BUY! BUY! BUY!

This is one of the best Twilight Zone episode pack DVDs. Three of the four episodes included are of superior caliber, and even the weak one, "King Nine Will Not Return" is still watchable. If you think AMERICAN IDOL, THE O.C., or THE WEST WING are complex television programs, get this and prepare to be floored!


THE REPORT CARD:

Perchance to Dream: A (Writer Charles Beaumont's first contribution to the series, and this creepy episode is certainly a candidate for one of the finest episodes of all time)
Shadow Play: A (a great companion piece to 'Perchance to Dream'...what a performance from Dennis Weaver and the supporting cast!!)
King Nine Will Not Return: C+ (not one of the better episodes, but is still a decent way to kill a half-hour)
The Hitchhiker: A- (starring the lovely Inger Stevens; GOING...MY WAY?)

"The Hitch-Hiker" Wins First Prize On This DVD!

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.

Three good episodes, one is fair

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.