Time Enough At Last: The Complete Twilight Zone, A Review

[Barry]

       Time Enough At Last: The Complete Twilight Zone, A Review
 
Tracy mentions the re-release of Twilight Zone, the Complete Original Series. But first a question….who narrated the Twilight Zone Pilot. (Hint) It was not Rod Serling.
 
Twilight Zone remains to these days one of the best written TV shows ever. People who don’t usually watch sci-fi have watched this series.  It often had great guest stars before they were famous. Stars that included Robert Redford as Mr. Death and Martin Landau.
 
First, and I have mentioned this before: Series that were filmed at Desilu studios, including this, Star Trek, Andy Griffith, Mission Impossible, Mannix  Lucy and Dick Van Dyke have been preserved magnificently. So this Blu-Ray looks terrific and is a big upgrade from the DVD. And it sounds great also. It is still mono, but sounds distinct and wonderful with no altering to get a 5/1 sound out of it.
 
This also has many features not before presented.  It contains Rod Serling narrating the coming attractions. It also features the first episode, the pilot, which appeared on Desilu Theatre. So Desi Arnaz narrates the first episode!  This features William Bendix going back in time to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Not a great episode, but the beginning.
 
They also feature the commercials that starred Desi and his wife Lucille Ball.
 
Sadly, the censors of CBS, National Assoc. of Broadcasters, Sponsors and the FCC were a burden to great of Serling. First CBS expanded it to an hour for the fourth season, something Serling did not want. Those episodes are here and some are just great. None are bad but some are not up to the standard of the first three years.  The fifth year was hard on Serling as the censorship and CBS management was just too much and he quit. While maybe not as good ass season 1-3 it’s still good with guest stars Ed Wynn, Telly Savalas, Jack Klugman, Lee Marvin and more.

[tripplej]

Thanks Barry for the review. The 1959 (5 season) series is my all time favorite.

I didn't catch the further reboots -- 1985 (3 seasons), 2002 (1 season), nor 2019 (2 seasons).

If you seen the 1985, 2002, or 2019 reboots, how would you compare?

[Barry]

Thanks Barry for the review. The 1959 (5 season) series is my all time favorite.

I didn't catch the further reboots -- 1985 (3 seasons), 2002 (1 season), nor 2019 (2 seasons).

If you seen the 1985, 2002, or 2019 reboots, how would you compare?

      < Sadly, of the ones I have seen, the remakes do not compare.
 
The most recent one, in 2019 and is on Paramount Plus, is the worst. It captures none of the atmosphere or depth of the original.  The hour-long remake of Shatner on the Airplane was, frankly, awful. (I forget the name)
 
In 2002 they redid some of the episodes. The original “The Eye of the Beholder” was an incredible episode. It was shot in black and white and therefore the shadows were no distracting and the ending was startling. Shot in color, with modern lighting it was not convincing.  The  Twilight Zone, with great writing and actors, was probably not just  a product of its time, but a product of Rod Serling.  I had big hopes for the new one, with no censors or time restraints, but I was wrong. Serling was missing.
 
One episode, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” though was effective in 2002.  Changing communists to terrorists it showed that people will always be fearful of enemies be they real or fictional.
 
For those who saw it and don’t know, Serling wrote the original movie  of “Planet of the Apes.” That ending was pure Twilight Zone.
 
 

[tripplej]

Thanks Barry. I will skip watching the reboots then.

[TRainH2O]

I absolutely loved the original Twilight Zone series as a kid. I remember it airing on Saturday evenings and occasionally on Sunday afternoons and I was glued to the TV.

After graduating from college with a broadcasting degree, I worked at a small market television station in Master Control. Part of my job was to grab taped shows for my shift and actually play them in the slated time slot. At one point, we had reruns of the original series and later The New Twilight Zone. While the new series didn't live up to the original, you could see brief glimpses of the original.

I even went so far as to find, buy, and rebuild a Twilight Zone pinball machine. I'll have to post a photo of it a little later.

As always, thanks for the review.