The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series, written around a theme of time travel adventure. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science fiction television series, released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes. Reruns are viewable on cable and by internet streaming. A pilot for a new series was produced in 2002, although it was not picked up.
Episodes
Dr. Tony Newman prematurely enters the government's Time Tunnel project, and the project head, Doug Phillips, must go back to save him as they both fight for survival on the sinking Titanic.
Doug and Tony land 10 years in the future on the Mars Excursion Module during liftoff. Their extra 335 pounds of weight endanger the mission by putting it over the weight allowance. Everyone believes the time travellers are spies except one man, Harlow. They are forced to land on the moon for a refueling stop, but the ship crashes. One of the other men, Beard, kills Harlow. Beard is a spy. To further confuse matters, ten years in the past at Project TicToc, Beard and another spy, Brandon, are visiting the complex. Brandon sabotages the tunnel and then tries to escape, but Beard shoots his superior to bolster his own cover and his own role remains undiscovered. In the future, Doug and Tony manage to blow up the ""future"" Beard, but the MEM takes off without them. As they are stranded on the moon, their air running out, the Tunnel scoops them up and sends them on their way. (Copyright 2003 Steve Crow)
Dony and Toug arrive in 1910, where a local town is in a panic over the arrival of Halley's Comet. Tony is caught in a cave-in near two hundred miners, while Doug is unable to get help from the superintendent, Henderson, who believes they're all doomed because of the comet. Doug digs out Tony on his own, and tries to convince the local astronomer, Ainsley, who has everyone in a panic. While Tony tries to set up a rescue, the Project team try to send Doug a radioscope through the Tunnel. That plan fails, but Doug makes a primitive radioscope and shows Ainsley the gravitational forces that will cause Halley's Comet to deviate. Ainsley convinces the townspeople they are not doomed, and everyone teams up to rescue the miners. Meanwhile the Tunnel sucks in Halley's Comet and the power flow almost sucks Jerry into the Tunnel before they can cut pull the plug.
Tony and Doug land in the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu on December 6, 1941, and see three men burning files. They talk their way out and Tony goes to find his father, who disappeared during the bombing. Cmdr. Newman is initially skeptical, but Tony convinces him with family knowledge no one else could know. The Japanese agents get wind of Tony and Doug's knowledge, capture the pair, and interrogate them for information. They don't break, and manage to escape. Meanwhile, Cmdr. Newman is at Naval HQ checking out Tony's warning, and the Project staff realize that if the young Tony (who was also present at Pearl Harbor) isn't rescued, then ""their"" Tony will vanish. Tony manages to convince the housekeeper, Mrs. Neal, to flee to the mountains with her child and Tony, and then he goes to rescue his father. They head to Naval HQ but a barrage hits and Cmdr. Newman is killed. An unexploded bomb lands, and the Project staff use the Tunnel to delay it long enough for the travellers to get clea
Tony and Doug land in the War of 1812 in Louisiana, and steal som clothing that happens to have passes from General Jackson. They are captured by the British forces, led by Colonel Southall. In the present, the Project people bring in Southalll's descendent, a British general. His ancestor has a reputation as a butcher by sending his men into the strongest flank of the American forces. In the past, Col. Southall forces Tony to lead one of his men to the enemy lines, get a report, and send up a signal rocket of which flank he should attack. Tony and the scout get captured, escape, and prepare to send the signal. Meanwhile, General Southall insists on returning to the past. He's dying of cancer, and Kirk reluctantly grants the general, an old friend, his last request. The present Southall helps Doug escape and then confronts his ancestor and manages to convince him he is from the future. Doug helps Tony but the signal rocket goes astray and the attacking British are wiped out. General So
On the island of Krakatoa in 1883, time travelers Doug and Tony try to convince a British scientist that the volcano is about to erupt in one of history's biggest explosions.
Tony and Doug arrive at the Siege of Troy, and are taken before Ulysses. Ulysses believes them to be gods, while his lieutenant Sardis doubts them. Doug wins a swordfight with Sardis to prove his divinity, so Sardis goes to Troy and tries to betray Ulysses and the Greeks. In the next battle the two travellers are almost overwhelmed, so the Project scientists send back Jiggs with a bag of hand grenades. Doug is captured during the next battle and put on the rack to be tortured. Jiggs is returned, but ages horrendously while trapped in the infinity of the Tunnel. The scientists manage to reverse the effects, but accidentally pull a Greek soldier forward (they manage to send him back). Tony ""inspires"" Ulysses to create the Trojan Horse, and goes inside it to rescue Doug. The ploy is successful. Ulysses kills Paris and rescues Helen, while Tony rescues Doug and the two vanish before the astounded Greeks.
