The Time Tunnel Universe
Project Tic-Toc is a top secret U.S. government effort to build an experimental time machine known as "The Time Tunnel". The base for Project Tic-Toc was huge and located underground in Arizona, with no visible entry. The only way in was a large secret panel in the desert floor; when it opened, a car could descend into the complex. Once the panel closed, only the desert was visible. Tic-Toc base was a futuristic series of complexes 800 floors deep and employing over 36,000 people (12 thousand people in each of those complexes). It was under the command of Lt. General Heywood Kirk. The centre of the base was The Time Tunnel control room where the Tunnel was located. In charge of operating the Tunnel were Dr. Ann McGregor and Dr. Raymond Swain. The date at which it was operating was stated as 1968.
When the costs of the project approach those of the entire U.S. space program, United States Senator Leroy Clark launches an investigation of the project. The Senator thinks that the Tunnel has cost too much money for too little reward. At his request, the Senator is allowed to visit the project base and given a tour. Once he reaches the central control room the Senator explains his complaints to the project heads. The Senator then says that he wishes to close down the project as a waste of time and money that has not worked. None of the discussion mentions specifically why the project has not worked or any experiments sending inanimate objects through the Tunnel. When no one else was around to observe, a key Time Tunnel scientist, young physicist Dr. Anthony Newman turns the machine on and sends himself back in time in an attempt to prove that the Time Tunnel project funds were not wasted. In so doing, Newman becomes "lost in time". The Time Tunnel top personnel quickly return, to see through the Tunnel that Newman is aboard the soon-to-sink Titanic. They can also see that he cannot escape before the sinking, and they cannot retrieve him. In an attempt to rescue his younger friend, another key Tic-Toc scientist, Dr. Douglas Phillips enters the Time Tunnel as well, carrying a newspaper describing the sinking to occur. There was no discussion about sending just the newspaper to the ship before risking another human becoming lost in time. Unconvinced, the captain of the Titanic throws the newspaper overboard.
However, the system was still being developed, and the Tunnel operations staff are never able to bring them home. As the series progresses, Tony and Doug are "switched" from one period in history to another, allowing episodes to be set in the past and future. By luck (or lack thereof) the travellers, Doug and Tony, frequently found themselves thrown onto the precipice of major historical events: on board the Titanic before it hits the iceberg, in Pearl Harbor before the Japanese attack, on Krakatoa before it erupts, and so forth. They would try to warn people about the event or try to prevent it from happening, while the Time Tunnel crew, who once gaining a "fix" can view through the Tunnel the action taking place in the different time, would try to rescue the travellers before the historical calamity befell them too. Sometimes, when rescue was impossible at the time, the Time Tunnel scientists would often try to help Doug and Tony in other ways or, in some cases, communicate with them whenever possible.
Rendezvous With Yesterday
United States Senator Leroy Clark who was
once a paratrooper under General Kirk, arrives from Washington, D.C. to observe
the status of Project Tic-Toc in Arizona. Clark threatens to cut off funding
unless the time travel technology can be successfully demonstrated before he
leaves the following day. Late that night and against orders, Dr. Anthony Newman
powers up the time tunnel, enters, and is successfully sent back in time. He
arrives on board the RMS Titanic on the day before the ship collides with an
iceberg and sinks. Realizing what is going to happen, he tries to convince the
captain of the impending disaster but the captain orders that he be locked in a
cabin. Dr. Doug Phillips convinces the commanding general that he needs to be
sent back to rescue Dr. Newman. After breaking Dr. Newman out of the cabin, they
send an SOS message requesting immediate, emergency assistance, but they are
both captured and locked back in the same cabin. After the iceberg is struck,
Doug and Tony convince the captain to begin an evacuation.
Project Tic-Toc shifts Tony and Doug to another time to keep them from dying in
the icy waters. Senator Clark promises that no action regarding funding of the
Time Tunnel will be taken until Newman and Phillips are either safely returned
or beyond all possible help. Doug and Tony are shown reunited in a compartment
of a manned rocket that is about to launch.
One Way To The Moon
Tony and Doug find themselves onboard a spacecraft's service module just before
blast off. The spacecraft, part of the M.E.M. (Mars Excursion Mission) ten years
in Tony and Doug's future, is to be the first U.S. manned spaceflight to Mars.
It is manned by Kane the captain, Nazarro the radioman, Beard and Harlow the doctor.
