The Twilight Zone was a superb anthology series that has avoided dating largely due to the quality of production, writing and direction. With all but six episodes shot on 35mm film, it still holds up today, and delights as a quirky, imaginative series with a remarkably high quality consistency. Of the 156 episodes, then most are literate, humane, and still have something to say. It's not all excellent, of course. The series, while essentially moralistic, always enters shaky ground when it gets too sentimental (Kick The Can) or tries comedy, which often ends up too broad (Mr. Dingle, The Strong). As an American series, there's always a risk of overstated ethics and subtexts, as Two goes to prove. And the once-relevant ''future shock'' stories are now rendered obsolete, by their concerns being both long since past, and the future date now amusingly in the past. (1978 and 1967 are just two of the dates predicted as a future filled with robots). Contrary to popular myth, however, then the fifth and final season clearly isn't the show on its last legs. True, maybe in terms of concepts and ideas then things were now a little flat and underdeveloped. But a harsher tack is noticeable throughout. No longer was the series presenting likeable misfits and humorous neurotics, but wife beaters, child bullying husbands and a man due to be hanged. Yes, the idea of hate turning the sky black isn't a classic Zone conceit, but the same story (I Am The Night - Color Me Black) features graphic descriptions of violence and is one of the few to directly refer to racial issues. As a final bow-out, then a harsher, more realist Zone made for a refreshing counterpoint to the majority of its output. Okay, there are signs that Serling's personal muse had long abandoned him - The Jeopardy Room is a fine episode but nothing really to do with the series' remit - yet even the comedy episodes were more sophisticated than usual in the fifth season. Look at Uncle Simon. In an earlier season it would be a knockabout burlesque - here it's a wordy, witty and dark diatribe against mental cruelty. A much undervalued run of thirty-six episodes that ran from September 27th 1963 - June 19th 1964. Classic Episode: The Masks Original Air Date: 20/3/1964 Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Richard L Bare Synopsis: Okay, none of the season five stories make my personal top ten episodes, or maybe not even a top twenty, but this little macabre character piece deserves its due respect, one of thirteen above-average episodes in an underrated final season. Rating: * * * * Not-So-Classic Episode: The Bewitchin' Pool Original Air Date: 19/6/1964 Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr. Director: Joseph M Newman Synopsis: Sadly, those who wish to see the series get a classic final bow will be crushed by The Bewitchin' Pool, a badly dubbed, appallingly acted, atrociously directed and horrifically scripted ferrago. Maybe it was time for the series to end, because its final episode was the worst one it ever made, though in fairness this was just one of four below-par efforts in the Zone's parting shot. Rating: *