The Twilight Zone-Update? (1 Viewer)

The Twilight Zone Season Sets are my most anticipated tv releases. With Season One due in December, I thought there would be more info by now....does anyone know anything?

Image hasn't officially announced the titles yet, but I can tell you they're being worked on. I'm excited about these as well.

Gord

Also the most anticipated for me. I sold my complete series (the 5 boxsets) back in March in anticipation of the season sets. I hope the bonuses are worth it. I also hope the total cost to buy the series will shake out to much less than $99 per season. I'm suffering TZ withdrawal since it's my favorite show. But I'm equally anticipating the '85 revival because I've seen only a handful of those episodes and really liked them. Give us info, Image!

I can't wait either...for both, but especially the 80's series. I actually have a book : "New Stories From The Twilight Zone", that has 21 of the episodes of the 80's series in their original short story form. The list of authors is amazing..
Robert McCammon
Harlan Ellison
Arthur C. Clarke
Richard Matheson
Ray Bradbury
Robert Silverberg
Greg Bear
Theodore Sturgeon
Roger Zelazny

Obviously they had a little better material to work with then the 2002 version of TZ.

Right On!! I feel like I am a kid waiting for the Christmas present to be opened. What a perfect timing, they will be released just past Christmas day! Speaking of the bonuses, they should also include subtitles which has been a long overdue. I remember the 80's version very well and they have plenty of memorable episodes. I look forward owning the whole collection!

I hope they found most if not all of the "Next Week on" promos...they were downright eerie.

Some of the commercials with Serling selling cigarettes would be nice, then again, maybe not.

Scott - I know the original "Next Week's" promos are out there. The founder of the thetzsite.com has a messageboard where I read some info about them quite a while ago. A gentlemen who used to tape re-runs in the '80s from a local station in his area said that the station he watched them on always would play the promo, so he had tons of them on tape, including many that the founder of the tzsite had never gotten to see before.

Nothing has really been announced about the TZ season sets except that they're coming and that Marc Scott Zicree is involved (with some commentaries, at least). But one hopes that ALL of the next week teasers will be included. This would, in my mind, totally validate Image releasing these puppies yet again. A lower price point would also validate a re-release. Finally, commentaries that include the many surviving cast & crew members would validate the existence of these. Because chronological order just isn't enough -- not when the program in question is an anthology series.

True, and I also would like to see some of the bumpers as extras....the artwork was nice and the music was eerie. Sci-Fi sometimes shows them.

Here's a post from Stephen R. Pickard over on the Bernard Herrmann discussion forum:

"Thank you for your enquiry with regard to my involvement with "The Twilight Zone". The entire five seasons of the original classic tv series is at present going through a complete overhaul. Image Entertainment and CBS are collaborating to bring to the dvd buying public the best presentation possible of this much-loved series.
To achieve this, CBS have spent much time and effort to provide the finest picture and sound source materials.
The original 35mm camera negatives are being utilised, probably for the first time in forty years, and are presently in the process of being mastered in high definition. These negatives were found to be in pristine condition and are achieving jaw-dropping results. Every effort is being made during the telecine process to avoid any video clean-up gimmicks in order to achieve the most film-like look possible, to complement the fine photography. The original 1.33:1 aspect ratio is being preserved within the High-Definition 16x9 format and excessive cropping or overscan is avoided so that as much of the frame as possible will be seen. The finished dvd will be what is called a '4x3 down conversion' made directly from the high-def master.
The Hi-def masters will hopefully be seen in all their glory when the technology permits.
The audio is largely being derived from magnetic source materials which will result in a more transparent and pleasing listening experience and, as mentioned above relating to the video, avoids any clean-up gimmicks which would disfigure the original analog presentation.
We hope to provide as many isolated scores as possible.
The first complete season will be available at the end of the year and the remaining seasons will become available in 2005."

For those who don't know, Mr. Pickard worked on the earlier Twilight Zone DVDs (in what capacity I couldn't tell you). All signs point to a truly great DVD release this time around...

Sounds really great! Since the first set is due in December, I think we should see an announcement very soon. Awesome that they're including the isolated scores.

Holy shit. Excellent post, Craig, thanks for posting that. I don't have much time to scour the 'net, so my information these days comes from either HTF or Gord's site.

These are going to be great.

WONDERFUL news! Thanks, Craig!

If you get a chance, could you ask Mr. Pickard about the episdoes shot on video? Are the original masters extant? Will we be spared kinescopes?

Thanks again!

Weren't the tapes transferred to 16mm film for broadcast? I think that is what I read in The Twilight Zone companion.

I am SO glad I skipped the earlier releases. This version sounds worth it, and may we hope cheaper?

I don't know, but I do know video elements exist for at least some of those shows, as I've seen them in all their video-y glory on Sci-Fi Channel airings. But not all of the video-originated shows, as kinescopes still show up as well.

I've seen edited versions of all six taped shows in direct-tape transfers. But I haven't yet seen all six *uncut* in direct-tape transfers; leads me to think the elements are in rough shape; may not exist in their entirety.

I would imagine that - contrary to what was written - the CBS network broadcasts were from tape. For later syndication, local stations were sent kines - CBS Enterprises (later Viacom) could not count on every station having facilities to roll tape in the format they had (2-inch? 1-inch? etc) - but they'd sure have a 16mm film chain. (Aside: present in the small collection of 16mm TZs I have is one of the kines, Static.) But that's an educated guess; I was a bit too young (and in the wrong locale) to have seen the Zone first-run.

I do hope (contrary to my pessimistic paragraph above) that all six do exist intact on tape and will be presented as such when the 2nd season box rolls out.

I'll be double-dipping, I'm afraid... and my dear wife is asking "what will you do with the present set?"

Actually three of the tape shows were released in tape format in the early volumes of the DVD sets. "Night Of The Meek", "Lateness Of The Hour", "The Whole Truth" made it in tape, while "Static" and "Twenty-Two" were in the later volumes and ended up (annoyingly) as kinescopes.

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If you get a chance, could you ask Mr. Pickard about the episdoes shot on video? Are the original masters extant? Will we be spared kinescopes?

As far as I know the original 2" video masters are being accessed, and should look as good as they are capable.

Stephen! Welcome to the thread! It's always nice to have an "inside source."

Now... can you tell us any specifics about supplements? For example, which episodes will have commentary tracks, and with whom? Or (more importantly, at least to me), which episodes will feature isolated music tracks?

Or are you bound by a silence order until the season one set is officially announced?

Paul Brownstein is also working on the set. He's produced DVDs for a lot of the older shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show. I spoke to him a few weeks ago and he said The Twilight Zone looks BEAUTIFUL.

Gord