The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.51 You Save: $6.44 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.24 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Twilight Zone Companion
Book Review: A definite must-have for every 'TZ' aficionado
Summary: 5 Stars
A quick perusal of amazon will demonstrate the plethora of guides, companions, compendiums, histories, personal remembrances, ad nauseam for nearly everyone's favorite television show. Most of them are well intentioned but realistically we readers of books of this genre classification know it's a crapshoot of getting one worth it's weight in gold - with crap being the key operative word. Some of the material available is shabby, crude, and embarrassingly bad. Being able to tap into a 'cash cow' has proved too inviting for a hack looking to make a quick buck, and we the reader realize too late we've been had.
That's definitely not the case with author Marc Scott Zicree and his superior 'The Twilight Zone Companion'. Zicree has an immediately recognizable deep fondness for this cult television series and he treats it with the highest admiration due. He has really gone the distance to bring the reader a quality product; years since its original publication it still has yet to be surpassed. There are other books available on 'The Twilight Zone' but not a single one of them can hope to challenge this guide.
The first 30 pages of the book contains a concise but informative biographical sketch on the creator of 'TZ'; a breakdown of every episode of each season of the original broadcast series (1959 - 1965) and rather lengthy essays on both the theatrical feature film and the 1980's follow-up series (that hoped to strike lightning once again but unfortunately failed) makes up the bulk of this companion. Zicree has written in a style that is eminently readable to most and maddeningly confounding to some others. His highly personal observations should be seen as a 'jumping off' point to both form your own opinion as well as afford you an opportunity to hear another objective point of view.
His research here is commendable. He has exhausted every known archive and publication concerning the show and its creative staff. One of the very best touches he put on the book was his inclusion of biographical background and photos of many of the writers, directors, actors and production staff that worked on 'TZ'. We get as intimately acquainted with most of these people as we are likely to; it also goes a long way in helping us to understand the ingenuity behind the program that made it the classic it was - and still remains so today. The seasons are broken down into separate chapters and each of them are prefixed by an 'insider's analysis' of what sort of creativity went into that season's production schedule, i. e. how they met and overcame such troubles as casting problems, budget constraints, and many other obstacles. Another item I really liked was the addition of a publicity photo or screenshot accompanying each episode synopsis.
I have had my copy of this companion for going on twenty years now and it is probably the most dog-eared book on my bookshelf. I am constantly thumbing through it and no matter how hard I try I cannot stop impulsively reading and re-reading it. This guide is indispensable to the fan of the original 'TZ' series and it is especially conventional now that the series has been made available in DVD collector sets.
Book Review: "You unlock this door with the key to imagination...."
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the 1st edition of The Twilight Zone Companion back in high school and was amazed at the amount of information included. I learned a lot about the show, what went on behind the scenes and aquired a greater appreciation for the genius of Rod Serling and touches on other projects he worked on, including Requium for a Heavyweight and Night Gallery. There is a brief biography about Serling and information about writers Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Clayton Johnson. All of them contributed stories, though Twilight Zone was Serling's baby.
The only drawback was the fact the shows Zicree personally didn't like, he didn't spend too much time talking about (his opinions would be less biased on the Twilight Zone boxset commentaries). Everybody has their favorite and not-so-favorite episode (my list of favorites would include Nick of Time, The Hitchhiker, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, The Fugitive, Time Enough at Last, Back There, To Serve Man, A Passage for Trumpet, Night of the Meek, In Praise of Pip, Walking Distance, On Thursday We Leave for Home, Eye of the Beholder, It's a Good Life and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet). However, it's obvious that Zicree is a passioned fan, as he has obviously spent hours of research to each show.
The latest edition includes information about Twilight Zone- The Movie (I remember watching that with my sister and the It's a Good Life sequence scared the hell out of both of us!) and the Twilight Zone series from the 1980's (there were some good moments, but without the late great Rod Serling, it wasn't the same). In addition, the index includes the different actors in the index in the original series.
The original show includes a long resume of actors including Billy Mumy, Burgess Meredith (he'd become the narrator for the movie version), Agnes Moorehead (she sure looks different without all that black mascara!), Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison), Dick York, Elizabeth Montgomery (both from Bewitched but not featured in the same episode), Art Carney (Ed Norton), Jonathon Harris (Dr Smith), Sterling Holloway, Inger Stevens, Stephen Talbot (Leave It to Beaver), Bill Bixby, Edgar Buchanan, Ann Jilian, Joan Blondell, William Demarest, Ron Howard, Jackie Cooper (fom the Our Gang), Buster Keaton, William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Richard Deacon, Charles Bronson and many others.
