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"Merlin the Magician"
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TTT episode
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1.27/27th of 30 aired
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First aired
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Written by
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Irwin Allen, William Welch
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Directed by
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Harry Harris
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Summary[]
Merlin uses his magic to summon Doug and Tony back to the Time Tunnel. But there's a catch...
Tony Newman and Doug Phillips tumble head over heels through the time vortex. Suddenly their motion stops and they are literally frozen in time. Back at Project Tic-Toc, their colleagues attempt to unfreeze them, however, they also suddenly become frozen too. A mysterious person in black then appears, floats down from a gantry and walks around the control room casually dismissing the technology around him as "mere toys." Proclaiming himself to be Merlin, mightiest magician of all, he summons Newman and Phillips back to the facility with a few hand motions. Still frozen and unaware, the helpless time travelers are hypnotized by the sorcerer to obey his commands before they are dispatched back into the depths of time.
Merlin then unfreezes Project Tic-Toc personnel, warning them that he is a sorcerer and not to interfere or try to move Newman and Phillips. As proof of his supernatural abilities, Merlin causes Dr. Raymond Swain to disappear and reappear as proof of his powers.
Arriving in tn the past, Newman and Phillips are ambushed by a couple of Vikings. They are able to get away but are then approached by a young man called Arthur, who asks them to join his army to defeat the invading Vikings. They refuse, but then Merlin appears and commands them to join, which they do - pledging their loyalty to Arthur. As they are then lead away by Arthur, they are found by a bigger party of Vikings, who run Phillips through with a sword and take Newman and Arthur captive.
Project Tic-Toc personnel are stunned to see what they assume was the death of Phillips. Newman, meanwhile, is still alive but chained up in a dungeon. He is able to free himself and then Arthur. Phillips is also shown, very badly wounded, but being tended to by a girl called Guinevere. Merlin appears and commands Phillips to get up, having miraculously healed the time traveler's wounds.
Project Tic-Toc also try to switch Newman and Phillips, but when the scientists try, an explosion from a control panel prevents them from doing so, injuring Swain.
Unfortunately Newman and Arthur are recaptured. Phillips is followed by Guinevere, who is then herself captured by the Vikings. Phillips gathers a small band of warriors to help free them but Merlin tells him that the only thing that scares Vikings are other Vikings. So saying, the magician transforms the soldiers' apparel to make them look like Vikings (presumably to better fit in with the stock footage used for the final battle).
Background information/trivia[]
- This is the second time the supernatural was touched on during the series (the other time being in “The Ghost of Nero” episode).
- It is also the second time the time travelers arrived in England, the first being "The Revenge of Robin Hood."
- This was the only time during the series where Newman and Phillips were both brought back to Project Tic-Toc together (although only very briefly).
- It is revealed that The Time Tunnel has “channels”, as Swain gave a call to maintenance at one point to run a check on channels “one hundred” through “infinity." Presumably some poor technician is still checking them.
Cast[]
- James Darren as Dr. Tony Newman
- Robert Colbert as Dr. Doug Phillips
- Lee Meriwether as Dr. Ann MacGregor
- John Zaremba as Dr. Raymond Swain
- Whit Bissell as Lt. General Heywood Kirk
- Vincent Beck as Wogan
- Christopher Cary as Merlin
- Lisa Jak as Guinevere
- Jim McMullan as King Arthur
Links[]
The episode can be viewed at Hulu.com at The Time Tunnel channel