Twilight Zone (Original Series) Season 1 Comes to Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Craig Beam]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au

I have to imagine that The Twilight Zone will look even better on blu-ray, regardless of how good it looks on DVD. Assuming they will spend the time and money to do a proper clean-up of the film elements and whatever they can do for the video taped episodes.

The entire series was mastered in high definition for the Definitive DVD Editions. They already look spectacular, and they'll look even better on blu-ray. Why would they need to do any further work on them?

Originally Posted by DeWilson




Well, they could always use the kinescope copies of the 6 VT episodes - might be eaiser to clean those up than deal with some of the issues the VT master-tapes had. I thought I read someplace those kines were done in 35mm,not 16mm.

But even at 35mm, they'd still be kinescopes. I personally prefer the video look for these six episodes. They were shot on video, they should look like video. But either way, these six episodes will always look inferior, even on blu-ray. A neat extra might be the inclusion of kinescope versions, but I'd be surprised to see it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Craig, I was making an assumption the studio or whoever owns the film elements may decide they need to go through another mastering or tweaking for BD. I didn't know the Definitive Editions had HD masters done. We'll know soon enough.

 

[Craig Beam]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au /forum/thread/300178/twilight-zone-original-series-season-1-comes-to-blu-ray/30#post_3688135

 

[Nelson Au]

So, you're saying the box says its an HD transfer, so it says it on the box?

Seriously, sounds good they've been prepped for HD. I wonder if they may wash the film elements one more time to adjust and tweak settings. I was looking at the screen caps on the DVD Beaver site when they reviewed the Definitive box back in the day and the images look great there. Earl Holliman's face showed so much detail and the contrast was so improved. So the BD should be like looking at a nice black and white print!

 

[Craig Beam]

Nelson, do you not own the Definitive Editions? I do, and they look amazing. I grew up watching beat-up syndication prints. These are an absolute revelation. Just gorgeous.

 

[Nelson Au]

Craig, I do own the Definitive Edition set. What I am wondering about is if the BD masters will yield the kind of result we can see in a black and white film like The Day The Earth Stood Still. I think I'll watch a TZ episode now!

 

[LeoA]

Wonder if they will revist the Dick Van Dyke Show next a couple of years down the road after this is hopefully all out on Blu-Ray.

Wouldn't mind rebuying that someday for HD if they do another round of restoration work on it (It's mostly nitpicking since it looks great the vast majority of the time, but there were a few rough areas here and there in the DVDs including a few end credits that looked absolutely awful).

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway

There would be no reason not to upscale them to 1080p on the disc themselves rather than allow various players and monitors do so, IMO. Of course we won't know for sure for a bit, as they're all in Season 2.

Sure there would. Watch Trials and Tribulations on the season 2 blu-ray set of Star Trek and see how bad an upscale can look! The episode on the original DS9 DVD looks better.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard

I read somewhere online that the original pilot, "The Time Element", will be on this release. It wasn't on any of the dvd releases.

The original pilot for The Twilight Zone is called "Where Is Everybody" and starred Earl Holliman. It was shot almost a year before production started on the actual show, and was shot on the Universal lot. You can actually see the town square used in Back to the Future in this episode. The rest of the show was shot on the MGM lot.

An early version of Where is Everybody is on the DVD set and include narration by Westbrook Van Voorhis rather than Rod Serling.

Doug

 

[Craig Beam]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce




The original pilot for The Twilight Zone is called "Where Is Everybody" and starred Earl Holliman. It was shot almost a year before production started on the actual show, and was shot on the Universal lot. You can actually see the town square used in Back to the Future in this episode. The rest of the show was shot on the MGM lot.

An early version of Where is Everybody is on the DVD set and include narration by Westbrook Van Voorhis rather than Rod Serling.

