3/5 An excellent group of stories--no disappointments here.
  by Tom Brody (Berkeley, CA)
Volume 20. Three episodes occur on this disc, one of them being a 1-hour episode.

ELEGY. The story begins with a phony looking rocket landing on an asteroid. Obviously, the rocket is just a drawing on a piece of glass, moving across a background of painted stars. Anyway, the interior of the rocket ship is convincing enough, as the control panel has a number of fascinating switches and gizmos. The ship lands and when the door opens and the ladder flips out, we see a farmyard. The three astronauts check a monitor that measures the atmosphere's content of oxygen and nitrogen, and they climb down the ladder to explore the asteroid. They encounter a dog, farmer, fisherman, and townspeople, all frozen.

The avid Twilight Zone consumer will also find frozen-person motif in other episodes, as it occurs in A KIND OF STOPWATCH (vol. 15), THE AFTER HOURS (vol. 11), and STILL VALLEY (vol. 18). In all these episodes, there is no blinking at all, though one can see occasional movement of the frozen people. Of these, A KIND OF STOPWATCH is the best of these stories.

The astronauts encounter a brass band, mayor, and townspeople, all frozen. They also encounter a beauty pageant, with the contestants all frozen. One of the astronauts screams, "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with everybody in this crazy place? Can't you talk? Answer me." This monologue will be familiar to those familiar with the rock'n'roll group, SKINNY PUPPY. SKINNY PUPPY has a song called, "200 Years," containing a sample from this same Twilight Zone episode. While I am not a big SKINNY PUPPY fan, I do like their song called, HARSH STONE WHITE. The purpose of the scene with the brass band and mayor, is so that the deceased person can enjoy running for mayor (throughout eternity). The purpose of the beauty pageant scene is so the deceased person (a dumpy fat lady) can enjoy winning first prize in a beauty pageant throughout eternity.

An astronaut speculates, "Maybe we're being made to see and hear what we want to find." Another astronaut speculates, "Or it could be that time is suspended here." Eventually, one of the persons on the asteroid makes himself known. He is a caretaker of the place, which is actually a cemetery. THREE STARS.

THE THIRTY-FATHOM GRAVE. This hour long episode goes by quickly. The story takes place on a navy ship. The ship encounters a sunken submarine, a WWII submarine that had been resting for 20 years. When the navy ship approaches and becomes aware of the submarine, one of the men, a reliable veteran of the navy, begins to hallucinate. As it turns out, the man had been aboard the same submarine when it was sunk and strafed by the Japanese. The acting and character development are first rate. In particular, what is excellent is the veteran's guilt feelings for escaping from the sunken submarine (all his shipmates having perished), and the captain's excellent response, a response intended to remove the man's guilty feelings. FOUR STARS.

A SHORT DRINK FROM A CERTAIN FOUNTAIN. An aging man finds himself too tired to keep up with the faster life style of his young wife, a girl in her twenties. She is a hottie who likes to party. The man's brother, a physician, sympathizes with the man's problems, and reluctantly administers an experimental youth serum. The story has an excellent surprise ending.

My complaints are as follows. The aging man really does not much appear old. Although his makeup shows that his skin to be wrinkled, the director should have put bags under his eyes, given him thick glasses, given him arthritis pains, given him a stooped appearance, and should have thinned his hair. The director should also have done a better job at depicting the wife's fast life style, e.g., by having her receive phone calls from younger men. THREE STARS

If you want a better disc, I would recommend any one of the following volumes: volume 2 (Time Enough at Last; Nightmare at 20,000 Feet), volume 3 (Kick the Can; Steel), volume 8 (To Serve Man), volume 9 (Nick of Time), volume 32 (Printer's Devil), volume 29 (Penny for Your Thoughts), or volume 39 (Mister Bevis; The Silence). Volumes 2 and 3 might be the greatest of them all.



5/5 The Twillight Zone: Vol. 20
  by T. Pili (Delaware, OH USA)
It's a great flick. It scared me as a kid and scares me now. If you're a Twillight Zone fanatic, this is a must see!

4/5 Another great trip to another dimension!
  by Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA)
This DVD has 3 great episodes on it. "30 Fathom Grave" would have been one of those classic episodes that people keep quoting (Like "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" or "Time Enough At Last"), but it was a 30 minute episode that was stretched to an hour. If they had edited this as a half-hour episode, it would have been perfect, but it suffers from too much padding. It's still a good story though. The other two stories are great ones too, though "Elegy" is just a little predictable. Well worth owning though.

4/5 More twisted tales from Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone"
  by Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
You will not find a common theme to the three episodes form "The Twilight Zone" on Volume 20 of the DVD collection. "Elegy," written by Charles Beaumont from his short story, finds three astronauts landing on an asteroid and discovering the place looks just like Earth, with buildings and people, except none of the people move. It is like being in a giant wax museum. Then they discover the one animate figure in the place, Jeremy Wickwire (Cecil Kellaway), the "caretaker," who explains the asteroid is a cemetery where people get to realize their greatest wish after they die. He then asks the astronauts what their greatest wish might be. A nice little tale, with Kellaway's performance making it work just fine. "The Thirty-Fathom Grave," an hour-long episode written by Rod Serling, a destroyer finds a sunken sub from which clanging sounds are coming. A diver investigates and hears tapping in response to his signals. Meanwhile, Chief Bell (Mike Kelin), is having a nervous breakdown and finally tells Captain Beecham (Simon Oakland), that he is the reason that sub was sunk during World War II. Bell insists he sees the ghosts of his dead crewmates and that they are beckoning him to join them. Like most episodes from that fourth season, this one would have been twice as good if it were half as long. "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain," written by Serling and based on an idea by Lou Holtz, finds millionaire Harmon Gordon (Patrick O'Neal) using an experimental youth serum invented by his brother (Walter Brooke) so that he can keep up with his gold-digger wife Flora (Ruta Lee). The serum works and Harmon starts getting younger, and younger, and younger. Even given the Twilight Zone, there is a nice twist to the end of this one. All in all, this volume is a slightly above average one in the series.

5/5 What the Twilight Zone is all about
  by gobirds2 (New England)
People confronted by the unexplainable was a major theme of the "Twilight Zone." Those were episodes that we typically enjoyed and wished more of. However, be careful what you wish for. You may just get it. That's what makes this Volume so good. A SHORT DRINK FROM A CERTAIN FOUNTAIN written by Rod Serling concerns a man who wants to become young again. It features Patrick O'Neal and Ruta Lee and I will say no more! In ELEGY written by Charles Beaumont three astronauts land on a world similar to their own, however everyone is in a trance or are they? THE THIRTY-FATHOM GRAVE written by Rod Serling is an hour episode from the 4th Season. It is a spooky tale, yet told in a matter-of-fact style, about the crew of a Navy destroyer that hears strange tapping noises coming from a submarine that sank 20 years before. Mike Kellin as the haunted chief is excellent giving one of the best performances from the entire series in this underrated episode. This episode also features Simon Oakland, David Shiener, Bill Bixby, John Considine and Conlan Carter (Doc on "Combat"). One of the better DVDs. These episodes look pristine.