User Reviews

It's an enjoyable and suspenseful story. Steve Forrest is a major in the US Marine Corps and an astronaut. He has a loving wife, beautiful if dull home, and a little girl. His launch into space is normal until he is enveloped in some kind of flash and winds up in a hospital bed surrounded by his colleagues, unable to remember how he got there.

On his release, he goes home to find that everything is more or less the same. The "less" begins to irk him. His house is now surrounded by a picket fence that wasn't there when he left. He is now a full colonel instead of a mere major. His wife and child sense that he's somehow "different" without being able to explain exactly how. Puzzled and upset, he looks through an encyclopedia and finds that history is slightly changed. It is now a man named Anderson who built the Panama Canal, not Goethels. He inspects the space craft he was in, there is another flash, and he returns to an Earth in which Goethels built the canal. He concludes that he has spent almost a week in a parallel world in which everything is only more or less the same as on Terra.

It's not the first time that the narrative has an ordinary man finding himself in a puzzling new world, but it's always an interesting subject. And this time, the story is allowed to run for 48 minutes or so and it never becomes boring. It seems to NEED that much time to play itself out.

Steve Forrest, Dana Andrews' brother, is adequate in the role of Major (or Colonel) Gaines, and everyone else performs dutifully. The cast are all professionals. They hit their marks, assume the proper expressions, and speak their lines like the professional actors they are. They look and act like Hollywood actors, as did most of the performers in these TV series. The exception here is Jacqueline Scott, as Forrest's wife. She's not a stunning beauty, not modelesque, and she's saddled with Serling's sometimes stilted and predictably middle-brow dialog, yet she's more convincing than anyone else in the story. She makes that artifice seem effortless, which I think is called sprezzatura.

This is a very good episode and when I saw it, it was very familiar. That's because I had first seen a Gerry and Sylvia Anderson production named "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun"--and it was essentially a remake of this particular show--or at least a re-tooling of the idea. Yet, although this British movie came out AFTER the "Twilight Zone" episode aired, no mention or credit is given to the writers of this show! The plots are, in many ways, identical and it can't just be a coincidence that they are so similar.

An astronaut (Steve Forrest) is sent into space. What happens next is a bit vague, but when he returns everyone seems pretty happy--until everyone starts to notice that things just don't add up at all. Because of this, it's obvious he is NOT from this planet at all but an Earth in either another dimension or on an exact opposite orbit or he's crazy. For example, no one on this world has even heard of President Kennedy and in this world Forrest is a colonel--but back on his world he was a major! Overall, this is a very good episode with excellent acting, suspense and writing. I can sure understand why it was later hashed out to a full-length movie...but why no mention of the wonderful Rod Serling! Odd.

There's one thing that could have made this episode even better. Just who WAS President of the United States in the parallel world? Did Richard Nixon win even after that horrendous showing in the televised debates? Did war hero Eisenhower go on to a third term? Think of the possibilities that could have been explored.

But that wasn't really the main point of the story. On the face of it, this episode did a fairly interesting job of exploring the idea of a parallel world, an idea that has been posited before and since. I'm always intrigued by those kinds of questions, even more so as advances in science and technology bring our knowledge to thresholds never before imagined. Like 'smart' computers and robots that respond to human recognition. Fifty years after this excursion into The Twilight Zone, an episode written today would certainly push the envelope even further beyond the limits of human comprehension.

One thing though, that Rod Serling comprehended pretty well was how to sell a show to the audience. Did you notice how many scenes he used to enhance Jacqueline Scott's profile? I don't think he ever zeroed in on a leading lady's physical assets before like he did here. Makes you wonder why astronaut Gaines (Steve Forrest) ever left Earth in the first place.

I read another reviewer's comments on this board wondering why Serling didn't make more mention of John F. Kennedy in other stories. Actually he did, in fact on the day of Kennedy's inauguration (2/11/1961), The Twilight Zone aired an episode that mentioned the President called 'The Whole Truth'. But beware, that one's a contender for one of the worst Zone's ever, with a guest appearance by a Nikita Kruschev impersonator. You know it's a Twilight Zone when the Communist premier supports capitalism by buying a used car!

I know this is not one of the episodes many TZ fans find bland and uninteresting ebe ones who like the fourth season.

I enjoy it on a few levels first the idea of a parallel universe is and how it could be different. I think some might be disappointed that it wasn't explored in a bigger way but I think they went with the way it affected the main character's family which I thought was good for the format here which is about how people deal with the unexpected. The family is idealized but still more relatable and likable than some TZ family units are. There is no bad guy here.

