Which were your favourite episodes of Sliders?
- Thread starter Rush Tarquin
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I have to admit, I started liking the show a lot more when this girl came on board...
Rush Tarquin
Gone Fishin'
The first is one of the worlds they visit in 'As Time Goes By' and the other is 'California Reich'.
Rush Tarquin
Gone Fishin'
I eventually got to like her in the episodes that gave her some characterisation beyond being Quinn's new love interest and 90s kickass action girl. Kari Wuhrer may not have been a stellar actress, but at least she did her part with some relish unlike Jerry O'Connell in seasons 3-4 where he only seemed to give a shit when he was directing. They increasingly saddled Derricks with this dour ex-navy man persona as the seasons went on and Rembrandt's 'man, I saw some shit during the Kromagg invasion of Earth Prime' subplot, which pulled him away from the comic relief role until he had to be the miserable protagonist in the final season. The less said about Jerry O'Connell's brother the better. My three biggest gripes with the way Maggie was incorporated was that immediately setting her up as Quinn's new love interest in 'Exodus' made him seem callous towards Wade's feelings, it created this stupid sexual jealousy subplot between Maggie and Wade when it would have been nice to see some female solidarity (especially since Wade wouldn't be on the show that much longer and should have gone out on a high note), and it made Maggie seem callous towards her physically disabled husband as well as seemingly getting over his death quite quickly - basically introducing her as an unsympathetic character. They could have at least had her struggle with some guilt, some doubt, some reflection over this instead of her just pretending it wasn't happening and then later deciding YOLO. They should have made it part of her characterisation rather than something that is brought up once or twice more in the plot over the course of the series outside of a desire to murder Rickman in revenge.
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Actually, he ran for mayor of San Francisco, and he seemed to be the first male mayor candidate in centuries. And the news networks thought it was a comical example of San Francisco's extremely liberal politics.
I liked the alt-US aspect of As Time Goes By, and I think the episode should have focused entirely on that, without going into all that weird backwards time stuff.
That scene about Hitler in California Reich was well-done. Rembrandt and an older black guy were in a concentration camp. Rembrandt said that Schick (the governor) "Sounds like a real Hitler". The older guy said "Who?" Remmy responded with "Adolf Hitler! World War Two!" The other guy said "Ain't seen the film. Real life is science fiction enough." Rembrandt responded with "Tell me about it."
I knew it was some important role, but it had been years since I had seen any episode of Sliders. I recall a woman saying after the last World War women had had enough and elected only women for fear of men starting another war.
I don't recall that at all. I recall Arturo's opponent talking about "the great plebiscite" that led to only women being in charge. I remember that because it was the first time I heard the word plebiscite. And I thought she said it was "centuries ago". If a big reversal like that happened right after World War II, Arturo would probably have had the support of a lot of senior men.
Opposite feeling here. Wade was my crush so this obvious rival/replacement grated on me
I tried watching that episode recently... they sure killed a lot of butterflies. The Golden Gate Bridge absolutely should not have existed in that world, nor should the ford truck you see a few seconds later. The lack of any attempt to show alternate history just really killed it for me.
I haven't seen Sliders in a long time (it's really due for a reboot *cough* c'mon Netflix *cough*) but I think the episode that stood out most to me was Double Cross. I'm not surprised that it's on the list.
It was just a fun and interesting episode--an alternate, woman version of Quinn; the concept of plundering/using alternate Earths for resources; the concept of other Earths using sliding; the sort of near-future setting; the cool ending with the gun firing, etc.
It was just a fun and interesting episode--an alternate, woman version of Quinn; the concept of plundering/using alternate Earths for resources; the concept of other Earths using sliding; the sort of near-future setting; the cool ending with the gun firing, etc.
Well, I am surprised that this gets the highest votes.
Haha, that's pretty cool that they made their own in-universe music video with an original song!
wasn't there an episode where the bridge was red or blue or something not gold?
That was pretty stupid too, its only international orange because of the primer paint they originally painted it with. The navy thought it should be yellow with black stripes, which would be hideous and it certainly wouldn't be a landmark. It could also be dull grey like the bay bridge but given all the fog that might be a disaster.
Of all things to be different for that bridge to be inexplicably blue.
