You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop, the Twilight Zone.
These are the words of Rod Serling, delivered as a monologue over the opening credits for the second season of The Twilight Zone, differing from the longer introduction monologue of season one. This is the opening phrase that most viewers will probably be more familiar with. And the same goes for the theme music, which changed in the second season to the iconic music that everyone knows and loves. Except I’m not sure that I do! I preferred the theme music from the original season. A small point that doesn’t really make any difference to the show but might well spark debate amongst die-hard fans!
Season Two Changes
There are a number of changes to the format of season two as compared with the first season. The opening monologue and the theme tune I’ve already mentioned, but also slightly altered is Rod Serling’s voice-overs. Once they were simply voice-overs but now in season two Serling appears on screen. Each episode there is a moment or two of Serling’s voice-over introducing the story, before the camera deliberately pans away from the action to reveal Serling, standing alone, always smartly dressed, occasionally smoking, to complete his introduction. As I’ve said before Serling’s voice-overs, introductions and descriptions at the end of each show of next week’s show are always charismatic. His tight-lipped delivery is a wonder to behold. How did he get his words out without moving his lips? It’s great to see him actually appearing in the episodes as if he were the master of the twilight zone, which of course he is, inviting the viewers into the episode with his unique style and delivery.
Rod Serling: The Master of The Twilight Zone
Once again the master of The Twilight Zone wrote the majority of the episodes himself from his own ideas or adapted stories from other writers’ ideas, while the likes of legends such as Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, amongst others, also chipped in with some stories.
Season two of The Twilight Zone has arrived quickly on Blu-ray after the release of the first season. And for me it couldn’t arrive soon enough. I was captivated by the stories from the twilight zone in the first season – 36 episodes and hardly a poor instalment to be found amongst them. I’d watched several episodes back-to-back unable to tear myself away from the exciting and enthralling stories.
So has season two met my expectations? Were my expectations just a little too high after the first wonderful season of stories? There are some cracking stories to be found here amongst these 29 episodes, especially on the final disc which seems to have some of the best episodes yet on it. But I have to be honest, for me there are a handful of stinkers as well. That’s not so much a criticism, more a statement of fact. Rod Serling wrote the vast majority of stories they can’t all be as amazing as the last, and of course, whether or not one person likes an episode, or not, is entirely down to their own personal preferences and interests, so what I didn’t like someone else might love. That’s the excitement of TV and movies.
Just as with the first season there are several one-man-shows. And I love this type of episode. I feel that they have a distinctly theatrical feel to them. I feel as if I’m watching someone not on the television but on the stage. They seem to use longer cuts, where actors have to deliver many lines. They showcase the talents of the actors more fully than is usually seen on film. They also take us deep into the mind of the character. The result, as with "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room", is that the audience are taken on wonderful journeys into the minds of the characters and the situations which they face. Admittedly less often it backfires as with terribly dull episodes such as “The Invaders” and “Twenty Two”.
The Episodes
Rather than try to review 29 individual episodes I’ll highlight a few – some my favourites and some that I disliked.
Episode 1: "King Nine Will Not Return" marks the beginning of the second season, it’s a reasonable tale of a man who finds himself marooned in the desert after his bomber crashes and he awakes to find that his entire crew has disappeared.
Episode 2: "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" is an excellent story that examines the idea of split personalities. It’s an uplifting and yet cautionary tale.
Episode 3: "The Man in the Bottle" is a fun story about a genie that can grant four wishes and the consequences that comes with those wishes. It’s an episode that is exactly what The Twilight Zone is about. It has a supernatural element that affects the characters. And although the characters can make their own choice they decide to enter the world of the twilight zone with varying results and mixed feeling afterwards.
Episode 5: "The Howling Man" is not the greatest of episodes. The set up is slightly protracted but the pay-off is worth it.
Episode 6: "Eye of the Beholder" is an episode that really stands out as being once again exactly what the twilight zone is all about. It’s an episode that I’d seen when I was younger so I remembered the storyline. But it’s still excellent. Exceptional camerawork and wonderful make up make this episode one of the best in season two.
Episode 10: "A Most Unusual Camera"
Another episode that for me really captures the mythology of The Twilight Zone where a small group of characters are affected by a mysterious, magical or supernatural element – in this case a most unusual camera, the photos from which appear to show the future.
Episode 14: "The Whole Truth"
Is a good episode in which a crafty and dishonest car salesman is forced to tell the truth. It’s a little like the story of Liar, Lair, only without Jim Carrey’s rubber-faced antics.
Episode 15: "The Invaders" is a terribly dull episode in which we have only one character whose home is being attacked by miniature robotic alien invaders. The character never says an actual word, only screams and moans her way through the episode. It’s written by the legendary Richard Matheson and it has a killer twist but the build up is beyond boring.
Episode 16: "A Penny for Your Thoughts" is a wonderful episode to blow away the cobwebs from the previous episode in which a likable young man is granted the gift of hearing other people’s thoughts for the day, with varying benefits and consequences.
