The Twilight Zone Season 3
Created by: Rod Serling
Review by Brian M. Sammons
The next season of classic Twilight Zone episodes will be available on Blu-ray for the first time on February 15. Season 3 has 5 discs, 37 episodes, and a ton of extra goodies, but really, do I need to sell you on the merits of The Twilight Zone?
Yeah, I didn’t think so, but I’ll give you some specifics of this new Blu-ray set anyway. I mean, it is sort of my job and all.
Season three of Tz has a great selection of episodes, from unforgettable classics, to lesser known stories that I had completely forgotten over the years. That last bit is not meant as a slight. On the contrary, as much as I love re-watching my favorites, it was nice to go back to a few episodes and feel surprised again.
As for those classics I mentioned, there the famous evil kid tale, “It’s a Good Life,” the overheated “The Midnight Sun,” “Kick the Can” which was remade as part of the Twilight Zone movie, “Little Girl Lost” which was remade as a Simpsons Halloween special … no really, there is “The Little People” which was miles better than the last Jack Black flick; Gulliver’s Travels, some Ray Bradbury goodness with “I Sing the Body Electric,” and one of the top five best and most memorable episodes: “To Serve Man.”
Just in case 37 episodes of spooky, weird, sci-fi perfection weren’t enough to get you to buy this set, there are a bunch of extras to help seal the deal. 20 of the episodes have audio commentaries for them. There are interviews with some of the actors and crew of the classic series. All of the episodes have isolated music scores, just in case you want to get down with some Twilight sounds. There are a couple of clips for the ’80s version of the Twilight Zone that remade some of the episodes found here. A whole bunch of classic radio interviews with people related to the show. Clips of Rod Serling appearing on the old time TV talk shows; The Garry Moore Show and Tell It To Groucho, and the game show Liar’s Club.
However, just like the previous season, the extra that I liked most was a collection on 19 dramatic reenactments of the episodes that were made for the radio staring the vocal talents of Don Johnson, Ernie Hudson, Adam West, Jason Alexander, Blair Underwood, Ed Begley Jr., and others. There are a few more extras to be had here, such as the usual photo galleries and the like, but they are really just icing on this impressive, multilayered cake.
All of the episodes have been touched up and polished so that they look great in hi-def. The soundtracks have likewise been remastered, but for you purists out there, the original audio tracks are also available. So between all the great episodes, the extras, and the polished updating, in all ways The Twilight Zone Season 3 on Blu-ray is not only a worthy addition to your home library, but also a mandatory one. Consider it extremely, highly, super-duper-ly recommended.
