The Twilight Zone-Update? (1 Viewer)

[AndrewR]

"The Time Element" lost? I have a copy of it on VHS. I bought it during the early 90s from a mail order company that specialized in rarely seen television shows (S.M. Russo or something like that. I know the company or guy's last name was Russo).

The ad ran in almost every issue of FilmFax magazine back then. Haven't picked one up in ages so I don't know if the guy still sells copies. I also saw a copy of "The Time Element" for rent about 6 years ago in Studio City at Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee Video.

I was hoping Image would put The Time Element as a bonus on one of the new Definitive Editions. I would love to finally have this on DVD.

I got my copy of the Definitive Edition today from Coconuts.com ($68.89!). They shipped it out to me yesterday via Media Mail and I still got it the next day.

Bouncing around the discs, the image quality looks GREAT! And I was impressed with the quality of Image's first version of the series a few years back. As far as I can tell, this set looks even better. I watched some of the extras but I really want to spend the weekend going through the set before I really "review" it.

Andrew

 

[Dane Marvin]

Since I sold my old collections, I can't do a direct comparison, but I will let you know when I catch some of the episodes on the Sci-Fi marathon on New Year's Day. I am very pleased with what I've seen of the picture quality so far. Fantastic for 1959.

 

[Alan_H]

"On Thursday We Leave For Home" is one of the best episodes in the entire series, IMHO. I'm sure Image knows Season 4 will be a more difficult sell, but I'm guessing to combat this they'll include more "must-have" extras on that set than any of the others.

 

[Dave Jessup]

If you go far enough up the corporate ladder, it's possible "The Time Element" might show up on a future set.

An episode of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, owned eventually by Paramount, now Viacom, owner of the TZ series.

In reality, many copies now floating around seem to be derived from the edited showing on Nick At Night's TV Land preview week. That's missing (if nothing else) Desi's closing remarks about the story. Memory blurs; I saw the complete film once over 25 years ago, so I can't say what other bits might have been cut for time on that cablecast.

(Russo might have had access to a full print, though. Never acquired his offering.)

 

[Carlos Garcia]

That's probably why this is one of the greatest series of all time. Even the episodes some people hate, others may love. I love this episode. While not as impressive as "A Stop at Willoughby", the similar message does get through.

 

[Nelson Au]

Paul-

Thanks for confirming the Best Buy price. I went to one last night and they didn't have any TZ sets!

I asked one of the blue shirted kids, he looked it up and said they don't have any in stock. But then I don't trust his findings as on the computer screen, there were quite a few TZ sets and the one he said wasn't in stock as $50. He looked again and I could see one called Season One, and he said that was not in stock either. I'll try again today or tomorrow.

 

[Dane Marvin]

^ Ah, the blue shirts. How is it that you can be paid for a job that you know nothing about? Something to ponder... in the Twilight Zone.

 

[Rick P]

No sign of either at BB here either

 

[AndrewR]

I'll dig out my copy and check it out.

Andrew

 

[Anthony_H]

I love the set although disc 3 wont play in my Pioneer...all other discs will... I wonder why? Loved the commercials, bumpers, etc. The college lecture stuff is informative but its curious to note how much info Zicree used from those lectures for his book...

 

[RISUG]

I had two pleasant Twilight Zone related surprises today.

First, I went to Best Buy prepared to shell out $69.99 *as per their website* for season one of the 80's Twilight Zone, I was ecstatic that they had it in stock (there were two left) and even more so that it was $50.99.

Second, after I get home from Best Buy I see a package sitting on the front porch, I assume it's for my neighbors on the first floor (two flat) and not my Twilight Zone season one Definitive Edition; afterall, I'd received a shipment confirmation e-mail from Amazon two days ago indicating an estimated delivery between Jan 7th and Jan 10th. Well, I guess it was just one of those days because the package had my name on it.

Talk about ending the year on a good note.

 

[Anthony Clifton]

What are the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of the book? (Hopefully I didn't miss it in this thread if someone posted it. :b )

I didn't realize An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was from the 5th season until I went back and checked my TZC book. I wonder if the full version has ever been issued on DVD; the book said they trimmed it a bit for airing on the TZ. I can't wait for that one as well as ...

