Twilight Zone (1958-1964 original series)

[Dan Gould]

One of my favorites is "A Stop at Willoughby".

Great episode and one of my favs. too. Lot of autobiographical commentary on "Stop at Willoughby" Serling was overworked and stressed.

I saw a few TZs last night. I really enjoyed "Dead Man's Shoes." A body is dumped in an alley. A homeless guy takes off the snazzy pair of shoes from the body, puts them on, and becomes transformed in such a way that he takes on characteristics of the dead man. He then goes out to avenge the murder. In the end, after taking out one of the gangmembers, he too is shot. With dying breath he says, "I'm gonna be back. I'm gonna keep coming back. I'm coming back till I get you, Johnny!"

The body is dumped in the alley and another homeless person takes the shoes.

I thought I'd seen them all but that one sounds like a classic I've never seen.

[Dave James]

Some of my favorites that have not been mentioned:

One guy in a neighborhood of very close families builds a bomb shelter. All his friends ridicule and mock him until there's a serious Civil Defense alert and everyone thinks they're about to be nuked. Then they all try to talk their way into his shelter with some very unpleasant consequences. Another cold war creepy episode.

Three National Guard soldiers in a tank crew are on maneuvers in South Dakota close to the Little Big Horn. They somehow are transported back in time and see the battle begin to take shape. They have to decide if they want to join the fray. You really don't find out what happens, but at the end, some people are reading the names of the soldiers who lost their lives at the LBH and the three National Guard guy's name appear on the list.

An civilian airliner hits a jet stream that tremendously accelerates their air speed and eventually takes them through a time portal. They wind up flying over Manhattan Island looking for a place to land when they spot dinosaurs on the ground. They get back to altitude, accelerate once again and then find themselves over the New York World's Fair in 1939, but they don't know how or if they will ever be able to calibrate things in a way that will ever get them back to the present. Serling's end game summation, "if some night you look up in the sky and you hear an airplane that sounds like it's trying to get home, that will be Flight XXX." I just saw this one the other day on the SciFi Channel's TZ marathon. There's something really creepy about that one that continues to resonate with me.

One last one. The Earth has somehow spun off it's axis and is getting closer and closer to the Sun with all the expected consequences. As it turns out, that part is just a dream, but in truth, the planet is heading away from the Sun and everyone is about to check out, not from the heat but from the cold.

Many, many others. Serling was a genius. As Dan pointed out on the orignal series of posts, he wrote "Requiem For A Heavyweight". The movie they made of this is excellent. It stars Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and, as the "Heavyweight", Anthony Quinn. A tremendously depressing, but rewarding film.

Up over and out.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Dave James

[Noj]

In one of my favorite episodes, an air force pilot in the middle of a battle flies his biplane through a cloud only to be transported into the future. He lands at an airfield and begins a conversation with an old guy on the ground, where he figures out that the old guy is his best friend from the past. His friend, too old to see well enough to recognize who he's talking to, tells the pilot the story of how "Ol' Leadbottom" had saved his life and many others in a fierce battle before going down. The pilot jumps back in his plane and returns to the past, knowing that he will die but knowing what he must do.

Other favorites include Talking Tina, the all-powerful boy who could "send people to the cornfield," and the Hitchhiker, of course. "Going my way?"

[connoisseur series500]

"Hitchhiker" is a real classic.

"I believe, you're going my way?"

[Jazz Kat]

I believe the episode you're talking about is "The Monsters Are Coming To Maple Street"---one of my favorites, and one that holds up well today.

"The Monsters are DUE on Maple Street."

[Dan Gould]

I believe the episode you're talking about is "The Monsters Are Coming To Maple Street"---one of my favorites, and one that holds up well today.

"The Monsters are DUE on Maple Street."

Good call, Jazz Kat, and the correct title really sums it up properly.

