My Ten Favorite TV Shows!

My Favorite TV Shows!

by Kristin Battestella

I hope you’ve all enjoyed our Anniversary Countdowns!

When drafting all I Think, Therefore I Review’s Tenth Anniversary Top Ten Lists, however, I realized that some of my favorite shows are actually programs I’ve never reviewed. To rectify the lack of favoritism, here’s a bonus countdown of My Favorite Television Shows!

Ironically, you can click through to read full length and by season reviews of these Honorable Mentions, which have been reviewed at I Think, Therefore I Review:

Sharpe

The Bob Newhart Show

MI-5

Mr. Bean

Quantum Leap

I, Claudius

The Tudors

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Now then, here they are – I think. Lists such as these are always subject to change! I mean, there are still Are You Being Served?, The Sopranos, Rome, Frasier, Dallas, V, and Seinfeld but I digress. 

 

My Ten Favorite Television Shows!

10. Hornblower – C.S. Forester’s novels are also some of my favorite books, eva! This 1998 – 2003 series of television movie productions from A&E were not always perfect adaptations, for the later two fold Lieutenant Hornblower with inserted characters cheating on the literary mysteries were not as close to the written source as the original Midshipman film quartet was. Seriously, fight me on the “Who pushed Captain Sawyer” debate. That said, the seafaring revolution, continental action, naval battles, dynamic storytelling, and spirited lead Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four) combined for some damn fine award winning period drama that remains timeless entertainment. In today's era of franchise everything, the only real trouble with this series is that A&E went to crap and never finished bringing the entire novel canon to the screen. I protest!

9. The Twilight Zone – I used to stay up late at night and watch Rod Serling's 1959-64 classic on my giant little thirteen inch television set back in the days when we only had five channels and PBS would play the National Anthem before shutting off at 2 a.m. Maybe it is easy to say a child would be surely shocked by all the speculative twists and moral ironies from the boob tube's infancy. I thought this was such heavy stuff that didn't deserve to be on in the wee hours when no one would see it. Granted, there is a certain nostalgia that comes with the dated technological aspects and early television production – the word 'robot' was mispronounced and airplanes were afraid of stop motion dinosaurs. However, thanks to advanced storytelling and innovative television techniques, the perennial episodes herein remain provocative science fiction for a reason. My favorite has always been “The Invaders,” but recently, I've been leaning towards “The Howling Man,” and “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is as timely as ever. 

 

8. Buffy The Vampire Slayer – I have actually reviewed this 1997-2003 series in lengthy detail, albeit stopping and starting on a marathon or two during the show's weaker plots and dated flaws when not raving over “The Body” and “Once More, with Feeling.” However, through all the good and bad, proms, high school, college, vampire boyfriends, dark magic, death, and kid sisters, this remains an empowering paranormal package with groundbreaking television moments today's audiences might take for granted because they live in a post-Buffy, girl power world. 

 

7. The Mary Tyler Moore Show – Indeed this award winning 1970-77 series is a show that never fails to put a smile on my face. If I go a week or two without catching a television airing, I get an itch for a witty, nostalgic Mary fix. While it is easy to cite “Chuckles Bites the Dust” or “The Last Show” as must see favorites – and with very good reason – I find myself often quoting charming moments per episode, like when Sue Ann forces everyone to sing Christmas carols for her premature holiday feast in “Not a Christmas Story” or when cranky boss Lou Grant takes half the veal prince orloff and has to put it back in “The Dinner Party.” When Mary's mother says “Don't forget to take your pill” in Season Three's “You've Got a Friend,” both Mr. Richards and Mary both answer, “I won't!” Hehehe. It's that kind of pushing the envelope wink that keeps on giving. Ironically, I didn't like this series as a kid. However as I've gotten older, the groundbreaking sophisticated comedy and progressive characterizations have only gotten better thanks to the well balanced sentimental, then toeing the line statements, and forever laugh out loud hysterics. 

