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The Time Tunnel (ABC 1966 - 1967)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Apparently Netflix isn't interested in replacing damaged-or-lost discs from shows like this one or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. All the VttBotS disc I got from them were in poor shape, and some would not even play! And they only offered disc from one of the seasons! Rolling Eyes

Well, anyway, here's a 20-minute promo for The Time Tunnel, introduced by Irwin Allen on the Seaview set.


_______ INSIDE THE *TIME TUNNEL* TV SERIES


__________

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:49 am; edited 3 times in total
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
The Time Tunnel pilot episode "Rendezvous With Yesterday"

. . . ABC TV Network Censorship Concerns

"We urgently suggest you make this a later date than 1968 to avoid impersonating real people such as senators, chiefs of staff, foreign dignitaries, etc. as the series runs for years."

"Be sure U.S. Senator Clark bears no resemblance to anyone in the senate or public political life today."

ABC cautioned "be sure your legal department has cleared the idea of impersonating Captain Smith and any others actually a part of the real story of the Titanic, particularly if they appear in a poor light."

. . . Other suggestions from ABC included:
Delete spitting by engine stoker.
Please do not portray the stoker in a derogatory fashion.
Do not portray the S.O.S. or C.Q.D. signal sound effect.
Be cautious about the shots of the frantic people and that they are not too grim.
Caution the prehistoric reptile won't produce nightmares.

American TV network censorship was ridiculous in those days. You should read some of the objections by NBC's censors to Star Trek scripts, as related in Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek.

And remember, no open-mouthed kisses!
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More Second Season Story Proposals

Monster of the Snow
Tony & Doug land on the snow-covered slopes of the Himalayas to discover that the Abominable Snowmen who attacked them are in reality invading Aliens from a cold planet of a distant galaxy which is growing too warm for their continued existence.

Sounds like a real winner of a plot.

Buried Alive with King Tut
Tony & Doug find themselves being buried alive inside the great pyramid of Cheops together with the dead Pharaoh and his living retinue.

This one certainly has more potential than that dopey Sasquatch concept.

When Worlds Collide
Tony & Doug find themselves on a strange planet which is disintegrating all around them; great chunks of matter are being torn from its surface by the increasing, incredible magnetic attraction exerted by the approach of an immense fiery star which is steadily increasing in force.

Wonder what sci~fi film they would have utilized stock footage from on this potential episode?

One Million B.C.
Tony & Doug find themselves in One Million B.C. where they discover a small band of reasoning early humans in danger of being destroyed by carnivorous apes.

Am I bad if I'm rooting for the apes?

Attila the Hun
In 500 A.D., Tony & Doug stand between the barbarian hordes coming out of Asia and a defenseless Europe.

When the World Drowned
In 12,000 A.D., Tony & Doug come across savage degenerate Amphibians who are survivors of some awful cataclysm which has overtaken the Earth and apparently destroyed man & civilization.

Where are the Himalayan snowmen when ya need 'em?

The Thing in the Web
Tony & Doug are thrown back in time to 100,000 B.C., landing amid the monstrous forms of prehistoric life in the Great American Desert. Captured by aborigines and threatened with death, they will be spared if they can destroy the Thing in the Web.

Webbing and giant spider props/footage for this episode would have been used from The Land of the Giants episode "The Weird World."
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a true Arachnophobe that episode, if it had been made would have really been of interest and fear to me. But the Weird World episode was made years after Time Tunnel was cancelled! Maybe Irwin would have reused the monster Spider from The Keeper instead, but considering he had already used a Tarantula in Kill Two By Two, who knows?
JB
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still more Second Season Story Ideas

World on Fire
In the year 10,000 A.D., Tony & Doug find themselves fighting alongside Earth leaders in an attempt to repel creatures from a super-ho galaxy. The creatures' purpose is to transform Earth into a burning planet so that it will be habitable to them.

Seems like a number of plots from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" got recycled to "The Time Tunnel."

The Lost Civilization
Tony & Doug are transported into the wilds of Central America during the 15th century to find themselves in a vast underground cavern which holds astonishing relics of a lost civilization.

Beast of Evil
In the year 3,000 B.C., Tony & Doug find themselves in Ancient Greece. They have been thrust into the public arena to face death by sacrifice to a monster — half-man, half-bull— on orders of a pagan High Priest.

Satan in Gold
Tony & Doug find themselves hunted down and accused of murder in Sutter's Mill, California, during vigilante terror in the Gold Rush Days.

This episode would have allowed the production to utilize the western town backlot at 20th Century Studios.

The Human Magnets
When Tony & Doug arrive in the year 2,000 A.D., in the wilds of the Messabi iron range of Michigan, U.S.A., they encounter men from another dimensio — men of iron rising out of the ground.

