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The Twilight Zone

Little Girl Lost

Season 3, Episode 26, Aired Mar 16, 1962

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8.3

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A six-year-old girl rolls under her bed and vanishes into a fourth dimension. Her parents and a neighbor struggle to free her before the hole between the dimensions closes forever.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR Tracy Stratford

Tina
GUEST STAR Rhoda Williams

Tina's Voice

Rod Serling

Narrator/Host
Sarah Marshall

Ruth Miller
Robert Sampson

Chris Miller
Charles Aidman

Bill

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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

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These walls are paper thin - and so is the plot

4.5

"Poor"

By MarkBoyle1, Apr 18, 2012

Tsk, Tsk. Now this is a lazy, poorly-written episode with several things wrong with it. As an earlier reviewer pointed out, the father character comes out with a ridiculously corny line when he decides to get his physicist friend involved. Not to mention the fact that this is virtually his first recourse. He doesn't even check the little girl's wardrobe to see if she's hiding in there. Had I been in his shoes, I'd have searched every nook and cranny of the house first before even thinking of bringing anyone else in.

Then there's the matter of this physicist. Now, this episode screened in 1962. The physicist's conception of what the fourth dimension is or could be seemed to be damnably vague. Are we really expected to believe that a scientist in 1962 would be unaware of Einstein's generally-accepted theory that TIME is the fourth dimension? Is he, perhaps, supposed to be a physicist who disputes this theory? The fourth dimension bandied about in this story doesn't seem to have anything to do with time-shifting.

I also have to agree with the other poster who cited Sarah Marshall's overacting in the role of the distraught mother. She submits a performance hammy enough to feed a family of four for a month.

Give this story a miss. If you have anything resembling a logical mind, the problems with the episode will probably result in a degree of irritation that outweighs any entertainment value. The dog's cute, I suppose. :Pmoreless
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This is the one TV episode that I remember vividly from when I was a little girl.

8.9

"Great"

By melbethany, Nov 13, 2011

I saw this as a child - probably around the age of the little girl in the episode. Of course I identified with her. But to me anything that stays in my memory for over 40 years is pretty special.

This episode changed the way I looked at every day things - especially walls! I wouldn't go near the wall by my bed for quite some time after seeing this show. The way the fourth dimension was depicted is less important than the major story points. A loved child disappears but can still be heard. The dog goes after her (yes, we had a dog too, so that helped with my identification with the story). Then her father does all he can to try to find her, and he does. Just in time, of course. And even though I was undeniably frightened by the episode I knew that my father (and mother) would find me if that happened to me. So it both frightened and reassured me.

If I had seen this episode for the first time as an adult I probably would have noticed flaws. For one I'd be looking with eyes accustomed to more sophisticated special affects and stories. But I will always see it through the eyes of a small child, no matter how often I see it. I watched other TV shows as a child and I can mentally see small clips of some of those shows even now. But this episode stayed with me in detail. I cannot say that about anything else that I watched back then.moreless
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And you thought there were only monsters under your bed...

9.0

"Superb"

By OmarCayenne, Nov 13, 2011

One of the alltime great "creepiness right in your backyard" episodes. It's so cool and effective because it is so laidback and ordinary in tone. And the mother's fierce love for her daughter is almost palpable. Does though contain one of the premier howler lines ever uttered on screen: "Hey, Bill is a physicist, maybe he'll know what's going on." LOL
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Disappointing

2.4

"Terrible"

By marysuperfly, Jan 01, 2007

There are very few episodes that I do not like, but "Little Girl Lost" was one of them. I was very disappointed and felt like it was completely out of character for this show. As another review has already stated, nothing really happened. It was a let down.

I am all for the creativity of these stories, but I didn't buy that this neighbor is some sort of expert on the fourth demension and therefore could help find the lost child. I just couldn't buy it, even though I tried to. Also, this episode missed the usual twist that Serling adds to his show. There wasn't much of a lesson, either.moreless
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One-dimensional episode about the fourth dimension

5.0

"Mediocre"

By realchic1999, May 08, 2006

I have started to get into the repeats of the Twilight Zone, and have so far been impressed. Unfortunately I found this episode to be dull and uninspiring. What makes TZ interesting are the twists and loops in the episodes---for instance, I would've been interested if it was that the house was in the fourth dimension and not our own---but there were none whatsoever in this episode. The actress who played the mother was overdramatic (there's a difference between being hysterical about losing a daughter and just plain overacting), and it bugged that they used an older girl's (woman's?) voice for that of the six-year-old girl. I will continue to watch the show, but it won't hurt anyone to miss this specific episode.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- When the camera angle changes just before Bill puts his hand through the wall for the second time, Ruth's hand instantly moves from one side of her face to the other.
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- During the opening narration, the wall behind Rod Serling has the "fourth dimension" boundary lines drawn on it already.
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- As the camera pans up on Rod Serling for the opening narration, he can be seen glancing to his left for a second to receive his cue to start talking.
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Quotes
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- Chris: What is it? Bill: The opening. Ruth: To what? Bill: I think... to another dimension.
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- (Closing Narration)
  Narrator: The other half where? The fourth dimension? The fifth? Perhaps. They never found the answer. Despite a battery of research physicists equipped with every device known to man, electronic and otherwise, no result was ever achieved, except perhaps a little more respect for and uncertainty about the mechanisms of the Twilight Zone.
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- (Opening Narration)
  Narrator: Missing: one frightened little girl. Name: Bettina Miller. Description: six years of age, average height and build, light brown hair, quite pretty. Last seen being tucked into bed by her mother a few hours ago. Last heard--aye, there's the rub, as Hamlet put it. For Bettina Miller can be heard quite clearly, despite the rather curious fact that she can't be seen at all. Present location? Let's say for the moment--in the Twilight Zone.
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Notes
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- Matheson drew on the names of his real-lief wife and daughter Ruth and Tina to add to the element of normality in the episode.
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- This is the second of Charles Aidman's two appearances in the original Twilight Zone. Mr. Aidman later went on to narrate the first two seasons of the 80's version of the series.
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- The music was so important to this episode that the writer of the score was credited above the director (the only episode to do so)
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