Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Folks there's a good reason why this dvd is described as "Treasures" and not "Best of" or other similar title. The 3 episodes here are truly treasures in the sense that they are hard to find and relatively rare episodes. These are not the very best episodes in the franchise and currently you'll need to get the complete set at an incredibly exhorbitant price to get these at least until they decide to release a best of dvd for those of us who can't afford or really don't want to see every single episode from all 5 seasons.

The first episode is literally the first and as such, one doesn't or at least shouldn't expect perfection at least relative to later works as Rod Serling is just cutting his teeth here and is trying to get a feel for what his ob markers or boundaries are with respect sponsor and censor tolerance. As a result, we get for new fans and those curious about what Twilight Zone is all about the debut episode and a chance to see how far the quality of the episodes develop over time to what we now know and love.

The second episode is also a rarity in that it isn't shown anymore or at least rarely because of the huge controversy it stirred regarding its topic of racial discrimination, bigotry and tolerance. Unlike most TZ episodes, this one I felt was very good as the supernatural element isn't as important and in fact is barely noticeable while the real intent of the episode is to educate and force us to face an unpleasant aspect of our flawed humanity. Many people are ashamed to admit that they are closet racists because they somehow know and feel that it is wrong and yet it is by talking it out, admitting to a problem intead of denial is probably the best way to lick it and come to think of it any problem.

I actually felt sorry for Fenton as it seemed especially at the end that he was actually trying to reach out to someone to admit his problems seeking a solution but his pride and in his clumsy way, he only managed to infuriate the very person he was looking at getting some help and healing from. Both Fenton and Takamuri were dealing with deep seated guilt problems that they had buried deep within themselves and ironically when they came close to healing by bringing these feelings out to the surface to confront them, they actually end up destroying each other. For this reason, I believe that this is truly a treasure of TZ in that it is a very deep and special episode that lifts the 30 minute feature into the realms of artform which I believe is what Rod Serling intended as well.

In the very good and informative interview included among the bonus features we hear Rod speaking about his frustrations at censorship and about how he wanted to address important social issues in his work but had been frustrated until he decided to try doing this with the Twilight Zone. In my opinion, he achieved this very well with "The Encounter." A very good metaphor showing how society sometimes causes the destruction of people by refusing those who need healing to come clean by insisting on punishing the symptoms instead of allowing the root cause to be cured. We focus on the racist and discriminatory themes instead of seeing the bigger message that this is really a story of two people crying out for help which for them never comes.

The jewel in the crown of this dvd is "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" which would be spoiled if anyone told you anything about it. Just like Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" you'll need to see it totally unprepared to enjoy this masterpiece. This and the previous episode come very close to being described as short film art.

If you are looking for true treasures from the whole TZ franchise you have in these 3 episodes jewels for the reasons described above. Unfortunately though the sound quality although decent by Dolby Digital Mono standards should have added the 5.1 or DTS surround audio options although if your system has Pro Logic capabilities, it does somewhat help to make up for this deficiency. The picture quality isn't very good though but judging from the quality of the Mike Wallace interview and the Advertiser Pitch, you can tell that a lot has been restored and that it's a great improvement but you still see lots of white specks here and there on all 3 episodes.

For this reason, if you don't mind the hefty price tag, you should get the complete franchise on dvd which I believe has been much better restored. If you are looking at a sampler, this is it but if you are looking for something a little more but not the full set than like me you'll have to wait. Otherwise, a nice dvd of different but still very good Twilight Zone episodes.

You may have seen these on television, but likely not very often. This is some of the better episodes - generally far better, albeit different, than many of the current offering from cable or satellite, let alone the normal networks. The transfer is good, as is the sound quality. If you enjoy this series, or if you liked the X-files, you will not go round purchashing this disc.