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Reviews
The Time Tunnel: One Way to the Moon (1966)
Why does seeing the future not affect the past?
I am watching these shows again for the first time in forty years and since I know more now than I did then it is adding an entirely different element of fun to the endeavor. In the first episode Tony and Doug end up on the "Titanic" and think nothing of trying to save the ship and changing the course of human events. In this second episode they jump ten years into the future (to the year 1978), and end up on a spaceship bound for Mars. Their addition 355 pounds puts the ship in danger, although the real threat is the enemy agent aboard the ship. Remember, the people back at the Time Tunnel in Arizona can see what is happening to the boys. The enemy agent shows up in the present (1968) at the facility and sees himself in the future. Somehow he manages to not see himself get killed in the future and does not remember in the future that these time travelers are going to show up on the space ship, while nobody at the facility notices that this guy is the enemy agent. What are the rules here? Damned if I know. The value here remains nostalgia and we must reluctantly admit that in former days Irwin Allen was the face of science fiction on television.
The Time Tunnel: End of the World (1966)
Gee, maybe time travel is a good thing after all
Watching these shows again after forty years, it is really a trip (so to speak) to see how they dance all around the larger implications of time travel. In the first two episodes there was no regard whatsoever for how what happens in the past can affect the present or how what happens in the present can affect the future. However, this time Doug and Tony are stuck in a mining town where everybody is convinced Halley's Comet is going to destroy the world. A local scientist has done the numbers that confirm the collision and Doug redoes the calculations and find they are correct. It turns out that it is the Time Tunnel that saves the earth by deflecting the orbit of the comet. Pretty impressive, right? Yeah, well, NOBODY notices. These two might be unstuck in time, but you would not think that would jar their brains loose. However, this just becomes part of the fun as they continue to play with the time continuum.
The Time Tunnel: Rendezvous with Yesterday (1966)
Forget the practical concerns, guys, how about the ethical?
I loved "The Time Tunnel" when I was a kid and it first aired, and it is still silly fun. But now that I am older and wiser I have to laugh at the idea that two scientists would go back to the "Titanic" and try to stop it from sinking without once considering what happens when they change the past. Have they never heard the one about going back in time and killing your grandfather before your father is born? If anything Doug and Tony make things worse because their actions result in Captain Smith telling his wireless operator to tell all the ships in the area to ignore any distress calls from the "Titanic." However, if you think this one has problems with time travel paradoxes, wait until the next thrilling episode of Irwin Allen's television show, "One Way to the Moon." The value here is pure nostalgia. If you do not have fond memories of "The Time Tunnel" from the 1960s, it will be hard to develop affection for it now.