Twilight Zone Definitive season 4....when? (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

Any ideas when season 4 will be released?

 

[Joe Lugoff]

When the Definitive Editions were announced last year, they said they would be released quarterly.

They've stuck to it so far, with 1 out in December 2004, 2 in March and 3 in June.

So 4 should be in September and 5 in December.

 

[TravisR]

October 18 is the tentative date that was going around for Season Four. Season Five is tentatively scheduled for December 27.

Although it is strange that they would have a three months between Seasons One and Two, three months between Two and Three, four months between Three and Four, and only two months between Four and Five. Why not three months between each one?

 

[JeffT.]

I've addressed this in another discussion thread (here) recently but I'm not in any great hurray for the next TWILIGHT ZONE fourth season (1963) DVD collection yet the announcement of the impending (?) set's specifications and special features does seem somewhat late in being announced.

I can't help but wonder just what can be expected from this next upcoming tv series DVD release which as yet still remains a (closely guarded) secret. Perhaps this is an indication that it hasn't been decided and is still in the planning-processing stages which could mean a delay in finally being made available.

Jeff T.

 

[Dane Marvin]

I think they know they will need to load this set with special features. I would take one (or both!) of the following:

--"Submitted for Your Approval", The PBS American Masters documentary on Rod Serling. It is available on a seperate disc from Image, but has been out for a long time. Including it on one of the two remaining sets would be a great idea. It's likely that most huge TZ fans who have bought this already would have bought it a long time ago, so it probably won't anger them that it would be included here. Plus -- there have been no specially-produced docs or retrospective pieces for these sets so far. So much of the focus of the TZ features are Serling-based, so why not give us the excellent life story and a very substantial extra that you already have distribution rights for?

--The 'lost TZ episode: "The Time Element". Fans would come out of the woodwork to get their hands on this. At the very least, the particular disc that included it would be a popular Netflix rental! Still, that this would ever be included is pretty much just a shitty pipe dream of mine (and several others I'm sure).

There is now a rumor that actor interviews will appear on season 5. I'm guessing these would be filmed because there are plenty of vintage audio interviews already included on previous sets. If it's true, I'm happy as a clam because the audio commentaries rarely succeeded (there were some really good ones though). Still, you could tell most of them were being interviewed instead of coming up with their own remarks, so they might as well have been in front of the camera the whole time.

http://www.twilightzonemuseum.com/index2.html
That tidbit can be found about 2/3 of the way down the page under the heading: "QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER #2, 7/5/05"

Edit: At the Twilight Zone forum I visit, some people were saying that that blurb originally mentioned that 25 actors were filmed for interviews. They must have taken that part out of the news update. I wonder why...

 

[Craig Beam]

The specs for season 4 haven't been released yet because Image Entertainmen't release calendar on their website only goes through September. It's usually two months ahead, so I anticipate details emerging in early August, when they add October's releases to the site.

 

[JeffT.]

In response to Dane's message post your expectations are definitely not too unreasonable as my own thoughts were leaning in the identical direction.

"The Time Element" (24/11/1958) was originally aired on the Desilu Playhouse (CBS 1958-60) and fortunately both it and THE TWILIGHT ZONE (CBS 1959-64) now come under the aegis of Paramount Pictures-Viacom International Television so who knows? It's not entirely impossible that it could be included as part of the fourth season (1963) DVD package.

Let's hope so!

I'm very surprised (and disappointed) to hear (if I read the message posts made in this discussion thread correctly) that there may not be any audio commentaries included with the fourth season TWILIGHT ZONE collection but considering that these particular segments are an hour in length that would certainly prove to pose some difficulties for the celebrity participants to be sure.

Anyway I hope that this particular bit of information proves to be wrong and that there will indeed be audio commentaries by some of the actors involved included as well.

Jeff T.

 

[TravisR]

I'd be dissapointed if they didn't have any commentaries on the Season Four eventhough it would just be five minutes of an actor talking about TZ and 45 minutes of talking about their career. That's why I like the Don Rickles and Leonard Nimoy tracks. They said what they had to say about TZ and that was it.

Since they probably want as many stars as possible, I'm sure they asked Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, and Burt Reynolds to do a track. And it seems pretty likely that Anne Francis did one for Jess-Belle since she did one for The After Hours.

 

[Jeff#]

I agree, Travis. Anne Francis would most likely have recorded a commentary on "Jess-Belle" back to back with "The After Hours".

 

[Dane Marvin]

Me? I want a James Whitmore commentary for "On Thursday We Leave for Home". I think he's still alive, anyway.

