Which series is best 2002, 1985 or 1959?!
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Aqua_Fresca — 14 years ago(February 09, 2012 12:17 AM)
Never saw 2002 version, so between the first 2 I'd have to go with the original.
When I first saw both these series (I watched them back to back 2 years ago) I was just captivated by the original version. Even though it could be pretty cheesey and you could definitely tell they were on a tight schedule, I feel the original just had great touch to a lot of its storytelling, and as far as first impressions go, I don't think I've ever been more pleased watching a show the first time through than with the original.
The '85 series I had mixed feelings on. From what I can remember a lot of the episodes really didn't connect with me the same way with the original, and there's only a few I can remember that I really thought were interesting and kinda touching. That isn't to say I hated it or strongly disliked it, but I guess I was kind of let down.
I'm currently rewatching the original right now, but after thinking about it, I also intend to revisit the '85 version as I feel my expectations weren't properly tempered when originally viewing it. I hope I change my mind and find a lot more to love about it.
For my money's worth, though, I do think the intro to the '85 show is the best one. -
Barry-73 — 14 years ago(February 25, 2012 07:10 AM)
The original series (1959) is the best. The 2002 series with Forest Whitaker is close behind. Yes, really. I have the DVD set, and am re-watching them now. The 1985 series, well, I'm not sure I remember much about those. I vaguely remember the ones I saw not being very good. Maybe I should trying watching some of them again.
Anyway, the 1959 series would be #1 and the 2002 series would be #2. -
Enigmatic-Ocean — 13 years ago(November 01, 2012 09:48 AM)
The 1959 series is by far the best. The 80s series (with the exception of a select few episodes) is bad and a great many of the episodes lack logic or don't have any sort of conclusion. I saw a few episodes of the 2002 series and wasn't impressed, but I honestly don't remember much of them. So, my advice is watch the 1985 series and 2002 series when they are on TV or (if you have it) netflix. If you have some money to spend 1959 series is worth it's price.
What's so crazy about standing toe to toe with someone saying "I am"? -
TVholic — 13 years ago(March 26, 2013 12:08 AM)
The 80s series (with the exception of a select few episodes) is bad and a great many of the episodes lack logic or don't have any sort of conclusion.
Lack of logic is a fault of quite a few original series TZ episodes. Giant humanoids a la Lost in Space? A duplicate of yourself crossing over from another universe so they can for some vague reason take your place? Time traveling by catching an unnatural tailwind? That very episode is guilty of your second sin, too, of not having any real conclusion. Or how about the Jack Klugman one where he's a spacecraft commander who keeps going to a planet to find their own corpses. That made no sense. All in all, I'd say the percentage of duds in both shows is roughly the same. -
Danimal_77 — 12 years ago(April 21, 2013 09:16 PM)
What the hell is wrong with you? You have quite the nerve. You had half a dozen people tell you that you ruined the plot to many shows by not having the decency to put a SPOILER alert before you ranted and gave away MANY plots to MANY episodes and then what do you do? YOU DO IT AGAIN and give away the plots to another HALF A DOZEN episodes without putting a spoiler alert AGAIN!!! AND you idiot, you did it within the SAME THREAD! My God, you must like to piss people off. Was it not enough for you to have everyone tell you how you ruined several plots for them, for you to go and do it AGAIN you moron!
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TVholic — 12 years ago(April 21, 2013 11:34 PM)
"Many plots?" "Another half a dozen episodes?" Something tells me you have a hard time counting that high, which is why you have to exaggerate like that. Besides, you don't seem to understand what a spoiler is. Take that Klugman episode. They see their own corpses within the first few minutes of the episode. There's no twist to give away because that's all they do for the whole episode. And in fact, that's basically the kind of description a TV listing would give. Case in point, the description of that episode right here on IMDb: "An interplanetary expedition from earth finds an exact duplicate of their ship and themselves crashed on the planet they were surveying. Should they stay or risk taking off and crashing?" Oh, my god! IT'S SPOILED!
And how very polite and intelligent of you to rail against "spoilers" earlier then quote the entire message. -
rustywriter-292-501345 — 12 years ago(May 28, 2013 09:42 PM)
Actually , there are spoilers on the original series DVD sets.
