Customer Reviews

One Step Beyond: The Official First Season

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's go, Paramount!

Click "YES" to send them the message that the fans are waiting.

The 'magic mushroom' episode is on season three so don't make us wait any longer than we have too.

Well, I have finished comparing `The Official First Season ` DVD set of One Step Beyond to the other sets previously available (Mill Creek, Delta, etc.) and I am very impressed with the difference. All the original music seems to be intact and the murky soundtrack that plagued those old sets with an underlying hum and hiss is now clear and clean. The `full-screen' restored picture is not only beautiful, but has been restored to its full image. When I played the episodes side-by-side using picture-in-picture I discovered that the picture on the others are all unnecessarily cropped. $35 seems a little high for a three-disk set, but I'm glad this series is getting the respect it deserves and I'm enjoying it. I only wish I had never seen them before so I could watch them all for the first time.
One Step Beyond had a total of 97 episodes and ran for three seasons from Jan 1959 to July 1961. Twilight Zone premiered nine months later, in October 1959, and it truly went beyond its predecessor. For example on One Step Beyond a person would have a dream that the Titanic is going to sink whereas on the Twilight Zone, a person may wake up and find themselves actually on that ill-fated ship. Still, the stories on One Step Beyond are fun in a spooky sense. Season one has 22 episodes, season two 39 episodes, and season three, 36.

I just had to say "thank you" to CBS/PARAMOUNT for finally giving this series an official release. After many years of seeing nothing but old beat-up 16mm prints, I'm going to immensely enjoy seeing nice 35mm prints of this great show. I just hope all of the original music is left intact and that all 3 seasons are released. A great bonus would be to have original commercials, if available & a CD release of all the music. It's also great to see that BONANZA is getting an official release as well. I hope that CBS/PARAMOUNT continues to dig into its vaults and release more great TV treasures. My pre-order is in and I can't wait until September 15!! I hope those of you who are thinking about ordering this set will do so to ensure the release of seasons 2 & 3.

**REVIEW UPDATE** 9/16/09
Couldn't wait for it to be shipped so I went out and bought it! Audio and video quality are excellent. Now, for all you perfectionists, there are some light spots and a scratch here and there but this presentation is SOOOOO much better than anything I've seen before!! I've only watched 3 episodes so far, but they looked and sounded fine. The extended pilot episode has audio that is a little "draggy", but it's not very distracting. The best part is all the original music was intact. Of course, I had to watch "The Devil's Laughter" and all I can say is --- WOW!. I never thought I'd see this show look and sound this good. This set is well worth the money. Just as great as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Sales of this show and BONANZA should be good enough to merit the release of more season sets (I hope). BTW, there's a sticker on the front that has a quote from the author of the One Step Beyond guide, John Muir. It says "this is the presentation that the fans have been waiting for...". I think I'll agree with that. BUY IT!!

For a number of years I was aware that the original 35mm broadcast prints and negatives of this fine show were stored away in the vaults. It always pained me, because of this show's apparent "public domain" status, that inferior 16mm syndication prints hastily (and usually poorly) transferred to video were all that one could see of this excellent series. CBS/Paramount, despite some colossal blunders as of late in their dvd releases, deserves congratulations on this release.

And they haven't tampered with the music, thank heaven.

John Newland, host and director, was an extremely talented man. He was not only the suave and incisive host of each of the episodes, but he was an accomplished craftsman behind the camera. His direction of actors, his pacing, his creating solid suspense sequences, his choice of camera angles and locations, his masterful use of limited sets and his exquisite taste placed him in the forefront of tv directors. If nothing else this release will remind people of just how good a director this man was. It is interesting to note in this regard that one of the very best episodes of that other great horror anthology series of the 1960s, THRILLER, hosted by Boris Karloff, was called "Pigeons from Hell" which, without a doubt was one of the creepiest and most suspenseful 60 minutes ever seen on television. That episode was directed by Newland.

I cannot recommend this dvd highly enough. Buy it and then cozy up on your favorite couch with your wife, turn the lights down low, and - as the kids say today - get "creeped out". A terrific series, and a terrific dvd, taken from pristine 35mm film elements.

I waited so very long for the studios to finally release an "official", cleaned version of Season One.

Well, that was over a year ago! Come on Paramount - get the lead out and release the other 2 seasons.

