Updated Time Tunnel Worked ... And Then It Didn't Work

A_Different_Drummer

In 1966 a fairly original series popped out of nowhere about two guys who accidentally got caught in a government experiment that was inventing a portal (or bridge, or Stargate) that could transverse time - THE TIME TUNNEL. (A half-century later, shows featuring "ancient astronaut theorists" would opine that the show was based on an actual government project -- but forgive me, I digress). Time Tunnel was, to be fair, not too shabby. About a quarter century later along comes Quantum Leap, which is remarkably similar in concept, save and except for the fact that the traveller literally becomes a person of that period, as opposed to being himself. A lot of fuss has been made about the superb casting, but in the opinion of this viewer, Bacula nailed the part (and was duly awarded by his peers therefor) while Dean Stockwell was just plain flat-out annoying. The quality of the episodes was uneven, but the concept was very strong, and Bacula was always solid, so even the bad ones were good, and the good ones were great. What happened next is unclear. Either the ratings tanked or the network suits did a job rotation. One day the show was on the air, and one day it was not. There were lots of high hopes for Bacula to return to something big, but that never really happened, which is a shame. (Bacula did lead the prehistoric STAR SHIP ENTERPRISE in the last -- and astonishingly awful -- attempt to re-imagine the TV franchise, but was sandbagged by some of the worst writing in the history of TV, yet alone the space saga. If memory serves, there was actually an episode in that short-run series about how a male member of the crew became pregnant from contact with another species?? Lesson to be learnt: network TV did not die, it imploded from an imbalanced sense of self-worth.)

score 7/10

A_Different_Drummer 14 November 2013

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2905536/