... The Howling Man from season 2 ... of the scariest bits of TV I've ever watched!!!

 

[TravisR]

The only difference between the second edition and the edition in the DVD set is the size of the book. It's shrunken to the size of the set. All the content remains the same.

In other words, there is no third edition

 

[David Lambert]

For those who missed it, we had a story about that very thing which I posted yesterday morning. HTFer Randy Salas, who writes for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, helped out a LOT with that story. Thanks, Randy!

 

[Anthony Clifton]

Thanks guys, that certainly clears things up.

 

[ScottR]

I love seeing the billboard commercials for the show's sponsors Sanka and Kimberly-Clarke as well....cool stuff.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

I've really watched only disc 1 so far (although I do find myself skipping from discs to discs to check out the extras), and as far as I'm concerned, the Rod Serling Audio Lecture from Sherwood Oaks College ALONE is worth the high price of this set. Wow! What a great speaker Mr. Serling was, I would've killed to have had the privilege of seeing him at one of his lectures. He's so frank when he criticizes himself that you can actually feel his pain. I still love "Walking Distance" and consider it among my favorites, but you can actually understand Rod's displeasure with alot of his own writing of the story at the time.

On the negative side, I can really do without the Twilight Zone radio plays. With all due respects to those involved, anyone who's ever listened to old radio plays will tell you how this audio version of "A Pitch For The Angels" seems rushed and like no one was directing the actors. Sometimes it feels like the people involved were merely reading from scripts, which is NOT the way radio productions felt during the days of radio plays. I felt that while these audio plays may interest some, since they really didn't have anything to do with the original participants in the episodes, and as such didn't really belong on this set. I would've much rather saved the disc space for more extras like more episodes of Liars Club, or even the Rod Serling documentary "Submitted for Your Approval" (which I hope finds its way as an extra on a future season set).

Back to the positives...I really enjoyed the bonus episode of Liar's Club. I'm not sure how many episodes of this fun show Rod actually hosted, but I would love to see them all! Hopefully they will include at least one on every future season set of the Twilight Zone.

Commentaries...So far I've enjoyed the commentaries with Kevin McCarthy and Martin Landau, and found the commentary with Earl Holliman to be a waste. It's obvious Mr. Holliman thinks of himself as an "actor" and sounds like the classic pilot of the Twilight Zone may have been a little beneath his standards, though any real fan of the show will tell you that episode was what the "Zone" was really all about!

Anyway, I'm loving this set and look forward to watching the rest of the discs, and also the future sets. Great job on the mastering too, the quality of these prints never looked better!

 

[Craig Beam]

The future sets? Carlos, does that mean you're gonna get Season 4 now?

 

[Ruz-El]

Has anyone found this on the shelves in Canada yet? It was supposed to be out Jan 4, but I've yet to find it! I'm dying here! If I don't see it this Tuesday, I'm ordering it!

 

[Kyle Field]

I was a fan of the series which ran mid-late 80's and am looking forward to checking out the newly released Season 1. A few months back I made the mistake of purchasing the 2000 series set thinking it was the 80's series and was unable to return it since I had already opened it. Took a look at a couple episodes and they weren't good, especially since the episodes I viewed seem to rely heavily on overblown SFX. The pilot episode with Jeremy Piven playing a guy hit by a bolt of lightning was awful (used quite a bit of CGI and OTT performances) as was the remake of 'Eye of the Beholder' (bad putty makeup and more OTT performances). I had never seen any of the 2000 series when it aired and watching what I did on my now-ebayed copy I was not impressed. Needless to say I was miffed that I had been hornswoggled into buying this (by both website announcements of the 80's series coming out on that very day and vague DVD cover info).

Finally the 80's series has been released. A buddy of mine appeared on one of the S1 episodes and that was my initial reason for tuning into the series back in the mid 80's. After watching a few more episodes in subsequent weeks I was hooked. Not big on remakes of classic TV, but I must say that TZ 80's adhered to the same subtle creepiness original series and from what I recall, included several episodes written by some of TZ's original writers.