| Sliders | |
|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Tracy Tormé Robert K. Weiss |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Danny Lux |
| Composers | Dennis McCarthy Mark Mothersbaugh Stephen Graziano Danny Lux Anthony Marinelli (season 2) Dennis M. Halligan Bruce Berman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 88(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Tracy Tormé Robert K. Weiss John Landis Leslie Belzberg Alan Barnette Bill Dial David Peckinpah |
| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Production companies | St. Clare Entertainment Universal Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox |
| Release | March 22, 1995 (1995-03-22) – May 16, 1997 (1997-05-16) |
| Network | Sci-Fi Channel |
| Release | June 8, 1998 (1998-06-08) – February 4, 2000 (2000-02-04) |
Sliders is an Americanscience-fiction andfantasy television series created byRobert K. Weiss andTracy Tormé. It was broadcast for five seasons between 1995 and 2000. The series follows a group of travelers as they use awormhole to "slide" betweenparallel universes. Weiss, Tormé,Leslie Belzberg,John Landis,David Peckinpah, Bill Dial, and Alan Barnette served as executive producers at different times of the production. For its first two seasons, it was produced inVancouver, British Columbia. It was filmed primarily inLos Angeles, California, in the last three seasons.
The first three seasons were broadcast byFox. After being canceled by Fox, the series moved toSci-Fi Channel for its final two seasons. The final episode was shown in February 2000.
The show's titular characters are a group of people who travel ("slide") between different Earths in parallel universes via a vortex-like wormhole, activated by a handheld timer device. While the slide technology was intended to return them to their home universe, their premature use of the timer to escape a dangerous situation has caused the timer to lose track of the coordinates for their home universe.
Now, they are forced to slide between universes, spending from minutes to months there, waiting for the timer to count down to the next time they can open a vortex to a new universe, hoping it is their original one. Failing to use the vortex to slide at that point would mean they would be stuck in that universe for nearly three decades until they can open the vortex again.
While waiting for the timer countdown, the Sliders frequently explore the nature of the alternate universe, and often become caught up in events of that world. Some of these universes are based on alternate timelines in which certain historical events happened differently from the history they know, such as one wherepenicillin was never discovered, or a world where America had lost theRevolutionary War, while other worlds have entirely novel histories, such as one where time flowed in reverse, or where dinosaurs never became extinct.
The main initial cast included Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell), who created the sliding technology, Professor Maximillian Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), Quinn's mentor;Wade Welles (Sabrina Lloyd), Quinn's friend; and Rembrandt "Cryin' Man" Brown (Cleavant Derricks), a professional singer who is accidentally caught in the first major test of the vortex. Over the course of the show, cast members departed and were replaced by others: Captain Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer), a military officer from one doomed alternate Earth; Colin Mallory (Charlie O'Connell), Quinn's lost brother; a second Quinn Mallory (Robert Floyd) that resulted from the original Quinn inadvertently merging with the Quinn of a world they slid into, and Dr. Diana Davis (Tembi Locke), a scientist who attempts to help them reverse the process.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| 1 | 10 | March 22, 1995 (1995-03-22) | May 17, 1995 (1995-05-17) | Fox | |
| 2 | 13 | March 1, 1996 (1996-03-01) | July 12, 1996 (1996-07-12) | ||
| 3 | 25 | September 20, 1996 (1996-09-20) | May 16, 1997 (1997-05-16) | ||
| 4 | 22 | June 8, 1998 (1998-06-08) | April 23, 1999 (1999-04-23) | Sci-Fi Channel | |
| 5 | 18 | June 11, 1999 (1999-06-11) | February 4, 2000 (2000-02-04) | ||
| Character(s) | Actor | Seasons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| Quinn Mallory | Jerry O'Connell | Main | Does not appear | |||
| Wade Welles | Sabrina Lloyd | Main | Does not appear | Guest* | ||
| Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown | Cleavant Derricks | Main | ||||
| Professor Maximilian Arturo | John Rhys-Davies | Main | Does not appear | |||
| Capt. Maggie Beckett | Kari Wuhrer | Does not appear | Guest | Main | ||
| Main | ||||||
| Colin Mallory | Charlie O'Connell | Does not appear | Guest (as Kit Richards) | Guest (as Officer O'Hara) | Guest | Does not appear |
| Main | ||||||
| Quinn "Mallory" Mallory | Robert Floyd | Does not appear | Guest | |||
| Main | ||||||
| Dr. Diana Davis | Tembi Locke | Does not appear | Guest | |||
| Main | ||||||
* While Sabrina Lloyd returned as a guest, she provided only the voice for her character, played by a barely visible body double.
