The Twilight Zone
2016 · USA
Directed by David Gerlach, Patrick Smith
Genres: animation, documentary
Tones: contemplative, whimsical
An animated edition of PBS's Blank on Blank series brings to life a lost 1963 radio interview with Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, in which he reflects on imagination, science fiction, and how the dreams of young people turn the unreal into reality.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
The premise wants to be clever—animating a ghost interview, Serling reflecting on his own creation—but it plays it too straight, treating the archive like a holy relic instead of remixing it into something genuinely weird. A missed chance to let the surrealism actually *contradict* the reverence.
Gerlach and Smith situate themselves in a precise lineage: the Blank on Blank essay tradition, the hand-drawn documentary form, the creative resurrection of lost cultural ephemera. The discipline here is in restraint—letting Serling's voice breathe while Smith's imagery comments without overshadowing, a formal conversation between sound and image that feels earned.
Smith's decision to animate in a style that feels *handmade* rather than polished—letting the drawings breathe, holding on the sketches—transforms what could've been archival fan service into something intimate and alive. That texture choice is what makes you believe you're actually hearing Serling think.
Reviews
An animated lost interview with Rod Serling, from Blank on Blank.
Animated interview with Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone.