Despite major changes in personnel and the ill-advised switch to a full-hour format, Twilight Zone (with "The" removed from its title) began its fourth season on a promising note. Written by series veteran Charles Beaumont, the premiere episode "In His Image" maintained the high standards that Rod Serling had established throughout the first three seasons, and the story--about a man (George Grizzard) who builds an exact robot replica of himself, with dire consequences--fit well into the hour-long format that Serling reluctantly went along with. Twilight Zone struggled with its expanded length, resulting in some episodes that lack the consistent punch of earlier half-hour episodes. Exhausted by three seasons of prodigious creativity, Serling and Buck Houghton vacated their roles as producers (with Serling's involvement limited to script feedback, writing nearly half of the season's episodes, and on-screen hosting), and TV veteran Herbert Hirschman became the new show-runner (departing mid-season, he was replaced by Bert Granet), promising not to tinker with the series' proven success. But Twilight Zone was inevitably becoming a shadow of its former self, and the involvement of proven TZ writers like Richard Matheson, Earl Hamner, Jr., and Beaumont could not entirely compensate for Serling's growing detachment.

Still, these 18 episodes include some fine examples of enduring quality, such as Matheson's "Death Ship," starring Jack Klugman and Ross Martin in a recurring nightmare scenario, and featuring the same spaceship model used in the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. Beaumont's "Miniature," starring Robert Duvall, was the only hour-long episode pulled from initial syndication (due to a plagiarism lawsuit that was ultimately dismissed), so its inclusion here (along with color scenes from its eventual syndication) is a welcome treat. Serling lampoons the medium of television with "The Bard" (with an early appearance by Burt Reynolds), and his teleplay for "On Thursday We Leave for Home" is the season's highlight, ranking among Twilight Zone's finest science-fiction episodes. It remained clear, however, that Twilight Zone was past its prime, and when the series was renewed for a fifth season in the spring of 1963, a return to its original half-hour format was a belated step in the right direction.

They could have made the menu options more flexible

There are about 8 episodes per disc, and what I don't like about these Twilight Zone DVD sets is, there is no option to play all episodes consecutively. After one episode ends, you have to grab the remote and back out of that episode's menu, and then back to the main menu and select the next episode! Just make sure you're remote is handy at all times when watching this DVD set!

Terrible DVD Release of a Great series....

I'm afraid CBS DVD really did not give the Twilight Zone as good a release on DVD as it deserved. The interviews are moderately informative and the audio commenteries vary from good to boring.

The shows themselves have been restored and remastered and that's about all you get out of this set.

TV shows on DVD have for the most part been disapointing. They are over-priced, contains disks in cheap packaging that can be easily damaged in shipping, and they will either be loaded with features or a bare bones releases. Given this track record, I say No to most TV DVD sets.,

Still has its fair share of treasures

It's the prevailing opinion of serious Twilight Zone fans that the hour-long format of the show's 4th series diluted the impact of the stories.

While this is sometimes noticeable, it's not by any means a fatal flaw. There is still a lot of enjoyment to be had.

The 4th series doesn't feature any absolute classics, like 'Walking Distance', but the level of writing, acting, and production is still high.

'Mute' is an excellent conceptual episode about a girl alienated by her special abilities.'On Thursday We Leave for Home' features the brilliant James Whitmore as a man whose purpose in life is destroyed by his own salvation. 'The Incredible World of Horace Ford' features a man utterly seduced by nostalgia.