Tony and Doug's added weight (335 pounds) makes it impossible for the spacecraft
to reach escape velocity to leave the earth's gravitational pull without the
expenditure of fuel needed later to reach Mars. Captain Kane decides to jettison
the service module, effectively scrubbing the mission--and killing Tony and
Doug, but Beard, who wants the mission to continue, furtively accelerates the
spacecraft to achieve escape velocity. Unable to get directions from mission
control due to being incommunicado with a sabotaged radio, Kane makes the
command decision to make a stop on the moon to replenish the fuel that Beard
expended and continue the mission.
Back at the Time Tunnel control room three visitors are brought in, who are with
the M.E.M. program: Vice-Admiral Killian, a M.E.M. scientist, Dr.
Brandon, and Killian's aide, Ensign Beard, who is the same
crewman Beard on the M.E.M. flight ten years later. They are brought in because
they are interested in seeing the future of their program, and they are enlisted
to help retrieve Tony and Doug. Both Brandon and Beard are spies. Brandon
succeeds in exploding the Time Tunnel control panel with plastic explosive
before he is exposed later by security ramrod Sgt. Jiggs. In doing this Beard
does not see his further nefarious actions: killing Doctor Harlow in the moon's
fuel depot and his own death when his own time bomb explodes the depot.
When Brandon is exposed he tries to escape by grabbing a machine gun, and he
tells Beard that his job is to protect him as his accomplice. Beard betrays
Brandon after he has him give him a gun by shooting and killing him. Brandon had
become expendable, which Beard becomes ten years later if he is successful in
destroying the M.E.M. Mars flight and killing Tony, Doug, and the rest of the
crew. Doug tells Beard this before knocking him out.
Presumably the two remaining M.E.M. crewmen Kane and Nazarro continue the flight
to Mars without any spacesuits, leaving Tony and Doug behind on the moon at
Doug's suggestion. Tony and Doug are safely shifted in time before their oxygen
runs out.
End Of The World
The return of Halley's Comet in 1910 causes worldwide panic that endangers over 200 miners trapped in the cave-in of the "Emperor Mine" when Doug and Tony arrive there. Doug and Tony try to organize a rescue party, but all of the townspeople have left the town after a local professor named Ainsley predicted the comet would destroy Earth that very day. Doug reviews Ainsley's calculations but is unable to find a flaw with them. Doug then theorizes an invisible gravity field could be the reason why the comet would eventually go off course and miss the Earth. Using a radiometer and the university telescope, Doug and Ainsley discover such a field. The professor then tells the townspeople–who are waiting for their doom on a hillside–the comet will not hit, and they go back to town to rescue the trapped miners. Meanwhile, back at the Time Tunnel complex the need to establish an accurate "fix" on Tony and Doug by focusing on the comet accidentally pulls the comet virtually into the Time Tunnel, as feared by Kirk and the technician Jerry. Dr. Swain manually pulls apart the cables from inside the right instrument panel that controls the power, saving the complex from certain destruction from the comet. Jerry, who was almost pulled into the tunnel by the comet, suffers cardiac arrest due to shock, but the resourceful Dr. MacGregor utilizes the severed power cords as a makeshift resuscitator to revive Jerry. It is then that Dr. Swain suggests that the Time Tunnel be shut down to avoid further catastrophe and danger to the world, but Gen. Kirk and Ann veto his suggestion. After being relocated in time from the 1910 mine Tony and Doug are separated. Tony arrives outside the Time Tunnel complex ten years before the present. He goes half out of his mind when Sergeant Jiggs and a younger Doug Phillips fail to recognize him. At the control panel Dr. Swain directs the superimposition of Tony's signal on Doug's, and they are both reunited on arrival at the Japanese consulate near Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941.
The Day The Sky Fell In
Tony and Doug arrive inside the Japanese consulate in Honolulu the day before
the attack on Pearl Harbor. The young Anthony Newman was living in Honolulu at
the time and had spent that night at his friend Billy Neal's house–which would
be destroyed in the raid–but Dr. Newman has no memory of what happened. His
father, a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy, was never seen again
after the attack. When the travelers try to warn Tony's father of the impending
attack, they are not believed. The attack goes on schedule the following
morning, but the travelers are able to persuade Billy's mother, Louise Neal, to take Billy and young Tony and flee to the
mountains. Lt. Commander Newman is seriously injured at the communications center in a bomb blast while trying to warn the USS Enterprise to stay away from
Pearl Harbor. Tony arrives and helps his father transmit the warning to the
ship. The elder Newman then dies in his son's arms.
The Last Patrol
Tony and Doug arrive in Louisiana the day before the final battle of the War of
1812. They are taken prisoner by the British troops, court martialed as spies
and sentenced to be shot at dawn. A British general, General Southall is brought to the time tunnel so that the team can establish the
location of their scientists. Recognizing his ancestor, Colonel Southall and confessing that he does not have long to live anyway,
General Southall insists on going back to order Colonel Southall to release the
two scientists and to find out why he led his troops into the strong point of
the opposing army. General Southall fails to convince his ancestor, and both Southalls are killed in the battle.