[Jazz Kat]

I can't believe this. I just finished watching an episode. The best tv series of all time! I have Collection 1,2, and 3. It is a boxed set that features 9 volumes of random episodes. A couple of my favorites are, "Self Improvement of Salvadore Ross," The Four of Us Are Dieing," A Thing About Machines," Third From The Sun," To Serve Man," Where Is Everybody," Valley of the Shadow," Once Upon a Time," The Midnight Sun," A Kind of Stopwatch," Elegy," In Praise of Pip," You Drive," 90 Years Without Slumbering," People Are Alike All Over," Black Leather Jackets," The Most Unusual Camera," I Shot An Arrow in the Air," The Lonely," Odyssey of Flight 33," Perchance to Dream," Time Enough At Last," The Hitch-Hiker," And When the Sky was Opened," The Last Flight," One For the Angels," Walking Distance," Escape Clause," The Dummy," The Jeopardy Room," Prove 7 Over and Out," I am the Night, Color Me Black," The Long Morrow," The Fear,"Number 12 Looks Just Like You," The Bewitchin' Pool," Living Doll," Night Call," Steel," The Invaders," The Masks," A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain," 7th is Made Up of Phantoms," Uncle Simon," The New Exibhit," I Dream of Genie," Death Ship," In His Image," The Trade-Ins," Showdown With Rance McGrew," A Piano in the House," A Game of Pool," The Hunt," The Jungle," Five Characters in Search of an Exit," The Shelter," It's a Good Life," The Arrival," Two," The Obsolete Man," Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up," The Mind and the Matter," The Silence," Shadow Play," 100 Yards Over the Rim," Long Distance Call," Night of the Meek," A Penny for Your Thoughts," Dust," Back There," Nick of Time," Eye of the Beholder," Dingle the Strong," The After Hours," Mr Bevis," Passage for the Trumpet," Execution," Mirror Image," The Fever," A World of Difference," Long Live Walter Jameson." There are many more I like, but these are just a few. My favorite show in the whole world!

[Jazz Kat]

Just thought I'd add, the series was from 1959-1964. Not from 58-64.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Jazz Kat

[ejp626]

This is one of those cases I am really glad I held off buying. The first version of this came out on DVD and I think it was only two episodes per DVD -- a total rip-off even though there were discounts for buying large numbers of them. Then they started rereleasing them by season. And then the ultimate collection came out with some excellent bonus features. I have the first three seasons of the ultimate collection and will get the other two fairly soon.

[Alexander]

I watched the show religiously as a kid. Had one of those guidebooks to the series, so I had every plot memorized. All I had to see was the first minute of the episode and I'd be able to say, "Oh, this is the one where..." I also used to be able to tell which season the episode was from by watching the opening. I've forgotten all of this, of course, but members of my family STILL talk about the little boy who'd seen every "Twilight Zone" epsiode...

My favorites are "The Eye of the Beholder," "The Masks," and "Time Enough at Last" (although any episode with Burgess Meredith is a favorite). I also love the Christmas episode with Art Carney where he becomes Santa Claus after he discovers a magical bag that produces anything people wish for.

"The Masks" is the one about the New Orleans patriarch who makes his greedy relatives wear grotesque masks that reflect their inner-selves. At midnight, he dies and they remove their masks, only to find that they've BECOME the masks. Scared the HELL out of me when I was a kid.

The episode alluded to earlier with the little Devil machine is called "The Nick of Time" and also starred William Shatner. Great episode.

Another good one was "Printer's Devil" (with Burgess Meredith) about a small town newspaper that hires a strange man who prints out headlines about disasters...before they happen!

[Noj]

"The Eye of the Beholder"

"NO CHANGE!" My brothers and I still laugh about this one from time to time.

[Dan Gould]

"The Eye of the Beholder"

"NO CHANGE!" My brothers and I still laugh about this one from time to time.

Anyone see the SNL takeoff with Pam Anderson as the "disfigured" girl? All the pig-faced male orderlies can say is "She's HOT!"

[Jazz Kat]

My favorite episode of all time was on last night on Sci Fi. "A Thing About Machines." Where Finchley thought all the machines were turning against him.

"GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY"

"GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY"

"GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY"

[BruceH]

This is one of those cases I am really glad I held off buying. The first version of this came out on DVD and I think it was only two episodes per DVD -- a total rip-off even though there were discounts for buying large numbers of them. Then they started rereleasing them by season. And then the ultimate collection came out with some excellent bonus features. I have the first three seasons of the ultimate collection and will get the other two fairly soon.