If you're as big a fan as I am of The Twilight Zone, read the signpost up ahead and make your next stop the shopping cart!
Book Review: All y'all are missin' the point of this book
Summary: 5 Stars
Like the title of my review says, the unnecessarily nasty reviews posted here are missing the book's point, and, I suspect, the author's point.
First, let's all agree to overlook the author's minor mistakes. That stuff's gonna happen in a book like this, which is essentially filled with literally thousands of tiny little facts. The law of averages will prevail... either the author, or, more likely, the people he's getting his information from, will be wrong every once in a while. That's bound to happen, and, frankly, can be forgiven.
What this book does extremely well is to separate the wheat from the chaff. In other words, it helps the casual viewer figure out what episodes are worth watching, and buying; so he/she doesn't waste time on the few episodes that are of lesser quality.
As a public high school language arts teacher, I use the book quite often as a general reference, to help me figure out which episodes might work for certain lessons. (I show episodes "The Twilight Zone" often to my philosophy and creative writing classes.)
Other books about this ground-breaking series have come down the pike recently. Most are better at reporting the trivia. But few are as well organized and designed. What Zicree has done is put together a basic, general reference book that is still the "bible" for casual fans and serious students of the series and all things Serling.
If you need a basic book about TZ, this is definitely the one to get first. Then, if you feel the need to, go ahead and "graduate" to the other, newer, thicker, trivia-driven tomes.
(Qualifiers: Yes, I AM old enough to have watched the original series when it first was broadcast on CBS. And, no, I'm not related to Zicree, nor did he pay me to defend him in this review!)
Book Review: Doesn't Hit the Mark
Summary: 5 Stars
Jason Collison's review on this site hits the mark. Zicree's book is good but isn't the final word on the matter. The book is littered with errors. The wrong airdate for "Long Distance Call" and William Froug's faulted memory regarding the cost factors in "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" has been reprinted in so many books people think the errors are facts. Just because it is in print doesn't mean it is the gospel. Zicree is missing narration for "Time Enough at Last," "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," "Walking Distance" "I Shot an Arrow Into the Air" and others. More than half of the episodes contain no facts - just critical opinions.
So why does a lot of people rave about this book? Because for twenty years there was nothing else available. The past five years has brought us a large number of publications that reveal the correct facts (though DIMENSIONS BEHIND THE TWILIGHT ZONE reprinted some of the errors). True fans of the program have been criticizing this book for years and the general public is not aware of this. So which book now should you buy and avoid the same problem?
Thankfully, Amazon does offer relief. THE TWILIGHT ZONE: UNLOCKING THE DOOR TO A TELEVISION CLASSIC by Martin Grams (available for purchase on Amazon) contains "everything." Dates each episode was filmed, in-jokes and bloopers, behind-the-scenes stories, production costs, reuse of props and more. Buy Zicree's book if you want - you'll get what you pay for. Or you can buy the Grams book and forever appreciate the craftsmanship of the program that does Rod Serling justice.
Book Review: This Twilight Zone fan's favorite!
Summary: 5 Stars
Zicree did a great job on this book. To date no one has done better, and perhaps no one ever will. This is the definitive "general info" book on the Twilight Zone!As many people have mentioned, this just isn't a presentation of dry textual information (for that - try the "A Critical History of Television's the Twilight Zone, 1959-1964" ISBN: 0786404485), and the author is very opinionated. But why should this detract from the book?
Of course, when you offer opinions about the episodes (which many fondly remember from childhood - and don't enjoy reading about the flaws - especially picky and/or subjective gripes) you are taking a chance. But if you want to see "picky", then go to one of the Twilight Zone websites and check out a message board. Widely varying opinions abound and are encouraged (as they should be!). One persons very favorite #1 episode is anothers last place dog. And many of these people are all too willing to flame Zicree for offering praise and spending several pages for his favorites, and little coverage for the ones he didn't like???
I've actually purchased THREE of these books. My first one fell apart because I wore it out! The 2nd and 3rd were purchased as a replacement for #1, and to get a "revised edition" (that really wasn't updated, and didn't correct mistakes in the previous edition...oh well).
If you want to know about the Twilight Zone....look no further. This is the best "guidebook" for your imaginative adventure!