The pilot episode of this TV series is a solid beginning to what looks set to be a very good show. The sets are very good and the acting is above par. Set in the Arizona desert at a secret, underground government research facility where scientists have been working on a time portal. When the senator who has been allocating billions into the budget for this facility takes a visit, demanding to see results, Dr. Tony Newman has no choice but to volunteer to enter the portal, at this stage not quite near completion, and see what happens. He ends up going back in time about fifty years and finds himself on board the ill-fated Titanic, a few days before it is set to hit the iceberg. While he tries to convince the captain that he is a time traveller and to change his course (probably a bad move), his colleagues work hard to try and save him before he becomes one of those who perish in the freezing waters. Dr. Phillips ends up jumping into the portal and going back to help him. But soon it becomes apparent that it will not be possible to take the scientists back in to their own time and place. The best that can be done by the team is to freeze time and quickly transport them to another random time and place. And so the series begins...
A very interesting concept that I'm sure galvanised and had people glued to their TVs every week back in the 60s. "The Time Tunnel" still holds its own today, and I found this first episode very enjoyable and leaving me wanting to see more. The lead performances from James Darren and Robert Colbert are one high-point, as well as the sets and special effects, all of which have a charm about them. The Titanic scenes are done well and are very reminiscent of James Cameron's 1997 film. Was this episode an inspiration for the sets and design in that film decades later? Possibly. Here is something fun that I picked out; the yellow mugs that the scientists and government agents are drinking from in Arizona seem to appear again in the background, on a table in one of the rooms on board the Titanic.