The Time Tunnel

[Dave]

Does anyone remember this Irwin Allen show from the sixties?

http://www.thetimetunnel.com/
http://www.iann.net/irwinallen/
http://www.geocities.com/coderedlion...t_TIC_TOC.html

Miles beneath the surface of the Arizona desert lies Project: Tic Toc: a top secret government research complex where the U.S. military are experimenting with a massive gateway to past and future ages called THE TIME TUNNEL. Doug Phillips and Tony Newman, two of the scientists working on the project become helplessly lost in the infinite corridors of time. While their fellow scientists labour to save them, the two time travellers become involved in key moments of historical and future events.

According to Variety, both ABC and Fox are dueling over rights to a Time Tunnel remake in development at Regency Television and 20th Century Fox Television. Rand Ravich (The Astronaut's Wife) is set to write and Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle) will direct the pilot. Kevin Burns (various Hollywood documentaries, including The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen and Lost in Space Forever), Jon Jashni (Anna and the King) and Sheila Allen (Irwin Allen's widow) will exec produce.

I loved that show and I've been reading comments on other bulletin boards about it.

I think this is the full transcipt from Variety:

'TIME' IS RIGHT FOR FOX

Fox Broadcasting Co. is finalising a deal for a remake of 1966 Irwin Allen sci-fi actioner "The Time Tunnel" -- despite ABC's best efforts to land the project.

FBC sibling Regency Television and 20th Century Fox Television are the producing studios behind the new version of "Time Tunnel," which has made FBC the front-runner to snag the skein all along (Daily Variety, Oct. 12.) Agents at Endeavor and CAA, which rep the major parties behind the project, continue to hammer out details of the pact.

FBC is expected to get "Time Tunnel" by offering at least a put pilot commitment with a hefty seven-figure penalty attached -- a huge commitment in today's development market, where few projects are getting more than script orders.

But ABC execs, led by network co-chairman Lloyd Braun, have gone to extraordinary lengths to land "Time Tunnel" for themselves. Braun took Allen's widow, Sheila, to lunch last Thursday at the Disney exec dining room. ABC also sent faxes to 20th execs Friday informing them that it was prepared to match and exceed FBC's most recent offer.

While ABC may very well have been willin to exceed FBC's offer, insiders close to the negotiations point out that money alone is never a sole factor in determining where a project lands.

Some associated with the project believe "Time Tunnel" has a better shot at becoming a series, and landing a plum slot, if it goes to FBC. What's more, the show's sci-fi bent feels at home at FBC, which has skeins such as "The X-Files" and "Dark Angel".

They point to the unpredictability involved in ABC's May scheduling process, where senior Disney execs play a key role. The Alphabet has also had some difficulty launching new dramas in recent years, though new hour "Alias" has shown some promise on Sundays this fall.

Execs at ABC, meanwhile, believe they've never had a serious shot at landing "Time Tunnel," and that vertical integration has clouded the decision-making process. News Corp. insiders point out that Disney's ABC is among the most vertically integrated of all the nets.

Scribe Rand Ravich ("The Astronauts Wife") and helmer Todd Holland ("Malcolm in the Middle"), both of whom will exec produce, are putting together the new "Time Tunnel." Holland and FBC Entertainment prexy Gail Berman worked together last when Berman ran Regency Television, the studio behind "Malcolm."

Kevin Burns and John Jashni, who have an overall deal at Fox TV Studios, will also exec produce the skein. Ravich is based at 20th, while Holland has an overall deal with Regency Television.

Burns, Jashni, Holland and the Allen estate are all repped by Endevor. Ravich is repped by CAA.

Two points have been brought up by fans regarding a possible remake.

Firstly, 'The Time Tunnel' was made under the assumption that the time line is fixed. Time travelers cannot change the history no matter what they do. This is contrary to what is now beleived and almost all Sci-Fi made after 'The Time Tunnel' follow parallel timeline possiblities, such as 'Sliders', 'Philadelphia Experiment', 'Timecop', 'Back to the Future'. Even some Sci-Fi which predate it do, some episodes of the original 'Outer Limits'. If they are to ressurect 'The Time Tunnel' will they alter that?

Secondily, Are they still going to rely heavily on stock footage fom old historical movies? It would be expensive to have the kind of scenes they had in the original series. But would modern audiences accept footage plundered from old movies? Would they not use CGI?

[jsc]

Believe it or not..... In the sixties a friend of mine and I watched the show... After one which I think was the Chicago Fire, we discussed the same topic but about a current show....I am glad the fans are still talking about this! The stock footage from old movies was a hoot... we ided the movies... but the timeline was one that we believed could be changed if a character did something big but the show did not or would not...So the same arguments are current.... I love that!

[Dave]

There could be two Time Tunnel remakes appearing soon:

ABC, Fox Duel Over Time Tunnel

ABC and Fox may fight over competing remakes of 1964 Irwin Allen SF TV series The Time Tunnel, Variety reported. ABC optioned the rights to Time Tunnel, the 1964 book by William Jenkins, published under the pen name Murray Leinster, and is now developing a script based on the book through its Touchstone Television unit, the trade paper reported.

Fox, meanwhile, partnered three months ago with sister studio 20th Century Fox TV and Regency Television to create a series based on Allen's Time Tunnel series, which ran on ABC during the 1966-'67 season.

At issue is whether the original TV show was based on Jenkins' book. The Supreme Court has ruled that owners of a book on which a filmed property is based are entitled to profits from that property should those rights expire, the trade paper reported. ABC reportedly believes that 20th's rights to the Jenkins work expired in 1992, and, since they weren't renewed, ABC believes it could have a say in how any TV series based on Time Tunnel proceeds. For its part, Fox argues the book rights were purchased only to bring Jenkins into the camp of the TV series creators and to avoid public confusion from any future Jenkins-penned Time Tunnel sequels. The actual series, Fox argues, was based on an original Allen story, the trade paper reported.

The Time Tunnel series differs in several respects from the Jenkins novel, Variety reported. Moreover, Fox sources told the trade paper that the U.S. copyright office doesn't note any similarity between the Jenkins book and the Allen series, and the Writers Guild didn't credit Jenkins for the TV series.

[Dave]

There is also an early sixties film called 'The Time Travellers' which shows remarkable similarities to 'The Time Tunnel':

1) There is no 'Tunnel', but there is a machine with a viewsceen.
2) Two scientists are lost in a 'time trap'.

'The Time Tunnel' will celebrate its 35th anniversary in September 2002.

Anyone have any news on these possible remakes?

I would guess that the original idea was to coincide with the anniversary, but TV schedules have already been announced for the autumn/ fall season and I don't recall 'Time Tunnel' being mentioned anwhere.

[Draco Weyr]

It was shown in repeats where i lived on a Saturday afternoon. I always loved watching it. Admittedly it did have slightly to many alien episodes for what was suppose to be a earth based show...

And the lady who played the scientist in the control room was my favorite...

[Dave]

Originally posted by Draco Weyr
And the lady who played the scientist in the control room was my favorite...

Lee Meriweather... she was Catwoman in one of the films based on the sixties TV show with Adam West as Batman. Other actresses played Catwoman too, but she was the best IMHO.

She didn't have much to do in 'Time Tunnel' though, just constantly 'trying to get a fix' on Doug and Tony's locations in space and time. She was always the one to have a gun held to her.

James Darren (who played Tony) was a singer contemporary with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. Since he has been in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' as the holographic nightclub singer, Vic Fontaine, he has had something of a comeback, and has a current album of songs out.