Invasion of the Hour-Long Episodes

I have really enjoyed working my way through "The Twilight Zone Collections 1-3" but I felt a bit of a speed bump in Collection 4. That decrease in quality I attribute to the fact that eight of the nine individual DVD's have an hour-long episode included with two half-hour episodes. I guess I was a bit of a traditionalist even as a teen-ager because I knew when the hour-long format came out in 1963 that the the show wasn't as good anymore. The success of "The Twilight Zone" was in its' ability to give us a compelling story within a half hour time slot. What was apparent with the time expanded format was that the half-hour story was diluted with detail when extended the added half-hour. Of the hour-long episodes in this collection, none are essential and only "The Parallel" and "Mute" made any really positive impression on me at all. The phrase "jumped the shark" is a colloquialism that describes a point when a popular TV show tried to be more that its' fans wanted it to be. It comes from an "over the top" episode of "Happy Days" and for me, "The Twilight Zone" jumped the shark when it went to the hour-long format. It pains me to speak ill of my favorite TV show but alas, for me, it is the bitter truth.

Some lessor half-hour episodes are to be found in Collection 4 but there are some real gems as well. We won't belabor the also-rans but focus instead on the essentials in this set. "The Whole Truth" stars Jack Carson in a humorous episode about a used car salesmen who suddenly cannot tell a lie. "A Nice Place to Visit" is one I always remembered as a discription of what Heaven is NOT like. Another memorable episode is "A Penny for your Thoughts" that reminds us that perhaps the poet Bobby Burns was wrong; reading minds is NOT a good thing. The premier episode of this collection is one that had me hiding anywhere BUT under my bed; "Little Girl Lost". It has not lost its' cerebral sting after all these years. "Cesar and Me" seems like a remake of an earlier episode (starring Cliff Robertson?) but is still worth watching. "Stopover in a Quiet Town" is another memorable one that puts a twist on the old question "Why are we here?" "Person or Persons Unknown" gives us the view of the ultimate hangover and the effects of finally recovering from it. "A Stop at Willoughby" serves as a reminder to be careful how hard you want to find a peaceful place to escape to. Finally, there is "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" that wasn't quite as good as I remembered it but still wasn't too bad for an episode I've thought of off and on for 45 years. That ought to be plenty to justify getting this collection but my math says we subtract 8 and add 16 to come up with an even better collection.

I WISH THEY'D MAKE TELEVISION LIKE THIS NOW !!

This is my all time favourite television show ever hands down!!!
the quality of storytelling is just fantastic,this is from an era where a few brave souls tried to approach the invention of television as a medium to host what were essentially televised plays...how low we have sunk nowadays with a hundred and one crass reality shows with unlikeable people and vulgar presenters polluting the airwaves.
I was particularly impressed with and highly reccomend the episode " I am the night..colour me black" I only just watched it last night and was blown away by it.
It was one of the most thoughtful,provoking and sensitive pieces of television regarding race relations I have ever seen and just another example of the superb scriptwriting that was
the shows trademark.
Also an example of just how radical the ideas and concepts that came out of the Twilight Zone could be especially when you consider the aforementioned episode was written and screened in 1963.
There are loads of other gems on this boxset and I simply cannot reccomend it or the Twilight Zone in general enough!!
I've just completed my Twilight Zone collection with all 5 boxsets and each one is a treasure to me because I highly doubt we'll ever get Television that good again.

Excellent as always, though oriented toward die-hard fans

Like the first 3 collections, this one has a great variety of episodes, and its fair share of A+ ones which are as fine as anything that has ever been shown on TV. Unlike the first 3 collections, this one has several rarely seen and/or double length episodes, and is even more of an acquired taste. Die-hard fans and collectors will want to own this set. Those exploring TZ might try one of the other 3 collections first. If you like, read my reviews of those as well.