why are some episodes filmed like that of a soap opera and not a regular, sci-fi tv show?? Was it a new camera?? A new director???:confused: :rolleyes:

I'm thinking of two episodes that were made this way: The Call & Twenty-Two


Its very off-putting

why are some episodes filmed like that of a soap opera and not a regular, sci-fi tv show?? Was it a new camera?? A new director???:confused: :rolleyes:

I'm thinking of two episodes that were made this way: The Call & Twenty-Two


Its very off-putting


what do you mean???

There were six done on video tape

Night of the Meek
Twenty-Two
Static
The Lateness of the Hour
The Whole Truth
Long Distance Call

It was done as an experiment and it tanked.

its a different camera :)

Rod Serling didn't care for the videotaped result, saying tape is "neither fish nor fowl." Personally I thought it worked well for at least the Jonathan Harris ep ("Twenty-Two").

I thought video tape was an interesting medium for these 6 eps. I usually will stop & watch any of these that I see. They make me feel as though I am watching a live tv drama from the early 60s.

Before videotape was common, these shows were transferred to 16mm film for airing, so they looked like any other episode with perhaps lesser picture quality. I did not see any of these on actual videotape until I saw The Whole Truth on videotape around 1987. It was an interesting way, to me, to see these few TZ eps.

Reminds me of those old Dark Shadows episodes....

I know that this is an old thread, but it is even more interesting when one considers that "The Whole Truth" was supposed to be set mostly outdoors, on a used car lot, yet was shot indoors on videotape. The same goes for the scene getting on the airplane in "Twenty-Two," and its explosion upon take-off--all indoors.

At the time, they were working with less affordable film that caused the images to look like "Dark Shadows".

I like where they just filmed it it don't feel the same taped to me

At the time, they were working with less affordable film that caused the images to look like "Dark Shadows".
I felt those 6 shows had an early soap opera like feel.

here is the trivia from IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052520/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv UPDATE added the link...

Due to budgetary constraints in its second season, the network decided to cut costs by shooting some episodes on videotape rather than film. Because videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960's, the editing of tape was next to impossible. Thus, each of the six episodes was "camera-cut" as in live TV, on a studio sound stage, using a total of four cameras. The requisite multi-camera setup of the videotape experiment pretty much precluded location shooting, severely limiting the potential scope of the story-lines, and so the short-lived experiment was ultimately abandoned. The limitations of using videotape (e.g., it could not be edited as cleanly as film and its visual quality was poorer) led the network to switch back to film for the rest of the series, despite the greater cost. The six videotaped episodes were titled: The Lateness of the Hour (1960), Static (1961), The Whole Truth (1961), The Night of the Meek (1960), Twenty Two (1961) & Long Distance Call (1961) and then transferred to film for broadcast, which saved the producers about $5,000 per episode.

here is the trivia from IMDB

If you're going to post info from IMDb, Wikipedia or any other site then please include the link.

Thank you.

I didn't mind having some episodes on tape here and there. After all, it's the "Twilight Zone" so you never know what to expect.

I think the tape look really worked in the episode "Twenty-Two" since it gave it more of a creepy and eerie feel IMO.

here is the trivia from IMDB

Due to budgetary constraints in its second season, the network decided to cut costs by shooting some episodes on videotape rather than film. Because videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960's, the editing of tape was next to impossible. Thus, each of the six episodes was "camera-cut" as in live TV, on a studio sound stage, using a total of four cameras. The requisite multi-camera setup of the videotape experiment pretty much precluded location shooting, severely limiting the potential scope of the story-lines, and so the short-lived experiment was ultimately abandoned. The limitations of using videotape (e.g., it could not be edited as cleanly as film and its visual quality was poorer) led the network to switch back to film for the rest of the series, despite the greater cost. The six videotaped episodes were titled: The Lateness of the Hour (1960), Static (1961), The Whole Truth (1961), The Night of the Meek (1960), Twenty Two (1961) & Long Distance Call (1961) and then transferred to film for broadcast, which saved the producers about $5,000 per episode.


Thank you. thats very interesting. I'm glad you discovered the answer, agree with me. I'm glad it was only the 6 episodes not the whole series.