The Twilight Zone - Vol. 24

Rating:
Summary: Strangers visit three towns located in "The Twilight Zone"
Review: Places are strange all over might best describe the common element for this trio of episodes on Volume 24 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series. "People Are Alike All Over," written by Rod Serling and based on the short story "Brothers Beyond the Void" by Paul Fairman, has an American space ship crashing on Mars. Warren Marcusson (Paul Comi), who believes people are alike all over, is killed, while Sam Conrad (Roddy McDowell), who does not share his comrade's optimism, is left to face the Martians. However, when the Martians appear they are human and use their telepathic ability to build Sam a house that looks like the one he had on Earth, he thinks that maybe everything will be all right. In "Valley of the Shadow," an hour-long episode written by Charles Beaumont, has Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson), encountering the strange little town of Peaceful Valley, where he learns that they have machines that create ham sandwiches out of thin air and bring dead dogs back to life, having learned the secrets of a miraculous power source from a visiting alien. Redfield thinks they should share this with the world, but the town elders give him a choice: stay in Peaceful Valley forever or die. Three men in "Black Leather Jackets" arrive in a small town on motorcycles, the first wave of an invasion force in this story by Earl Hamner, Jr. One of the aliens, Scott (Lee Kinsolving), develops a romance with local girl Ellen Tillman (Shelley Fabares), the others consider him a traitor. When the orders come into to poison the town's water supply, Scott tries to warn Ellen and the others of what is about to happen. This volume offers three solid episodes from the classic television series.

Rating:
Summary: Strangers visit three towns located in "The Twilight Zone"
Review: Places are strange all over might best describe the common element for this trio of episodes on Volume 24 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series. "People Are Alike All Over," written by Rod Serling and based on the short story "Brothers Beyond the Void" by Paul Fairman, has an American space ship crashing on Mars. Warren Marcusson (Paul Comi), who believes people are alike all over, is killed, while Sam Conrad (Roddy McDowell), who does not share his comrade's optimism, is left to face the Martians. However, when the Martians appear they are human and use their telepathic ability to build Sam a house that looks like the one he had on Earth, he thinks that maybe everything will be all right. In "Valley of the Shadow," an hour-long episode written by Charles Beaumont, has Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson), encountering the strange little town of Peaceful Valley, where he learns that they have machines that create ham sandwiches out of thin air and bring dead dogs back to life, having learned the secrets of a miraculous power source from a visiting alien. Redfield thinks they should share this with the world, but the town elders give him a choice: stay in Peaceful Valley forever or die. Three men in "Black Leather Jackets" arrive in a small town on motorcycles, the first wave of an invasion force in this story by Earl Hamner, Jr. One of the aliens, Scott (Lee Kinsolving), develops a romance with local girl Ellen Tillman (Shelley Fabares), the others consider him a traitor. When the orders come into to poison the town's water supply, Scott tries to warn Ellen and the others of what is about to happen. This volume offers three solid episodes from the classic television series.

Rating:
Summary: Strangers visit three towns located in "The Twilight Zone"
Review: Places are strange all over might best describe the common element for this trio of episodes on Volume 24 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series. "People Are Alike All Over," written by Rod Serling and based on the short story "Brothers Beyond the Void" by Paul Fairman, has an American space ship crashing on Mars. Warren Marcusson (Paul Comi), who believes people are alike all over, is killed, while Sam Conrad (Roddy McDowell), who does not share his comrade's optimism, is left to face the Martians. However, when the Martians appear they are human and use their telepathic ability to build Sam a house that looks like the one he had on Earth, he thinks that maybe everything will be all right. In "Valley of the Shadow," an hour-long episode written by Charles Beaumont, has Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson), encountering the strange little town of Peaceful Valley, where he learns that they have machines that create ham sandwiches out of thin air and bring dead dogs back to life, having learned the secrets of a miraculous power source from a visiting alien. Redfield thinks they should share this with the world, but the town elders give him a choice: stay in Peaceful Valley forever or die. Three men in "Black Leather Jackets" arrive in a small town on motorcycles, the first wave of an invasion force in this story by Earl Hamner, Jr. One of the aliens, Scott (Lee Kinsolving), develops a romance with local girl Ellen Tillman (Shelley Fabares), the others consider him a traitor. When the orders come into to poison the town's water supply, Scott tries to warn Ellen and the others of what is about to happen. This volume offers three solid episodes from the classic television series.