Crack Of Doom
Tony and Doug arrive in the vicinity of Indonesia, on the island of Krakatoa the
day of its eruption in August 1883 just in time to stop the sacrifice of a young
Indonesian by his companions, who are there to serve as guides to Dr. Holland
and his daughter. Dr. Holland is conducting a scientific investigation of the
island following the loud vulcanic explosion a few months before. Karnutu, the
chief guide, believes Doug and Tony are devils, who are causing the eruption,
and he tries to sacrifice them to the fires to stop the eruption. Doug and Tony
find that they have only a few hours to convince the scientists to leave the
island before it is blown up with the biggest explosion in history. One problem
they face is lack of information, Doug feels that they should go to Java for
safety when they must go instead to Sumatra. Tony is retrieved just before
Karnutu throws him into a lava pit, but when he gets to the Time Tunnel complex
he finds all personnel frozen in a time warp. Tony finds the correct escape
information written down by Dr. Swain. He takes it with him when he sends
himself back to 1883. Karnutu is thwarted and falls into the lava pit. Doug and
Tony finally persuade the scientists and their remaining guides to leave for
Sumatra, but Doug and Tony must be left behind due to a lack of room in the
canoe. Fortunately Tony left coordinates necessary to switch Doug and himself on
a pad of paper in Dr. Swain's frozen hand when he was there during the time
warp. They are shifted just before the big eruption.
Revenge Of The Gods
Tony and Doug arrive near the city of Troy after the tenth year of the siege by
the Achaeans (Mycenaean Greeks). Ulysses the Greek commander takes Doug and Tony
to be gods from Olympus to the disgust of Sardis, one of Ulysses's commanders.
Sardis is defeated by Tony in a sword fight and defects to the Trojans, whose
Prince Paris uses him for a raid on Ulysses's camp. Doug is captured and
tortured in Troy. Tony distinguishes himself in a battle against the Trojans
with the help of Jiggs, the Time Tunnel chief of security, who is sent back in
time by accident with modern weapons and ammunition. Tony gets the privilege of
joining the Greeks in the Trojan Horse for the capture and sack of Troy. Both
Sardis and Paris are killed, and Queen Helen and Doug are rescued. (See Trojan
War.)
Massacre
Tony and Doug arrive a few days before the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Dr.
Newman is captured by the Indians and taken to their camp. Dr. Phillips is found
by a young courier and goes with him to the camp of the 7th Cavalry. Dr.
Phillips tries to convince Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer to rescue Dr.
Newman, which Custer will not do. Failing that, Dr. Phillips tries to convince
Custer that his regiment will be totally wiped out so he should not go to
battle. Custer has him arrested to prevent him from telling this to the rest of
the troops. Meanwhile, the Indians threaten to execute Dr. Newman, but for his
bravery in facing this, he is adopted by Sitting Bull. Dr. Newman convinces
Sitting Bull to not attack the soldiers but to talk peace. Dr. Newman is sent to
convey the message of peace to Custer. Custer has Dr. Newman arrested, but Dr.
Phillips has already escaped. Sitting Bull remains in his tent for the duration
of the battle, waiting for Custer to come talk peace.
Devil's Island
Tony and Doug arrive on the French penal colony of Devil's Island just as new
prisoners arrive. They are mistaken for two of the prisoners who have escaped
and are imprisoned in their stead. The other prisoners are not interested in
escape until Captain Alfred Dreyfus arrives on the island, but this is part of a
scheme of the French government to eliminate Dreyfus by killing him if he tries
to escape.
Reign Of Terror
Tony and Doug arrive in Paris, France in the middle of the French Revolution
during the Reign of Terror. A shopkeeper offers to help them get out of the city
if they will help him get to Marie Antoinette in an attempt to free her.
Instead, they end up helping the Dauphin, Louis XVII, to escape with the
shopkeeper as his guide and protector. Tony and Doug are confronted by an
ancestor of General Kirk, who is a dead ringer for him. Kirk has his heirloom
ring sent back to possibly facilitate Doug and Tony's being recovered, but the
ring had been a love token between Marie Antoinette and a foreign amour. The
ancestor General Querque seeks to use the ring as evidence to incriminate Marie
Antoinette, clearing the way for her execution. At the end of the episode Doug
and Tony distract a young artillery lieutenant by the name of Napoléon Bonaparte
so that the shopkeeper and the dauphin can go aboard a ship that will take them
to freedom. The ring experiment ultimately fails: Doug and Tony get transferred
to another era just before rifle shots reach their position, while the ring gets
transferred, by inference, back to Kirk.