Actually, the first DVD collection had four episodes per disc; I bought a couple of them. The new "ultimate" collection is probably the best reissue overall. For a while the Twilight Zone switched to an hour-long format. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of----the old DVD's probably had only two of the hour-long episodes per disc. Personally, I think the show was not as good, generally, in the one-hour format; lacked the tightness and punch of the half-hours. To be fair, I heard that changing the show to an hour was the bright idea of one or more of the network suits.

[mike casinghino]

although i liked most of the episodes, one of the main reasons i watched was rod serling,i loved listening to his voice.

[Guy Berger]

I just started watching them on DVD. It's irritating that (A) there are only 4 episodes per DVD when they could fit 7 or 8 and (B) that they aren't in broadcast order.

Last night I watched two of the best ones I've seen yet: "Two" (with Charles Bronson in a post-apocalypse world) and "The Four of Us Are Dying".

Guy

[billyboy]

According to tvshowsondvd.com, the complete series is to be released in a box set on 10/03. List price $299, but expect discounts around $200.

Complete Definitive Collection

[Jim R]

This is one of those cases I am really glad I held off buying. The first version of this came out on DVD and I think it was only two episodes per DVD -- a total rip-off even though there were discounts for buying large numbers of them. Then they started rereleasing them by season. And then the ultimate collection came out with some excellent bonus features. I have the first three seasons of the ultimate collection and will get the other two fairly soon.

Actually, the first DVD collection had four episodes per disc; I bought a couple of them. The new "ultimate" collection is probably the best reissue overall. For a while the Twilight Zone switched to an hour-long format. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of----the old DVD's probably had only two of the hour-long episodes per disc. Personally, I think the show was not as good, generally, in the one-hour format; lacked the tightness and punch of the half-hours. To be fair, I heard that changing the show to an hour was the bright idea of one or more of the network suits.

This is confusing. From what I've been able to dig up online, it looks to me like the latest DVD series is called "The Definitive Edition". Season 1 (1959) is packaged as 6 DVD's, including all 36 episodes (6 episodes per disc). I'm assuming they're packaged chronologically (not randomly, nor by theme). Is that correct? If those were 30-minute shows, that's 3 hours per disc, not including special features. Can anybody confirm this? Do some see this package concept as a ripoff? (I haven't bought that many DVD sets thus far, so I'm a rookie). I've found searching for info kind of confusing and tedious, so I figured somebody who owns it can clear all of this up. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I see billyboy posted something new while I was composing my post. The info in that link is limited, but that price looks pretty fair ($300 for the whole shebang, instead of $100 per season for the individual Definitive boxes).

Edited August 18, 2006 by Jim R

[Hot Ptah]

While not one of the most spectacular episodes, I have always remembered the episode in which an elderly married couple is given a substance which, if ingested, will make them young again-- but there is only enough of the substance for one of them. They are quite in love with each other, and discuss at length how to handle the situation. In the end, the man takes the substance, turns from a frail, bald, old codger into a Charles Atlas-like young athlete, springs about the room shouting out his enthusiasm for the change--but in the end, decides to go back to his frail old self so that he can share his life in an equal fashion with his loving wife.

It impressed me that someone would not simply take something great in a selfish manner if it hurt someone he cared about, and that he would instead sacrifice self for the one he loved. Even in my youth I sensed that this is not the way the world works very often.

[connoisseur series500]

While not one of the most spectacular episodes, I have always remembered the episode in which an elderly married couple is given a substance which, if ingested, will make them young again-- but there is only enough of the substance for one of them. They are quite in love with each other, and discuss at length how to handle the situation. In the end, the man takes the substance, turns from a frail, bald, old codger into a Charles Atlas-like young athlete, springs about the room shouting out his enthusiasm for the change--but in the end, decides to go back to his frail old self so that he can share his life in an equal fashion with his loving wife.

It impressed me that someone would not simply take something great in a selfish manner if it hurt someone he cared about, and that he would instead sacrifice self for the one he loved. Even in my youth I sensed that this is not the way the world works very often.

