The Twilight Zone: The Original Series: Season Three DVD boxset (TV series review)
I bought the third season of ‘The Twilight Zone’ a few years back but getting caught up in reviewing the adventures of a Time Lord, I held back in completing because it felt like sacrilege watching it in the summer. ‘The Twilight Zone’ is a wintery time of night to watch so cue the darkness we still have in the UK.
The most famous episodes you have heard about is in this season. ‘It’s A Good Life’ and that nice Fremont boy whom you wouldn’t want to upset. ‘Kick The Can’ where aged people get a second childhood. ‘To Serve Man’ where aliens literally take willing humans to the slaughter. ‘I Sing The Body Electric’ based off a Ray Bradbury story about an android nanny. I never realised until now that was the subject of the story. I will not leave out the final episode, ‘The Changing Of The Guard’ starring Donald Pleasence which has a nifty take on ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’ but a potent reminder about thinking you never made a difference but did. I’m just picking out some, the rest are equally good and spot the C-57D spaceship from ‘Forbidden Planet’ in three of the stories, with the interior in ‘Hocus-Pocus And Frisby’. Oddly, your memory about what some of these memorable stories are about and seeing them for real can feel different. When you consider these were produced in 1961 on a small budget with limited effects, it is the strength of the plot and performance that makes each story work. The series also gave the likes of Robert Redford and Charles Bronson some early roles.
The extras are mostly in the opening 2 DVDs mostly of audio commentaries. Rather depressing for us non-smokers is the late Rod Serling promoting cigarettes after the credits from time to time. Although it wasn’t lung cancer that killed him at the age of 50 in 1975, the surgery after some heart attacks did. Smoking aside, these are great stories from him, Richard Matheson and Chuck Beaumont. If you ever wanted to find your place in this world, you might want to look in the twilight zone.
GF Willmetts
January 2017
(region 2 DVD: pub: Freemantle Media. 5 DVDs 949 minutes 36 * 26 minute black and white episodes with extras. Price: about £14.00 |(UK) now if you know where to look. ASIN: FHED02857)
check out website: www.fremantlehomeentertainment.com
