Editing Rod Serling (section)

==Effects on popular culture==

===During his lifetime===
In December 1966, the made-for-television movie ''[[The Doomsday Flight]]'' aired. The fictional plot concerned an airplane with a bomb aboard. If the plane landed without the ransom money being paid, the aircraft would explode. The bomb was set with an altitude trigger that would detonate it if the plane dropped below four thousand feet. The show was one of the highest-rated of the television season, but both Serling and his brother Robert, a technical advisor on the project (a specialist in aviation), regretted making the film. After the film was aired, a rash of copycats telephoned in ransom demands to most of the largest airlines. Serling was truly devastated by what his script had encouraged. He told reporters who flocked to interview him, "I wish to Christ that I had written a stagecoach drama starring John Wayne instead."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Douglas |first1=John |author-link1=John E. Douglas |first2=Mark |last2=Olshaker |year=2000 |title=The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals |page=[https://archive.org/details/anatomyofmotive00doug/page/101 101] |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |isbn=978-0-671-02393-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofmotive00doug/page/101 }}</ref>

In the [[1962]] ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' episode "The Case of the Promoter's Pillbox", the titular promoter falsely claims that a teleplay for a TV pilot, "Mr. Nobody", is being rewritten by Serling as a personal favor to him. Later, Mason, who does know Serling, shows the original teleplay to him, saying that Serling wants to help the young man who wrote the teleplay to get a start in his writing career. The man's mother then expresses to Serling her desire to tell her stories from years of running a drug store.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0673364/ The Case of the Promoter's Pillbox]</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}}

===Legacy===
{{Quote box
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| quote  = You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind ... a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination—your next stop, the Twilight Zone.
| source = —Rod Serling, ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', introduction
}}
Serling is indelibly woven into modern popular culture because of the enduring popularity of ''The Twilight Zone''.<ref>Hays, Carl. "Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary". ''The Booklist'', September 1, 2009. Vol. 106, no. 1.  p. 49.</ref> Serling's widow, Carol, maintained that the cult status that surrounded both her husband and his shows continues to be a surprise, "as I'm sure it would have been to him."<ref name=DuBrow/> "It won't go away. It keeps bobbing up.&nbsp;... Each year, I think, well, that's it—and then something else turns up."<ref name=DuBrow/> She survived him to the age of 90, dying on January 9, 2020,<ref>Gilroy, Maggie, ''[https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2020/01/14/carol-serling-widow-twilight-zone-creator-rod-serling-has-died/4463698002/ Carol Serling, the widow of 'Twilight Zone' creator Rod Serling, has died at age 91]'', Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, January 14, 2020</ref> and participated in the continuing interest in Rod's work, sometimes preparing them for a new format and editing a publication about Rod that she founded, ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'', as well as many activities to promote his legacy.

''The Twilight Zone'' has been rerun, re-created and re-imagined since going off the air in 1964. It has been released in comic book form,<ref>Most notably, [[Gold Key Comics]] published a ''Twilight Zone'' comic book from the early 1960s to the early 1980s, and a likeness of Serling continued to "host" the comic book for years after Serling himself died.</ref> as a magazine, a [[Twilight Zone: The Movie|film]], and three additional television series from [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|1985 to 1989]], from [[The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)|2002 to 2003]], and from [[The Twilight Zone (2019 TV series)|2019 to 2020]]. In 1988, [[J. Michael Straczynski]] scripted Serling's outline "[[Our Selena Is Dying]]" for the 1980s ''Twilight Zone'' series.

Some of Serling's works are now available in [[graphic novel]]s. ''Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone'' is a series of adaptations by Mark Kneece and Rich Ellis based on original scripts written by Serling.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kneece |first=Mark |year=2009 |title=Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Walker & Company]] |isbn=978-0-8027-9713-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802797131/page/n75 1] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802797131 |url-access=registration }}</ref> Several episodes were adapted into novel form for pulp fiction books by Serling himself.

''The Twilight Zone'' is not the only Serling work to reappear. In 1994, ''[[Rod Serling's Lost Classics]]'' released two never-before-seen works that Carol Serling found in her garage. The first was an outline called, "The Theatre", which Richard Matheson expanded. The second was a complete script written by Serling, "Where the Dead Are".