The episode is called "Trade-ins"

[B. Clugston]

Loved this show.

Haven't seen it in years. The episode that comes to mind first is "The Hunt."

"An old man and a hound dog named Rip, off for an evening's pleasure in quest of raccoon. Usually, these evenings end with one tired old man, one battle-scarred hound dog and one or more extremely dead raccoons, but as you may suspect that will not be the case tonight. These hunters won't be coming home from the hill. They're headed for the backwoods of the Twilight Zone."

[Guy Berger]

I just saw "Death's Head Revisited". Really powerful. I'm surprised they were able to tackle the topic of the Holocaust (without any whitewashing) on network TV.

Guy

[Jim R]

This is one of those cases I am really glad I held off buying. The first version of this came out on DVD and I think it was only two episodes per DVD -- a total rip-off even though there were discounts for buying large numbers of them. Then they started rereleasing them by season. And then the ultimate collection came out with some excellent bonus features. I have the first three seasons of the ultimate collection and will get the other two fairly soon.

Actually, the first DVD collection had four episodes per disc; I bought a couple of them. The new "ultimate" collection is probably the best reissue overall. For a while the Twilight Zone switched to an hour-long format. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of----the old DVD's probably had only two of the hour-long episodes per disc. Personally, I think the show was not as good, generally, in the one-hour format; lacked the tightness and punch of the half-hours. To be fair, I heard that changing the show to an hour was the bright idea of one or more of the network suits.

This is confusing. From what I've been able to dig up online, it looks to me like the latest DVD series is called "The Definitive Edition". Season 1 (1959) is packaged as 6 DVD's, including all 36 episodes (6 episodes per disc). I'm assuming they're packaged chronologically (not randomly, nor by theme). Is that correct? If those were 30-minute shows, that's 3 hours per disc, not including special features. Can anybody confirm this? Do some see this package concept as a ripoff? (I haven't bought that many DVD sets thus far, so I'm a rookie). I've found searching for info kind of confusing and tedious, so I figured somebody who owns it can clear all of this up. Thanks in advance.

...anybody?

[ejp626]

Well, I can't list all the bonus features, but basically season 1 spreads the 36 episodes over 5 DVDs -- generally 7 or 8 to a disc. Most individual episodes have a bonus feature such as audio commentary or the isolated score. Walking Distance also has a bit of a classroom lecture by Rod Serling. Some of the episodes have interviews with the actors, but they aren't contemporary interviews, such as a 1978 interview with Burgess Meredith. Generally, if it is recent commentary, it is writers, though there are exceptions such as Leonard Nimoy and Don Rickles. There are a fair number of historic interviews, however.

Disc 6 is all Bonus Features. There is the original pilot of Where is Everybody, a couple of Rod Serling bloopers, a sales pitch featuring Rod (no idea why this was filmed), and a Twilight Zone radio show. Season 1 also should be bundled with the book The Twilight Zone Companion, which has details on all five seasons. That's one reason Season 1 is usually a bit more expensive.

Seasons 2 and 3 are much the same with audio commentaries on many episodes, a few radio shows and some promo shots. Perhaps most interesting is an alternate ending (written but not filmed) for A Game of Pool. Some time next year, I'll pick up seasons 4 and 5.

Since you asked, the episodes are arranged chronologically by air date.

According to other reviews on Amazon, there are actually video interviews for Season 5. I am a bit disappointed that William Shatner does not do a commentary for Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. Season 5 also has a Bonus DVD that appears to focus on Serling and his career.

I would certainly recommend this set, since it has cleaned-up versions of all episodes and a pretty good amount of bonus material. I think it is pretty good value overall. Don't know how much it matters to people, but the cases are the slimline cases, so the whole set doesn't take up an entire shelf the way it used to. They are dual-layer but not double-sided DVDs (some people really don't like 2-sides DVDs as they get fingerprints everywhere I guess). I suppose I wouldn't buy these if I already had a fair number of the episodes in other formats, but I certainly thought this was the best way to go to get the episodes.

Eric

Edited August 31, 2006 by ejp626

[Jim R]

Eric, thanks- I appreciate your time on that.