In the realm of science fiction, Star Wars and Star Trek are generally considered to be the two biggest franchises. And, if you’re purely talking about profitability, that’s correct, as those two have dominated TV and film for decades. However, if you factor in things like influence and impact, another sci-fi property ranks up there with the big two.

In the realm of science fiction, pretty much all roads lead to, or derive from, The Twilight Zone. And this landmark show is currently free to stream on Tubi.

Debuting in 1959, The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS, totaling 156 episodes. It was created by Rod Serling, a television pioneer who sought to expand what had been seen on television throughout the 1950s, much of which was taped plays and multi-camera sitcoms like I Love Lucy. To do this, he created The Twilight Zone, a single-camera anthology series where each episode would operate like a little movie (for most of its run, the show ran for a half-hour, but season 4 tried out an hour-long format before switching back to half-hours for season 5).

While every episode of The Twilight Zone has its own characters and premise, it often explores science fiction subjects like time travel and aliens, as well as horror staples like ghosts and possessed dolls. But that was just the surface-level stuff, as many of the deeper messages in the series tackled things like prejudice, loneliness, morality, and regret.

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