Michio Kaku explains in the appendix of his book,The Future of the Mind, that theSliders series began "when a young boy read a book. That book is actually my bookHyperspace, but I take no responsibility for the physics behind that series."[1] Before moving to Sci-Fi Channel each episode of the series cost $1.4 million to $1.5 million.[2]
While filming the episode "Desert Storm", actorKen Steadman (Cutter) was killed. In an accident that occurred between takes, Steadman moved a dune buggy to the next shooting location. While he was moving the vehicle, the dune buggy overturned and crushed him, killing him instantly. According to Steadman's parents, his death was preventable.[3]
Entering into the fifth season, the production team knew the series was not being renewed, and had saved money from the budget of each season-five episode for use in a climactic battle for the season finale. The money was instead used for the penultimate episode, "Eye of the Storm", while the last episode ended with an unresolved cliffhanger. Insiders have various theories as to why this happened. The producers were concerned the Sci Fi Channel had lost interest in the show (though it was their highest-rated program at the time) after they ceased supplying corrective notes for the episodes, and it was believed they were not even reading the scripts.[4]
One strict rule the Sci Fi Channel had was that a gun could not be pointed at a person's head. To test this rule, executive producer Bill Dial presented a script featuring a character getting his head shot completely off, which was ignored. Dial then presented the script for the final-episode cliffhanger, which was also ignored. Some claim this was done to encourage fans to push for a sixth season, but members of the production team claim that the decision was personal.[4]
Iranian-American directorReza Badiyi is credited with directing a number of the episodes in the fifth season, and his daughter, Mina Badiyi, made a guest appearance in episode three, "Common Ground".
Sliders had a turbulent history due to changes in the cast and crew through its run.[5][6] Cleavant Derricks is the only cast member to stay with the series throughout its entire run. Derricks andLinda Henning (Mrs. Mallory) are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of the series. Derricks' identical twin,Clinton Derricks-Carroll, appeared in the episodes "The King Is Back", "Greatfellas", and "The Prince of Slides", when a need arose for Rembrandt and his double to interact.
Jerry O'Connell felt the first two seasons went smoothly, but then a significant shift in creative direction of the series happened with the third season, with the Fox network desiring it to be a more action-oriented show than thought-provoking.[7] John Rhys-Davies was the first star of the series to leave. Rhys-Davies stated in a 2016 interview that he had been critical of how the show was written, calling the concept what "could've been the best show on television", but most of the scripts he had been given were "incomprehensible gibberish" and missed the potential of the concept. He cited that Fox had exerted too much control on the scripts as part of the reason for his departure.[8]
In a 2014 interview at the Toulouse Game Show, Rhys-Davies stated that the inability to get writers who had read science fiction in the first place led to the show's downfall, and their inexperience in the area led to the show often repurposing ideas from other works. He said, "We did an episode likeTremors, one likeTwister, one likeThe Night of the Living Dead, and even one likeThe Island of Doctor Moreau, using the film's original masks!" He found the writers were just "looting" these ideas rather than using these as a tribute, pointing to one episode in which Quinn needed to cross an invisible bridge, and on approaching the writer about it, discovered he had never seenIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which Rhys-Davies had starred, and simply used the idea instead of toying with the meta nature of the scene.[9]
