Irwin Allen – The Time Tunnel
An evening pause: For those like myself who as a kid watched all of Irwin Allen’s sometimes good, often boringly predictable, but always truly cheesy sci-fi television shows, this documentary will bring back memories. Allen’s shows also explain why Star Trek became the phenomenon it did, as it was so much better.
And can you guess the name of the documentary’s narrator/anchor?
Hat tip Robert Pratt.
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Oh hey, it’s Bill Mummy.
Other than Will Robinson, I particularly liked him in the roles of Mr. Lennier from Babylon 5.
Robert Pratt-
Great selection!
I’m a sucker for 60s SciFi.
And the answer to the question is – The Robot from Lost In Space! I did cheat. ;)
Gary: Nope, the documentary narrator was not the person who did the voice for the robot. Gealon already gave the answer, though the proper spelling is Billy Mumy, who played Will Robinson of Lost in Space.
Oh you poor Timelings.
You will never understand when you are.
So shallow your undertanding of existence.
Wait, here is a friend of mine.
ID.
Do not rely upon ID.
Never a friend of mine.
Sorry, I thought you meant the show narrator. My bad!
One of the best Evening Pauses!
Time Tunnel is on MeTV every Saturday night/Sunday morning. It is part of the Sci-Fi Saturday night line-up. Which includes all of the shows mentioned in this Evening Pause. Star Trek, Voyage, Land of Lost, TT, Invaders…
https://metv.com/
I’m too old to stay up for the overnight viewing, but I’m usually up early enough to catch the last bit of TT and then “The Invaders”… 8^)
Bill Mumy has had quite a career – actor, musician, writer, producer, etc.
http://billmumy.com/
Jeff–
Have the Time Tunnel DVD set, and I actually watch MeTV, cancelled my satellite-tv a few years ago and put an antenna in the attic. (Practically all the episodes are up at youtube but the quality varies.)
Now, if you want to watch Star Trek and “classic Dr. WHO,” check out:
https://pluto.tv/live-tv/what
Upside is it’s all free, and they have on-demand viewing, downside is commercials.
Jeff and Wayne, thanks for the pointers.
Erwin Allen productions were almost always fun even if the plots were a little implausible. But hay, that’s part of the fun. Loved the insults Dr. Smith hurled at Robot. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was my favorite. Lately though I have started to notice how really good the musical themes and scoring are.
The themes from Lost in Space. Exciting and a little spooky.
https://youtu.be/nKckxONAH4M
The theme from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with SONAR pings scored as a musical instrument brings to mind nautical adventure.
https://youtu.be/mzp3jlzdaNc
I would think you would need a machine of equal complexity to be at the other end of the time stream.
Part of me half wonders if this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Polyhymnia
Might be a Tipler cylinder:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipler_cylinder
That’s your real time tunnel.
Time Machines need be spacecraft
https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/time-travel5.htm#:~:text=Using%20the%20gravity%20produced%20by,strings%20are%20highly%20speculative%2C%20however.
Bob – That was great fun, thanks! Personal note: my dad was a storyboard illustrator for Irwin Allen for a number of years, into the “Master of Disaster” movie period. And he did work on those ’60s series including TT. I met Mr. Allen several times, but of course I was just a schoolkid at the time. Thanks again for the look back!