“Town of Terror” is episode thirty of season one of The Time Tunnel and the season and series finale.
At the end of the previous episode, “Raiders from Outer Space”, Doug and Tony had materialised somewhere with equipment that seemed more advanced than their own. They were attacked by a man who died very easily. Then got up and moved around, activating a console and disappearing in an explosion.
Doug and Tony head upstairs and arrive in a lab. The cellar door locks firmly behind them. They go through another door into a normal-looking hotel. The second door also locks firmly behind them. A woman appears; she doesn’t know of any cellar. And the second door doesn’t have a lock. She demonstrates. Beyond isn’t a lab. The woman asks if they are satisfied. Then taps them both on the head, freezing them, and turns into something definitely not human, before heading through the cellar door.
Tik-Toc is getting interference and can’t get the time period. The location is somewhere on the north Atlantic coast. Ann suggests a lateral space transfer. The creature that disabled Doug and Tony contacts someone on a space ship. It says security has been penetrated; two Earth people were found in the oxygen transfer control area. The other is already aware. The first, Andro One, tells the Second, Andro Leader, it doesn’t know who Doug and Tony are, but is holding them. Andro Leader says that, in one hour, they will remove all the oxygen from the planet (less daft than protein, but still daft). This will start in 8 hours. Make sure there is no interference.
Tik-Toc manages to transfer Doug and Tony a few feet, breaking the hold. They appear back in the lab, mid conversation. On trying the cellar door, Tony says Andro One is an android. The other door is still locked. Andro Leader tells Andro One the humans have escaped. Andro One asks for permission to kill them. Yes; using the oxygen removal test device. Doug and Tony hear hissing and find the cellar door sealed again. The barometer is dropping and they realise the oxygen is being removed. Finally, they manage to break a window and flee.
Andro One tells all personnel to find and kill Doug and Tony. The village seems deserted, and a siren sounds, but a couple watch Doug and Tony. The young man says to hide, because they may be one of them. However, when two others chase Doug and Tony, they decide to follow, in case Doug and Tony are not one of the androids.
Doug and Tony find an energy barrier blocking the town’s perimeter. They fight with their two pursuers. One gun is knocked onto the ground. It vanishes. The two pursuers are knocked down too. They change from humans to androids, then vanish also. Tony asks how they can tell the townspeople apart. They can’t. The siren briefly stops, then restarts as they head back into town, watched by the couple.
Andro Leader wants Doug and Tony dead. In 20 minutes, they will start teleporting Earth’s oxygen to their own planet. Any later will be too late. Doug and Tony enter the town hall and find it full of frozen people, including the woman from the hotel. Then the two kids enter.
Tik-Toc is having problems with interference from the forcefield. Trying more power leads to a feedback. The two kids fill Doug and Tony in on what the aliens’ plan is, having overheard it. The year is 1978. Tik-Toc is having more problems; the aliens have discovered them and launch a subtle attack.
The series was cancelled before the second season. At the end of each episode, there was a teaser clip from another episode. In this case, there isn’t such a clip, as no more episodes were filmed. Instead, there are clips from the very first.