The Show
Season 4 of The Twilight Zone was in fact a mid-season replacement (these 18 episodes ran from January thru May of 1963) for the show Fair Exchange, and the format was expanded to one hour (really about 52 minutes each) so that it could fill that slot in the schedule. This wasn't such a great idea. The Twilight Zone always took its sweet time getting to the point each week, now it took twice as long, and sometimes that point--the climactic revelation--received a heck of a lot more talk to drive it home. Worse, some of the plots were starting to become familiar (i.e. yearning to return to one's youth, as in "The Incredible World of Horace Ford") so they should be retold in less time, not more.
And then there were the comedy episodes, such as the season-ending "The Bard," but everyone knows what the soul of wit is. (And if perchance you don't, you can Google it.) Hour-long episodic television can also be more difficult to syndicate, and so many of these tales were not nearly as ubiquitous on the small screen as their half-hour counterparts following the original broadcast/rerun cycle of 1963. The show returned to its original half-hour format when it returned for its final season that fall, but more on that in a few months.
Despite the problems, the season had its highlights, with a slew of clever scripts from writer Charles Beaumont in particular. And stand by for some of those great golden-age-of-TV surprises like the sudden appearance of a twentysomething Burt Reynolds goofing on Marlon Brando ("The Bard") or a telepathic preteen Ann Jillian in "The Mute."
The Picture
The restored picture offers a predictably strong, stable 4:3 AVC image, marked with an acceptable layer of organic film grain but also tainted with just a bit of video noise. There is a tremendous amount of detail evident, even if it's often to be found just in the pores and pockmarks of the actors and the weave of their costumes. Blacks are sufficiently nuanced if not always ideal, but put in the proper perspective--almost-50-year-old TV--the results here are undeniably impressive.
The Sound
The audible disparity between the available Restored and Original options is not always blatant. Sometimes highs are a bit less shrill, low end might have a bit more boom as the dynamic range is improved in the new, default track, and it might even be perceived as a bit louder as a result. Hiss also appears to have been reduced versus the original. Worth noting is that all of the audio here (with the exception of that on the standard-definition video clips), including the extras highlighted in the next section, is in uncompressed linear PCM 2.0 mono.
The Extras
This set once again combines previously released material with fresh, exclusive content. There are 13 new audio commentaries featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author/film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), Twilight Zone writer/Waltons creator Earl Hamner, author William F. Nolan (Logan's Run), author Bill Warren (Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties), writer/producer Jeff Vlaming (Battlestar Galactica), writer/producer Joseph Dougherty (thirtysomething), authors/historians Scott Skelton and Jim Benson (Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour), and writer/producer Jaime Paglia (Eureka).
These join DVD commentaries from Marc Scott Zicree on "Death Ship" and William Windom on "Miniature." New to the set is part four of Zicree's 1978 audio interview with director of photography George T. Clemens.
Vintage audio recollections are a click away from Hamner and actors Ross Martin, Burgess Meredith, Pat Hingle and Anne Francis, as well video interviews with original cast and crew. Seven radio adaptations are brought to life by familiar contemporary actors, and isolated musical scores are once again supplied on all episodes, showcasing the works of Fred Steiner, Van Cleave, Rene Garriguenc and others.
Also preserved here are creator Rod Serling's next-week teasers, a blooper from "He's Alive," his promotional clip for The Famous Writers School, and even Rod hawking brew for Genesee in a lost commercial, plus the Saturday Night Live "Twilite Zone" skit with Dan Aykroyd. It's some terrific stuff, don't get me wrong, maybe just not as generous as on Seasons 1-3.
Final Thoughts
An important chapter in the history of one of television's most beloved programs, the penultimate Twilight Zone Season 4 Blu-ray--clearly its best presentation ever--is a worthy addition to a serious library of classic TV.
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