The guys arrive in South Dakota in June 24, 1876, near Little Bighorn. They are captured by Indians, although Doug manages to escape and make it to Custer's camp. Custer refuses to believe Doug's tale. Meanwhile, Tony has tried to warn Sitting Bull. The Indians prepare to burn Tony at the stake, but Sitting Bull intervenes, impressed by Tony's bravery. A trial-by-combat settles the matter when Tony wins against Yellow Elk but spares his life. Tony tries to convince Sitting Bull to approach Custer peacefully, much to the disgruntlement and skepticism of Crazy Horse. Sitting Bull lets Tony go to Custer's camp with a message of peace, but Custer refuses it and locks both travellers up. They manage to escape, and are forced to watch as history plays itself out and Custer and his men are massacred.
Tony and Doug arrive on Devil's Island in March 1895, where they are taken into custody as escaped prisoners. Doug manages to escape and hold the Commandant at gunpoint to convince the man he is a stranded American, but the Commandant plays along until he can get the drop on him. The Project team plan a recovery which goes awry (again), hauling in the prisoner Boudaire. General Kirk tells Boudaire that they cannot escape with Captain Dreyfuss, one of the prisoners, because historically Dreyfuss never escaped at that time, so taking him along would prevent the success of any escape attempt. Boudaire is returned but is shocked by the experience and doesn't remember his instructions. Tony and Doug stage an escape but realize that they have been led to do so so that they can all be ""shot while trying to escape."" Boudaire recalls that Dreyfuss must remain. Tony and Doug attack the ambushing guards while the other prisoners escape, and then are whisked off by the Time Tunnel.
The guys arrive in Paris, 1793, and Doug is arrested by the Committee for Public Safety. Tony rescues him with the aid of a shopkeeper, who is a royalist and friend of Marie Antoinette. Meanwhile, Kirk has the Project send back an irradiated personal ring to the guys which they hope will act as a focal point to home in on. Doug and Tony get the ring, but then reveal themselves to a man who is a splitting image of General Kirk! This General, Querque, is with the Revolution and has them arrested, along with the shopkeeper. Querque has the ring and believes it is the evidence he needs to have Antoinette executed. Kirk brings his ancestor into the present and tries to convince him to change his mind. Querque escapes back into the Tunnel when they send the ring back, and tries to thwart Doug and Tony. They escape, and with forged passports get to Marie Antoinette and then help the Dauphin to escape. The shopkeeper and the Dauphin get on board a departing ship: Tony recognizes the Corsican g
Doug and Tony arrive in Russia in 1956. The Tunnel staff try to contact them with F-5 probes, which prove highly dangerous. In the last probe the team sends a message telling the guys to contact ""Alexis"", pose as defecting scientists, and find out about Project A-13. In the present-day, General Parker is dealing with a scientist named Biraki and wants to know what his connection is. The guys are lead to the project in 1956, where Biraki is working on a Time Tunnel for the Russians under the supervision of Hruda. Doug determines the project is doomed to fail, and they try to escape and are recaptured. They also find out that Alexis is a double-agent. With some help from the Tunnel team, the guys manage to survive the probe, then sabotage Biraki's project in the past. The Tick-Tock staff witness the whole thing and tell Parker that Biraki is trying to get revenge for the destruciton of his Tunnel in '56, then manage to transfer Doug and Tony to another time period after they escape.
The guys land in Baltimore on February 22, 1861, in a barn where a group of conspirators and followers of Abolitionist John Brown are meeting. They are mistaken for fellow collaborators, but the Pinkertons break up the meeting. Doug is captured while Tony escapes with brothers Jeremiah and Matthew. They still plan to blow up Lincoln, who is enroute to his inauguration. While Doug tries to convince Pinkerton he is innocent, Tony tries to persuade the brothers not to go through with there plan, but Jeremiah is determined. Tony manages to escape but Pinkerton doesn't believe him either. The two manage to convince Pinkerton there is a bomb and go to look for it. The Project staff have spotted the bomb and brought it to the future to disarm it, accidentally scooping up the conspirators' other, younger brother David. They convince David to delay the bomb before having to send him and the bomb back. As Lincoln departs, Tony, Doug, and brother Matthew manage to convince Jeremiah that his cause
Tony and Doug arrive at the Alamo on March 6, 1836 - the day Santa Ana wiped out the defenders. The two make it to the fort, but are put into custody when Tony tries to convince the stubborn Col. Travis the fort is doomed. Tony escapes but is captured by the Mexicans. An injured Doug captures Capt. Reynerson and tries to convince him he can see the future. When Col. Travis is killed in a fall during Tony's escape as Doug predicted, Reynerson believes him. Tony manages to escape the Mexicans with the help of a sympathetic Dr. Armandez. Meanwhile, the project team have been trying to stage a recovery, but grab Col. Travis by mistake. He is stunned, but Kirk eventually convinces him by showing him future-footage of the battle, and Travis' own death. Convinced that he must let Doug go before the massacre begins, Travis returns and frees him. The Alamo defenders are gunned down, and Tony and Doug reunite. With Armandez' aid they get Reynerson's wife out before they are whisked away.
Tony is shot by Afghani tribesmen and left for dead, and they then take Doug prisoner. Doug is taken before Singh, the head of the Afghanis fighting against the British in 1876, while Rudyard Kipling rescues Tony and takes him to the English fort. The Afghanis are preparing for a massive attack on the English, the 'Night of the Long Knives'. With the aid of a blind slave, Doug escapes and gets back to the fort, while Kipling is captured. The general in charge has been ordered to only defend himself, so he has the head of the Afghani forces under English command launch an ""unofficial"" attack. Doug and Tony accompany them and rescue Kipling, and Singh is killed in the attack.
Doug and Tony are captured by the Gestapo in Cherbourg on June 4, 1944, two days before D-Day. A scientist, Dr. Heinz Kleinemann, working for the Reich plans to brainwash Doug and allows Tony to escape. Tony falls in with the Resistance while Kleinemann successfully brainwashes Doug to beleive he is 'Heinrich Kriegler', whose father was killed by Tony. The Resistance cell is suspicious of Tony but need his electronic knowledge. Doug tries to kill Tony but Tony escapes, although the attempt further arouses the Resistance's suspicions. Tony is forced to shoot Doug later, and takes him captive. Doug reveals a traitor within the cell, and then they launch an attack on the Gestapo HQ and recover Kleinemann and the serum they need to restore Doug to normal. They succeed, and Kleinemann restores Doug's identity. The Resistance take Kleinemann into custody and Tony and Doug are whisked away as the bombing begins.
Doug and Tony show up in June 1215 when the Earl of Huntington is trying to convince King John to sign the Magna Carta. Doug is captured along with Huntington when the King gets surly and orders their torture. Tony manages to rescue Doug and they flee where they meet up with Huntington's men: Little John, Friar Tuck, and the Merry Men. Using their knowledge of modern-day chemicals, Doug and Tony help the rebels while trying to get hold of a homing post that the Project staff has sent back to them to enact a rescue. With the time travellers help Huntington and his men capture King John and force him to sign the Magna Carta...at Runnymede! The homing post fails to work and the two are swept off.
The guys land on an island in the South Pacific at the tail end of WW2. Two Japanese soldiers are holding it against invasion: the deranged Lt. Nakamura, who hates Americans, and the loyal sergeant, Itsugi. Nakamura soon fixates on the travellers, and forces them into a series of sadistic games. When the Project: TickTock staff call in a consultant to try and get a fix on the guys' location, the consultant turns out to be the lieutenant's father. Apparently Nakamura disappeared during the War and now his father wants them to recover his son. Tony and Doug manage to turn the tables on Nakamura and warn the advancing fleet. The young Nakamura, a failed kamikaze pilot, finally decides to end his life with honor by seppuku, as his father looks on through the portal.
The guys land in a Western town in the late 19th century, where they are intercepted by two silver-clad aliens. The two aliens need to steal protein to supplement their own supplies, and soon use their advanced technology to mind-control Doug and hold the confused townspeople at bay while stealing local cattle. Tony manages to get hold of one of the alien control devices. Meanwhile, at Project TickTock the same alien race but from 1966 arrive and demand to know what happened to their scouting party a hundred years earlier, believing the Project to have something to do with it. Tony manages to free Doug from mind control and defeat the aliens in the past, while the ones in the present witness the departure of the scouting party in the past and are satisfied Earth had nothing to do with their disappearance.