Secret Weapon
A general in The Pentagon takes advantage of them arriving at the right time and
location to send them on a spy mission. They are sent a message to meet a
contact who will get them in to a secret Soviet project, A-13. A-13 turns out to
be a project very similar to Project Tic-Toc, but it is not quite functioning.
Also, the chief scientist of that project is currently (in 1968) defecting to
the United States. Tony and Doug pose as scientists and return valuable
information on the project and the defector.
The Death Trap
Tony and Doug arrive in a barn while a meeting is occurring of people conspiring
to kill Abraham Lincoln before he has even begun his Presidency. These followers
of John Brown are hoping to make it look like southern secessionists had done
it, thereby sparking a war with the South and resulting in an end to slavery.
The Alamo
Tony and Doug arrive just outside of the Alamo on the final day of the siege.
Knowing that the defenders are doomed they attempt to convince the commander,
Col. William B. Travis, to have the men abandon the fort or at least evacuate
the wounded.
The Night Of The Long Knives
Tony and Doug arrive in the Thar, where Dr. Phillips is immediately captured by
Afghanistan rebels. Tony is shot and presumed dead, but is found by Rudyard
Kipling and taken to the local British fort. Rebellion against the British
occupiers is rising, and the local commander has been ordered to not attack the
rebels. But one of the scientists has escaped and must convince the British to
attack the rebels, freeing Dr. Phillips and stopping the Night Of The Long
Knives, the signal to begin the general uprising. Dayton Lummis appeared as the
character Gladstone.
Invasion
Two nights before the D-Day invasion of Europe, Tony and Doug arrive in
Cherbourg. The two are almost immediately taken captive by the local Gestapo.
Dr. Phillips is taken to be brainwashed while Dr. Newman is allowed to escape so
that he can be followed.
The Revenge Of Robin Hood
The Earl of Huntington, formerly Robin Hood, is petitioning King John to sign
the Magna Carta, or the barons (who have raised armies) will overthrow the king.
Dr. Phillips has arrived just outside of the throne room and overhears the end
of the conversation. When King John orders his men to arrest the Earl of
Huntington, Huntington puts up a valiant fight (with swordplay) but is
apprehended when he runs into Dr. Phillips on his way out. They are questioned
by the king as to where the barons are meeting, but when they don't give up the
information, they are taken to the dungeon to be tortured for the information.
Dr. Newman had arrived earlier in the dungeon, and when the time is right, he
overcomes the guards and frees the two prisoners. Tony and Doug manage to
escape, but Huntington does not. On their way to warn the barons, Tony and Doug
are caught by the Merry Men. After escaping the king's men, rescuing the Earl of
Huntington and kidnapping the king, the episode ends with King John reluctantly
signing the Magna Carta.
Kill Two By Two
Tony and Doug arrive about 700 miles Southeast of Tokyo, Japan in the South
Pacific on the island of Minami Iwo, one of two islands off the coast of Iwo
Jima, two days before the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. They manage to
overpower the observer left on the island to radio the position of the U.S. Navy
ships but are captured themselves when a Lieutenant Nakamura surprises them.
Instead of imprisoning them or killing them, he offers them an opportunity to
capture or kill the Japanese soldiers. Nakamura gives Doug and Tony a one-hour
head start but no weapons. Dr. Newman has a badly sprained ankle, so Dr.
Phillips sneaks back and manages to take five grenades from the supply room. The
two sides play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, but Lieutenant Nakamura seems
strangely suicidal.
Visitors From Beyond The Stars
Tony and Doug arrive on an alien spacecraft in space above the Americas. Two
aliens soon appear, pull a gun, and force the travellers into an area that
translates between their different languages. The aliens tell the two travellers
that they are going to take all of the protein (food) from Earth and that there
will be no life left when they leave, just as they have done with other planets.
The aliens also tell them that there are three kinds of people: those who
cooperate, those who can be made to cooperate and those whom they must kill.
"Resistance is impossible," they say.
The aliens (from Alpha 1) land their ship at a farm near Mullins, Arizona
Territory (approximately 112°W 34°N) in the year 1885. Their first objective is
to take over the farm house, which they do. Their second objective is to take
over the town, which they almost succeed in doing. Dr. Phillips has been made
cooperative by the aliens. Dr. Newman has to get help from the sheriff and the
bar owner in order for his plan to take the aliens' control unit away from them
to succeed. Meanwhile, two of the same species of aliens (who no longer need to
raid planets for food) appears in the Time Tunnel control room and demand that
they prove that they didn't destroy the ship or face the destruction of the
Earth. After they are shown an image of the ship leaving Earth safely, the
aliens leave.