Living in New Zealand, I had not seen hardly any episodes of the original as I was too young/it was on too late and we did not have the benefit of endless reruns of the show unlike in America where, in my realatively short stay there in 1984, it was on five nights a week. That is the first time I caught a few episodes so, in general, watching them was new to me.
Unfortunately, because the original series is such a classic, I guess the DVD makers thought we already knew the endings and gave away spoiler lines in the DVD menu sound bites, snippets in the episode selections, and even in the chapter titles. I tried to be oblivous to all those in watching them. However, almost all of the episodes seemed predictable in the end; you could usually figure out what was going to happen, even though I still enjoyed watching them. Perhaps the best way to watch it is to pretend you don't know the ending and simply enjoy the journey, plus the array of stars or soon-to-be stars that appeared.
As regards the 1985 series (which is what this board is actually about), it was pretty terrible; the remakes of the classic episodes proabably shouldn't have been made. The Elvis episode, one of the few I remember, was dreadful, completely predictable. The JFK one had some merit but was still a little obvious. -
trollomatic — 11 years ago(September 17, 2014 04:58 PM)
<<
That might be because of the reediting of the length of the episodes after they had already originally aired.
Stories that were originally one length were later reedited to a completely different length.
And not just a few minutes chopped off here and there for commercials, but to a completely different length than they originally were.
Which makes me wonder which ones the dvds have. -
Blackace — 13 years ago(May 05, 2012 03:17 PM)
The 1959 version is the one you want to get first, as long as you don't mind watching episodes in black/white. They are the best overall. The 1985 version is also great. I saw several of those episodes and was very surprised at how well they were written. I think even Rod would have been happy with some of this material. I really didn't see much of the 2002 version, which was hosted by Forest Whitaker. I would watch the 2002 episodes last. It'll take anyone at least a few months to watch the 8 seasons from the 1959 and 1985 versions. Netflix has Season 1, 2, 3 & 5 of the original Twilight Zone. So if you subscribe, check it out.
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Enrique-8 — 13 years ago(September 15, 2012 08:22 PM)
"as long as you don't mind watching episodes in black/white"????????????????
Instead of cowtowing to people that are put off by black and white. You should highlight that the absolute greatness of the storytelling in black and white. There are a few million boatloads of crap filmed in color.
The film stock has NOTHING to do with greatness.
Enrique Sanchez -
Northerner335 — 13 years ago(December 23, 2012 12:54 PM)
I would definitely rank them 1959, 1985, 2002. To me, the original series speaks for itself in its greatness. The 1985 series has some gems and often succeeds in capturing the eerie/creepy/spooky vibe from the original series. It did have some great writing and interesting concepts. The opening theme was very creepy and effective, in my opinion. The 2002 series gets an "A for effort" from me, but there were so many clunkers. It had good intentions but overall, it was a misfire.
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worldofbong — 13 years ago(February 21, 2013 10:32 AM)
The original 50s/60s series are the "classic" episodes, and the William Shatner episode where he sees the creature on the wing is one of my favorites (also remade in the movie), but overall the 80s series is my personal favorite. Especially episodes like Shatterday, the Fortune Cookie episode (w/the restaurant reviewer), the episode where criminals are forced to wear something on their forehead, another episode where smart people are tested to see if they're "too smart", etc..
..or at least I think so lol -
discowhale — 12 years ago(May 24, 2013 01:02 PM)
The original series is the best, hands down. Those shows were written by giants of writing fiction, science fiction and TV shows. Serling, Richard Matheson
, and George Clayton Johnson [he co-wrote the novel Logan's Run from which the movie was spawned as well as the Star Trek (TOS) first season episode The Man Trap]. There are others who were the TOP of TV and movie script writing and doctoring in the 40's, 50's and 60's but I added those because I thought people younger then me, would 'know' them.
The show also employed classic actors like Ed Wynn, Burgess Meredith, Jeanette Nolan, and Agnes Morehead. And young actors like William Shatner, Inger Stevens, and a very young Billy Mumy [for those of us old enough to remember Lost in Space].
In short, of the shows after the originals some are good, some are bad, but ALL fall short of the first series. If for no other reason, Rod Serling was always there picking, and choosing THE best scripts, the best writers and directors and the best classic actors and some of the best up and coming actors as well.
The Twilight Zone, '59 version, the first 4 seasons, is available on Netflix for streaming. Buy a DVD recorder, order Netflix and have at it!