Five-dimensional Space - The "fifth Dimension" in Popular Culture

The "fifth Dimension" in Popular Culture

In popular usage, the "fifth dimension" is often used to refer to unexplored or unknown aspects of the universe, and not necessarily to the mathematical concept of a 5-dimensional space. For example, the opening narration of The Twilight Zone begins: "There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man." In the fictional universe of DC Comics, the "fifth dimension" is said to be the place from which Mister Mxyzptlk, a Superman villain, comes. In 1966, The Byrds released an album titled Fifth Dimension, using the fifth dimension as a metaphor for unexplored and unknown aspects of the universe and oneself. The 5th Dimension is the name of an American vocal music group popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In Hindu philosophy, the fifth dimension of love of the Divine is termed by the Gaudiya Vaisnavas as turyatita, the dimension of the soul's Soul. The original Doctor Who episode hints at the 5th dimension being key to the abilities of the TARDIS.

Other uses of the "fifth dimension" are closer to its mathematical meaning. For example, the novel The Boy Who Reversed Himself features 4-dimensional and 5-dimensional spaces, using the mathematical fact that a 3-dimensional object can be turned into its mirror image if additional spatial dimensions were available for it to rotate through. The characters in Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Wrinkle In Time use the fifth dimension as a "dimensional shortcut" to travel through space. A similar concept appears in the Powerpuff Girls episode Bring Back Jojo, where a creature able to see higher dimensions takes a dimensional shortcut through a fifth dimension to travel through time. The Red Dwarf episode "Parallel Universe" refers to the fifth dimension as the space in which multiple four-dimensional spaces exist.

Not all references to the "fifth dimension" in the mathematical sense involve time travel or space travel; Douglas Adams' book Mostly Harmless advances the idea of the fifth dimension being probability.

In Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, valet Koroviev in an explanation to Margarita attributes the expansion of a small apartment into the size of a large auditorium to the fifth dimension.

In the song "M Theory", recording artist R.D. Peoples discusses thoroughly the fifth and eleventh dimensions. The song goes on to discuss dark matter, advanced beings and parallel universes; also sampling many quotes from Dr. Michio Kaku and Phil Plait.

In the "original" or "boxed" version of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game rulebooks (discontinued in 2000), consisting of the Basic set, and then the Expert, Companion, Master and Immortals expansion sets, a five-dimensional model was proposed in the Masters set where characters from the ordinary plane had the first, second and third dimensions as their three-dimensional home, but other-dimensional beings called the third, fourth and fifth dimension home. Upon perceiving each other, each thought the other kind to be horribly deformed "demons".

In Family Guy, Mayor Adam West sends Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy, to the fifth dimension by making him say his name backwards, commenting, "Only saying his name backwards can send him back to the fifth dimension where he belongs." This is a parody of Mr. Mxyzptlk's weakness in the Superman comics.

In a well-received 2010 CBS commercial for How I Met Your Mother, Accidentally on Purpose, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and the Late Show with David Letterman, an announcer states that "Everyone has 3-D, but only CBS has comedy in 5-D." This was a reference to the growing popularity of 4-D film in the later half of 2009, suggesting that certain programs on CBS feature 5-dimensional effects. By the end of the commercial, however, it is revealed that the letter D in 5-D does not stand for "Dimension," but stands for "Delightful, Delicious, Daring, Demented, and Dave."