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Rating:  -
For some time, I have been hearing about how this book is THE book to own in regard to the Twilight Zone, so I decided it was about time I looked into it. The price was definetely right, and Amazon delivered it very quickly, but the book itself has left something to be desired in my opinion. It does include many interesting pictures, as well as some extra background on all the major writers of the series (Serling, of course, also George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont), but Zicree's commentary on each of the episodes begins to get very redundant relatively quickly. By the time I was about 3/4 of the way through this book, it began to dawn on me: he has something negative to say about almost every single episode! For someone who loves the Twilight Zone as much as he claims, and has gone to all the work of compiling a companion book to the series, he sure comes down hard on the show itself. Nearly every episode which he "reviews" contains comments regarding how terrible the acting is, how poorly it was directed, how it's too wordy, how the characters aren't believable, how Serling's prose is lacking, or some other variant of these ideas. As I read more and more of the book, I began to form a genuine sense of distaste for Zicree's attacks on every aspect
Rating:  -
My husband and I really enjoy watching marathons of The Twilight Zone shown twice a year at New Years and 4th of July on SciFi Channel. In the past, we'd figure out which episodes we'd want to watch based on an old episode guide I had printed off the internet. Given that this is a twice-yearly event for us, it seemed like actually buying an episode guide would be a worthwhile investment, so after during some research, I purchased this book by Marc Scott Zicree.
For the most part, I've been very happy with THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION. Zicree begins by talking about Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, providing a mini-biography of Serling's early days and recounting the birth of the Twilight Zone series. Zicree then describes each of the five Twilight Zone seasons into individual chapters. He starts each of these chapters with an overview that season before moving into the individual episodes. Each episode breakdown includes the original air date, names of the writer, producer, director, and cast members; the exact text of Serling's opening and concluding narration; a plot summary; and additional facts and commentary provided by Zicree. At least one photo also accompanies each episode.
Throughout the book, Zicree weaves in additional anecdotes about the show's major themes and players. For example, Chapter III features a 2-page look at "Serling as Narrator"; later in that same chapter, there are several pages of background information on frequent contributor Charles Beaumont. In his "After the Twilight Zone" chapter, Zicree discusses events following the conclusion of the original Twilight Zone in 1964. These include Rod Serling's follow-up projects, such as Night Gallery; Twilight Zone--The Movie; and a new Twilight Zone series appearing on TV in the 1980s.
All of the above makes this book a very good episode guide. However, I do have a few issues with it. The main problem (and this has been noted by many other reviewers here) is that Zicree is VERY critical of MANY of the episodes. I think that most true Twilight Zone fans feel like this series was WAY ahead of its time and that even the worst episodes were still pretty darn good; from Zicree's review, however, you would think that there were maybe a few standout episodes and that's it--one wonders if he even liked the series at all! The other problem I had with the book was in the editing: when looking up episodes in the index, I found that the page number references were not always correct (particularly for the new Twilight Zone series episodes).
Overall, if you are looking for a Twilight Zone episode guide, I would still recommend this book. However, I would also recommend taking Zicree's unnecessarily harsh commentary with a grain of salt.
Rating:  -
If you are fan, or MORE than just a fan of the original television show, the Twilight Zone, then this is the book for you! The definitive compendium of not only every show, but of all those little tidbits ABOUT the show, its writer, producers and what it took to get it on the air. With detailed coverage of each episode, that includes a plot synopsis, Rod Serling's narrations, critical commentary, behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes from the original artists who created the series, a complete list of cast and credits, and over 200 production photographs, this is bargain and half. Well worth every penny and then some!
Rating: -
I just read the review of someone else about this book and all I can say is it is not a perfect book but it is great,in fact I am on my third copy of it.The first one I read so much it shredded and copy two I can't find so I just orderd another one.My only comment to the person who had so much criticism about the book is DON'T READ IT or write your own
Rating: -
This is an excellent overview of the development and production of Rod Serling's classic Twilight Zone, also filled with great episode reviews. This book is a classic in its own right.
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