The Twilight Zone: Series 1

The Twilight Zone has been remastered from the original source material, and, boy, does it show! The picture quality is amazingly crisp and clear, and vastly outweighs my expectation of what a 45-year-old TV show should look like on DVD. It's safe to say that The Twilight Zone has never looked this good, which should be a lesson to all DVD manufacturers as to what "remastered" should mean.

Sound quality is equally perfect; it's flawless from start to finish. There are no subtitles, however, which is always a shame, particularly when there are commentaries to listen to.

The quality of the commentaries is disappointing. There is a large selection by a number of the actors who appeared in the show. Some are termed "vintage audio recollections", which is to say they're old interviews. Despite the range of actors who have provided commentaries and despite this being a seminal show, they are, without exception, dull. They're peppered with lengthy silences, and I'd be hard pushed to mention a single fact, or anecdote, that made an impression on me. That said, I will admit to having overdosed on The Twilight Zone by the time I got to the commentaries, so I may have been slightly jaded.

The Liars Club was a game show, similar to Call My Bluff that was hosted by Rod Serling. An episode is included for some reason. It's certainly interesting, but, beyond Serling's involvement, doesn't have anything to do with The Twilight Zone. Surprisingly, the entire episode isn't included; it ends as the show goes to an advert break.

More relevant, but also much more disappointing, are the Emmy clips. The list of nominees is read, The Twilight Zone wins and Serling says little more than "Thank you".

The Twilight Zone comic (accessed via a DVD drive on a computer) is probably the best extra of the lot. I was absolutely fascinated by this slice of retro childhood. Although it bears more resemblance to a Boy's Own comic than the TV series, it still manages to put the era in context more than the commentaries, game show or Emmy clips do.

Although the promising-sounding extras are a big let down, The Twilight Zone couldn't come any more highly recommended, because of the exemplary presentation of the main feature.