Lasting only one season, this was the shortest-lived of all of Irwin Allen's science-fiction series.
After a single season of good reviews but mediocre ratings, ABC offered to renew the series if producer Irwin Allen would cut his budget by one-third. He refused and the series was canceled, to be replaced in the fall of 1967 by The Legend of Custer.
The project name for the Time Tunnel was "Tic-Toc".
The series aired in 1966-67 but used 1968 as the "present" year that Project Tic Toc took place. The year 1978 was twice the setting of the "futuristic" shows "The Time Tunnel" (1966) {One Way to the Moon (#1.2)} and "The Time Tunnel" (1966) {Town of Terror (#1.30)} while 1883 was twice used for "The Time Tunnel" (1966) {Crack of Doom (#1.6)} and "The Time Tunnel" (1966) {Raiders from Outer Space (#1.29)}.
Whit Bissell, who played General Kirk, was also in two adaptations of the H.G. Wells novel which popularised time machines: The Time Machine and The Time Machine (1978) (TV).
Because eligibility requirements for the 1967 and 1968 Emmy Awards overlapped, the program received Emmy nominations in two separate ceremonies.
SPOILER: Due to the cancellation of the series after one season, Doug and Tony never returned home. In the DVD interview, Robert Colbert said that had the show been renewed for another season, Producer Irwin Allen was planning to have the time tunnel finally bring them home, and the new scripts would have them going into the time tunnel each week to "fix" wrongs that happened in history, much like the show Quantum Leap.
The sound effect heard when the Time Tunnel is powering up was used in many Twentieth Century-Fox productions. Among others, the effect was used for both the Jupiter II from the Lost in Space series and Charlton Heston's spaceship in Planet of the Apes.
When Gen. Southall is transferred back to 1815, he is shown moving through the time vortex. Throughout the run of the series, more than a dozen characters are transferred by the Tunnel, but this is the only time that anyone other than Tony and Doug is shown in the vortex. The others just disappear from one time and appear in another.
The title refers to the biblical day of judgment in Revelations Chapter 8 when one hears the blast of trumpets signaling the end of the world.
The title references the English name for the notorious French prison located about 6 nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana. Opersating from 1852 to 1946, the small island (35 acres) of Île du Diable was the home for 80,000 political and criminal prisoner's whom mostly were never heard of again.
The title refers to a campaign during the French Revolution that was known historically as the Reign of Terror.
The title described the Mission San Antonio de Valero in San Antonio, Texas that was built in the 17th century to convert the native Americans to Christianity. By 1800 the mission had been abandoned and was used as a garrison before the Texas soldiers occupied the building prior to the historic battle in 1836 which resulted in the cry of "Remember the Alamo!"
The title Night of the Long Knives was actually the name for a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political executions, most of those killed being members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary organization.
Per the title, Robin Hood is a mythical figure in English folklore who was famous for robbing from the rich and giving to the poor and fighting the corruption of King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The language of the aliens is actually English played back in reverse. The original (normal) sentences can be heard throughout the episode. The aliens first line is composed out of: "from this moment on, you exist only" and "vulnerable points". The last aliens dialogue is composed out of: "that there are three alternatives", "primary test objective", "we have studies Earth from a", "has been located", "know its vulnerable points" and "you exist only as a convenience".
Per the title, the Walls of Jericho fell down upon the command of God according to the biblical book of Joshua (in its 6th chapter) after the Israelites walked around the city and the trumpets sounded. In 2010, the original city of Jericho is a earthen mound in which archaeological excavations have been performed for over a hundred years.
The title refers to the American western outlaw Billy the Kid also known as William H. Bonney (birth name Henry McCarty). After his participation in the Lincoln Couty, New Mexico range wars in 1877, he traveled through Texas gaining a reputation as a gambler, outlaw and gun slinger. He was eventually caught by Pat Garrett who later killed him after an escape from jail. Billy the Kid did not gain notoriety until after his death when his story was told in a sensationalist biography.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian philosopher, journalist, playwright and "Renaissance Man", based in the city-state of Firenze/Florence. Though he wrote many plays, biographies, and encyclopedic histories, he is best known for his short 1513 pamphlet "Il Principe" ("The Prince"), a psychological study of Italian heads of state from the time. The pamphlet observes that cruelty was necessary to maintain political power, and its two most famous theses are often paraphrased as "it is better to be feared than loved" and "the ends justify the means".
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in Pennsylvania during the first three days of July 1863. It was the Confederate Army's final attempt to invade the United States and force an armistice. After failing to secure the region, the army withdrew to Virginia, where its tactics changed from attack to defense. This battle is often considered the most important turning point of the American Civil War.
The title refers to the court magician and advisor to the legendary King Arthur who founded the Knights of the Round Table. Merlin was first mentioned in 1136 and was a compilation of several historical and legendary figures under the name "Merlin Ambrosius" or in Welsh "Myrddin Emrys".
Due to The Time Tunnel being abruptly canceled, the series seems to end with a cliffhanger. There was no "series finale" which would have shown the end of Doug & Tony's adventures and their return home. Since the episode ends with footage from reruns of past episodes (a common practice for Irwin Allen productions such as Lost in Space during summer break), many viewers and critics have interpreted the conclusion to be that Doug & Tony were stuck in an eternal loop of repeating their 30 filmed experiences for all time, a convenient metaphor for syndication. Viewers with upbeat preferences have pointed out that Doug and Tony's signals are reported to be very strong in this episode, and prefer to assume that after their adventure in the Town of Terror, the two men were retrieved safely to Project Tic Toc headquarters.
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