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The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia.

This book contains more than I ever thought I wanted to know about The Twilight Zone.

Author Steven Jay Rubin is clearly a super-geek, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. He has dissected and catalogued every episode of the original series in this alphabetical look at each one, the actors, the creators, from “The After Hours” episode to Zamba, the lion who appeared in the episode “The Jungle.”

(That’s not exactly where Rubin starts and ends the book, but I wanted to mention Zamba.)

Zamba!

The behind-the-scenes notes are a treat. They include quotes from actors and creators about individual episodes. My favorite one at the moment is from James Best from “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank.” The future Roscoe P. Coltrane says he stuck a pencil under the coffin lid while he was in it, so it didn’t get “too stuffy.”

While many super-fans of shows might scoff at such books, believing they know everything about their favorite show, I say to them “Scoff not.”

Each episode’s entry includes Rod Serling’s opening narration and crazily detailed information. It acts like a concordance that you can keep handy as you freak yourself out watching all the episodes.

Seriously, don’t do that all at once. Your mannequins will all start talking to you (if they don’t already).

Bonus Stuff: 
Follow author Steven Jay Rubin on Twitter.