Entering the Fifth Dimension: A Twilight Zone Podcast

Nothing is civil about war, and nothing is ever as it seems in The Twilight Zone. This month we take a look at two Civil War themed episodes, "The Passerby" from season 3 and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" from season 5. Each episode not only plays in the sandbox of Civil War themes, but also takes a look at the supernatural realm, passing through to the afterlife, family, and paying for one'...

Music has the power to enchant, stir emotions, calm the spirit, and heal. This month we take a look at two episodes that use the power of music to explore the impact of music. In season 3, "A Piano in the House" takes a look at the sides of our humanity that we all try to hide, by using music to expose those hidden faces. In season 5, "Come Wander With Me" is a somewhat disjointed story that still...

Alternate dimensions and parallel worlds is not something The Twilight Zone was afraid to explore, and this month we take a look at two excellent examples of this type of storytelling. Season 3 "Little Girl Lost" explores a scenario where a young girl named Tina slips into the fourth dimension via a portal that opens up in her bedroom wall. The following season in "The Parallel" we see astronaut R...

  Rod Serling was no stranger to the atrocities of what Hitler's Nazi party did to Jews during the Holocaust. He fought in WWII, battled anti-semitism in his own home state, and through the power of his pen fought to bring light to this hate in an effort to end racism of every kind. As brilliant as he was, we unfortunately still find racism all around us and Jews are still being attacked more than...

Many Hollywood legends spent time in The Twilight Zone, and this month we look at two of the largest legends in Hollywood history with Robert Redford and Dennis Hopper. Redford's season 3 appearance with Gladys Cooper has him portraying the role of the death angel escorting her character to the afterlife. Meanwhile, Hopper's season 4 role is one of an angry young man under the influence of Hitler,...

The Twilight Zone is no stranger to close encounters between various aliens and humans. Sometimes those encounters are fun or silly, other times they reveal some of the darker realities of our humanity. This month's episodes fall into that latter category with "People Are Alike All Over" from season 1, and "Stopover in a Quiet Town" from season 5. Of course, the dark side of humanity is not all th...

Over the course of the 5 season run of The Twilight Zone many episodes touched on religious themes. We've already looked at episodes like, "The Hunt," "The Obsolete Man," and "The Howling Man," for example. This month we take a look at two episodes which, for better or for worse, are very on the nose with their religious themes. First up is "The Gift" from season three. Drawing parallels to Jesus...

It's been said that magic is just science that we don't understand yet. While we're not sure if that's a suitable explanation for the kinds of magic on display in this month's episodes, we certainly had a magical time discussing them. First up is "Dust" from season 2. Written by Rod Serling and directed by Douglas Heyes, it tells the story of a dusty small town on the verge of killing a man who dr...

Carol Burnett was recently honored on her 90th birthday for her lifetime of work in film and television. Her talent was recognized early in her career, and Rod wrote an episode especially for her with season 3's comedy, "Cavender is Coming." Before Martin Landau became famous for his work on Mission Impossible, he starred in two Twilight Zone episodes and we cover season 5's thriller, "The Jeopard...

Season 5 of The Twilight Zone brought us two episodes handing out poetic justice to the lead characters. In "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain," an aging businessman drinks from a fountain of youth in order to satisfy his much younger, demanding wife. His plan backfires, leaving both of them to deal with life-altering consequences. In "Sounds and Silences," a toy boat manufacturing executive f...

"Perchance to Dream" follows the story of Edward Hall, who suffers from a recurring nightmare. He seeks help from a psychiatrist who helps him confront his fear. However, the dream becomes a reality, blurring the line between dream and reality, while the episode explores the power of the mind and the subconscious. "Twenty-Two" tells the story of Liz Powell, who has a recurring dream in which she i...

The world is full of big talkers, and not even the Twilight Zone can escape them. In season 2 Rod Serling wrote "The Silence" about two rich men who square off in an expensive bet, just so one of the men can be freed from the incessant talking of the other. In season 3 the Zone served up "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby," a story about a country bumpkin that can spin yarns unlike anyone else. He's abducted...

Hollywood legends Dennis Weaver and Robert Duvall each made trips into The Twilight Zone. In the season 2 episode, "Shadow Play," Dennis Weaver portrayed Adam Grant, a man stuck in a dream where he is convicted to die over and over again in the electric chair. In season 4, Robert Duvall starred in, "Miniature," a story where Charley Parkes falls in love with a woman from a museum display. Each of...

