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The Twilight Zone: Vol. 7

The Twilight Zone: Vol. 7

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $4.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Theme Is Dreams For This DVD
Review: I'll have to admit, I'm not a huge Twilight Zone fan, but I do like it. My favorites have always been the space type ones, or time travel, aliens etc.

This DVD contains three stories.

Perchance to Dream is about a man who is terrified to sleep because he thinks a mysterious woman is trying to kill him in his dreams. I found it average.

The Hitch-Hiker is about a woman travelling to L.A. She see's this hitchiker ever so often on her trip and starts getting more and more afraid. I liked it. It had a cool spooky kind of a fell and the ending is the kind I like.

King Nine Will Not Return is about a WWII Captain who awakes to find his plane downed and his crew missing. He freaks out in the desert and sees Jet planes in the sky. They haven't even been invented yet, but he knows what they are. Strange, but enjoyable.

Shadow Play is the story of a man who dreams the same dream everynight and is always electrocuted at the end of it. He pleads with the courts to let him live because it is driving him mad in his real life. This one was a bore.

The DVD features are okay. Trivia, Serling biography, history of the Twilight Zone, cast info, season-by-season comments, and reviews. All features are text based so they aren't that exciting. The menus are neat, but get pretty tiresome after a little while because of their slow load time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Theme Is Dreams For This DVD
Review: I'll have to admit, I'm not a huge Twilight Zone fan, but I do like it. My favorites have always been the space type ones, or time travel, aliens etc.

This DVD contains three stories.

Perchance to Dream is about a man who is terrified to sleep because he thinks a mysterious woman is trying to kill him in his dreams. I found it average.

The Hitch-Hiker is about a woman travelling to L.A. She see's this hitchiker ever so often on her trip and starts getting more and more afraid. I liked it. It had a cool spooky kind of a fell and the ending is the kind I like.

King Nine Will Not Return is about a WWII Captain who awakes to find his plane downed and his crew missing. He freaks out in the desert and sees Jet planes in the sky. They haven't even been invented yet, but he knows what they are. Strange, but enjoyable.

Shadow Play is the story of a man who dreams the same dream everynight and is always electrocuted at the end of it. He pleads with the courts to let him live because it is driving him mad in his real life. This one was a bore.

The DVD features are okay. Trivia, Serling biography, history of the Twilight Zone, cast info, season-by-season comments, and reviews. All features are text based so they aren't that exciting. The menus are neat, but get pretty tiresome after a little while because of their slow load time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Four of the best Twilight Zone episodes
Review: Image is releasing these original Twilight Zone episodes NOT in the order of the original broadcast date (which I would've preferred), but rather in a way so that each volume contains episodes that have roughly similar themes. The result is often that the best episodes, mostly the earlier ones in the series' 5-season run, are scattered among different volumes.

Volume 7, however, is one of the better ones, since 3 of the 4 episodes selected are among the best in the series: "The Hitchhiker", "Perchance to Dream", "Shadow Play". The weakest of the 4 in my opinion is "King Nine will not Return" but many people like it and think it's one of the best also. All 4 episodes are about hallucinations or dreams that doom the protagonist.

Picture and sound qualities are superb throughout. The DVD also include extra material such as episode descriptions, biographical notes, and trivias.

It is hard to find TV stations that show TZ episodes these days, and even when they do, they sometimes don't show all the episodes (especially the 1-hour ones), and episodes are almost always edited for time. The TZ episodes on these volumes are uncut and uninterrupted; and for TZ fans they definitely worth collecting.

Programs like The Twilight Zone are a dead genre. Today's viewers aren't likely to watch a sci-fi show without expecting special effects and action scenes. TZ had no flashy effects and rapid actions, only IDEAS that provoke our thoughts and stimulate our imaginations.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Four of the best Twilight Zone episodes
Review: Image is releasing these original Twilight Zone episodes NOT in the order of the original broadcast date (which I would've preferred), but rather in a way so that each volume contains episodes that have roughly similar themes. The result is often that the best episodes, mostly the earlier ones in the series' 5-season run, are scattered among different volumes.