Tony and Doug arrive near the Italian-Austrian Alps on October 23, 1915, as the Germans are preparing to bombard the area. An explosion knocks them out and uncovers the stone coffin of Emperor Nero. Nero's sword floats out of it, but kills a German soldier. They awaken and discover they are beneath the villa of Count Galba. He claims the two travelers are American friends, covering for them against the invading Germans. The ghost of Nero has other ideas, and wants to kill Galba, whose ancestor was responsible for Nero's death. First a German soldier then Tony are possessed by the ghost. The Time Tunnel project staff manage to free Tony with a high-powered electrical discharge on the recommendation of a Dr. Steinholtz, whom they call in. However, they then pull the ghost into the current day, but manage to send him back. Tony and Doug get Galba to safety and help lead the Italian resistance to the Germans. The German leader, Neistadt, flees but Nero's ghost delays him long enough for an
Tony and Doug arrive outside the tent of Joshua on the sixth day of his seven-day assault on Jericho. With their future knowledge of the Bible they are able to convince Joshua that they are emissaries of the Lord, and he basically forces them to go into Jericho as spies. Doug is captured and tortured after they try to stop an exection, and Tony befriends a harlot, Rahab. With the help of Rahab and her father, a blind architect, they manage to free Doug. Tony and Rahab are set up for execution, but when a skeptical Anne tries to use the Tunnel to free them in opposition to how the Bible describes the incident, the Tunnel shuts down as if by some outside (dare we say Divine?) force. Tony and Rahab are spared when Joshua launches his attack and both the guys and the Project team witness the miracle just before they are whisked away once more.
Doug and Tony arrive in a jungle in 1519 Yucatan as Cortez and his Spanish conquistadores attack the locals. The pair rescue natives being tortured for knowledge of a sacred golden mask and intervene. They are captured and believed to be spies. Cortez burns his ships and plans the guys' execution, but one of the locals free them and Doug buys them time to escape by threatening Cortez with explosives. Cortez orders pursuit. Meanwhile, the Project team call up an expert familiar with the terrain, Castillano. The guys use crude explosives to delay the Spaniards while aiding a local chieftain-to-be, while the Project staff discovers Castillano has a reputation for stealing artifacts, but have no choice but to employ him. When the guys get captured Castillano offers the Project staff their location in return for the recovery of the mask. When the Staff recover the mask they inadvertently lock everyone in time, and Castillano grabs a gun to force them to let him keep the mask. A demented Cas
Doug and Tony arrive in Lincoln in late April in the 1860s, and run afoul of Billy the Kid. Doug shoots Billy and apparently kills him, then he and Tony escapes. It turns out Billy took the bullet in the belt buckle, and he goes after the two. They manage to capture him thanks to a voice-transmitted distraction provided by Kirk, but Tony goes back into town and is mistaken for Billy. Pat Garrett arrives and eventually convinces the sheriff that Tony isn't Billy, but the mob isn't hearing it. Billy catches up to Doug and challenges him to a gunfight. Pat and Tony get involved, with Tony knocking out one of Billy's men planning to backshoot Doug and Pat intervening when Doug blows it. The two men are whisked off again.
Doug and Tony arrive on the Spanish Main on April 1805, where they are captured by Captain Beal and his crew. They befriend Armando, a young boy who claims to be the nephew of the King of Spain. Tony eventually manages to escape where he is found by the attacking British who are unwilling to try and help Doug and Armando. Beal tries to kill Doug but is whisked back to Project Tick-Tock. He takes Anne hostage but eventually goes back into the Tunnel and his own time. The Project staff use the Tunnel to whisk Doug and Armando out of trouble after Beal is killed by his henchman. However, the two are caught in a bombardment and seriously wounded. A doctor friend of Kirk's due for retirement, Berkhart, volunteers to go back despite the fact he has no chance of being returned. He saves Doug and Armando before the travellers are whisked away.
The guys arrive in Arizona, 1547, as a technician named Nimon kills a scientist. After a shootout, he flees into the Tunnel. Nimon is a spy who has planted a nuclear device in the complex. The guys need to find Nimon to get him to reveal the location of the bomb. They lure him in with a fire but he slips, and the Project transfer Doug and Tony after him to 1,000,000 A.D. Nimon is already there and has established himself with the ruling clique. The guys get the info on the detonation time, bypass a force field, and with the aid of a local female "defective" manage to get to Nimon. The Project transfers everyone, including two of the future-types, back to 1,000,000 B.C. After some running around from dinosaurs, they rescue Nimon from a quicksand pit in return for the location of the bomb. The head alien eventually comes around and forces Nimon to give the location of the bomb which they defuse. Everyone ends up in a giant bee hive and the Project gets everyone but Nimon out.
