The Twilight Zone - Season 1 (The Definitive Edition)
(Image)

If you’re like me and held off on purchasing any of the previous Twilight Zone DVD collections, there’s no longer any need to hesitate. If you do own the older sets, it might be time for an upgrade.

Possibly the best sci-fi/horror/supernatural series ever produced for television, The Twilight Zone boasted impressive scripts from some of the best writers in the business (including host Rod Serling), outstanding cinematography and chilling musical scores that served to further intensify the performances. For this “definitive edition,” Image has done a fantastic job of restoration, remastering the 46 year-old episodes from high-definition transfers using original camera negatives and magnetic soundtracks and they have never looked this good before. Each of the 36 shows include bonus features: audio commentaries and recollections from actors, writers and producers such as Martin Landau, Rod Taylor, Anne Francis, Richard Matheson and Buck Houghton, isolated musical scores from Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenmann and others, radio dramas, Rod Serling audio lectures and promos for the following week’s show that have not been seen since their original airings. An additional disc of extras includes the original pilot version of “Where Is Everybody,” rare clips of Serling at the Emmys, pitching the series to a network in the Netherlands, a blooper clip, an issue of the Twilight Zone comic book and more. If all that wasn’t enough, there’s also a copy of The Twilight Zone Companion book that contains in-depth details of every episode of the original series’ five-year run.

Of course the best things about The Twilight Zone were the stories and the actors who brought them to life. Some were pure sci-fi, some were cautionary tales that depicted the best and worst aspects of humanity, but all of them made you think deeply about what you had seen, unlike modern TV and film productions that rely less on plot and character development and more on special effects. It doesn’t get much better than this.