For Rhys-Davies, "the breaking point for me was when I walked in and saw the writers sitting around looking at a DVD ofSpecies, which had just been released and saying: 'Look, we could take a bit of that scene there and a bit of that scene there.'"[10]
The series co-creator, Tracy Tormé, has often been critical of the direction the series took in the third season.[11] Tormé called the third season two-parter "Exodus" "one of the worst pieces of television ever produced, and the low point of the entire series".[12]David Peckinpah was brought onto the series in the third season (around the time when Tormé started to criticize the show). The last episode to be written by Tormé was K1803, "The Guardian", and the first to be written by Peckinpah was K1815, "Murder Most Foul". Some argue Peckinpah's involvement in the series (and by extension Fox's more hands-on involvement) caused the show to "jump the shark",[13] despite new executive producerMarc Scott Zicree's decision to restore Tracy Tormé's original "alternate history" premise for the series in season four.[citation needed] Tormé, along with co-creators Robert K. Weiss and John Landis, all departed the show during the third season.[7]
Part of Fox's involvement in the third season was to shift production from Vancouver to Los Angeles to reduce filming costs. The recurring characters were dropped due to the expense of flying them from Vancouver to Los Angeles for filming. Bartender Elston Diggs was brought in as a recurring character for six episodes, but Peckinpah eventually rejected the concept.Logan St. Clair was created to be a recurring character, which is evident in the episode's dialogue, but only appeared once. Fox did not believe she was "sexy" enough and requested she not appear again.[14]
Fox canceled the show after the third season, but it was later picked up by the Sci-Fi network. Jerry O'Connell felt that Sci-Fi was looking to maintain the action-based show with more emphasis on darker sci-fi elements.[7] Lloyd decided not to return to the series when it was revived, according to her agency. A source[15] came forward claiming Lloyd was fired because she was jealous of Kari Wuhrer. Universal and Lloyd's agent both refused to comment and the rumour spread.[15]
Much later Lloyd and Wuhrer were revealed to not get along, primarily due to some snide comments Wuhrer had made about Lloyd's engagement to a crew member. As Peckinpah wanted to return to the three male/one female dynamic of the first two seasons, Lloyd was determined to be no longer required after she asked for a raise.[15] Her character's fate—to be trapped in a Kromagg breeding camp—was allegedly Peckinpah's idea, and one that was pushed through by him alone.[15]
As a result of public pressure to elaborate on what happened to Wade after she disappeared, the producers asked Lloyd to guest star in one season-five episode that was to focus entirely on Wade (without the rest of the cast).[16] Lloyd requested $40,000 to appear, the same per-episode salary Derricks was receiving and $20,000 more than Wuhrer, and the idea was scrapped.[15] However, the episode in which she was to appear, "Requiem", was "fine-tuned" to answer this question without her.[16] Lloyd ultimately provided voice-overs for the episode, and a stand-in was used.
By the end of the fourth season, Jerry and Charlie O'Connell left the series to pursue film careers. Jerry O'Connell felt that without Lloyd, Rhys-Davies, and Tormé, much of the show's original premise was gone, and opted to leave.[7] The brothers leaving the show upset many fans, and Tracy Tormé was asked what could be done to win them back. This resulted in an unsuccessful effort to bring back some popular, previously recurring characters.[14]
The producers negotiated withJohn Novak (Ross J. Kelly, the ambulance-chasing lawyer), Alex Bruhanski (Pavel Kurlienko, the taxi driver) andLester Barrie (Elston Diggs, the waiter at the Chandler Hotel) for their returns in season five.Zoe McLellan (Logan St. Clair) was scheduled to appear again and Jason Gaffney (Conrad Bennish, Jr) from season one was confirmed for four episodes, including the season finale.[14] However, none of these guest stars appeared.
