Customer Reviews

One Step Beyond

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Can't some company, somewhere give "One Step Beyond" the respect it deserves? I have long admired this fantastic, bizarre anthology series. I remember watching it as a kid first run on television and being scared to death.

"Your tour guide into the unknown" John Newland is enough to scare the pants off of anybody, especially the way he wanders through a lot of the episodes. He's usually not content to just show up at the beginning like Rod Serling. While Serling presented himself as the sardonic writer/host of "The Twilight Zone," Newland as director/host of "One Step Beyond" is presented with all the charm of a funeral director who has just heard about a 25 car pile-up on the interstate. He's just plain creepy.

The episodes presented here are, for the most part, great. It's the prints for most of the episodes that are lousy. Most are too dark and are full of scratches and specks of dirt. But the worst sin of all is that many are so choppy from splices that it ruins a lot of the dialogue, and dialogue is an important element in the enjoyment (and sometimes understanding) of "One Step Beyond." These prints look like worn-out 16mm films found in the backroom of some television station.

Why can't some company out there give the same treatment to "One Step Beyond" that was done a few years ago with "The Twilight Zone"? In other words, clean up the picture and the sound, digitally remaster each episode, or, better yet, find the original negatives and work from those. Let's see this "journey into the unknown" the way it was meant to be. Geez, it that asking too much?

Well, allow me to explode a little myth. The reason these episodes are in such "low quality" is not because the company "doesn't care about the customer" or some such shallow gripe. The reason these DVD discs are mastered from somewhat bad quality 16 mm film prints is that this series is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Almost everything released by Delta is a Public Domain film or TV show. That means (usually) that the copyright holder has gone bankrupt and did not renew the copyright, causing the content to enter the public domain (a very difficult and complicated topic, look at www.eldred.cc for more information).
Anyway, sometimes this means that the negatives or "masters" are not even available. They may have been misplaced in storage, are held in some tight-fisted collector's vault, or simply thrown in the garbage by someone who did not know what exactly they had. In such a case, the only copies left are film prints floating around in the hands of various collectors. This is probably also the reason why not all of the episodes have been released: the releasing company could only lay their hands on a certain number of 16 mm film prints out of the entire series. Fortunately, the fact that these episodes are in the Public Domain means that we, the public, can legally see them, since a company (or anyone else) can legally duplicate and sell them. So don't cry or moan about the low quality here: we're probably lucky we've got these episodes to view at all. As far as the dramatic content, there's plenty here for fans of The Twlight Zone and other similar shows, and I can recommend them highly on that basis with no qualms or modifiers whatsoever. Great stuff out of the past.

...was One Step Beyond, hands down. I first saw this show as a kid and it scared the bejesus out of me. It must be a psychological thing but old black-and-white films have an eerieness that is lost on color film, and to turn up the chill factor even more was that spooky Harry Lubin score that usually played in the background just at the climax of a scary scene.

This show didn't have to rely on a lot of special effects to scare a person witless since most of the terror came from the fact that all of the episodes were based on true stories. Also, John Newland did a splendid job setting up the show and lended, as others here have noted, a sense of creepiness to the proceedings.

BTW, you'll recognize many an actor and actress in these shows, many before they became famous. So sit back, prop your feet up, and break out the popcorn. Just don't turn off the lights!

I cannot imagine why this 12 or 8 DVD set sells for so much money when the producer did not have to pay any distribution rights for the material now in the public domain. My only criticism is price and that it should be priced accordingly for what it is. Why if you did not read these reviews and based on the price you might expect to be receiving a beautifully mastered set from excellent pre-print materials.

Watching old episodes of "One Step Beyond" takes me back
to childhood, Saturday afternoons and the spooky unknown. This
was dead-pan serious television for us kids in the 60's and early 70's and we found every episode not only thought-provoking, but literally hair-raising... Ah, the innocence of youth.......
ANYWAY.....I digress.....
Delta Entertainment does a good job with the packaging and formatting of their 12 DVD set as well as the best possible transferring of available 16mm prints.
My only issue ? Delta uses old syndication prints that were cut, spliced, recut and respliced as commercials were inserted and removed over and over. As anyone who ever worked in a television station editing film knows, frames are lost with every commercial insertion and removal, eventually consuming not only the short fade-outs but dialog as well. It is particularly noticeable in these prints at the splice connecting John Newland's final comments with the ending credit sequence. In several episodes, this results in the viewer missing that last little "sting".
But it's of minor consequence. "One Step Beyond" is truly
a nostalgic "step back" in time, and anyone old enough to remember watching it all those years ago will certainly enjoy the memories invoked by watching it again.....
(and I, too, hope Delta releases the rest of the series soon!)

