Another experiment in sound can be created using any of the many introductions from Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series. To begin, either read the excerpt below or play a video cassette of the original introduction to The Twilight Zone. (This is available at many local libraries or from CBS/Fox Video 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036.) Ask students to identify examples of repetition and parallel structures in Serling's introduction. Typically, students will identify those underlined:

          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. It is an area which we call ... THE TWILIGHT ZONE. (Zicree 1989, 31)

          Next, read or play the passage from the conclusion of Rod Serling’s screenplay, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," (originally broadcast on March 4, 1960 and also available on videotape from CBS/Fox Video), transcribed by Marc Scott Zicree in The Twilight Zone Companion:

          The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices---to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own---for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone. (Zicree 1989, 91)

          Ask students to identify the rhythmic examples they hear. (Examples are underlined.) Finally, divide the class into several groups of five or six students and distribute the following template of Rod Serling’s classic introduction.

          There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as _________________ as ______________ and as _________________ as _______________. It is the __________________ ____________________ between _________________ and ________________, between ______________ and _________________, and it lies between the ________________ of _______________ _______________, and the __________________ of his/her __________________. This is the dimension of __________________. It is an area which we call ... THE __________________ ZONE.

          Explain to the class that the task of each group is to create an imaginary zone, filling in the blanks to create a parody. They can select a subject from school (math class, history class, lunch, a dance, a sport) or from an outside interest (MTV, sports figures, actors/actresses, novelists, political personalities). Below a group of eight-grade students collaborated to demonstrate how this assignment might be written about math:

          There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as acute as one degree and as obtuse as 179 degrees. It is the vast plane between simple addition and advanced calculus, between infinity and probability, and it lies between the teacher’s daily cup of hot coffee and the student’s daily pile of homework problems. This is the dimension of chalkboard scribbles. It is an area which we call the Math Zone.