Operation Tic-Toc

"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."


The Operation,also known as Project Tic-Toc is actually a vast underground city that holds 12,000 people in each of a series of complexes, each of which are over eight hundred floors deep.Project Tic Toc resembles somewhat the Krell Underground in the movie Forbidden Planet-a vast multi levelled underground complex,with magnetic drop tube elevators.
About Project Tic-Toc is the name given to an effort to build an experimental time machine known as The Time Tunnel. The base for Project Tic-Toc is located underground, beneath the Arizona desert.Description
Project Tic-Toc is the name given to an effort to build an experimental time machine known as The Time Tunnel. The base for Project Tic-Toc is located underground, beneath the Arizona desert. Tic-Toc base is made up of a series of complexes 800 floors deep, and employs over 36,000 people (12 thousand people in each complex). The center of the base is Tunnel Control, which houses the imense Time Tunnel itself.

====KEY PERSONNEL:====


Project Tic-Toc is under the overall command of Lt. General Heywood Kirk.In charge of scientific operations are Dr Douglas Phillips, Dr. Anthony Newman, Dr. Raymond Swain and Dr. Ann MacGregor. Construction of the base began in 1958, and The Time Tunnel itself became fully operational in 1968, by order of Senator Leroy Clark.Somewhere during this Doug Philips meets a time jumped Tony Newman,when years later two two got separated in a Time Tunnel jump.
Doug Philips and Senator Clark next enter an elevator that free falls for the entire eight hundred floors, providing an exhilarating ride. At the bottom they are met by Clark's old friend, Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk, who kids the senator about the days they served in the military together. Kirk shows Clark the incredible atomic plant that powers the very reason the installation exists: the Time Tunnel.. Visiting it next, Clark is suitable impressed - mostly because the device has cost the country so much without providing anything of value. As they take the Senator to meet Doug's partner, Dr. Tony Newman, Clark unleashes an attack on the Tunnel as being nothing more than an expensive toy that has made a few animals disappear and nothing more. Tony is obviously upset that after ten years of work on the Tunnel he and Doug are close to making it work, and now it may be shut down. Clark wants results by the next day, or he will cut off all funding of the project after he returns to Washington. Doug refuses to chance taking a life by experimenting with a human being prematurely. Tony leaves while Clark continues his tour, and that night Tony returns to the Tunnel alone, activates the controls, walks into the Tunnel - and disappears.

The regular Tic-Toc project staff arrives shortly, including Doug, Dr. Raymond Swain, Dr. Ann MacGregor, Gen. Kirk, and a number of technicians who begin to try to trace where the young scientist has gone. Elsewhere, Tony tumbles out of the sky and finds himself on the deck of a large ocean liner. A pretty girl asks him if he is OK, having seen his fall. After some polite conversation he walks further down the boat and sees a life preserver with the name of the ship: the Titanic. Later, Tony is locked up for being a stowaway and a lunatic (because of his warnings about the Titanic being doomed), and Doug receives permission from Gen. Kirk to try to free his friend from the locked room before the ship goes down, killing Tony. Kirk reluctantly agrees to let him go - and both men become lost in time. 912. Against his better judgement Doug eventually joins Tony in the time tunnel and on the Titanic. The episode ends with Tony and Doug being rescued by the Project Tic Toc team only to be switched in time to another location. Thus setting up the premise for the rest of the series.

==Getting Around In Time==


The basic operation of the Time Tunnel involves the traveller entering a long tunnel of concentric circles that give an optical illusion of a tunnel extending into the infinite distance. The traveller then gets a radiation bath of blue smoke that enables the project team to later track the traveller in space and time. Each episode begins with the project team attempting to get a temporal and spatial fix on Tony and Doug. The radiation tracking trick allows the project team to view Tony and Doug on a giant view screen that forms at the mouth of the tunnel when needed. Once a fix has been obtained, the team generally begins to generate enough energy to attempt to retrieve the two scientists. Inevitably Tony and Doug find themselves involved in some intrigue or altercation before the team can attempt to retrieve them. The team either uses the stored energy to transport something to the past to assist Tony and Doug, or to switch them to another time and out of danger. Strangely enough the danger is generally passed when they are switched at the end of each episode.Other notes about the Time Tunnel, there seems to be no limit to the range of the machine, with episodes reaching back to the age of dinasours and into the future. Ann and the other scientists back at the base can also communicate with Doug and Tony in an emergency. In several instances, objects are also succesfully sent back to Tony and Doug from the present.


