Title: The Time Tunnel
Author: Murray Leinster
Cover artist: Jack Gaughan
Yours for: $9
Best things about this cover:
- Y'know ... it's pretty standard TV tie-in fair. Network logo. TV title font. A tunnel (presumably of the "time" variety).
- I actually love the tunnel. Diminishing people descending into diminishing non-concentric circles. Simple and cool.
- Wikipedia tells me that Murray Leinster wrote a novel with this title in 1964, the plot of which was quite different. He then wrote this novelization of the TV series three years later, and then a later, final "Time Tunnel" novel called Timeslip: Time Tunnel Adventure #2. There were also two "Time Tunnel" Gold Key comics put out in '66-'67.
- Complete TV series is on Hulu Plus. I'm gonna check it out.
Best things about this back cover:
- Whoa, the "real" tunnel is an op-art nightmare.
- The Scientist Wore Shapeless Chinos (That Made His Ass Look Fat and Flat).
- Who could forget James Darren and Robert Colbert!? (A: everyone)
- "And it's produced by Irwin Allen, so you know it's top-of-the-line TV fare."—something someone somewhere must've thought at some time.
Page 123~
"I'm talking about the time traveller Kirk's assembled," said Doug urgently. "In the Tunnel chamber!" He said apprehensively: "We may be stuck here for always! Tony! The whole Project may turn out a failure!"
Tony roused.
As terse, momentous sentences go, "Tony roused" is up there with "Jesus wept."
~RP
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]
8 comments:
Kirk assembled a time traveler? Wow! That's even more impressive than assembling the time tunnel itself!
I watched this show when I was a little guy, and yes, the tunnel was an op-art nightmare. James Darren had a bit of a pop singing career, but always traveled in time wearing a turtleneck. Robert Colbert .... uh, I got nothin'. But the staff in the control booth included Whit Bissell and Lee Meriwether, so that should count for something.
I never knew Leinster did any media tie-ins. He was a terrific SF writer, though sadly largely forgotten today. The excerpt here is a far cry from his usual work. Makes me think he knocked this out on a Sunday afternoon for a quick paycheck, so he could go back to writing the real stuff.
And, yeah, "An Irwin Allen Production" actually was something of a draw in the mid-60s. It wasn't like the Quinn-Martin detective shows of the 70s, but you knew what you were getting: exploding panels and cheesy monsters.
IIRC, Leinster also did three paperback novels based on Irwin Allen's "Land of the Giants."
From what I understand, Leinster was one of the first SF writers to come up with the alternate time-track idea, or the first to do something major with it. There had been forward in time stories, and back in time stories; so he wrote one called "Sidewise in Time" (I think that was the title), featuring travel to alternate time tracks.
Classic action adventure fantasy science fiction time travel espionage melodrama TV series aired on ABC Network from 1966-68 for two seasons starring James Darren & Robert Colbert based from the novel by Murray Leinster & live action television show became a compilation TV series and cult favorite by public domain in the United States and the world.
Long before Stargate Demolition Man Aliens Predator Terminator Robocop & other science fiction fantasy melodrama favorites in TV films comics animation & media throughout the world.
Time Tunnel 1960's action adventure fantasy science fiction espionage time travel melodrama TV series.
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