Search - The Time Tunnel - Volume Two on DVD

The completion of THE TIME TUNNEL series on DVD

Harry Gene Neyhart | Sunny Central Florida, USA | 03/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fans of THE TIME TUNNEL were treated to the release of the first half of this series on DVD in early 2006. That set was amazing in terms of the visual clarity and restoration work done to make these tranfers truly remarkable in quality. The praise for Fox is well-deserved, as the episodes looked better than they ever had before.

THE TIME TUNNEL aired on the ABC-TV network in the US during the 1966-1967 television season. Produced by Irwin Allen, THE TIME TUNNEL was the shortest of his series, receiving an untimely cancellation in the spring of 1967.

This set, VOLUME 2, brings us the remaining 15 episodes of the series, completing the run of 30 total episodes. Here are the episode numbers, titles, and original air-dates of the episodes making up VOLUME 2 in the DVD series:

16 THE REVENGE OF ROBIN HOOD-Dec. 30, 1966
17 KILL TWO BY TWO-Jan. 6, 1967
18 VISITORS FROM BEYOND THE STARS-Jan. 13, 1967
19 THE GHOST OF NERO-Jan. 20, 1967
20 THE WALLS OF JERICHO-Jan. 27, 1967
21 IDOL OF DEATH-Feb. 3, 1967
22 BILLY THE KID-Feb. 10, 1967
23 PIRATES OF DEADMAN'S ISLAND-Feb. 17, 1967
24 CHASE THROUGH TIME-Feb. 24, 1967
25 THE DEATH MERCHANT-March 3, 1967
26 ATTACK OF THE BARBARIANS-March 10, 1967
27 MERLIN THE MAGICIAN-March 17, 1967
28 THE KIDNAPPERS-March 24, 1967
29 RAIDERS FROM OUTER SPACE-March 31, 1967
30 TOWN OF TERROR-April 7, 1967

Though the writing quality of some of the episodes tended to deteriorate in the second half, there were still some fine episodes in this bunch. KILL TWO BY TWO plunges our heroes onto a Pacific Island where a sad chapter of World War Two plays out.

CHASE THROUGH TIME features three time-transfers sending the scientists over a two million year timespan. And other episodes deal with historical figures like William Bonney ("Billy The Kid"), Machiavelli, himself displaced in time to the American Civil War, and even Biblical hero, Joshua.

And then there's the aliens... Well, this IS an Irwin Allen series, and you really didn't think that the LOST IN SPACE costumes would go to waste, did you?

As a bonus, this set is also featuring the 1976 TV-movie that Irwin Allen developed called THE TIME TRAVELERS. It featured Sam Groom ("Jerry" from THE TIME TUNNEL) and Tom Halick as a pair from the present day who are sent back in time to find and preserve a long-lost cure to a present-day epidemic. Sent back to Old Chicago, they locate the doctor who developed the cure (played by Richard Basehart) and have to get it from him before the great fire destroys the town. This film was a pilot for another possible time-travel series. It aired on ABC, but was never picked up as a series. The script was from an idea by Rod Serling.

Fans of THE TIME TUNNEL are delighted that this series will finally be out in its entirety. New fans have developed with the release of the first set. All in all, 2006, the fortieth anniversary of THE TIME TUNNEL, is shaping up to be a pretty good year."

IRWIN ALLEN'S LAMENTED 1960s SF TV CLASSIC!!!!!

Jeff T. | 03/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While the second collection of 15 episodes from the single season of THE TIME TUNNEL (ABC 1966-67) doesn't necessarily consistently shine quite as brightly as the initial group comprising the content in volume one there are still some commendably well done segments to be found nonetheless that includes "Kill Two By Two," "The Walls of Jericho," "Idol of Death," "Billy the Kid," "Pirates of Deadman's Island," Chase Through Time," "The Death Merchant" and "Attack of the Barbarians" being the more noteworthy.

