Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This 1985 Season One version of The Twilight Zone is an outstanding series and should not be confused with the mediocre 2002 version. This was the sequel to the classic Rod Serling series and featured some great stories that were very well written. It has all sorts of stories-science fiction,romance,horror,comedy,satire,fantasy stories and is an outstanding series. The opening titles include a one second animation of Rod Serling as a salute to the original creator. The Twilight Zone 1985 Season One DVD set has 24 one hour episodes with 59 stories. It is unique in that the stories vary from 10 minutes to 45 minutes and it is the only series that I have seen that did this. This series had scripts and stories from some of the best writers around-people like Richard Matheson,Steven King,Harlan Ellison,Arthur C Clarke,Ray Bradbury and Alan Brennert. It has scripts adapted from many published quality stories. This TZ series also had some top movie directors like William Friedkin,Wes Craven,Joe Dante and Jeannot Szwarc. The William Friedkin directed episode "Nightcrawlers" was described by one CBS television executive as "the most intense television he had ever seen",a very atmospheric episode with brilliant direction. The series starts with the episode "Shatterday" which features Bruce Willis in his television debut. Fans with good memories will note that when answering the phone,Bruce says "is that crazy Willy",a line that he repeated in the movie "Armegeddon". The episode "Paladin Of The Lost Hour" features the great classic movie star Danny Kaye in his final performance,and a great acting performance it is. Morgan Freeman also stars in an episode about a men's card game that gets a visit from the devil. Other actors include Oscar winner Martin Landau,Peter Coyote,William Peterson,Elliot Gould and Ben Cross. There is an in joke in one episode,called "Devils Alphabet",where Ben Cross(star of the movie Chariots Of Fire)chases a horse drawn coach that is on fire. Obviously,the writers have a sense of humour. This first season also features such actresses as Melinda Dillon(Close Encounters Of The 3rd Kind)Dee Wallace Stone(ET),Jenny Agutter(Logans Run),Helen Mirren,Victoria Tennant and Pam Dawber(Mork and Mindy). There are also many Star Trek actors in these Twilight Zone episodes-Jonathon Frakes,Brent Spiner,John de Lancie(from ST:The Next Generation),Andrew Robinson(ST:DS9)and Robert Duncan McNeil(ST:Voyager). Andrew Robinson plays President Kennedy in an eccellent episode called "Profile In Silver" which is about a time traveller going back in time to document and film the assassination. This set is in stereo and has 12 commentaries,an interview with director Wes Craven and a photo gallery. It is well worth having for fans that want a quality series with great stories. One other reason to buy this set-considering the picture and sound have been remastered,the price for this set is remarkable when compared to some of the other TV series box sets around.