A Brilliant Conflict

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

My memories of the 1985 reboot were not very good, with the exception of a couple of episodes like "Shatterday" and "Kentucky Rye". However, on rewatching it, all of it, i have changed my mind. There are some fantastic episodes in the first and second seasons. They differ significantly from the original series in that they are almost -- not all -- completely predictable straightline stories. What happened to cause the sudden quality/production/story dropoff with the third season i am unsure (though it has one of the best episodes, "Love is Blind").

Rod Serling's masterpiece of "The Twilight Zone" was a television show of such high standards, that any attempt to update the show was going to be rather a challenge. This 1980s version, in spite of having honourable intentions, is not a particularly good rendition. The main problem, is that the insight, creativity and guidance that Rod Serling provided for the original series, is sorely lacking here. In addition, his team of right hand men - Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson amongst others, are also greatly missed. There are some talented writers from the 1980s series but their stories just don't work for me. A lot of the episodes are half- baked in their plots and mostly boring and uninspired. The look of the series is so dated by today's standards and that doesn't help. One or two stories were mildly diverting, especially the one with Danny Kaye. At least that story contained a glimmer of the old magic. The opening credit sequence shows a blurred but definite image of Rod Serling, which is only right. After all, "The Twilight Zone" wouldn't have existed in the first place without him. I shall stick with the original series, it is the ONLY "Twilight Zone."

The 1985 version of "The Twilight Zone" begins with a major disadvantage: it trailed the original Rod Serling vintage 1960s version! That original series was, and continues to be, the Gold Standard for programs of this type and for better or worse it's unlikely that any show in its wake could achieve that level of greatness.However, this second attempt did have some positives going for it: First, it featured stories from a host of brilliant s/f writers, including such iconic names as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen King, just to name three. And it had the advantage of better special effects, and color photography.Unfortunately, the parallels to the original series meant this one was doomed to be considered an also ran, which is a shame, because there were some incredible episodes that I would rank among the best of any science fiction program from any era.Examples: The astonishing "Profile In Silver" tells the story of a time traveling distant relation to John F. Kennedy, who goes to Dallas in 1963, intending to document, but then preventing the assassination of the President, which creates some surprising results. A remarkable story that is most certainly worthy of the "TZ" moniker.The amusing "I Of Newton" tells of a professor who offhandedly says he would sell his soul to calculate an equation, but then has to try to back out of the deal when the devil shows up in his classroom to claim it. This is reminiscent of many of the humorous episodes from the original series.They even did a "remake" of a few eps, like "Button Button," where an impoverished couple was offered the chance to receive a large cash amount if they simply pressed a button. The catch: someone they didn't know would die.There were some hits and misses in this series, and to a degree, it did often reflect the mentality of the 1980s, rather than tell stories that had a "timeless" quality, which is another disadvantage it has to the original series, but it is most certainly worthy of bearing the name, and is worth seeking out, either on reruns or DVD.

Here's hoping that the 1985 and 1986 versions of The Twilight Zone will one day be released on DVD as it was an outstanding series with well written episodes. The beginning titles have a half-second animation of Rod Serling in them as a salute to the originator of the series. The episode "Nightcrawlers" was directed by William Freidkin and is brilliant. One episode called "Shatterday" features the TV debut of Bruce Willis. There is also a small budget third season which was made after cancellation to make up the numbers for syndication,but it's budget was small and apart from one good episode,where a man is possessed by what looks like Christ,it is a poor third season. But the first two seasons are brilliant.