La cinquième dimension

Rod Serling's series is resurrected and given new sparkle as these episodes were released in the mid-80's. They still capture the twist and intensity that the original Twilight Zone offered. Using a strong cast and many new names, at the time, the stories were able to keep viewers on the edge of their toes.

Season 1 has currently been released on DVD. Nostalgic enthusiasts who remember the show well may strongly be interested in adding this to their collection. Great stories like 'Button, Button', 'If She Dies', 'Kentucky Rye', and 'Nightcrawlers' have won fans over for the series.

I feel that in it's day, the people who set up the program schedules didn't really give it a chance. Though this is personal opinion, I believe that they had done that with several shows with strong potential. Great collection to add for any Zone Fanatic.

Here's hoping that the 1985 and 1986 versions of The Twilight Zone will one day be released on DVD as it was an outstanding series with well written episodes. The beginning titles have a half-second animation of Rod Serling in them as a salute to the originator of the series. The episode "Nightcrawlers" was directed by William Freidkin and is brilliant. One episode called "Shatterday" features the TV debut of Bruce Willis. There is also a small budget third season which was made after cancellation to make up the numbers for syndication,but it's budget was small and apart from one good episode,where a man is possessed by what looks like Christ,it is a poor third season. But the first two seasons are brilliant.

This show is another relic from my childhood and it's my fourth favorite anthology horrors and TV shows of all time. At the time I never even knew about the original Twilight Zone, so in a way this show was my way to it. Some would say that this show is not as good as the original but lets face it, the original is a tough act to follow. What makes this version stand out for me is that it's not trying to, it's trying to do it's own thing but at the same time stay true to the spirit of it's predecessor.

The effects are solid, well OK not all but effects for me aren't what make this show but really the storytelling and there are lots of great stories in this show that are great editions to the Twilight Zone mythos. I really love the theme opening which is another one of my favorite themes, it's also one of the creepiest one's I've ever seen up there with the openings of "Tales from the Darkside" and "Are you Afraid of the Dark" as we see some globe come through a window and there are some random bizarre images along with really creepy tunes from a carousel horse, a creepy looking doll, a nuke explosion. But that opening perfectly set the tone for the anthology where anything can go and anything is possible.

This show also had a lot of well known directors and writers whom have contributed to this show. Directors like the late great Wes Craven, Joe Dante, etc. Down to some writers like one of my favorite sci-fi writers "Greg Bear" if you can believe that, J.Michael Strynski, Steven King, etc. These facts make watching the show all the more interesting just to see their imput/contributions to the Twilight Zone mythos.

There are plenty of memorable stories a few of my favorites are "Matter of Minutes" which is a bizarre story that really tackles a very interesting concept about time. "Profile in Silver" this story predates Steven King's "11/22/63" as both uncannily have the same plot line about a man traveling back in time to prevent the assassination but comes back with mixed results. "His Pilgrim Soul" which was written and directed by Wes Craven is a really bittersweet tale that can really tug at your heartstrings. And of course my favorite "Dead Run" which is thrilling and really takes some turns you'd never see coming.

The 80's Twilight Zone is a dimension worth visiting.

Rating: 4 stars

I remember when I saw the first commercial informing me that they were going to bring the series back. I was so happy.

I watched the new series faithfully and loved almost every episode. My favorite is still Nightcrawlers which is based on the short story of the same name by Robert R. McCammon from his short story collection Blue World. Other stories in it are just as good and should be read by all fans of this episode.

They also used many other great writers from which to get their material. Examples include Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Steven Bochco, Arthur C. Clarke and Sidney Sheldon.

I would love to be able to get all the episodes of 1985 series on DVD to go with the originals.

While many whill claim this as the superior series or vice versa, the reality of the matter is that this series tends to stand on its own two feet. With darker and more modern stories, the regular Joe who might have felt alienated by the original series. One could relate to the power and delicious eeriness of this new collection of nail biting stories and haunting epithets of fear. Very few shows these days put the same amount of passion into a series like this one did for the longest time. Hopefully, the newest incantation will be just as good as the first two. I will state this though, the 1980s version of the theme song and the opening was much better than the original.