Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel!

Science fiction on television in the 1960's was largely the work of one man, a man named Irwin Allen. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ran for four seasons, Lost in Space ran for three seasons, Land of the Giants ran for two. The least successful Irwin Allen show was The Time Tunnel which lasted only a single season. But it was a season packed with lots of different takes on the classic science fiction gimmick of time travel. 

In this 1966 television show time travel was accomplished with the assistance of a vast underground complex hidden in the depths of the American desert called "Project Tic-Toc" There scientists constructed an enormous device, the time tunnel, which could transport people forwards or backwards in time. The project had been under way for at least ten years when a grizzled congressman threatened the funding, prompting Dr. Anthony Newman (James Darren) to make a desperate attempt to prove the validity of the tunnel. He does but gets himself lost in time, and to rescue him fellow scientist Dr. Douglas Phillips (Robert Colbert) follows him back to the time of the sinking of the Titanic. The two cannot change history, but they do save some people before they are whisked away to another time and place. 

They are not under the control of the Time Tunnel complex, and it takes the nigh constant vigilance of Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba) and Dr. Ann McGregor (Lee Meriwether) under the leadership of General Haewood Kirk (Whit Bissell) to save them time after time after time. The stories involve both our two time-lost heroes and the Time Tunnel staff as well who often come under threat as well. The show whisks us off to the Krakatoa, the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, Troy, D-Day, and many other famous periods in history. The meet famous folks like Napolean, Cortez, Billy the Kid, Mussolini, Ulysses, Custer, Machiavelli, and many more. Tony and Doug always seem to arrive on the eve of some dreadful event and though they often try to affect the events they never can ultimately. Lots of footage from countless Fox movies is used to give the stories a grand scale at time. 

The show even goes into the future on some occasions and the boys are often confronted by classic Irwin Allen-type aliens. In fact the show began to rely on aliens more and more often as the series progressed. This is an indication to his viewer that the creators were already running out of gas in terms of times they wanted to plunder for adventure. So perhaps a single season is all that The Time Tunnel could have been. But that one season is a memorable one indeed. 

The show generated a few novels by Murray Leinster and two Gold Key comic books. The DVD set I enjoyed also included a failed 1980's reboot called Time Travellers starring Sam Groom who had been a semi-regular on the original show, and a failed 2002 pilot for a new version of the show. Frankly I rather liked the more recent one, it had virtues. The 1980's show was pretty tepid despite some good acting. 

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Tales Of Time And Space!

This month sort of picks up where last month left off. We continue to explore the vastness of space but add the even more capacious realm of time. The Whitman anthology above was one I had a kid way back in 1969 when science and such was generally supported by the masses. These days folks seem to not care for the opinions of experts, preferring to substitute their own gut instincts. But there's hope and to that end I want to spend my time immersed in science, or at least science fantasy. 

The centerpiece of reading this month will be Nexus. I've raved about Nexus more than a few times here and after collecting up seven of the eight omnibus volumes (I consider the eighth a lost cause at this point and I have most of those in the original) I want to read through this truly epic story of a young man who only wants to make the universe better by killing mass murderers, and so he can get a good night's sleep. I'm being snide, but this really a thoughtful series by creators Mike Baron and Steve Rude, along with the many artists who assist along the long road. 

Star-Lord is now world famous as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel cinematic universe variety). But before that Peter Quill was a hero much in the mold of Nexus and preceded him to boot. Marvel managed to kick out one Star-Lord yarn a year beginning in 1977 and some great talents had their way with him.

And speaking of Guardians of the Galaxy, I want to take another ramble through their earliest adventures. I'm of course not talking about the guys so famous today but the originals who made their first mark in the pages of the eighteenth issue of Marvel Super-Heroes. Created by Arnold Drake and drawn by Gene Colan, these heroes from the future left an impression on this young fan which has never dimmed. 

If time allows, I want to take a dive into the science fiction stories drawn by Wally Wood.  Wally Wood was the absolute master of his form. On some of his stories Wood was assisted by partner Harry Harrison.

Harry Harrison was a colleague of Wally Wood, but we know him these days mostly for his science fiction stories, the most famous of which is Make Room! Make Room! This is a novel about overpopulation on this planet and inspired the movie Soylent Green. Expect reviews. 

Beyond Thirty is a short novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of his earliest which explores what the world might be like a few centuries if the Americas had not gotten involved in European wars, but instead cut off that part of the world. The changes are profound. 

Another grim future is presented in Logan's Run. This story of a controlled society in which no one lives beyond thirty so as to manage the population is a true classic. The movie was a stunner in its day and inspired a television show. I want to sample all three. 

But what about time. Well, I've long wanted to amble through the Irwin Allen project called The Time Tunnel. This wacky show lasted only one season, but it made some bizarre shows in that short time. If you've not seen it, it's about two scientists who are lost in time and wash up in time period after time period each week just in time for shenanigans of all sorts. 

Before The Time Tunnel. the was the "Wayback Machine", owned and operated by the canine genius Mr. Peabody. Peabody and his boy Sherman visit many of the greatest names in history and help them along in their work. This is truly a timeless time-travel feature. 

And last but not least Showcase Corner will feature Rip Hunter Time Master. While Adam Strange saved Rann from countless menaces, Rip and his team were hurtling through time seeking adventure in age after age. 

There might even be a few surprises as well. All in all, it's a heavy lift as usual, but one I'm very much looking forward to. 

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The Fantastical Dreams Of A Normal Bean!

I am always a bit astonished when I reflect on the impact of the career of Edgar Rice Burroughs. When he finally came to be a writer after trying nearly everything else, he found out he was quite good, at least good enough to draw in countless thousands if not millions of readers over the decades since his first work landed on the shelves in 1912. That work was Under the Moons of Mars and its author was one "Normal Bean". The story goes that Burroughs had signed the work "Normal Being", but his editor changed it for reasons unclear. A Princess of Mars (the title of the novel) was a blockbuster hit as the strange story of Virginian John Carter's first trip to Mars spilled out serially in the pages All-Story Magazine. ERB was inspired by the success to offer up another hero to the marketplace and this time he created an icon -- Tarzan of the Apes. The tide had come in for "Normal Bean" and he actually never looked back. He wrote book after book with stories set in places he created such as Barsoom, Caspak, Pellucidar, Amtor, Opar, and a myriad of others. 

I have been storing up ERB material for decades and I've read most of the canon at least once, though it's been more than a few decades since the last time. I'm sort of eager to tear into it all again and add to what I've read works that have become available since. So this year of 2022 will see the Dojo paying great heed to the work of ERB and to the countless adaptations of his work. Tarzan in particular has been a focus here at the Dojo before and we'll get around to him in due course, primarily though the great comic strips and comic books which were illustrated by great artists such Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Russ Manning among others such as Joe Kubert and Tom Yeates. But I want to begin my look at ERB with his first work and one of his most potent -- the John Carter books which inspired a movie over a decade ago now. 

And what else might well be coming for new year. Take a glimpse below for fifty plus probabilities. 

That's a ton of stuff and I hope to get around in some shape form or fashion to all of it eventually this year. But who knows what else will pop into my noggin between now and this time next year. Let all of us unite here at the Dojo to celebrate "the Master of Adventure" ERB, and a whole passel of other stuff as well. 

More on what's up this inaugural month of 2022 tomorrow.  Happy New Year my fellow "Normal Beans"! Next stop Mars!

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