Das Time Tunnel Team

As a television series, THE TIME TUNNEL has a lot going for it: A format that can take you anywhere and anytime. A likeable and interesting cast of regular characters and a marvellous 1960's Pop Art look (if only modern shows could be so bright and colourful!).

But I suppose that for me a large part of THE TIME TUNNEL's appeal is nostalgic.

I was only five years old when THE TIME TUNNEL arrived on British television in 1968 (9th July on the BBC, trivia fans). Sadly, I managed to miss the first episode, so when I discovered the show the following week I had no idea how Tony Newman (James Darren) and Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) had become lost in time.

It didn't spoil my enjoyment though and the mystery might even have added to my enjoyment of the series.

It didn't spoil my enjoyment though and the mystery might even have added to my enjoyment of the series. To this day I still remember the thrill that I felt at the sight of Tony and Doug in the time vortex, and Dick Tufeld's powerful narration: "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." This is one of the enduring memories of my childhood and I still get a kick out of that opening today. It must have impressed other people too judging by the number of rip-offs I've seen over the years (the two time-lost sailors in the film THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT spring to mind, as do the SLIDERS on television).

The BBC only aired thirteen episodes of the series and then, for reasons best known to themselves, dropped it. For my friends in the schoolyard THE TIME TUNNEL was soon replaced in their affections by other things (a new series called STAR TREK for one). But I just could not get THE TIME TUNNEL out of my head – I was hooked!

Why get enthralled by a television show? Science Fiction shows in particular seem to attract huge followings. There are legions of fans for series' such as STAR TREK, DOCTOR WHO, THE X-FILES, etc.

Maybe it's a tribal thing . . . a need to support 'something,' be it a TV show, a football team or whatever. Or maybe it is simply a need to escape from reality for while – to get away from the troubles that plague us in the real world by immersing ourselves in fantasy.