 |
| | |
| A Matter of Time : 2
The clothes worn by the eon-spanning scientists were, to me, curiously reminiscent of the distinctive attire identified with another pair of TeleVision icons of the 1960’s: the special law enforcement agents of NBC-TV’s, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”
The turtle-necked sweater chosen by Tony Newman for his stroll along “the infinite corridors of time” had, twelve months earlier, become the trademark of the U.N.C.L.E.’s Soviet representative, Illya Kuryakin. Once I’d made this association, it was difficult not to regard the elegance of Doug’s Edwardian Oxford suit as an echo of the impeccable attire favoured by U.N.C.L.E.’s top agent, the Canadian-born Napoleon Solo.
Also close to my heart were Tony and Doug’s “folks back home”: Woody (known as Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk to his less intimate associates), Ray (Dr. Raymond Swain), and Ann (Dr. Ann MacGregor)—the triumvirate who, with the occasional help of Jerry, controlled (or at least attempted to control) the Time Tunnel complex. In their invariably sweaty hands rested the ultimate fate of their time-lost colleagues, and more often than not they found their rescue efforts complicated not only by malfunctioning equipment, but by corrupt officials, belligerent extra-terrestrials, and the occasional time bomb.
Fortunately for Tony and Doug, the “Tic Toc” team were cast from the same mold as themselves, and even when the complex was threatened with destruction, the staff remained at their posts, preferring to face death rather than abandon their temporally-displaced comrades. The concern the project personnel felt for Newman and Phillips was constantly in evidence, and it was not unusual for Woody to challenge the orders of his superiors in Washington, rather than place the safety of the time-travellers in even greater jeopardy than it was already.
I also found myself somewhat smitten by Ann; she was attractive, intelligent, highly skilled and loyal to her man (it was often suggested—sometimes subtly, and sometimes not so subtly—that Ann shared a strong emotional attachment with Doug). Of course, she was also embarassingy squeamish, and prone to fits of hysteria in moments of stress, but let’s face it: are there many of us who would not feel a little perturbed if a ruthless, nineteenth-century pirate was threatening to hurl us over a balcony some eight hundred stories above ground? I know I would.
Watching the series again some twenty-odd years later, however, it soon becames apparent that very little attempt was made to provide the regular characters in “The Time Tunnel” with distinct and credible personalities. Tony is (usually) depicted as being volatile and impetuous, while Doug is (usually) more knowledgeable and less inclined to take risks, but that’s as far as it goes. Curiously, though, it appears that the lack of characterisation in the series may not be attributable to neglect.
According to scriptwriter Bob Duncan—one of the most frequent contributors to “The Time Tunnel”— Producer Irwin Allen actively disliked scenes which focussed on emotional, as opposed to physical, drama. Some of Duncan’s fellow scribes have suggested that Allen disliked such elements because he believed they impeded the pace and progress of a story. In support of the former suggestion, it’s interesting to note that the scenes excised from the original pilot for “The Time Tunnel” during its metamorphosis into the series’ premiere episode, “Rendezvous with Yesterday”, were moments between Tony and Althea Hall (Susan Hampshire) which added substance to their relationship. Similarly, to add weight to the latter argument, in a feature in “Starlog” magazine, “Time Tunnel” author Leonard Stadd reported that Irwin Allen once described the series as, “a running-and-jumping-show.”
Fortunately, however, the series was well cast, and the performances of the regular actors are charismatic and convincing enough to hold an audience’s attention. Particular praise in this regard must go to Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, and Lee Meriwether who, despite being provided with static and repetitive situations, succeeded in suggesting a depth of personality on screen that was generally absent from the pages of their scripts.
Another revelation of Bob Duncan’s that did not come as a surprise to me was Irwin Allen’s apparent lack of concern for the historical accuracy of the scripts for “The Time Tunnel”. Allen seems to have shared the attitude of almost every other film and TeleVision producer, in believeing that when it comes to dramatic and unpredictable situations and events, the imagination of a scriptwriter is superior to reality. As anyone who has ever studied history will know, it is the reverse that is true. | |
| | |
|
|
|
|
