Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of these episodes was the aired pilot for the series?

Answer: Where is Everybody?

"Where is Everbody?" was the pilot episode CBS aired in 1959.
Serling's original script was entitled "The Time Element", which was shelved by CBS but eventually produced on the "Desilu Playhouse". When CBS finally agreed to produce "The Twilight Zone", Rod had to write a new pilot since his previous one was already done. He submitted a script called "The Happy Place" but CBS felt it was too downbeat and depressing, so Rod wrote another script for them entitled "Where is Everybody?".

2. "The Twilight Zone" is known for fitting such entertaining, and many times eerie, stories into 30 minutes segments. During the show's five season run, the show was put to a test for one of the seasons, by increasing the length of the episodes to a full hour. The question is, in which season did they run the hour long episodes?

Answer: 4th

During the fourth season, hour-long episodes were produced. These episodes took much longer to shoot, cost the studios much more and audiences in general felt it took away from the feel of the show and didn't have the same 'payoff' the half-hour format delivered, so the show was moved back the original, well-liked 30 minute format for the fifth and final season.

3. Many stars of television and film have appeared on "The Twilight Zone" well before they became the established stars they are now. A few of these stars went on to work on the enormously popular show "Star Trek", of the following "Star Trek" stars, which of these did NOT appear on "The Twilight Zone"?

Answer: DeForest Kelley

All but Kelley appeared in "The Twilight Zone". George Takei appeared in "The Encounter" (5th season), James Doohan appeared in "Valley of The Shadow" (4th season) and Leonard Nimoy appeared in "A Quality of Mercy" (3rd season).
Also of "Star Trek" fame is William Shatner, who appeared in both "Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".

4. Many people have starred on "The Twilight Zone" in numerous episodes. Out of the following choices, who appeared in the most episodes?

Answer: Jack Klugman

Jack Klugman appeared in four episodes from 1960-1963. He was in (in order of of appearance) "A Passage for Trumpet" (first season), "A Game of Pool" (third season), "Death Ship" (fourth season) and "In Praise of Pip" (fifth season). Billy Mumy ("In Praise of Pip", "It's a Good Life" and "Long Distance Call") and James Best ("The Grave", "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" and "Jess-Belle") have done three episodes each and William Shatner ("Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) has done two. Interestingly enough, the person with the most episode credits (eight in total) is Jay Overholts, who has done the least acting work out of the four actors listed.

5. More stars, who are now quite well known, have appeared on "The Twilight Zone". Of these following accomplished film stars, which has not been on the show?

Answer: Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken never appeared in an episode of "The Twilight Zone". The only television work he has done during "The Twilight Zone's" run was a part in one episode of the show "Naked City" in 1963. All the other stars have done episodes, such as "The Jeopardy Room (Martin Landau), "Steel" (Lee Marvin) and "He's Alive" (Dennis Hopper).

6. Burgess Meredith has starred in four episodes of "The Twilight Zone" but in which episode did he play Luther, a timid vacuum salesman who is given a strange ability by aliens?

Answer: Mr. Dingle the Strong

In "Mr. Dingle the Strong", aliens visit earth and encounter Luther Dingle (Burgess). The aliens bestow super-human strength to Luther to see what would happen. Burgress has appeared in all the list episodes but none of these involve aliens and vacuum salesman.

In "Printer's Devil" he plays the Devil, in "Time Enough at Last" he ends up being the last man on Earth and in "The Obsolete Man" he plays a librarian deemed 'obsolete' by the government.

7. Many episodes have multiple characters throughtout the episode but one episode comes to mind that had only one person appear in it. Which of the following episodes had one person with a screen appearance?

Answer: The Invaders

In the episode "The Invaders", the old woman (played by Agnes Moorehead) is the only one on screen in the entire episode. The end of the episode has another actor doing the voice of one of the 'invaders' but he is never actually seen on screen. All the other episodes listed have had multiple characters on screen.
Agnes is probably most known for her role on "Bewitched", where she played Endora, Samantha Stevens' mother.

8. Which of the following episodes is actually a French short film, used as a fifth season episode?

Answer: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

During the fifth season, the show was going significantly over budget. William Froug had seen a French short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962, based on a story by Ambrose Bierce. They had bought the rights to the film and shortened it down by several minutes. Airing this already filmed segment, in the fifth season, helped bring the show under budget for the rest of the year.

9. Throughout the show's five seasons, there have been three different opening narrations for the title sequence. Is the following quote one of them? "This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality; you're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable...Go as far as you like on this road. Its limits are only those of the mind itself. Ladies and gentlemen, you're entering the wondrous dimension of imagination. Next stop - The Twilight Zone."

Answer: No

This particular opening was never used on the show. Rod Serling originally wrote this as one of the possible openings but never used it during the show's entire run. There have been quite a few other versions Rod wrote to use for the opening narration, but ultimately only three made it on.

10. In the 1950's we had another popular show on the air, "The Honeymooners". The two main male stars of this show were Jackie Gleason and Art Carney but which of these stars also had a starring role on "The Twilight Zone"?

Answer: Art Carney

Art Carney appeared on "The Twilight Zone" one time, in the episode "Night of the Meek", during the show's second season in 1960. He starred as Henry Corwin, a down-and-out man who finds, a Santa Claus suit and sack, and ends up becoming Santa Claus. Jackie Gleason never appeared in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" but he has had some shows of his own including "The Jackie Gleason Show" and "The Honeymooners".

Source: Author nycdmc70

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ladymacb29 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I've been a huge fan of this series since I was a kid, let's see how much of a fan you may be. Here are some questions about the show, some easy and some a little harder. Good luck and enjoy!

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