Review of Twilight Zone, The: Vol 27

Introduction

This Twilight Zone collection has the theme of "Another Reality"


"He`s Alive" - Episode 106 - January 24, 1963
A small time neo-Nazi leader, Peter Vollmer (Dennis Hopper), who yearns for more power is advised by a mysterious, shadowy benefactor who increases not only Vollmers following, but also his ego.


"From Agnes-with Love "- Episode 140 - February 14, 1964
James Elwood (Wally Cox) is a computer technician who must deal with a computer named Agnes when it wreaks havoc on his love life.


"Spur of the Moment" - Episode 141- February 21, 1964
Anne Henderson (Diana Hyland) rushes home after being chased by a terrifying, unidentified figure in black. She soon has to face the biggest decision of her life.



While having extensively written about totalitarianism and the horrors of nazism in various Twilight Zone episodes before (Deaths Head Revisited), Rod Serling this time chose to examine the more sinister and ultimately more menacing subject of the terror within, in the form of a story about the rise and fall of an American Neo-Nazi in the episode `He`s Alive`.

Played superbly by a young Dennis Hopper, `He`s Alive` is an exercise in extremism and the consequential pain it inflicts on all those involved. The most frightening stories often rely on a detached look at society to truly comment on the horror of man, and as such, have always been used as a basis for a good scare or at least to leave an uncomfortable realisation to the viewer that all is not what it seems.
Well scripted, directed and acted, this episode is as relevant today as when it was first written and remains not only one of the better one hour episodes produced, but is also in my opinion one of the better stories in the Twilight Zone repertoire.


`From Agnes - with Love` is an altogether lighter affair with a humourous look at the rise of the computer (computers were just starting to supplant human workers in the 60`s), and the concern of a runaway artificial intelligence that is far greater than our own. This episode, directed by Richard Donner is quite amusing although it`s obvious what the outcome of the story will be. A good episode that shields the more sinister aspect of A.I beneath light hearted humour.

"Spur of the Moment" is the weakest episode here and particularly fails to get to grip with the idea of changing the past to benefit ones life in the future. The story doesn`t really work well and the whole episode just does not blend or develop into what it could have been if given a different treatment on screen. Nice idea, shame about the end product.

Video

Presented in the original 4:3 ratio, the picture quality is excellent in general with only minor print defects such as dust or the odd small scratch to mar the picture. Grain is kept to a minimum and the contrast values are very good for material of this age with some real deep blacks in well-composed scenes. One distracting detail to note is on the episode `From Agnes-with Love` there was a thin vertical line which was intermittently visible running down the left-hand side. The picture can also be a little too soft at times masking the otherwise decent detail levels, but there were no digital artifacts visible and in general, the black and white picture looks very good considering the age.

Audio

Again the standard mono mix which remains clear and concise throughout with no major problems. The track maybe a little edgy at times or have a slightly higher noise floor than we`re used too but overall the audio remains solid with no complaints.

Features

Like the rest of the Twilight Zone volumes on DVD this edition contains various notes and essays about the series in general and the specific featured episodes. Inside the Twilight Zone contains a Rod Serling biography, a season by season commentary, history of the twilight zone and a review and credit section for each episode on the disk. This section is written by the author of "The Twilight Zone Companion" Marc Scott Zicree.
You also get the small postcard set that have a brief synopsis and picture of each episode printed on them.

Conclusion

One excellent. One good. One not so good. It`s the familiar story of the booty bag. Just as you think you`ve come up trumps with two decent episodes, there is always one bad egg around the corner to dampen your spirits.
Worth buying just for the `He`s Alive` episode, volume 27 continues the great DVD run that I`m glad to say, as yet, hasn`t failed me.