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The Twilight Zone was a groundbreaking American Sci-Fi/Horror anthology TV show. The series has had an incalculable impact on the genre and on popular culture in general. So much so that certain episode's twists and plots are widely known, even without someone ever having seen an episode.
Before he was ever cast, Earl Holliman ran into Rod Serling in the CBS parking lot. They were talking about Serling’s new pilot he was going to shoot, and that a big name celebrity wanted too much money for the starring role. That same day, Holliman was sent the script, and that night he read it. He was shocked and thrilled, later remarking, “The hair was standing up on the back of my neck.”
11 More Trivia7 More Quotes"Sure, American money. Well, we got that much settled. I'm an American."
| Lela Bliss | 121 eps. | ||
| Jacqueline deWit | 121 eps. | ||
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Rod Serling | Narrator / ... | 86 eps. |
| Russ Bender | 3 eps. | ||
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Ben Wright | 3 eps. | |
| S. John Launer | 3 eps. | ||
| Pat O'Malley | 3 eps. | ||
| John Larch | 3 eps. | ||
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Bill Erwin | 3 eps. | |
| Sandy Kenyon | 3 eps. |
Theme Music/Intros
The Twilight Zone's famous theme music is another part of the show that is widely known despite one ever having seen an episode. Yet that famous song wasn't a part of the title sequence until the second season of the show.The show had four unique title sequences, but certain characteristics remained the same throughout all of them. They each featured slightly vague, other worldly visuals, combined with ambiently creepy music, and voice over from Serling himself.
Season 1 Intro
The Season 1 intro is technically the simplest. Not featuring any actual footage or animation, it instead is comprised of pans, tilts, and zooms across still images. The subtle theme music was composed by the prolific Bernard Herrmann, who also scored 7 episodes of the series.
Serling's voice over for this sequence is the longest of all of them:
The sequence ends with a tilt down from a star field, which dissolves into the first shot of an episode." 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, 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. "
Season 2 Intro
The Season 2 intro is more basic than the previous, but it includes limited animation and footage. This intro features the "classic" theme music, with which the show is widely associated.
Execs requested this change as they felt the Herrmann intro was "Too down". Many new themes were submitted to CBS Music Director Lud Gluskin (including two new themes from Herrmann himself) but none were found to be satisfactory. Discouraged, Gluskin looked to the selection of short cues that CBS had commissioned, and found two in the "CBS Foreign Library". These cues, "Etrange 3 (Strange No. 3)" and "Milieu 2 (Middle No. 2)" were selected and combined, creating the "classic" intro.
The French avant-garde composer Marius Constant had created the cues (six in all) to be used as incidental music in TV shows, and he was apparently surprised to discover that his short cues had become the theme to a popular series, without him ever creating the music with that intention.
Serling's voice over for this sequence was shortened, allowing more time for the theme by itself:
" You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone! "
This sequence also ends with a tilt down from a star field, dissolving into the episodes first shot.
Season 3 Intro
The Season 3 intro is the most visually simple. Only consisting of an illusory rotating "cone" and a slow fade in of the tiles which then break apart. Even the typeface used is a generic one, as opposed to the unique type used in all of the other seasons.
Serlings voice over is almost identical to that from the previous season:
" You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land who's boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop, the Twilight Zone. "
It also ends with the same starry tilt down and dissolve.
Season 4 & 5 Intro
The Season 4 & 5 intros were the same, and the most widely remembered today. Combining more live action elements than the previous titles, the opening door, shattering window, opening eye, theory of relativity, artist's model doll, and the ticking clock are all still associated with the series itself
This intro also has the most memorable Serling voice over:
" You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension; a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas, you've just crossed over into, the Twilight Zone. "
This intro returns to having a unique typeface for the title, instead of the generic type used in the previous sequence.
This is the only intro in the series that doesn't tilt down at the end. Instead, after the title zooms past the camera, the star field simply dissolves into the first shot of an episode.
Alternates
There was an alternate version of the Season 1 intro, which can be seen at the 0:42 mark here. It was only used a limited number of times when the original episodes aired, and it was replaced by the main Season 1 title sequence for syndication.
There is also an alternate version of the season 3 intro. As opposed to the season 1 alternate, the visuals are identical, just the voice over is slightly different:
" You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land who's boundaries are that of imagination. There's the signpost up ahead. Your next stop, the Twilight Zone. "
There was also this title voice over that was written by Serling but never used:
" This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality. You're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable. Go as fas as you like on this road. It's limits are only those of the mind itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, you're entering the wondrous dimension of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone. "
| Name | Twilight Zone |
| Status | Ended |
| Date of 1st Airing | Oct. 2, 1959 |
| Date of Last Airing | June 19, 1964 |
| Show Type | |
| Original Air Day | Monday |
| Original Air Time | |
| Show Length | 30 |
| Network(s) |
Syfy
CBS
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| Language(s) |
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| Genre(s) | |
| Theme(s) | |
| Alias(es) |
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