you are correct. I received an e mail today saying that the MSRP had been sent out at an incorrect price of 119.99, and will drop to 99.99 next week. So anyone not finding it at the 99.99 price should wait a week.

This seems the ideal place to ask a simple question...

With Costco having sets 1-3 at such a good price, if your budget only stretched to one of these sets, which one would you choose?

Help a TZ newbie make his choice!

Personally, I'd look over the list of eps and see which set had the most you remember/like.

if costco has the book with season 1 i would snatch that one up.

I finished trudging through the Season 3 set last night, and I'd recommend the 1st season. It has the largest number of high quality episodes of the 3 and also has the best assortment of special features IMO.

das

No Book with my S1 set
 

I also finally received my backorder of S1 from DDD and found no book. :sad:

I just e-mailed them to say I saw no reason for the price to be $11.00 higher if it is now the same as S2 with no book. -ohbfrank- I actually asked for a price adjustment. If they decline, I may just request a refund and wait until the manufacturer realizes their mistake and makes the price equal to the sets with no book.

On the other hand, S1 is six discs compared to five for the others, right? Oh, blast it all! :hairpull: I might send it back anyway, just to look for a set with the book.

The book isn't worth it. It's small sized compared to the official edition. You're better off just buying the set and buying the book separately. It sells for $10.85 on amazon.com

wanted to give everyone a heads up (for those who don't check out the bargains forum). DeepDiscountDvd is doing a big sale on Image titles (just a little bit more than the 20% off sale) All of the definitive edition Twilight Zone Box sets, and the 80's Twilight Zone Sets are on sale. This is a great time to pick up these sets. Offer has been extened until 08.05.05.

original thread

Some Image titles on sale @ DDD

Direct Link To DDD Sale

Thanks Cameron, I was looking for a good explination of when and what seasons there were. I am going to buy some of the 80s / 2002 collections and was having a hard time at the DVD store figuring out which set had which shows. Any opinions of the best of the later collections? I don't know what I have seen over the years. I think I missed most of the 2002 series, was it good? I see some reruns at night but really don't know which season they come from so it is confusing!!

The 2002 series was widely reviled. It didn't find an audience, and was sadly short lived. I watched several shows when it originally aired, and there were a few gems among the batch. Remakes and sequels to classic shows that were fun just for nostalgia sake. There were a few real stinkers in there as well, but for the price it is worth a blind buy for a twilight zone fan.

The 80's series is full of good episodes. It was a pretty well recieved revival of the series. I would suggest just starting with Season 1 and working you way through to the next. I think you will enjoy it.

Don't forget to try on some those classic episodes as well. I believe the Twilight Zone was one of the greatest television series that ever ran, and knowing where it started sometimes can help you enjoy the modern day incarnations. You get a feeling for what the essence of the show is, and can see it carried over in the latter series. Some of the old single disc best of's can be had for around five bucks. Buy the volume two disc, and you might get hooked into buying the full on definitive box sets.

das monkey has written some great reviews which are linked in the original post. Thats a good place to do some research. He has some good insight on the series, and you can tell he really loves the series.

See you in the Twilight Zone
Cameron

The UPN 2002 version blew. I mean, it was TERRIBLE. I think the only good episode I saw in its run was one about a soldier (Gil Bellows) coming back home to his estranged wife and kid. The revelation at the end is quite predictable, but the son and Gil Bellows (Tommy from The Shawshank Redemption) did a fantastic job with average writing. For some reason my right eye was watering by its end, and I have no idea why.

I've got the first season of the 80s version, and it's pretty hit or miss. "Paladin of the Lost Hour" lives up to its hype, "The Cold Equations" did not, neither did "Profile in Silver." "Dealer's Choice" is a very fun episode, especially being from Jersey - "What's the Devil doing here in New Jersey?" "Are you kidding, Tony, I think he lives here!" Best overall was definitely "A Message from Charity," very emotional.

TVshowsondvd confirms what we already new about the rest of the series. They also have cover art for season 4 up, which I will add to the OP in a day or two.

