Twilight Zone Definitive Season 1 coming to DVD!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2296


Sounds exciting, and I'll likely get it (but not at the $120 they want for it)

 

Man, this is one series that has be packaged and packaged and packaged....makes Star Trek marketing look like childs play.

Still, this may be the way to go if you have resisted up to this point (like me!)

 

I resisted buying the individual DVDs for this and Star Trek (with only a few episodes each) for that reason.

I'm especially keen on the unaired pilot and the Herrmann isolated soundtracks. Could be great if done right..

 

The only reason I have not gotten the Twilight Zone DVDs yet is because of the expensive cost. I thought $75 for a mixmatch of classic episodes was a bit outrageous. But, if they are going to put them all together by season, hmmmm...and with superior transfers...i'm gonna buy this one!

I like the old Twilight Zone series because it is about the only TV show that I can rely on for being entertaining at any time. I can sit throught a whole lazy weekend watching them.

 

Agreed...there are few "Season" TV DVD sets that I would consider buying...this be one of them.

 

I agree with Grant. The best television show ever in my mind. I can't wait for this one.

 

The first three seasons of the Twilight Zone are amongst the finest three seasons of television history. If these are done right, I'll consider picking them up. I'll have to eBay, though... $119 is absolutely rediculous, I don't care what show it is

 

...after 3 times, ya think IMAGE would give those who bought the WHOLE series a break considering they made their money 2 times already!...There absolutely no reason for that list price...pure robbery, as they know there's a fan base that will keep re-buying...

 

Same people that will re-buy Star Wars DVDs?

 

...they know the fans...got milk? With the amazing bargains out there, this set is a step backwards. I love the TZ, one of my all time favs...I just can't see spending another fortune on something I already own...I could sell the 46 DVD's and get half the amount to repurchase which would ease the pain a bit...I wonder if all the shows will have the isolated score? The original run had them beginning with number 28.

 

My gut reaction is to say it makes no sense to re-purchase this if you already have them (unless you can sell yours for a good price).

However, it depends how much better the quality is, particularly the transfers...how much better can 45-year-old film for TV get?

But I don't have them already, so it's a no-brainer for me.

 

The isolated score could be great (esp. B. Herrmann) if done right (ie most or all tracks isolated). A minute or 30 seconds of each episode/piece would be....lame.

 

The price is baffling! It's comparable to the retail price for the full season Star Trek shows - which are one-hour compared to the half-hour Twilight Zones or twice the programming. What's even weirder is that Image is also releasing the first season of the Twilight Zone revival from the eighties - with equivalent extras and over 50% more material - for $69.99! (I'm happy as a clam that they are releasing the eighties series; it was, overall, very good with several outstanding episodes such as "Nightcrawlers" and "Paladin of the Lost Hour" with Danny Kaye and Glynn Turman.)

Amazon.com had the Trek season set for 35% off, so hopefully, we'll see similar deals online for this set.

 

I'm looking forward to this set. I've been reading about it for months and the quality will hopefully be fantastic. I believe the major difference between this upcoming release and the older releases is that they went to the original negatives/optical audio tracks. It seems like this time around the other purpose of the project was to create Hi-def masters for future use (a treatment a lot of other shows have been benefiting from) rather than releasing DVD product from older transfers. I was tempted a year or two ago to buy some of the older sets but I was expecting at some point a better version to come out. I'm guessing that the original TZ set has a much higher retail price than the 80's version because of the additional work/cost of the material.

 

This is absurd. I want this for the extras, but I can't see buying this all over again after having the entire set on VHS (bought through Columbia House subscription), and the 5 box set Collections on DVD.

Great news, but it sucks for me since I can't see buying this all over again.

 

personally i have held off and i am glad i did.

i cannot wait for this one, almost as exited as i was for land of the giants!

 

I'm with you Mike. I also have the entire series from Columbia House c. 1989-90. That was a very nice set, great packaging and the transfers were decent for the time. Unless there is something spectacular about this new DVD set, I'll pass, or if the discs are sold individually, I may buy a couple.

 

The "Zone" is one of my all time fave tv series, but in truth, many of the individual shows are kind of lame. Most of the western themed shows just don't stand up well to repeated viewings. But when the show was good...epsodes like "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", "Eye of the Behlder", "To Serve Man", "Walking Distance", "Miniature"...you all know them...no show was ever better! I have the laser disc sets and various tapes from those SF channel marathons, but I might buy the new dvd sets anyway!. I was sort of eyeing that complete set that came out, but couldn't pull the trigger.