The Ghost Of Nero
The travellers arrive at the Italian Alps just outside of fictional Villa Galba
during the Italian Campaign in World War I, and enter the cellar to avoid an
artillery bombardment. A German advance team has just arrived at the villa. A
German corporal is mysteriously stabbed to death while investigating a crypt
marked Nero, which was exposed by a bomb. Fearing that the Germans will think
they did it, the travellers hide and accidentally find a secret passage to the
upper floors of the estate, where the owner, an Italian count named Galba–who is
descended from Roman emperor Galba–offers to protect them from the Germans. When
the Germans arrive at the room, Galba tells the Germans that the two travellers
are neutral American guests of his. The German major orders them to stay in the
room as prisoners while the Germans use the villa to observe the movements of
Italian forces.
A German officer is possessed by the ghost of Nero and tries to kill the
descendant of Galba, whom Nero blames as his assassin. The ghost also tries to
kill the nobleman by possessing Tony. Project HQ utilizes the services of a
paranormal researcher, who suggests zapping Tony with 1,000,000 volts of
electricity for one milisecond through the Tunnel to force the ghost out. This
nearly kills Tony, so HQ attempts to bring him back to the present. Nero is
transported instead, and almost destroys HQ before the scientists can send him
back. When the Italian army retakes the Villa, the ghost of Nero enters a young
Italian Corporal by the name of Benito Mussolini, who vows to drive the Huns
from his country and restore the glory of the Caesars. The travellers are
transported to a new era at this point.
The Walls Of Jericho
The travellers arrive outside of the tent of Joshua during the night, two days
before the end of the Israelite siege of Jericho. Joshua comes to believe they
are who they say they are–time travellers–and sends them to spy inside the city.
Doug and Tony save a young virgin from being sacrificed to the Levantine deity
Chemosh by the high priest of Jericho. Doug is captured and sent to the dungeon
to be tortured as an Israelite spy. Tony escapes into a house with an unlocked
door. When the resident arrives, he calls her (Rahab) because, from the Biblical
account, she is the one who sheltered the two Israelite spies. (Rahab is the
sister of the almost-sacrificed virgin).
After Tony rescues Doug from the dungeon, they take refuge on the roof of
Rahab's house, but are betrayed by her servant woman Azah, who desires the
reward of 1,000 talents of silver. Doug escapes to tell Joshua the information
that he seeks. Tony and Rahab are about to be stoned to death, but when the
Israelites complete their march, blow their trumpets and shout, the walls of the
city fall down as what appears to be a tornado traces the destruction. Ann, a
sceptic, decides that since a tornado is a natural phenomenon, that the fall of
the walls was not a supernatural event, while Ray is convinced it was
supernatural (perhaps because tornadoes are not known to strike in the Holy
Lands). The travellers are transported to a new era after telling Rahab she'll be
safe.
Idol Of Death
Hernán Cortés (played by Anthony Caruso) has captured the royal family of the
Tlaxcalan people of Mexico just as his army of 3,000 Tlaxcalans begins its
deadly rampage through Cholula during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
He is questioning them about the location of a golden mask, the symbol of ruling
authority to these Indians. Doug and Tony arrive before the torture begins and
are captured trying to save the royals. Once Cortés gets the information he
wants, he kills the king and queen but keeps the timid royal heir alive for the
moment. While Cortés is away watching the burning of his ships to prevent the
rebellion of his troops, a member of the tribe frees the royal heir and the two
travelers. The four of them try to retrieve the mask before the Spaniards gain
it.
Project HQ, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of a Mexican named Castillano to
help pinpoint the travelers' location in Veracruz in order to bring the two
scientists back. It turns out, however, that Castillano is more concerned with
acquiring the mask for himself. He insists that the project team bring back the
mask before their colleagues. When HQ transports the mask, Doug, Tony and the
young chief are in the cave containing the mask, being forced by a Spanish
captain to collect the gold gifted to the pagan god. The transport of the mask
threatens to collapse the cave, so the team tries to send it back, but
Castillano grabs the mask and threatens to shoot anyone in his way. A short gun
battle breaks out in HQ and the mask is successfully sent back. The time
disturbances, however, cause the cave to collapse onto the greedy captain. The
young chief, now confident in his ability to lead his people, saves the mask
while Doug and Tony are transported to a new era.