John Newland was as creepy as Rod Serling was strange. That's the only comparison worthy between these two shows. So often comparisons spring forth between Zone and Step, but they are neither justified, nor accurate.
Zone is generally a charachter study of people in the most perplexing of situations that could never take place in the real world.
Step is a study of unexplainable events that were documented by the people the events affected, then dramatized by actors.
Step was not only enormously entertaining to watch, it was smart in execution. Newland not only hosts, but also directs many episodes. Anyone who is a fan of the genre of the unexplained should definitely take a look at this incredible show.
Show rating: 5 stars, DVD transfer: 3 stars, packaging: 2 stars (12 DVD's in regular size Amaray cases in a flimsy posterboard thickness paper box sleeve??! Come on guys, we collectors deserve a smarter, more space saving and quality package.)
Overall rating: 4 stars

I saw One Step Beyond when I was 7 years old and it scared the socks off me. I bought this 12 DVD set and it still scares me 45 years later. I have no problem with the DVD quality of this set. My only complaint is that not all the episodes are out on DVD. I hope the manufacturer hurrys up! The ones that really scared me will hopefully be on the second set.

ONE STEP BEYOND was the pioneer TV show in the supernatural genre. This half-hour ABC TV series (first broadcast on Jan 20th, 1959) was based on purportedly true stories. Occasionally an episode featured the person who actually experienced a paranormal event (The Peter Hurkas Story, for example). Pure fantasy, fiction and irony would later be employed to great success by Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE. Because ONE STEP BEYOND dealt with more genuine (and therefore less "mind-boggling") subject matter, it was quickly surpassed in popularity by the Serling show. The series met a premature end in June of 1961, but not before 97 episodes had aired.

The MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT box set of VERY BEST OF ONE STEP BEYOND presents 50 episodes encompassing all three years of this program's network run. Twenty-four season two episodes, 14 season three and 12 from the first abbreviated year make up the collection.

Episode ratings were obtained from a TV show archive website. The numbers may be somewhat inflated, for based on five of these programs that have polling data at a much larger film resource site, the average rating is only 5.7 on a 1 to 10 scale. The TV show site's averaged-out score for all 50 programs in this package is: 9.1.

The following alphabetized list includes poll results for each show, episode number, original date of broadcast and principal actors involved.