Volume 7, however, is one of the better ones, since 3 of the 4 episodes selected are among the best in the series: "The Hitchhiker", "Perchance to Dream", "Shadow Play". The weakest of the 4 in my opinion is "King Nine will not Return" but many people like it and think it's one of the best also. All 4 episodes are about hallucinations or dreams that doom the protagonist.

Picture and sound qualities are superb throughout. The DVD also include extra material such as episode descriptions, biographical notes, and trivias.

It is hard to find TV stations that show TZ episodes these days, and even when they do, they sometimes don't show all the episodes (especially the 1-hour ones), and episodes are almost always edited for time. The TZ episodes on these volumes are uncut and uninterrupted; and for TZ fans they definitely worth collecting.

Programs like The Twilight Zone are a dead genre. Today's viewers aren't likely to watch a sci-fi show without expecting special effects and action scenes. TZ had no flashy effects and rapid actions, only IDEAS that provoke our thoughts and stimulate our imaginations.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Three good episodes, one is fair
Review: Perchance to Dream - Man has been awake for 4 days because he fears a dream-induced death. One of my favorite episodes.

The Hitch Hiker - Woman driving cross-country keeps passing the same hitch-hiker. Phones home and gets chilling message. So-so.

King Nine will not Return - Pilot Bob Cummings crash lands in the African desert in 1943 - but where is his crew? Wakes up in hospital 17 years later. Reminiscent of the TV-movie "Sole Survivor" which is not out on DVD :-( Good one.

Shadow Play - Dennis Weaver is trapped in his nightmare of repeatedly being put to death for murder. In each repetition, the supporting actors change roles. Neat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great DVD
Review: Perchance to Dream- Good episode, it got a little tedious at some parts though. (***)

Hitch Hiker- Great episode! Very good ending. (****)

King Nine will not Return- I liked it. A lot of people seem to not. (***)

