15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Twilight Zone5

By Steven Novak, Aug 02, 2010 in Pop Culture, Show News

15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone will forever remain an example of quality television and magical storytelling for generations to come. The show and its creator, Rod Serling, offered audiences something entirely different, something that hadn’t been done before, and something that really couldn’t be replicated. As a result, the face of television was changed irrevocably because of it. In the vein of KoldCast TV’s mystery series Night Walkers, every episode was a complete, distinct story, and every episode titillated the brain in ways the brain wasn’t accustomed to being titillated. In honor of the show, we proudly present you with some facts about the show and its creators that you may not know.

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1. ROD SERLING WASN’T THE ORIGINAL NARRATOR

That’s right. Though it seems bizarre to think of The Twilight Zone with anything other than Rod Serling’s monotone voice playing over the opening credits, the original cut of the show was exactly that. The first voice of the The Twilight Zone was actually Westbrook Van Voorhis, who was best known for his newsreel voiceovers (and because of that was sometimes referred to as “the voice of doom”). Not happy with what Westbrook was doing, CBS replaced him with Serling before the airing of the first episode.

2. CBS DIDN’T WANT SERLING AS THE HOST EITHER

Though Rod Serling was undoubtedly the creator and driving creative force behind the show, CBS had no interest in letting him act as host. In fact, their original choice was none other than Orson Welles of Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, and the War of the Worlds radio drama fame. While the network might have wanted Orson, Orson wanted a load of money and a deal couldn’t be struck.

3. THE COMIC BOOK OUTLIVED THE ORIGINAL SHOW

Gold Key Comics published a long-running series of books featuring not only The Twilight Zone, but the likeness of Rod Serling as well. The books introduced original stories and occasionally adapted already existing episodes. The comic outlived the original television series by nearly twenty years and Rod Serling himself by a decade until it, too, came to an end in 1982.

4. SOME OF THE ZONE WAS SHOT ON VIDEO TAPE AND EVEN “CAMERA CUT”

The network decided they needed to cut costs in the second season and thought the best way to do so was by shooting some episodes on videotape rather than film. Because videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960s, the editing of the tape was next to impossible. Because of this, each of the 6 episodes shot this way (Including “The Night of the Meek”) had to be “camera-cut” – as in assembled in real-time like live TV.

5. SERLING ONCE INVITED THE FANS TO SEND IN SCRIPTS

The idea might sound a bit preposterous today (though Star Trek did give it a shot years later), but Rod Serling once invited viewers to submit their own scripts for the show. His office was immediately flooded with nearly 14,000 fan-penned ideas. It’s been said that he actually got around to reading 500 of them but only thought two of them were any good. Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to produce a single one. Waste of time? Maybe. Sneaky way to gets fans interested in the show? Without a doubt. Sounds like today’s internet, huh?

6. “SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL” NOT THAT COMMON

The famous phrase “submitted for your approval” that is most commonly quoted by just about anyone doing a Rod Serling impression, and has entered the lexicon of pop culture at large, wasn’t actually all that common where the show was concerned. In fact, Rod barely ever said it. The words only escaped Serling’s mouth in three measly episodes, “Cavender is Coming,” “In Praise of Pip,” and “A Kind of Stopwatch.”

7. HALF THE CREW OF THE ORIGINAL ENTERPRISE APPEARED ON THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The crew of Starfleet’s most prestigious ship made a heck of a showing for themselves on the original 156 episodes produced for the series. In fact, four members the crew including William Shatner (Kirk), George Takei (Sulu), James Doohan (Scotty), and Leonard Nimoy (Spock) popped on for guest spots at one point or another. Shatner’s unabashed scene in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” remains the most memorable of the lot.

8. SERLING MADE SOME CASH BY JUMPING OUT OF PLANES

While not exactly Twilight Zone trivia, this is still Rod Serling trivia, and honestly the two go hand-in-hand, so keep the complaints to a minimum. Rod Serling was a seasoned WWII veteran and earned the Purple Heart for his service. After the war ended, he opted to make some cash by testing experimental parachutes for the U.S. Army for $500 a pop. That’s either a sign of extreme dedication, or an indication of complete insanity. Maybe both.

