Twilight Zone: Little Girl Lost
Reviewed by Geno McGahee
Ruth (Sarah Marshall) and Chris Miller (Robert Sampson) are awoken in the middle of the night by screams of their daughter, Bettina (Tracy Stratford). When Chris runs to her room, he can’t find her, but he can still here her, and now his dog is missing too! He can’t figure it out. He can here her under the bed, but when he looked under there, there was nothing. Ruth and Chris begin to panic and decide that their friend, Bill (Charles Aidman) would be able to figure out this situation.
Bill, who also has the tightest pants known to man at the time (In 1962, Spandex was unheard of), arrives and investigates and concludes that Bettina must be in another dimension and finds the portal in the wall right next to the bed. Apparently, she fell out of bed and walked right into it, and now cannot find her way out.
There is a lot that Poltergeist took from this episode. I couldn’t help but to see the similarities between this situation and the one that Carol Anne was in so many years later, but what show or movie hasn’t been influenced by TZ? Well, maybe Mr. Belvedere.
The screams prompt Chris to jump through the portal and find his daughter, but the door is closing and he has very little time. Will he find his dog? Will he find his daughter? Will he get bored and find himself if you know what I mean? You’ll have to watch and see.
Little Girl Lost isn’t a great episode of TZ, but it is compelling and the fact that Rod Serling dealt with things like this and put it across in a serious and believable way makes it worth a watch. I do recommend this episode…it’s hard not to recommend a TZ episode, but it is definitely not the best one out there.
RSR Rating: 6.5/10. Bettina, is Carol Anne in there with you?