The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes. Reruns currently air on AmericanLife TV Network and on Hulu. A pilot for a new series was produced in 2002, although it was not picked up. 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 the Arizona desert, with no visible entry. The only way in was a large secret panel; when it opened, a car could quickly go through the entrance. Once the panel closed, all anyone could see was ordinary desert. 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 (Whit Bissell). The center of the base was The Time Tunnel control room where the Tunnel was located. In charge of operating the Tunnel were Dr. Ann McGregor (Lee Meriwether) and Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba). The date at which it was operating was stated as 1968, which was two years into the future for the initial TV audience.[1]

When the costs of the project approach those of the entire U.S. space program, United States Senator Leroy Clark (Gary Merrill) 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 (James Darren),reculasly 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 (Robert Colbert) enters the Time Tunnel as well, carrying a newspaper describing the sinking to occur. 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 or maybe dosen't progress, the two time travelers are swung from one period in history to another, allowing episodes to be set in the past and future. Each episode begins with the following narration (which Richard Tufeld voiced): "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."

By luck (or lack thereof) or some unseen forces within the Time Tunnel the travelers, Doug Phillips and Tony Newman, 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 (led by two scientists and a military general), who once gaining a "fix" can view through the Tunnel the action taking place in the different time, would try to rescue the travelers 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. The final episode provides no resolution, as the series was initially scheduled to continue into a second season. The Novikov self-consistency principle was anticipated by the tacit understanding of the Time Tunnel scientists that recorded history could not be altered although in episode four ("The Day The Sky Fell In") the time travelers make it their concern to see to it that young Tony Newman escapes being killed in the Pearl Harbor bombing in order to prevent the adult Tony from ceasing to exist. Especially the Bible is held to be sacrosanct as recorded history (except, of course, poetic license on numerous details, for the proverbial, dramatic effects) in episode 20 ("The Walls of Jericho"): General Kirk reassures Drs. Swain and MacGregor that Doug and Tony will survive the mortal dangers of being in Jericho.

The Time Tunnel's time travel model operates with the assumption that the past, the present, and the future are all alike continuing to exist in a manner to permit the random placement of a time traveler into any point of time. When Senator Clark sees an image of the Titanic on the image screen in the course of episode one, he is told by Dr. Swain that he is seeing "the living past," and Althea Hall is told by Tony Newman that the past and the future are the same. The Time Tunnel itself is like a long corridor that stretches through the time continuum with portals that allow access to any moment in history past, present, or future. Despite the tacit understanding that recorded history cannot be altered, sometimes Doug and Tony’s actions are essential in causing history to unfold as it did, and the lives of individual people could be influenced by the actions of the Time Tunnel time travelers and scientists. In episode twenty-six ("Attack of the Barbarians") Marco Polo tells Doug Phillips that Tony and the Princess Serit can fall in love with each other despite their being from different times because they can then and there see and touch each other. Dr. MacGregor points out to Gen. Kirk and Dr. Swain that history itself might allow for Tony and Serit to marry.

The Time Tunnel is a precursor to the [[Back to the Future]] movies and to later TV series such as [[Quantum Leap]], [[Stargate SG-1]], and [[Sliders]] in which most episodes feature the cast traveling to a unique place and/or time.It also might be why the whole project seemed flawed.Back to the Future had a cool time travelling car,for the series stars to travel back and forth in.Doug Phillips and Tony Neuman might have made use of such a device.Quantum Leap had more engaging characters,that Time Tunnel seem to lack with wooden characters.Stargate utililized a stargate to other worlds,more interesting villians like the Gho'ould and the Wraith,while Time Tunnel just proded through stock footage movie history.And Sliders good or bad,explored the premise of infinate alternate worldlines.

==Review==


The Time Tunnel succeeds as a unique blend of sci-fi and action, although it has aged considerably in the 30+ years since it first aired. While planting the seeds for later sci-fi series such as Quantam Leap and Stargate 1, the Time Tunnel is somewhat flawed as a show about time travel. I found part of my disappointment in the series was the lack of rationale for the project. While it was stated that the objective of the Tic Toc Project was to successfully send someone back in time and return them to the present, it would appear to be a very weak justification for the multi-billion dollar project. The series seems more interested in trying to impress its audience with exotic locales and pseudo-historical situtations than exploring the incatricies of time travel.Taken in context, the series was intially aired at a time when a simply stated goal of putting a man on the moon and returning them successfully to Earth was sufficient to engage the imagination of a generation. It was also aired at a time when sci-fiction series were beginning to make inroads into mainstream entertainment. Regardless of the rationale for Project Tic Toc, the other greater disappointment with the series stems from the lack of a guiding set of Time Travel ethics. Despite having pioneered the technology, none of the team have apparently given much fore thought to the impact or potential consequences of time travel.

