Having re-watched The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, I can't help but wonder what Spielberg's version would have been like. It's almost like the perfect subject matter for him and something he would have taken to like a duck to water.

I read somewhere that he wanted to have a "nice" story, rather than one of the scary ones, so that there was some kind of balance in the movie.

I had read that he did Kick The Can beacuse of the Vic Morrow incident.

From IMDB:

"Steven Spielberg briefly considered Rod Serling's The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street about neighborhood paranoia that's set off by a force of invading aliens from the original Twilight Zone series as a potential segment which he canceled because it involved nighttime filming with children and special effects. This was mainly due to the tragedy that occurred on the "Time Out" segment. He finally chose "Kick the Can" from the original series."

I was flicking though an old Twilight Zone Magazine last night that was released just prior to the release of the movie. It's amazing (but perhaps not un-expected) how absent the incident is. There's even an interview with Landis and it's very jovial and positive. I guess there's a chance that maybe it was done before shooting, but it doesn't seem to be.

You're right. I just read about it in the Spielberg biog Empire of Light.

Incidentally the film has recently come out on blu ray in the States. The only extra is an original trailer. No big surprise there.

Just started reading Special Effects: Disaster at Twilight Zone - The tragedy and the Trial. It's a very well researched book, written by a journalist who covered the trial. I had no idea that John Landis was also in the water at the time of the crash, just out of shot. There's an amazing photo taken seconds after it happened. He must have been terrified, as it could easily have been him.

How did you end up liking the book Trouserpress? Are you able to form an opinion on whether there's any blame to go around from it?

I just read in Robert Englund's Hollywood Monster that some lawyers who were involved with the trial were trying to get Robert to sue WB for an accident that happened on the set of V. Guess there were a few ambulance chasers who were trying to cash in on the tragedy.

I'm still only about half way through (as I have about another 3 books on the go at the same time!), but John Landis does not come across well at all. A bit of an arse to be honest!

At Christmas I got a couple of friends together and we checked out Twilight Zone: The Movie for the podcast for anyone who wants a listen http://www.thetwilightzonenetwork.co...the-movie.html