The group lands on a world where free ATM withdrawals garner chances to enter a five million dollar lottery with a white card that entitles you to anything you want. The more money you withdraw, the more chances you have to win the lottery. There is a deadly catch to this lottery, and Wade will find out the hard way that nothing in life is free, especially on this world. Rembrandt took out a lot more money than Wade, but thankfully he didn't win, or in this case, lose. The group must find out what is really going on and slide out of this world before it's time to pay the ultimate price. Rembrandt tries to help a woman escape the clutches of the lottery commission but things quickly turn diabolical. I've often dreamt of winning a massive lottery but not at this heavy price! On this world, the pro-life activists are right on the money, no pun intended.
2 Reviews
One of the most cerebral TV shows ever made
carryall26 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
"Luck of the Draw" was an award winning and highly memorable episode from the Sci-fi TV series "Sliders" partly based on a novel called "The Lottery". It was and always will be one of my biggest favourite TV shows ever made. The plot is about the Sliders who entered the seemingly utopistic world, where the world population is only 500 million, there are no poverty, economical problems, ethnical conflicts. It seems perfect, so Wade Welles thought about staying here forever.
The whole system is based on a strange lottery system, which easily fooled Wade and Remmy. As much happy the first half of the show is, it turns out to be a really dark hour in the second half. Wade, who won the lottery, and his slider friends learnt that lottery winners are about to die in the next day in return for their money. Wade didn't want to die, and also want to save a new friend from this world, called Ryan. The guy looked baffled at first, but helped Wade in the most critical moments. On the other hand, Remmy who wanted to save another female lottery winner got into trouble when he broke the lottery rules. The second half of the show is very dark and adventurous. In the end, the Sliders managed to open the gateway, and all of the original 4 plus Ryan have been saved from the doom, however the episode ended in a memorable cliffhanger.
The acting from the cast in this show is excellent, particularly from Wade, Remmy and the Professor. The main star, Jerry O'Connell stays in the background this time. The support characters did their job very well too.
Unfortunately the Sliders 1st season ended with this episode, and never returned in this level in its later seasons. The cliffhanger resolution was bad, and Ryan, along with the little dog Henry never returned thanks to FOX executives, who were very guilty for destroying the series.
Jon Povill who also wrote the underrated "El Sid", along with shows for Stargate SG-1 won an award for this though-provoking episode. If you watch this, you will understand the main social problems of the utopistic ideologies (communism for example) and the pro-choice view in the human rights. You also understand the malthusian dilemma, and the importance of the population control in some way.
My rating: a definite 10/10 for Luck of the Draw.
The whole system is based on a strange lottery system, which easily fooled Wade and Remmy. As much happy the first half of the show is, it turns out to be a really dark hour in the second half. Wade, who won the lottery, and his slider friends learnt that lottery winners are about to die in the next day in return for their money. Wade didn't want to die, and also want to save a new friend from this world, called Ryan. The guy looked baffled at first, but helped Wade in the most critical moments. On the other hand, Remmy who wanted to save another female lottery winner got into trouble when he broke the lottery rules. The second half of the show is very dark and adventurous. In the end, the Sliders managed to open the gateway, and all of the original 4 plus Ryan have been saved from the doom, however the episode ended in a memorable cliffhanger.
The acting from the cast in this show is excellent, particularly from Wade, Remmy and the Professor. The main star, Jerry O'Connell stays in the background this time. The support characters did their job very well too.
Unfortunately the Sliders 1st season ended with this episode, and never returned in this level in its later seasons. The cliffhanger resolution was bad, and Ryan, along with the little dog Henry never returned thanks to FOX executives, who were very guilty for destroying the series.
Jon Povill who also wrote the underrated "El Sid", along with shows for Stargate SG-1 won an award for this though-provoking episode. If you watch this, you will understand the main social problems of the utopistic ideologies (communism for example) and the pro-choice view in the human rights. You also understand the malthusian dilemma, and the importance of the population control in some way.
My rating: a definite 10/10 for Luck of the Draw.
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