Line #12 Series/TheTwilightZone1959


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6	[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twilight_zone_serling.jpeg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:340:Picture, if you will...]]
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9	->''"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 middleground between light and shadow, between 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."''
10	-->-- '''Creator/RodSerling''', the first OpeningNarration
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12	One of television's most revered series, ''The Twilight Zone'' (Creator/{{CBS}}, 1959–64) stands as the [[TropeCodifier role model]] for all subsequent GenreAnthology shows. Its trenchant sci-fi/horror/fantasy parables explore humanity's hopes, despairs, terrors, prides, and prejudices in deep, metaphoric ways that more conventional drama cannot. It followed a DramaticHalfHour format.
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14	Creator-host Creator/RodSerling wrote the majority of the show's scripts, and produced those of such now-legendary writers as Creator/RichardMatheson and Charles Beaumont. The series featured such soon-to-be-famous actors as Creator/RobertRedford, Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/BurtReynolds, Creator/RobertDuvall, Creator/DennisHopper, Creator/CarolBurnett, Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/CharlesBronson, Creator/LeeMarvin, Creator/PeterFalk, Creator/DonaldPleasence and Creator/BillMumy, as well as such established stars as Creator/BurgessMeredith, Creator/ArtCarney, Creator/MickeyRooney, Creator/IdaLupino, Creator/EdWynn, Creator/JohnCarradine, and SilentMovie giant Creator/BusterKeaton.
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16	The series also possessed a remarkable ability to take rather silly story concepts and combine them with [[{{Anvilicious}} preachy, moralistic writing]] to produce some truly outstanding episodes. (Seriously, you think ''Series/TheWestWing'' was heavy-handed? Creator/AaronSorkin's got ''nothing'' on Rod Serling in full-on righteous anger mode.) The ghost of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler travels to the early-'60s United States and teaches Creator/DennisHopper to become an effective demagogue? [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S4E4HesAlive It works]]. A former Nazi commander returns to Dachau after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and gets put on trial by the ghosts of his victims? [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E9DeathsHeadRevisited It works]]. Creator/WilliamShatner hams it up yelling about the monster on the wing of the plane? [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E3NightmareAt20000Feet It works]].
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18	Nearly all episodes ended with clear {{A\|nAesop}}esops; "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," "Be tolerant," "Democracy is good," etc. Occasionally, you'd get more of a HardTruthAesop; notably, the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]", which starred Creator/BurgessMeredith and seemed to tell the viewer, "Even if you are a good and decent man, you can still have horrible things continually happen to you and end up with no hope at all", and became one of the most famous episodes of the original series.
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20	The series became so iconic that it's received [[Franchise/TheTwilightZone a number of reworkings and continuations in various media]] over the decades, starting with a ComicBookAdaptation that was launched while it was still in production and outlasted it by several years. ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie'', a big-screen version featuring individual segments directed by Creator/JohnLandis, Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/JoeDante, and Creator/GeorgeMiller, was released in 1983. Tragically, the movie is nowadays [[OvershadowedByControversy best remembered]] for a [[FatalMethodActing horrible accident]] in which three actors (including Creator/VicMorrow and two children) were killed during shooting of an action scene in Landis' segment.
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22	[[Series/TheTwilightZone1985 An often worthy]] {{revival}} series ran on CBS from 1985–87, and in FirstRunSyndication from 1988–89. [[Series/TheTwilightZone2002 Another revival]] ran on Creator/{{UPN}} in the 2002–03 season, which reunited Bill Mumy and Creator/ClorisLeachman in a sequel to the classic TZ chiller "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E8ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]". [[Series/TheTwilightZone2019 A third]] helmed by Creator/JordanPeele began airing in 2019 on CBS All Access, lasting for two seasons before ending in 2020. A [[LicensedPinballTable licensed]] {{Pinball}} game, ''Pinball/TwilightZone'', was released in 1992, filled with references and {{Shout Out}}s to various episodes, and is today one of the most popular pinball games of all time. However, it's the daring original series that shows every sign of lasting the ages as the literature that it is.
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24	Many television shows have [[AffectionateParody borrowed liberally]] from ''The Twilight Zone'', especially ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'', ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends Garfield's Tales of Scary Stuff]]'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "[[ShowWithinAShow The Scary]] [[AffectionateParody Door]]" and "Anthology of Interest". There's also a popular thrill-ride inspired by the series in the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, ''Ride/TheTwilightZoneTowerOfTerror'', which inspired its own [[Film/TowerOfTerror non-canon TV film]] in 1997.
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26	%% Trope Namer is trivia and goes in the Trivia tab.
27	----
28	!!Submitted for your approval, a copious number of tropes, each unique in their own way, and all of them fiendishly designed to draw you further... into the [=Trope-light=] Zone:
29	[[index]]
30	* [[TheTwilightZone1959/TropesAToH Tropes A to H]]
31	* [[TheTwilightZone1959/TropesIToP Tropes I to P]]
32	* [[TheTwilightZone1959/TropesQToZ Tropes Q to Z]]
33	[[/index]]
34	----
35	[[/index]]
36	----
37	Guess what? [[spoiler:Your whole life has been a dream, one of your family members is a robot, and that nice man that just moved into town is a Martian, just like all your neighbors living here with you on Mars, after Earth was destroyed. Except he's also a ghost. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. Hey, look at that weird mirror!]]

Context Series / TheTwilightZone1959