The Parallel

{{cquote|In the vernacular of space, this is T minus one hour. Sixty minutes before a human being named Major Robert Gaines is lifted off from the Mother Earth and rocketed into the sky, farther and longer than any man ahead of him. Call this one of the first faltering steps of man to sever the umbilical cord of gravity and stretch out a fingertip toward an unknown. Shortly, we'll join this astronaut named Gaines and embark on an adventure, because the environs overhead—the stars, the sky, the infinite space—are all part of a vast question mark known as the Twilight Zone.}}

An astronaut, Major Robert Gaines, is orbiting Earth in his space capsule. Suddenly, his communication systems stop functioning and he blacks out, waking up on Earth with no memory of his return. 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 daughter senses that he is not the same person. His house has a white picket fence that he has never seen, though his wife insists that it was there when they bought the house. Everyone calls him Colonel (confirmed by the rank insignia on his uniform) when he knows he is a Major, and he insists that the President of the United States is John F. Kennedy, a man whom no one else has ever heard of. Gaines concludes that he has slipped into a parallel universe. His acquaintances see this as nonsense until a mechanic reports his space capsule is not completely identical to the one he was sent out in. Gaines is summoned to examine the capsule, but when he approaches it he is gradually returned to the point at which he left his own universe.

He lands his craft safely and reports what happened to his superiors. They are prepared to write it off as a nightmare, but controllers on the ground subsequently receive another transmission—from Colonel Robert Gaines. The transmission cuts out a few seconds later, and the Colonel disappears from radar. The Major returns home and happily confirms that his daughter now recognizes him and the white picket fence is absent.

{{cquote|Major Robert Gaines, a latter-day voyager just returned from an adventure. Submitted to you without any recommendation as to belief or disbelief. You can accept or reject; you pays your money and you takes your choice. But credulous or incredulous, don't bother to ask anyone for proof that it could happen. The obligation is a reverse challenge: prove that it couldn't. This happens to be the Twilight Zone.}}

Cult television website anorakzone.com ranked the episode the fourth-worst of season 4, calling it "dull". The site added that the script "makes no real effort to test the new format to its limits" and the story feels purposely padded to satisfy the longer runtime. It also stated that Forrest "fails to rise {{sic}} his performance above a straight recital of exposition".{{Cite web |url = https://www.anorakzone.com/twilightzone1963rank1.html |title = Worst to Best: The Twilight Zone Season Four |date = August 2017 |access-date = 28 May 2025 |website = anorakzone.com }}

In a mixed review, Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave "The Parallel" a rating of C+. He commented that while the episode "makes a reasonable case for itself in its first half" with some "credible worldbuilding", it suffers from a lack of suspense and any obvious danger to the protagonist. He also described the premise as "too expected" and "too mundane", adding that the story "completely falls apart" in a "lazily" written second half which fails to exploit the implications of the ending.{{Cite web |title = The Twilight Zone: 'The Parallel'/'I Dream Of Genie' |first = Zack |last = Handlen |date = August 17, 2013 |access-date = May 28, 2025 |website = avclub.com |url = https://www.avclub.com/the-twilight-zone-the-parallel-i-dream-of-genie-1798177705 }}

According to Jacob Trussell, the episode "spins its wheels for 20 minutes, dragging out a second-act reveal that the audience has already guessed". He commented that this represents "a great example of why Season Four's experiment in hour-long stories didn't always work in the series' favor."{{Cite book |title = The Binge Watcher's Guide to The Twilight Zone: An Unofficial Journey |first = Jacob |last = Trussell |year = 2021 |publisher = Riverdale Avenue Books |isbn = 9781626015838 |page = 143 }}

Paste magazine commented that the performances "[lack] energy, and the ending is more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than a genuinely surprising twist."{{Cite website |title = Every Episode of The Twilight Zone, Ranked from Worst to Best |first = Oktay |last = Ege Kozak |date = September 29, 2023 |publisher = pastemagazine.com |access-date = May 28, 2025 |url = https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/the-twilight-zone/the-best-twilight-zone-episodes-rod-serling-sci-fi }} DVD Talk called the acting "poor" and argued that the resolution "completely cheats the audience out of the time spent watching the episode".{{Cite web |url = https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/18986 |title = Twilight Zone – Season 4 (The Definitive Edition), The |date = October 18, 2005 |access-date = May 28, 2025 |website = dvdtalk.com }}

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"Parallels", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, has plot elements similar to this story

"Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome," an episode of Sliders (the entire premise of which deals with four people who "Slide" into parallel dimensions through a wormhole, particularly in its first two seasons) centers on the four main characters finding a dimension which they believe to be their own, with only one character noticing the minor changes until the climax of the episode.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last = DeVoe |first = Bill |year = 2008 |title = Trivia from The Twilight Zone |location = Albany, Georgia |publisher = Bear Manor Media |isbn = 978-1-59393-136-0 }}
• {{cite book |last = Grams |first = Martin |author-link = Martin Grams Jr. |year = 2008 |title = The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic |location = Churchville, Maryland |publisher = OTR Publishing |isbn = 978-0-9703310-9-0 }}
• {{cite book |last = Sander |first = Gordon F. |title = Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man |location = New York City |publisher = Penguin Books |year = 1992 }}
• {{cite book |last = Zicree |first = Marc Scott |author-link = Marc Scott Zicree |title = The Twilight Zone Companion |title-link = The Twilight Zone Companion |publisher = Sillman-James Press |year = 1982 |edition = second }}

• {{IMDb episode|0734670}}

{{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes}}

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Category:1963 American television episodes

Category:Television episodes about parallel universes

Category:Television episodes written by Rod Serling

Category:The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 4 episodes

Category:Works about astronauts