 

6. The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross – I’ve been watching this cathartic PBS and art instructional essential for thirty years – but I could not paint if my life depended on it no matter how effortless, gentle, and heartwarming our gnarly, tree hugging, animal loving teacher. Today's audiences have made Bob Ross a mellow pop culture icon, perhaps for the implied, grass-esque, counter culture undertones or the humorous “beat the devil out of it” two-inch brush cleaning. Every episode has a pretty picture wrapped in charming witticisms to get you through your day – unless, of course, Bob goes through all the trouble of making a beautiful, unusually shaped print in an oval and then sticks a giant tree out of the frame! If you haven't seen The Joy of Painting, no one can really explain it to you, because it isn't about the landscapes, wet on wet technique, and the artistically controversial use of oils with acrylic gesso so much as the “happy little clouds,” Pea Pod the Pocket Squirrel, and being blessed by a friend and told to have a good day before being reminded that we need darkness in order to see the light – both on and off the canvas. 

 

5. Star Trek: The Next Generation – I had to seriously consider if I like this 1987-1994 follow up more than the Original Star Trek. This first sequel series in the long running franchise takes everything that made the Original's serious science fiction for adults and runs with it thanks to Sir Patrick Stewart's diplomatic Captain Picard and in depth storytelling developments regarding the Klingons, Q, and The Borg. One never has the sense that we are watching a very special episode wrapped in science fiction allegory, but every hour provides a memorable nugget – which is difficult to do in a weekly series without seasonal arcs or ongoing storylines and underdeveloped female characters. Thankfully, timeless episodes such as “The Measure of a Man,” “Sarek,” “Yesterday's Enterprise,” and “The Inner Light” raise the emotional genre stakes while early dated episodes and now technological errors don't interfere with an always at the ready marathon. Whenever this is on television, I have to stop and see what episode it is – even with commercials because, “There are four lights!” 

 

4. The Golden Girls – With different family members, inconsistent plot points, and a house floor plan that never makes sense, the continuity of this amazing eighties staples is bemusingly nerve-racking. Did a misprint make Angela Angelo? How could Miles be a professor all those years but really be in the Witness Protection Program? How did they exit their kitchen in the back to get to the garage in the front? Nonetheless, there are a select few people with whom I can carry on entire conversations in Golden Girls references. The comedy writing for Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia remains top notch, and each episode has a quote for any situation, be it “From the pit of my stomach to the porcelain of the bowl...” and “The moon is hanging awful low in the sky tonight, isn't it, Busty?” or the now ironic “Who do you think you are, Donald Trump? You don't own this casino!” I never get tired of watching the progressive topics of “Sick and Tired,” “Adult Education,” or “Isn't It Romantic?” and the taut humor is largely handled by the four leads by letting the chemistry and wit play without resorting to any gimmicks. Well, except for the murder mystery in “The Case of the Libertine Bell,” but “Look fluffhead, why should I deny being in denial? I never said I was in denial. You are the one who said I was in denial, and don't you deny it.” 

 

3. Dark Shadows – As if there was any doubt of my love for this gothic soap opera complete with bad sets, flubbed dialogue, borrowed plots, and hokey special effects! Chuckle all you want, but this fly by night sixties production remains spooky thanks to paranormal storytelling, complex time travel, an entire company of supernatural characters, and a morose atmosphere that's been oft imitated but never equaled. At over 1200 episodes, this is a massive viewing undertaking, but you can click through to some of my in depth critiques on vampire Barnabas, werewolf Quentin, governess Victoria Winters, and pesky witch Angelique. 

 

2. Homicide: Life on the Street – “Ho, ho, Homicide. Our day begins when yours ends.” This 1993-99 critically acclaimed but should have won more awards series loosely tied to the Law & Order franchise is unlike any other cop show before and maybe since thanks to intimate camera angles, jump editing, a decidedly Baltimore feeling, and the simple notion that solving the case is both the biggest and least important thing for these quirky, struggling people in blue. The shootouts, corruption, violence, racism, sexism, abuse, religion, and social commentaries are tackled with season arcs, multi part episodes, and state traversing crossovers as well as with one kill, shows that never leave the squad room, or hours with just three men in an interrogation booth alone. On a whim I reviewed Season Four and have notes for other years, but to every person who inquires about the often forgotten yet increasingly timely and sometimes disturbingly prophetic Homicide, I merely implore them to watch the first thirteen episodes. If “Night of the Dead Living,” “Black and Blue,” and “Three Men and Adena” don't captivate you, nothing will. And that's before “Crosetti,” “Hate Crimes,” “Sniper,” “Justice,” “For God and Country,” “Narcissus,” and “Subway,” but I'll stop. After all, “You go when you're supposed to go, and everything else is homicide.” 