One of the few episodes I bothered to watch whole when I caught it on TV was Gillian of the Spirits. The "tech progress forbidden, conservative 40s/50s" main world of the episode was, of course, very ASB. But I felt the story of the episode as a whole was decent and not badly directed. Quinn getting stuck in the "astral dimension" thing, the policeman finding the timer and being perplexed at what it even is (remember, no digital devices)... It had its moments.
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A list of worlds shown in Sliders that were more intriguing to me than most:
Mardi Gras World - highly silly name for a TL with an actually interesting and fairly plausible historical backstory. It even has a reasonably predictable "Louisiana purchase averted" POD as its starting point. Better than the British North America TL they did in an early episode, "Prince of Wails".
Cuban Missile World - though it is a destroyed and depressing timeline to visit, I love the fact that it might as well be the same timeline as AH.com's Cuban Missile War TL, written by Amerigo Vespucci a decade ago.
Nouvelle Versailles - another case of an alternate North America based on ATL developments in French colonies, and another case of a fairly interesting alternate world as a result. Even a decent placement of the POD, already in the 16th century. There must have been something in the water in the writer's room ! (Either that, or 'French America' AH just being such an untapped idea. The names of the two US stand-in countries descended from the French colonies are cheesy, but at least original. Of course, much of this world's present is depicted through the prism of lazy stereotypes about French culture, but hey, Sliders was never a show focused on subtlety.
Sitting Moose World - a divergence during the early ACW and the rather far-fetched aftermath of that for all of North America, but otherwise a fairly original scenario based around Native American cultures. What brings the story quality down are the dumb stereotypes about living in tents or Indians running casinos for income. Based on something real, but implausibly exaggerated and wastes a big part of this TL's promise.
Edison World - not too plausible as a long-term outcome of electric technology developments, but I think this is the best tech-related ATL they ever did. At least it put some thought into how the big technological divergence would influence the daily functioning of society.
Public Transit World - I like it just for the cute zaniness of it, and the clear "Up your's, public transport haters !" commentary on the car-centricity of the OTL post-WWII US. Though a world without personal cars of some sort - electric cars or velocars, at least - is IMHO implausible, this was probably the best of the "LOL, random" worlds the cast visited.
Buttonwillow World - motorism and motor racing TL, with a divergence in 1915. Rather original.
Forest World - what we on AH.com would call a "Virgin Earth". Possibly a timeline with no human civilisation, and ironically enough, one of the most plausible timelines in the series.
Spiderwasp World - Venezuelan scientists creating a genetically engineered monster arthropod ?! In 1987 ?!
Yeah, right... That said, this is one of the better "spooky timelines" the cast visit during the course of the series. More of a horror/post-apocalypse setting than classic AH, but provided one of the more original threats to the characters.
Lemoore World - a very local divergence, and not terribly interesting, but it gets points for sheer originality. Successful modern secessionists in California, with their own comic-booky powerful microstate ? If nothing else, original.
Van Meer's World - the divergence is in the beginning of this timeline's universe, but its otherwise a carbon copy of OTL, just some twelve years in the past compared to our's. Both plausible and implausible at the same time. Not a good kind of "interesting" in my book, as it's basically an excuse for a time travel episode, but the idea behind the TL isn't that outlandish.
No Smoking World - honourable mention. Tobacco as a narcoticum worth trafficking, climate changes that explain the divergences. ASB, but a good satirical premise, especially for a non-smoker like me.
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Worlds I didn't like because they were overreliant on largelly uncharitable or offensive stereotypes:
British World - this should have been a showcase timeline visited by the cast, but it's severely let down by a clear unwillingness to bother with research and logic behind the scenario, and uses almost every British stereotype imaginable, including ones that have no grounding in historical reality.
Feminist World and Breedin' World - two of a kind, really. Little else than loads of stereotyping and odd assumptions about male and female behaviour. What could have been an interesting topic to explore turned into a mush of awfulness with some creepy undertones. I concede that the first two seasons were better, but like with British World, at least one of these two worlds appeared during those first two series. So Sliders has always had problems with plausibility and sensitivity.
Romani World - as diverse as Roma culture can get due to its global diaspora, this is another story for a pile titled "US writers don't get what Romani even are, beyond the fortune teller cliché". An ep about a Romani dominated North America is highly original, but it's clear they didn't bother to do much research.
