The Twilight Zone - Page 2

I've been watching my New Year's bundle and I'm happy I got it, even though I have the DVDs. The image quality is superb. The remixed sound is sometimes problematic because the voices and music don't always sound like they relate to each other. But the mono mixes are all there, so it doesn't matter. I wish the radio shows and interviews were on a separate DVD ROM as mp3s rather than over episodes. I don't know if I'll ever get around to listening to them this way.

I mentioned the set to a friend and he told me George Clayton Johnson lives a block away from me. I called him up and he's coming for a visit next week. Pretty cool!

I've watched the first two discs in the first season set, and the picture quality is indeed startling and greatly advanced from what I originally had on DVD. Some of the commentaries have been rather chattery and rambling (loved Zicree's book but he does tend to natter away ad infinitum), but nice to hear with Holliman and Rod Taylor talks. They have a lot to be proud of with their episodes.

I basically feel the opposite. I know guys like Holliman and Taylor were there and it's great that their thoughts were recorded but after 50 years, they don't remember that much (who would?) so I prefer the experts over the guys who are struggling to fill in 25 minutes.

Probably the best of both worlds is the commentaries where Zicree talks with Earl Hamner and George Clayton Johnson because he knows the show, has a friendly relationship with them and knows the right questions to ask. Plus, the writers spent more time working on their episodes so they probably have better memories of their work than an actor who was in and out in 3 days.

And a big thumbs up to Stephen for getting to meet George Clayton Johnson. He seems like an interesting guy so let us know how it goes.

Yeah the actor commentaries are far more miss than hit (to the point of being downright awkward/bizarre in the case of Don Rickles and Mickey Rooney) so I was thankful for the expert commentaries on the blu-rays for the most part. MSZ is a little irritating at times but he's got a wealth of information to share and there are some episodes like Where is Everybody? where I wish he had contributed a new commentary (same with Gerani even though I thought he missed the point of Stop at Willoughby). Grams and Skelton/Benson on the other hand are boring and obviously scripted.

Beyond knowing who he was, I wasn't that familiar with Gary Gerani and while he's not a TZ encyclopedia on the level of Zicree, he makes some good observations and you can tell that he loves the series & the genre so that made his tracks interesting.

And while Martin Grams is clearly a fountain of info about TZ (and his book is amazingly in-depth), it seems like he's learned so much about the show that he can only see the pieces of how it was made rather than being able to look at and enjoy the episodes on their own. Like one of those guys who have read so much about The Beatles that they know what takes were used on every record they ever made or know every point where someone fumbled a note and that's all they can hear when they listen to their albums anymore.

Gary Gerani's commentary tracks so far have been OK but he does have a habit of infusing his talks with a kind of nervous laughter that seems strange sometimes.

 

Still, I don't mean to sound overly harsh or judgemental. I'm delighted these tracks are there, and they certainly contain some excellent information.

I got even more out of this informal talk on YouTube than the commentaries on the bluray. Instead of interviewing him, they should have just given George Clayton Johnson a small audience and a mike and let him go. He is a great storyteller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnYjBjfgLNo

The rest of the speech is on YouTube in six parts. It's fascinating to hear the relationships between "the group" and Serling and hear the theories on screenwriting and fantasy.

There is another extended interview with GCJ on youtube. I'm eager to check that one out too.

I hope to add the twilight zone to my collection, especially if it comes down in price in Canada

I picked up the complete twilight zone on dvd from amazon.com as it was a price that i could not refuse. I have watched several episodes and even those the set is well over 50+ years old now the episodes still stand the test of time. The amazing thing about the twilight zone is acting/guest stars and it was some up and coming stars of hollywood in many of the episodes, like Telly Savalas or William Shatner or Simon Oakland or even a young Morgan Brittany.

I am very impressed with the writing, especially depth and breadth of the content. I watch several episodes and i was very captivated with sequence of events, especially the ending. I can not believe how well thought out the episodes, especially the ending. I really think only Rod Serling and maybe Boris Karlov could ever pull of these types shows, especially with their narrating!!