 

1. Blake’s 7 – Avon, Servalan, Orac. The Liberator. In speaking of my favorite television shows, anybody who knows me probably would have immediately mentioned this somewhat obscure 1978-81 British science fiction serial, because once seen, this is a series you will never forget. Granted, that's partly due to the bad seventies costumes, hair curlers for weapons, upside down special effects, and not one but three characters that are really just flashing lights. I kid you not. Likewise memorable in these fifty-two hours, however, are the SF with a capital SF allegory, loyal versus amoral characterization and interplay, commentaries on drugs, technology, or totalitarian regimes, and downright Shakespearean designs on what is at it simplest just meant to be Robin Hood in space. The score and opening title sequence are also sweet! I grew up taping this series with my dad off PBS late at night, and those videos are pretty worn out now. Yeah, they had British accents, but I was more awestruck that people didn't speak with this kind of sophistication anywhere else on television. “They murdered my past and gave me tranquilized dreams!” “Avon, for what it is worth, I have always trusted you from the very beginning.” Sniff! Ironically, series star Gareth Thomas found the plots increasingly hokey, but I can't think of any other series that so effortlessly handles how inaccurate its title became as an integral part of the series thanks to stunning teleplays such as “The Way Back,” “Star One,” “Rumors of Death,” “Sarcophagus,” “Terminal,” “Orbit,” and of course, “Blake.” As cryptic as that sounds, anyone who has watched this series knows exactly what I mean. Honestly, the only thing lacking in this excellence is a proper North American release. 

 

Top Ten: Horror Television!

Welcome to our new Top Tens series in celebration of I Think, Therefore I Review's Tenth Anniversary! These monthly lists will highlight special themes and topics from our extensive archive of reviews.

This time I Think, Therefore I Review presents in chronological order...

Our Top Ten Horror Television Series!

The Twilight Zone

Thriller

Dark Shadows

Night Gallery

Hammer House of Horror

Friday the 13^th the Series

Tales from the Darkside

Tales from the Crypt

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

Penny Dreadful

Please see our Horror page and Television guide for more small screen horrors!

I Think, Therefore I Review began as the blog home for previously published reviews and reprinted critiques by horror author Kristin Battestella. Naturally older articles linked here may be out of date and codes or formatting may be broken. Please excuse any errors and remember our Top Tens will generally only include films, shows, books, or music previously reviewed at I Think, Therefore I Review.

Unscary 80s and 90s Macabre!

An Un-Scary 80s and 90s Horror Helping!

By Kristin Battestella

Do you want to see something really scary? These cult classics of decades yore provide varying degrees of scares, spooky, sinister, and nostalgia better served for drinking game delights and evenings when you take the ominous none too seriously. Look out!

 

Amityville 2: The Possession – Very good zooms, askew camera perspectives, and haunted house phantom forces highlight this 1982 AIP sort of prequel starring Burt Young (Rocky), Rutanya Alda (Mommie Dearest), and James Olson (Rachel, Rachel).  Though a touch toward campy at times, the possession makeup and demonic bodily designs are seriously creepy, and the somewhat stereotypical family dynamics and abuses are no less disturbing and sinister as the household terrors increase. Unfortunately, the latter half of the picture inexplicably dispenses all the fine atmospheric build and turns into a wannabe Exorcist clone with bureaucratic church officials, red tape corruption, and inexplicably poor policing. What the heck happened? After such pleasingly juicy family fears, the finale goes for all the nonsensical cheap thrills, and as a result, the Amityville franchise timeline is completely miffed. This so-called prequel never reveals itself onscreen as such – in fact, it looks decidedly dated eighties, further confusing the supposedly real world happenings and horror movie liberties that already both make yet ruin this film series. Is this installment an account of the DeFeo Family from the Murder in Amityville book or not? If you leave the history out of it and forget the legalese meets exorcism ending, this is an excellent haunted house picture. For all its first half good, it’s a pity someone behind the scenes dropped the ball on this one. I don’t want to be so split on it, but this movie just unravels itself.

