Customer Reviews

A Critical History of Television's the Twilight Zone, 1959-1964

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'll chime in here too. I guess from reading the "4 star" reviews below the authors aren't too lazy to promote this dog. They certainly were too lazy to do anything original. The #1 reason that I was so disappointed when I got this book, the AUTHORS WERE DOWNRIGHT LAZY!!! If this book is not a rehash, there has never ever been a book written that was!! While Zircee is often critized for the TZ Companion, Zicree did conduct his own interviews and gathered his own information. These guys didn't do JACK!! Presnell and McGee did not conduct even ONE interview. All of the information in this book came from other sources (and they relied HEAVILY on the Zicree TZ Companion throughout their book). Add the fact that it is all text based...not a single photo. They were too cheap to pay the publisher for any pictures. Now they want to charge you an arm and a leg for this really crappy rehash too....skip this one for CERTAIN!!

I agree wholeheartedly with the first review posted above. I liked the book even less, and would be even more critical. I saw this book at one of the local book 'superstores' and spent at least an hour looking it over thoroughly. The TZ Companion by Zircee is a vastly better work. The authors take a scholarly tone, that often comes across as overly pompous. Their episode reviews and synopsis' are very poor, and although exhaustively indexed, are lacking sorely. There are some interesting appedices (such as everything Serling did, general themes covered in various episodes), most of which have been addressed long ago online. Also disappointing was a complete lack of pictures. This book does not have a SINGLE photo. Just a text based rehash of the TZ Companion......very disappointing in my opinion.

A poor rehash of the Companion. Fans who have that book memorized will get a sense of deja vu from this tome. Not enough hard work went into this piece of literature, and the cover price is way too high to justify. Trust me, take a pass.

DO NOT listen to the three "4 star" reviews posted by the same person (probably the author, the only person that could like this horrid work). If someone offered me a copy of this book for FREE, I would not walk 100 yards to pick it up. What a waste of paper..... SERIOUSLY!! I wish we had ZERO stars as an option, because that is what this deserves!

I really, really, really hate to say it, but this is probably the worst book ever written on THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Yes, worse than Marc Zicree's book. Mostly because you can tell quite clearly that they are reprinting the same mistakes that appear in Marc Scott Zicree's book. There is no original research in their 200 page book. They cite all their sources as previous publications. At least Zicree make the trek through Hollywood to interview movie stars and directors and writers (even if he didn't followup and verify whether the recollections from cast and crew were accurate).

Now the irony...
Amazon.com does offer a solution at the same cost if not cheaper than the price of this book. THE TWILIGHT ZONE: UNLOCKING THE DOOR TO A TELEVISION CLASSIC by Martin Grams Jnr. covers the entire series with 800 plus pages of behind-the-scenes trivia, exclusive interviews with cast and crew and a detail level will exceed anyone's expectation. If you are looking for a book that covers "everything" about the TV series, the Grams book is the one to invest. I know it's ridiculous to read someone suggest another book in a book review, but follow my advice and you'll thank me for it.

I bought the hardcover for this book a number of years ago for less than what this pb is going for. The book is a rehash of any number of episode guides for the classic series. At 288 pages the price($30) is incredibly high. If spending a large amount for a paperback book I'd advise going with "Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic" at least it was interesting and at over 800 pages it was worth it.

Must disagree with the 1 review of the Twilight Zone Book. While the Zicree "Companion" is incisive, it fails to mention the lost Zone episodes which surfaced on television in the 80s ... the Presnell book does ... and well. The "Critical History" is in-depth and well written. Rehash it isn't as it uses for its source the original scripts. Well worth a look.

While this is not your typical Coffee Table picture book, it is a complete anthology of the famous TV series. The author uses a crisp writing style that cuts through the fluff and gets to the point. A style that i particularly enjoy. This is a comprehensive reference for the "zone-O-phile" who wants a concise summary of each episode along with all the details that fans of the show will enjoy. Buy this book. It is a welcome addtion to your TZ library.

Now that the show is back on the air and the Twilight Zone magazine is defunct, it is nice to have Mr Presnell's book as a watching companion. No photos, but the information is exhaustive (without being exhausting) and the writing is scholarly but accessible. This is a book clearly written by a fan. It's nice to watch the show nightly and then go behind the scenes with the book.