One Step Beyond has often been compared to The Twilight Zone, some even think it's better. I'm not a TZ fanatic who believes every episode is good but I don't think it's a patch on it. The emphasis is mainly on the deadpan telling of a story, with no character development and precious few characters. One yearned for a few larger than life personalities of the type that populated TZ.
Quite a few episodes, notably Doomsday and The Riddle, are so fusty I would have guessed, had I not known otherwise, that they were made c1935. We can make one direct comparison as both series have an episode about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Being British, to venture an opinion is doubtless a case of fools rushing in etc.. However, The Day the World Wept - the Lincoln Story is informative but stodgy. TZ's Back There is a far fetched time travel tale in which Lincoln doesn't even appear, but is far more gripping.
All that said, I hate to be completely negative, the following half dozen are very good and I'll watch them again before too long.
3 Emergency Only. Wise guy cynic has his fortune told and it proceeds to happen as forecast.
17 The Haunted U-Boat. Uncomplicated story, good performance from Werner Klemperer, practising for his diehard Nazi role in Judgement at Nuremburg.
19 The Captain's Guests. Good drama about a couple who move into a haunted house and the husband takes on the personality of the captain who built it.
36 Make Me Not a Witch. 12 year old girl has the gift, or curse, of being able to read minds.
58 The Lonely Room. Young man is too shy to speak to a woman he adores. Another episode with an approximate TZ equivalent: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, where the more courageous alter ego sorts out a bullying crime boss. Notice both have the word room in the title. Coincidence? Possibly. But as John Newland might have said, can you prove it?
84 Justice. Great mystery drama, Welsh churchgoer confesses to a murder but later denies it and produces an iron clad alibi.
Quite a few episodes, notably Doomsday and The Riddle, are so fusty I would have guessed, had I not known otherwise, that they were made c1935. We can make one direct comparison as both series have an episode about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Being British, to venture an opinion is doubtless a case of fools rushing in etc.. However, The Day the World Wept - the Lincoln Story is informative but stodgy. TZ's Back There is a far fetched time travel tale in which Lincoln doesn't even appear, but is far more gripping.
All that said, I hate to be completely negative, the following half dozen are very good and I'll watch them again before too long.
3 Emergency Only. Wise guy cynic has his fortune told and it proceeds to happen as forecast.
17 The Haunted U-Boat. Uncomplicated story, good performance from Werner Klemperer, practising for his diehard Nazi role in Judgement at Nuremburg.
19 The Captain's Guests. Good drama about a couple who move into a haunted house and the husband takes on the personality of the captain who built it.
36 Make Me Not a Witch. 12 year old girl has the gift, or curse, of being able to read minds.
58 The Lonely Room. Young man is too shy to speak to a woman he adores. Another episode with an approximate TZ equivalent: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, where the more courageous alter ego sorts out a bullying crime boss. Notice both have the word room in the title. Coincidence? Possibly. But as John Newland might have said, can you prove it?
84 Justice. Great mystery drama, Welsh churchgoer confesses to a murder but later denies it and produces an iron clad alibi.