Kingdom of Shadows – Of course, this 1998 70 minute documentary narrated by late great Oscar winner Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) isn’t suppose to be scary but informative, and with early silent evidence and obscure footage, writer and director Bret Wood (Hell’s Highway) details the foundations of horror onscreen. The black and white visuals, cinematic screams, ominous scoring, and swift editing make for a fun eerie feeling, but the tone here is a touch too esoteric or highbrow thanks to a confusing, even ridiculously wordy approach. What’s trying to be said about the sex, demonic depictions, sadomasochism, and torture of uncensored silent film? Analysis on early religion and science as evil take up too much time, and these heavy segments aren’t meant for younger viewers. Fortunately, there is quality horror education in the F.W. Murnau talk and good versus horror clips from “The Golem” and “Faust” along with famous topics like Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, and Lon Chaney’s monstrous roles. The audience here, however, has to be one already familiar with movie history and horror film – the sole focus on silent movie making macabre combined with the lofty voiceover, necessary subtitles, and philosophical structure requires a finite niche indeed. Counterpoint interviews and expert discussion would have broken up the academia, and a resolution showing how these early beginnings translated into future horror cinema would have set off the silent spooky. For fans of foreign horror and often unknown early cinema, this is a nice treat – but it also makes a great atmospheric party showing on mute! 

Phantoms – Sisters Rose McGowan (Charmed) and Joanna Going (Inventing the Abbotts) arrive in a sleepy Colorado town turned deadly and join Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia), Ben Affleck (Argo), and Liev Schreiber (Scream) against evil in this 1998 barely R rated adaptation of Dean Kootz’s 1983 novel. We get right to the creepy ghost town suspense with fine simmering discovery, eerie bodies, subtle gore, and no technology or communications – it’s nice to see women thinking on their feet amid the unknown, too. Old time ringing phones, jump buzzers, and more fun sounds create shock moments and ironic use of Patsy Cline classics adds to the discomforting uses of light, dark, mysterious messages, and severed hands. The brooding, character piece direction and in camera action in the first half of the film is quite effective compared to today’s herky jerky in your face every minute awe and hype. Unfortunately, the ensemble atmosphere turns somewhat stupid once the cowboy hat wearing, too young, laughable, and woefully miscast Affleck arrives. Folks begin shooting at nothing and running off alone – I half expected Affleck to break character and ogle over the delightfully Cushing-esque O’Toole. Is this a small thriller or military action? We’ve seen other better small town invasion SF/horror, and the middle section here unravels with anonymous deaths, gruesome cool, and inexplicable monsters. We’re supposed to care when the initial players disappear for entire segments only to return for a redundant science versus religion, preposterous under siege battle of wits finale? So long as you don’t take the faux Lovecraft feelings too seriously or think too much on the smart but ridiculous techno babble, one can enjoy the early mystery and ultimately outrageous finish here.

Screamtime – There seems to be very little information online about this 90 minute 1983 anthology, and its very dated British on the streets low budget vibe will turn off some. The framing story is also fairly dull with bad dialogue and wooden acting, but the obligatory boobs pop out soon enough and that nostalgic charm can help heaps. It’s a top loading VCR! Those huge glasses! Puppetry and homely Robin Bailey (I Didn’t Know You Cared) anchor Tale 1 “That’s the Way to Do It” along with his pressuring wife Ann Lynn (The Vise). He clings to his childlike profession and the pace is slow to build beyond the family strife, but dizzyingly good killer perspectives, dark angles, and violent bludgeons overcome some of the laughable elements. It’s a familiar concept; sure, however several solid shock moments and the innate creepiness of Punch and Judy dolls make up the difference. For the Second Story “Dream House,” expected but suspenseful creaking sounds and household scares such as creepy kids, flickering lights, a conveniently non-functioning flashlight, and ominous bloody bathwater make for interesting jumps and twists. Is this ghosts, gaslighting, or hysteria? Though slightly dull to start and similar copycats like Psychosis are fairly recent, there’s a pleasingly effective downward spiral here. Next “Do You Believe in Fairies?” presents seemingly classy old ladies Jean Anderson (The Brothers) and Dora Bryan (Last of the Summer Wine) telling their thieving handyman about evil fairies and murdered lovers. Although there’s more of the same freaky dolls and gnomes, this is a quiet but crazy set piece with a mystical wink and some scares. Everything here is a little too humorous and this should be tighter in getting to the juicy of each tale – the woeful frame story breaks up the demented atmosphere, too – but the now period designs and spooky anticipation make for a relatively good time here. If only it were available on DVD!