I have all three "Versions" of this show (Original, 1989 and 2002), the Original rules hands down (The other versions are good, but PALE to the original, IMO). Your right, only Rod Serling and Boris Karlov could have pulled off these kinds of shows (I have Thriller as well)!

Thanks for you posting!

It is too bad the now generation is not into classic shows like thriller and/or the original twilight zone. The writing and acting beats all this reality crap like Jersey Show, Survivor, etc. I find it very had to pick a favourite Twilight Zone and/or Thriller because so many episodes are great. I have watch a few episodes, especially William Shatner's two episode (Plane and Forutune Teller) or Telly Savalas (doll) or the actress that returns to her town to save it from a plane crash or the computer that protects the people of a town or gold stealers that go into cryogenic freezing then wake up 100 years later to find out at the end after each them dies the comment is they make gold now, so bars are worthless!! To write episodes like this takes an unique approach to scripts.

Thriller is another show that i never watched as kid, but picked up the dvd set and love it. Yes, it is black and white, but the story lines are very good!

I have to say over my 40+ years of my life and was never a huge lover of reading novels, especially the forced ones in Highschool. However, I do have a new appreciation of writers like Bradbury, orwell, verne, etc. I am so glad that many of their novels were turn into movies, tv series, etc. You then add in narrators like Rod Serling or Boris Karloff or Vic Perrin (the original outerlimits) or William Conrad. I will also give credit were credit is due and that is the new version of outerlimits also had a great narrator as well Kevin Conway.

i am glad for forum like this as it gives me an outlet to share common interest with people of similar interest. I remember book of month club starting and it would be cool to start video of the month and have blogs about particular tv show/episodes.

If I had to pick one TZ episode as my favorite, it would be The Hitch-Hiker. There's probably about 20 other episodes tied for second place though.

My favorites are: Eye of the Beholder, Living Doll, Time Enough at Last, The Hitchhiker, The Pilot Episode, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and Long Distance Call. I love this series so much. I honestly feel that it is the best written show in the history of television. It is a masterpiece.

If you shop carefully, you can get used copies of the Definitive Edition individual seasons for prices as low as $20 each. This is how I got my set, and the overall price was very good.

I apologize if this has come up before, but be wary of the Definitive Collection, which is the entire series in one box. There are legit copies from Image, but there are also bootlegs, and many are sold via ebay and elsewhere as new, factory sealed, etc. I had the misfortune of buying one, and the video quality is mediocre at best. These sets also don't have some of the extras, most notably anything PDF format. I didn't know about the bootlegs at first and thought Image had done a lousy job. Turns out the problem is primarily a lower bitrate to fit single-layer discs (most discs in the legit set are dual layer). I learned about it while I could still return the set, and while I needed ebay's help, I got my money back. For a list of how to spot originals vs bootlegs, go to http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Movies-Memorabilia/Beware-Of-Twilight/520272153 and scroll to post #10.

I remember "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", and "The Fugitive" being my favorites.

The Bewitching Pool from season 5 would have been one of my favorites as well, if it wasn't for June Foray's dubbed voice. The otherwise talented Foray was so cringeworthhy to listen to in that episode, it wasn't funny. I don't even believe the reason 10-year-old Mary Badham was dubbed in some scenes was because the filmmakers hated her real voice. They left it alone for the indoor scenes(if they really did hate her real voice, they would have dubbed it for the indoor scenes as well, wouldn't they?) I think it was just a matter of Mary being unavailable. It had nothing to do with her voice, as much as the filmmakers want to claim it was.

I watched the hitchhiker today as an earlier post spike my interest. The hitchhiker is amazing episode, especially with the ending.

Yeah, I love alot of TV shows but if I was to name what I consider THE best series, I'd say The Twilight Zone because of its overall quality, that it chose to say things about the world when that wasn't very common on television and because of its longevity.

I love the series also. I will say that I think the 1st two season were the best. The others have some gems, but the 1st two had a boatload of great ones.

Since everyone is listing their favorites, mine is Walking Distance. I can rationalize why I like it now (I'm middle aged, so it resonates); but I liked that one when I was 14, and that makes no sense at all.

Although I love some of the horrific stories like "It's a Good Life," my favorites tend to be on the schmaltzy side, like "Kick the Can" and "Night of the Meek." "A Stop at Willoughby" is another good one.

Walking Distance was filmed on the Meet Me in St. Louis street at MGM. In fact, Judy Garland's Smith Family home figures prominently in the episode. The Twilight Zone is wonderful because it is not just one genre of stories. You can view horror, mystery, drama, comedy, sci-fi, and social commentary episodes....just fantastic.

When George Clayton Johnson came to speak to a group of animators at my house a few months ago he told a couple of stories that he had written that would make incredible Twilight Zone episodes. One of them he said that he was considering sending off to be published under Ray Bradbury's name because it is so close to his style. He is talking about creating a YouTube series with actors on black stages performing fantastic stories with no props or costumes. With writing like his, he could pull that off.

I'm assuming both of your above comments are about the DVD version, not the Blu-Ray. Hollywoodaholic was talking about waiting for the Blu-Ray version to dip below $130. I'm waiting for a price-drop on the complete Blu-Ray lot, too. It might not be this year, but I'm sure at some point in the not too distant future, one would be able to buy all five seasons for $99.99 as a special Amazon deal (like a "gold box" or "Black Friday" limited special). I have the patience to wait. I'll just watch the occasional Me-TV rerun for now.

It pays to wait, and keep your eyes peeled. I picked up all three versions of The Twilight Zone and the original Outer Limits a few years ago when Deep Discount had a BOGO Sale on them. Four COMPLETE Series for a little less than $100.00!

Amazon had a special sale on all five seasons of The Twilight Zone a few months ago in the Gold Box as a complete set sale and they ended up being about $18 a season. I never thought I'd see them that cheap, but they were. That's when I bought my set.

Point taken. However, the quote referenced the DVD sets as well, and I was just offering some info FWIW.

BTW, Amazon currently has a 5-season BD bundle marked down from $500 to $235, which is a significant drop but still well above $130. The price for that bundle may well drop below $130, but I suspect it'll be a while before that happens.

My comments about the bootleg DVDs was purely informational, not necessarily related to Hollywoodaholic's post.
Edited by ChrisOC - 3/27/12 at 2:10pm

I just noticed that I'm the one who originally started this thread, under my old screen name!

Hi eric,

Thanks for starting the thread!

I picked up the complete series and like the threads that allow us to share/comment on episodes. I have watched many episodes and still to this day these episodes capitivate me. It is hard to pick episode as my favourite as their are many. I have, however, watch some episodes that people on this thread have picked like hitchhiker. The hitchhiker was amazing episode, especially the ending!! I could also talked about the episodes with William Shatner as well, especially the fortune teller machine. The fortune teller machine was a great, especially how william shatner's character continue fascination with the machine.

I like also the episode with the actress going back to her home town and the ending!! Rod Serling did some right with how the plots solve themselves over the episodes.

Ring A Ding Girl is an episode that many fans don't care for but I like it quite a bit.

While Nightmare At 20,000 Feet is a wonderful episode, I think Shatner's other episode (Nick Of Time) is one of the best lesser known TZs.

General rule of the Twilight Zone: If an episode is written by Earl Hamner and not titled "Jess-Belle", avoid like the plague. You'll end up either angry ("Black Leather Jackets"), confused ("A Piano in the House") or a combination of both ("Ring-a-Ding Girl", "The Bewitchin Pool")

 

In other news: last years "Fan Favorites" tin (which was actually a mere repackaging of the original gift set 1 from 1999 and included several episodes fans hate) is coming to blu-ray... http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Twilight-Zone-Fan-Favorites/16743

Probably 3/4 of Earl Hamner's TZ episodes are mostly average (The Hunt) and even down to terrible (Black Leather Jackets) but I think You Drive is a really good episode that he wrote.