The power of the human mind is perhaps often underestimated, but it's certainly capable of much more once it enters the Twilight Zone. Season 2 of Rod Serling's masterpiece gave us two excellent examples. Episode 16 features Dick York in, "A Penny for Your Thoughts" and episode 27 showcases Shelley Berman in, "The Mind and the Matter." Both of these light-hearted episodes had us cracking up and en...

Are machines capable of love? Can they learn, adapt, conspire, or feel emotions? They definitely can in the Twilight Zone! In season 3, Ray Bradbury contributed the episode, "I Sing the Body Electric," inspired by Walt Whitman's poem of the same name. After losing their mother, a grieving father acquired a robot to help love, care, and raise his children.  In season 5, Bernard C. Schoenfeld contri...

Whether it's on the train to Willoughby or coming home from a 'coon hunt, you never know when you might find yourself on a journey to the after life.  You might discover that you're seeing dead people and don't know it, or even that you yourself have passed into the afterlife.  At least, that's the case with Mr. Williams and the Old Man in "A Stop at Willoughby" and "The Hunt." These two stories g...

Stories that focus on the young or the elderly tend to bring us as viewers into an introspective frame of mind. Season 3 of The Twilight Zone gives us two such examples of this. "Kick the Can" blends both the elderly and the young into the storyline, giving us a double punch to ponder the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that makes us never to grow old in our spirit. "The Trade-Ins" help...

It takes a gifted actor to be able to pull off a single-actor episode.  When executed well - such as Agnes Moorehead's "The Invaders," the episode can become legendary.  Since we've already covered that episode, this month we look at two other single-actor episodes.  First up is Robert Cummings' season 2 premiere, "King Nine Will Not Return." Cummings portrays a US Air Force pilot who was unable t...

Jack Klugman, along with Bergiss Meredith, has the esteemed honor of being one of only two actors to be featured in the lead role of four Twilight Zone episodes.  We previously covered, "In Praise of Pip" and "A Passage For Trumpet," and this month we're taking a look at "A Game of Pool" and "Death Ship."  In "A Game of Pool," Klugman stars alongside Jonathan Winters in what was Winters' first dra...

Whether driving or flying across the country, tragedy can strike at any moment, especially in the Twilight Zone.  This month we take a look at two episodes that capitalize on this true, yet unsettling reality. Season 1 of the Zone gave us "The Hitch-Hiker," a story of Nan Adams who is driving her way from New York to Los Angeles.  Unfortunately for Nan, much like Malcolm Crowe in "The Sixth Sense,...

Throughout the 1950's and 60's Rod Serling wrote several stories aimed at shedding light on racial issues with blacks in America. His stories were often watered down or changed to other racial groups by network executives or sponsors, leaving Rod in a state of frustration. When JFK was gunned down in Dallas on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Rod was inspired to write "I am the Night - Color Me...

Beloved as Catwoman from the 1960's Batman series, Julie Newmar first appeared as Miss Devlin on the season 4 Twilight Zone episode, "Of Late I think of Cliffordville." Pat Hingle, who played the role of Commissioner Gordon in the 1980's and 90's Batman films, made his Twilight Zone appearance in the season 4 episode, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford." Besides featuring actors who would later...

If there's one thing The Twilight Zone loves, it's exploring humanity through the lens of space travel. This month we take a look at two episodes where the lead characters find themselves stranded in space, albeit for entirely different reasons. In season 1 episode 7 entitled, "The Lonely," we encounter the story of a man named Corry who has been sentenced to solitary confinement on an asteroid mi...

While the weather may be a bit unseasonably warm for us right now, we find ourselves in a much cooler situation than those in the season 3 Twilight Zone episode, "The Midnight Sun."  For much of the episode we are lead to believe they are on a collision course with the sun...or are they?  This is a podcast episode with a snow theme after all.  Then we take a look at season three's final episode, "...

Burgess Meredith's impact on the Twilight Zone is arguably deeper than any other thespian to enter the fifth dimension.  While most know him immediately for his work on the beloved episode, "Time Enough at Last," many have never seen his appearance in the season four episode, "Printer's Devil." This month we not only take a look at "Printer's Devil," but we also take a look at his season 2 appeara...