The fifth and final disc in the Season 2 DVD set has 5 episodes and some extras. Rod Serling is the creator and host. He writes a good number of the episodes. I sometimes find his stories a bit heavy handed but I'm not the one that needs to be learning that lesson.
The Silence April 28 1961
Written by Rod and directed by Boris Sagal. Franchot Tone is a member of a business men's club. Johnathan Harris is his lawyer. Franchot arranges a wager with a loud talking guy who is always trying to borrow money and never shuts up. If he can keep quiet for a year Franchot will give him half a million dollars. The loud guy takes the bet and gets stuck in a glass cage for a year. When he wins Franchot tells him he has no money. The loud guy cheated too, he cut his own vocal cords so he can't talk. What a bunch of jerks. The lawyer is the best guy there. That's the Twilight Zone for ya. I don't seem to remember this one but it wasn't too bad.
Shadow Play May 5 1961
Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by John Brahm. Dennis Weaver has the same dream each night. He's on trial, gets convicted, sentenced to death and tossed on the electric chair all in one snooze. He's really tired of the dream but he's stuck in the TZ. Sucks to be that guy. More interesting than a lot of the season's entries. Dennis Weaver is pretty darn good. Nicely directed too. I didn't remember this one but I did like it. There's a ok commentary by Dennis Weaver on the dvd as well as an isolated score.
The Mind And The Matter May 12 1961
Written by Rod and directed by Buzz Kulik. Shelley Berman is a tired business man who hasn't much love for humanity. He gets a book on mind over matter and makes everyone disappear. For some reason he is lonely and he gets them all back. That's just crazy. It was so quiet there, the subway was so empty, what's not to like. I enjoyed it but I'm a Berman fan from my youth. Shelley does a nice commentary about his time on the show and his career in tv and doing his stand up act. I used to play a couple of his comedy albums frequently when I was in my teens. I just didn't have that many comedy albums then so they got played often. There's an isolated score on this one.
Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? May 26 1961
Written by Rod and directed by Montgomery Pittman. Some highway patrol men see something fall out of the sky. They think it's a meteor and it fell in the lake. Until they see the tracks in the snow. They follow them to a diner where a bus waits outside. The bus driver says he has 6 passengers but there are 7 people there. Oh, oh. John Hoyt, Jean Willis and Jack Elam play some of the passengers and Barney Phillips plays the counter guy in the diner. The paranoia ramps up as they try to figure out why there are 7 instead of 6. The bus leaves, with 7 passengers aboard, only to crash in a river. Everyone is killed but the alien. He makes it back to the diner and gets a big surprize. I did remember this story. I'll always remember that third eye. It's not the best makeup but it was effective at the time. There's a TZ radio drama and an isolated score.
The Obsolete Man June 2 1961
Written by Rod and directed by Elliot Silverstein. Burgess Meredith is a librarian who's been rendered obsolete as the totalitarian state has eliminated books. Made them a crime in fact, just having a Bible will get you the death penalty. The Chancellor is his judge and after the guilty verdict he gives Burgess the option to choose his execution. They're quite a bunch of dicks, that state, I sure wouldn't like them much. Burgess invites the Chancellor, played by Dennis Weaver, to his apartment a hour before the execution. Burgess has chosen a bomb as the way to go and he wants it televised. Burgess locks Fritz in with him. Fritz holds out until the very last moment, when he breaks down, begging God for mercy. Burgess lets him out. Boom. Burgess gone. The next day as Fritz comes to work he finds he's been made obsolete. Ha ha. Not a bad one, a little heavy handed. I love the court room set. I remember this one too. There's a TZ radio drama and an isolated score.
There are a few Extras on the disc that aren't tied to a specific episode. Rod often appeared on talk shows and occasionally on other comedy shows. Here are there of his tv appearances. The Mike Wallis Interview September 1959, Tell It To Groucho, The Jack Benny Show. In the latter Rod takes Jack Benny into the Twilight Zone. There are some Season 2 Billboards, which are the short sponsor announcements as the show goes to commercial. There's a Twilight Zone comic book in PDF format. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the DVD.