or the past few months, whatever media attention there has been on The Twilight Zone has focused almost exclusively on the revamped TV version of the legendary show. Yet there's another new interpretation of the program available, too. Eight vintage episodes from the original television series have been remade as audio dramas and are currently being syndicated to radio stations around the country. Fortunately, for those folks unable to hear these adaptations on local outlets, the adventures are also being offered on two separate four-CD (or cassette) compilations.
Hosted by Stacy Keach, each tale unites classic stories and musical scores with contemporary sound effects and well-known stars. On the first volume, Jim Caviezel enlivens "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," with Jane Seymour and James Keach providing the voices for two key roles in "The Lateness of the Hour." Lou Diamond Phillips plays the blathering Patrick McNulty in "A Kind of Stopwatch," while the hapless "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" is portrayed by comic actor Tim Kazurinsky. The second collection spotlights Blair Underwood in "The Thirty-Fathom Grave," Ed Begley Jr. as "The Man in the Bottle," Kim Fields wandering through a vacant clothing store during "The After Hours" and Chris McDonald in the warmhearted Christmas fable "Night of the Meek."
On average, the programs run between 40 and 45 minutes apiece, with occasional commercial interruptions advertising The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas Web site and, rather incongruously,
the Hollywood Celebrity Diet. The plots remain reasonably faithful to the TV renditions, though each narrative, which along with the principal performer also features an ensemble cast, has been slightly updated and expanded by speculative-fiction author Dennis Etchison.
A delightful dimension of sound
By the time The Twilight Zone premiered in 1959, science fiction on radio—which earlier in the decade had been a small but prominent programming niche—had essentially vanished. That's a shame, since The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas easily demonstrate that SF audio narratives can work just as well as, and in some respects even more successfully than, the same stories told through a visual medium. Although the adaptations on these two collections aren't completely flawless, on the whole they smoothly transport listeners to a captivating and undeniably nostalgic "dimension of
sound."
In "A Kind of Stopwatch," Phillips deftly balances amusing and annoying prattle when crafting a character who's boring and bothersome. Generating sympathy for such an individual might seem impossible, but the actor, through clever patter delivered with distinct "wise guy" inflections, keeps
the work energetic and engaging. McDonald is equally effective as Henry Corwin, a decent but down-on-his-luck department store Santa who discovers a magical sack, just as Kazurinsky and company transform "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" from a quaint science-fiction escapade into an enchanting, even if
somewhat exaggerated, comical yarn.
The main performers are generally solid, despite the fact that at times faulty casting, such as placing a woman doctor amid the all-male crew of a Navy destroyer in "The Thirty-Fathom Grave," subtly undermines the verisimilitude a particular story. Etchison's modern-day revisions, while typically trivial, also now and again contradict the time-honored tone of the productions. All the same, The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas nicely rework these enduring TV tales into appealing audio adventures, skillfully utilizing an old-fashioned medium to provide a welcome "key of imagination" for a fresh generation of fans.