On several occassions, Tony and Doug have attempted to convince the locals that they are from the future or else they work to change the outcome of events (e.g. avoid the Titanic's sinking). In a number of episodes future technology is introduced to the past in an effort to save Tony and Doug and change the outcome of events. Produced by Irwin Allen, whose other 60's sci-fi related shows include Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Land of the Giants, the Time Tunnel lasted only one season from 1966 to 1967. It has been suggested that the original Friday night time slot was the reason for the shows short run, while it has also been suggested that there existed at the time a campaign by executives of the network to get it pulled in favour of another show. All criticisms aside, there are some interesting dynamics at work among the cast that make the show worth watching. As I touched on earlier, Tony Newman as played by James Darren, perhaps better known to some as Moondoggie of the early 60's Gidget movies, is the impetuous young scientist, who thinks with his heart before his head. Where youth and rebellion are represented by Tony and his casual dress ( a shockingly hip turtleneck), the conservative establishment is represented by Doug Philips in his suit that remains firmly buttoned at all but extremely heated moments during an episode. Doug Phillips, as played by Robert Colbert, speaks in a halting, know-it-all manner that I find strangely similar to that of another TV character, pompus clotheir J. Peterman of Seinfeld. Authoritative and serious, while boarding on annoying Doug's tone of voice just begs to be mocked.

Doug explains something serious to Tony and Tony responds by imitating Doug and telling him off in frustration. One of my favourite characters on the series is Dr. Ann MacGregor, as played by Lee Merriewether. While I am by no stretch of the imagination an authority on the role of women characters in the history of television (now that would be an interesting media course), I find Dr. Ann MacGregor's character a unique one for the late 60's. On the one hand she is protrayed as a professional career woman, a scientist with a doctorate no less, in a project obviously dominated by men. She is portrayed as a quick thinking, strong person capable of saving the day ( which she does on a number of occasions). Yet on the other hand she is often pushed out of the way by her male counterparts when they become frustrated and must try to "man" the controls themselves. I feel that Ann often serves to bring a more human element to the series, often showing genuine personal concern for Tony and Doug's well being when they are in faced with danger. In one episode when the young, brash Tony falls in love with a local girl and threatens to remain behind in time, Ann argues in Tony's favour. Ann asks her co-workers how do they know that Tony hasn't found true love. Ah, always the romantic that Ann. While the Time Tunnel may not hold up to close scrutinty after 30 years, it can be an entertaining hour of time travel fluff when not being overly melodramatic. Related Links

====The Time Tunnel====

23:00, June 11, 2014 (UTC)Sincerely yours-Upward Onward Maveric MAVERIC LIONS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP Maveric Lion Productions (c)TM-2010.all right reserved Maveric Lion Productions presents.

"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 one-season show, produced by Irwin Allen, chronicled the adventures of two scientists, Dr. Tony Newman and Dr. Douglas Phillips. Both are working on Project TicToc, a government operation to perfect time travel. In the first episode, the impetuous Tony jumps through the untested portal and finds himself on the Titanic. Doug goes after him, and although they manage to escape before the ship goes down, the folks back home are never quite able to retrieve them. So in each week's episode the two travellers are whisked from one setting to another (sometimes several times in the same episode) and have to survive pirates, Roman soldiers, battlefields, and the occasional invading silver-skinned alien, all while hoping the folks back at the Project find a way to get them back for good.

The most comprehensive site related to this series you are ever going to find. In addition to containing a detailed Episode Guide that includes guest stars, director and writer credits, this site boasts information and pictures on such cool marketing tie-ins as viewmaster slides, colouring books, and board games that were made related to the series. While you won't want or need to visit any other Time Tunnel related sites, there is a thorough list of related sites here too. Including reference to a number of foreign language fan sites (French, German and Italian).

====The Time Tunnel at TV Party====


TV Party is an informative site on the history of television and features among other things forgotten TV shows. The Time Tunnel is one of those featured forgotten shows. The Time Tunnel page at TV Party boasts detailed information about the making of the series, its reasons for only lasting one season, and other interesting trivia. Well worth the visit.

====Irwin Allen News Network====


A site dedicated to the various works of television producer Irwin Allen. Check out information on such 60 classics like Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Journey to the Bottom of the Sea and the Land of Giants. A well laid-out site with some interesting information not only on producer Irwin Allen, but his shows as well. My biggest complaint about this site is that it overlooked the need to give a synopsis of what the shows were about for those that may not have been familiar with the series. In the case of Lost in Space, that may not seem necessary, but in the case of Time Tunnel, an overview of what the series was about is greatly helpful to first timers. As a result of their oversight the site ends up feeling aloof and only for those on the inside. A shame, but still worth the look.