ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

Just watched the View-Master reel for The Time Tunnel today on Youtube.

V-M chose the pilot for the series which was also the first episode aired, "Rendezvous with Yesterday" September 9, 1976. And they got a few things wrong.

The narrator states that Tony dresses in 1912 attire and sets the controls of the time tunnel to journey back in time. No, Tony simply wore his working clothing that fateful day. Additionally, Tony had no idea as to when and where the time vortex would send him, so he couldn't know what he should wear for another era.

At the end of the reel it shows Tony & Doug transported from the sinking Titanic to an unknown jungle.

The second episode after the first one was "One Way to the Moon" September 16, 1966. It shows Tony & Doug materializing inside a spaceship that is the first manned vessel to Mars. There was no jungle location involved at all.

Whoever decided upon this reel left out a number of spectacular visuals that should have been included on it.

Not shown on the reel:

A car is shown driving in the desert as it approaches the time tunnel complex. The desert opens up to reveal an underground entryway that the vehicle descends into.

Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) & Senator Leroy Clark (Gary Merrill) descend in a futuristic elevator to Project Tic-Tock. They stand on circular pads and flashes of light are seen on the elevator floor that indicate floors as they are passing by.

There's an overhead shot of the vast complex going down for miles with foot bridges with people walking across them.

Another overhead shot shows the enormous power generators for the complex.

There is a marvelous matte shot showing the time tunnel area.

There are 3 reels for the TT with 7 pictures on each reel and a total of 21 3D photographs. I realize that limits just how many pictures can be allowed for one TV episode. It ain't easy. However, it seems a tremendous oversight not to feature these awesome visual effects considering you're doing an expensive science fiction TV show for the reel. The pilot alone cost Irwin Allen & ABC $575,920 which was a lavish sum of money to spend on the pilot that few other TV shows of that era did. As a comparison, Gene Roddenberry's first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage," cost $616,000. Few, if any, TV production pilots were in that stratospheric neighborhood.