Judgement Night
Episode 10 – December 4, 1959
On a foggy night during the war, a man with no memory of who or where he is, finds himself aboard a tramp steamer heading out into dangerous waters where German U boats prowl.
The Purple Testament
Episode 19 – January 12, 1960
A lieutenant in the war tries to convince his superiors he has the distressing ability to see who is about to die.
The Obsolete Man
Episode 65 – June 2, 1961
In a future Utopian society, a librarian is condemned to death for being redundant in a world that no longer has books or religion.
A Quality of Mercy
Episode 80 – December 29, 1961
Eager to make his mark at the tail end of the war, a young soldier is determined to have his platoon kill the enemy sheltered in a cave.
From now on, my reviews on The Twilight Zone dvds will not go into any detail about the stories, instead I'll just very briefly sum up the basic plot. My reason for this is simple, and I hope you'll agree. I believe the stories of The Twilight Zone should be experienced with as little fore knowledge as possible, to allow yourself to be fully immersed in the events as they unfold. The majority of the shows only run for 25 minutes, so I don't want to ruin half of each episode by outlining the setup for you. Just watch them for yourself, and enjoy the experience.
Now, can I tell you my own little story?
When I was about ten years old, I was watching The Twilight Zone one night with my family, when suddenly, in my parent’s infinite wisdom I was sent to bed, as they deemed it to be too late for me to be up. Well, the problem was I was right in the middle of an episode I had never seen before and it was at the point where you start to wonder what twist the story is about to take. Many years later, I would occasionally wonder what happened in that story, as if it were an unfinished episode in the story of my own life. Then, about one week ago, I put this dvd into my player and discovered that it has the very episode that I left unfinished all those years ago. So, with a great sense of anticipation, I finally got to see how the show ends, and afterwards I thought that was finally the end to that little story in my life.
The funny thing is, while I was writing this review, I realised that now that I've finally seen it, unfortunately I really miss having that unfinished episode to think about, and I can’t shake the feeling that somehow I’ve been taught a little lesson in life - courtesy of The Twilight Zone.
Watching material filmed for television ranging back as far as 1959, I can’t find too much to complain about. The relative standard of this dvds fullframe B/W image to the previous volumes is generally the same. The quality varies between the episodes, with the Judgement Night (1959) and The Purple Testament (1960) lacking in shadow detail. A Quality of Mercy (1961) and The Obsolete Man (1961) both look great for their age, however, with plenty of crisp detail and variation captured in the tonal range.
A very effective collection that amply demonstrates the power Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone had in showing us the folly inherent in hatred.
This dvd keeps up the same standard of the previous releases in this extensive series.
Recommended? I should bloody well think so!