 

The Twilight Zone: The Movie – Narrator and original Twilight Zone alum Burgess Meredith leads this 1983 anthology starring Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters), Albert Brooks (Defending Your Life), John Larroquette (Night Court), and many more. From the traditional opening titles to tapes stuck in the tape deck, old TV theme songs, and one hulky boob tube, the nostalgia and sentimentality is here for older audiences who appreciate the reflective charm. Though still relevant with nice wartime designs, foreign language uses, and intensity to match its disturbing social analysis, “Time Out” is a little too heavy handed compared to Rod Serling’s original subtly. The bigotry from the late Vic Morrow (Combat!) is upsetting, yet we feel for him as he learns his much-warranted lesson in a most unfriendly past. “Kick the Can” also makes statements on bitter ageism and a second chance at youth but keeps its whimsy thanks to Scatman Crothers (The Shining). The twist is obvious in this retelling and old folks playing can be silly, but that’s kind of the point, too. Kathleen Quinan (Apollo 13), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and Bill Mumy (Lost in Space) lead “It’s a Good Life” and its bizarre family analysis endears with its freaky funhouse style. Some of the effects become annoying and compromise the would-be black comedy commentary, but there are precious few scares here. Fortunately, with its fun thunder, lightning, music, excellent editing, airplane fears, and apprehensive shocks, the highlight “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” remake starring a perfectly panicky John Lithgow (3^rd Rock from the Sun) in the famed William Shatner role is still superbly relatable. While there are no bridging stories pigeonholing the reworked plots from longtime TZ writers Richard Matheson and George Clayton Johnson and Melissa Mathison (E.T.) and Jerome Bixby (Star Trek), the suspense and/or lighthearted attempt to capture the varied spirit of the unforgettably superior series is woefully uneven. Though speculative and thought provoking, the scary claims are definitely misleading, and the rug is taken out from under any momentum because we know how these remakes end. Directors John Landis (Animal House), Steven Spielberg (hello), Joe Dante (The ‘Burbs), and George Miller (Babe) feel late on the scene. Thanks to the tragic behind the scenes helicopter accident this try hard homage becomes an unnecessary, shoddy, and latent blockbuster vanity project. Sure, it looks great on blu-ray and can be enjoyed by those who’ve somehow never seen The Twilight Zone, but most of this is too dated for young audiences and too tainted for older viewers to appreciate.

This article originally appeared at Horror Addicts.net. Search our Kbatz posts for more macabre! 

 

The Twilight Zone: More Treasures and Volume 7

More Goodness from The Twilight Zone

By Kristin Battestella

Sometimes you just need a Twilight Zone fix. Any fan of classic science fiction, fantasy, or the unusual and bizarre knows what I mean. The entire series is available in a variety of DVD sets, collections, and compilations; so here’s some help on two discs containing some of the 1959-64 series’ gems. The Twilight Zone: Volume 7 and More Treasures of The Twilight Zone are a fine chances to introduce young fans to Rod Serling’s iconic series or to wax nostalgic on black and white, thinking man’s television.

The Twilight Zone: Volume 7 contains four classics, two from the first season and two more from season two. ‘Perchance to Dream’ introduces us to Richard Conte (The Godfather) and his difficulty to separate his heart condition from his daily life and his dreams. We all know the tales about dying in our dreams and how the night visions can trick the brain into thinking we are dead. Charles Beaumont’s examination of the heart, mind, and body still captivates us because we understand the fear of falling asleep and the harbinger of death it can bring.

