The Time Tunnel - After The Original Run

After The Original Run

In 1982, five feature length TV movies were put together from 10 complete episodes with portions of the first episode as introductory material. Aliens From Another Planet, was produced using episodes 24 ("Chase Through Time") and 18 ("Visitors From Beyond The Stars"). Revenge Of The Gods was a compilation of episodes 7 ("Revenge of the Gods") and 20 ("The Walls Of Jericho). Old Legends Never Die edited together episodes 27 ("Merlin The Magician") and 16 ("The Revenge Of Robin Hood"). Kill Or Be Killed comprised episodes 4 ("The Day The Sky Fell In") and 17 ("Kill Two By Two"). Raiders From The Moon was compiled from episodes 28 ("The Kidnappers") and 2 ("One Way To The Moon"). In the U.S., they can now be seen on the Encore Action cable network at various times.

The Time Tunnel was very similar to a later time-travel show, NBC's Voyagers! (1982–83). In both shows, the time travelers would "fall" through an elaborate and colorful special-effect backdrop, and "land" in the targeted time period. (In this regard, The Time Tunnel was often more convincing; in Voyagers, it often seemed obvious that stunt men were jumping from an off-camera ledge.) In each case, they would "fall" just softly enough to avoid major injuries.

1. The Time Tunnel ("Rendezvous with Yesterday") and Voyagers! ("Voyagers of the Titanic") both used the Titanic as a plot setting. In the respective stories, both Tony Newman and Jeffrey Jones try desperately to warn of the coming disaster, and both of them fail. (In a somber warning against such tampering, Bogg conceded that "Sometimes, history's cruel. But it's going to happen, and we can't change that.")
2. Both shows always had the characters back in their original "period" costumes at the beginning of each episode. (Voyager Phineas Bogg stood out the most, being dressed as a 17th century pirate.)
3. Like Tony and Doug, Jeffrey Jones could never return to his own time (1982). The Omni that transported them through time had circuits that only allowed it to go to 1970 at the latest. (The trip that Bogg took to 1982 was a result of his Omni malfunctioning.)