"The Time Tunnel" Revenge of the Gods (1966)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Directors:

Nathan Juran
Sobey Martin

Writers:

Irwin Allen (creator)
Allan Balter (writer)

TV Series:

"The Time Tunnel" (1966)

Original Air Date:

21 October 1966 (Season 1, Episode 7)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Far into the past, Doug and Tony find themselves a part of the siege of Troy that took place 1200 BCE...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Historical | Cult Favorite | Cult TV | 1910s

Cast

James Darren	...	Dr. Tony Newman
Robert Colbert	...	Dr. Doug Phillips
John Doucette	...	Ulysses
Dee Hartford	...	Helen of Troy
Paul Carr	...	Paris
Joseph Ruskin	...	Sardis
Whit Bissell	...	Army Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk
John Zaremba	...	Dr. Raymond Swain
Lee Meriwether	...	Dr. Ann MacGregor
Kevin Hagen	...	Greek Sword Leader
Abraham Sofaer	...	Epeios
Wesley Lau	...	M / Sgt. Jiggs

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Irwin Allen Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: Throughout the episode, all of the characters refer to the gods and goddesses by their Roman names (Venus, Minerva, Juno and Jupiter) rather than their Greek names (Aphrodite, Athena, Hera and Zeus, respectively). In addition, "Ulysses" is the Roman name. The Greeks should have been calling him "Odysseus".

Highly Entertaining G-Rated Look At Troy, Without Bloody Brad Pitt

Tony and Doug appear in the Mediterranean in the age of Troy and the Trojen Horse. The travellers are confused as "Gods".

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea fans like me will struggle with the casting of the character Paris, played by the late Paul Carr. Carr appeared in half a dozen Voyage/Sea episodes as a wimp seaman and seeing him in Tunnel as a mighty and brave figure requires just too much imagination from some. Revenge Of The Gods appeared shortly after Carr did his last Voyage/Sea so I can only guess that Irwin Allen wanted to butch-up the image of Paul Carr.

But having said all this, the other guest stars in this hour really shine and create a gusto charged theatrical edge to this hour that leaves the 2004 motion picture - Troy - for dead. Troy (2004) may of created a massive set as the city of Troy, and it gets full marks for that, but give me Revenge Of The Gods any day.

In production order (not screening order), this was the 4th episode of Time Tunnel and there is a high energy feeling in the hour (note the Leith Stevens score and editing) because everything was still so new.

The score should go down well with Lost In Space fans as, at one stage in the Tunnel itself, we hear the exact same music used in LIS's Blast Off Into Space. Also, in the teaser, we see that the time travellers are on the second season LIS alien planet set!

But this is no LIS meets Tunnel hour, it is a G-Rated look at Troy and the Trojen Horse story, and considering that Troy (2004) was such a blood bath, I am sure that some parents will welcome Revenge Of The Gods with open arms. I know I do.

But then again, I am not big on all this talk of Tony and Doug being confused as "Gods", about the only regular character in this series who behaved like a god was Whit Bissell as General Kirk, in the teaser Ann struggles to find out the time the travellers have landed in, a bothered Kirk responds with "You will have to do better than that". Just joking, I love General Kirk.

I am probably sending out confusing messages about why I like this episode, let me just say that, despite a few problems, the hour does create a feeling of being in the theatrical-style distant past, that alone makes Revenge Of The Gods highly entertaining.