It is at this midway point in the season that producer-creator Irwin Allen broadens the series' premise to include capricously outlandish encounters with Robin Hood, Merlin the Magician, the wrathful spirit of the Roman Emperor Nero and even extraterrestrial beings (on four separate occasions).

Featured celebrity guest-stars and veteran film and tv performers impressively in evidence are Robert Duvall, Mako, Robert Walker, Jr., Eduardo Cianelli, Malachi Throne, Michael Ansara, Byron Foulger, Richard Jaeckel, Myrna Fahey, Allan Case, Paul Mantee, Abraham Sofaer, Lawrence Montaigne, Christopher Carey, Mabel Albertson, Anthony Caruso, Vitina Marcus, Del Monroe, Michael Pate, Donald Herron, John Hoyt, Lisa Gaye, Arthur Batanides, Jan Merlin, Peter Brocco, Ronald Long, Phillip Ahn, Arnold Moss and John Saxon.

The remaining 15 episodes are:

16) "The Revenge of Robin Hood" (30/12/1966)
17) "Kill Two By Two" (06/01/1967)
18) "Visitors from Beyond the Stars" (13/01/1967)
19) "The Ghost of Nero" (20/01/1967)
20) "The Walls of Jericho" (27/01/1967)
21) "Idol of Death" (03/02/1967)
22) "Billy the Kid" (10/02/1967)
23) "Pirates of Deadman's Island" (17/10/1967)
24) "Chase Through Time" (24/02/1967)
25) "The Death Merchant" (03/03/1967)
26) "Attack of the Barbarians" (10/03/1967)
27) "Merlin the Magician" (17/03/1967)
28) "The Kidnappers" (24/03/1967)
29) "Raiders from Outer Space" (31/03/1967)
30) "Town of Terror" (07/04/1967)

As in the previous volume one set, series fans can look forward to pristine video transfers taken from fully restored and digitally remastered 35mm source elements with each segment presented, including the original cliffhanger endings, complete and intact.

Welcome supplementary archival material will consist of the made-for-tv film TIME TRAVELLERS (1976) which was intended as Irwin Allen's follow-up to his 1960s SF tv classic (starring former TIME TUNNEL alumni Sam Groom and derived from a story concept credited to Rod Serling) along with original series cast member interviews of James Darren, Robert Colbert, Lee Meriwether and Whit Bissell in addition to a (roughly) 3 minute special presentation of the shelved 2002 TIME TUNNEL revival effort pilot will also be included to further augment this exceptional 4-disc collection.

Despite the fact that our two intrepid time travellers were never returned home again (due to the show's premature cancellation after only a single season) THE TIME TUNNEL (with its stellar luminary casting from Hollywood's finest, always diverse and interesting storylines and groundbreaking Emmy Award winning visual effects) remains to be an enduring, immensely popular Television of the Fantastic favourite since its inaugural primetime airing nearly 40 years later that continues to enthrall and delight new generations of fans captivated by errant Project Tic-Toc scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips' ongoing exploits into new realms of colourful adventure and spellbinding excitement that was as much an invention of the vivid imaginations exhibited by the contributing staff writers as it was a reflection of the glorious pages in history.

Jeff T. (...)"

