From my favorite movies..

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I find it ironic in the extreme that the reason most often given for this pilot not being picked up by the networks is that "it's too similar to Stargate".Have these people forgotten that the original "Time Tunnel" series preceded "Stargate" by some 30 years - so if anything, it should be "Stargate is similar to Time Tunnel".So let's not forget that without Irwin Allen's "Time Tunnel" to provide the inspiration and the basic concept behind it, there would probably never even have been any "Stargate".And speaking personally, I'd take a new series of "Time Tunnel" over the entire "Stargate" franchise any time.There had been rumours of another attempt to relaunch "Time Tunnel" in 2007, but sadly this seems to have come to nothing. A real pity.

This 2002 abortive attempt to revive "The Time Tunnel" plays much like a Sci-Fi Channel movie-of-the-week. It has nothing to do with the classic TV series, other than lifting a few character names and a brief "sampling" of the original theme. Rather, it comes out like a bad copy of "Stargate". For the most part poorly and cheaply made, it is just as well the pilot was unsuccessful. However, there are some very interesting ideas going on. In this one, scientists accidentally create a "time tunnel" when trying to make "hot fusion". Instead, they cause a storm in the time stream, and it takes them four hours (240 minutes) to lock down one end of it. The other end sweeps through time. After the "two-forty", random changes have been made to history, and the scientists in the fusion complex are the only ones left who know what the correct history of the world is supposed to be. Now they must send teams back in time via the "time tunnel" and try to correct the errors. Teams (a la "Stargate"), can go back in time, but are limited to random time limits in which they can stay there (a la "Sliders"). Unlike the classic series, the teams can return to the present whenever they wish by activating a small laptop-type device.The World War 2 battle stuff is really pretty good. It plays well for the most part. Things get stupid when newly-recruited team member Doug Phillips meets his grandfather in the trenches and they have a heart-to heart talk. Further lapses in logic occur when the team consists of two women dressed as GIs, one of whom is black (units were not integrated at this point in WW2, let alone allow for women in combat). And then there's the whole element of mission control being able to see, hear, talk with, and translate languages for the travelers via a magic computer chip injected into them.Interesting to see once, but not if you're expecting a classic "Time Tunnel" update. The music is incredibly annoying, and the CGI very weak (it looks more "early '90s" quality than 2002). Available as an extra on "The Time Tunnel, Vol. 2" US DVD set.

Despite the negative review listed on this site, I found this pilot (only 60 minutes, not 120) to be interesting and worthy of more exploration. Despite its similarity to STARGATE, the premise is workable and deserves another shot. Perhaps Sci-Fi can take this pilot and build on it. I suggest a miniseries that would delve more into the creation of the Tunnel, the Belsky character, and the team. Making Newman a woman was a nice touch. Ending was a bit confusing, but could be expanded and explained if the concept were given more than an hour to play out. If a series were to result, it might be interesting to bring in a weekly 'guest specialist' who travels through time with the team to correct errors in the timeline. Fox's loss could be Sci-Fi's gain.

After reading the comments here on IMDb, I decided to track this pilot down. Hurray for file sharing!. The editing, direction and pacing of the pilot make SG1 look rather lethargic. The characterizations are really quite well developed for a pilot show. This really hits the ground running and doesn't let up until the end. The battle scene is really impressive for a TV show, the burning plane is a nice touch. There are a couple of minor things that could have been handled better, but it all flies by at such a pace that you really don't have time(excuse the pun) to dwell on it. Overall, this is one hell of a ride and a superior update to the 60's original. Kudos to the production company. I'm baffled as to why this wasn't picked up.