The Six Video Taped Twilight Zone Episodes

[tomswift2002]

As everyone knows, during Season 2 of the original Twilight Zone, six episodes were shot on video tape for to test if the series could be shot on tape at a lower cost than film, but it turned out that the shows actually spent close to the same amount of money as the shows shot on film, due to video tape technology at the time, essentially being confined to a studio. (These are also the ones that, if you've seen them in re-runs since 1960 may've looked like they were being screened from an old kinescope copy of the episode.)

So, out of the six episodes, which one is your favorite?

 

[Saga]

Long Distance Call is my fave of those.

 

[Kelso]

I like all of those episodes.

 

[Sindatur]

By the Titles, I only recall having seen Twenty-Two and The Lateness of the Hour, but, I love them both. I love the look of them on Video

 

[Vendikarr]

Night of the Meek is the Christmas episode with Art Carney. It's not only my favorite TZ episode, but one of my favorite Christmas show. I watch it every holiday season.

 

[Sindatur]

Night of the Meek is the Christmas episode with Art Carney. It's not only my favorite TZ episode, but one of my favorite Christmas show. I watch it every holiday season.

Ah, OK, yea, I've seen bits and pieces of it once or twice. I need to make sure to watch it in it's entirety, from the bit I've seen of it, it looks like it's really good.

 

[Shatinator]

All the Twilight Zone of this era are such quality products; funny, chilling, engaging.
So this is makes it especially hard to choose.

I official choose "The Lateness of the Hour", I recall it was a pleasure to see John Hoyt in one of his two TZ outings, when I first saw this, years prior. But mostly the episode is just so beautifully haunting (almost like an episode of Dark Shadows).

Easy second "Twenty Two", again very chilling from what I recall and quite conventional for that period, slice of the time, as far as the attitudes of the period, with the hint of paranoia.

Follow up Third would be "The Long Distance Call", one of the best Billy Mumy episodes, very sad and touching.

Honorable mention to "The Night Of The Meek", poetic and respectable in all ways and well, it's Art Carney - you have to love that.

"Static" was nice, but average for me and "The Whole Truth", was just there as I recall.

As for the videotape quality, nice to see a different media, adds to the nostalgia and period, but MUCH prefer the switch back to film.

CBS should of known that!

 

[tomswift2002]

For me, out of the six, "The Night Of The Meek" is easily the best of the six. And with Art Carney it is such a different role then you usually associate him with as it's a dramatic role instead of a comedic role, so you really don't see his sense of humour as you did in "The Honeymooners", but the episode really didn't need it. Plus it was nice to see Meg Riley, the actress who would later appear as the head Talosian in the Star Trek pilot "The Cage", without the Talosian make-up. Plus, I can't recall his name, but there is another actor in the episode who I recognize as appearing in a number of Jack Webb's "Dragnet" episodes of the 1950's and 60's (it's the guy who sits on the steps with Carney at the end).

The other episodes I never really found that interesting, but the "Th Whole Truth" episode I remember that you can really see just how bad 1950's video camera's were with their vacuum tubes, but it sort of gives the show a charms by having every gleaming surface on the car giving off that black halo as the vacuum tubes were unable to compensate fast enough for the reflecting light (something that film camera's didn't have a problem with as they didn't use vacuum tubes, and current video camera technology uses CCD or CMOS chips that process the image faster than vacuum tubes).