Mixed bag

Whereas Vol. 1 of this series has three episodes, this disk has four--and a mixed bag they are. But then Twilight Zone was always unpredictable.

Burgess Meredith stars in episode #1 as a bookish bank clerk who can't find time for his passion, reading. The writing is a bit over the top. There's a dominating wife who snatches away his newspaper, a bank president who chastises him--and then there's an H-bomb that destoys the world while the hero is hiding in the bank vault to have some privacy for his passion. When he exits the vault, the world is in shambles, but there are no fires and apparently no radioactive perils. Now the little man has time to read, except...

The second episode is about an alien spacecraft that sweeps across the sky over a middle class street. Lights in houses flicker on and off. Cars won't start and then start mysteriously. A boy says that spacemen may have planted look-alikes among the residents, and they all begin to suspect one another, with violence ensuing. This didactic piece is really about the anti-communist investigations of the cold war, in which people, especially in Hollywood, were all but encouraged to suspect one another of being Reds. Thus, the real damage was not done by the communists but by those who planted the seeds of suspicion and by those who ran around like Chicken Little.

I liked the third episode best. William Shatner, recovering from a nervous breakdown, is on a commercial plane with his wife. Sitting in a seat over the wing, he sees a monstrous figure outside, a figure that no one else can see. When the monster begins to tear up the cowling over the engine, Shatner feels he must do something to save the plane from disaster. The outcome is a very excellent surprise.

Lastly, there is a good story of a jet commercial aircraft that gets lost in time for unexplained reasons. When it descends to land in New York, the city has disappeared and dinosaurs roam the landscape. The pilot takes the aircraft up through the clouds and then descends to try again. He contacts the airport but traffic control can't understand what a jet is or where the plane is from. Flying over Flushing Meadows, the people aboard see the trylon and perisphere of the 1939 World's Fair....

It's too bad that this sort of excellence is missing from today's TV set, with its so-called "reality" shows and dance contests. Twilight Zone made viewers think, and apparently that is too much to ask now. We are fortunate that the old shows were saved and you can see them again--or for the first time.

Review of The Twilight Zone: Vol. 2

I ordered this particular volume to augment, with video, a story in the literature book from which I teach my students. I knew what to expect from the DVD and was not disappointed. It did arrive sooner than I expected which was a pleasent surprise.
Sincerely,

B. Stiegelmeyer

You are traveling through another dimension...

Four great episodes are included in this Twilight Zone Volume. Also included is some background information about the six seasons of The Twilight Zone, as well as a biography of Rod Serling. Like many who have reviewed The Twilight Zone, I became an instant fan of the show and think it still is one of the most intelligent and creative shows ever created.

My favorite episode of all time is "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," so I had to check this out just for that. In this episode, after residents on a block see something mysterious fly overhead all sorts of unusual events begin to happen and the people, suspicious of one another, begin to make accusations and lose their patience. This episode is so intelligent because it really draws on the whole idea of mass hysteria and mob thought, and what can happen when it takes over a community, even a peaceful one.

The other episodes are all classics as well...

Time Enough At Last-Burgess Meredith plays a bookworm working at a bank. He is dissatisfied with his life at home because he never has enough time to read, so he reads everywhere he goes. He finally gets his wish of having enough time to read, with an ironic twist.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet-This one stars William Shatner, who gives an extraordinary performance as a man who has had a previous mental breakdown, and now must take a flight with his wife. Once the plane takes off, he begins to see that all is not well as he looks outside the window. Is there really someone, or something out there, or is this just his imagination?

The Odyssey of Flight 33-A plane takes off trying to get to its destination, but mysterious things begin to happen when the plane apparently breaks the sound barrier and goes back into time.

The only beef I have with the volume is that, as others pointed out, it is a little thin (only four episodes) in a day and age where we can get an entire season of other shows on DVD. You can get other larger volumes of Twilight Zone on Amazon, but they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of eighty dollars for approximately thirty episodes. If you are looking for a specific episode, I think you are better off getting these smaller volumes for about six or seven dollars.

And this volume is a great way to start!