Mirror Image
Episode 21, February 26, 1960
Millicent Barnes waits at a bus depot late one night. She knows there is something odd going on but she’s not quite sure what. Other people there swear they’ve spoken to her and seen her during the night, but she’s certain that it’s never happened. But who have these people seen and spoken to if it hasn’t been her?

Dust
Episode 48, January 6, 1961
A man sits in jail in a squalid small town. He accidentally killed a young girl while drunk and now he’s to be hanged. This is a town that has lost all hope and faith, but the father of the young man hasn’t lost hope. The hope that the “magic dust� he has bought will change the townsfolk and help them forgive the young man before it is too late. Yes. "Magic Dust". Sure. You mean Peruvian Nose Candy, don't you? Some Lauda Powder, Brain Strength Ajax, Nose Grout, Year Round Snow. Magic Dust, indeed.

Five Characters In Search Of An Exit
Episode 79, December 22, 1961
An army major wakes in a round room. He can’t recall who he is, or how he got there. Also in the room is a clown, ballet dancer, hobo and bagpiper. None of them know who they are or how they got to be in the round room either. Even though the others have grown to accept their fate, the major won’t, so he organises them to find where they are –if they can only make it out of the room everything will be revealed. I had weekends like this when I was single. Ahhh, fun times...

Ninety-Years Without Slumbering
Episode 132, December 20, 1963
There’s something wrong with Grandpa lately. He doesn’t come out of his room, and all he does is tinker with his old grandfather clock. He’s obsessed with it running on time, and making sure it never ever winds down. Worst of all, he honestly believes that if it stops, he’ll die. Grandpa is a silly old duffer, isn't he? Maybe we should put him in a home.

As usual, The Twilight Zone comes to us as a fullframe black and white image, and dvd would seem the perfect place to archive it’s unique qualities for posterity. For the age of the show, with episodes on this disc ranging from 1960 to 1963, the picture is relatively detailed and clear, though occasionally a little soft in sections. There’s plenty of detail in the final show (made in 1963), which also exhibits the best clarity and sharpness of all episodes on this dvd. The audio tends to contain a bit more hiss underlying the dialogue than usual in the first episode, but this clears up to varying degrees through the remained of the shows. Yet, this is never intrusive to the general listening enjoyment and the normal audio qualities of the show –dialogue, score, effects, etc- all come up sounding fine, again with the final show being the best of the lot.

The extra features on the dvd consist of a selection of text based screens. They contain a Rod Serling Biography, Season By Season Commentary, History Of The Twilight Zone and Reviews of the individual episodes on the disc. Sure, it’s not a comprehensive package, but there’s some good (but brief) reading, and the reviews are quite interesting.

I think the problem with this volume of The Twilight Zone is that after the strong start of Mirror Image, the dvd has trouble keeping the quality factor up. "Dust" is a simple tale about faith, but takes too long to tell it without any real strong narrative. "Five Characters.." has lots of potential early on, but again doesn't quite go as far as it really could have. "Ninety Years.." is strange because you just feel that it didn’t turn out like it should have, and a quick read of the review in the extras section reveals exactly this fact. Still, I'm a sucker for the show, so any Twilight Zone is good Twilight Zone, as far as I'm concerned. But if you're just a casual dabbler in the series or don't quite have the funds to buy every volume in the series just yet because your alimony payments are bleeding you dry, then hold on to your money for now.