Episode 17: "Twenty Two" is another criminally dull episode in which a young exotic dancer is recovering in hospital with stress and has dreams of going to the hospital mortuary and being invited in, apparently to die, with the invitation of “room for one more”. Again this episode redeems itself with a strong ending, but the build up, that suffers a severe lack of action or dialogue failed to capture my imagination or peak my interest.
Episode 18: "The Odyssey of Flight 33" is another decent episode in which an aeroplane is transported back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. There are hints of The Langoliers in this episode and some strong performances from a larger cast of actors.
Episode 21: "The Prime Mover" is an excellent episode once again showcasing the best of what the twilight zone has to offer. A man with the ability to move objects with the power of his mind helps his friend to win big at the casino. But will the gambler get what he wants?
Episode 23: "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" is a interesting episode and the beginning of a half dozen episodes on the final disc of the set that are a group of real twilight zone gems. They obviously saved some of the very best season two episodes until the end of the season. In "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" the leader of a wagon train in 1847 America finds himself in the future.
Episode 24: "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" another episode with a great, classic twilight zone feel about it. A gang of gold thieves use suspended animation to escape to the future where they believe that they will be free from prosecution.
Episode 25: "The Silence" is an episode that doesn't really feel as though it belongs in the twilight zone, about a man who bets that he can go without speaking for a year, but put that feeling aside and enjoy this episode anyway, because it packs a real punch.
Episode 26: "Shadow Play" unlike the previous episode this one is firmly rooted in the twilight zone, featuring a man who is convicted of murder but tries to convince the judge that he is simply dreaming the whole thing, including their existence. The Twilight Zone at its finest.
Episode 27: "The Mind and the Matter" is about a man that realises that he can change the world and everything around him just by the power of thought.
Episode 28: "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" is about a group of bus travellers who hole up in a remote diner to escape a snow storm, but find that there's an intruder amongst them. Is it an alien? A classic sci-fi story with some great acting and dialogue.
Episode 29: "The Obsolete Man" is about a man (Meredith Burgess in his third visit to the Twilight Zone!) who is deemed obsolete. He is a librarian with no library to look after. But he uses his cunning to make a point against the totalitarian state that rules over him. It’s an excellent two-hander and a brilliant episode to close out this second season which leaves us wanting more from the third season.
Enhancing The Twilight Zone – Bringing it up to Blu-ray Quality
Once again the image quality is exceptional. These prints have been cleaned up wonderfully. As I understand it from some research the show was shot on 35mm film. That doesn’t mean much to me as I’m not all that knowledgeable about different types of film stock. However for any readers that are knowledgeable in this area I’m guessing that means something. The negatives of these prints were once again, as with season one, meticulously looked at, cleaned and worked on with graphics software to create, all new, tip-top looking HD transfers. However as the series developed I found that the quality of the image dropped significantly enough for me to believe that there was something different going on. I could tell that it was not the work that had been done on the film, more obviously a deficit in the negative of the film itself. It was enough to make me investigate the cause of the lack of quality further. Some internet research allowed me to discover that six episodes: "Static", "The Lateness of the Hour", "The Whole Truth", "The Night of the Meek", "Long Distance Call" and "Twenty Two" were filmed on videotape, for some unknown reason rather than 35mm film.
Now I can understand that shooting on videotape doesn’t sound as good as shooting on film. The result is also fairly obvious. The episodes certainly look less beautiful than the others and there are some strange irregularities in the image as seen on the screen. It is however certainly passable, just not quite up to the usual standard that we have been treated to so far. Should they have dropped these episodes from the Blu-ray boxset? Certainly not. They are part of the series and part of The Twilight Zone history. They look a bit dodgy, but it’s clear that a lot of work has still been put into upgrading them for HD – maybe even more work as it was perhaps more difficult to upgrade them. Personally I don’t believe that a few flickers of image, or flares of light or other little abnormalities provide a strong enough case to drop them entirely. It’s simply because the other episodes, as with the first season, look so good that these episodes stand out. However I should stress, once again, that overall the image quality throughout season two, as it was with season one, is truly excellent.
Sound Quality
The restored audio also sounds very good indeed. It’s cleaned up and is as close to crystal clear as you’re ever likely to get. Of course for anyone out there that wants to listen to the original audio tracks (but I can’t really understand why you would) they are also included as an option.
Suggested Further Reading
For more information, thoughts and opinions on this wonderful show please go to: http://www.cult-labs.com/twilightzone where you will find forums and discussion boards on which you can discuss thoughts about the show to your heart’s content. You’ll find my own thoughts under the name of ‘Kevin’. Please do join the debate!
Once again might I add that there are not a lot of shows or films that I would actively go out of my way to wholeheartedly promote however I feel that these Twilight Zone releases are something truly special – a tasty slice of 1960s cherry pie TV.
I really hope that you will buy this show on Blu-ray or DVD and enjoy it. Of course some readers may well have seen this when it first aired and for them it will be a nostalgic treat!
It’s a top quality show with almost unlimited imagination, heaps of excitement, great acting, suspense, wonderful storytelling and fantastic twists. Quite simply this is more essential viewing… from… the twilight zone.