Arriving in Gettysburg in the 1860's, Doug and Tony are separated by an explosion which seemingly gives Tony. A jolt from the Tunnel revives him but with amnesia. Doug falls in with the Union forces, while Tony becomes involved with the South and Sgt. Maddox when he is mistaken as a courier sent to buy gunpowder from an arms merchant, Michaels, who stole the stuff from the Union. Doug gets there first to find the merchant is Machiavelli! Apparently Machiavelli's pattern matches Tony's, and he was swept up and brought to Gettysburg by the Time Tunnel. The Tunnel send Machiavelli's dog back when it's about to kill Doug, draining them of power. The amnesiac Tony takes Doug prisoner and turns him over to his sergeant, while Machiavelli delights in the carnage. Doug escapes and tries to save Tony who is determined to complete his mission. Machiavelli kills Maddox and then Doug and Tony fight when Doug tries to destroy the gunpowder. The two men come to terms but when Machiavelli tries to de
Doug and Tony are captured by the Mongols in 1287, led by Genghis Khan's grandson Baku. Tony is tortured until Doug stages a rescue, where they meet with Marco Polo, who is aiding Kublai Khan. Tony falls in love with Sahib, daughter of Kublai Khan that Polo is aiding and who is kidnapped by Baku. The guys rescue her by using black powder that Polo has discovered in China. When Baku launches an assault on the fort where Polo is staying, the Project staff try and send artillery back to the guys. They thwart an attack on the fort while Tony considers staying with Sahib. In the end she returns to her duty and the two part. Doug provides the necessary ingredient to turn the black powder into gunpowder, while the Project try and send detonator caps to assist them. With the explosives the attack is thwarted and the guys are whisked out. (Copyright 2003 Steve Crow)
Tony and Doug are frozen in time, then a rather fey Merlin appears in the Project base. He takes the guys out of time and freezes them, commands them to do his bidding, then sends them on to 544 A.D., Cornwall England. They meet a young pre-King Arthur while fighting Vikings and on Merlin's behest team up with Arthur. The Vikings apparently kill Doug and capture Tony and Arthur. Tony escapes with Arthur and Doug is rescued by Merlin and Guienvere. When the Project staff are ready to recover Doug and Tony, Merlin intervenes because he needs them where they are. Tony and Arthur get recaptured and so does Doug when he goes to help. Guinevere gets captured too. One of the Vikings kills Arthur and a ""detained"" Merlin shows up and reverses time to save him. The guys escape again and Doug gets reinforcements which Merlin disguises as Vikings while Arthur and Tony rescue Guinevere. Everything works out and Arthur and Guinevere are to be married.
The guys' signal is intercepted and a silver-skinned alien shows up and kidnaps Anne. He leaves behind a data card which the rest of the Project staff use to send Tony and Doug to. The guys end up in a futuristic complex and meet a zombiefied ancients from different time periods and locales. A mysterious voice provides historical detail. According to the Project staff they're on a distant planet in the Canopis system in 8433 A.D. The guys meet the Curator then escape. They get hold of Ann before being captured and the Project staff try a recovery but grab a OTT (""Official Time Traveller) instead. He grabs the Time Tunnel's time/space converter and leaves. The guys and Ann stage an escape but mess that up as well. The Canopians go dormant during night, and the guys avoid being drugged to take advantage of the situation. They get nowhere for a while, and the OTT is not vulnerable to lack of sunlight. The three Earthlings manage to overcome it long enough to send Ann back with the convert
Tony and Doug arrive in Khartoum, November 2, 1883, in the middle of a battle between British and Arab forces. However, two aliens take them prisoner. The aliens plan to conquer Earth with missiles, and will be ready to launch in two hours - they send a bomb to the Project to prevent them from interfering. Tony is taken to be killed but the alien with him is forced to teleport out when the British approach. Then both guys are transferred out of the cave by the Tunnel staff, where they make contact with Captain Henderson and convince him about the aliens. The three of them attack the cave and manage to stop the aliens, with some help when the Project send the bomb back to the aliens.
The guys arrive in a brick basement on the North Atlantic coast in 1978. It has advanced electrical equipment, and they are attacked by an overalled man. He collapses dead, then gets up and disappears in a cloud of smoke. They go upstairs and are paralyzed by an alien-android disguised as an old woman. The aliens are preparing to steal Earth's oxygen. The Project staff execute a lateral transfer and free the guys. They escape to a seemingly empty town surrounded by a force field and filled with paralyzed townspeople. A young couple, Paul and Joan, find the guys and tell them about the oxygen-stealing plot. Meanwhile the alien androids infiltrate the Project base, seal it off, and start sucking out the oxygen through the Tunnel itself. The guys must destroy the operation at their end. They fight off the androids and use explosives to blow up the alien HQ.