Billy The Kid
The travellers arrive in Lincoln, New Mexico Territory, but a gang on horses
chases them into the sheriff's office. The gang kills the deputy who is guarding
Billy the Kid (played by Robert Walker, Jr.). The young outlaw plans to shoot
the travellers, but Doug manages to shoot Billy. The scientists then escape out
of town. Billy, whose belt buckle deflected the bullet, pursues them and catches
them in an abandoned shack outside of town. Before Doug and Tony can be shot,
Lt. General Heywood Kirk sends an audio transmission to the room stating that
Billy is surrounded by law enforcement. The travellers then overpower Billy and
tie him up. Tony goes back to town to get help from the sheriff, but is mistaken
for the Kid and arrested. When sheriff Pat Garrett arrives back in town he
verifies that Dr. Newman is not Billy the Kid, but the townspeople are convinced
that he is and besiege the sheriff's office. Garrett sends out a deputy to start
a cattle stampede to disrupt the lynch mob, allowing Garrett and Tony to escape
the jail and return to the shack to arrest Billy. Billy, however, has been
rescued by his gang. Doug evaded them and headed for town. When he arrives back
in town, he finds Billy waiting for him. Billy demands a showdown in the
streets, but Garrett and Doug arrive and save him. Garrett arrests Billy and his
cohort, and the travellers are transported to a new era.
Pirates Of Deadman's Island
The travellers arrive somewhere in the Mediterranean on a pirate ship during the
First Barbary War and are captured and taken to an island. Captain Beal, a
Barbary pirate, orders that the strangers be shot. However, the nephew of the
king of Spain, Armando, was also captured and pleads for the lives of the
Americans, saying the travellers can watch over him until a ransom can be paid.
Doug, Tony and the boy attempt several escapes, but are recaptured each time.
Beal then decides to kill Doug and Tony for good, but the shelling from several
U.S. Navy ships–commanded by Captain Stephen Decatur, who has arrived to defeat
the pirates in the First Barbary War–puts an end to the pirates' plans. The
pirates head for their ship to engage in battle. Tony is hit by a shot on the
beach is and presumed dead. The pirates take Armando and Doug onto their ship
during the battle. Tony recovers and swims out to the U.S. flagship.
The Time Tunnel personnel accidentally transfer Captain Beal back to HQ, and he
causes a ruckus and kidnaps Ann. She persuades him to go back to his ship, where
he is intentionally killed by one of his own crew. HQ then transfers Armando and
Doug back to the island before the pirate ship is destroyed. They then transfer
first Armando and then Doug to Captain Decatur's ship to save them from the
shelling. Both Doug and Armando are seriously wounded, however, and it is feared
they may both die. The newly retired Time Tunnel staff doctor, Dr. Benjamin
Berkhart, insists on going back to save their lives and help the wounded
American sailors. Dr. Berkhart arrives and treats Doug's shock with an injection
and administers an anesthetic to Armando. Happy knowing he will live out the
remainder of his life in this time period, Dr. Berkhart goes to look after the
wounded sailors as the travellers are transported to a new era.
Chase Through Time
The travellers arrive near the Grand Canyon, Arizona, in 1547. Meanwhile, back at
HQ, Raul Niman (Robert Duvall) is a spy for an unspecified country or
organization. Now that his mission is over, he has planted a nuclear bomb
somewhere in the complex, and the timer has been placed in the Time Tunnel
control room. In order to place the timer, he killed the person monitoring the
time tunnel just before a security check. No other avenue of escape is left, so
he jumps into the Time Tunnel. The Tunnel had been tuned to the location of Doug
and Tony, so Niman arrives near the Grand Canyon at the same time. The two
travellers are told that they must apprehend Niman and get him to tell them the
location of the bomb. But the lock on the time period drifts and moves Niman to
another time, so the two travellers are sent after him.
They arrive in the year 1,000,000 A.D., ten years after Niman has arrived. Niman
is helping the inhabitants of this future age to build a time machine so that
the 'masters' can spread their "ultimate human society"–actually a repressive,
orderly society based on bee society–throughout different ages. The two
travellers are pressed into service to help him build the time machine, but the
Time Tunnel personnel are able to move them–along with Niman–before they can
come to trouble. However, two people from that time are accidentally moved as
well: Niman's guard Vokar (Lew Gallo) and a sympathetic female worker named Zee
(Vitina Marcus). All five of them arrive in 1,000,000 B.C. and the chase
continues until they all fall into a cell in a giant beehive. Niman is reminded
that if the Time Tunnel is blown up, they will all be stuck here. Niman tells
them where the timer is located and it is disabled. But the Time Tunnel can only
transfer two people at a time; Doug and Tony are moved first, and then the two
from the future are moved. The Tunnel can't do anymore moves at this time, so
Niman is apparently left to face angry giant prehistoric bees.
