Pilot 

In a San Francisco basement, physics post-graduate student Quinn Mallory has found a way to create portals to parallel universes. Inviting his physics professor Maximillian Arturo and his ... See full summary »

Director:

Andy Tennant

Writers:

Tracy Tormé (screenplay), Robert K. Weiss (story)

Stars:

Jerry O'Connell, John Rhys-Davies, Sabrina Lloyd

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry O'Connell	...	Quinn Mallory
Sabrina Lloyd	...	Wade Welles
Cleavant Derricks	...	Rembrandt 'Crying Man' Brown
John Rhys-Davies	...	Prof. Maximilian Arturo
Linda Henning	...	Mrs. Mallory
Joseph Wapner	...	Commissar Joseph A. Wapner (as Joseph A. Wapner)
Doug Llewelyn	...	Comrade Llewelyn
Garwin Sanford	...	Doc
Roger Cross	...	Wilkins (as Roger R. Cross)
Yee Jee Tso	...	Wing
Frank C. Turner	...	Crazy Kenny / Senator Candidate
Gary Jones	...	Michael Hurley
John Novak	...	Ross J. Kelly / Interrogator
Don MacKay	...	Artie Feld
Alex Bruhanski	...	Pavel Kurlienko

Storyline

In a San Francisco basement, physics post-graduate student Quinn Mallory has found a way to create portals to parallel universes. Inviting his physics professor Maximillian Arturo and his computer store colleague Wade Wells for a trip, a series of mishaps ropes in passing singer Rembrandt Brown and takes the Sliders off their planned route. Upon discovering a frozen world and one where Russia rules America, the quartet begins to doubt that they will be able to return to their own world anytime soon...

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Plot Keywords:

portal | reverse footage | tv series pilot | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

22 March 1995 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinevu Productions Inc., St. Clare Entertainment, Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Soviet World, the United States lost the Korean War in the 1950s and was invaded and conquered by the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

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Goofs

Quinn leaves his Midwestern-looking house (brick houses are scarce in earthquake country) and jogs through Golden Gate Park to the Berkeley campus, which is across the Bay. Rembrandt, in a hurry to get from Telegraph Hill to Candlestick Park (due south), drives west.

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Quotes

Prof. Maximilian Arturo: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I think I've just seen God and I could've sworn he was driving a Cadillac.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

The Star-Spangled Banner
(uncredited)
Music by John Stafford Smith
Lyrics by Francis Scott Key
Performed by Cleavant Derricks

User Reviews

Indigestible

I love science fiction and (vainly) look forward to every new attempt on TV to replicate the "sense of wonder" that good science fiction is supposed to create. So I was disappointed that this show was so blandly unsurprising. So much science fiction (on TV and in the movies) appears to concentrate on the most superficial elements of the genre and merely use its "technical poetry" to tell the same dull stories over and over. Sliders was no exception: a world where the Nazis won? You got it! A world where there are still dinosaurs? Two heaping spoonfuls served up! But there was little of the intellectual and philosophical "weight": that attends the best science fiction, and for which the mechanical devices and impossible processes (here a device that traversed dimensions) are just meant to be "color." It's partly in the nature of serial TV that very little in the way of surprises can be allowed to occur, since we all know the heroes will fight and vanquish. This is why The Twilight Zone is still so watchable: you never knew what was going to happen. It had better writers too. Sad truth is, there are PLENTY of good science fiction tales that might be dramatized on TV, but Hollywood turns again and again to its usual hacks who merely dress up their usual tales with a few "gimmicks" of the sci-fi trade. It simply isn't compelling finally, and comes out as no more than the usual "Fantasy Island" mess: tired moral tales glittered up with bells and whistles.

The best science fiction on TV has always been either anthologies series (the aforementioned Twilight Zone, the best of The Outer Limits) or one-shot dramatizations of REAL science fiction tales, such as the superior The Lathe of Heaven.

Oh well, maybe next time...