Time Tunnel: Volume One

THE TIME TUNNEL
VOLUME ONE

Released: February 7th, 2005

MSRP Price: $39.98
Amazon Price: $27.99
Costco Price: $26.99

Complete 15 Episodes
Format: Full Screen, 1.33:1
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 405 min
Number of Discs - 4 - double sides

Time Tunnel Volume One Rating: C
Video: C
Audio: C
Content: B
Acting: B
Bonus Features: B
Overall: C

STARS: James Darrin, Robert Colbert, Whit Bissell, John Zaremba, Lee Meriwether, Sam Groom,

Time Travel. Dreamed about, talked about and written about. It's something the government doesn't talk about. And it's even something else the government could actually be working in some hidden secret facility in Montana. You just don't know. Irwin Allen gave us a glimpse of what such a project might be like.

In Allen's version a seven billion dollar time project (titled "Tic Toc") has gone somewhat awry with two scientists lost in somewhen in time. These two scientist continue to tic into the worlds key historical events and toc back out just before they happen. Their colleagues are constantly figure out some way to bring the time travelers home.

The most outrageous part of the series is that these two scientists jump through time unconcerned with what might happen to the world as they attempt to rewrite the most key events in world history.

An interesting fact about this short-lived series is that in 2004 Fox attempted to clean off the old dust and bring the series back online for the 2005 season. Unfortunately the idea and effort fell through and the project ended up in someone's waste basket.

Twentieth Century Fox however didn't waste the effort entirely with the creation of this boxed set. They did once again go for the greed though dumping half the series into a boxed set calling it Volume One. The $40 price tag is what the entire 30 episode run first season should be costing fans.

The best part of this boxed set is the unaired extended version of the pilot episode. The extras however are pretty nice as well for an old television series like Time Tunnel.

Irwin Allen proved what he could do with a thin budget and some decent actors. We tend to call these "B" series - Low Budget Television Shows. Allen was heavily into the genre creating such shows as "Time Tunnel", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and my favorite "Land of the Giants". After forty years these shows still have a large fan following. They are unique and fun series to watch.

PACKAGING:
The outer slip pack is quite colorful and eye catching. I would like to have seen them use series timeclock for the main image but what they came up with rocks. There are two ultra-thin dvd cases housing four double-sided discs which contain the 15 episodes and bonus materials. The insert are for the ultra-thins uses the same image as the slip case. It's a very nice effort.

VIDEO:
The digital transfer looks pretty damn impressive on the analog television. The images are sharp and clean. There's minimal debris and dirt anywhere on the transfers. The colors are look good and there's no bleeding. An excellent job by fox. The quality on the 32" digital looks nasty however. Up close you can see the pixelation problems with the transfer, but from a safer distance the quality is still a bit rough. On close-ups however you can see the quality that a digital transfer can bring out in the characters faces, the blemishes on their skins. It's just the tinge of fuzziness around the entire transfer. The old series masters and transfer efforts just aren't up to bring the quality into the 21st century. .

AUDIO:
It's mono, but it's clear and the soundtrack music sounds decent. You can't expect better from a 40 year old series. It's acceptable.

BONUS FEATURES:
Fox actually packed the box set with some nice extras that were expected. Fans get it all with this DVD boxed set.

Subtitles: English, Spanish
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.1 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.1 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.1 Mono)
Rendezvous with Yesterday (unaired pilot)
Irwin Allen Home Movie
Network Promo Spots: Network Title Sequence, Network Trailer #1, Network Trailer #2, Network Trailer #3, ABC TV Spot, Original Syndicated Radio Spots: Promotional Announcement #1, 2, & 3
FX Camera Test (no audio)
Still Galleries: Concept Art, Production/Behind the Scenes, Merchandise, & Comic Book

SUMMARY:
This is a nice boxed set. The biggest knock as usual is the price tag. Forty bucks for the entire series would have been awesome for $40 for half is another slap in the face.

I like the series and the effort put into this great boxed set, but I won't recommend the set simply because of the price. You decide if the price is worth adding Time Tunnel to your collection.

Time Tunnel Rating: C

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