The Death Merchant
The two travellers arrive in the middle of the Battle of Gettysburg during the
American Civil War, where Dr. Tony Newman is quickly shell-shocked by an
artillery blast. Dr. Doug Phillips retreats from the battlefield with a small
group of Union soldiers, whose commander tells him to put on a Union uniform to
avoid getting shot. The Time Tunnel personnel send a shock through time to
revive Tony and he is found by a small group of Confederate soldiers. Suffering
from amnesia, he becomes convinced he is the lieutenant whom the Confederate
soldiers were expecting and dons a Confederate uniform. The Union soldiers had
intercepted the courier so they know that a man named Michaels, who has stolen
some gunpowder from the Union army, is going to sell it to the Confederate army.
Both sides are attempting to find Michaels first and get the gunpowder.
Mr. Michaels is actually the early-16th century philosopher Machiavelli (played
by Malachi Throne), who has been moved to this period by the Tunnel due to
similarities with Doug's "pattern". When the Confederates show up, Machiavelli
is willing to give them the gunpowder because the war is much more interesting
when the sides are evenly matched. Tony takes Doug prisoner. Tony, Doug and
Machiavelli eventually make their way to the cave where the gunpowder is stored.
Doug and Tony fight, which results in Tony regaining his identity after being
knocked out by Doug. The Time Tunnel transfers Machiavelli back to his own time
(January 3, 1519) and then moves the two travellers to a new era.
Attack Of The Barbarians
Doug and Tony–wearing their usual attire despite having left the previous era in
soldiers' uniforms–arrive somewhere in Mongolia or Eastern China and are
captured by Mongols and taken to the tent of Batu Khan (Arthur Batanides). Batu–a
grandson of Genghis Khan–feels he is the rightful heir of Genghis, but he has to
overcome Kublai Khan. Doug is thought to be dead, so Tony is tortured on the
rack for information on the weaknesses of the nearby enemy fortress. Batu and
most of his guards leave once Tony passes out. Doug wakes up and carries Tony
away from the camp, where they are found by Marco Polo (John Saxon). The
travellers seek safety in the fortress, where Tony falls in love with Princess
Sarit (Vitina Marcus), the only daughter of Kublai Khan. Batu comes up with a
plan to kidnap Sarit and marry her, thereby uniting the various Mongol tribes
behind him in his quest.
Batu's men succeed in kidnapping Sarit, but she is freed by Doug and Tony.
Batu's forces then launch a massive assault on the fortress. Doug and Tony are
able to make artillery shells by mixing gunpowder and potassium nitrate in empty
water jugs. General Kirk is able to send back igniters to make the bombs
successful. The tide is turned in the battle, and the travelers are transported
to a new era.
Merlin The Magician
Merlin the magician appears in Time Tunnel HQ and freezes the personnel. He then
brings the two travellers out of their "time limbo" (between destinations) back
to the Time Tunnel control room in suspended animation so that he can instruct
them to do what he asks, though they may die in the effort. He then sends them
to Cornwall in the year 544. There, they fight off a band of Vikings and
encounter a young man named Arthur Pendragon whose father has been killed by the
Viking raiders. Merlin appears and orders the travellers to protect Arthur at all
costs. A band of Vikings then attack and Doug is felled by a sword while Tony
and Arthur are captured. Merlin prevents the Time Tunnel crew from moving the
two travellers out of this time, going so far as to injure Dr. Raymond Swain with
an electric shock.
When Doug awakes, he is in the castle of King Leodegrance of Cameliard and is
being cared for by the king's daughter, Guinevere (Lisa Jak). Merlin heals Doug
and has Guinevere fetch the doctor new clothes. Tony escapes from his bonds and
frees Arthur, but they are later recaptured. Doug goes to look for weaknesses in
the Viking-held castle, and he and Guinevere, who followed Doug, are captured as
well. Guinevere is imprisoned in a room by the Viking chieftain Wogan (Vincent
Beck). Arthur, Doug and Tony are imprisoned in a cell. Merlin frees them from
their bonds, but tells them that they must free themselves from the locked room,
since there is a limit to how much magic he can perform at a time. Doug and Tony
blow the door of the cell off by improvising a pressure cooker from water, a pot
and two thumbscrews. Doug gathers Leodegrance's troops and brings them back to
fight, but Merlin says that the Vikings will not be frightened by these
"gentlemen knights," so he changes their clothing to that of Vikings, which is
the last way Merlin can help them in this venture. The knights storm the castle
and drive the Vikings out while Tony kills Wogan in a sword fight. Arthur
declares he will make Doug and Tony his first knights, but they are transferred
by the Tunnel.