Rating:
Summary: Weird...but Wonderful!
Review: The Twilight Zone Vol.24 DVD, comes quite highly recommended if you are a fan of the more 'weirder' stories from the series.

This DVD kicks off with one of the classics from the first season from March, 1960 and a great early performance from Roddy McDowall in 'People Are Alike All Over'. The story was originally written by Paul Fairman, but Rod Serling's teleplay about a journey to Mars that goes unexpectedly awry,certainly pulls out all the stops to make this one of the best remembered Zone stories with a terrifying but most certainly true ending. The DVD is worth a buy just for this story alone to add to anyone's collection.

Next up we have one of the 50-minute episodes from the fourth season in January, 1963-'Valley Of The Shadow'. To me, this Charles Beaumont story stands out as one of his most strange epics throughout all his work on the entire series. Love it or hate it, you will find some great performances from a future all-star cast, namely Ed Nelson ('Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'), James Doohan ('Star Trek'), Dabbs Greer ('Little House On The Prairie') and an appearance by the very young Suzanne Cupito who went on to change her name to Morgan Brittany and appear as one of the most-hated villianesses in Soap history as Katherine Wentworth in 'Dallas'. I very much like this story and it certainly is one of my favourite longer length episodes, about a newspaper reporter who unexpectedly drives into a relatively unknown town called 'Peaceful Valley', but it turns out it's far from a little bit more than peaceful in some respects. From the weird gadgets that the townsfolk use, to where the Mayor's office is situated with it's modern machinery down a strange staircase. This episode is also renowned for some great special effects-check it out...

Finally, this DVD rounds off with another strange tale from the final season first screened in January, 1964 entitled 'Black Leather Jackets'. This one is from the pen of future 'Waltons' creator, Earl Hamner Jnr. and stars a young Shelley Fabares turning in a nice performance. Three bikers wearing the aforementioned title move into one of the luxury houses in a small suburb looking as though they are on a mission for someone from somewhere especially when they don't appear to move any proper furniture into the house with them. Not only that these three guys appear to have special powers of a kind! This is an up to date Twilight Zone story of the time introducing the rebel image of youth with their fashionable clothes and possessions which were symbolic for many teenage male of the late 1950's and early 1960's.

So, there we have them-Three gems on a gem of a DVD of a gem of a series!

Rating:
Summary: Three ordinary episodes from a good series
Review: Volume 24 features three more episodes from the classic Science Fiction series...

* "People Are Alike All Over" - (Eps. 25, aired 3/25/1960) In an early role, Roddy McDowell is a passenger on a crashed expedition to Mars. To his surprise, he finds the people there to be human, and just apparently just like us. Three stars.

* "Valley Of The Shadow" - (Eps. 105, aired 1/17/63) Phillip Redfield, a newspaper reporter, in an attempt to take a shortcut suggested by a friend, ends up in a small town called Peaceful Valley, where the residents can do strange things. When Phillip discovers some of the town's secrets, the residents are determined to make sure he doesn't leave. A somewhat lackluster episode whose notable feature is a bit part of Star Trek's James Doohan playing the father. Two stars.

* "Black Leather Jackets" - (Eps. 138, aired 1/31/64) Three tough yet strange bikers move into a peaceful suburb. Soon, strange things begin happens, however, the neighbors have absolutely no suspicion of how dangerous the bikers really are. Two stars.

Overall, the prints are these episodes are very good, although expect some minor prints flaws due to the age of the episodes save for a line which runs through the beginning of the episode Black Leather Jackets.