The Parallel
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| “The Parallel” | |||||||
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| The Twilight Zone episode | |||||||
 Scene from "The Parallel" |
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| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 113 |
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| Written by | Rod Serling | ||||||
| Directed by | Alan Crosland, Jr. | ||||||
| Guest stars | Steve Forrest : Robert Gaines Jacqueline Scott : Helen Gaines Frank Aletter : Colonel Connacher Philip Abbott : Gen. Eaton Morgan Jones : Captain William Sargent : Project Manager Paul Comi : Psychiatrist |
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| Featured music | Uncredited | ||||||
| Production no. | 4859 | ||||||
| Original airdate | March 14, 1963 | ||||||
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| List of Twilight Zone episodes | |||||||
"The Parallel" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
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[edit] Synopsis
An astronaut, Major Robert "Bob" Gaines, is orbiting the Earth in his space capsule. However, at one point the systems malfunction and he blacks out, waking up on Earth. He appears to be none the worse for his experiences, and is released to the custody of his family.
However, inconsistencies quickly pop up. His own daughter doesn't recognize him, everyone keeps calling him Colonel (confirmed by the rank insignia on his uniform) when he knows he's a Major, and he insists the President of the United States is John F. Kennedy - a man nobody else around him has ever heard of! Gaines concludes that he's slipped into a parallel universe and tries to return to his space capsule, but blacks out again before he can do so.
He immediately finds himself back in orbit, and lands his craft safely. He is prepared to write the whole thing off as a nightmare, but controllers on the ground subsequently receive another transmission - from Colonel Robert Gaines....
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
In 1963 a man filed suit alleging that Serling had stolen the idea for this episode from him. On his attorney's advice, Serling settled the matter out of court for $6500.
The storyline is extremely similar to the 1969 British sci-fi film, Doppelgänger.
[edit] References
- Sander, Gordon F.:Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition).
