Before “Black Mirror” or “The Outer Limits” there was “The Twilight Zone”. Anything black and white or considered “dated” tend to be overlooked and dismissed. Audiences usually react as if anything not in color equates to being less exciting; however, “The Twilight Zone” is so conceptual and captivating that my eyes never wander from the screen. It’s one of if not the most iconic anthology show out there. I’m incapable of being objective about this show. It’s a credit to the science fiction genre while seamlessly incorporating existentialism and tragedy.

Imagine if you will as you go about your day that there is an omnipresent well dressed smoking man (no I’m not talking about the X-files) narrating everything that’s happening. There is something profoundly intimate about a creator that interacts with their work and audience the way Rod Serling does. One of the best examples I can think of outside this show is the HBO adaptation of “Spawn”. Todd McFarlane takes a similar approach to Serling. It is a convenient and direct way to get through exposition. 

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama” is clearly a fan of the series as evident in the Treehouse of Horror episodes and The Scary Door background gag. “The Twilight Zone” is not only an invaluable source of entertainment, but inspiration to creatives across all mediums.

All that said, it’s clear that the Twilight Zone was inspired by numerous science fiction radio shows; a lost art archived and being replaced with podcasts.

This show has reached such heights beyond pop culture, that we’ve all heard some variation of the phrase: “I feel like I’m in an episode of “The Twilight Zone””. People who have seen or heard of the show can easily understand the meaning of this statement. “The Twilight Zone” conveys that otherworldly feeling that causes those within it to question their reality and sanity.

What does it mean to be inside the Twilight Zone? According to Serling:

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone