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Cut the author a little slack, this book was written 35 years ago before books of this type were commonplace. Actually, this book was the standard by which many other "companions" and "compendiums" were held. Every few years, I haul out my copy and reread it. I don't always agree on his views of certain episodes, but his passion and research were obvious. And he had access to many people involved in the series who are not longer with us. I have yet to read a better book on the series.
I still prefer this book to the horribly edited and error ridden TOS books by Marc Cushman, whose research is not only sloppy, but littered with outright falsehoods.
Scott, you're clearly a big ZONE fan. Do you have the Blu-ray set I'm waiting for? Comments?
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And some of us [gasp!] even have the blu-ray.
Well, I didn't mean to disinvite anyone from commenting. I just meant that I know Scott in other contexts, and now see that he's also in the ZONE.
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Posted: |
Mar 23, 2017 - 8:56 PM
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By: |
ScottyM
(Member)
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Scott, you're clearly a big ZONE fan. Do you have the Blu-ray set I'm waiting for? Comments?
I'm not as big a fan of TZ as I am of Star Trek or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I do enjoy it a lot and do have the blu-ray set. It is - EXACTLY - how a classic TV series should be presented. Perfect picture quality, the opening and closing theme music restored to original airing, with previews, network and sponsor tags, music only tracks, mono and hi-fi sound mixes. interviews, trivia...holy God, this is easily one of the best classic TV releases ever. The prints look effing amazing. It's how I wanted Star Trek released.
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I'm not as big a fan of TZ as I am of Star Trek or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I do enjoy it a lot and do have the blu-ray set. It is - EXACTLY - how a classic TV series should be presented. Perfect picture quality, the opening and closing theme music restored to original airing, with previews, network and sponsor tags, music only tracks, mono and hi-fi sound mixes. interviews, trivia...holy God, this is easily one of the best classic TV releases ever. The prints look effing amazing. It's how I wanted Star Trek released.
Sounds good! $70 seemed like a lot until I compared it to the cost of 43 separate volumes in the original DVD edition, circa 1999, of which I'd bought only five. Add in the quality difference, and the complete BD set is a huge bargain.
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Scott, you're clearly a big ZONE fan. Do you have the Blu-ray set I'm waiting for? Comments?
I'm not as big a fan of TZ as I am of Star Trek or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I do enjoy it a lot and do have the blu-ray set. It is - EXACTLY - how a classic TV series should be presented. Perfect picture quality, the opening and closing theme music restored to original airing, with previews, network and sponsor tags, music only tracks, mono and hi-fi sound mixes. interviews, trivia...holy God, this is easily one of the best classic TV releases ever. The prints look effing amazing. It's how I wanted Star Trek released.
Couldn't have said it better myself. It's an amazing set and a prime example of how breathtaking Blu-ray can be.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2017 - 7:08 AM
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By: |
ScottyM
(Member)
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You're correct in that we should be giving him accolades for the research, interviews, etc. It's unfortunate his opinions taint one's impression of the book as a whole. For example, I recall him seemingly annoyed that Richard Matheson named characters after his daughter Tina in a few episodes. I can share in his critique of Serling's work, but dont mess with Matheson!
I don't agree that it's a big problem, mainly because of the era in whoich this book was written. People seemed to look for "reviews" of episodes, an idea of what the author considered a good or bad episode. I remember really wondering what "authorities" on series I liked thought of my favorite episodes. Never did I fully agree with them, but I found Zicree's opinions to be well thought out. I imagine today he would approach the project differently.
Having read the book repeatedly over the decades, I don't recall any criticism of Matheson naming characters after his daughter. Actually, the only time I can quickly find it being pointed out at all is in "Little Girl Lost," where Zicree mentioned Matheson named the wife and daughter after his own to "keep the feeling as real as possible." He did, however, comment on Serling's use of the name "Nan," which was a nickname for his daughter Anne. SHE was the one who didn't like its use and Zicree only pointed it out when it happened again ("that name again!"). Personally, I find this style makes the author "approachable." It's more like a lecture or a discussion on the series rather than a strict reference book. Your mileage may vary, of course.
I'm not against his Serling criticism ("A man can think alot of thoughts..."  ), but he seems to find something to complain about in most of the episodes.
Certainly, he is critical of a great many 4th and 5th season episodes: rightly so, since that's when the show turned a corner. However, I think it does him a disservice to say he had something to "complain about in most episodes." He just didn't shy away from pointing out less positive aspects of a particular story. This is not a fawing fan tome, and I actually found it to be pretty fair.
