User Reviews

Doug and Tony are transported to Paris, in the period of the French Revolution. When one local is sent to prison and sentenced to the guillotine for helping Doug and Tony, the scientists decide to rescue him to escape. The man asks them to help the French Queen Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin and in return, he would provide the necessary documentation to leave Paris.

"Reign of Terror" is one of the silliest episodes of this cult-series. It seems that Doug and Tony speak French with accent based on the dialog with Napoleon Bonaparte. My vote is six.

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

After leave the Devil's Island under French control they landed on a bloody era of terror when French revolution was ongoing, when the evil Maximilien de Robespierre was in charge, Marie Antoinette was in jail waiting for the alleged proves to be beheaded, Tony and Doug got a friend there a shopkeeper (David Opatoshu) who swear help Marie in return of a old favor, Kirk due the lack of power send his own ring to Paris straight to ours friends, they received the connection ring, then suddenly appears the General Querque (what ingenuity) a facsimile of the General Kirk who plead unawareness, due his ancestry came from Scotland, Tony and Doug recognized as the real General Kirk, inquired by Querque for so absurd statements as often they are sent to the jail, then Kirk demands bring over his cover to time tunnel's complex, what a sequence, there Querque will see in near future Marie Antoinette be beheaded, it seems be a weak episode, but isn't by the simple fact to introduces the still modest soldier Lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte, further Kirk explains that had a family's root on France after a carefully research, not too bad at all!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1971 / How many: 5 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7.25

One of the outstanding episodes of this cult series as co-star Whit Bissell (General Kirk) turns STAR, getting to shine more than he does in any other episode of the show: he plays two roles in one episode!

There is a Whit Bissell in France and a Whit Bissell in the Tunnel command centre! The totally under-rated Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea writer - William Welch - is doing Bissell's lines and the even more under-rated composer - Leith Stevens - is doing the music score.

When you put this all together, and add a very touching scene with James Darren at the end, you get something that can only be called: OUTSTANDING.

Yes, television does not get much better than Reign Of Terror.

Poor Doug and Tony always appear at history's worst moments. This time it's France during the reign of terror, after the world's first, but hardly last, atheist revolution with bloody reprisals.

"The Time Tunnel" was not necessarily "Hogan's Heroes," where Germans appear to talk even to each other in heavily-accented English. After all, in one episode Tony knew a Polynesian language. For this episode, it's not a stretch to believe folks with doctorates like Doug and Tony and even the general and the others, know French.

But then there's the episode in ancient Troy. . .

Other things are not so easily explained. Like the man who said he knew Doug and Tony were foreigners by their clothes, not by their speaking English.

Other little things don't make sense. Marie Antoinette sends away a priest when, in real life, waiting for the guillotine, she became very religious.

But can Doug and Tony buck history and save Marie Antoinette and her boy?

The one great thing about "The Time Tunnel" is that it shows the universal brotherhood of humankind. Individually, in all parts of the world on all times, all people, no matter their race, gender or creed, are suspicious, mean and eager to protect their own interests.

This episode also depicts an actual bit of history, the ramifications of the old alliance between France and Scotland.