Still Great After 37 Years

I bought this for "I shot an Arrow into the Air." It's still great after 37 years. These DVD's are a great bargain.

The Final Frontier and the Civil War.

This 18th Volume of THE TWILIGHT ZONE doesn't include any must see episodes. The second episode featured on the disc is worth the money because of an excellent performance by Jack Klugman and the third episode revolves around an intriguing Civil War-based story. The three episodes on the disc are:

"I Shot an Arrow Into the Air"--the first manned space mission ends up crashing on an unchartered asteroid, killing all but three of the crew. The three astronauts find the environment harsh and hot with only five gallons of water to spare among them. Established rules and norms soon come crashing down as the remains of the crew find themselves in setting that quickly becomes just like THE LORD OF THE FLIES. Out of the three episodes on the disc, this was my 2nd favorite. The equipment and costumes date this episode greatly and the premise of the story is quite farfetched, especially since we've now been to space. However, at the time of the episode's initial airing, Sputnik was only two-and-a-half-years-old and the Space Race hadn't really started.

"Death Ship"--three astronauts scouting for hospitable planets for harvesting and possible colonization come across a crashed space craft almost identical to their own. Inside, they discover duplicate bodies of themselves and try to figure out the difference between what has already happened and what is happening. Jack Klugman stars as the willful and determined Captain Ross. Despite the strong performance of Klugman, this was my least favorite of the episodes on this disc.

"Still Valley"--a Confederate scout enters a town where an entire Union company stands as still as statues. The valley's lone waking occupant reveals what has happened to the scout, promising him that the Confederacy can win the war if they just follow his plan. But to do so requires enlisting an ally of wayward means. This short, but intriguing story is my favorite episode on the disc.

The only extras featured on this DVD are a collection of written features entitled "Inside the Twilight Zone". Some of the information here is both interesting and informative for fans of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but most others will find it completely trivial.

A couple of spaceship crashes in "The Twilight Zone"

Volume 18 in "The Twilight Zone" DVD series offers an interesting combination of two space stories with one about the Civil War. "I Shot an Arrow Into the Air," written by Rod Serling and based on an idea by Madelon Champion, relates how the U.S. spaceship Arrow One disappears off the radar screen and crashes. Three of its astronauts survive the crash and find themselves on what they take to be an asteroid with only five gallons of water between them. Corey (Dewey Martin), decides the only way to survive is to kill the other two. Another spaceship is featured in the hour-long "Death Ship," written by Richard Matheson and based on his short story. The E-89 investigates something shining on the surface of a planet and discover what looks to be their own wrecked ship and dead bodies. Lieutenants Mason (Ross Martin) and Carter (Fredrick Beir) become convinced they are dead, but Captain Paul Ross (Jack Klugman), will have none of that. "Still Valley" by Serling based on Manly Wade Wellman's short story "The Valley Was Made Still," stars Gary Merrill as Paradine, a Confederate scout who stumbles upon a town filled with Union soldiers all standing frozen. An old man (Vaughn Taylor) has used a book of black magic to work this miracle. The old man is dying and begs Paradine to take the book and use it to win the war. This is another disc where none of the episodes qualify as a classic Zone story. Its chief virtue is seeing Jack Klugman once again on the show, but for once playing a strong and very determined character.