Still -- if there are very few audio commentaries for the season 4 set, it's all the more fuel for them to include some stellar special features like "The Time Element" or "Submitted for Your Approval". Image has to figure that sales are probably already going to drop off for season 4 (and probably come back up for season 5); they probably don't want to further lower sales by including little in the way of special features.

 

[TravisR]

According to IMDB, James Whitmore is still alive and in his 80s. His son was in two episodes of 1985 TZ.

That's a good point that the inclusion of The Time Element could help bolster sales.

Is Submitted For Your Approval still in print?

 

[Dane Marvin]

Yep:
Link Removed
type 'submitted' it into the 'search' box at the top right and you'll be taken to the listing.

Not everyone is stocking it. Amazon is not. Deep Discount DVD appears to have the best deal on it for $14.61

 

[Jeff#]

"On Thursday We Leave for Home" is not only one of the best hour-long shows, but among the finest Twilight Zone ever presented. It was Rod Serling's crowning achievement ss a writer.

James Whitmore has always given quality performances and that story was no exception. It would be great if he did a commentary. I just hope that he can still speak as clearly in his old age as he did back then.

Now if only if Whitmore's early 1960s lawyer series The Law and Mr. Jones (one of several produced by Dick Powell) would come to DVD! I saw a few episodes and I felt that James and the cast (who played his staff at the law firm) really worked well together.

 

[todd s]

Well the good news is that www.tvshowsondvd.com has a release date of October 18 for this dvd. The bad news is their doesn't look to be a commentary by Mr.Whitmore. :frowning:

 

[Dane Marvin]

Nice to see video interviews there! I hope these are substanstial (15 minutes + each of good stuff) and not just 2-minute quickies. We need these to be substantive since there are only two commentaries on the set. Though I do look forward to -- FINALLY -- a commentary from Zicree!

What do you suppose the "Genessee Bear promo spot" is? I have no idea...

Or the SNL clip? I remember "The Eye of the Beholder" parody, which was pretty lengthy for an SNL sketch and also pretty funny... but... that would be out of place on the 4th season set. Anyone got ideas on what this could be?

Also disappointed that they missed the opportunity to throw a really meaty extra in this set (something like "Submitted for Your Approval", the lost episode, or an original doc about the series).

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, it's a bummer that The Time Element isn't on there but at least Submitted is available spearately. Anyway this season may not be the best year of TZ but it seems like Image is still coming out with a good set for it. It may be interesting to see some of the color scenes from Miniature. And maybe Zicree will have softened in his view of some of the episodes after all these years

 

[Craig Beam]

Hmmmmm. Given that the series took a sharp downward turn with season 4, I guess I was hoping for some truly spectacular extras to bring it up to the level of the previous three sets. No "Time Element"???? Man, that sucks. I already have Submitted For Your Approval, so I don't mind it being excluded (however, if you don't already own it, GET IT... it's that good).

Don't get me wrong... Season 4 has its jewels, and I'll certainly be grabbing it the day it comes out. It's a strange season... very schizophrenic quality-wise (it's about an even split between good episodes and disappointing ones). Your mileage may vary, of course.

 

[JeffT.]

If memory serves me correctly (and in this instance I think that it does) the next week previews for the fourth season (1963) hour long segments of TWILIGHT ZONE showcased a compilation of the actual scenes from the episodes in question not just a narrative description of them made by Rod Serling which certainly should be interesting seeing once again.

Jeff T.

 

[Jeff#]

I don't know why anyone expected the Desilu Playhouse episode "The Time Element" or the Submitted for Your Approval special to be included on the 4th season discs.

That SNL sketch shot in black & white is probably from 1976 and features Dan Aykroyd well cast in the role as Rod Serling.

[QUOTEthe next week previews for the fourth season (1963) hour long segments of TWILIGHT ZONE showcased a compilation of the actual scenes from the episodes in question not just a narrative description of them made by Rod Serling which certainly should be interesting seeing once again.[/quote]
That I didn't know, but that makes sense since Rod was teaching writing at Antioch College at the time. That's why he filmed episode intros in front of a screen from where he was in that part of the country. I can assure you that the 5th season episodes that put Rod back in the scenes again, also have his standard Next Week on the Twilight Zone promos.

 

[Jeremy Montano]

Craig, on the note of "Submitted For Your Approval", do you remember/know if it has any spoilers of episode endings? I'd love to rent (or buy if need be) that special sometime, as it sounds fascinating, but the thing is I haven't seen every episode of this show yet (I have the five "collections" they put out before, but still need to work my way through maybe a 20 to 40 percent of them). Obviously I wouldn't want any great twist endings or anything spoiled...if you remember to what extent it reveals any endings, that would be great.