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.