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SYFY WIRE Rod Serling

Enter The Twilight Zone with SYFY's Annual July 4th Marathon: How to Watch

There aren't many guarantees in this life — other than death, taxes, and SYFY's Twilight Zone marathons.

By SYFY WIRE Staff
Don Carter (William Shatner) holds a horned figurine on The Twilight Zone.

The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and you know what that means, right?

Barbecues, fireworks, frosty beers, and, most importantly, SYFY's annual Twilight Zone marathon! Over the course of 24 glorious hours, fans of Rod Serling's groundbreaking anthology series will be able to enter that eerie fifth dimension of sight, sound, and mind. You're probably a veteran of this kind of thing by now, but just in case, here's how to check out the 2024 gauntlet of classic episodes!

For More on The Twilight Zone:
Why Six Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 2 Look Very Different
How The Twilight Zone Created a Self-Driving Car in the 1960s for “You Drive”
Did You Know The Twilight Zone Had a Different Narrator Before Series Creator Rod Serling?

How to Watch SYFY's Fourth of July Twilight Zone Marathon

The marathon kicks off first thing Thursday, July 4 at 6:00 a.m. ET with "And When the Sky Was Opened." Written by series creator Serling and directed by Douglas Heyes, the classic Season 1 episode follows three test pilots (Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman, and Jim Hutton), who begin to mysteriously vanish from the very fabric of reality after their experimental ship crashes in the desert.

The script was adapted from the short story "Disappearing Act" from prolific sci-fi scribe Richard Matheson and plays on the universal human phobia of the unexplainable. "The worst fear of all is the fear of the unknown working on you, which you cannot share with others," Serling once said (via Marc Scott Zicree's Twilight Zone Companion). "To me, that's the most nightmarish of the stimuli."

Things will wrap up in the wee hours of Friday, July 5 at 5:30 a.m. ET with "Black Leather Jackets," a Season 5 episode that blends an extra-terrestrial invasion with mid-20th century biker culture. It was written by Earl Hamner Jr., who penned a total of eight episodes for the show and would later go on to create The Waltons. Joseph M. Newman, helmer of four Twilight Zone episodes — including the series finale — directed the installment.

Between those two episodes, viewers will be treated to plenty of iconic tales of intrigue such as "Walking Distance," "Time Enough at Last," "The Invaders," "To Serve Man," "The After Hours," "Nick of Time," and more.

For more SYFY scheduling info, click here.