still enjoyable (excluding perhaps the alien shows, which is why I dropped my rating from 10 to 9). Appropriately, most episodes of The Time Tunnel have stood the test of time!