The Parallel

"The Parallel" is episode 113 of the American television anthology series '' The Twilight Zone''. In this episode an astronaut returns from a voyage to find the world not quite the same as he remembers it. It was an early example of the concept of mirror or alternate universes. The '' Star Trek: The Original Series'' episode " Mirror, Mirror" was another example, although the differences between the characters in the two ''Star Trek'' alternate universes were quite noticeable. The concept has also been used by both DC Comics and Marvel Comics in their comic books and cinematic universes.

Opening narration

Plot

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.

Closing narration

Reception

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 his performance above a straight recital of exposition".

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.

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."

''Paste'' magazine commented that the performances " ackenergy, and the ending is more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than a genuinely surprising twist." DVD Talk called the acting "poor" and argued that the resolution "completely cheats the audience out of the time spent watching the episode".

Legacy

" 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.

Footnotes

Citations

General references

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parallel, The
1963 American television episodes
Television episodes about parallel universes
Television episodes written by Rod Serling
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 4 episodes
Works about astronauts