With today's advanced and sophisticated CGI & make-up & aniamatronics, you could create awesome looking aliens and creatures — even with the hokey plots for TTT. But back then the aliens and creatures rivaled the scripts as to the lousy quality.

Richard the Lion Hearted
Tony & Doug arrive in the Holy Land during the 12th Century.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Seems like a number of plots from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" got recycled to "The Time Tunnel."

That used to be common in the 50s, with Studios, or the authors using other shows scripts with minor changes. This was a real common practice with westerns.

I remember watching an episode of "The Bionic Woman" that was a redo of a "Six Million Dollar Man" episode, just with minor name changes.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So true David.

One of my all-time favorite TV western shows is Laredo (1965~1967). "Sound of Terror" from April 7, 1966 had a plot line where a mysterious serial killer has come to the wild & rough Texas town of Laredo.

Later on, I caught an episode of Wagon Train called "The John McCloud Story" from March 2, 1964. Had the same plot as the Laredo episode right down to the serial killer's unusual motivation for murder.

I looked up who had written those episodes for both series and discovered that it was John McGreevey. He had re-tooled his earlier Wagon Train episode for Laredo.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Second Season Story Ideas.

Creatures from the Stars
Tony & Doug arrive in 1900 when suddenly Tony is snatched onto an invading spaceship from a distant galaxy. The aliens, intent on discovering whether they can alter Earth human forms into their own likeness, experiment on Tony and succeed!

"Threshold" (2005~2006) employed this clever idea for the basis of their series. Instead of aliens taking over the Earth via their star ships & ray guns, they try a different approach.

The aliens attempt to rewrite human DNA and morph humanity into the alien species conquering Earth.

Crucible of Battle
Tony & Doug find themselves in 1812 in Washington, D.C., where the White House is being put to the torch by British soldiers.

Duel of Death
Tony & Doug arrive in 17th Century France and battle alongside the King's Musketeers against Richelieu's guards.

Plunge to the End of Time
In December of 1969, Tony & Doug are teleported on board an immense space vehicle whose control room is as big as the Time Tunnel Complex.

The vehicle is from Andromeda and its purpose is to penetrate the end of time.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Beast of Evil
In the year 3,000 B.C., Tony & Doug find themselves in Ancient Greece. They have been thrust into the public arena to face death by sacrifice to a monster---half-man, half-bull---on orders of a pagan High Priest.

This would make a good story, where they find out that the Minotaur is a stranded Alien enslaved by the High Priest. They work with Project Tic-Toc to find a way to get the Alien home.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
This would make a good story, where they find out that the Minotaur is a stranded Alien enslaved by the High Priest. They work with Project Tic-Toc to find a way to get the Alien home.

Right! The alien would come from a star system in the constellation Taurus! Laughing
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This thread put me in the mood to watch The Time Tunnel, so I got a disc from Netflix which has four episodes, starting with The Revenge of Robin Hood, episode 16.

I've only watched that one episode so far, and I really enjoyed it. What really tickled my fancy was the opening music during episode's credits. It was borrowed from Prince Valiant (1954), an abbreviated version of the great title theme by Franz Waxman.

During the episode's action scenes we're also treated to the music from the movie's spectacular battle near the end of the film. Cool

IMDB has a trivia item related to Pow's various descriptions of the stories planned for the unmade season 2.
________________________________

Due to the cancellation of the series after one season, Doug and Tony never returned home. In the DVD interview, Robert Colbert said that had the show been renewed for another season, Irwin Allen was planning to have the time tunnel finally bring them home, and the new scripts would have them going into the time tunnel each week to "fix" wrongs that happened in history, much like Quantum Leap (1989).
________________________________

Maybe Irwin Allen should have just gone with this as the premise of the series, instead of fooling around with all that "lost in time" stuff — which just made the scientist seem incompetent and the Time Tunnel itself appear useless! Rolling Eyes

And yet it would be interesting to see stories about a well-planned and successfully executed project that took the risk of screwing up the time line by "fixing" things which the project heads deemed "wrong".

I can picture scenes at the beginning of several episodes showing the scientists and historians at a big conference table discussing both the advantages and the risks of tinkering with a certain event in the past.

Of course, we all know that absolutely any change in the past would have monumental effects on the time line! So, basically the whole idea is terribly wrong!

Think of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", in which a butterfly which was killed by a time traveler in prehistoric times caused a cascade effect that drastically changed the present by the time the traveler returned.

Frankly I can't think of any way to make this series work without simply ignoring the colossal effects on the timeline caused by screwing around with the past! Shocked

However, what if there was a second "time tunnel" being used by a mentally unstable genius who DID think he could "fix" things in the past? Then Tony and Doug would have to zip around through time and stop each of this misguided persons efforts, just so they could preserve the timeline and avert disasters!