Doug

Rod Serling wrote "The Time Element" with the intent of using it to sell The Twilight Zone as a series. CBS bought the script, but didn't bite on the series concept. The script was subsequently produced by Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, and caused such a sensation that CBS changed their minds about greenlighting The Twilight Zone. While not technically a Twilight Zone episode, "The Time Element" is considered a lost pilot of sorts. Its inclusion on the blu-ray set is appropriate and most welcome.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Craig Beam ">[/url]

While not technically a [i]Twilight Zone[/i] episode, "The Time Element" is considered a lost pilot of sorts.
[/QUOTE]
I'd call The Time Element a 'pseudo-pilot' (eventhough that's not really word).

 

[Nelson Au]

I had not seen a Twilight Zone episode from the new Definitive set in a little over a year. I played 2 of my favorites, the 2 Shatner episodes. I had forgotten how sharp and clear these discs look! One shot, where Shatner has opened the emergency exit on the plane in Nightmare At 20,000 Feet, as he's fighting the force of the airstream and aiming the gun, there's a close-up on his face and it looked like the lace edge of his hairpiece is just showing. And additionally, on both episodes, fabrics and skin texture and hairs are clear.

 

[dana martin]

Originally Posted by Craig Beam




The entire series was mastered in high definition for the Definitive DVD Editions. They already look spectacular, and they'll look even better on blu-ray. Why would they need to do any further work on them?



But even at 35mm, they'd still be kinescopes. I personally prefer the video look for these six episodes. They were shot on video, they should look like video. But either way, these six episodes will always look inferior, even on blu-ray. A neat extra might be the inclusion of kinescope versions, but I'd be surprised to see it.

this was already discussed, one of the ideas was to utilize the same standards that were done for dr who, i agree as it is shown there is almost a smearing effect that happens even on the definitive versions

 

[Joe Tor1]

This is great news for anyone who has not yet bought THE TWILIGHT ZONE: The Complete Definitive Collection. However, I finally gave in and bought the complete set on Amazon’s Black Friday sale of last November. I'll never regret that purchase! Although I’ll pass, I cannot say enough about the detail and quality of this set – and now it can be seen in Blu-ray! So, anyone on the fence, go get it! Me, I’ll wait for Boris Karloff Thriller… …And, if FOX ever decides to release a Blu-ray Lost in Space – especially the third season!

 

[dana martin]

speaking of thriller, since Twilight Zone, went thru a few varioations prior to the blu release, i wonder if Image has a long term plan to do Thriller in Blu as well, they would have to break it up in seasons, but to see it in 1080 would rock

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well I'm growing excited about this. More commentaries, isolated scores for all but one episode (probably Time Enough at Last is going to get skipped again >

 

[cineMANIAC]

In this era of disappearing extras it's great to see some studios are still taking the time to come up with material, especially for a 40-plus year old TV show. I've bought this series in so many different editions and formats that it's hard for me to muster up any excitement for this release but I'm going to bite for at least the first season on Blu. I wish I knew what to do with the DVDs, though...

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'm hoping these new audio commentaries finally afford TZ with the same scholarly love that some major cinema classics get from Warner and Criterion. I'm still a little bummed we're not getting a Lauzirika-quality documentary about the show each season.

 

[Nelson Au]

I was just wondering if the Blu Ray set was a series set, and not season sets. But I see the first release will be the first season. I guess if it came out as a series set, it's would be massive sticker shock!


On the issue of people not knowing what to do with the older DVD's they have just replaced with the BD's, I am surprised you guys sell them or get rid of them.

I have another DVD system set up in my home office and I keep the DVD's to play there, or in the bedroom whenever I get that set-up. But I can understand how many would replace all their DVD players with BD players. They sure are getting cheaper now!

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Lord Dalek

I'm hoping these new audio commentaries finally afford TZ with the same scholarly love that some major cinema classics get from Warner and Criterion.

Yeah, I'd much rather hear a Marc Scott Zicree commentary. The video interviews that they did with actors on the later sets were much better than the commentaries because the interviews were 5 to 10 minutes of real info rather than the actor struggling to fill 25 minutes of commentary.