Time Tunnel

Kindall L. Wann | Womelsdorf, Pa | 04/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Back in the 1990s, and entire new generation like myself was introduced to this fantastic show when it aired on the Sci-Fi channel in the morning.
It was so sad to know that this show only made 30 episodes at the time. It wasnt by any means a ratings failure either. Like "Gilligan's Island"...some executives decided that they had a better show to put in its place at the last minute which in the end was a mistake for them anyway.
They had already thrown a fantastic party for another season. The show was just getting off the ground when it was cancelled.
The first half of this set Volume 1 shows just how great a new show can be in its first year. Unforgettable episodes like "The Day The Sky Fell In" and "Invasion" are classic reasons why this show has stood so long all these years even being a one season show.
The next set is even more fantastic as we are introduced to aliens when Tony and Doug come across them when their thrown onto their spacecraft in the year 1883. There would be two more run ins with aliens in the final episodes, but between them comes the best episode of the whole series "Chase Through Time"..that should have been saved for last as season finale instead of "Town Of Terror"
The final seven episodes of the series are missing the best part of the show and that is the narration of how the Tunnel started, we are replaced with them tumbling threw the vortex to their next destination which in the very beginning of the show no one in the complex could see till they landed and they got a probe on them, someone changed that and made a small mistake.
Finally, the only choice one can make from this show is that the show goes in a loop as Tony and Doug go back to their first landing which was the Titanic...it was made like this so it would be assumed that they are in a time loop re-living the same time peroids over and over again.
Time Tunnel was extremely ahead of its time with graphics and by far the most expensive of its time.
Its a shame that the 2002 revival of this sweet show didnt happen, but we have the pilot to enjoy and we can dream how sweet the series would have been and could have gone."

MUST-SEE, CAN'T MISS DVD TIME TUNNEL SERIES

John Watts | NYC, USA | 04/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"AS A BOY IN THE '60'S, I SAW THE TIME TUNNEL WHEN IT FIRST AIRED ON ABC-TV IN 1966. IT WAS A GREAT TV SERIES AND IT'S GREAT TO SEE IT AGAIN 40 YEARS LATER ON DVD. GLAD IT WASN'T LOST TO THE AGES, NO PUN INTENDED.

THE SHOW WAS NEVER BORING AS JAMES DARREN & ROBERT COLBERT ALWAYS TIME TRAVELED TO TIMES & PLACES (BEYOND THEIR CONTROL) WHERE ACTUAL HISTORICAL EVENTS WERE ABOUT TO UNFOLD WITH TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES, DESPITE DIRE WARNINGS FROM THE TIME TRAVELING DUO.

ALSO NICE WAS THE TIME TUNNEL ITSELF WITH THAT COOL BLACK & WHITE CIRCULAR DESIGN THAT LOOKED LIKE A GIANT SYMETRICAL CYLINDER TUBE, LINKED TO AN ENDLESS PORTAL TO INFINITY.

WHENEVER THE TIME TUNNEL WAS ACTIVATED, FIREWORKS AND SMOKE WOULD GO OFF INSIDE THE TUNNEL AS BLUE & WHITE LIGHTS FLASHED AND A BLUE MIST WOULD FILL THE TIME TUNNEL, SIGNALING THAT A 'TIME RELOCATION' HAD HAPPENED. SOMETIMES THEY SENT PEOPLE THROUGH TIME BUT OTHER TIMES THEY BROUGHT UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE BACK FROM OTHER TIME DIMENSIONS, CONFUSING THE HELL OUT OF THEM.

SOMETIMES THE TUNNEL ITSELF ACTED AS A GIANT TV SCREEN TO TIME ETERNAL,WHICH ALLOWED THE ADVENTURES OF DARREN & COLBERT TO BE VIWED BY THE TIME TUNNEL PROJECT SCIENTISTS (WHIT BISSELL AND LEE MERRIWEATHER) WHO WERE STILL IN THE PRESENT TIME, BACK AT THE TIME TUNNEL SUBTERRANEAN COMPLEX.

EACH EPISODE, BISSELL & MERRIWEATHER TRIED FEVERISHLY TO RETURN DARREN & COLBERT BACK TO THEIR PRESENT TIME, BUT SINCE THE TIME TUNNEL WASN'T PERFECTED, DARREN & COLBERT NEVER SEEMED TO BE ABLE TO RETURN TO THEIR PROPER TIME & WOULD HELPLESSLY TIME TRAVEL INTO A FREE FALL, LANDING IN A NEW TIME & PLACE EPISODE AFTER EPISODE. I DON'T RECALL IF THEY EVER MADE IT BACK TO THEIR RIGHT TIME AT THE END OF THE SERIES BUT THE ENTIRE DVD SET IS WORTH OWNING. WON'T REGRET IT. MONEY WELL WORTH IT."