The 25 Best Twilight Zone Episodes...#21 - "Little Girl Lost"

Twilight Zone's "Little Girl Lost" aired in March of 1962, at a time when many of us were just becoming immersed in the chatter about NASA, outer space, and the possibility there
was something else "out there"...something beyond our basic two-dimensional world.

"Little Girl Lost" is number 21 on this "best of" list, the result of an unscientific poll of 250 people in the New York metropolitan area who were asked to rank their favorite Twilight Zone episodes based on writing, performance, and compelling subject matter. The historic television series, The Twilight Zone, turns 50 this year, and to commemorate Rod Serling's groundbreaking effort, the 25 best episodes are being chronicled here.

Not surprisingly, Richard Matheson pens this suspenseful and thought-provoking exercise in other-worldly circumstances which perfectly mirrors the mission of the Twilight Zone series. Here, we are literally travelling to another dimension, as Mr. Serling himself suggests at the beginning of each episode. "You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind"... "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination"..."You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind."

It all starts with a daughter's wistful cry in the middle of night. Her father's attempts to attend to her needs are futile, because, well, she's not there. A frantic search to follow the daughter's voice leads nowhere. The next step defines the subtle genius of Richard Matheson. The parents need help but who would be able to decipher this enigma? Finally, the father calls a friend who happens to be a physicist, because it borders on incredible he'd have immediate access to, for instance, the local scientist who might have an expertise in such things. He certainly couldn't turn to another clueless neighbor. But a physicist might be able to translate and connect enough dots to provide a remotely plausible explanation for their missing daughter.

As it turns out, their daughter had inadvertently fallen from bed and slipped into a fourth dimension, through the wall behind the bed. With the help of the instincts of the family dog and the determination of the father who steps into this other world to further the search, the girl wonders back to her bedroom just before the portal to this dimension closes. The physicist informs the father that he hadn't fully entered the chasm, but was half in and half out, leading the father, and the audience, to wonder about the results should he have maintained that position until the portal closed. For those always intrigued by what might lie beyond, the world imagined by Serling and Matheson, primitively displayed through 1960's special effects, seems amorphous and distorted, and appears photographed through a prism.

This episode's performances are not among the acting highlights of Twilight Zone's five year run. Though, it is interesting to note that the father, played by Robert Sampson, continues to enjoy a rather long anonymous career with no fewer than 132 acting credits to his name, according to the International Movie Database. No, "Little Girl Lost" appears on the Top 25 list based on the appeal of the subject matter for those who are never quite satisfied that what we see around us is all there is. And as for the father's dilemma if that portal had closed? Let Mr. Serling conclude.

"The other half where? The fourth dimension? The fifth? Perhaps. They never found the answer. Despite a battery of research physicists equipped with every device known to man, electronic and otherwise, no result was ever achieved, except perhaps a little more respect for and uncertainty about the mechanisms of the Twilight Zone."