Fox sent me the box set and I haven't watched it yet -- growing up in the 80s this series was never in circulation around these parts...any good? Fun? Anything to look for?

Andy,
Are the discs double-sided?
Yes, it's a fun show. All the usual stock features you'd expect from an Irwin Allen production, from the guest actors to the footage. It was always one of my favourites. Is this a complete season set or is it split into two?

John Johnson wrote:Andy,
Are the discs double-sided?
Yes, it's a fun show. All the usual stock features you'd expect from an Irwin Allen production, from the guest actors to the footage. It was always one of my favourites. Is this a complete season set or is it split into two?

It's split into two (I believe it says "volume 1" on it). Haven't checked out the discs and will get back to you later today...

They are double-sided discs -- I don't believe they're DVD-18, though, but rather standard DVD flippers. And the "unaired pilot" is one of the episodes.

It was an ominipresent fun show from my childhood, but watching the last batch of reruns over here about ten years ago it quickly became apparent how the series lost its way. The early episodes are good, especially the Pearl Harbor and Caesar's ghost episodes, but towards the end of the run you get too many silver-skinned guest-stars in aluminum baking foil pretending to be aliens or Merlin to pep up the show because they've run out of colour movies with good historical stock footage. That said, the final episode does have a very, very neat twist that actually gives a cancelled show an ending for once... sort of...

Hell, I'd buy it. Let us know more details about what we can expect on the discs. Oh yeah, and it has Johnny Williams' best ever TV theme too.

Carlson2005 wrote:It was an ominipresent fun show from my childhood, but watching the last batch of reruns over here about ten years ago it quickly became apparent how the series lost its way. The early episodes are good, especially the Pearl Harbor and Caesar's ghost episodes, but towards the end of the run you get too many silver-skinned guest-stars in aluminum baking foil pretending to be aliens or Merlin to pep up the show because they've run out of colour movies with good historical stock footage. That said, the final episode does have a very, very neat twist that actually gives a cancelled show an ending for once... sort of...

Hell, I'd buy it. Let us know more details about what we can expect on the discs. Oh yeah, and it has Johnny Williams' best ever TV theme too.

How long did the show run for?

Just the one season of 30 episodes in 1966-7 - it was the only one of Allen's sci-fi shows not to get renewed. There was a busted pilot about three or four years ago that changed the premise - instead of being trapped in time and jumping from on e period to the next helplessly, in the new pilot they were fixing 'mistakes' in history a la Quantum Leap. I never saw it, but it's probably the kind of thing that crops up at four in the morning on the sci-fi channel.

Carlson2005 wrote:I never saw it, but it's probably the kind of thing that crops up at four in the morning on the sci-fi channel.

From what I've seen of the Sci-Fi Channel, it's an old show which wouldn't fit into their schedule. When's the last time they screened any of the old classic scifi shows? TT is certainly better than the 'original movies' they subject their audience to on a Saturday night.

Hello Andy,


Ahhhhhhhh, THE TIME TUNNEL. Andy, knowing you the way that I do, if you had grown up in the '60s it would have been your favorite show!!

Keep in mind if you were a kid of 10 or 12 during that time you had shows on TV like STAR TREK, THE INVADERS, TWILIGHT ZONE, THE OUTER LIMITS, ONE STEP BEYOND, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, LOST IN SPACE, LAND OF THE GIANTS and there is probably more I'm forgetting.

All these shows are really of that "era". They are part of my childhood, so they have a built in "wow" factor. I'm not sure how they would feel to someone who had never seen them before. If you like THE INVADERS you would almost certainly like THE TIME TUNNEL.

Mike

Andy,
Saw this on the dvdactive.com site today.
http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/time-tunnel.html

Thanks John. I really enjoyed TIME TUNNEL and the sampling I took of the original episodes...good stuff! I see the 2002 unaired pilot (who starred in that?) will be included, or at least a portion of it.

Andy,
There's a review over at imdb.com