The Twilight Zone

Yeah, for the longest time I thought I was the only person that actually liked this, but thanks to the internet I now know that I'm not alone.

And, like the first series, you get your fill of horror and science fiction ironic twists... more with an eye to horror in the 80s version and not so much science fiction. And one episode that seems like an updated Wicker Man.

Anyway, everything has been said already, so the best thing I can do is point out that it had everyone. I mean it had EVERYONE, every actor that wasn't a leading man in the 80s and some actors that were, it had has beens and will bes in it.

You're going to sit down and spend and episode screaming "Oh! I know him from!"

And in 2020, pure nostalgia.

I remember the "new" series of The Twilight Zone with much fondness. I grew up with them. I don't remember many films/TV programs from childhood, but one episode from this series stood out for me more than any other. It was called "The Burning Man" and it was the most eerie piece of film making I had ever witnessed as a kid. In fact it first inspired me to start film directing.

I know now that this short episode came from a book by Ray Bradbury, but it was the way the short film was shot that awe-inspired me. I seem to remember it featured a young Danny Cooksey as the kid. Had Piper Laurie in it too.

Please CBS, bring them out on DVD. (And do it proper with extra features!)

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.

I'm a big fan of the original Twilight Zone, and just as big a fan of this reworking of the 1960's anthology series. My family was thrilled in 1985 that the series had been resurrected. We watched it faithfully every week, no matter what strange day or time slot CBS moved it to and they moved it around to a new time slot each and every week it seemed. It was not a retread of the original show but an updated, modern incarnation that stood on its own. It featured amazing shows which were adaptations of short stories by acclaimed writers.

In the wasteland of 80's TV it stood out for its ingenuity and originality. Alan Brennert's "Her Pilgrim Soul" was, for me, the single best episode produced for weekly series TV since the original went off the air. For my husband it was "Profiles in Silver", a "what if?" for JFK fans. "Nightcrawlers" was a true imaginative nightmare that no one forgot once they watched it. "A Message from Charity" is the second favorite episode for most of the people I talk to. But with the network moving the show around to different days it became hard to find in the listings, and people gradually stopped looking for it because it was too difficult to keep track of. In short, CBS never gave this series the chance it deserved, and it sank into oblivion where the final insult was badly butchered episodes thrown into a syndication package. But despite this the series refused to fade away in fans' memories.

Finally, the first two seasons and the syndie third season (which for the most part is completely forgettable) are out on DVD. They are virtually uncut; some music has been replaced, and there are a few other anomalies. These wonderful stories haven't been seen in their entirety since the series aired over 20 years ago, until now. There are commentaries by Alan Brennert, Harlan Ellison, Phil DeGuere, actors, directors, writers, etc.

This is a must-have for all fans of the Twilight Zone no matter what incarnation, and Night Gallery as well. In many respects this show is a blend of the spirit of the original Twilight Zone and Night Gallery; it uses quality stories by many of the classic sci-fi and horror writers of the past forty years. TV in this new millennium is a wasteland of garbage and nauseous reality TV, and we could use stories and writers like this today. The 1980's Twilight Zone deserves to be seen as the classic it is, and this DVD release does it justice.

I still can't get enough of the original series. It is and was a classic, not to mention damn hard to compete with. The Twilight Zone that was resurrected was pretty good in it's own right. The stories I remember most was the Nightcrawlers episode and Cat and Mouse. The same sense of horror, dread and irony filled this series as well. It was pretty good and enjoyable. It was just too bad that it was taken off. It was one of the better of the redone television series.