User Reviews

Doug and Tony are transported to New Orleans and Tony steals two buckskins for them to dress. They are captured by the British Seventh Royal Regiment commanded by Colonel 'The Butcher' Southall; they find that they are behind the British lines in the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom and they are mistakenly taken as being spies due to military passes found in the pockets of their clothing. They go to a partial court martial and sentenced to be executed by firing squad by The Butcher. Further they realize that the day is 07 January 1815, the eve of ultimate attack of Colonel Southall to the strongest side of Commander Andrew Jackson's defenses, when the British officer led his men to a slaughter. Meanwhile General Kirk invites the British General Phillip Southall, who is a descendant of The Butcher, to visit The Time Tunnel facility to feed the personnel with information about his ancestor.

"The Day the Sky Fell In" is an episode too related to the North American history relative to a battle in New Orleans in the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom. The plot is a kind of mouse-and-cat game of the scientists and the British soldiers and is one of the less attractive shows of this series. My vote is six.

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

One of the great allure of this series, certainly is about that ours friends are transported through the time only at the top of some famous historic facts, Irwin Allen picked just those enigmatic happenings that haunted the world, under this premise he developed the concept, this turn they landed at last battle against American and British in 1815 at New Orleans, they are catch by British Army as spies, the Colonel Southall demand they should be executed at once if they don't agree to show and how reach at weak point of the American Army nearby, but in Tunnel Complex, Kirk already bring the Gen. Shouthall who is a relative of the Col. Southall and offer himself to saves Doug and Tony, due he already study his ancestral's mind well-known as "The Butcher", interesting episode due the Both Southall are played by Carroll O'Connor on double role, valuable piece that was a turning point of the American's history!!

Resume:

First watch: 1971 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.25

I think that in this episode, Doug and Tony more or less admit to themselves that they cannot alter the course of history; what they need to do is try and survive it. In The Last Patrol, they must avoid being shot as spies by the British army, having landed in 1815, shortly before the Battle of New Orleans.

For me, the fact that the scientists aren't deliberately trying to intervene in events this time makes for a more enjoyable episode: their interactions with the past have an accidental knock-on effect that ensures that matters play out as expected, which makes a lot more sense than two supposedly intelligent men deliberately trying to change history.

This one has the added bonus of Carroll O'Connor in a dual role: as Colonel Southall, and his 20th century descendant, terminally ill General Phil Southall, who convinces the boffins at Tic Toc to send him back in time so that he can spend his dying days learning more about his ancestor. In a touching moment, Phil, mortally wounded in battle, discovers that his ancestor didn't deliberately order his men into a massacre, but made an honest mistake.

With an intriguing plot, strong supporting performances, plenty of excitement and some surprisingly effective battle scenes, I enjoyed The Last Patrol more than earlier episodes (although its current IMDb rating suggests that I am in the minority).

Carrol O'Connor plays a bloodthirsty man who leads his British regiment in the latter days of the War of 1812. Doug and Tony are dropped in the middle, dressed "oddly," and arrested as spied. Meanwhile, O'Connor also plays a descendant of this guy. He is dying and manages to get permission to watch his ancestor. The show is rather dull but reveals some history that many of us don't know.

This was the very first ep of "The Time Tunnel" that I taped and watched from MeTV. So Doug and Tony end up in The Battle of New Orleans with Carroll O'Connor-years before becoming famous as Archie Bunker on "All in the Family"-as a British colonel about to try to get info from them. In present time, O'Connor also plays a British general who's descended from that colonel and who then goes back in time to meet him so we then get the pleasure of seeing them together via split-screen. I very much enjoyed this, my very first viewing of this Irwin Allen show. Looking forward to many more of these eps.

It is the war of 1812 and Doug and Tony find themselves captured as spies by the bloodthirsty Colonel 'The Butcher' Southall (Carroll O'Connor) of the British Seventh Royal Regiment.

The Colonel wants to know of Commander Andrew Jackson's plans for the Battle of New Orleans.

Of course Doug and Tony have no idea and ar sentenced to be executed. They just need to survive this experience.

Meanwhile back at the base. Lt General Heywood Kirk calls for British General Phil Southall, A descendant of the Colonel.

He knows the history of his ancestor but then plans to go into the time tunnel to save the two men.

It seemed to preposterous that a third man could be sent through the time tunnel when they had problems retrieving the other two.

Once Southall enters, he is so stiff and awkward. I wondered why the writers could not do better. In fact General Southall had no plan to get through the Colonel apart from say that he had travelled in time.

In 1814 Doug and Tony took a little trip.

Carroll O'Connor makes a fool of himself with an English accent in this episode where our time travelling heroes are transported to the Battle of New Orleans.

Not only does his accent stink, when he goes through the tunnel he looks really stiff and dumb.

Some of the more interesting points of the battle are ignored for a fictitious story where our heroes are dressed in buckskin. And, as usual, no one is glad to see them. So far, they've been prisoners at some point wherever they go.

The weakest episode of the series to this point, though worse was to come.