The Complete Second Season of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone is now on DVD. This second season contains all 29 episodes on 5 disks. It is full frame and is about 900 minutes.

I don't have a favorite season; there are great episodes from each. I am really enjoying entire seasons being released at once.

1) King Nine Will Not Return - A World War II captain wakes up in the desert, next to his crashed plane.

2) Man in the Bottle - A shop owner finds an old bottle which contains a genie which grants him 4 wishes.

3) Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room - A smalltime hood is ordered to commit a murder and when he looks into a mirror he sees himself with courage.

4) A Thing About Machines - A writer believes the machines in his home are against him.

5) The Howling Man - A man finds refuge in a monastery during a storm and finds an unusual prisoner.

6) The Eye of the Beholder - A woman goes through treatments to make herself normal so she can fit into society.

7) Nick of Time - A newlywed becomes obsessed by a fortune-telling machine when they are stranded with car trouble.

8) The Lateness of the Hour - A scientist creates robot servants and his daughter feels a little unusual.

9) The Trouble with Templeton - Templeton is an aging actor who longs for the old days when his wife was alive.

10) A Most Unusual Camera - A couple have stolen a camera that takes pictures of events just a few minutes into the future.

11) Night of the Meek - A drunkard Santa Claus discovers a bottomless sack of toys.

12) Dust - A peddler tries to sell a condemned man's father a bag of "magic dust".

13) Back There - A man goes back in time and realizes, he can't change the future by changing the past.

14) The Whole Truth - A "Model A" automobile compels its owner to tell only the truth.

15) The Invaders - An old woman in an old farmhouse encounters tiny aliens in her attic.

16) A Penny for Your Thoughts - A bank employee flips a coin and when it stands on its end, he is given the ability to read minds.

17) Twenty-Two - Miss Powell has a recurring nightmare ("room for one more") about room 22.

18) The Odyssey of Flight 33 - A commercial aircraft and its passengers travel back to prehistoric times.

19) Mr. Dingle, the Strong - Martians give Luther Dingle the strength of 300 men.

20) Static - Ed Lindsay hates television, so he gets his old radio out of the basement and it can receive programs from the past.

21) The Prime Mover - A man has the ability to control objects with his mind.

22) Long Distance Call - A boy finds he can communicate with his dead grandmother through his toy phone.

23) A Hundred Yards over the Rim - A man in the year 1847 moving west sets out to find medicine for his dying son and winds up in the future.

24) The Rip Van Winkle Caper - Three thieves put themselves into suspended animation for 100 years after stealing a million dollars worth of gold bars.

25) The Silence - A man is offered half a million dollars to remain silent for one year. The bet is taken and won but with a twist at the end.

26) Shadow Play - A man is trapped in a recurring nightmare where he tries to persuade those who are sentencing him to death that this is not reality.

27) The Mind and the Matter - After reading a book on the "power of thought" a man is able create the world exactly as he wants it.

28) Will the Real Martian lease Stand Up? - State Troopers follow the tracks from a frozen pond to a diner where they find a bus driver and his seven passengers but there were only six on the bus.

29) The Obsolete Man - In a state where religion and books are ban, a librarian is judged obsolete and sentenced to death.

If you hopped on board for season 1's definition edition, you probably don't need much convincing to pick this one up either. It's a great deal cheaper than season 1 (though there are less episodes in this season) but packs a lot of punch considering the high benchmark set for the show's debut season. There are a great number of gems with very few clunkers sprinkled in.

Among the episodes collected here are two of the series' most poignant social commentaries in "The Obsolete Man" (with Burgess Meredith) and "Eye of the Beholder" (probably the most infamous episode in all of TZ lore). To make things more varied, the second season also brought us some lighter fare like "Mr. Dingle the Strong" and "A Penny for Your Thoughts". We also get the TZ debut of Shatner in "Nick of Time" and its companion piece "The Silence", both notable episodes for containing no real supernatural elements yet keeping very much in the spirit of the Twilight Zone. And some of the best-loved episodes of all, the flawless "One Hundred Yards Over the Rim" (featuring audio commentary with star Cliff Robertson, Oscar winner for "Charly" and 'Uncle Ben' in "Spiderman"); "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (a brilliant ensemble piece driven by atmosphere); and "Shadow Play" (one of the most overlooked episodes in the series).

