This is the first of two re-workings of the original Twilight Zone series created by Rod Serling. There will be mild spoilers ahead:
This was a reasonably good attempt to bring back the old Twilight Zone series. Alan Brennert served as the executive story consultant, at various points both Harlan Ellison and George RR Martin were significantly involved in the show, some excellent stories were used as the starting point for scripts, including The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny, Nightcrawlers by Robert R. McCammon, Shatterday and Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison, A Saucer of Loneliness by Theodore Sturgeon and The Star by Arthur C. Clarke, among others, while original scripts were done by Brennert, Martin, Ray Bradbury, David Gerrold and others. The talent was there, the first season was reasonably strong and there was much to like about the show. The show lasted two seasons on CBS and had a third in syndication. So what went wrong?
For one thing, there was no Rod Serling. The shows were, frankly, all over the map. There was no real unifying vision to set just what a "Twilight Zone" story was. For another, 1985 was not 1959. The show had an all too familiar feel to it, so the novelty wore off quickly. There were more options for the audience. When the first series was on, there was no cable TV, there were no VCRs and most people had only three channels from which to choose.
Finally, it stood in the rather long shadow of the original, from which it could not escape. The series more or less holds up even today, but there are more misfires in the 1985 version than there were in the 1959 version.
This is available on DVD and is worth revisiting if you enjoyed it when it was on. Recommended.
This was a reasonably good attempt to bring back the old Twilight Zone series. Alan Brennert served as the executive story consultant, at various points both Harlan Ellison and George RR Martin were significantly involved in the show, some excellent stories were used as the starting point for scripts, including The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny, Nightcrawlers by Robert R. McCammon, Shatterday and Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison, A Saucer of Loneliness by Theodore Sturgeon and The Star by Arthur C. Clarke, among others, while original scripts were done by Brennert, Martin, Ray Bradbury, David Gerrold and others. The talent was there, the first season was reasonably strong and there was much to like about the show. The show lasted two seasons on CBS and had a third in syndication. So what went wrong?
For one thing, there was no Rod Serling. The shows were, frankly, all over the map. There was no real unifying vision to set just what a "Twilight Zone" story was. For another, 1985 was not 1959. The show had an all too familiar feel to it, so the novelty wore off quickly. There were more options for the audience. When the first series was on, there was no cable TV, there were no VCRs and most people had only three channels from which to choose.
Finally, it stood in the rather long shadow of the original, from which it could not escape. The series more or less holds up even today, but there are more misfires in the 1985 version than there were in the 1959 version.
This is available on DVD and is worth revisiting if you enjoyed it when it was on. Recommended.