Shadow Play- Good episode. Made you think. (***)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The illusion of reality that we find in "The Twilight Zone"
Review: The illusion of reality is explored in Volume 7 of "The Twilight Zone." In "Perchance to Dream," written by Charles Beaumont from his own short story, Edward Hall (Richard Conte) tells his psychiatrist (John Larch) about nightmarish dreams in which Maya (Suzanne Lloyd), a carnival dancer, is trying to scare him to death. Because of a heart condition, if the dreams do not kill Hall, trying to stay awake will. Beaumont continues his exploration of dreams in "Shadow Play," which features a memorable performance by Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant, a condemned prisoner who will be executed. Grant insists he is having a recurring nightmare and that when he dies everyone else will cease to exist. In Rod Serling's "King Nine Will Not Return," Captain James Embry (Bob Cummings) wakes up besides the wreckage of his B-25 bomber, "King Nine," and frantically searches for his crew as odd visions persist. Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong turn in strong performances as Nan Adams and the title character in Serling's "The Hitch-Hiker," based on the radio play of that name by Lucille Fletcher. Following a blowout, Nan repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker as she travels along the highway. Since this is, after all, the Twilight Zone, we all know the true identity of the hitch-hiker. The two Beaumont Zones are superior the pair of Serling efforts, although none of the four really qualify as outright classics. Still, this is an interesting "theme" volume in this DVD set.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great DVD
Review: The illusion of reality is explored in Volume 7 of "The Twilight Zone." In "Perchance to Dream," written by Charles Beaumont from his own short story, Edward Hall (Richard Conte) tells his psychiatrist (John Larch) about nightmarish dreams in which Maya (Suzanne Lloyd), a carnival dancer, is trying to scare him to death. Because of a heart condition, if the dreams do not kill Hall, trying to stay awake will. Beaumont continues his exploration of dreams in "Shadow Play," which features a memorable performance by Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant, a condemned prisoner who will be executed. Grant insists he is having a recurring nightmare and that when he dies everyone else will cease to exist. In Rod Serling's "King Nine Will Not Return," Captain James Embry (Bob Cummings) wakes up besides the wreckage of his B-25 bomber, "King Nine," and frantically searches for his crew as odd visions persist. Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong turn in strong performances as Nan Adams and the title character in Serling's "The Hitch-Hiker," based on the radio play of that name by Lucille Fletcher. Following a blowout, Nan repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker as she travels along the highway. Since this is, after all, the Twilight Zone, we all know the true identity of the hitch-hiker. The two Beaumont Zones are superior the pair of Serling efforts, although none of the four really qualify as outright classics. Still, this is an interesting "theme" volume in this DVD set.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The illusion of reality that we find in "The Twilight Zone"
Review: The illusion of reality is explored in Volume 7 of "The Twilight Zone." In "Perchance to Dream," written by Charles Beaumont from his own short story, Edward Hall (Richard Conte) tells his psychiatrist (John Larch) about nightmarish dreams in which Maya (Suzanne Lloyd), a carnival dancer, is trying to scare him to death. Because of a heart condition, if the dreams do not kill Hall, trying to stay awake will. Beaumont continues his exploration of dreams in "Shadow Play," which features a memorable performance by Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant, a condemned prisoner who will be executed. Grant insists he is having a recurring nightmare and that when he dies everyone else will cease to exist. In Rod Serling's "King Nine Will Not Return," Captain James Embry (Bob Cummings) wakes up besides the wreckage of his B-25 bomber, "King Nine," and frantically searches for his crew as odd visions persist. Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong turn in strong performances as Nan Adams and the title character in Serling's "The Hitch-Hiker," based on the radio play of that name by Lucille Fletcher. Following a blowout, Nan repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker as she travels along the highway. Since this is, after all, the Twilight Zone, we all know the true identity of the hitch-hiker. The two Beaumont Zones are superior the pair of Serling efforts, although none of the four really qualify as outright classics. Still, this is an interesting "theme" volume in this DVD set.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The Hitch-Hiker" Wins First Prize On This DVD!
Review: This 7th volume of "The Twilight Zone" series' of DVDs issued by Image Entertainment, Inc., is a first-rate installment. Two of these four half-hour "TZ" episodes are a couple of the best in the Rod Serling TV series, IMHO. Those two episodes being: "The Hitch-Hiker", starring the lovely Inger Stevens, and "Shadow Play" with Dennis Weaver.

The other two programs on the disc are "Perchance To Dream" and "King Nine Will Not Return". Both earn an "OK" rating by yours truly, but fall short of the quality of the other two programs on the DVD.

Video quality is excellent on all of these Image Twilight Zone discs, with very good audio quality as well. Video is displayed in the standard TV ratio of 1.33:1; while the audio is in 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono.

The 1960 tension-filled TZ classic episode, "The Hitch-Hiker", stars 25-year-old Swedish beauty Inger Stevens, who tragically committed suicide at age 35 in April 1970. Inger plays "Nan Adams", who is driving alone across the country and keeps seeing the same shabbily-dressed hitch-hiker along the roadside. She can't seem to shake him. He's always there, no matter how fast she drives to elude him. It's an absorbing and effectively-told tale of one woman's growing fear and apprehension. The hitch-hiker's final line of dialogue caps off the episode in fine fashion. One of THE best "Zones" ever made.

Ironically, "The Hitch-Hiker" in many ways mirrors the plot of the 1971 Steven Spielberg TV-movie, "Duel", which starred Dennis Weaver, who just happens to be the star of the other top-notch episode on this TZ DVD.

"Shadow Play", as noted, is my other fave on this platter. It is "Zone" episode #62, airing in May of 1961. Dennis Weaver portrays the tortured death-row prisoner "Adam Grant". It's not physical torture that Mr. Grant is forced to endure, but rather a mental agony, stemming from his own horror-filled dreams of being put to death .... over and over again. This is yet another excellent TZ script, and Weaver is simply outstanding in his role here as a man who cannot escape his persistent nightmare.

Chalk up Volume 7 as another winner in the Image Entertainment series of "Twilight Zone" Digital Discs.


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