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SYFY WIRE The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone's Original Narration Almost Had a Multidimensional Mistake

Rod Serling almost skipped right past the fifth dimension to welcome audiences into the sixth dimension. 

By James Grebey

The late, great Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone (regularly airing on SYFY) as well as the host of the acclaimed anthology series, was all ready to go with his now-iconic introduction only for there to, perhaps fittingly, be a last-minute twist. A producer on the pilot spotted a mistake in his initial draft of the opening narration, prompting a hasty re-record. 

“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,” the opening title sequence of the first 32 episodes of The Twilight Zone declares. “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.”

However, as detailed in the book Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series, Serling, who wrote the narration, got his dimensions mixed up. 

Rod Serling almost got his dimensions wrong in The Twilight Zone's opening narration

Rod Serling points a finger and holds a script.

Originally, the narration began with, “There is a sixth dimension, beyond that which is known to man.”

Upon hearing the opening, William Self, a producer on the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone, asked Serling to “please explain to me what the fifth dimension is.” 

“Oh, aren’t there five?” was Serling’s response. 

Self was correct. Time is commonly referred to as the “fourth dimension.” While there are some complex theoretical physics entertaining a possible fifth dimension, it’s pretty out there for the layperson, and laypeople tend only to think about (and exist in) the first four dimensions. Serling re-recorded his opening narration to correct the mistake, welcoming viewers to the fifth dimension rather than skipping right over it in favor of an ever more obtuse sixth dimension. 

The original opening narration lasted for most of The Twilight Zone’s first season. The last four episodes of the season, starting with “Mr. Bevis,” did away with specifying the number of the dimension viewers were entering. 

“You are about to enter another dimension,” Serling’s narration explained. “A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

The rest of The Twilight Zone’s five-season run would open with narration that was similar to this introduction, albeit with some changes from season to season. While the first opening narration was accompanied by music composed by Bernard Herrmann, starting with Season 2, audiences would hear the now-famous guitar riff French avant-garde composer Marius Constant created for the show. For many years while the show was in syndication, this new opening replaced the original Season 1 titles, meaning many audiences never heard Serling mention the fifth dimension by name — or know how close he came to shouting out the sixth dimension by mistake. 

The Twilight Zone regularly airs on SYFY. For more scheduling info, click here.