The fourth season of The Twilight Zone was a taxing experience. Long-time producer Buck Houghton had exited and Rod Serling was teaching at Antioch College reducing his imput by a considerable amount. Rechristened as Twilight Zone the series returned as a mid-season replacement when Fair Exchange, an hour-long. The show’s running time was expanded 51 minutes (an hour with commercials) a change that was not embraced by the show’s producers that now included Herbert Hirschman. Hirschman would leave before season’s end and was replaced by Bert Granet.
For the fifth season, which also would be the original series’ last, the running time was paired back to 25 minutes. Serling and Granet produced the first 13 episodes. Following Granet’s departure Serling and William Froug produced the final 23 episodes. Froug’s refusal to use any scripts procured by Granet provided an ample amount of controversy and by seasons end CBS decided not to renew the series.
Despite the behind-the-scenes turmoil the fifth season of The Twilight Zone wasn’t as unfocused or as disappointing as you might suspect. It doesn’t quite match the consistent high quality that the series exhibited during its first three seasons but nonetheless contained some of the more iconic episodes including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” directed by Richard Donner and starring William Shatner. The season also features “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” a French-produced short film that won an Academy Award for best short film in 1963. My favorite episodes are “Living Doll” starring Telly Savalas, the Martin Landau starring “The Jeopardy Room” and the tale of a haunted car in “You Drive.” Those clamoring to see Hugh Jackman’s upcoming film Real Steel will also want to check out “Steel.”
Image Entertainment’s prior Blu-ray releases of first four seasons of The Twilight Zone have been universally praised for their extensive bonus features and gorgeous visual presentation. Season five is equally as impressive. The rich amount of texture, depth and clarity of the picture image is astounding. This is partly due to the fact that the episodes were shot on film but also because Image put in the time and care to rectify any issues that had surfaced in the various DVD releases the company has released over the past few years.
Bonus features, which are again expanded from the previous DVD releases, include numerous audio commentaries, interviews with numerous writers, actors and directors from the various episodes, isolated music scores, 22 radio dramas, home movies, a Q&A with Serling and various archival promotional spots. Some of the audio commentaries are a bit dry and obviously scripted, particularly from the historians, but the information provided is generally entertaining.
Since the first season was released on Blu-ray in September of 2010 I’ve spent numerous hours watching the various episodes and listening to the radio dramas. I’ve looked forward to each and every subsequent season and while I’m sad to see the journey come to an end I’m thankful that I’ve been given the opportunity to revisit one of television’s finest series. If you’re looking for intelligent and fascinating tales from the beyond you owe it to yourself to own each and every season of The Twilight Zone.