Imagine having to prevent the mad man from saving the Titanic, because of the extensive effects on the timeline that might be disastrous.

And yet . . . WOULD such changes always be bad? Or would they sometimes be good? Confused

Here's a final thought.

What if the Time Tunnel staff were somehow protected from changes in the timeline, even though they could receive data from the "outside world" which made them aware of the changes.

That would mean they could evaluate the changes (in a general way) and decide whether or not to send Tony and Doug back AGAIN to the same event to stop the changes from being made — thus restoring the original timeline.

Geez, this in getting complex as hell! I need two Tylenol . . . washed down with a few beers!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Final batch of proposed stories for the second season of The Time Tunnel

Graveyard in the Sea
Tony & Doug find themselves alongside a dozen other 18th Century sailors in a small whaling boat, eye to eye with the greatest whale of them all — Moby Dick.

Stock footage from John Huston's film "Moby Dick" (1956) was going to be used.

No Escape from Death
In the French city of Rouen in the year 1431, Tony & Doug find themselves digging a tunnel deep beneath a castle with the help of other men. They are part of a last-minute desperate attempt to rescue Joan of Arc from her cell.

Stock footage from Joan of Arc (1948) starring Ingrid Bergman was to be used.

Burial by Fire
In the year 79 A.D., Tony & Doug find themselves clinging to a rocky ledge inside the rim of Mount Vesuvius. The staff back in the Time Tunnel are certain that Tony & Doug will be buried in the massive eruption of Vesuvius because two of the many plaster casts recently dug up from the ancient site are unmistakably Tony & Doug.

"The Last Days of Pompeii" (1959) would have provided the stock footage for this episode.

The Golden Fleece
Tony & Doug find themselves between Jason's fierce Argonauts, who believe the time travelers to be hostile, and the dragon which is guarding the Golden Fleece.

Ray Harryhausen's classic film "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963) would have supplied the needed stock footage. In that movie it is the seven-headed Hydra that protects the Golden Fleece and not a dragon.

Mission from Centauri VI
In the year 2120 A.D. a ballistic missile launched from some distant galaxy strikes the Earth.

The Doomed Brigade
In the mid-19th century, on the faraway battlefields of the Crimean War, Tony & Doug rescue Florence Nightingale from capture during an enemy bombardment.

Battle in Space
In 200,000 A.D., Tony & Doug find themselves to be part of a commando patrol in a fantastic battle amid the missile platform and guns of space.

Holocaust Beneath the Sea
In 210 B.C., Tony & Doug meet the ancient scientist Archimedes and his two sons, who are attempting to repel the Roman sea attack on the Mediterranean island of Syracuse.

Battle of the Galaxies
In the year 4750 A.D., Tony & Doug are whirled out of their time vortex into a spaceship outward bound from Earth on a reconnaissance mission. They are the only humans aboard the automated vehicle when they see a hostile alien fleet heading towards Earth.

The Hell Ship
Tony & Doug find themselves in the year 1790 in the midst of the conspiracy of the mutiny on the Bounty.

Stock footage from "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962) starring Marlon Brando was going to be used.

Gotta say that many of these proposed plots for a second season of TTT sounded terrible. And with Irwin Allen in charge they would have been horribly executed. The writers on the series attempted to create historically accurate scripts, but Allen just did not give a hoot.

In his own words, his TV series were "running & jumping shows" and little else. He loved the razzle dazzle of visual effects & stunts. Plots and rich character development were "quibbling" and he would not tolerate it.

That is why his sci-fi shows have aged so very badly — not from a production sense as his team created fantastic sets, models, props, and visual effects.

Alas, the stories and characters on all his TV shows are forgettable. The science is non-existent.

A second season of the Time Tunnel would have been worse, if possible, than the first.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

. . . Frankly I can't think of any way to make this series work without simply ignoring the colossal effects on the timeline caused by screwing around with the past! Shocked

However, what if there was a second "time tunnel" being used by a mentally unstable genius who DID think he could "fix" things in the past? Then Tony and Doug would have to zip around through time and stop each of this misguided person's efforts, just so they could preserve the timeline and avert disasters!

That idea could actually work as a comedy -- like this cute bit of satire: https://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/

(It's especially funny if you're the sort of person who spends way too much time hanging out on internet geek forums.)
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 5:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud wrote:
However, what if there was a second "time tunnel" being used by a mentally unstable genius who DID think he could "fix" things in the past? Then Tony and Doug would have to zip around through time and stop each of this misguided

This is basically the idea behind the TV series TIMELESS from last year. At least after cancelling TIMELESS twice the network did a two hour "movie" to tie up the series.[/b]
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Very amusing website, scotpens! Thanks for sharing it. Laughing

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