The other thing is talking about how space travel could affect your perception of life on earth and how not everything was known at the time about how it might affect people emtionally and mentally as well as physically.

One of the key moments is how it's revealed that Gains the main character really is in the wrong universe! It's also interesting that children pick up on theses things quicker than adults. I did apperciate that the adults were all concered about young Maggie and how it was affecting her. There is also a a clue with the spaceship. Overall a welldone episode with a satisfying conclusion.

Have you ever had happen to you what happened to the lead character? You have one memory if a past event. And the person who shared the event has a completely different memory? And you both KNOW you are each correct.

I have had this happen so many many times in my life. Too much to write it off to one party simply having an imperfect memory. It's not just a question of parallel (two) universes. It's infinite universes.

Science has gone down this road. Remember the Heisenberg Principal, where observing a thing changes a thing? Then, Schrodinger's Cat, where it is unknown whether the cat in the box is alive or dead, as in the cat is neither alive or dead, until the box is opened and the cat is observed (actually I always thought the smell would give it away).

Now add the idea that when the cat is observed, two timelines are spawned... one in which the cat is alive and one in which the cat is dead.

I tend to believe in these notions, partially because as noted, such discrepancies have happened to me so many times. But also because the universe is not "real" We are dreaming it. Thought is real. Reality is an illusion spawned by thought. And in an illusion anything is possible. The construct of time and space, and the paradox of the beginning of time or the end of time (and space) make more sense , because in a dream you can make up anything!

Astronaut Major Robert Gaines (Steve Forrest) sets off on mission to orbit completely around the earth but something odd happens: he awakens after blackout to a parallel earth where there are similarities and subtle differences, with his colleagues, wife, and daughter eventually treating him as either delusional or alien to them. What could have been a fine sci-fi half-hour episode just drags mercilessly due to the extra twenty-five minutes burdening the script to drag out conversations and the obvious beyond what is needed. With Jacqueline Scott (William Castle's Macabre (1958)) as Robert's wife, unsettled by the man that returned to her, just bothered by a kiss and embrace that feels all wrong, Frank Aletter as Colonel William Connacher, spending most of the episode (in both universes) perplexed at Robert's statements about parallel experiences, and Paul Comi as psychiatrist debating whether or not Robert is off his rocker or accurate in his claims. The radio transmission from Colonel Robert Gaines leaves those considering Major Robert Gaines possibly delusional startled and perplexed. The subtle differences in the parallel universe Robert soon spends a week are shared in dialogue rather than necessarily visually (although see the difference in where Aletter and Comi stand when speaking after their visit with an awakened Gaines; it is clever), but how the wife and daughter react disturbed when he draws near and embraces them (as if he causes them to shiver) makes for a well directed clue to how off everything is. I just think the padding is detrimental (or if you wish "wrecks") the story's potential for resonance. Robert's colleagues identify six hours "lost" where he didn't contact them, while he assures them he spent six days on the parallel earth. How that happens is never explained.

A reviewer called this episode 'somewhat interesting', but I respectfully disagree. The idea of a parallel universe has been explored via television drama before. 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' 'The Case of Mr. Pelham' with Tom Ewell was fairly eerie.

Serling himself wrote 'Mirror Image', which to me is one of the overlooked and underrated 'Twilight Zone' episodes. Featuring the lovely Vera Miles, and future 'Adam-12' cop Martin Milner, it delivers its chills subtly. A piece of baggage is not where it should be.

'The Parallel' simply takes the idea into the space age, and, although I regard many of the hour-long 'Twilight Zone' stories to be padded out to fill extra time, I did not find this to be the case with 'The Parallel'.

It is interesting to hear the name 'John Kennedy' in a television drama, but this would not raise anyone's attention had Kennedy not been assassinated months later. His name was simply used to let the viewers know that Steve Forrest's character was perfectly right about his suspicions of something being not quite right. (Which all begins when he does not recognize a picket fence in front of his home sweet home.)

His daughter no longer believes the man that came back from space is her father. Shades of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. The parallel universe is further substantiated when the designer of the space craft insists that it is not the model he built.

I found this a compelling 'Twilight Zone' hour (although I still admire the conciseness of the half-hour episodes). And it does leave one to ponder....

What if we had never heard of 'John Kennedy'? Might have been a good thing for the country, in retrospect.