Captain Embry (Robert Cummings, Dial M for Murder) finds his plane in the desert and his crew missing next in ‘King Nine Will Not Return’. Though it harkens to World War II, Serling again makes veiled social commentaries through fanciful fiction. Lost planes and soldiers reliving former war losses and glories for real or in the mind’s eye is certainly a story that can carry on the a Vietnam veteran or a Gulf War hero.

Likewise, Charles Beaumont and guest player Dennis Weaver (Duel) blur the lines of understandable dreams and realities in ‘Shadow Play’. A man on death row tries to convince the inmates and authorities around him that this is all merely a recurring nightmare from which his waking is worse then execution. Is a good night’s sleep really more important than our most terrifying dreams? What if our waking life and the dream world were in fact, reversed? Although the sixties styles onscreen and the filmmaking technology behind the scenes may seem dated to some, the intrigue of watching an intelligent half hour of television wins out again and again for The Twilight Zone.

Lastly on The Twilight Zone: Volume 7, ‘The Hitch Hiker’ serves up Inger Stevens (The Farmer’s Daughter) as Nan Adams, a young woman driving cross-country under the threat of a mysterious, reappearing hitchhiker. Maybe Serling’s story has become obvious by now. However, in addition to great twist endings, it’s The Twilight’s Zone’s unique ability to suspend our belief in getting there that lasts. Again an all too realistic fear keeps us entertained whilst in the Zone.

Instead of weeding through volumes and volumes of expensive DVDs, More Treasures of the Twilight Zone puts some of the most famous episodes of the serious all in one place for fans to enjoy. ‘The Masks’ starts things off here with the dying Robert Keith (Guys and Dolls) and his greedy family during Mardi Gras. This memorable season five episode from Rod Serling again quietly boasts real life statements veiled as the horrific. Keith asks each member of his family to wear a mask for Mardi Gras, a mask that shows more about who these people really are then their own faces. Again, probably not so hard hitting today because its so famous and oft imitated, ‘The Masks’ still makes us uncomfortable because it touches too close to the things we’d rather not face in ourselves.

The relevant social commentary continues with two back-to-back episodes from season two. ‘The Howling Man’, stars John Carradine (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) as a religious zealot who’s warnings about his howling prisoner go unheeded by a misguided guest. The acting here is a little over the top as a lot of older pictures are, but the double creepy ending warning us of the devil’s tricks and man’s weakness. The old school horror elements and the off the cuff handling of the serious subject matter keeps us thinking about the error of man’s ways fifty years on.

And of course, More Treasures of the Twilight Zone concludes with perhaps the series’ most famous tale, ‘Eye of The Beholder’. Where some folks may simple say, ‘You know that Twilight Zone episode where this happens or that person this…’, that does not happen with ‘Eye of the Beholder’. The title alone brings back all the beauty versus ugly, totalitarian commentary that The Twilight Zone is about; and of course, it’s masterfully captured in the likes of futuristic plastic surgery as only Rod Serling can write it. There really isn’t a famous star this episode, which is fitting, since the tale is about a woman waiting for the bandages to come off her new surgery-a surgery which will hopefully make her look like everyone else. Sure we know the outcome inside and out, but rewatching ‘Eye of the Beholder’ never gets old. There’s always something new here to notice and reflect upon. For most of the episode, we see no human faces-all covered up, hidden, and shadowed. How fascinating that in a visual medium, we are enthralled by a story about beauty, in which we almost see no faces! That, my friends, is the power of The Twilight Zone.

These and other Twilight Zone DVDs are available at most video retailers, online shops, or for rental. ‘Shadow Play’, ‘The Howling Man’, ‘The Hitch Hiker’, and ‘Perchance to Dream’ are also available to view free at IMdB and fancast. The Twilight Zone can also be found at Amazon on demand for a fee. The Twilight Zone: Volume 7 and More Treasures of The Twilight Zone help this timeless series keep its hold on us well into the 21^st century. Relive the primitive science fiction, bizarre fantasy, and thought provoking horror again or introduce the next generation today.

