Time Tunnel revisted: classic TV retrospective (video).
Back in the halcyon age of television, when men wore ties in missile silos and all science was conducted by lantern-jawed Americans with chins you could hang your coat on, The Time Tunnel exploded onto screens in 1966 with all the flashing lights, button-pressing, and dry ice fog that Irwin Allen’s budget (and imagination) could conjure.
The premise? Two scientists, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, get trapped in a government time travel project, conveniently named “Project Tic-Toc”—presumably because “Project Irrevocable Chronological Catastrophe” didn’t test well with audiences. Each week, our gallant duo would tumble through a swirling corridor of special effects into a different slice of history: the Titanic one week, Krakatoa the next, then straight into Pearl Harbor, because nothing says family viewing quite like imminent catastrophe.
It was, as the kids say, a vibe.
And yet, for all its high-concept promise and signature Irwin Allen flair—cue the recycled sets, repurposed wardrobe department togas, and ominous stock music—the series never quite stuck the landing. Like many a science fiction time travel tale, it turned out the real hazard wasn’t messing up the past, but tripping over your own narrative logic. Continuity? Consistency? Not in The Time Tunnel, chum. One week it was “we must not change the future,” and the next it was “quick, hand Napoleon a bazooka.”
Even the show’s time travel mechanics were suspiciously like a television production budget—tight and reused. Tony and Doug could arrive anywhere in history, but always in the middle of something exploding or stabbing. You’d think they’d land during someone’s quiet afternoon nap or tea break once in a while, but no—straight into the Battle of Gettysburg or Genghis Khan’s conquests every single week. The poor lads barely had time to adjust their tunics before being bundled into the next catastrophe.
Critics at the time noted the series’ tendency to favour spectacle over storytelling, and while there’s no denying its influence (you can spot echoes of Time Tunnel in everything from Quantum Leap to Loki), its cancellation after just one season left it a fascinating relic of what-could-have-been.
And yet, we at SFcrowsnest can’t help but harbour a bit of affection for The Time Tunnel. It was gloriously daft, often accidentally brilliant, and always entertaining in the way only 1960s science fiction could be—equal parts optimism, Cold War paranoia, and cardboard set design.
It promised viewers a trip through time, but like many package holidays, what you actually got was delayed departures, dodgy accommodation (in the form of cave sets reused from Lost in Space), and the occasional Viking axe to the head.
Would we have changed it? Not a bit. Because in a timeline filled with grimdark reboots and nihilistic futures, The Time Tunnel remains a charming reminder that science fiction doesn’t always have to make sense—sometimes, it just needs to be fun.
So dust off your silver jumpsuit, recalibrate your atomic chronometer, and dive back in. Just be careful where—or when—you land.
