The Twilight Zone began life in 1959 and was created by the great author Rod Serling. In fact Serling personally introduced every single episode of the Twilight Zone and also wrote many other science fiction and thrillers, he actually co-wrote the film script for the Planet of the Apes.

There are contemporary versions of the Twilight Zone and indeed a film version of the hit show was made, but, to me, the true otherworldly charm are restricted to the old black and white shows. Maybe there is something in the grainy film, the queerness of the dated costumes or the vague familiarity of it all, but the original version had that aura of alienity which made the Twilight Zone what it is.

Serling himself had an impeccable formula for the Zone stories, he would take ordinary characters, ones that the viewers could easily recognise, and put them in situations which ordinarily did not seem different from our own mundane lives. He then added a small 'twist' to the situation, a strange turn in the story where every thing seemed at odds with itself. This was the system behind its success! Of course there were futuristic tales, stories of space travel and exploration, but even these stories contained characters and indeed situations that one could easily identify with.

Many popular television celebrities featured in the stories of the Twilight Zone including a certain Billy Mumy who is famous as both Will Robinson in Lost in Space and Lennier in Babylon 5.

In fact, William Shatner also made appearances in several episodes, most memorable are the story of a young couple trapped in a small town by the enticing menace of a small mechanical fortune telling devil figure as detailed in the top left picture. .