Quinn, eager to demonstrate his vortex technology to Prof. Arturo and Wade, inadvertently opens a large wormhole that draws Rembrandt with them to a hostile, ice-covered Earth. Quinn is forced to activate the vortex prematurely to save them, and they find themselves unable to return to their Earth. So as not to be stranded on any alternate Earth for over 20 years, the group continues to slide between worlds, many of them involvingalternate histories, such as if the British had won the Revolutionary War, or if antibiotics had never been discovered.[17]
The group continues to slide between alternate Earths, exploring further alternate timelines and more fantastical variations from the Earth they know. On one slide, they encounter the Kromaggs, an alien species that have perfected sliding and use it to strip resources from alternate earths. The Kromaggs become aggressively curious about Quinn's technology.
As they continue to slide, hoping to return to their prime dimension, the Sliders land on an Earth that is doomed by a passingpulsar, they provide a means to evacuate a small portion of its population to a safe dimension; however, the exodus is betrayed by a new enemy in Colonel Rickman, who needs brain fluid to survive a disease he obtained in a gulf war. While protecting Quinn, Prof. Arturo sacrifices himself. The group, now joined by Captain Maggie Beckett, pursues Rickman to acquire a timer he stole with Earth Prime's location saved into it. While Wade and Rembrandt make it back, Quinn and Maggie end up stuck on another alternate Earth.
Quinn and Maggie find a way to return to Earth Prime, but they find it taken over by the Kromaggs; they are able to rescue Rembrandt, but not Wade. Quinn's mother tells him he is actually adopted, born from parents that knew of sliding technology and used it to hide him from the Kromaggs. She also tells him where to find his brother, Colin, who then joins the Sliders. The group continues to slide, hoping to find a means to deal with the Kromaggs on Earth Prime and in other dimensions.
In what at first appears to be a freak sliding accident, Quinn merges with the Quinn of the dimension into which they have slidden, merging them into "Mallory", while Colin is lost to the vortex, as explained to them by Dr. Diana Davis, a scientist studying transdimensional travel. She later slides with Mallory, Maggie, and Rembrandt as they continue to search for a way to stop the Kromaggs. Ultimately, they discover a contagious virus, deadly to Kromaggs. After the timer is destroyed, they find they can send one slider back to Earth Prime. Rembrandt injects himself with the virus and jumps through, leaving the three unsure of his fate.
The Fox Network aired certain episodes from seasons one and two in a different order from originally scripted to best capitalize on potential ratings-winning episodes, thus causing some continuity errors. For instance, the timer is first set to count down not in the pilot episode, but in "Summer of Love"—since Fox aired "Fever" rightafter the pilot episode, though many viewers were left confused as to why the Sliders suddenly had to leave within a very specific period of time. Similarly, the cliffhanger at the end of "Summer of Love" leads directly into the opening of "Prince of Wails", which Fox had actually aired a week earlier.[18][19][20]
For season two, Fox did not want to resolve the cliffhanger at the end of "Luck of the Draw", preferring to focus, instead, on brand-new storylines. Thus, in "Time Again and World" (the first episode filmed for season two), Arturo makes a brief passing reference to the events of "Luck of the Draw". This missed cliffhanger was particularly significant, as the episode had ended with Quinn being shot in the back. Tracy Tormé successfully petitioned for a chance to resolve the cliffhanger, though, which is briefly dealt with in the opening minutes of "Into the Mystic" (the third episode filmed, but the first to air that season), where the life-threatening wound is now merely a flesh wound in his shoulder, allowing for a quick recovery. "Time Again and World" ended up airing sixth in the rotation.[18]
"Double Cross" was filmed as the premiere for season three. In this episode, the audience learns why the Sliders would now be able to slide anywhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Fox opted to air "Rules of the Game" first, since it was a more action-oriented episode.[18]
"The Last of Eden" was filmed before John Rhys-Davies left the show. Fox chose to air the episode for the first time on March 28, a full monthafter Arturo had been written off the show, requiring a new opening scene be added to frame the story as a flashback.[18]
When the show began airing in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel, Sci Fi restored the original filmed order for season one. When the DVDs were released, Universal used the aired order for all seasons.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4. The fifth and final season was released in Region 1 on January 17, 2012, almost four years after season four.[21]
On December 2, 2014, Universal releasedSliders- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[22] This set contains all 88 episodes of the series on 22 single-sided discs with a runtime of 66 hours (3954 minutes).
