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For all intents
and purposes the great Irwin Allen should
have been known as the 'Master of Disaster.'
Over his long and varied career, he produced
some of the most famous disaster movies
including, "The Towering Inferno",
"The Poseidon Adventure", and
"The Swarm" as well as such TV
fare as the unashamedly titled "Fire!",
"Flood!" and "Cave-In!"
But his work also included some of the great
sci-fi shows of all time. Going back to
the 1960's, you'd find his name on "Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea", "Lost
in Space", "Land of the Giants",
and "The Time Tunnel."
Though I grew up watching (and loving) all
of these shows back when they originally
aired, today I'm going to focus mainly on
"The Time Tunnel."
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You see, Fox Home Entertainment finally realized
the potential these shows would have in a DVD
market and they have been releasing them on and
off. All of "Lost in Space" is now available
and they have already released the first volumes
of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"
and "The Time Tunnel." This week, "The
Time Tunnel" is finishing up its round with
Volume 2, delivering to consumers the final fifteen
episodes of the series (It only ran for one season).
Considering the age of the series, I imagine there
are quite a few of you who might have heard of
it, but have no idea what it was actually about.
The best way to describe it is to compare it to
the more modern "Quantum Leap." The
main difference lies in the fact that the scientists
here remain in their own bodies, but are whisked
back and forth to different time periods. The
closest similarity is that they are unable to
return home. At any given time during the course
of the series, Dr. Tony Newman (James Darren)
and Dr. Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) could find
themselves on the deck of the Titanic, facing
Billy the Kid, or at the walls of Jericho.
Back in the Project Tic Toc laboratories, located
far below the Arizona desert, their team worked
vigilantly to get their men back or help in any
way they could with the situation at hand, all
the while being careful not to upset the delicate
balance of time. They were made up of General
Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissel - a familiar face in
sci-fi films), Dr. Ann McGregor (Lee Meriwether
- later to become the gorgeous Catwoman), and
Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba).
As the series progressed (even though it only
had a short span of 1 season), the scientists
also found themselves facing the threat of alien
invasion during several different time periods
and even chased a tunnel saboteur back and forth
through time. The series might have been created
back in the late 60's, but the production value
was actually quite high. No matter what time period
was being represented, the sets and costumes were
all top-notch for the time.
I was thrilled to find out that Fox was releasing
this series, and even more so to see that they
were doing so with so many extra features. The
first set had some terrific ones, and this new
set has even more. Included here are several interview
pieces with actors James Darren, Robert Colbert,
Lee Meriwether and Whit Bissel. Each interview
can be accessed and watched in pieces (based on
a particular subject), or you can choose to 'play
all' of a particular actor.
There is also a TV movie (produced by Irwin Allen)
that came out just a few years after the series,
called "Time Travelers." The film starred
Sam Groom and Tom Hallick as two men who join
a project dealing with time travel. Written by
Rod Serling, the film had pretty much nothing
to do with the series, so I can assume it was
added here just because of Allen's participation
and similarity of subject. While it was a pretty
good movie (I actually remember seeing it when
it aired), I did notice that the quality of the
picture wasn't as good as the earlier series.
But one of the best extra is a Pilot that was
shot back in 2002 for a revival of the series.
Unfortunately, the episode never aired. I say
unfortunately because it was pretty darn good.
It was directed by Todd Holland and starred David
Conrad as Doug Phillips and Andrea Roth as Toni
Newman. This episode was really good and no doubt
it would have made a cool series. (Darn the luck.)
Now that Fox is busy releasing these Irwin Allen
classics, I know that I can still look forward
to more episodes of "Voyage to the Bottom
of the Sea." Now if I could only convince
them to jump on "Land of the Giants."
Episodes:
The Revenge of Robin Hood
Kill Two by Two
Visitors from Beyond the Stars
The Ghost of Nero
The Walls of Jericho
Idol of Death
Billy the Kid
Pirates of Deadman's island
Chase Through Time
The Death Merchant
Attack of the Barbarians
Merlin the Magician
The Kidnappers
Raiders from Outer Space
Town of Terror
Starring: James Darren, Robert Colbert, Whit
Bissel, Lee Meriwether
Extras: Interviews with Whit Bissel, Robert Colbert,
James Darren and Lee Meriwether, Still Photo Gallery,
2002 Unaired TV Pilot, Time Travelers TV Movie
Specifications: Full Frame, English Mono
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 6/6/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give The Time Tunnel: Volume 2 a B.
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