This is how all classic TV and movies on Blu-ray should be treated. While there might be a few small hiccups in the picture quality (most notably the six episodes presented in 1080i), it’s not ever going to look so good. Packed with hours (days?) worth of features, this is such a great value for consumers.
“The Twilight Zone”: Season 3 (1961-62)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Image | NR – 950 min. – $99.98 | February 15, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Various
Writer(s): Rod Sterlin (created by)
Cast: Various
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentaries, Featurettes, Isolated Scores, etc.
Number of Discs: 5
Audio: English (PCM 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Video: 1080p/Full Frame 1.33
Subtitles: NA
Codec: VC-1
THE MOVIE – 4.5/5
Season three of the hit show offers up a huge assortment of great episodes. It’s getting harder and harder to watch these Seasons as they hit Blu-ray because I always want to say how this is the best Season yet…but that changes once the next one hits Blu-ray.
As a whole, does the show still hold up? Absolutely. Now fifty years later, some of the episodes feel very dated, but others could have easily fit in if they were still being aired today (of course, in color and wish some advances in clothes and such).
Since I find it nearly impossible that someone has never seen an episode of “Twilight Zone”, I’ll go ahead and discuss a few of my favorites from this season:
“It’s a Good Life” – One of the episodes most spoofed on Television and Movies (even adapted for the Theatrical Film) features a young boy who can send people into the cornfield. Better be nice to him…
“A Game of Pool” – Often overlooked, but a great story about a Pool player challenged to a game of pool by…a ghost!
“Once Upon a Time” – Maybe a bit too goofy for some, but when a janitor from the 1980′s finds a helmet, he goes…into the future! Full of laughs.
“Five Characters in Search of an Exit” – Ever heard of the term ‘bottle episode’? It’s when an episode uses one or two sets for the entire episode as a way to save its budget for a much for lavish episode later on in the Season. This is like the definition of a bottle episode as it takes place in… a bottle (well, cylinder, but still). I’ve seen this bunch of times, and it always pops out a great episode of ‘whodunit’.
“I Sing the Body Electric” – Written by Ray Bradbury (!) this film serves as almost an inspiration for films like A.I. when a robotic grandmother helps raise children. A very spooky story.
This is probably the last Season of ‘great’ episodes. Season Four was an interesting idea (hour long episodes) and season five had far more failures in its Season than ever before (still worth a watch), but to many, season three marks the end of the ‘great’ “Twilight Zone”. Really a shame.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 5/5
“Twilight Zone” Season Three is packaged in a slightly thick Bu-ray case housed in an attractive, shiny Slip Cover with an Episode Guide!
19 New Audio Commentaries:
Featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author/film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), authors/historians Scott Skelton and Jim Benson (Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour), Twilight Zone writers Earl Hamner, George Clayton Johnson and John Tomerlin, writer William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run), author/historian Martin Grams, Jr. (The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic), writer Marv Wolfman (creator of Blade and New Teen Titans), writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Coraline), writer/producer Jeff Vlaming (NCIS, Fringe, Battlestar Galactica), writer Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Iron Man) and writer Len Wein (creator of Swamp Thing, Wolverine, New X-Men) ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
19 Radio Dramas featuring Don Johnson, Blair Underwood, Ernie Hudson, Morgan Brittany, Adam West, Ed Begley, Jr., Jason Alexander, Shelley Berman, Michael York, Bruno Kirby and more ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Isolated scores for all 37 episodes featuring the legendary Bernard Herrmann, Van Cleave, Fred Steiner and others ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
The Following were previously included on the previous DVD Release(s):
Liars Club (22 Minutes) – Rod Serling hosted this Game show that included Beet White.
Tell it to Groucho (15 Minutes) – An episode of a Groucho Marx TV Show that starred Rod Serling
Famous Writers School (5 Minutes) – Serling stars in this very short promotional feature.
Marc Scott Zicree Interview (20 Minutes) – Part Three (the other two found on previous Twilight Zone volumes.
Also included Rounding out the Discs is Promos for next week’s episode (which are very cool in themselves and last maybe 20 seconds), some additional vintage Video Interviews with various Actors (lasting only a few minutes each and honestly not all that interesting), Sponsor Promos for various brands (Sanka Coffee) that last mere seconds, and clips from the remakes of some of Season Three’s shows from the second incarnation of “The Twilight Zone” which aired in the 80′s.
VIDEO – 5/5
“Twilight Zone” Season Three is presented in 4:3 (1080p; VC1) on five 50GB Discs. ALL 37 Third Season Episodes are Present plus the bonus ones mentioned above. Blu-ray has only seen a few shows/movies that were in Black and White, and “Twilight Zone” is now one of the best looking. Even though we got the definitive version on DVD a few years back, Image has once again restored and cleaned up the show for Blu-ray and it looks fantastic. Blacks are very sharp and the detail being shown rivals even some newer films hitting Blu-ray. That’s not to say its perfect – there is still some marks/dirt/hair that shows up on occasion, but now in its third season… things are looking even better!
AUDIO – 4.75/5
Image has included the original 2.0 Mono tracks and well as lossless 2.0 PCM tracks for this release. Purists will be thrilled by the inclusion of the ‘original’ tracks, but swapping back and forth between the two I only really noticed a little bit more ‘oomph’ with the lossless versions. Dialog is well placed with only an occasional hiccup, but much like the picture quality, I doubt it’ll ever sound as good as it does here.
OVERALL – 4.75/5
Anyone who gives this a score of a 4.5 lower is nuts. This is how all classic TV and movies on Blu-ray should be treated. While there might be a few small hiccups in the picture quality (most notably the six episodes presented in 1080i), it’s not ever going to look so good. Packed with hours (days?) worth of features, this is such a great value for consumers.
Brad Lowenberg
Published: 02/28/2011
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