Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Billy Mumy, Jack Albertson, Jack Klugman, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk,
Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, Buster Keaton, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Redford | Created by Rod Serling
UK certification PG | UK RRP £49.99 | BD Region B | Runtime 950 minutes | Directed by Lamont Johnson & others
Are there many episodes of the classic TV series The Twilight Zone left that have not been spoofed by The Simpsons? The terrific Season 3 (for me probably the show's finest year) has at least seven that I can count – Little Girl Lost, It's a Good Life, The Shelter, Person or Persons Unknown, The Little People, Five Characters in Search of an Exit, and To Serve Man.
Which just goes to show the cultural influence that creator, head writer and showrunner Rod Serling has had. I mean, c'mon, this is the man that came up with the iconic twist ending for the first Planet of the Apes movie. It's safe to say that you'd be hard pressed to find a TV or film writer today that hasn't at least heard of Serling, or not been a little influenced by his work.
Season 3 has 37 half-hour episodes, all beautifully remasterd (yes, both video AND audio) for this Blu-ray release. And as I mentioned above, some of these are the best ever made, and the best known. It's a Good Life is one of the most fondly remembered. It stars Billy Mumy (who later gained fame as Will “Danger” Robinson on Lost in Space) as a little boy with a very scary power. It was one of three Twilight Zone episodes that Mumy starred in, and was later remade for the ill-fated 1983 movie, along with Kick the Can – also in this season. To Serve Man – yes, the one with the alien cookbook – is also fondly remembered, as are A Game of Pool, A Quality of Mercy, The Dummy and I Sing the Body Electric, written by Ray Bradbury.
But the standout favourite for me is Five Characters in Search of an Exit. It's a simple idea: five disparate folks – an army major, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, a clown and a hobo – are trapped inside a metal cylinder, not knowing how they got there, or who they are. As the viewer tries to work out what's going on, so do the five trapped characters, until the very clever reveal at the end … one you probably won't see coming.
EXTRAS ★★★★★ Extras include the usual commentaries – featuring a now grown-up Bill Mumy for It's a Good Life, plus William Windom, Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Winters and Cliff Robertson. There are also commentaries from The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, Twilight Zone writers Earl Hamner and George Clayton Johnson, and fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman. Plus clips from the 1980s Twilight Zone TV series remakes of two episodes, as well as rare Rod Serling appearances as a guest on The Garry Moore Show and Tell It to Groucho and as host of the popular game show Liar's Club.