The Twilight Zone (1985–1989)

A collection of tales which range from comic to tragic, but often have a wicked sense of humor and an unexpected twist.

Creator:

Rod Serling

Stars:

Robin Ward, Charles Aidman, Luci-Lynn Norris

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Robin Ward	...	Narrator (30 episodes, 1988-1989)
Charles Aidman	...	Narrator (30 episodes, 1985-1987)

Storyline

An updated version of the famous 1960's TV series created by Rod Serling. Each week presents one to three tales about some unusual situation that turns out to be even more unusual than initially suspected. Whether the tone of the story is horror, suspense or humor, there is always a surprise twist at the end.

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Plot Keywords:

surrealism | supernatural | anthology | sequel

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller | Horror

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ai confini della realtà

Filming Locations:

4th Street Viaduct, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlantis Films, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), London Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min 45 min (35 episodes) (Season 1-2) 21 min (30 Episodes) (season 3)

Sound Mix:

Stereo Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Assuming the new Twilight Zone would be a huge hit with adults who had grown up on the original, CBS pre-sold the syndicated rerun rights with a "guaranteed" number of episodes. However, the show was a flop and was canceled after two seasons. CBS quickly made deals to produce additional episodes for syndication in order to fulfill the guarantee. In syndicated versions of this show, Robin Ward narrates all the episodes, including the episodes which originally featured narration by Charles Aidman. MGM/UA felt that this would give the series a greater sense of uniformity. Also this way they didn't have to pay residuals to Aidman, but only to (the considerably cheaper) Ward.

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Connections

Follows Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

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Soundtracks

(Opening theme music)
Performed by The Grateful Dead & Merl Saunders
(Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzman, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland & Bob Weir)

User Reviews

Very Good, But A Tough Act To Follow...

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.