The good news is we’ve got another stellar 36-episode collection of The Twilight Zone in pristine condition and loaded with extras, both new and legacy. The bad news is that the season in question (1963-64), was the show’s last. Some of the classic episodes included: William Shatner freaking out on a plane (“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”), Telly Savalas receiving death threats from a doll named Talking Tina (“The Living Doll”), Martin Landau trying to find a bomb hidden in his hotel room (“The Jeopardy Room”), George Takei and Neville Brand coming to blows over WWII (“The Encounter”), Maggie McNamara being beckoned home with a Final Destination-esque twist (“Ring-A-Ding Girl”), and an old codger convincing his horrible family to wear ugly Mardi Gras masks to earn their inheritance (“The Masks”). It’s clear the show was rehashing the same themes covered in previous seasons — dummies controlling ventriloquists, giants stalking people, lessons learned through isolation — but every episode of The Twilight Zone is like a precious relic that demands respect, and these Blu-ray collections have properly honored Rod Serling’s show for us and future generations.
Video: 1080p 1.33:1; Audio: PCM Mono; Blu-ray Exclusives: Blu-ray Exclusives: Twenty new commentaries, featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author/film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), Twilight Zone directors Ted Post, Richard Donner and Robert Butler, writer Earl Hamner, actors George Takei and Peter Mark Richman, author/historian Martin Grams, Jr. (The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic), authors/historians Jim Benson and Scott Skelton (Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour), author Bill Warren (Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties), writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Coraline), writer/director Michael Nankin (Battlestar Galactica, CSI) and radio host George Noory (Coast to Coast AM); Conversations with Rod Serling; vintage audio Interview with director of photography George T. Clemens; 22 radio dramas featuring Louis Gossett, Jr., Adam Baldwin, Peter Mark Richman, Beverly Garland, Adam West, Bill Erwin, Luke Perry, Mariette Hartley, Ed Begley, Jr., Kate Jackson, Mike Starr, Stan Freberg, Jason Alexander, Jane Seymour, James Keach and Karen Black; Special Features: Commentaries by Bill Mumy (“In Praise of Pip”), Mickey Rooney (“The Last Night of a Jockey”), June Foray (“Living Doll”), Mariette Hartley (“The Long Morrow”), Marc Scott Zicree (“Number 12 Looks Just Like You”), Alan Sues (“The Masks”) and Martin Landau (“The Jeopardy Room”); video interviews with Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner, Bill Mumy, June Foray, Carolyn Kearney, Michael Forest, Nancy Malone and Terry Becker; isolated music scores featuring the legendary Bernard Herrmann, Van Cleave and Rene Garriguenc; the Mike Wallace interview (September 1959); Netherlands sales pitch; excerpt from Rod Serling's Sherwood Oaks Experimental College Lecture; Alfred Hitchcock promo; rare George Clayton Johnson home movies; Rod Serling promos for "Next Week's Show”; Twilight Zone Season 5 billboards.