The Kidnappers
An alien time traveller from the future called OTT (acronym for "Official Time
Traveller") appears in the Time Tunnel control room and
abducts Dr. Ann McGregor. Ray discovers a metal punched card presumably dropped
by OTT that has a set of space-time coordinates. Kirk directs Ray to transfer
Doug and Tony to those coordinates, which place them on a planet in the system
of the star Canopus in the year 8433 A.D. This was according to the plan of the
curator of a project to compile all the data of the history of earth by
extracting the memories of all its historical figures, rendering them walking
"vegetables." Doug and Tony as the first human time travellers are wanted by the
curator (played by Michael Ansara) for his project, Ann being kidnapped as bait
to have them transferred there. As Kirk intended in sending Doug and Tony there,
they are brought together with Ann. Since the Time Tunnel's fix on them is
strong Ray attempts to retrieve them, but OTT suddenly appears again to take the
time-spatial conversion unit to prevent this. Doug, Tony, and Ann witness OTT's
return to the alien complex with the unit. They now face the danger of being
rendered vegetables like the three historical figures seen there—Cicero,
Erasmus, and Hitler, but they discover the aliens' significant vulnerability:
like plants they derive sustenance from the light of their "sun" Canopus,
becoming dormant at night. They fool the curator into thinking that they had
eaten the cubed pills he had directed them to eat as food—they contain drugs to
sedate them for mind extraction the next day. When the curator and the guards go
dormant at night Doug, Tony, and Ann remain awake to retrieve the time-space
converter and escape. They outwit and kill OTT, who by a power pack remains
awake to patrol the alien complex; Ann sends herself back to the Time Tunnel
control room with the converter by way of the alien time machine, and Doug and
Tony are transferred away in the nick of time.
Raiders From Outer Space
The two travellers arrive in the middle of the Battle of Khartoum between British
and Arab forces in the Sudan. This chapter is loosely based on the campaign of
General Gordon. In their efforts to hide from the battling armies, they
encounter two aliens who take them prisoner. The alien leader (from Aristos)
then contacts the Time Tunnel control centre and tells them not to interfere.
Rather than kill them, the aliens are ordered by their leader to bring the two
travellers back to their base. After explaining their plan to conquer Earth by
destroying the city of London, the aliens order Dr. Newman to be taken out in
the desert and killed with a dehydration ray while Dr. Phillips will be put in a
machine to extract all of his knowledge. But the alien ordered to kill Dr.
Newman leaves when they are encountered by two British soldiers. Dr. Newman is
thought to be an Arab spy, so he leads them to the alien base where one of the
soldiers is killed. The Time Tunnel is also able to move Dr. Phillips out of the
alien machine to where Dr. Newman is. In response, the aliens send a bomb to the
Time Tunnel control room that will explode in sixty minutes unless all personnel
are evacuated to the upper levels of the complex.
Unable to attack the aliens effectively with the resources at hand, the two
travellers and the British soldier fetch grenades and gunpowder from Khartoum.
They attack the alien base, but have insufficient resources left to destroy it.
However, just before the bomb explodes in the Time Tunnel control room, the Time
Tunnel transfers the bomb to the alien base, destroying it a few minutes later.
Town Of Terror
The travellers arrive in a hotel cellar containing sophisticated equipment. When
they get to the lobby of the hotel, the proprietor (played by Mabel Albertson)
tells them that there is no cellar. When they attempt to show her, she
immobilizes them. The Time Tunnel frees them from their immobilization by moving
them. Doug and Tony flee and are pursued. A force field around the town prevents
their escape, but two young people–Joan (Heather Young) and Pete–soon encounter
them. The travellers find out that the townspeople have been immobilized and
aliens are using the forms of the townspeople to appear as humans. The aliens
are planning to transport all of the oxygen from Earth's atmosphere to their
atmosphere-poor home planet of Andros. The aliens also start sucking oxygen out
of the Time Tunnel headquarters, nearly asphyxiating the staff. Joan and Pete
help the travellers procure dynamite, which are made into time bombs. Doug and
Tony successfully destroy the alien control room, destroying their ability to
remove Earth's oxygen, freeing the townspeople and saving Time Tunnel personnel.
The final episode provides no resolution, as the series was initially scheduled
to continue into a second season. In it Doug and Tony would finally have made it
back to their own time early in the season. They would have then gone on
specific missions back in time to observe events. Eventually they would have
discovered enemy agents from parallel earths attempting to interfere with our
time and gone to war with them.
As a side note this idea was later explored in the Gurps Alternate Earths and Infinite Earths RPG.