"The Time Tunnel" (1966) TV series 1966-1967

Creator:

Irwin Allen
(more)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

9 September 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips are the young heads of Project Tic-Toc, a multi-billion dollar...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Lost In Time | Historical Fiction | Cult TV | Alien Invasion

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination

Cast

James Darren	...	Dr. Tony Newman / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Robert Colbert	...	Dr. Doug Phillips / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Whit Bissell	...	Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
John Zaremba	...	Dr. Raymond Swain (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Lee Meriwether	...	Dr. Ann MacGregor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Dick Tufeld	...	Announcer / ... (22 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Directed by
Sobey Martin		(14 episodes, 1966-1967)
Nathan Juran		(5 episodes, 1966-1967)
William Hale		(4 episodes, 1966)
Harry Harris		(2 episodes, 1966-1967)
Herschel Daugherty		(2 episodes, 1967)

Series Writing credits
Irwin Allen		(29 episodes, 1966-1967)
Bob Duncan		(9 episodes, 1966-1967)
Wanda Duncan		(9 episodes, 1966-1967)
William Welch		(8 episodes, 1966-1967)
Leonard Stadd		(3 episodes, 1966-1967)
Carey Wilber		(3 episodes, 1966-1967)
Ellis St. Joseph		(2 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Produced by
Irwin Allen	....	producer (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Jerry Briskin	....	associate producer (29 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Original Music by
Herman Stein		(18 episodes, 1966-1967)
Lyn Murray		(3 episodes, 1966)
Robert Drasnin		(2 episodes, 1966)
Paul Sawtell		(2 episodes, 1966)
Leith Stevens		(2 episodes, 1966)
Daniele Amfitheatrof		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Winton C. Hoch		(30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Film Editing by
James Baiotto		(11 episodes, 1966-1967)
Dick Wormell		(10 episodes, 1966-1967)
Axel Hubert Sr.		(9 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Art Direction by
Jack Martin Smith		(30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Rodger Maus		(27 episodes, 1966-1967)
William J. Creber		(3 episodes, 1966)

Series Set Decoration by
Norman Rockett		(30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Walter M. Scott		(30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Makeup Department
Margaret Donovan	....	hair stylist supervisor / hair style supervisor / ... (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Ben Nye	....	makeup supervisor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Production Management
William Self	....	executive in charge of production (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Jack Sonntag	....	production supervisor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
George E. Swink	....	post-production supervisor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Robert J. Anderson	....	unit production manager (29 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred R. Simpson	....	assistant director (15 episodes, 1966-1967)
Steven Bernhardt	....	assistant director (7 episodes, 1966-1967)
Ted Butcher	....	assistant director (7 episodes, 1966)

Series Art Department
Noel Quinn	....	storyboard artist (30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Sound Department
Bob Cornett	....	sound effects editor (29 episodes, 1966-1967)
Don Hall	....	supervising sound effects editor (29 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Special Effects by
Johnny Borgese	....	special effects (30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Visual Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects (30 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Stunts
Charlie Picerni	....	stunt double: James Darren (20 episodes, 1966-1967)
David Sharpe	....	stunt double: James Darren / stunts (4 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Editorial Department
Robert Mintz	....	post-production coordinator (29 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Music Department
Leonard A. Engel	....	supervising music editor (30 episodes, 1966-1967)
Lionel Newman	....	music supervisor (29 episodes, 1966-1967)
John Williams	....	composer: theme music (29 episodes, 1966-1967)
Sam E. Levin	....	music editor (28 episodes, 1966-1967)

Series Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver (2 episodes, 1967)

Series Other crew
Hal Herman	....	production associate (29 episodes, 1966-1967)
Paul Zastupnevich	....	assistant to producer / assistant to producers (29 episodes, 1966-1967)
Les Warner	....	production coordinator (28 episodes, 1966-1967)
Arthur Weiss	....	story editor (28 episodes, 1966-1967)

Production Companies

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1966-1967)
• 20th Century Fox Television
• Irwin Allen Productions
• Kent Productions

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1966-1967) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Revelation Films (2010) (UK) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Television
• NHK (1967) (Japan) (TV)
• World Beyond Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

60 min (30 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Trivia:

After a single season of good reviews but mediocre ratings, ABC offered to renew the series if producer Irwin Allen would cut his budget by one-third. He refused and the series was canceled, to be replaced in the fall of 1967 by "Custer" (1967).

Quotes:

Announcer:[opening narration for most episodes] Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages, during the first experiments on America's greatest and most secret project, the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Science Fiction: A Journey Into the Unknown (1994) (TV)

Better than you think

The Time Tunnel first appeared on TV when I was 11 years old, and it has been four decades since I have seen any of Tony's and Doug's adventures. Thanks to the Starz Action Channel, I've recently had the opportunity to view a few of the episodes once more. Yes, it's a little more goofy than I thought all those years ago, especially when story lines start to turn around the appearance of aliens. But the show is also much better than some of the younger critics seem to be saying.

How so? Well, think about the assumptions behind the Time Tunnel. The producers of this program ASSUMED its audience, back in 1966, had at least a passing familiarity not only with the history of the Titanic, the Alamo, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Custer's Last Stand but also ASSUMED its audience was aware of the outlines of the story of the Trojan War, the War of 1812, the Siege of Khartoum, and the Dreyfuss Affair--and remember this was long BEFORE the making of PAPILLON. Imagine an hour long TV series today turning one of its plots around the Dreyfuss Affair! It couldn't happen. Today's audiences haven't heard of Dreyfuss and can't even tell you what CENTURIES Pearl Harbor or the American Civil War took place in.

As strange as it may sound to the ears of the contemporary TV viewer, the truth is the Time Tunnel was geared towards a much more sophisticated audience than today's viewers, who are illiterate in their own culture and history. Could a TV series today do a story about the attempt to assassinate Abraham Lincoln--in 1861! The ability of the producers to take this all but forgotten historical incident and turn it into a hour long story could only have worked had the 1966 TV audience been well founded not only in the history of the American Civil War but in Lincoln's assassination in 1865.

The fact is the Time Tunnel could not work for today's dumbed down TV viewers. You can't assume they know what they had for lunch yesterday, much less the history of their own nation or Western Civlization. It's so much easier--and necessary--to develop films and TV shows around cartoon heroes with no baggage and no grounding in all that nasty history.