Twilight Zone: The After Hours

Nancy and I have recently been watching old episodes of The Twilight Zone on youtube. We were reminded that there was more than one series with this title on television, the first running from 1959 to 1964, the second from 1985 to 1989, and the third in the 2002-2003 season. Here are two versions of the same episode, The After Hours, the first of which aired in 1960 and the second of which was first broadcast in 1986. Watch both and see which you think is the better version. I have my own preference, and you may be able to guess which it is.





Incidentally, while viewing the first version, pay attention to the music, which was scored by the incomparable Bernard Herrmann, who was in the middle of his famous cinematic collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock. Everyone knows the theme that the programme eventually settled on (listen to the arrangement of it in the colour episode above), which has become a musical cliché. But Herrmann scored the theme for the first season and, as expected, did a terrific job.