NIGHT GALLERY Coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber

[AndyDursin]

[Eric Paddon]

Too bad it's not a complete series set which is what Kino has done with their other TV on DVD releases.

[AndyDursin]

They split up THE OUTER LIMITS also -- it's all economics based I'd imagine on the number of discs these releases need. NIGHT GALLERY is 43 hour-long episodes? You're talking over 10 discs and an MSRP over $100 had they gone that way. They must feel for their model they are better off selling the seasons individually.

They did do a complete BUCK ROGERS but it only had 13 second season episodes.

[Monterey Jack]

Maybe hope for Amazing Stories one day...

[AndyDursin]

Yes let's hope!!

[AndyDursin]

This would be the other reason they released Season 1 first.

[Eric Paddon]

Nice to know they're committed to it!

I have to admit I kind of wish Kino had done the Blu-Ray of "Battlestar Galactica" because while I was glad Universal's ported over the DVD content (especially the deleted scenes supplements), I HATE the foreign language release menu screens which are tougher to navigate and it would have been nice to have more episode commentaries than just the Hatch/Benedict/Jefferson one on the pilot from 2003.

[AndyDursin]

Some of these first season shows are...kind of dumb to be honest. I'd have rather had Amazing Stories.

Nice transfers and extras as I'm going through them now.

[Eric Paddon]

Night Gallery is admittedly not even close to TZ, but it has its good moments. "They're Tearing Tim Riley's Bar" is always regarded as one of Serling's best (a companion piece of sorts to "Walking Distance")

[AndyDursin]

That's the one I really liked and just watched. The rest of them...just a little surprised how formalaic they all are. Mostly intensely unlikeable characters doing bad things get their comeuppance, with endings telegraphed well in advance. Do the second or third seasons go off that track much?

[Eric Paddon]

In Season 2 you have to prepare yourself for all the comedy blackout bits that producer Jack Laird came up with, even though Serling hated them all. Basically we're talking about horror versions of those "Love American Style" blackout bits between segments and almost all of them are regarded as unfunny and stupid.

Season 2 does have the powerful "Messiah On Mott Street" with Edward G. Robinson that may be the greatest interfaith story ever written in terms of striking the notes that can appeal to both Jewish and Christian viewers in a holiday themed episode. "Pickman's Model" is also highly regarded so there are individual ones that are regarded as great it's just that because of the show's uneven format, you inevitably go through a whole hour where at least one segment is going to be a clunker.

[Monterey Jack]

I'd have rather had Amazing Stories.

You and me both, as the series was never even finished on DVD. You would have thought that short-lived streaming update from last year would have shaken it loose, but...

[AndyDursin]

Best off buying this at this point, even with the PAL speed up. Quality is better than DVD.



Hopefully someone does it -- but it'll require them to transfer the shows fresh to HD like Kino just did with NIGHT GALLERY.

I did really like that one episode, THEY'RE TEARING DOWN TIM RILEY'S BAR, like Eric said. Well worth it, but I could pass on the rest of this season.

[Paul MacLean]

In Season 2 you have to prepare yourself for all the comedy blackout bits that producer Jack Laird came up with, even though Serling hated them all. Basically we're talking about horror versions of those "Love American Style" blackout bits between segments and almost all of them are regarded as unfunny and stupid.

I've honestly only ever seen one episode, concerning a guy who falls in love with a mermaid -- which was both disturbing and unintentionally hilarious.

[Eric Paddon]

Yeah, Stuart Whitman. Not one of the good ones to be sure! (Never liked Whitman. He always had a repelling quality to him which is why I couldn't stand him as the "hero" in "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines")