The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone was a television series created (and often written) by its narrator and host Rod Serling. Each episode was an individual fantasy or science fiction story, often concluding with an eerie or unexpected twist. A popular success, it introduced many Americans to serious science fiction ideas.
As such it also provided a way for its writers to make often acute social comment in a way which would not have been possible - in Cold War America - outside of the sci-fi genre. Its episodes often dwelt on issues surrounding nuclear war and the mass hysteria of crowds. Many episodes (The Bunker, The Monsters are due on Maple Street for example), retain their resonence today.
Writers for The Twilight Zone included leading science fiction writers such as Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison and Robert Bloch and it dramatized stories by other writers including Ambrose Bierce. (However, it should be noted that several of Ray Bradbury's stories were not converted into Twilight Zone episodes because of their perceived implausibility onto the screen on the part of the producers and Serling.) Several renowned Hollywood actors also had notable appearances in The Twilight Zone such as Agnes Moorehead, Charles Bronson, Carol Burnett, Burgess Meredith, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jack Klugman, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, and William Shatner.
Television and cinema history
The original Twilight Zone ran from October 2, 1959, to 1964, while a revival ran on CBS from 1985 to 1988. After its cancellation, new episodes continued to be produced in syndication for several more years. A second revival starring Forest Whitaker as host and narrator aired in 2002 on UPN for one season. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) remade three classic episodes and included one original story. A TV movie, Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics, aired in 1994, was narrated by James Earl Jones, and was a compilation based on two unused Twilight Zone scripts.
During the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (aged 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (aged 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter, which led to legal action against the filmmakers that lasted nearly a decade, and changes to regulations involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes.
The Twilight Zone was sponsored by a variety of companies, especially cigarette companies. Some product placement can be found at the end credits of some episodes.
Though the original Twilight Zone has largely disappeared from syndication it is still aired on the cable and satellite television channel the Sci-Fi Channel. It is also available on DVD from various companies, such as Columbia House, Image, Panasonic and Falcon Picture Group. The 2002 series was released on DVD in August 2004.
Reruns of the 1985 version were formerly shown on the cable television channel Turner Network Television (TNT) as filler, especially during rain delays or after early conclusions of baseball games.
Radio revival
In 2002, the Twilight Zone was revived as a nationally syndicated radio drama. Many of the stories were based on Rod Serling's original scripts and were slightly expanded and updated to reflect contemporary technology and trends (e.g., the mention of "cell phones" and "CD-ROMs" which, of course, weren't around when the television show aired in the 1960s). Taking Serling's role as narrator was Stacy Keach. A different Hollywood actor and actress, such as Blair Underwood and James Caviezel, took the lead role in each radio drama. The radio series was produced by the Falcon Picture Group. Oddly, the compact disc and cassette tape versions of the radio dramas contained several advertisements, some in the form of direct pitches and others as humorous skits. Its main sponsor was the Hollywood Celebrity Diet. In Britain it has been heard on the digital channel BBC 7.
Theme Park Ride
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, an elevator free-fall theme park ride at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, has been based on the television show.
See also