This is one of the better season 4 (50 minutes) episodes.The Parallel is about an astronaut coming back from a space mission to find,as the title suggests, that although things seem normal at first,he starts to notice minor details of his life are different ie a fence around his house,hes a major instead of a colonel etc.Gradually his family start to act uneasily around him.Not the most exciting twilight zone but a very interesting idea that has been copied since by many sci fi films and shows.The actors put in good performances and the atmospheric feel of the show is well done.Just one minor detail that didn't ring true was that the President was different(hardly minor).

By posters on here and in the book 'The Twilight Zone Companion' by Zicree. The actors turns in brilliant performances of strength and to the point competence ( beautiful Jacqueline Scott a standout) and the space travel scenes are far more realistic than you would expect from a 1963 TV show. Interestingly, Sheri Lee Bernath turns in a greater performance as Gaines daughter on our Earth than in the parallel one.

I think most people agree-- including Serling-- that the half hour format was ideal for the Twilight Zone. Particularly if there was some sort of twist.

This one could very easily have been a half hour but it works well stretched out to a full hour and just takes its time the whole way through. It's basically a slow burn episode which gives us time to appreciate both sides of the situation.

In effect, it's a character study of several characters, where BOTH sides are experiencing the Zone.

I do agree with some reviewers that having nobody heard of JFK seemed a bit too far, as well as having other extensive historical differences. The more subtle changes were more interesting and (relatively) more believable. That election was close and I would have liked it better if Nixon had won and they would have all known exactly who JFK was. That would have fit the "something's off" and "someone's confused" vibe better.

This is a fabulous example of why this series should never have expanded to one hour episodes.

We begin with an astronaut, watched by his wife and daughter on TV, about to take off on a solo space mission. Everything goes well until he blacks out during his flight-but is soon seen back on Earth, and the only thing odd is that he doesn't have any recollection of landing his ship on ground or anything that happened after he blacked out until he came to in the hospital bed.

Since he seems unharmed, he is taken home when he seems started on entering his own front yard. We learn why: He believes when he left home there was no fence of any type around his yard, but his wife insists it was there when he left.

Now viewers saw the episode's title "The Parallel" on the screen when we began, and if it meant nothing at the time, by now it is rather clear-somehow this man is from a parallel universe/planet where almost everything is the same. In a half-hour show, we'd see a couple more quick examples of things that were different, and head toward some resolution within 10 minutes or so. Here, they drag it out for half an hour, as he slowly discovers more and more things are a bit off. His family is scared-his wife withdrew after a kiss, but never said anything about it not being right. His daughter started to put sugar in his coffee without asking until he stopped her and said, You know I never take sugar in my coffee." She too recoiled from him but never said anything about that sugar matter again.

Later he tells his wife how somebody at work acted like they never heard of President Kennedy. She says nothing. We move on to him going through encyclopedias and finding numerous things that don't add up-people he remembers from history not being mentioned, other people written about he never heard of. Oddly, there is no more mention of any U. S. presidents, although after the Kennedy thing, you'd think that would be the first thing he looked up.

The way he got back is not vital to my review-I'm sure you knew he would. And when he returns, his buddies get some semblance of proof that his story about what happened really did happen. In their minds, he was out of contact for 6 hours before landing his ship. In his mind, he was in this other world for 6 days.

This series had other similar episodes, but when you think about the plot, I believe it just doesn't add up to anything that would get by Mr. Spock's logical mind. If we accept the notion of a parallel world with a country just like the United States-that even calls itself that, as was established in this show-there are really two ways this could be: The land forms and waters are the same and people physically are the same. But they would not have matching names to all the people on earth, and someone with the same name would not have the same address, a wife and daughter who have the same names and look identical. OR, if they did, as was portrayed, then whatever forces, or God, who is controlling things, would not let all these variances exist-particularly with a totally different president. If the parallel planet is really set up to match the one we know, then there would not be all these differences.

Are we to accept that on Earth # 2, whenever an accident kills Mr. X on Earth # 1, that the person with the same name gets into a car crash at the same time, in the same way as his namesake? If so why? It would be far easier to accept this if our major came back from his trip, to meet two totally different people who profess to be his family, and that nobody looks quite like what he remembers. It's the having 98% of things the same, but some obvious differences that just keeps this from being a really good episode to me. The heavy padding of the script to fill the expanded show length really makes it drag-a 4.