The Time Tunnel (TV Series) Revenge of the Gods (1966) User Reviews

Beware of Greek Gifts

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 4 October 2009]

Doug and Tony are transported to 1200 BC in the middle of the war between Greeks and Trojans. They are captured by Ulysses' men and their knowledge of history makes Ulysses believe that they are gods from the Olympus. When Doug is captured by the traitor Sardis and brought to Troy, he meets Helen of Troy and proves to Paris that he might be a god. Meanwhile Tony witnesses the construction of the Trojan Horse and joins the team that will break in Troy inside the horse to rescue Helen and Doug.

"Revenge of the Gods" is an engaging episode of this series supported by a great work of edition with the use of footages of "The 300 Spartans" and 1956 "Helen of Troy". The greatest flaws are the language, since Tony and Doug speaks English only, and the use of the Roman names of the gods instead of their Greek names. However, despite these inconsistencies, this entertaining episode is still one of the best of The Time Tunnel. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Túnel do Tempo" ("The Time Tunnel")

Gods from the Olympus !!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 6 October 2019]

Now at Troy's war our heroes are landed in this alleged events that took place at 1.200 BC, they meet Ulysses and are mistaken for real Gods from mount Olympus, predicable to say that the duo will be in opposite sides at the end, noteworthy to mention an unusual sequence when Colonel Kirk demands send weapons thru the Tunnel, rarely seen before, the guest star are the true highlights of the show as John Doucette as Ulysses, Joseph Ruskins as Sardis, Dee Hartford as Helen and Paul Carr as Paris, some regular guests from Irwin Allen's series, one best episode really, using many stock footages from several movies as "The 300 Spartans" and "Salomon and Sheba"!!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1971 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5

The Trojan War

[profh-1 · 8/10 · 19 April 2022]

Dropped into the middle of a battle near the end of The Trojan War, Doug & Tony are captured by the Greek army and Ulysses becomes convinced they're gods from Mount Olympus!

This has long been one of my favorite episodes of this show, as it's far more colorful, fantastic and theatrical than most. It's also got a terrific guest-cast, with John Doucette as Ulysses, Dee Hartfort as Helen, Paul Carr as Paris, Joseph Ruskin as the treacherous Sardis, and Abraham Sofaer as Epeios, the inventor of The Trojan Horse.

There've been multiple films detailing this story, and a huge amount of this week's stock footage was pulled from "HELEN OF TROY" (1956), plus "THE 300 SPARTANS" (1962). Only one year before, "DOCTOR WHO" did their own version, played as a comedy. Although that show's early seasons never made it to the US until 1985, sadly, "The Trojans" is among the many episodes missing from the BBC Archives.

Doing a bit of research, I find a bit of casting irony here. In the 1956 film (which I've seen on Youtube), Ulysses was played by Torin Thatcher. I thought John Doucette did a fabulous job in this episode, but considering Thatcher was on the show only the week before in "Crack Of Doom", wouldn't it have been wild if they'd cast him as Ulysses-- AGAIN-- here? (So close, yet so far... heh.)

This episode also features the FIRST time they were able to send someone back in time and successfully retrieve them-- though not without problems. Security Chief Sgt. Jiggs accidentally gets sent back along with a machine-gun to help Tony out. When he's pulled back, he seems to have vanished. Repeating the procedure, he does reappear-- but now as a very old man! Sending him back into The Tunnel, they "reverse the polarity", and miraculously, he steps back out, at his previous age. WHOA! It's fascinating to watch, week by week, as Drs. Swaine & MacGregor slowly struggle to figure out what the HELL they're doing during these "first experiments" (as narrator Dick Tufeld always says at the beginning of each episode).

I wish more of the show had been this imaginative.

Theatre Acting

[StuOz · 16 August 2006]

Tony and Doug appear in the Mediterranean in the age of Troy and the Trojen Horse. The travellers are confused as "Gods".

The guest stars in this hour really shine and create a charged theatrical edge to this hour that leaves the 2004 motion picture - Troy - for dead. Troy (2004) may have created a massive set as the city of Troy, and it gets full marks for that, but give me Revenge Of The Gods any day.

In production order (not screening order), this was the 4th episode of Time Tunnel and there is a high energy feeling in the hour (note the Leith Stevens score and editing) because everything was still so new.

The score should go down well with Lost In Space fans as, at one stage in the Tunnel itself, we hear the exact same music used in LIS's Blast Off Into Space. Also, in the teaser, we see that the time travellers are on the second season LIS alien planet set!

The hour does create a feeling of being in the theatrical-style distant past, that alone makes Revenge Of The Gods highly entertaining.

Time travel trouble in Troy.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 12 July 2022]

At last Doug and Tony visit somewhen other than recent U. S. history, winding up in Troy during the legendary siege by Ulysses (John Doucette), who is about to put his Wooden Horse ploy into play in order to rescue Helen (Dee Hartford) from the clutches of Paris (Paul Carr). Ignore the fact that Greek and Turkish soldiers from 1200 B. C. speak perfect English and enjoy the history lesson a la The Time Tunnel, as Tony and Doug, mistaken for gods from Olympus, join the Greeks in battle against the Trojans.

This episode is a lot of fun, as the time travelers upset Ulysses' treacherous aide Sardis (the delightfully wicked Joseph Ruskin), Doug is taken captive by the Trojans, and Tony becomes one of the men hidden inside the wooden horse as it is wheeled into Troy. Much of the battle/wooden horse footage is borrowed from the The 300 Spartans (1962) and Helen of Troy (1956), but it blends seamlessly with the shot-for-TV content and successfully makes the whole thing feel more epic, as is befitting of the story.

Revenge of the Gods also features some enjoyable time twaddle as the Tic Toc scientists try to send some 20th century weapons to help Doug and Tony, but accidentally project soldier Sgt. Jiggs (Wesley Lau) into the past as well. Jiggs then spends time in limbo as the boffins attempt to retrieve him, eventually winding up back in the lab, but as an old man. Not to worry though... reversing the polarity of the tunnel restores Jiggs to his reasonably youthful self. Thank heavens for scientific mumbo jumbo!