I'm guessing you prefer a strictly "facts only" reference book, which I totally get. This just ain't that book. But if not for this book, I probably wouldn't be as much of a fan of the show as I am. I certainly wouldn't have learned as much as I did about Charles Beaumont, Buck Houghton, Richard Matheson or even Rod Serling. They would just be names on a TV screen. This book, more than The Making of Star Trek or Allan Asherman's Star Trek Compendium, got me interested in the behind the scenes info of my favorite TV series and what went into making each episode.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2017 - 7:12 AM
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By: |
ScottyM
(Member)
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I'm not as big a fan of TZ as I am of Star Trek or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I do enjoy it a lot and do have the blu-ray set. It is - EXACTLY - how a classic TV series should be presented. Perfect picture quality, the opening and closing theme music restored to original airing, with previews, network and sponsor tags, music only tracks, mono and hi-fi sound mixes. interviews, trivia...holy God, this is easily one of the best classic TV releases ever. The prints look effing amazing. It's how I wanted Star Trek released.
Sounds good! $70 seemed like a lot until I compared it to the cost of 43 separate volumes in the original DVD edition, circa 1999, of which I'd bought only five. Add in the quality difference, and the complete BD set is a huge bargain.
$45 right now at this site.
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/The-Twilight-Zone-The-Complete-Series-DVD-2013-25-Disc-Set-All-165-Episodes-/446111831?goog_pla=1&gpid=177431040781&keyword=&goog_pla=1&pos=1o4&ad_type=pla&gclid=CjwKEAjwh9PGBRCfso2n3ODgvUcSJAAhpW5og3cxkcoiIPrLcxODDhR68g8gXX4EpPdXgyMvijY-kxoChCbw_wcB
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2017 - 8:33 AM
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By: |
Last Child
(Member)
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You're correct in that we should be giving him accolades for the research, interviews, etc. It's unfortunate his opinions taint one's impression of the book as a whole. For example, I recall him seemingly annoyed that Richard Matheson named characters after his daughter Tina in a few episodes. I can share in his critique of Serling's work, but dont mess with Matheson!
I don't agree that it's a big problem, mainly because of the era in whoich this book was written. People seemed to look for "reviews" of episodes, an idea of what the author considered a good or bad episode. I remember really wondering what "authorities" on series I liked thought of my favorite episodes. Never did I fully agree with them, but I found Zicree's opinions to be well thought out. I imagine today he would approach the project differently.
Having read the book repeatedly over the decades, I don't recall any criticism of Matheson naming characters after his daughter.
I'm not against his Serling criticism ("A man can think alot of thoughts..." ), but he seems to find something to complain about in most of the episodes.
Certainly, he is critical of a great many 4th and 5th season episodes: rightly so, since that's when the show turned a corner. However, I think it does him a disservice to say he had something to "complain about in most episodes." He just didn't shy away from pointing out less positive aspects of a particular story. This is not a fawing fan tome, and I actually found it to be pretty fair.
I'm guessing you prefer a strictly "facts only" reference book, which I totally get. This just ain't that book. But if not for this book, I probably wouldn't be as much of a fan of the show as I am. I certainly wouldn't have learned as much as I did about Charles Beaumont, Buck Houghton, Richard Matheson or even Rod Serling. They would just be names on a TV screen. This book, more than The Making of Star Trek or Allan Asherman's Star Trek Compendium, got me interested in the behind the scenes info of my favorite TV series and what went into making each episode.
I dont mind opinions and facts, but with a huge TV series, expressing opinions for each episode is bound to rub some of the fans the wrong way, some of the time. Sounds like because you mostly agreed with his personal opinions, you have less of a problem with the book.
Btw, I clearly wrote that Zicree was seemingly annoyed (never said critical) with Matheson's names. You can say he's just pointing out a pattern, but that was my impression given his pattern of negative remarks. Maybe it's in the "Little Girl Lost" review he says parenthetically "there's that name Tina again."
I've only read the book once and have no need to re-read it, but if I did, maybe I'd grow to ignore his negative opinions, and take his negative factual criticisms at face value.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2017 - 9:12 AM
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By: |
RoryR
(Member)
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One of the reasons I have yet to buy the complete series on Blu-ray -- is that it plays in HD on Netflix (at least the last time I checked anyway).
Beware of this...Netflix is going to be dropping their HD streaming options for The X-Files and numerous other Fox shows. When it comes to streaming services, as convenient as they can be, NOTHING beats having a "hard copy" version of a favorite movie or TV show on the shelf, because that's gonna be yours forever. The Twilight Zone Blus are MAGNIFICENT and totally worth owning. I was lucky as hell to get the complete series boxed set for $60 a few years back.
Yeah, I'm so unhappy with Netflix these days, I canceled them a couple months ago. I'll re-subscribe when something like "House of Cards" returns (and then watch "Better Call Saul" too), but I'll probably only subscribe for a month or two then cancel again. Too many TV shows I'm not interested in, documentaries and comedy stand-up acts. The classic film content is a joke.
By the way, "The Twilight Zone" Blu-ray set is currently only $64.99 at Amazon, though I just ordered a used copy for $55. So, I can now say I have it -- though like ST: TOS, I probably won't really watch much of it (the special features are intriguing, though), but it's nice to know it's "on the shelf."
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