VIDEO : WELCOME TO THE `NIGHT GALLERY'.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Entertainment Editor

After ``The Twilight Zone,'' the classic TV series that ran from 1959 to 1964, its creator, Rod Serling, crept into the ``Night Gallery.''

That series, preceded by a 1969 TV movie, ran from 1970 to 1973 but never captured the imagination of viewers and the culture as ``Zone'' did, but the anthology did produce a number of gems. Serling would introduce each of the short, supernatural vignettes from an art gallery containing bizarre paintings and statues.

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Serling, who died at 50 in 1975, became a well-known personality thanks to the introductions he did for ``Zone'' and ``Gallery.''

``There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man ...'' he would intone at the beginning of each ``Zone'' episode as the creepy music grew louder.

Serling first made his mark as a writer in the days of live television, winning one of his five Emmys for ``Requiem for a Heavyweight.'' Most people forget that amid Serling's sense of the macabre and supernatural were odd flights of fancy, and the tales sometimes had a gallows sense of humor. He also worked in films, adapting ``Heavyweight' as well as writing screenplays for ``Seven Days in May'' and ``Planet of the Apes.''

``Zone'' and ``Gallery'' are both notable for early appearances by film heavyweights. Robert Redford played the angel of death in a ``Zone'' episode, while a 22-year-old filmmaker named Steven Spielberg directed one of ``Gallery's'' pilot episodes, ``Darker Than Dark.''

Now, after years of being in television's version of ``The Twilight Zone'' - syndicated (and truncated) reruns - original ``Gallery'' episodes are being released on video by re-tv. Fans can get ``Rod Serling's Night Gallery: The Collector's Edition'' only by calling [phone] or by accessing the Web site, www.columbiahouse.com/vl.

The initial ``Night Gallery'' video (there'll be more) includes four episodes - ``They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar,'' ``The Last Laurel,'' ``The Caterpillar'' and ``Little Girl Lost.'' This is available for $4.95, plus shipping and handling. Subsequent volumes will be available every four to six weeks to subscribers at $19.95 each.

Tuesday, Paramount is releasing ``Star Trek: Insurrection'' on video. Being the ninth of the ``Star Trek'' films, it was less than scintillating. (For some reason, the even-numbered ones are better.) But it might just mean that the ``Trek'' film series - even with the ``Next Generation'' - is running out of steam.

But, if you want to see the ``Next Generation'' when it first was tearing off into the final frontier, re-tv - it first aired in 1987 - it, too, is coming out with a collector edition. From William Shatner's histrionics as Capt. James T. Kirk, the ``Trek'' folks turned to Royal Shakespeare veteran Patrick Stewart to take over the new Enterprise. Though the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, essentially kept the feeling of the series the same as the original, which ran between 1966 and 1969, ``Next'' developed some intersting co-ed relationships. This was in contrast to the original's weird boys club of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

When ``Star Trek'' needed another boost, it added ``Deep Space Nine'' in 1992, with Avery Brooks, about a space station on the edge of the galaxy. Like ``Next,'' ``Nine'' is coming out on video from re-tv. To purchase them, call the number or go to the Web site noted above.

And if you're looking for other old television shows, re-tv also has collector's editions that can be found at the Web site, including ``The Twilight Zone,'' ``All in the Family,'' ``I Love Lucy,'' ``Sanford & Son'' and ``Gunsmoke.''

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