Twilight Zone: Season 3
You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop, the Twilight Zone.
Superlatives can barely do it justice. The Twilight Zone is simply stunning TV. It’s a real treasure. The storylines will grip you for 20 minutes at a time. They were short but sweet episodes full of intrigue, action, excitement and wonderful acting.
Now for the first time ever on Blu-ray and looking and sounding magnificent you can enjoy The Twilight Zone for the first time or all over again like you’ve never experienced it before.
The Man Behind The Twilight Zone
Rod Serling’s voice-overs, introductions and descriptions at the end of each show of next week’s show are always charismatic. His tight-lipped delivery is a wonder to behold. He invited the viewers into the episode with his unique style and delivery. His mind must have been full of ideas, his imagination boundless. Any other writer or would-be writer would no doubt give almost anything to have even half the invention and skill of Serling. He was described by actor Lois Nettleton (The Midnight Sun) as a “gift to the world” and her words couldn’t be truer.
Due to time constraints and therefore not being able to watch all of the episodes before writing this review I’ve selected some of my favourite episodes from the first couple of discs. I can assure you that there are some really strong episodes on these first two discs and we can no doubt expect more of the same calibre on the other discs in this set. This seems to be a season of the Twilight Zone that started really strongly with some excellent episodes.
The Shelter
This is an excellent episode. It’s reminiscent of The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street. It’s a really good story. During a nuclear attack alert several neighbours try to break into the local doctor’s fallout shelter. You might spot the ending before it comes but it is still powerful stuff. There is really good acting from a larger than normal cast on display here. It captures everything that is good about the Twilight Zone but actually is one of the only episodes that I've personally ever seen that doesn't have anything mystical or Twilight Zoney about it!
A Game of Pool
Another really good, solid story and it’s really well acted too. Pool shark Jesse Cardiff challenges pool king Fats Brown to a game to find out who's the best player. Thing is, Fats has been dead for 15 years. Of course as this is the Twilight Zone, being dead doesn’t stop him showing up to take up the challenge. Jack Klugman (making his 2nd of four appearances in the twilight zone) is excellent as Jesse and I preferred this performance and story to the Passage for Trumpet episode from the earlier season, but they are indeed similar storylines of frustrated souls, trying to be the best at something. Jonathan Winters as Fats Brown is also very good. The two make a great pair and play off each other really well in this episode.
The Midnight Sun
This is another wonderful episode featuring very genuine and honest acting from Lois Nettleton and Bette Garde. As the Earth moves out of its normal elliptical orbit and moves ever closer to the sun, two women try to cope with life in the, nearly empty, city of New York as it gets increasingly hot a looter invades their apartment block.
The Twilight Zone as Theatre
I feel compelled to mention again the theatrical nature of The Twilight Zone and also the method acting on display from the actors. It’s something that is mentioned by some of the actors in the commentaries as well. It’s clear that the actors loved the show, that they loved the time and effort that they were allowed to put into their performances. They liked that they were able to act and simply inhabit the characters.
Many episodes have a distinctly theatrical feel to them. Viewers will feel as though they are watching someone not on the television set, but on the stage. The sets are usually small but the actors are allowed to move around them and express themselves more freely than in contemporary television. The directors used longer cuts, where actors had to deliver many lines. These episodes showcase the talents of the actors more fully than is usually seen on film. They also take us deep into the mind of the character. The result is more wonderful episodes such as The Midnight Sun and A Game of Pool.
I’m guessing that some of this is due to the fact that many, if not all, of the Twilight Zone episodes were originally radio plays (which I only learnt recently) but you can certainly see how these strongly written, beautifully crafted stories could have been transposed from radio to TV. And what a wonderful pleasure they are. Anyone interested in the original radio plays will find some, if not all, of them on these discs. Also well worth a listen are the commentary tracks.
Enhancing The Twilight Zone - Bringing it up to Blu-ray Quality - Vision and Sound.
The image quality for each of the three seasons of the Twilight Zone has been exceptional. The prints have been cleaned up beautifully. The prints have been meticulously looked at, cleaned and worked on with graphics software to create, all new, tip-top looking HD transfers.
And it looks so damn good in black and white as well. I’ve recently seen some colourised shots of the Twilight Zone and whilst they were fascinating to look at and to examine, I believe that they look simply amazing and just… right… in black and white. The sound is also nicely cleaned up, although if you want to listen to it in mono you also have that option!
Suggested Further Reading
For more information, thoughts and opinions on this wonderful show please go to: http://www.cult-labs.com/twilightzone where you will find forums and discussion boards on which you can discuss thoughts about the show to your heart’s content. You’ll find my own thoughts under the name of ‘Kevin’. Please do join the debate!
Once again might I add that there are not a lot of shows or films that I would actively go out of my way to wholeheartedly promote however I feel that these Twilight Zone releases are something truly special – a tasty slice of 1960s cherry pie TV.
I really hope that you will buy this show on Blu-ray or DVD and enjoy it. Of course some readers may well have seen this when it first aired and for them it will be a nostalgic treat!
It’s a top quality show with almost unlimited imagination, heaps of excitement, great acting, suspense, wonderful storytelling and fantastic twists. Quite simply this is more essential viewing… from… the twilight zone.