Some have called this show a forerunner of "The Twilight Zone", but that is not exactly true. Each segment in this series was based on paranormal events or situations that defied logical explanation. In that sense, this show was much more similar in style to "The X-Files", except without the long story arcs. "The Twilight Zone" episodes, on the other hand, were pure fiction, often written to explore some current social issue that, due to the conventions of the times, would have been impossible to talk about in a straightforward manner without igniting a controversy. Also, this show ran in parallel with "The Twilight Zone" rather than preceding it, running for three seasons from 1959 until 1962.

I first saw this series in the 1980's when it was running on the then-new "Nick at Nite", and I was fascinated by it. I have one of the old public domain packages that has about half of the total 97 episodes in it. The video and audio were passable, but you got what you paid for. The one episode that really sticks in my mind is "Father Image", which is actually from season two. This episode concerned a man whose father has left him some property, including an old boarded-up burlesque house. Nobody can understand why he never sold the place, until an accident causes the son to see images from his dead father's life that include his murder of a girl he was having an affair with and the disposal of her body in the burlesque house, which he closed shortly after the murder and left abandoned. The son finds the body, and would have some explaining to do to the police if it was not obvious that the girl had died years before the son was born. The episode dealt with the issue of children inheriting memories from their parents. I just mention this episode as an example of the interesting episodes that occurred in every season of the show.

You'll notice lots of guest appearances by not-yet famous stars such as Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, Jack Lord, Warren Beatty, and Pernell Roberts. I highly recommend it. This great show has too long been in the public domain and it will be wonderful to have a restored copy.

I have already watched several episodes from this set and the quality is excellent. Do not know why they waited so long to release these versions. After watching this set you will never want to watch those old chopped up "public domain" film copies.

I watched "One Step Beyond The Official First Season" over the past 3 days. The show is finally getting the release it deserves.

First - Let's get the only video flaw I found in the entire set out of the way:

In the first 45 seconds of the episode "Echo" (on disc 3)there was a good bit of scratches/spots from the original film stock. (most of which was pre-opening monologue and opening title) 45 seconds out of 9 hrs 21 min

That's it!

I noticed no missing frames, Jumps, splices, audio problems or the like anywhere in this set. The episodes were sharp and a joy to watch. I suspect this is from the best 35mm stock.

I have some public domain sets, and they were watchable, but this set blows them away! Stories like The Vision, Night of April 14th, The Dark Room, The Devil's Laughter, and The Return of Michael Campion really benefit from the remastering. There are also stories which I haven't seen in the PD issues.

The set is on three single-sided discs. The extras are somewhat minimal. The best being the extended "The Bride Possessed" which included a John Newland series promo that I'd never seen before. Also there is another promo, the Alcoa opening, the 1990's version titles, and a 4 min.1991 audio interview with Don Mankiewicz (with read-along subtitles).

My 5 star rating takes into account the artistic merit as well as the video. I think these are fine stories well suited to these who enjoy Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone or Thriller.

One Step Beyond fans should really enjoy this well-done set.

For those unfamiliar, One Step Beyond (which began in 1959) was an anthology series which told stories of strange or supernatural events that were based on supposedly true documented cases. Subject matter included hauntings, premonitions, curses, thought transference, miracles, re-incarnation and other bizarre phenomenon.

Although I had collected more than half of the "ONE STEP BEYOND"
episodes issued through the years, I purchased this edition
because of a few "rare" shows from season one.

Much to my delight, the clarity and definition of ALL the
episodes included in this set, made this a "MUST HAVE"
for any fan of the series.

It seemed as if I was watching them all for the first time !

Kudos to CBS for delivering the goods on this one. For decades this show has only been available in butchered prints. I had almost given up hope that the original elements even existed. This looks absolutely GREAT (too bad the Twilight Zone discs don't look this good). If you're a fan of the show it's a NO BRAINER to order it right now. Modern audiences may find it somewhat predictable and perhaps "slow", but if you saw it as a youngster, it will provide a good jolt of nostalgia. My only problem is that, as an adult, I'm a skeptic. That takes a bit of the edge off the proceedings, but this is still a very enjoyable show. John Newland was terrific as host and director. Hopefully this will sell well, encouraging the studios to offer more classic television on DVD. Not totally crazy about the cover art though. Are those supposed to be doors impersonating...iPods?