Image has also kindly provided details about the final season of the show on DVD. Twilight Zone - Season 5: The Definitive Edition will arrive on December 27th (so fans should ask for gift certificates or gift cards from their favorite DVD store to be put into their Christmas stockings). Cost is the same as the 4th season: $99.99 SRP in the USA, and CA$109.99 in Canada. There's no box art available for it yet, but we do have their description of the set and its extras. Unfortunately, there's no sign of certain supplements that fans hoped to see before the DVD run finished up, such as "The Time Element," which was Serling's original pilot for his concept, which was shelved by CBS as a series until after the episode's success as an installment in 1958's Desilu Playhouse series. It's possible that Image simply could not secure the rights to that item and others like it, though. Too bad. Still, there's a lot to look forward to:

Unlock the door to another dimension with the fifth and final season in Rod Serling's classic series charting the outer reaches of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Stunning Brand-New Transfers! Remastered from new high-definition film transfers using the original camera negatives and magnetic soundtracks * Commentaries and Interviews featuring Mickey Rooney, Martin Landau, Michael Constantine, Bill Mumy, Carolyn Kearney, Marriette Hartley, and Earl Hamner, Jr. * Excerpt from Rod Serling's Sherwood Oaks College lecture * Highlights from the Museum of Television and Radio seminar * The Art of Editing * Season 5 Billboards and Photo Gallery

EPISODES: In Praise of Pip - Steel - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - A Kind of a Stopwatch - The Last Night of a Jockey - Living Doll - The Old Man in the Cave - Uncle Simon - Probe 7, Over and Out - The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms - The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms - Ninety Years Without Slumbering - Ring-A-Ding Girl - You Drive - The Long Morrow - The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross - Number Twelve Looks Just Like You - Black Leather Jackets - Night Call - From Agne, With Love - Spur of the Moment - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Queen of the Nile - What's in the Box - The Masks - I Am the Night, Color Me Black - Sounds and Silences - Caesar and Me - The Jeopardy Room - Stopover in a Quiet Town - The Encounter - Mr. Garrity and the Graves - The Brain Center at Whipple's - Come Wander with Me - The Fear - The Bewitchin' Pool

Stay tuned for 5th season cover art, plus any updates we have for you down-the-road.

Too bad about "The Time Element." I guess I'm stuck with transfering my VHS copy over to DVD-r now.

Apparently CostCo has Season 4 out early (like season 3) for $54.99, with a $25.00 mail-in rebate if you buy it along with any of the previous three seasons. Doesn't help me, since I already have them!

Okay, did this thread totally die, or what?

Did anybody notice that the stills gallery in the season 4 set include stills from OTHER seasons? I spotted one from season 3's "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" and one from season 5's "Black Leather Jackets." Strange.

Also, the graphics on the box spine are WAY bigger than the previous sets. Shame, since it looks kinda mongloidish next to the other sets. Maybe the graphics are enlarged because the episodes are longer? ;)

Come on, you guys.... don't make me talk to myself in here!

no doubt. Das Monkey is working out his review, and it should be posted here in a few days for all to see. Season 4 always gets a little grief with the changed format. That is weird about the still galleries though.

thought i would add a quick review from Barrie Maxwell. Das Monkey is working on the review for season 4, and assures me he will keep us informed. Until then enjoy.

The Twilight Zone: The Definitive Edition - Season 3 (1961-1962)
(released on DVD by Image on June 28th, 2005)

The Twilight Zone: The Definitive Edition - Season 4 (1963)
(released on DVD by Image on October 18th, 2005)

The original Twilight Zone television series lasted for five seasons on CBS during the period 1959-1964. Hosted and mainly written by Rod Serling, it was a show of ideas and altered realities ranging from the occult to science fiction to fantasy, in stark contrast to the western, detective, and comedy series that tended to dominate primetime television at that time. Over the intervening years, Twilight Zone has retained the imagination of old viewers and excited that of new ones, sparking new Twilight Zone series and a feature film. None of these have managed to match the excellence of the original, however. The original series has had numerous video incarnations, but the best one is Image's current series of full season box sets that originates from high definition transfers utilizing the original camera negatives and magnetic soundtracks. Seasons 3 and 4 have been released during the past four months and the fifth and final season is slated for a late December appearance.