Serling and his work on ''The Twilight Zone'' inspired the [[Walt Disney Parks and Resorts|Disney theme park]] attraction [[The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror|''The Twilight Zone'' Tower of Terror]], which debuted at [[Disney's Hollywood Studios]] at the [[Walt Disney World|Walt Disney World Resort]] in Florida in 1994. Serling appears in the attraction through the use of repurposed archival footage, and voice actor Mark Silverman provides the dubbing of Serling's dialogue for the attraction at both Hollywood Studios and the defunct version at [[Disney California Adventure]] in [[Anaheim]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2011/01/17/tower-of-terrors-rod-serling-voice-speaks/67160/ |title=Tower of Terror's Rod Serling voice speaks |work=[[Orange County Register]] |last=Eades |first=Mark |date=January 17, 2011 |access-date=September 6, 2013|archive-date= July 21, 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130721142819/http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2011/01/17/tower-of-terrors-rod-serling-voice-speaks/67160/}}</ref> The ride takes place in the once-elegant Hollywood Tower Hotel that was struck by lightning, which caused the mysterious disappearance of five guests. Riders enter an abandoned elevator shaft as they become part of a "lost episode" of ''The Twilight Zone'', with the attraction taking guests up 13 stories and dropping them multiple times.

More than 30 years after his death, Serling was digitally resurrected for an episode of the television series ''[[Medium (TV series)|Medium]]'' that aired on November 21, 2005. Filmed partially in [[3D film|3-D]], it opened with Serling's introducing the episode and instructing viewers when to put on their 3-D glasses. This was accomplished using footage from ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "[[The Midnight Sun (The Twilight Zone)|The Midnight Sun]]" and digitally manipulating Serling's mouth to match new dialogue spoken by voice actor Mark Silverman. The plot involved paintings coming to life, a nod to both ''The Twilight Zone'' and ''Night Gallery''.

On August 11, 2009, the [[United States Postal Service]] released its ''Early TV Memories'' commemorative stamp collection honoring notable television programs. One of the 20 stamps honored ''The Twilight Zone'' and featured a portrait of Serling.<ref>{{cite press release| url = http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_136.htm | title= Postal Service Previews 2009 Commemorative Stamp Program: Early TV Memories | date= December 29, 1008 | publisher = [[United States Postal Service]] | archive-date= July 17, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717182854/http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_136.htm}}</ref>

Through a mix of computer animation, a simulated version of Serling appeared at the end of the "Blurryman" episode of the 2019 revival of ''[[The Twilight Zone (2019 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. This was done with a facial performance by Ryan Hesp, motion-capture by Jefferson Black, and a voice reprisal by Mark Silverman.

There are several memorials to Serling in his hometown of [[Binghamton, New York]]. Annually since 1995, [[Binghamton High School]], Serling's alma mater, primarily in partnership with [[WSKG-TV]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2014/09/27/conversation-lawrence-kassan/16211301/ |title=Conversation With: Kassan, Serling Video Fest Founder |first=Sara |last=Tracey |date=September 28, 2014 |work=[[Press & Sun-Bulletin]]  |location=[[Binghamton, New York]] |access-date=December 8, 2014 |archive-date=December 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141208181541/http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2014/09/27/conversation-lawrence-kassan/16211301/ |url-status=live }}</ref> hosts the Rod Serling Video Festival for students in kindergarten through grade 12. The festival encourages young people to engage in filmmaking.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.wskg.org/more/rod-serling-video-festival-2014| title= Rod Serling Video Festival 2014| date= October 3, 2014| publisher= [[WSKG-TV]]| location= Binghamton, New York| access-date= December 8, 2014| archive-date= December 8, 2014| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141208181729/http://www.wskg.org/more/rod-serling-video-festival-2014| url-status= dead| df= mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.wbng.com/news/around-the-tiers/Winners-of-2014-Rod-Serling-Film-Festival-announced-258472761.html| title=Winners of 2014 Rod Serling Film Festival announced| first=Anna| last=Norris| date=May 8, 2014| publisher=[[WBNG-TV]]| location=Binghamton, New York| access-date=December 8, 2014| archive-date=December 8, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208181821/http://www.wbng.com/news/around-the-tiers/Winners-of-2014-Rod-Serling-Film-Festival-announced-258472761.html| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> Likewise, the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation hosts Serlingfest - a celebration of ''The Twilight Zone'' and Serling’s work - in Binghamton annually. A [[New York State Historic Markers|New York State Historic Marker]] for Serling stands outside Binghamton High School.<ref>The marker’s listing on the [https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92985 Historical Marker Database]</ref> On September 15, 2024, a statue of Serling was unveiled in [[Recreation Park (Binghamton)|Recreation Park]] following state grants<ref>Simon, Neil. [https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2022/08/15/grant-boosts-effort-to-place-rod-serling-statue-in-binghamton-recreation-park/65403820007/ “Rod Serling statue project in Binghamton park gets lift with $50K state grant”]. Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Archived by PressConnect. Published August 15, 2022. Accessed September 16, 2024.</ref> and online crowdfunding for the memorial,<ref>Taylor-Vuolo, Pheobe. [https://www.wskg.org/regional-news/2024-09-16/binghamton-celebrates-rod-serling-with-new-statue “Binghamton celebrates Rod Serling with new statue”]. WSKG. Published and Accessed September 16, 2024.</ref> the base of which contains a quote from Serling: “Everybody has a hometown/Binghamton’s mine.”