9. THE FORBIDDEN PLANET MEETS THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The 1956 film The Forbidden Planet, which was directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starred Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen, remains to this day one of the absolute classics in the genre and even won an Academy Award for special effects. Some of the props made their way onto the set of The Twilight Zone. (Which is a fairly common occurrence). Any self-respecting sci-fi buff can watch the episode “Third From the Sun” and spot them.

10. ROD SERLING WAS HONORED FOR HIS WORK – OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER AGAIN

Series creator and perpetual fountain of ideas, Rod Serling, remains to this day as one of the most hailed and honored writers in television history. During his time on the show he garnered 6 Emmys, 3 Hugos, 2 Sylvanias, 2 Christophers, a George Foster Peabody, a Golden Globe, a Laurel Award, a Television-Radio Writers award, a Writers Guild of America nod, a Look Magazine Television award, and even a Harcourt-Brace Award. Not to shabby for a guy CBS never even wanted to show his face.

11. THE SHOW AMMASED A MASSIVE LIST OF GUEST STARS TO EVEN RIVAL TODAY’S SNL

The list of guest stars that were either famous at the time or went on to become famous is quite literally massive. The show is known for having spotted talent very early on in several actors’ career. Lets just name a few: Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, George Takei, Anne Francis, Robert Duvall, Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorhead, Dick York, Jack Klugman, Burgess Merideth, Cliff Robertson, Jack Warden, Jonathan Winters, Martin Landau, Ed Wynn, Martin Balsam, Telly Savalas, Claude Akins, Roddy McDowall, James Coburn, Art Carney, Robert Cummings, Don Rickles, Peter Falk, Cloris Leachman, Donald Pleasance, Albert Salmi, Mickey Rooney, Ted Knight, Rod Taylor, Buddy Ebsen, Inger Stevens, Dennis Weaver, Buster Keaton, and Robert Redford. Believe it or not, that’s just a snippet.

12. SERLING’S FIRST EPISODE WAS NEVER PRODUCED

The first episode of The Twilight Zone that made it to television wasn’t the first Serling had written. It turns out he’d originally scripted an episode called “The Happy Place” that he hoped would get the nod. However, the script was rejected by the brass at CBS because of its subject matter – a story about a society where people were executed when they turned 60 was considered far too depressing for viewers to ever accept.

13. THE TWILIGHT ZONE WAS ADAPTED FOR RADIO IN 2002

In 2002, episodes of the show were adapted for radio with Stacy Keach taking on Serling’s role as narrator. Each episode featured current Hollywood celebrities like Jason Alexander, Michael York, Don Johnson, Sean Astin, Luke Perry, Jim Caviezel and host of others. The series was broadcast coast-to-coast via Sirius/XM radio, and you can still find episodes online.

14. LEONARDO DICAPRIO REALLY, REALLY DIGS IT

Turns out The Twilight Zone is actually the favorite show of actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and he’s made no bones about pointing it out over the years. He’s such a fan that his production company, Appian Way, has been working to bring a version of it to the screen for a while now. As of this writing, the project apparently remains on the backburner but still under consideration.

15. THEY’VE TRIED TO RECREATE THE MAGIC BEFORE AND FAILED

Leo’s interest in the series is hardly the first time someone has attempted to resurrect the show in one form or another. In fact, The Twilight Zone has been brought to life no less than three times since the original series ended – once in 1985, again in 1994, and then once more in 2002. There was also a mostly forgettable film (completely forgettable if not for an unfortunate helicopter crash and subsequent deaths) produced in 1983 by Steven Spielberg that starred Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks and a host of others.

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Steven Novak is a writer, illustrator, graphic designer and admitted lifelong nerd with an embarrassingly large DVD collection. He is currently working and living in the Southern California desert. His most recent fantasy/action adventure novel, “Forts: Fathers and Sons,” is available everywhere books are sold.