On July 1, 2016, iMill Creek Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1 and would re-release the complete series on DVD on October 4, 2016.[23] The 15-disc set contains all five seasons of the series incorrect story order.
| DVD Name | Ep# | Release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| The First and Second Seasons | 23 | August 3, 2004[24] | December 27, 2004[25] | May 2, 2005[26] | |
| The Third Season | 25 | July 19, 2005[27] | October 31, 2005[28] | February 8, 2006[29] | |
| The Fourth Season | 22 | March 25, 2008[30] | May 19, 2008[31] | June 4, 2008[32] | |
| The Fifth and Final Season | 18 | January 17, 2012 | March 13, 2009 (Germany)[33] | June 5, 2013[34] | |
| The Complete Series | 88 | December 2, 2014 October 4, 2016 (Re-Release) | N/A | November 6, 2013 November 13, 2019 (Re-Release) | |
On August 23, 2007,Netflix Instant View started providing all five seasons ofSliders available for streaming. Two season-one episodes ("Last Days" and "The Weaker Sex") are missing, with a note in their place stating that the DVD is required to view the episode. The first episode, "Pilot", is available both as one combined episode, and as two separate parts, "Pilot Part 1" and "Pilot Part 2". All episodes of the remaining seasons are available for streaming.
On March 12, 2008,Universal Studios addedSliders season one to their free online viewing service,Hulu. Season two was added on May 8, 2009, and season three was added on July 2, 2009.
In late 2008, season five and eventually all five seasons were made available throughiTunes TV Shows store.
In August 2020, all episodes were available with free version ofPeacock, although the pilot episode was split into two roughly 45-minute segments. The series was originally mistakenly listed as "Drama" rather than "Sci-Fi", but that was corrected within a month. As of February 2023, the series was no longer available for free on Peacock TV after all episodes were moved to pay to view.
On February 22, 2015, in aSliders 20th-anniversary interview, when asked about a revival of the series, Jerry O'Connell stated, "Tracy Tormé is the guy to talk to. I am in if he is. That is the creator and boss. I go where he tells me."[35] O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies have spoken of a potential revival of the series as recently as 2019.[citation needed]
According to Rhys-Davies, O'Connell had been in private talks with him over a possible revival, which Rhys-Davies said he would do if the series stayed focused on the thought-provoking aspects of the alternate worlds. The two have spoken to NBC about this, as the rights to distributeSliders are believed to be held byNBCUniversal.[36] O'Connell has also said that Tormé is interested in a revival, as well.[7] On 14 July 2021, Tormé stated in an interview that aSliders reboot was actively in the works.[37][38]
On January 4, 2024, Tormé died of complications from diabetes.[39] It is unknown if the revival is still in the works.[citation needed]
The plotlines inSliders are all set around the idea of amultiverse, where the outcomes of nondeterministic quantum processes result in the splitting of reality into multiple universes, each existing in parallel. Also, speculation had arisen thatSliders was inspired byGeorge R. R. Martin's 1992ABC pilotDoorways,[40] in which the main cast were fugitives fleeing through parallel worlds, while carrying a device that tells them where and when the next doorway opens.[41]
Although scripts for six additional episodes after the pilot film were completed,Doorways never went to series, as ABC decided to launchLois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman instead in the fall of 1993. At the time of theSliders' launch,Evelyn C. Leeper noted the similarities toDoorways,[42] and in response to rumors thatSliders creator Tracy Tormé applied for a writing position on the show, Martin clarified in a 1995 post onGEnie that it was Tormé's agent who inquired about the position,[43] and Tormé has denied any connection between the two.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