The Twilight Zone: Volumes 1 and 2

The Twilight Zone Never Goes Out of Style

By Kristin Battestella

 

Every once in awhile, you get that itch. That bizarre feeling that can only be quenched by Rod Serling’s classic paranormal anthology series The Twilight Zone. Growing up, I had a ten inch black and white television in my room. Late at night, when the other networks shut off (my sister called me on the phone one day to corroborate her story to my nieces-yes, television networks signed off in those days!) the only thing left on my TV was PBS and The Twilight Zone. This probably explains a lot about me, I know.

 

Several compilation videos and DVDs of The Twilight Zone have been released in recent years, as well as individual season series and sets. Here’s an analysis of my recent marathon from Volumes 1 and 2 of The Twilight Zone.

 

Volume 1 begins with the classic ‘The Invaders’. I remember this one from being a kid, and thinking I was so cool and special that I found this rare and genius television. Well, obviously everyone loves Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched) and this episode about a lone old woman tormented by tiny space invaders. Today it’s a big deal if someone can pull off one person television or present a program without dialogue or sound. ‘The Invaders’, however, is typical of the Twilight Zone’s vibe. You can’t take your eyes of the screen, no matter how silly or bizarre things get, and you are always bemiffed by the episode’s end.

 

‘The Night of the Meek’ is a fine Christmas tale as only Rod Serling can present. Art Carney (The Honeymooners) plays a down and out store Santa who finds a very special sack of presents. This episode is a bit more bittersweet than the series’ usually twisted self, but there’s still plenty of veiled commentary on alcoholism and charity.

Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) fans will of course enjoy ‘Nothing in the Dark’. The very young Redford plays a wounded policeman rescued by the very old and fearful Gladys Cooper (My Fair Lady). Some of the twists in The Twilight Zone are no longer so shocking, due to constant repeats on television, remakes, and parodies. Frequent Zone writer George Clayton Johnson (Logan’s Run) keeps the material here so crisp and tight, that it isn’t even the big end that’s what special. It’s the getting there that counts. Spoiled CGI fans of today may not realize that you can put two people in a room with a camera and great things can happen. The Twilight Zone is the proof.

 

The Twilight Zone: Volume 2 continues the greatness with Burgess Meredith (Rocky, Grumpy Old Men) and ‘Time Enough At Last’. If our current digital society someday looses books as we know it, I imagine this tale of a man who can’t get enough to read will be even more ironic and bizarre than it already is. Serling again gives us social analysis by packing literacy, materialism, and the atomic bomb all in one episode. I know I’d be up the creek without a paddle if it were me in this episode!

‘The Monster Are Due on Maple Street’ continues the social commentary. Offbeat as it is, The Twilight Zone is just as well know for its allegory and issues. When the families of Maple Street loose power, cars, and technology, they quickly revert to angry and fearful mobs, despite level headed Claude Atkins’ (Rio Bravo) attempts to stop the finger pointing. I always think of this episode when I see the very similar episode from the Sci Fi Channel’s short lived First Wave. Often imitated, never equaled!

We make fun of William Shatner (Star Trek), his stilted delivery, and goofy facial expressions, but everyone knows ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’. Richard Matheson’s (I am Legend) story about a man who may or may be seeing gremlins out his airplane window is one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes. So often the series blurred the line between the mind and reality, and Nightmare does a great job of giving us disbelief, confusion, and good old fashioned claustrophobia.

Lastly on Volume 2 is ‘The Odyssey of Flight 33’. Perhaps not as famous as its predecessor on this disc, but John Anderson’s (Macguver) missing airplane is just as creepy. Back in the day, aviation was a relatively new thing, and this fear of technology gone awry can still give us the wiggins. Are the effects hokey? Yes, but dated graphics should be a given when watching a fifty year old show. If you are looking for state of the art visuals in The Twilight Zone, I do feel that is missing the point. Serling’s speculative stories and bizarre twists make me feel more intelligent, more cultured for having watched. When was the last time you said that about some run of the mill reality series?

 

Although completists would prefer the season sets in the order that the series was intended or the complete collection, these compilation volumes are a great way to introduce non fans to The Twilight Zone. When you have that hankering for classic genre food for thought television, pick and choose your favorite Twilight Zone episodes today. When in doubt, check out a rerun on TV or sample free video online.