Youth World - a blatant Logan's Run ripoff, with plenty of dated 90s stereotyping of young people as genius computer nerds who want to computerise even public education. Just a bizarre TL, and the effortless takeover of the US by under 30 year olds has to be one of the least plausible things they've done.
Cannibal World - yeah, Papuan colonisers of North America have nothing better to do all day than to hunt for people and roast them on a spit. Also lacks climatic plausibility, but No Smoking World also lacked that.
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Worlds that were just too implausible and silly, IMHO:
Ice Cream World, Rollerblade World - really now ?!! These sound like one of the worlds we'd write for one of the AH.com series as a one-off joke in a throwaway remark.
Dinosaur World - even with ASBs in mind, this is just implausible. Dinos and mammals couldn't evolve alongside each other exactly like in OTL, due to the competition that would create in various ecological niches. Just an implausible world overall.
Hippie World - laughable 20th century ATL, loads of silly and forced parallelisms with OTL hippies, I could go on...
Corporate World - was clearly aiming for social satire, but went too over-the-top with the details of its setting.
Nude World - people invented clothes and other protection from the elements for a reason. People going around naked all the time would not have a survival advantage. This whole scenario feels like the showrunners' trying to satisfy their obsession with "pushing the sexy angle", regardless of how unsexy it comes across.
Pastiche World - dumb setting that thinks it's clever and meta, in an equally dumb and sorry final episode of the series.
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I tend to think the Sliders premise lends itself better to a longer-running, planned-in-advance thriller series. Namely, an espionage thriller or heist thriller in a multiverse setting. It's just more sustainable than an episodic "TL of the week" (in the vein of a "planet of the week" in space opera series). When you go episodic with a multiverse series that has a cast of underequipped everymen as the adventurers, you sooner or later run into the issue of each timeline being underdeveloped, or more popular AH ideas running out quickly and forcing recycling and clichés.
----
P.S. The one thing I don't like about Earth Prime, the Sliders fansite, is that lacks a search function and the TLs/worlds in the travelogue are not linked to their respective episodes.
----
A list of worlds shown in Sliders that were more intriguing to me than most:
Mardi Gras World - highly silly name for a TL with an actually interesting and fairly plausible historical backstory. It even has a reasonably predictable "Louisiana purchase averted" POD as its starting point. Better than the British North America TL they did in an early episode, "Prince of Wails".
Cuban Missile World - though it is a destroyed and depressing timeline to visit, I love the fact that it might as well be the same timeline as AH.com's Cuban Missile War TL, written by Amerigo Vespucci a decade ago.
Nouvelle Versailles - another case of an alternate North America based on ATL developments in French colonies, and another case of a fairly interesting alternate world as a result. Even a decent placement of the POD, already in the 16th century. There must have been something in the water in the writer's room ! (Either that, or 'French America' AH just being such an untapped idea. The names of the two US stand-in countries descended from the French colonies are cheesy, but at least original. Of course, much of this world's present is depicted through the prism of lazy stereotypes about French culture, but hey, Sliders was never a show focused on subtlety.
Sitting Moose World - a divergence during the early ACW and the rather far-fetched aftermath of that for all of North America, but otherwise a fairly original scenario based around Native American cultures. What brings the story quality down are the dumb stereotypes about living in tents or Indians running casinos for income. Based on something real, but implausibly exaggerated and wastes a big part of this TL's promise.
Edison World - not too plausible as a long-term outcome of electric technology developments, but I think this is the best tech-related ATL they ever did. At least it put some thought into how the big technological divergence would influence the daily functioning of society.
Public Transit World - I like it just for the cute zaniness of it, and the clear "Up your's, public transport haters !" commentary on the car-centricity of the OTL post-WWII US. Though a world without personal cars of some sort - electric cars or velocars, at least - is IMHO implausible, this was probably the best of the "LOL, random" worlds the cast visited.
Buttonwillow World - motorism and motor racing TL, with a divergence in 1915. Rather original.
Forest World - what we on AH.com would call a "Virgin Earth". Possibly a timeline with no human civilisation, and ironically enough, one of the most plausible timelines in the series.
Spiderwasp World - Venezuelan scientists creating a genetically engineered monster arthropod ?! In 1987 ?!
