Excited to see the 80's Twilight Zone... (1 Viewer)

[Steven Gebs]

I gotta say I am becoming a fan of Harlan Ellison. I just watched 'One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty'. Great episode, great story. After watching the episode I listened to his commentary. I found it to be very interesting and engaging, it was very elightening to hear that he modeled the whole story after his own life. So much heart is in his stories, wow.

To change the subject, I also watched 'Her Pilgrim Soul'. I loved it! Great episode! Made me tear up, very good love story.

I'm so glad I bought this set. It's funny, when these episodes came out I was about 11 years old. After rewatching them, I can relate so much more to them now.

 

[Ric Easton]

Steven,

If you like Harlan, you should really try to pick up his short story collection "Shatterday." It was one of my favorites back in college.

Ric

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I really like these 1980s 'Twilight Zone' episodes. But I have heard a lot of criticism about the picture quality and would like some clarification please. I do not expect the clarity and resolution of a modern feature film DVD, but at the same time expect reasonable viewing quality. I have a few episodes recorded on VHS, notably my most favourite episode "A Message From Charity". Is the DVD transfer at least as good as VHS tape?

 

[MichaelGH]

I'm perfectly happy with the viewing quality of the sets. They're certainly no worse than broadcast or first generation vhs in my opinion. It's pretty clear the episodes haven't been remastered or anything but that definitely isn't keeping me from enjoying this show once again

Michael

 

[Steven Gebs]

I agree with you Michael.

Picture quality really was never going to be a potential issue with these sets. I am just so happy just to finally own these.

To answer you question, the picture quality isn't the best you can get. It's probably on par with VHS.

Does anyone know how well this set has sold so far?

Does anyone else agree that the narrator is absolutely superb? I just love that guys voice, perfect.

 

[Rutgar]

I personally think the 80's episodes are far superior to the new one's. I quit watching the new one's because it seemed like almost everyone of them were just totally negative, or just plain stupid. At first, I thought maybe I'm just getting too old for this type of show. But, after purchasing and watching the 80's first season, I now realize that the writing in the latest TZ, is just sub-par. Which seems to be a very pervasive problem these days in TV shows, and movies in general.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Thank you all of you. Just what I wanted to hear. I'll order my DVD set today!

 

[Esten]

Dunno if this applies to the 80s TZ, but I know alot of series in the mid-late 80s were shot on some form of video. Could be the reason for the picture presentation.

 

[Craig Beam]

The show was shot on film, but edited on video. It never looked that great, even in its original broadcast run. I'm sure these DVDs look as good as they possibly can.

 

[Joshua_W]

So it's like ST:TNG, then?

It's unfortunate the series doesn't look better, but since it's a limitation of the source materials, there's little that can be done about it.

 

[Dave Jessup]

It seems that the last announced release date (29 March) for seasons 2/3 has been changed. Image does not list it for March, nor does it appear in the April listings.

Was looking forward to seeing not only the CBS shows, but certain of the syndicated episodes - some written by J. Michael Straczynski, including one based on a vintage, unproduced-for-25-years Rod Serling story.

I still have my Beta tapes, but I hope that the delay is for the good.

 

[TravisR]

Maybe they are gonna put out Season Two/Three set out when they release Season Three of the original series on June 28 (that's the estimated release date anyway). Seems likely especially if they haven't announced it for March or April yet.

 

[Dave Jessup]

Some bad news - Phil DeGuere has just passed away.

 

[Ric Easton]

Bummer, I've been enjoying his commentaries. What did he die of and how old was he?

Ric

 

[Dave Jessup]

Alan Brennert reported he died of cancer. IMDB has next to nothing on him, so I can't begin to guess his age. If he was in his 40s during the run of this series...?

I'm working my way slowly through this set, and will certainly be playing the commentaries I haven't yet heard.

 

[Jeff#]

Philip DeGuere was 60 when he died in January. He had a TV career going back over 30 years. I remember back in the mid 1980s he was Executive Producer of and a write on both Simon and Simon as well as The Twilght Zone and eventually left both series in between seasons.

In just the spot of the past week & 1/2 I purchased both of the currently available first 2 seasons of the original Zone (Definitive Collections), and the second one is coming in the mail this week.

Yesterday I finally got the 1980s' The Twilight Zone series Season 1, and I've been enjoying these episodes all over again as well as the audio commentaries. These commentaries are much more fun and informative than those heard on the old series discs, probably because writers / producers Alan Brennert, James Crocker, Phil DeGuere, and director Wes Craven frequently teamed up on each one. Plus they tell us how the second series was innovative in its own ways (such as the pilot episode being one of the first produced for television with a stereo soundtrack) or how they had to accomplish special FX pre-CGI, etc.

The packaging of these 6 discs in a book-style volume is more convenient than the individual thin cases Image used for TZ: The Definitive Collection and previously for season boxes of I SPY.

I don't know what some of you meant about the film quality. These prints are crisp and as sharp now as they were on CBS in 1985-86. They look great!

 

[The Drifter]

I really enjoyed the 1985-1989 version of TZ, much more than the '60's version. This was partially because they were more modern and I could relate to them more, since I was seeing them as they came out; I also liked the creepy intro (with the spider, doll's head, and Rod Serling's "ghost") more than the original intro.

Notable episodes from this revised series include Shatterday - truly amazing; the episode where the woman could stop time by telling everyone to shut up - chilling ending; Also great was Nightcrawlers , which was about the veteran who went into the diner one rainy night & from his mind created enemy soldiers that attacked everyone - very well-done.; Paladin of the Lost Hour - great Harlan Ellison written episode, also with a Vietnam war theme; the one where Santa had a bag full of perfect gifts for everyone (re-made from the earlier TZ series), and many others.