The Twilight Zone - Vol. 33

Rating:
Summary: These 3 Episodes should be Considered Classics
Review: This is the second time that THE ENCOUNTER has been issued on DVD. I do believe that this is a better transfer than the first. Written by Martin M. Goldsmith and starring Neville Brand and George Takei this a well-produced episode. This two-man play is a tour-de-force of acting and drama that is possible and rarely seen from this medium. Some men bury their guilt by making their own prejudices while others carry it as an inherited burden. How do men cope with guilt be it real or imagined and can ordinary circumstances set those emotions off in an unexpected explosion of violence? Neville Brand and George Takei find out. THE LITTLE PEOPLE is one of those very memorable episodes starring Joe Maross and Claude Akins as astronauts who land on a distant planet inhabited by tiny people. Written by Rod Serling it is one of his episodes where fate steps in and turns the tables. Again circumstances take hold of man and the demons he hides within. The most interesting episode that I found in this volume was NO TIME LIKE THE PAST from the 4th Season. Also written by Rod Serling this episode suggests a combination of his earlier works WALKING DISTANCE and BACK THERE. Dana Andrews is excellent as a scientist who travels back in time in an effort to prevent major historical events of catastrophic proportions from ever taking place. The earlier part of the episode is more technologically based but it slowly develops into a more endearing story focusing on scientist Dana Andrews as he decides to remain in the past. Once more circumstances beyond our control take hold of events. These are three very good episodes.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to play God in "The Twilight Zone" is never easy
Review: Trying to play God to greater or lesser degrees is the common element in this trio of episodes offered on Volume 33 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series. "The Little People," written by Rod Serling, tells of a spaceship that lands for repairs. While Commander Fletecher (Claude Akins) works on the engines, his copilot Peter Craig (Joe Maross) looks around and discovers a civilization populated by beings the size of ants. Terrorizing the tiny people, Craig declares himself to be a god and refuses to leave once the ship is repaired. In "No Time Like the Past," an hour-long Zone written by Serling, Dana Andrews stars as Paul Driscoll, who goes back into the past to change things so the world can avoid the nuclear war that threatens the present. But all of his efforts, such as assassinating Hitler, are thwarted. Then Driscoll decides that if he travels back to 1881, he can live a quiet life in a small town in Indiana. Of course, he is wrong. This is one of the weaker time travel episodes offered up by the Zone and suffers because it is dragged out to an hour's length. Finally, we have "The Encounter," written by Martin Goldsmith, which pits a bigoted World War II veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) against a young Japanese-American gardener named Taro (George Takei). Things come to a head when the samurai sword Fenton claims to have taken off a Japanese solider apparently inspires the two men to confess their worst sins when trapped in an attic. Ironically, Brand was the fourth-most decorated U.S. Army soldier from World War II. "The Encounter" is one of the Zone episodes that was not shown in syndication, presumably because of its fairly overt racism (for the time) and its somewhat offensive suggestion there was a Japanese-American traitor who was directing enemy plans at Pearl Harbor. This last episode is the only one on this volume that is really an above average Zone.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to play God in "The Twilight Zone" is never easy
Review: Trying to play God to greater or lesser degrees is the common element in this trio of episodes offered on Volume 33 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series. "The Little People," written by Rod Serling, tells of a spaceship that lands for repairs. While Commander Fletecher (Claude Akins) works on the engines, his copilot Peter Craig (Joe Maross) looks around and discovers a civilization populated by beings the size of ants. Terrorizing the tiny people, Craig declares himself to be a god and refuses to leave once the ship is repaired. In "No Time Like the Past," an hour-long Zone written by Serling, Dana Andrews stars as Paul Driscoll, who goes back into the past to change things so the world can avoid the nuclear war that threatens the present. But all of his efforts, such as assassinating Hitler, are thwarted. Then Driscoll decides that if he travels back to 1881, he can live a quiet life in a small town in Indiana. Of course, he is wrong. This is one of the weaker time travel episodes offered up by the Zone and suffers because it is dragged out to an hour's length. Finally, we have "The Encounter," written by Martin Goldsmith, which pits a bigoted World War II veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) against a young Japanese-American gardener named Taro (George Takei). Things come to a head when the samurai sword Fenton claims to have taken off a Japanese solider apparently inspires the two men to confess their worst sins when trapped in an attic. Ironically, Brand was the fourth-most decorated U.S. Army soldier from World War II. "The Encounter" is one of the Zone episodes that was not shown in syndication, presumably because of its fairly overt racism (for the time) and its somewhat offensive suggestion there was a Japanese-American traitor who was directing enemy plans at Pearl Harbor. This last episode is the only one on this volume that is really an above average Zone.

Rating:
Summary: More good tales from the Twilight Zone
Review: Well, we're up to the 33rd installment of this timeless series geared to SF fans everywhere. The DVD releases are clean and clear, restoring footage cut when viewed on syndicated T.V. Also on the DVD is a history of the TZ and a short bio on Rod Serling.

This particular release (#33) is only marred by the insertion of episode #151, "The Encounter". This particular story has already been included in the DVD series in "Treasures of the Twilight Zone". I don't see the need to have it included twice in the same collection -- it wasn't all that good in any event and there are still episodes which haven't been printed a first time yet. However, I'll buy installment #33 to get "The Little People" and "No Time Like the Past".

Other than that, I think you'll find this DVD a welcome addition to your growing collection.

~P~