Time Travelers (1976 film)
| Time Travelers | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Written by | Rod Serling |
| Screenplay by | Jackson Gillis |
| Story by | Charles Willard Byrd |
| Directed by | Alexander Singer |
| Starring | Tom Hallick Sam Groom |
| Theme music composer | Morton Stevens |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Irwin Allen |
| Production location | Los Angeles |
| Cinematography | Fred Jackman, Jr. |
| Editor | Bill Brame |
| Running time | 78 minutes (TV broadcast) |
| Production companies | Irwin Allen Productions 20th Century Fox Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | March 19, 1976 |
Time Travelers is a 1976 science fiction film directed by Alexander Singer and starring Sam Groom, Tom Hallick, and Richard Basehart. The teleplay was credited to Jackson Gillis from a story by Rod Serling. The film was originally developed by Irwin Allen as the pilot for a prospective remake of the 1960s series The Time Tunnel, which ran only one season.
Due to litigation the pilot did not sell and was repackaged as a standalone television film. Charles Willard Byrd claimed that the story was based heavily on his unpublished 1959 book A Time To Live. Byrd and the producers reached a settlement that included modest monetary compensation and allowed Byrd to claim the original story as his work, although the title sequence was not reshot to reflect this.
The film depicts a viral outbreak in 1976 New Orleans. The symptoms match a viral outbreak in 1871 Chicago. The modern researchers need to consult the medical notes of the original outbreak, but those notes were destroyed in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. Two researchers time travel to 1871 Chicago, and discover what treatment was used to stop the original outbreak.