Yeah, right... That said, this is one of the better "spooky timelines" the cast visit during the course of the series. More of a horror/post-apocalypse setting than classic AH, but provided one of the more original threats to the characters.Lemoore World - a very local divergence, and not terribly interesting, but it gets points for sheer originality. Successful modern secessionists in California, with their own comic-booky powerful microstate ? If nothing else, original.
Van Meer's World - the divergence is in the beginning of this timeline's universe, but its otherwise a carbon copy of OTL, just some twelve years in the past compared to our's. Both plausible and implausible at the same time. Not a good kind of "interesting" in my book, as it's basically an excuse for a time travel episode, but the idea behind the TL isn't that outlandish.
No Smoking World - honourable mention. Tobacco as a narcoticum worth trafficking, climate changes that explain the divergences. ASB, but a good satirical premise, especially for a non-smoker like me.
----
Worlds I didn't like because they were overreliant on largelly uncharitable or offensive stereotypes:
British World - this should have been a showcase timeline visited by the cast, but it's severely let down by a clear unwillingness to bother with research and logic behind the scenario, and uses almost every British stereotype imaginable, including ones that have no grounding in historical reality.
Feminist World and Breedin' World - two of a kind, really. Little else than loads of stereotyping and odd assumptions about male and female behaviour. What could have been an interesting topic to explore turned into a mush of awfulness with some creepy undertones. I concede that the first two seasons were better, but like with British World, at least one of these two worlds appeared during those first two series. So Sliders has always had problems with plausibility and sensitivity.
Romani World - as diverse as Roma culture can get due to its global diaspora, this is another story for a pile titled "US writers don't get what Romani even are, beyond the fortune teller cliché". An ep about a Romani dominated North America is highly original, but it's clear they didn't bother to do much research.
Youth World - a blatant Logan's Run ripoff, with plenty of dated 90s stereotyping of young people as genius computer nerds who want to computerise even public education. Just a bizarre TL, and the effortless takeover of the US by under 30 year olds has to be one of the least plausible things they've done.
Cannibal World - yeah, Papuan colonisers of North America have nothing better to do all day than to hunt for people and roast them on a spit.
Also lacks climatic plausibility, but No Smoking World also lacked that.----
Worlds that were just too implausible and silly, IMHO:
Ice Cream World, Rollerblade World - really now ?!! These sound like one of the worlds we'd write for one of the AH.com series as a one-off joke in a throwaway remark.
Dinosaur World - even with ASBs in mind, this is just implausible. Dinos and mammals couldn't evolve alongside each other exactly like in OTL, due to the competition that would create in various ecological niches. Just an implausible world overall.
Hippie World - laughable 20th century ATL, loads of silly and forced parallelisms with OTL hippies, I could go on...
Corporate World - was clearly aiming for social satire, but went too over-the-top with the details of its setting.
Nude World - people invented clothes and other protection from the elements for a reason. People going around naked all the time would not have a survival advantage. This whole scenario feels like the showrunners' trying to satisfy their obsession with "pushing the sexy angle", regardless of how unsexy it comes across.
Pastiche World - dumb setting that thinks it's clever and meta, in an equally dumb and sorry final episode of the series.
----
I tend to think the Sliders premise lends itself better to a longer-running, planned-in-advance thriller series. Namely, an espionage thriller or heist thriller in a multiverse setting. It's just more sustainable than an episodic "TL of the week" (in the vein of a "planet of the week" in space opera series). When you go episodic with a multiverse series that has a cast of underequipped everymen as the adventurers, you sooner or later run into the issue of each timeline being underdeveloped, or more popular AH ideas running out quickly and forcing recycling and clichés.
----
P.S. The one thing I don't like about Earth Prime, the Sliders fansite, is that lacks a search function and the TLs/worlds in the travelogue are not linked to their respective episodes.
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Rush Tarquin
Gone Fishin'
Speaking of the writers spit-balling implausible, silly worlds:
It makes fun of another trope from the show that always bugged me too - that they would stand around chatting for ages while the portal was open, usually to show off to the locals, and risk missing the slide window! Get your head in the game!
It makes fun of another trope from the show that always bugged me too - that they would stand around chatting for ages while the portal was open, usually to show off to the locals, and risk missing the slide window! Get your head in the game!