(7.3) (#15) The Aerialist (2/28/59) - Roy Baker/Mike Connors
(9.4) (#63) Anniversary Of A Murder (9/27/60) - Harry Townes/Amzie Strickland
(9.9) (#25) Brainwave (10/6/59) - Whit Bissell/Raymond Bailey
(9.7) (#19) The Captain's Guests (5/26/59) - Felix Locher/Robert Webber
(10.) (#49) The Clown (3/22/60) - John Close/Yvette Mimieux/Mickey Shaughnessy (both in support)
(9.2) (-#4) The Dark Room (2/10/59) - Cloris Leachman/Ann Codee
(6.5) (#78) Dead Man's Tale (1/17/61) - Lonny Chapman/Jean Engstrom
(7.9) (-#9) The Dead Part Of The House (3/17/59) - Phillip Abbott/Mimi Gibson
(9.4) (#33) Dead Ringer (12/1/59) - Norma Crane/Grant Williams
(7.5) (#54) Delia (5/3/60) - Barbara Lord/Murray Matheson
(9.6) (#23) Delusion (9/15/59) - George Mitchell/Norman Lloyd/Suzanne Pleshette
(9.1) (#11) The Devil's Laughter (3/31/59) - Alfred Ryder/Alma Lawton
(9.5) (#26) Doomsday (10/13/59) - Fintan Meyler/Patrick O'Moore
(7.2) (-#7) The Dream (3/3/59) - Jack Lynn/Charles Horvath
(8.5) (#39) Earthquake (1/12/60) - David Opatoshu/Elvira Curci
(6.4) (#20) Echo (6/2/59) - Ross Martin/Leslie Barrett/Edmund Glover
(9.5) (#76) The Executioner (1/3/61) - Crahan Denton/Tom Middleton
(9.6) (#48) The Explorer (3/15/60) - Rudolph Anders/Edith Evanson/Bert Convy (in support)
(8.5) (#31) Forked Lightning (11/17/59) - Frank Maxwell/Candy Moore
(9.3) (#21) Front Runner (6/9/59) - Walter Burke/Ben Cooper
(9.8) (#56) Gypsy (5/17/60) - Johnny Seven/John Kellogg/Robert Blake (in support)
(9.7) (#37) The Hand (12/29/59) - Robert Loggia/Miriam Colon
(9.8) (#50) I Saw You Tomorrow (4/5/60) - Francis Bethencourt/Narda Onyx
(10.) (#28) The Inheritance (10/27/59) - Sean McClory/Jan Miner
(10.) (#84) Justice (3/7/61) - Pauline Jameson/Ewen Roberts
(10.) (#77) The Last Round (1/10/61) - Charles Bronson/Feliz Deeback
(7.6) (#74) Legacy Of Love (12/20/60) - Charles Aidman/Norma Crane
(7.0) (#44) The Lovers (2/16/60) - Rudolph Anders/Irene Tedrow/Sig Ruman (in support)
(9.9) (#36) Make Me Not A Witch (12/22/59) - Patricia McCormack/Leo Penn
(9.3) (#30) Message From Clara (11/10/59) - Barbara Baxley/Robert Ellenstein
(8.2) (#67) Moment Of Hate (10/25/60) - Joanne Linville/Linda Lawson/John Kellogg
(9.2) (-#2) Night Of April 14th (1/27/59) - Patrick Macnee/Barbara Lord
(8.0) (#82) Night Of Decision (2/21/61) - Richard Tyler/Robert Douglas/Ken Drake
(8.5) (#29) The Open Window (11/3/59) - Michael Higgins/Louise Fletcher
(9.7) (#24) Ordeal On Locust Street (9/22/59) - Suzanne Lloyd/Gary Campbell
(10.) (#81) Person Unknown (2/7/61) - Robert Carricart/Rudolfo Hoyos Jr./Jay Novello
(9.9) (#52) The Peter Hurkos Story (Part 1) (4/19/60) - Albert Salmi/Norbert Schiller/John Banner
(9.9) (#53) The Peter Hurkos Story (Part 2) (4/26/60) - Albert Salmi/Andrew Prine/Peter Hurkos
(7.7) (#12) The Return Of Mitchell Campion (4/7/59) - Patrick O'Neal Lilyan Chauvin
(9.8) (#14) The Secret (4/21/59) - Robert Douglas Maria Palmer
(10.) (#61) The Storm (6/21/60) - Lee Bergere Rebecca Welles
(9.3) (#62) Tidal Wave (8/30/60) - Jean Allison/William Schallert
(9.9) (#68) To Know The End (11/1/60) - Alexander Davion/Noel Drayton
(9.8) (#72) Tonight At 12:17 (12/6/60) - Peggy Ann Garner/David De Haven
(8.1) (#69) The Trap (11/15/60) - Mike Kellin/Jeanne Bates/Ruth Storey
(9.9) (#45) Vanishing Point (2/23/60) - June Vincent/Edward Binns
(9.7) (#10) The Vision (3/24/59) - Jean Del Val/Bruce Gordon/Pernell Roberts (in support)
(10.) (#55) The Visitor (5/10/60) - Warren Beatty/Joan Fontaine/Charles Webster
(10.) (#73) Where Are They? (12/13/60) - Richard Devin/Phillip Pine/Joan Tompkins
(10.) (#42) Who Are You? (2/2/60) - Anna Lee/Philip Bourneuf

I agree with "Scared Me Then..." I first saw the show when I was eight years old. My two sisters and I would stay up late on Friday nights and huddle under a blanket on the sofa watching each episode. It was by far the most intelligent programming on TV at the time ( If anyone remembers such drivel as Huckleberry Hound and Touche Turtle, you'll appreciate this statement!) Even if it did scare the pants off us and have us all sleeping in the same bed, we wouldn't have missed iot for anything.

To Mark Simon: The episode you are looking for is called Reunion. I also appreciated the strangeness factor of this story. I remember seeing it during the original run of the series. It's one of many One Step Beyond shows that have not been released to the public. Hopefully it's not forever lost.

To all One Step Beyond fans: Check out John Kenneth Muir's book An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959-1961. More information than you probably want to know about the history of this fine TV series including a synopsis and analysis of many, if not all, episodes filmed including Reunion. There is a new edition scheduled for release on Halloween, October 31, 2006. For those of you who can't wait go to alibris.com where you might be able to pick up a used hardcover.