Those seekings Herrmann's work, don't forget the Varese-Sarabande cd's (volume one). They might be out of print, but they are around! The first one has Herrrmann's eerie theme music as well as the lovely score from "Walking Distance". Superb!

 

I too bought into that Columbia House set. I recall there was a long period of time that lapsed somewhere around tape number 30 or 35, and the rest finally came out after that long delay. They WERE packaged well and the transfers were first rate for VHS.

I resisted the urge to begin collecting the individual DVD releases. Though I wanted the series on something more durable than VHS, I wasn't willing to spring for those individual discs - too pricey for something that I basically already had.

When Image began releasing the first of the five collections in a set, I managed to get Santa Claus to get that for me. Once I saw the episodes on DVD, there was no way I WASN'T going to spring for the rest of the sets.

Now that IMAGE is repackaging them with a few goodies, I think I'll pass on this issue. The other five sets were expensive enough and have what I want on them - the episodes themselves. They'll do until some future high-def release beckons to me.

Being a lover of soundtracks though, I do like the isolated scores. For those not aware, quite a few of the last set of releases had the isolated scores too. They began around Volume 28 and are hidden as Easter Eggs. Basically you can find them in the submenus by finding the right-hand arrows. Sometimes its an isolated score, sometimes its a product endorsement, sometimes an episode bumper.

There were five volumes of original score music released by Varese in the old LP days. I still have those along with at least one volumed on CD. Somehow I missed the others that came out.

 

I have all the individual DVDs, most of the first 20 or so on Panasonic, the later ones on whatever company picked them up after Panasonic. They're fine, and I can't imagine the transfers will be any better.

What I really hate about the individual discs, however, is that they just seemed to pull titles out of a hat and place them in groups of four on a disc. The chronological grouping of this new reissue is appealing. But I'm not gonna buy it all over again for that...

Wasn't that unaired pilot on one of the Treasures of the Twilight Zone discs?

Kwad

 

Actually they started out grouping them in a sort of thematic pattern. Naturally after awhile, this technique left them with a lot of unrelated odds'n'ends. But if you look carefully at the first 10 to 20, you'll notice a bit of a thematic relationship between the episodes. I could care less about the order - it's an anthology series - AND I can play them back in any order I choose anyway.

Yes, the unaired version appears on what's been renumbered in the Image Collection series as the last several volumes. As I recall it has some extra and longer scenes, though the print is not as good as the aired one. There's also the alternate titled episode for "Eye Of The Beholder", sometimes known as "A Private World Of Darkness" or something like that. The episode is identical except for the opening title.

 

The way the Panasonic DVDs started, they basically just duplicated the episode release sequence of the old CBS/FOX VHS retail volumes with some variation therein. (There were only about 22 tape volumes that made it to stores, plus a 2-tape special edition--around 50 episodes.) The last Panasonic DVD was Vol. 13, at which point they were released through CBS Video/Image Entertainment. That's when the episodes became so "pseudo-randomized", even though they tried in vain to "theme" each disc.

Am I going to splurge on the new B&W season set(s)? Man, that's a tough one...

I think for now, I'm just going to take a "wait-and-see" attitude on it--reviews, who'll have the best sale price, etc. I have all the first-generation DVDs as well. I passed on the prior box sets; I found out early on they were the exact same masters as before. The extras on the new set intrigue me, and I'm also curious about these "new hi-def" transfers. There were some mastering/quality problems on the previous discs that I hope will be fixed this time (some quick examples: there are sound sync problems with "The Fever" and "The Prime Mover"; the video portion of "Walking Distance", "Kick The Can" and a few others is muddied and very poor; "Cavender Is Coming" used the wrong audio track w/o the canned laughter of the original broadcast; and they used 2nd-gen, low-res film transfers of two of the six season 2 videotape episodes instead of the original tapes).

I will absolutely get the mid-80s TZ box in any event. That will be a cool set! The first two episodes I'll look at when I bring that set home are "Nightcrawlers" and "Her Pilgrim Soul".

 

TZ, mark II

Does anyone know if there are plans to release the 2nd edition of the Twilight Zone on DVD? Not the last grouping (Forest Whittaker narrated), which was pretty lame, but the version that was on CBS in the mid '80's. They has some really outstanding shows with great actors! Ihave a few on videotape and would love to get them on disc.

thanks!

oops...seems the previous poster answered my question. Just read it after the fact.

thanks anyway!

 

Both Season 1 sets will be out the same day (currently 12/28/04).

More info on the 1985 box is here.

 

Wow! Thanks for posting this Sonic...I can't wait!

I have most of the episodes on beta tape, but I'm buying this one anyway!! Those shows were just superb!

thanks again!