Referenced By / The Twilight Zone (1959)

Comic Strips

• In the December 16, 2020 Heathcliff strip, Heathcliff turns Grandpa Nutmeg into a jack-in-the-box and is told to "wish it into the cornfield," parodying specifically the Twilight Zone version of "It's a Good Life".

Film

• In the opening sequence of Contact, a snippet of the opening theme can be heard when the camera passed Jupiter.
• Good Morning, Vietnam: During Adrian Cronauer's first broadcast, one of the bits he does is to hum the theme song of the show and then imitate Rod Serling while saying, "Picture a man going on a journey beyond sight and sound. He's left Crete. He's entered 'The De-Militarized Zone'." Cronauer then hums the rest of the theme.
• In Madagascar, when the lemurs start panicking about the potential threat of the foosas, one of the lemurs holds up a book titled To Serve Lemur while screaming "It's a cookbook!", in reference to the episode "To Serve Man".

Literature

• The Bourne Identity has Bourne state that he feels like the protagonist of a Twilight Zone short when the agency burns him.

Live-Action TV

• "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat", a Season 11 episode of The X-Files, opens with a diner scene very similar to "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, but not quite exactly the same. After an exhaustive and frustrating search, Mulder realizes that it's actually an episode of a different show.
• In 2006, Keith Olbermann referenced "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" in his September 11th, 2006 Special Comment on Countdown With Keith Olbermann while he was on MSNBC. This was to criticize the Bush Administration and what was perceived to be their blaming Democrats for being "too soft" and "traitorous" during the War on Terror, which was becoming more and more unpopular at that time. Not only did he summarize the episode in about a minute, but then quoted the Rod Serling ending narration in full, calling it "his finest piece of writing" and saying it was "with remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight."
• Weird Science: Season 3's "Sci-Fi Zoned" is packed to the brim with references, even being mostly in black-and-white. During an argument, Gary and Wyatt get zapped into their favorite show (The Sci-Fi Zone) and encounter various characters and situations, including aliens observing them in a zoo, a three-eyed Martian, a pig-faced woman that calls Wyatt hideous, a demonic fortune teller machine, a talking doll (voiced by Talking Tina actress June Foray), and old people playing kick the can. Chett is also made the Rod Serling-esque narrator and occasionally chimes in on what's occurring.
  Chett: Submitted for your approval: two troubled teens and one magic genie, seemingly the perfect formula for mirth and mayhem.
• Night Court: Recurring character Yakov would often speaking lovingly of his wife, Sonia, who was purported to be an Ugly Slavic Women. "Dan's Escort" sees her finally appear in-person, but she looks much different. This is attributed to a severe accident requiring plastic surgery, but Yakov thinks this is instead some kind of KGB trick. As he voices his suspicions, Sonia bemoans how she's been disfigured (much to the disbelief of everyone else in the room, which prompts a reference from Harry).
  Sonia: I know they have scarred me! I know they have mutilated me! I know I am a hideous monster! [weeps]
  Harry: [to Bull] Isn't this an episode of The Twilight Zone?
• Angel: In "Peace Out", when the group learns Jasmine has been pacifying the people only to eat them, Gunn comments it is like "To Serve Man".

Music

• On The Fall's Code: Selfish, the song "Time Enough At Last" summarizes that episode, a la Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
• The video for The Linda Lindas' song "Talking to Myself" was inspired by the Talky Tina episode. The black and white video features the band getting a box of dolls. They go out and do all sorts of fun things together (shopping, going on paddle boats, etc.). But then the band holds a practice excluding the dolls, who go on and attack the girls.
• Rush's "Twilight Zone'' references the show in general and summarizes two episodes: Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? and Stopover In A Quiet Town.
• "Twilight Zone" by The Manhattan Transfer is based off of the show's Opening Narration.
• Iron Maiden and Golden Earring both have songs named "Twilight Zone." The lyrical content of both thematically references the show, as well as the name of the songs.

Theme Parks

Western Animation

• Futurama had a Show Within a Show titled The Scary Door, which had many episodes that were spoofs of The Twilight Zone. One in particular, from "I Dated a Robot", is an amalgamated spoof of the episodes "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", "A Nice Place to Visit" and "The Man in the Bottle".
• It's a tradition that The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes have at least one segment that's a parody of a classic episode:
  • "Treehouse of Horror": "Hungry Are the Damned" is a parody of "To Serve Man".
  • "Treehouse of Horror II": "Bart's Dream" is a parody of "It's A Good Life", with Harry Shearer's narration even sounding like Rod Serling. In an amusing coincidence, Nancy Cartwright (Bart) had appeared in the movie version as one of Anthony's victims and was trapped in a cartoon land.
  • "Treehouse of Horror III": "Clown Without Pity" is a parody of "Living Doll".
  • "Treehouse of Horror IV": "Terror at 5½ Feet" is a parody of "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet".
  • "Treehouse of Horror VI": "Homer³" is a parody of "Little Girl Lost". Homer even lampshades this.
    That's weird...it's like something out of the twilighty show about that zone...
  • "Treehouse of Horror VII": "The Genesis Tub" is a parody of "The Little People".
  • The comic "Bart Simpson's Heebie-Jeebie Hullabaloo", a print equivalent to a Treehouse of Horror episode, has one story, "Immigration of the Body Snatchers", that's mostly a parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the ending, as Homer finishes telling his story to the doctor in an insane asylum, spoofs "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" by taking the twist of a second, separate alien invasion and taking it to extremes.
• Family Guy:
  • "Wasted Talent": Peter assures Lois that all the drinking he did in this episode had no long-term effects, but the final scene parodies "Time Enough At Last" by having his one remaining braincell break his glasses and lament that there was time now.
  • "Love Thy Trophy": Rod Serling appears a couple of times to comment on the irony of Peter and friends turning on each other over a trophy and how Brian was the one that stole it. He ends up getting attacked by the main characters for this.
• Johnny Bravo had three episodes that spoofed one from The Twilight Zone: "The Man Who Cried 'Clown'" (which parodies "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"), "Johnny Real Good" (which parodies "It's a Good Life") and "Little Talky Tabitha" (which parodies "Living Doll").
• Pepper Ann: At one point in "Psychic Moose", Pepper Ann and Moose watch a parody of "Time Enough At Last" wherein the Henry Bemis expy ends up being the last writer on Earth:
  "Now I can finally write that book...but who will be around to read iiiiiiiit?!"
• Garfield and Friends had "The Lasagna Zone", filled with philosophical narration and featuring a twist ending.
• Beetlejuice had "The Chromazone", where Beetlejuice is pushed into said show to help Tod Sperling, who is stuck in a Postmodernism hell caused by a rebellious character he created with his Author Powers.
• Molly of Denali: The episode title of "Little Dog Lost" is a reference to "Little Girl Lost".