Season two also brought about budget restraints, which lowered the total number of episodes and caused several to be shot on videotape. Few other shows could have gotten away with this approach, and the videotaped episodes include a heartwarming Christmas-themed "Night of the Meek" that sees Art Carney becoming Santa Claus and "Twenty-Two", which suffers through probably the worst special effect in the history of television. If you haven't seen it; I dare not spoil it for you.

Boasting remastered hi-def film transfers from original camera negatives and magnetic soundtracks as well as continuing the tradition of restoring the "Next Week" teasers from Serling as they belong in the broadcasts (even those that ended up with Serling holding a pack of Oasis Cigarettes and puffing away -- priceless!), season 2 is yet another excursion into the Twilight Zone that will offer something that even diehards will not have seen or heard yet.

Commentaries include:

* Billy Mumy & William Idelson on "The Long Distance Call" (Videotaped episode. Mumy's other TZ credit is as the legendary Anthony Fremont in "It's a Good Life", which he has recorded an additional commentary for to look forward to in season 3's set. Idelson had acted in a season 1 episode but actually wrote this episode himself, though Charles Beaumont is credited with co-writing it -- Idelson goes into a bit of detail in regards to this. Meanwhile, Mumy shares stories about his mother's hesitance to let him star in such a morbid episode and informs us that he went to high school with 'TZ Companion' author Marc Scott Zicree himself!)
* Cliff Robertson on "One Hundred Yards Over the Rim" (Understated time travel episode -- Oscar Winner Robertson's performance is incredibly real here. His commentary is less than animated than the one mentioned above, but still enjoyable as he talks about the 9-page report on the character that he had written himself before shooting began, the "controversy" over the tophat he wore, and even lets us know he's writing the script for "Charly 2"!)
* Dennis Weaver on "Shadow Play"
* Shelley Berman on "The Mind and the Matter" (Truly a ridiculous episode and, in true TZ fashion, becomes enjoyable for exactly that reason.)
* Donna Douglas on "The Eye of the Beholder" (Not the voice -- except for some dialogue at the end that didn't require her to be overdubbed -- but the infamous face in this episode -- and later Ellie Mae of "The Beverly Hillbillies" notoriety.)
* Don Rickles on "Mr. Dingle the Strong" (great to see the "Merchant of Venom" contributing an audio commentary)

Also included are original production slates for the 6 videotaped episodes. These are small videotaped clips of the guy with the production slate in hand, calling out the show name, production number, take and then "Action!" Might seem like a minor inclusion, but really helps lend credibility to a set that calls itself "definitive". Really, it's the little things that can make a huge difference. We get all of this content, plus the Mike Wallace Interview with Rod Serling (a marvelous piece originally available on one of the "Treasures..." discs), Serling appearances on "Tell it to Groucho" and "The Jack Benny Show", another wave of TZ radio dramas & isolated original scores, plus a DVD-ROM script of "Twenty-Two" with Serling's notes and a lot more audio interviews contributed by "TZ Companion" author Marc Scott Zicree all add up to make this the second installment of "Must-Buy TV". Your wallet compels you!

This set lives up to its billing. The Definitive Edition, seasons one and two (with the rest come shortly), finally delivers the quality this series deserves. The video reproduction is stunning and the extras fill out a perfect package. I've seen some reviews suggesting that this edition will quickly be replaced by yet another improved edition. Don't believe it. With this set, the old reels and their caretakers have put up about all they can deliver--outstanding video, reproduction in original broadcast order, a detailed book-length episode guide and commentary with the season 1 package, and, finally, Rod Serling introducing "next week's" show. Until DVD's are replaced as a delivery vehicle, this edition will be as good as it gets.