Season 3 comprised a total of 37 half-hour episodes with the first one airing on September 15th, 1961 and the final one on June 1st, 1962. It and the first two seasons are generally considered to contain the bulk of the series' many fine episodes. Highlights from Season 3 include: Two, The Grave, Nothing in the Dark, It's a Good Life, Deaths-Head Revisited, To Serve Man, A Game of Pool, Kick the Can, Little Girl Lost, The Dummy, The Changing of the Guard, and The Trade-Ins. Appearing are the likes of Lee Marvin, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Joseph Schildkraut, Elizabeth Montgomery, Gladys Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Lloyd Bochner, Gary Merrill, Dean Stockwell, Jack Klugman, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, Buster Keaton, Barry Morse, Cliff Robertson, Carol Burnett, and Donald Pleasence. That's a pretty fine pedigree for any series, but merely typical of what Twilight Zone offered throughout its run.

Twilight Zone was slow in lining up a sponsor for its fourth season and it did not appear on CBS's fall schedule for the 1962-1963 season. Eventually the difficulties were resolved and the series was renewed. Its return, however, would be in a one-hour format and would be delayed until January 1963. Consequently, Season 4 comprised only 18 episodes with the first one airing on January 3rd, 1963 and the final one on May 23rd, 1963. Probably unlike many fans, I have a particular fondness for the one-hour episodes mainly because they were the first Twilight Zone programs I can remember watching regularly. Even now, although I appreciate the craft of many of the earlier half-hour programs, the extra time allowed the fourth season shows to have generally better character development, as one might anticipate. In reviewing this DVD release, I was particularly delighted to revisit Valley of the Shadow (Ed Nelson finds himself trapped in a small town where the townsfolk can perform amazing feats), He's Alive (Dennis Hopper as a neo-Nazi leader craving power and attention gets help from an unexpected source), Death Ship (Jack Klugman and his crew discover a wrecked duplicate of their spaceship and their dead bodies), Printer's Devil (Burgess Meredith offers the devil of a deal to save a failing newspaper), The Parallel (astronaut Steve Forrest returns to the Earth he knew, or does he), and The Bard (would-be TV writer Jack Weston gets help from the ghost of William Shakespeare).

As with its box sets for Seasons 1 and 2, Image has again delivered (as the titles state) the definitive editions of Seasons 3 (a five-disc set) and 4 (a six-disc set). The full-frame transfers are without exception amazingly good - crisp, well-contrasted, and characterized by great image detail. There are of course a few speckles and the odd bit of debris, but that's insignificant in comparison to the pleasure of seeing the programs look better than they ever have. The mono sound is also in fine shape with all dialogue sounding very clear. There is some mild background hiss in evidence, somewhat more so on the fourth season episodes, but it's never an issue in enjoying the programs. English captions for the hearing-impaired are provided.

An impressive collection of supplementary information is offered in each set. Every episode offers at least one supplementary item, ranging from isolated scores to audio commentaries, interviews with particular cast or crew members, complementary Twilight Zone radio dramas, or clips from episodes remade as part of later Twilight Zone series. Additional bonus materials are included on the final discs of each set. For Season 3, these include various promo spots for SciFi Channel Twilight Zone marathons and for Rod Serling's later series Night Gallery, a photo gallery and various sponsor billboards, a promo for the Famous Writers School in which Serling was involved. For Season 4, there is a "Twilite Zone" skit from Saturday Night Live, a Genesee beer spot featuring Rod Serling, as well as more photos, promos, and advertising billboards. Both sets also offer DVD-ROM access to The Twilight Zone 34-page comic book.

Both sets are recommended, as incidentally are the sets for Seasons 1 and 2. The Season 1 box is particularly attractive as it includes a hard copy of the second edition of the series' bible - the 466-page "The Twilight Zone Companion" by Marc Scott Zicree.

I'm still waiting on final product. I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't want to submit an incomplete review.

das

What's the deal with the no-book season 1s? I just grabbed mine from CostCo the other day, read the DVDTalk review and sighed despondently.

it was limited run, a perk for buying early. The good news is you can still buy it seperatly. Its a must have companion piece, bummer you missed out first time around.

I'm not sure it's a must-have, especially since almost all the info can be found in the supplements on the DVDs. Now, back in the early 80's, it was ABSOLUTELY essential. But with a multitude of internet resources (and the aforementioned DVDs), Zicree's book becomes less and less impressive in my opinion. I'm hoping somebody tackles TZ on a grander scale (like the excellent Outer Limits Companion, for example).

das Monkey got his review up. check it out.

The Twilight Zone - Season 4 (The Definitive Edition) review by Das Monkey